Hearing her Master's voice, Bai Ling didn't delay any further and quickly entered her abode located in the lower section of the ship.
The moment Bai Ling entered her abode, Hou Shu let out a laugh, "I haven't used you in so long! Charge, Vajrayana!"
The ship seemed to have heard Hou Shu as the instance he uttered those words, the ship's hull let out a golden light, covering the whole ship, which happened in the blink of an eye, the golden light morphed into two majestic golden wings, increasing the ship's speed countless fold!
In due time the great array ship Vajrayana's journey was over and it came to a halt.
Standing near the helm, Hou Shu gently stroked the ship's wheel, "I haven't used in so long, yet the journey already ended... Yet what has ended, has indeed ended, it is better to look towards the future."
Murmuring this, Hou Shu sent a divine message to Bai Ling, informing her that they had arrived at their destination.
Bai Ling, who just entered into a meditative state, awakened in shock, baffled by the fact that they arrived at their destination so quickly. She was in awe that her Master had such a method.
Nevertheless, she quickly approached the deck of Vajrayana, where she saw her Master was standing and looking in front of him.
Seeing this, She quickly approached her Master and trailed her gaze towards where her Master was looking.
She noticed that the Space Isolation Array was down but she didn't put emphasis on it as what she saw in the distance made her freeze in her place.
In front of her was a gigantic lily burning in the sky, but upon closer look, one would notice that it was not burning, in fact, the whole lily was made of white flames!
But this is not enough to shock Bai Ling, despite her young age, she is a disciple of a Great Completion Nascent Soul stage expert.
What made her shocked was the flame lily's stem. Because the stem was not a stem nor a flame, but a hundred zhang upside down tower!
On the surface of the tower, there were many illusory eyes ranging from three cun to a zhang in size. These eyes were constantly moving about as if monitoring the whole place.
The moment Bai Ling's shock subsided, she realized that this place was where all of the Yan Family's prisoners were kept, Yanhua Tower!
"Shock subsided? Good! The Tower Lord has also arrived, follow me." Said Hou Shu as he floated up from the ship's deck towards the tower.
Bai Ling quickly followed, not wanting to delay, for her master had the tendency to be punctual.
"Greetings Fellow Daoist Hou, I long have heard of your reputation and have great admiration for you!" Said a slightly chubby middle-aged man with a laugh as Hou Shu approached him.
"Fellow Daoist surely jests! Compared to the great Tower Lord Yan Shen Jun, who had battled countless demons, my reputation is in no way better." Said Hou Shu as waved his sleeve, quickly withdrawing his ship back into his storage ring.
But before Yan Shen Jun could reply, Hou Shu spoke again, "Let's not waste time on pleasantries and move on to the matter that brought me here."
Yan Shen Jun's expression turned into a solemn one as he nodded, "Indeed, I have been informed of this matter by the Patriarch, let this one guide you." He then turned around and flew up towards the Yan Hua Tower's entrance, which was just below the flame lily.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Not wasting words, both Master and disciple followed Yan Shen Jun into the Yan Hua Tower.
The interior of the Yan Hua Tower was significantly more spacious than the outside, at least two or three times larger. Inside this huge tower, there was an inner tower with two cells on each floor guarded by ferocious-looking fire spirits. Surrounding it was a seven-chi-wide stair spiraling down with a myriad of small impish fire sprites roaming around, surveying the whole tower to stop the prisoners from breaking free in case the arrays stopped working.
As they were walking down the stairs, Hou Shu suddenly asked, "Ling'er, do you know why we are here?"
Bai Ling, who was occupied by a small fire sprite that was following her, quickly yet calmly answered, "Seeing we are in a prison, and from the information jade that master had given me, I can deduce that we are here for that suspect that informed Yan family of the Fire Elemental Treasure that was unearthed in Nanqing Immortal Province."
"As expected of my disciple, despite your first visit to this dangerous place, you can remain calm, good child!" Hou Shu laughed, but then spoke in a strict tone, "Also, take out that fire sprite. Taking even one may be detrimental to this place."
Bai Ling was unwilling, for she really liked these sprites. But her Master was right, so she opened her storage ring, letting the one she secretly took, out.
"Life Storage Rings are truly precious artifacts, and you are using it to smuggle these fire sprites." Hou Shu smiled wryly.
"Fellow Daoist Hou, we have arrived. This is the cell where the suspect is being kept." Said Yan Shen Jun with his brows furrowed, as if thinking deeply about something puzzling.
Hou Shu stopped being playful as he looked at the cell with a deepened gaze.
This cell was on the third lowest floor, showing the great deal of importance of the suspect to the Yan family.
There were two fire spirits thirteen chi huge with looks of Dharmarajas guarding the cell. Behind them, the cell's gate was huge, nine zhang in height and seven zhang in width. It had a white tiger and a vermilion bird inscribed on it. The gate was comprised of materials of both metal and fire element, showing that a force other than the Yan Family had a hand in creating it.
After observing the gate for a few breaths, Hou Shu gestured to Yan Shen Jun to open the door.
Yan Shen Jun didn't waste any time as he quickly performed a few hand seals and murmured a sutra with a speed so fast that even Hou Shu couldn't observe the hand seals nor hear the sutra.
The moment Yan Shen Jun finished, the Dharmaraja Fire Spirits moved out of the gates ranged and pointed at it with their halberd. The moment they did so, the white tiger and the vermilion bird came to life as they started to intertwine and formed a Taijitu, which then separated into Yin and Yang, opening the gate.
Even after the gate opened, one could not see anything inside, only pitch-black darkness, despite the light emitted by the myriads of fire sprites and spirits in the tower. One could tell it's an array even if someone did not know about arrays.
Thus, the Master and disciple nor the Tower Lord made any fanfare or remarks, they all calmed their mind, gathered their thoughts and stepped forward, entering the cell.
The moment they entered, they were greeted with darkness, just like the view from outside the gate.
But this darkness didn't stay for long as candles started to light up on their own, revealing that they were in a long hallway with no end in sight.
They continued for what seemed a cup of tea's worth of time when they came in front of the opening leading out of the hallway.
In front of the opening, Yan Shen Jun stopped and turned towards Hou Shu and said, "This is where the suspect is being held," He then did a light bow, "This one has to leave now and let Daoist Hou interrogate, I hope fellow Daoist can understand."
"You are the Tower Lord, taking your time to personally escort me is already enough." Hou Shu said and bowed in return.
"Then this one will take my leave now," saying this, Yan Shen Jun bowed once more and finally left to handle his duties.
With Yan Shen Jun gone, the Master and disciple duo didn't waste any time and exited the hallway, entering the cell proper.
Outside the hallway, what greeted them was a dome made of bronze, with slits covering almost all the surface of it. From them, one could see wisps of flames.
In the center of the dome, there was a giant ring made of the same coppery material floating, and in the center of it, there was a disheveled person bound to the ring with chains of flame.
Laying his eyes upon this slight, Hou Shu couldn't help but remark, "So you are the suspect, Da Tong."