The Fallen System: Gaining Bloodlines of the Fallen-Chapter 51: Prisoners (2)

Cairen left the room with firm but silent steps, echoing faintly through the empty corridors of the castle.

Night had already fallen, and the moonlight filtered through the tall windows, painting elongated shadows on the polished stone walls.

He did not wait for dawn. The decision he had made could not be delayed for even one more second.

His cultivation needed to advance, and he knew exactly how to make that happen quickly. The prisoners condemned to death in the castle were the key.

Dead either way, their lives could become the fuel for his ascension.

He followed the bond that connected him to Ling Xiyue, an invisible, pulsing thread that guided him like a beacon in the darkness.

The castle was vast, but his expanded spiritual sense made navigation simple. He felt the presence of the guards at their posts, the peaceful sleep of the servants in the lower quarters, and even the faint movement of beasts in the outer gardens. But nothing distracted him. His focus was on her. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He arrived at the ornate door to Ling’s chamber, identical to his own but with more intricate carvings representing the ancestral lineage of the royal family.

Without hesitation, he knocked three times, the sound echoing through the silent corridor. For an instant, nothing happened. Then, the door opened with a soft creak.

Ling was there, wearing a simple silver silk robe, her loose hair falling like a cascade over her shoulders.

Her silver eyes regarded him with a mixture of curiosity and irritation at being awakened at such an hour. But she did not seem surprised to see him, as if she already knew he would come.

"What do you want at this hour?" she asked, her voice low but carrying a natural authority.

Cairen did not wait.

"I need your permission to access the castle prison. The prisoners were condemned to death."

Ling raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms.

Her eyes analyzed him for a moment, quickly connecting the dots. She remembered the beasts he had absorbed in the mountain range, the way his shackles transformed bodies into pure energy.

It was not difficult to connect. He needed living victims to grow stronger, and the prisoners were perfect. Already destined for the end, without moral or political complications for the kingdom.

"I understand," she said simply, without judgment in her voice.

"You want to use them for your cultivation. To absorb them, as you did with the beasts."

Cairen nodded, not denying it.

"Yes. My progress is far too slow. I need to advance before the academy. They will die anyway."

Ling remained silent for a moment, pondering briefly. Despite having already decided deep down. She saw no ethical problem in it. To her, lives were resources, and the condemned had already lost the right to exist.

Moreover, strengthening Cairen was strengthening herself as well, thanks to the bond that united them. If he became stronger, she would also benefit indirectly. A subtle smile appeared on her lips.

"Very well," she agreed, turning to take a dark cloak from the rack beside the door.

"I will take you there."

Cairen did not expect it to be so easy, but he nodded.

They left together down the corridor, the sleeping castle around them. Ling guided him through side passages he did not yet know, descending spiral staircases that seemed to sink into the bowels of the mountain.

The air grew colder and more humid, the smell of wet stone mixing with something darker, rusted iron, and accumulated despair.

As they descended, Cairen expanded his spiritual sense.

He penetrated the thick walls, mapping what lay below.

The prison was not just a single underground floor, as he had imagined. There were five subterranean levels, each deeper and more isolated than the last.

He sensed varied presences. On the first level, weak and broken souls, almost without life. On the second, a more constant agitation, like caged beasts. On the third, a deadly stillness, punctuated by whispers of madness.

The fourth and fifth were abysses. Presences that had once been dense, still carrying an oppressive energy.

’The deeper below, the stronger and more terrible the prisoners.’ Cairen thought.

Those on the lower levels were not mere criminals but monsters, cultivators whom the kingdom would one day execute publicly.

They reached the entrance to the prison. A massive iron door, guarded by two sentinels motionless as statues.

Ling showed a royal seal, and they opened it without a word. The air that escaped was fetid, heavy with moisture and accumulated suffering.

"You may enter." Ling said, stopping at the entrance.

"But I will not. Whatever you do inside is your problem. Just do not cause a commotion that draws unnecessary attention."

Cairen nodded without questioning. He did not want her nearby anyway.

He passed through the door and descended alone to the first level. The cells were holes carved into the rock, with rusted bars. The air was oppressive, and the silence was broken only by distant groans and the constant dripping of water.

He stopped in front of the first cell. Inside, a skeletal man was chained to the wall.

His skin was gray, stretched over prominent bones, and his empty eyes stared at nothing, without any trace of life or hope. He seemed already dead in will, merely waiting for the body to follow.

Cairen felt a pang of something. Not pity, but recognition. That man was an echo of what he himself had become in his previous life, the difference was that Cairen had been innocent.

Without hesitation, Cairen raised his hand. Already decided in his decision.

The chains emerged from the center of his palm, snaking through the air like living shadows. They passed through the bars effortlessly, wrapping around the prisoner’s neck with a metallic click.

The man did not even react, his empty eyes remaining fixed on the void.

"Judgment."

The chains glowed with a gray energy, and the process began. The prisoner’s body twisted slightly, the mark of half an eye burning on his forehead. Then, he withered.

Skin, muscles, bones. Everything dissolved into a dark essence that was sucked into the chains and channeled into Cairen. The fallen energy flooded his dantian, spiraling and strengthening his foundation. But, in the middle of the flow, something different emerged.