Chapter 999 The Mysterious Door

As Ouyang Rong stood between cells numbered Ren and Gui, lost in thought, food boxes were pushed out from the black water curtain doors on both sides of the passageway ahead.

The speeds are all different.

He regained his senses and went forward to collect the food boxes one by one.

The eight food boxes were pushed back into the passageway, originating from the eight cells labeled "丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸".

As Ouyang Rong tidied up, he silently observed the surroundings.

He took a closer look.

It was still the "Self" cell, and the food boxes were being pushed out the fastest.

The food boxes were pushed out of cell number "C" the slowest.

Nothing has changed.

The other cells were more conventional.

It can be seen that the prisoners in cell "Ji" are the most impatient, the least patient, or rather, the most violent.

The prisoners in cell "C" were rather slow-paced, even strangely so.

It should be a single food box. When Ouyang Rong saw the owner of room number "C" push it out, the box was trembling and took more than ten breaths to move, which was ridiculously slow.

But it's hard to say for sure; perhaps the circumstances of this particular prisoner are special.

It's not just about having a unique personality or psychology; it's also possible to have a unique physical condition.

Ouyang Rong collected eight food boxes and reassembled them into four large food boxes, which he planned to take back later.

At this moment, he stood at the door of room C, which was the slowest, and glanced at the depths of the passageway.

A, B, C, D, E; F, G, H, I, G.

Aside from the owners of cells labeled "A" and "B", the owner of cell "C" was the most dangerous and formidable.

The taciturn young man narrowed his eyes slightly.

Unlike the eight black water curtain prison cells facing each other in pairs outside, he could not see the outlines of cells A and B in his line of sight.

They are deeper inside, perhaps in two separate rooms, or perhaps at the end of this dark corridor, standing where the passageway ends.

Yun Xiangyi did not grant him permission to continue entering.

It's even possible that Yun Xiangyi, who usually comes in to deliver vegetarian meals, won't actually go inside.

Since there are only eight servings of vegetarian food, it would definitely not be enough to feed more than eight people in the water prison.

At least ever since Ouyang Rong started preparing vegetarian meals for Qingliang Valley, the water prison has maintained this standard, and he has always paid close attention to these details.

Although Ouyang Rong knew that some Qi cultivators on the mountain also had special Qi cultivation methods, or reduced their own metabolism to achieve the effect of some immortals abstaining from grains as described in ancient books, he was still a little curious: could someone withstand not eating a single grain of rice for such a long time?

However, upon closer examination, this leads to another question, a doubt that Ouyang Rong has always kept in mind.

This place is a water dungeon.

It is the place where the Queen's Palace imprisons the most heinous and vicious Qi cultivators on the mountain. At least from the perspective and judgment of Yunmeng Sword Marsh, they are deeply sinful and unforgivable.

Then why not just kill them directly?

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there are special prisoners who cannot be killed temporarily. After all, the Qi cultivation techniques on the mountain are extremely varied and anything is possible. These kinds of prisoners can only be imprisoned and cannot be killed.

However, if that is indeed the case.

Then why send them vegetarian meals?

Isn't that redundant, like taking off your pants to fart?

Admittedly, guilty prisoners cannot be killed, they can only be imprisoned, but if we don't give them a drop of water or a grain of rice, that's enough. Are we supposed to feed them?

However, this is the reality inside the water dungeon.

Every day, eight vegetarian meals are delivered, excluding Yun Xiangyi's.

That means there must be something wrong with one of Ouyang Rong's previous deductions, or a flaw in the logical chain.

Or rather, it contains important information that Ouyang Rong is unaware of.

At this moment, the taciturn young man, having collected the food box, did not linger any longer. He turned around, took the food box, and walked out of the cell corridor, preparing to return to the outer room.

As he reached the entrance to the passageway, he paused slightly, glanced back at the dimly lit passageway, and at the rows of black curtain doors on either side.

Ouyang Rong frowned slightly and looked at it a couple more times.

I don't know if it's just my imagination.

The passageway in front of him seemed even darker than when he had first entered, and the bizarre colors on the rocks above his head seemed to have faded even more.

Besides, the black curtain doors on both sides of the passageway seemed to grow even darker...

Ouyang Rong wasn't sure if he was seeing things, but he was quite perceptive of changes in his environment and had a very good memory.

In the past, he could remember any road he had walked once; he could also vaguely recall the details of his room's furnishings, even a folded corner of his clothes; and he could keenly detect if his room had been ransacked.

Therefore, Ouyang Rong never doubted his intuition.

He paused for a moment, then silently looked down into the passageway, his eyes deep and unfathomable, as if he had memorized something.

A moment later, he casually turned around, walked down the steps, and left the water prison passage.

On his way out, Ouyang Rong carefully reviewed the suspicious points about the water prison that had been lingering in his mind, namely why vegetarian meals were prepared for these heinous criminals every day.

He pondered for a moment and could only come up with a general idea.

These prisoners are likely to be useful to the Queen's Palace. Despite their grave sins, they cannot be killed. The Queen's Palace has a purpose in keeping them alive, a special purpose unknown to outsiders like Ouyang Rong.

Only this reason can explain why vegetarian meals were delivered every night, and why the "treatment was so good," allowing the noble lady and the Yue maidens to eat the same vegetarian meal every day.

Ouyang Rong nodded slightly, indicating that he had gathered his thoughts.

The staircase leads all the way down, with quite a few steps. To the uninitiated, it might look like he's heading deep into an underground water dungeon.

Therefore, this unconventional prison design is quite bizarre.

Ouyang Rong, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, doesn't like this design that goes against his intuition, mainly because he can't change it, which makes his obsessive-compulsive disorder even worse.

Back inside, Ouyang Rong placed the large food box on the table and inspected it.

Apart from the food box being damp from the water, there was nothing unusual inside, and all the vegetarian food had been eaten.

The prisoners in the water dungeon probably didn't see him or notice his movements, just as he couldn't see them or notice their movements.

The black water curtain may be the cause of this situation.

No wonder Yun Xiangyi felt more at ease letting this kitchen servant into the room. Perhaps it was because the servant's life wasn't that important, and also because the water prison was relatively safe, as long as he didn't do anything reckless inside and try to enter the black water curtain.

Although Ouyang Rong hadn't tried it yet, he estimated that even if he tried to get in, he would probably fail.

Water prison, water prison, it contains the word "prison".

What is the character "牢" (láo)?

Aside from the guards, those inside cannot get out, and those outside cannot get in.

Although he still didn't understand the specifics of the black water curtain, he was fairly certain that he couldn't force his way in. In fact, it might cause him a lot of trouble, and if Yun Xiangyi found out when she returned, things would be bad.

Ouyang Rong shook his head slightly.

A moment later, he left the water dungeon, and before walking out of the wooden gate, he looked back at the house one last time.

His gaze fell on the cool water bucket by the wooden gate across the street.

I have no idea what this bucket of water is for.

Ouyang Rong remained silent as he returned to the entrance of the waterfall cave above.

He crossed the waterfall and returned to the pool.

I found the night to be pitch black, the crescent moon had long since hidden itself, it was already late at night, the darkest time before dawn, the kind of black where all is silent.

However, Ouyang Rong had excellent eyesight and turned his head away.

Chen Jiaxin and Enting were standing silently in front of the pool. The moment he emerged from the waterfall, their eyes fell on him.

When Ouyang Rong approached, Enting kept her eyes straight ahead, while Chen Jiaxin turned around first and walked towards the wooded path on the other side.

Seeing this, Ouyang Rong followed suit without hesitation.

When he reached a secluded spot, he saw Chen Jiaxin stop and give him a fixed look.

Ouyang Rong took the initiative to call out:

"Miss."

The young woman asked impatiently:

"how?"

Seeing her expectant little face, Ouyang Rong, though reluctant to interrupt, still recounted his experience in the water dungeon that night.

"The prison door was made of a black water curtain..."

After listening attentively, Chen Jiaxin was somewhat disappointed, but she still stroked her chin, pondered for a while, and muttered to herself.

As Ouyang Rong observed her complexion, he nodded and offered words of comfort:

"It's only the first night, so it's normal not to find anything. It seems the Five Goddesses won't be back for a while. Go in and deliver meals a few more times, and you might find something. Don't worry, Miss..."

Chen Jiaxin suddenly looked up and asked:

"How do you know that Master won't be back for a while?"

Ouyang Rong looked at her.

He couldn't very well say that when he got back, he would use his sword, Zhishuang, to scare Xuezhongzhu from afar every day.

Within three breaths, Ouyang Rong spoke to explain:

“Miss, if the Five Goddesses were to leave quickly, they wouldn’t have left behind two bronze tokens for you and Fairy En to stay behind and send me to deliver vegetarian meals. It must be something very important that the Five Goddesses knew they wouldn’t be back for a while, so they left these instructions as a backup plan.”

After listening, Chen Jiaxin looked at him quietly for a while, and then slowly looked away.

"Hmm, that makes sense... I was just thinking of testing you."

Ouyang Rong: ...

After a moment, Chen Jiaxin gave a few absent-minded instructions and then waved for Ouyang Rong to leave.

Before leaving, Ouyang Rong glanced back.

The young woman in swordsmanship still looked somewhat confused. She was caught off guard by her master's sudden departure and did not feel the joy and relief she had expected.

Ouyang Rong didn't care much about what Chen Jiaxin thought, and returned to his residence with a calm expression.

Nothing was said that night.

The next day, at night.

He prepared the vegetarian meal as usual, and before midnight, he followed Li Ruotong and her group of Yue women into Qingliang Valley.

However, Li Ruotong's expression was somewhat solemn tonight, and she frequently turned to look back at Ouyang Rong.

It seemed as if they had heard some rumors.

Just before reaching the largest waterfall where the water prison was located, Li Ruotong suddenly turned around and asked Ouyang Rong:

"Have you seen the Queen during your two days in the water dungeon?"

Ouyang Rong glanced at her.

He caught a glimpse of Enting in the group and looked at him as well.

Ouyang Rong nodded:

"yes."

Li Ruotong seemed about to ask more questions, but the group had already passed through the woods and arrived at their destination.

A tall, slender figure in a snow-white sword-wielding robe stood quietly by the pool below the waterfall, waiting.

Li Ruotong, who was leading the team, somewhat reluctantly took the initiative to greet them:

"Junior Sister Chen."

"Senior Sister Li."

Chen Jiaxin pretended not to know Ouyang Rong, only responding to Li Ruotong without turning to look at him, completely ignoring him.

After exchanging greetings, Li Ruotong couldn't help but ask:

"What brings you here, Your Majesty? Why have you and Junior Sister Enting been sent here? If something is wrong, why didn't Yutang know about it..."

Chen Jiaxin, without looking to the side, said in a polite yet stiff tone:

"I don't know. Whatever Master says is what I will do. I won't ask any more questions, Junior Sister."

After being subtly pointed at, Li Ruotong was speechless for a moment. She stared at Chen Jiaxin for a while, then slowly nodded and led her team away without saying a word or saying goodbye.

Only Ouyang Rong and Enting, the unsung heroes who delivered vegetarian meals, remained.

Chen Jiaxin didn't look at Ouyang Rong, as if she didn't know him.

Enting tilted her head and said it for her:

"Go inside. If anything happens, we'll stay outside."

"Thank you, fairy."

Although it is also a waxing crescent moon tonight, it is brighter than it has been in the past few days.

Speaking of which, it's almost the 15th of this month, and it's been almost a month since the last full moon.

The day was approaching for Ouyang Rong to descend the mountain and meet with Huang Xuan and his group, which was also the time he had planned to continue exploring Lu Changgeng's tomb.

However, these past two days have been a crucial time for progress on the water prison side, so Ouyang Rong is not in a hurry.

He didn't even mention it to Chen Jiaxin, and the latter also tacitly refrained from bringing it up.

From Chen Jiaxin's perspective, these two days are the time when she needs him the most. If she can keep him from leaving, she will not let him leave. It is very unlikely that she will come to ask him to leave herself.

With a mix of thoughts, Ouyang Rong, with the bronze token hanging from his waist, passed through the pool and waterfall once more, went directly beneath the embroidered sword above his head, and entered the water prison.

I arrived quite early today.

He carried a food box and pushed open the wooden gate.

The room was empty.

As expected, Yun Xiangyi has not returned tonight.

Chen Jiaxin and her two daughters still need to be guarded, while he, the kitchen servant, can continue to go deep into the water dungeon to deliver vegetarian meals.

Ouyang Rong didn't stop. He pushed open the second wooden door and climbed the stairs as usual, arriving at the dimly lit passageway in Guangxi.

Just as he was about to be the first to deliver the vegetarian meal to the Gui family, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He tilted his head and glanced at the rows of black water curtain doors on both sides of the passageway.

I looked at it carefully for a while.

Whether it was a misperception or not, Ouyang Rong felt that the black water curtain door was no longer so "dark".

Compared to the black color when I first saw it last night, it has faded considerably.

He recalled it and checked it several times.

They still believed they hadn't misjudged the situation; the water curtain prison doors had indeed "faded."

Moreover, this wasn't the first time he'd noticed it tonight; Ouyang Rong had a vague feeling about it before leaving the water prison last night.

This moment seems to confirm the previous statement a second time.

Ouyang Rong's expression remained unchanged, but he silently took it seriously.

However, he did not change his plan and continued walking to the room with the character "癸" on it, handing in a box of vegetarian food...

(End of this chapter)