Yang Qing quickly averted his gaze from Horse Mountain to Ox Mountain. The Ox Mountain was the mountain covered in three different colored flames. They were orange, red, and blue. The more Yang Qing concentrated on those flames the more he felt like his whole body down to his soul was engulfed in those flames. The blue flame had the highest potency of the three, while the orange was the weakest, though even though it was weak it could burn a core formation to ashes in an instant.
"This could be an alchemist's and blacksmith's paradise as long as they could bear the flames," thought Yang Qing. Certain ingredients needed a certain type of flame to be able to refine them either into a potion or weapon.
Yang Qing even spotted a few unique herbs and ores growing within those flames. He had no idea as to their identities since grottos usually had unique natural treasures tied to the intrinsic nature of the grotto itself.
After being given a brief introduction to the mountains, Yang Qing couldn't help but wonder about the identities of the remaining ones. If he went by Vice Warden Shao An's statement about there being only three mountains, then he guessed the three mountains housed domain-level criminals and maybe even one at the soul formation.
Just as he was about to investigate them further, he heard Vice Warden Shao An's voice warning him.
"Don't try to look at them too deeply otherwise even with the protection of the parasol tree, you won't leave unscathed."
Yang Qing hurriedly pulled back his when he heard Vice Warden Shao An's warning.
"Those three mountains are special in comparison to the rest, which is a given considering they are used to imprison domain experts. If you're not careful your soul, your mind, and body may be injured by them, even passively," warned Vice Warden Shao An.
"Thank you for the kind reminder Senior Shao," said Yang Qing with an apologetic smile. His back was covered in sweat.
Because of the illusion of safety he had with Vice Warden Shao An, he had forgotten where he was. This was where the most heinous cultivators were housed. Those who had committed all kinds of atrocities such as single-handedly massacring a whole city or a whole clan with different means.
How could a place that housed cultivators like them be a place anyone could do as they pleased? It had to be even more dangerous than its occupants, otherwise, it would not serve its purpose as a doomed prison for the damned. A place built to break their spirits and their lives.
The name Requiem was rather ironic considering the nature of the place. It did not give repose to those imprisoned but guaranteed them never-ending torment. Though if one looked at it from a different angle the name was fitting. While those imprisoned here didn't gain any peaceful rest, their victims, both the living and the dead would get rest knowing those who harmed them were receiving the worst possible treatment they could ever get, even worse than what they got and such a thought may have a comfort to them.
"Since I am your senior and I understand the curiosity of youth. I could tell you of the three mountains even if you can't analyze them as the rest."
Vice Warden Shao An had a smile as he said this when he saw Yang Qing quickly perk up his ears and eyes gleaming with curiosity.
'I hope he won't take out a bag of sunflower seeds and wine' Shao An playfully thought.
"The remaining three mountains; monkey, snake, and tiger are for the mountains that house the early-stage, middle-stage, and late-stage domain experts respectively.
When you came in you must have noticed the mountain that was raining different colored lightnings, one that was complete darkness and one that was covered in light.
The Monkey Mountain is the one with the lightning rain, the Snake Mountain is the one covered in complete darkness and the Tiger Mountain is the one covered in complete light…"
"What about where we are?" asked Yang Qing.
Even though it wasn't part of the Grotto mountains he still felt it held a significant role. The Chief Librarian couldn't have created it just for kicks or maybe it was where the Requiem Guards lived. It could be considered the only habitable place in the whole grotto Every other place was a disaster waiting to happen.
"This is the Dragon Mountain, the prison for the soul formation experts and also their burial ground because, unlike the rest of the cultivators, we can't risk having them around for too long.
Every soul formation expert caught is executed within 10 years, not that we have soul formation experts here.
For now, it's just a nice mountain to relax at and drink tea and admire the view," said Vice Warden Shao An.
For some reason Yang Qing didn't believe him, he felt there was more to the Dragon Mountain, and the part about there not being a soul formation expert present had its doubts too. He didn't have any basis other than gut instinct and youthful indulgence and curiosity.
Yang Qing had an unhealthy penchant for seeing mysteries even where there were none, which was why he usually got taken for a lot of his spirit stones at the open-air market. The weirder an object looked, the more likely Yang Qing would spend an arm and a tooth to get it.
"I think it's about time to send you back. I'm afraid without En Sang's token, it will get dangerous for you to be here even with my assistance, and the warden isn't around to keep that thing at bay," said Vice Warden Shao An as he looked below them.
"There is something down there!" Yang Qing fearfully thought. He had learned his lesson from before, so he made no attempts to look downward.
He exchanged a few more words with Shao An before he was brought away the same way he was brought back. The ride back however was two times faster than before. In ten minutes, he was back at the cliff he appeared from and the spatial domain to the Judicial Committee building was already open. He immediately jumped in, leaving the nerve-wracking Requiem behind.
….
"Luckily it is still in deep hibernation," muttered Shao An as he stared below him with an austere look and a golden glow in his eyes.
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