Hou Niao was sent to a residence in Divine City that belonged to the Dao Mansion. The conditions were not bad, at least they were quite lenient for someone deemed a criminal; no shackles, no prison uniform, some freedom of movement within a designated area, and the food was quite palatable...
Even those who practiced cultivation, if they were criminals, retained their dignity.
But Hou Niao knew that once inside this place, getting out would be harder than reaching the heavens. As the main base of cultivation for a nation's Daoist Sect, there were many cultivators here at the Chong Ling Realm, and even more were at the Tongxuan Realm or above. The reason they weren't closely watched was simply that they weren't worth the effort.
In front of these true cultivation experts, he was nothing but a sitting duck.
Inside the residence, he wasn't the only criminal, there were many others who shared his fate, their reasons different but their outcomes the same.
Among them, he was rather unique, not because he was outstanding, but because he was trash. In the words of a more talkative inmate, among the cultivators who were captured and brought here at the Pulse Realm, he was unique; the others were at least at the Energy Induction stage, and of course, none surpassed the Tongxuan Realm.
This cultivator who called himself Old Man Baoshi talked a lot, so much so that others didn't wish to engage with him. Even Hou Niao could see that the man knew his end was near, thus his speech was sometimes incoherent, merely a facade to mask his inner fear.
But for him, it was a window into understanding the wishes and prayers of Anhe.
It was twilight, the hour for practice, and Daoists began to emerge in groups of three or five in search of a tranquil place for meditation. According to the Daoist Record, communion between man and nature was highly advocated; except under special circumstances, no one preferred to practice indoors, but rather out in the open air, as it was said to be more effective.
Old Man Baoshi pointed at a man in black robes and whispered, "That's Zhou Qianyang from the Feathered Dao, at the Grain Avoidance Realm. With his powerful Feathered Daoist Skill, he is quite famous in the Independent Practitioner Realm of Anhe Country; He attacked a true cultivator of the Daoist Sect for resources, causing several deaths, leading an Upper Cultivator to apprehend him."
Then he pointed to a skinny man, "That is Wu Qian who practices the External Blood Dao, at the Essence Building Realm. He's not a native of Anhe but has wandered through various countries to collect blood for his practice. He has caused numerous deaths, indifferently killing both practitioners and commoners alike, and finally slipped up in Divine City..."
He then pointed to a man with a jade-like face and rosy lips, graced with elegant manners, "That is Li Zixuan from the Butterfly Dao, also in the Essence Building Realm. He is adept in the Path of Yin and Yang Dual Cultivation, specifically targeting daughters of wealthy families to ruin their reputations. Rarely do we hear of him directly killing someone, but there are not a few women who have taken their own lives because of his deeds, resulting eventually in widespread outrage..."
...Whatever Old Man Baoshi's skills were, his sources were certainly well-informed; he could more or less mention the background of each criminal in the residence, and how he managed that was anyone's guess.
Hou Niao was a bit indifferent. The affairs of others were irrelevant to him, but he knew he had to keep listening and even feign great interest, or else he wouldn't be able to find out what he wanted to know. He had heard bits about the wishes and prayers of Anhe, but being of such a low level and having a limited social circle, his understanding of them was vague and uncertain.
"How about you? How did you end up here?"
Old Man Baoshi smiled faintly, "I can tell you my secrets, but you must trade them for your own!"
Hou Niao couldn't help but smile bitterly, succumbing to the power of human curiosity. Even facing death, this man was so keen on learning others' secrets. He was indeed an odd character.
"With my situation, is there any point in keeping secrets?"
The old man known as Bao Shi licked his lips and heaved a deeply regretful sigh, "I too started as a loose cultivator, and by a twist of fate, I embarked on the path of Dao, but once set upon that path, there was no turning back; I lost my family, my relatives, my friends, lost everything, and my heart longed only for immortality...
In the journey of cultivation, wealth, companions, spells, and lands are essentials. How could cultivators like us have access to any resources? Looked down upon by Daoist Sects, we were left to fend for ourselves, resulting in theft, robbery, murder, deception, and those who strayed into dark and crooked paths…"
Bao Shi appeared somewhat embarrassed, "I could never bring myself to kill or steal for wealth, so I found a different way by teaching others about the Dao. I opened a modest Daoist School and collected a meager tuition to sustain a bare subsistence..."
Hou Niao immediately understood; this was a charlatan. The so-called modest tuition was probably quite substantial. Ordinary families wouldn't have the means to pay for their children to sense the energy and comprehend the Dao—such students must come from wealthy households or even local nobles and magnates. If you charged such people too little, they wouldn't trust you. So, you'd be expected to charge a lot, bleed them dry.
"...To gain trust, I compiled a set of verses for Energy Induction based on Daoist Records and my own experiences. I swear I sincerely wanted to educate and nurture, and I harbored no ill intentions, yet who could have known—I don't know where I went wrong—but as a result, a few children who practiced my verses made no progress at all, and instead, they... they..."
Hou Niao sighed deeply. This man was naive and reckless. Compiling cultivation techniques was not something to be undertaken lightly. One had to achieve a certain level of competence, with a profound understanding of the cultivation journey, and at the very least, make some personal achievements. Even then, one must first test it on oneself before teaching others.
The old man Bao Shi also knew that his past was unspeakable, "So what about you, young friend? You, who are barely at the Pulse Realm and haven't even begun Energy Induction, what sort of heinous deed could you have committed?"
Hou Niao found it difficult to summarize, "I was implicated in a crime out of indignation, and ended up killing the plaintiff right in front of the Daoist..."
The old man Bao Shi was taken aback. Such a reason was truly out of the ordinary, but upon reflection, it wasn't surprising. For someone who had only just stepped on the threshold of cultivation, having such naive thoughts was not unusual, for only those who had encountered great hardships and adversities could understand the bitter struggles of cultivation, a journey not everyone has the endurance to persist in.
Just as he had been, otherwise he would never have fallen to the point of misleading young disciples. It wasn't by choice, but out of desperation—who would actually wish for such a life?
And it wasn't just him, but also most of the people currently locked up here. How many of them were truly wicked? They were mostly forced by circumstances. The desire for immortality is the root of all evil. Unless one's will is as solid as a rock, who can resist the temptation of immortality?
Because of that carrot of immortality hanging in front, everyone strains to reach it, using every trick in the book to stretch further, each more extreme than the last, until they are beyond redemption.
Those like them who were caught are the minority. Most are directly executed by the so-called orthodox Daoist Sects during this process. How many fortunate ones can truly achieve greatness?
It is said, "A lifetime spent in mistaken cultivation, when you turn back, even the monarch is unrecognizable", which precisely depicts the lives of these people.
Moved by these thoughts, he took out a pot of wine from his embrace, "Come, let's, two men in this wide world cast adrift, drink a couple of cups together..."
The old man Bao Shi didn't have a high tolerance for alcohol; perhaps he was even intentionally seeking inebriation. After several pots of wine, his speech started to slur, and he began to chant a poem over and over as though lamenting his tragic life:
The sun and moon lay across the Jade Pot, the Golden Palace breaks through the mist and sunset glow. Where are the Immortals to be found, the Daoists not yet returned home. Spring brews boil pine leaves, autumn cups soak chrysanthemums. To meet is to drink into drunkenness, never will I learn the ways of the Elixir sand.