Eric Bennett's memories—although he had absorbed most of them—still felt somewhat rough around the edges. Moreover, Eric Bennett himself had always been a muddle-headed person. It took Adam Cooper quite a while to recall that the prison guard holding him hostage was named Henry Morgan, one of the head wardens, a minor official of sorts in Ruolu Prison. As for his character, Henry Morgan was rather filthy, reckless in his actions, bullied the weak and feared the strong, and usually enjoyed making fun of Eric Bennett. In fact, the nickname “fool” was given to him by Henry Morgan.

Henry Morgan grabbed Eric Bennett, paid no mind to his post as gatekeeper, tossed him to two other guards, and strode off with Eric Bennett in tow.

He moved at lightning speed, as if something urgent was pressing him. With a single stride, he leapt half a zhang off the ground, covering more than ten zhang at a time, his legs crossing rapidly as he sped down the long stone path—hundreds of zhang in length—behind the prison gates.

He was fast, but Eric Bennett was jolted so much he felt dizzy and disoriented, having no idea what had gotten into Henry Morgan today.

Henry Morgan led Eric Bennett quickly through the prison, passing through layer upon layer of mechanisms and restrictions, entering the core area of Ruolu Prison, and plunging straight into an ancient stone tower. Instead of going up, however, he headed all the way down.

During this time, Eric Bennett's memories continued to slowly merge with Adam Cooper's, gradually becoming one and the same, indistinguishable from each other. Adam Cooper finally understood that, for Eric Bennett, treatment like today’s was actually considered good.

The fool had no spiritual roots and could not cultivate. In Ruolu Prison, Eric Bennett was the lowest of the low, anyone could step on him at will. If not for certain reasons, he would have died countless times already.

The Southern Wasteland Emperor Adam Cooper of his previous life, and the prison servant Eric Bennett of this life, now raised his head from under Henry Morgan's arm, only to see Henry Morgan hurrying him down a stone staircase.

Henry Morgan's feet moved rapidly, and though he was in a hurry, he dared not leap about as he had on the ground. This made Eric Bennett curious—what kind of place was this, that even someone as brash as Henry Morgan would tread so carefully?

The stone staircase was unbelievably long. Looking ahead, Eric Bennett saw only endless darkness, as if some mysterious force was secretly at work, making it impossible to see more than ten steps ahead. When he looked back, he was startled: the staircase floated in endless void, like a single thread, unsupported, as if it could snap and fall at any moment. At the end of that “thread” was an enormous Taiji symbol, with two yin-yang fish slowly turning like old donkeys grinding a mill, strange yellow spiritual light flickering from time to time.

Eric Bennett thought to himself: Ruolu Prison truly is full of oddities. He had long heard that this prison was not built by the righteous path, but was actually a mysterious ancient relic, only later occupied and turned into a prison. It seemed the rumors were true; even the righteous path likely hadn’t uncovered all the secrets of this place.

Henry Morgan carried him under one arm with ease and agility, yet even so, it took the time of a full meal to reach the end.

At the end, there was still only unpredictable darkness. Henry Morgan groped around at his feet, quickly found something, pulled a piece of jade marrow from his robe, and inserted it.

“Click!”

With a soft sound, a ring of light appeared, centered on where Henry Morgan and Eric Bennett stood, and then the halo spread outward in layers, illuminating the space.

Eric Bennett was shocked. The space beneath the staircase was unexpectedly vast. In his previous life, he had traveled the world, and even a small city with tens of thousands of people might not have been this large.

But in a city, the walls, houses, streets, trees, and all sorts of facilities were crowded together—none could compare to the sheer emptiness and vastness of the space before him.

It was only “almost” empty, because within this enormous space stood seventy-two massive blue stone seals.

Each stone seal was six zhang tall, with a base two zhang square. Atop each was carved a lifelike mythical beast—some calm and imposing, some fierce and menacing, some baring fangs and claws, some looking down on the world—each with a different expression and appearance, but all sharing one feature: three blood-red marks on their foreheads!

Henry Morgan had no idea what these stone seals represented, but Eric Bennett was different. His insight far surpassed Henry Morgan's, and what shocked him most were these seventy-two giant stone seals.

“Ancient bloodlines, the descendants of divine beasts!”

The beasts atop these seventy-two stone seals were the legendary, incomparably powerful ancient divine beasts, whose bloodlines remained in the world. Any one of them possessed strength rivaling that of a great cultivator. The three blood marks on their foreheads were an extremely rare sealing spell—within each of these seventy-two stone seals was sealed the essence blood, wisdom, and primordial soul of a mythical beast!

Standing beneath these stone seals, Henry Morgan looked even more insignificant.

Eric Bennett could not fly up to get a better look, but even from below, he could roughly deduce that these seventy-two terrifying stone seals formed a profound sealing array, seemingly suppressing something within.