Liu Ke frowned, thinking for several seconds. Suddenly, a possibility occurred to him, and he spoke in a grave tone.

"It’s possible that without your knowledge, the prison staff secretly placed some kind of Superpower on you.

Once you get a certain distance from the prison, the Superpower they placed on you would activate and alert the staff."

Hearing Liu Ke’s speculation, Tie Qiu Heng immediately broke into a stream of curses. "Fuck... Are those guys really that thorough?

That metal bracelet that can track my location and seal the Spiritual Energy in my Dantian wasn’t enough for them? They had to go and put some unknown Superpower on me without my knowledge, too."

"You guys, look! What is that?" Wang Tao suddenly shouted, raising his finger and pointing toward the sky in the direction of the prison.

At his words, Tie Qiu Heng and Liu Ke turned to look in the direction he was pointing.

An orange-red light had abruptly appeared in the pitch-black sky, speeding toward the three Canglan Society members.

A mere five or six seconds later, the orange-red light arrived in the sky directly above them.

This was a middle-aged man, nearly six feet tall, with a crew cut, a stern face, and a powerful build. His gaze was as sharp as lightning.

A pair of enormous, orange-red wings had sprouted from the man’s back. They were formed from condensed flames, each feather so lifelike it seemed to sway in the breeze.

"It’s the Prison Director, Zhao Chi!" Tie Qiu Heng’s face went deathly pale as he looked up at the man with Flaming Wings standing in mid-air. He cried out in terror.

As a recent inmate, Tie Qiu Heng had naturally seen the imposing Prison Director before, so he recognized him instantly.

Prison Director Zhao Chi had already gone to bed. He had only just fallen asleep when the warning Spiritual Artifact on his nightstand began to blare with a piercing hum.

Zhao Chi was jolted from his deep sleep by the warning Spiritual Artifact, which was designed to track high-priority targets within the prison.

Upon waking, he knew at once that there had been a prison break. Grabbing the warning Spiritual Artifact, he followed its directions in pursuit of the escapee.

Zhao Chi slipped the compass-like warning Spiritual Artifact into his pocket. He then glanced down at the three men on the ground and spoke in an icy tone.

"You have some nerve, daring to escape... But this works out. I remember you. You’re Tie Qiu Heng, a member of the Canglan Society. I presume the two beside you are also from the Canglan Society. Now I can wipe you all out in one fell swoop."

The faint golden Spiritual Light around Tie Qiu Heng vanished. It seemed the Superpower the prison staff had placed on him had simply timed out and dissipated on its own.

"What do we do now?" Tie Qiu Heng said nervously. "They say this Prison Director, Zhao Chi, is at the Peak of Tier Two. If that’s true, we’re no match for him, even if all three of us attack together."

Having already lost his freedom, had his Spiritual Energy sealed, and been reduced to a common man once before, Tie Qiu Heng dreaded the thought of being locked back up in that cold, desolate prison.

The further a Cultivator progressed, the more difficult their training became, but the power they obtained also grew immensely.

Tie Qiu Heng and Liu Ke were both at the Tier Two Middle Stage, while Wang Tao was a Tier Two Initial Stage Cultivator.

A team like theirs could maybe last a few rounds against a Tier Two High Rank enemy.

But against a Tier Two Peak opponent, they’d be lucky to last a minute without one of them being killed.

Suddenly, the Spiritual Energy Wave around the stern-faced Liu Ke surged. A pale golden beam of light shot from his right eye, speeding toward the airborne Zhao Chi.

Faced with the incoming beam, Zhao Chi, with his Flaming Wings, didn’t even try to dodge. He simply let the pale golden light strike him.

’Why isn’t he dodging?!’ Tie Qiu Heng wondered as the pale golden beam struck Zhao Chi. But his confusion vanished almost instantly.

The pale golden beam, which had previously been infallibly able to lull its targets to sleep, should have knocked Zhao Chi unconscious upon impact.

Yet, he remained motionless in mid-air, his expression unchanging as he gazed down at the three Canglan Society members, as if the beam hadn’t touched him at all.

Looking at the unaffected Zhao Chi, Tie Qiu Heng understood why he hadn’t dodged. Liu Ke’s attack had absolutely no effect on him.

"He’s definitely at the Peak of Tier Two," Liu Ke said to Tie Qiu Heng and Wang Tao when he saw his Superpower attack fail.

He came to this conclusion because while his Superpower wasn’t particularly effective against Tier Two High Rank Cultivators, it wasn’t completely useless either.

It would only have absolutely no effect if the opponent’s cultivation level surpassed the Tier Two High Rank.

"Just surrender. Save me the effort of dealing with you myself," Zhao Chi said, his voice as icy as ever as he addressed the three from the Canglan Society.

The moment he finished speaking, the faint Spiritual Energy Wave around Zhao Chi, initially at the Tier Two Initial Stage, began to surge violently. Within a single breath, it exploded to reveal the full power of a Tier Two Peak.

As Tie Qiu Heng and the others perceived the full strength Zhao Chi was deliberately unleashing, the color drained from their faces in terror.

"Liu Ke, I told you this rescue mission wouldn’t be a walk in the park."

It was strange that Wang Tao, who was trembling slightly in the face of Zhao Chi’s full power, still had the presence of mind to make such an irrelevant comment.

Liu Ke’s lips twitched into a smirk. "Fortunately, Steward Zhang made preparations. Otherwise, we’d all be goners today."

Tie Qiu Heng had already fallen into despair the moment Prison Director Zhao Chi unleashed his full power to intimidate them.

But then, hearing the exchange between Liu Ke and Wang Tao, a flicker of hope ignited within him.

"Hmph. So you plan to put up a pointless struggle? Then don’t blame me for what comes next."

Zhao Chi snorted. A pale golden Spiritual Light flashed in his eyes, and the Flaming Wings on his back swelled rapidly. In an instant, they had doubled in size.

"Fire Rain."

As Zhao Chi uttered the word, the enormous Flaming Wings on his back spread wide before flapping powerfully toward the three Canglan Society members below.

"FWOOSH..."

With the powerful flap, the lifelike, orange-red feathers of the Flaming Wings shot downwards like a volley of arrows.

They rained down in a dense barrage, blanketing the area where the three Canglan Society members stood.

Tie Qiu Heng, Wang Tao, and Liu Ke watched the fine Fire Rain descend from the sky, their pupils contracting in shock.

They could clearly perceive the immense power contained within the downpour. They knew that if this terrifying Fire Rain hit them, they would be severely injured, if not killed outright.

"Let’s go!" As the descending Fire Rain was about to strike them, Liu Ke instantly mobilized the Spiritual Energy in his Dantian, pouring it into a silver ring on his middle finger.

This seemingly ordinary silver ring was a special Spiritual Artifact—an escape tool given to Liu Ke and Wang Tao by Steward Zhang, the one who had sent them to rescue Tie Qiu Heng.

"If your lives are in danger, you can use this Spiritual Artifact to escape. Remember, you only get one chance."

Steward Zhang’s words flashed through Liu Ke’s and Wang Tao’s minds.

...