Chapter 4585

The next morning, the formation in the cells deactivated automatically. The youngest sister’s brother stepped out and called to Kai, “Time for the daily walk. We only get half an hour, so don’t waste it.”

Kai stood and followed him out of the cell. The burly man Kai had beaten the day before didn’t stir; he remained curled up in the corner, fast asleep.

Once outside, the sunlight warmed Kai’s skin, a welcome comfort after the dim confines of the cell. However, the prison was still shrouded in a dense white fog. The fog acted as a barrier—those outside couldn’t see in, and the prisoners couldn’t see beyond it.

One by one, other prisoners emerged from their cells. Most of them had sallow faces and emaciated frames, as if they had been utterly drained of vitality.

Kai observed the scene carefully. There were thousands of prisoners in the yard, but their cultivation levels were indiscernible. Their depleted states and exposed auras made it impossible to determine their realms.

The spiritual power of thousands of monks has been absorbed and stored, Kai thought to himself, his heart heavy with disbelief. The amount of spiritual energy contained in that ancient tree must be unimaginable.

Unfamiliar with the prison layout, Kai followed the youngest sister’s brother toward a specific area.

“What are we doing?” Kai asked.

“Restoring spiritual power,” the youngest sister’s brother replied. “During this exercise time, there’s only one place in the prison with spiritual energy. We go there to absorb it and replenish what we’ve lost. Everyone gathers there during this time every day.”

Kai mulled over his words. It wasn’t that the prison lacked spiritual energy entirely—it was being tightly controlled by a large formation. The spiritual energy was released in just one spot for a limited time, allowing the prisoners to practice for only half an hour each day.

It’s a calculated setup, Kai realized. By controlling access to spiritual energy and forcing the monks to practice in this way, they can more efficiently drain their spiritual power.

Kai also suspected the limited access to spiritual energy served another purpose: to prevent the prisoners from discovering the prison’s true secret by using the ambient energy to grow stronger.

Following the youngest sister’s brother, Kai arrived at an area where dozens of figures were already gathered, eagerly awaiting their chance to absorb spiritual energy.
The stadium-sized area was already packed with cultivators, all greedily absorbing the spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

The youngest sister’s brother quickly found a spot, sat cross-legged, and began practicing his cultivation technique, drawing in the thin spiritual energy.

However, with thousands of people competing for the same resource, the spiritual energy thinned noticeably in an instant.

Kai also sat down but didn’t bother to absorb the spiritual energy. Instead, his gaze shifted toward the towering ancient tree that dominated the prison.

The tree stretched skyward, its lush branches and leaves spreading out as if to shelter the entire prison beneath them.

“Don’t waste your time practicing. Come with me to see the ancient tree,” Kai said, tugging at the youngest sister’s brother.

“Half an hour won’t make a difference anyway. With so many people absorbing the energy, it’s barely effective.”

“I still—”

Before he could finish, Kai tossed him a pill. “Take this instead,” Kai said.

The pill would restore his energy much faster than absorbing the increasingly diluted spiritual energy.

The youngest sister’s brother quickly pocketed the pill and nodded. “Alright! But I should warn you, under that ancient tree, there’s a group of unknown beasts. We’ll have to watch from a distance and stay hidden.”

“Unknown beasts?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “Could they be monsters from the outside world?”

“I don’t know,” the youngest sister’s brother admitted, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen them in Beast City. They might be from the outside world.”

As they approached the ancient tree, Kai marveled at its massive size. Even from hundreds of meters away, the trunk was easily over a hundred meters thick.

No wonder its roots spread throughout the entire prison, Kai thought, his awe growing.

They advanced cautiously until they were within a hundred meters of the tree. At that point, the youngest sister’s brother stopped, unwilling to go any closer.

Kai, however, continued to observe. Beneath the ancient tree, he spotted more than a dozen monks seated on the ground. But these monks were far from ordinary—they hadn’t fully evolved. Like the burly man from the cell yesterday, their faces still bore beast-like features, revealing their incomplete transformations.