Chapter 61: Entry Upgrade! Battle Physique

The next day.

Ye Liuyun checked in with the Embroidered Uniform Guard as usual, glanced over some files, then headed to the Imperial Prison.

The Imperial Prison’s administrator, Xiao Yongning, greeted Ye Liuyun with a big smile as soon as he saw him coming.

"Centurion Ye, you haven’t come by for so many days, I’ve really been missing you!"

"Centurion Ye, you came at the perfect time. I just got a new prisoner in my custody. I hear he’s trained some sort of external technique—his skin and flesh are tough as hell. When it comes to punishment, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied."

"..."

Why does it sound like I really love watching people suffer torture?

But, Ye Liuyun was indeed interested in the prisoner Xiao Yongning mentioned with the tough skin and flesh.

"Then let’s go have a look."

"I’ll lead the way for Centurion Ye right now."

Seeing Ye Liuyun agree, the smile on Xiao Yongning’s face grew even wider.

Even though he thought Ye Liuyun’s preferences were a bit odd, whatever—if that’s what the man likes, he might as well cater to it. Can’t hurt.

Very soon.

Following Xiao Yongning, Ye Liuyun saw a bald giant tied to a wooden frame—covered in layers of muscle, easily weighing two or three hundred jin. Just looking at his face gave off a vicious vibe.

"If you’ve got the guts, put every torture tool you’ve got on grandpa here—let’s see if grandpa even flinches."

Even tied up, his presence was overwhelming. He probably hadn’t been caught long.

As he spoke.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard in charge of torture had already cracked a whip down on him.

The whips in the Imperial Prison are always soaked in saltwater before punishment. If your body is weak, you can’t take more than a few strikes at all.

But hitting this guy, it only left a red mark—not even breaking the skin.

Damn, he really is tough as nails.

Ye Liuyun nodded slightly in approval, then watched more closely.

"Target: Niu Heng.

Level: First-class Martial Artist.

Talent Entries: Tough as Nails (Blue), Bloodthirst (Blue),"

"Bloodthirst (Blue): Has a penchant for killing, loves the sight of blood."

My purple-grade Steel and Iron Bones entry is just one bit of experience away from evolving into a gold-grade entry.

If I fuse it with this blue-grade Tough as Nails, maybe I can level it up right away.

Talk about perfect timing.

Seeing the gleam in Ye Liuyun’s eyes, Xiao Yongning shot a look at the Embroidered Uniform Guard handling the punishment, signaling him to go even harder.

Then he grinned at Ye Liuyun and said,

"Centurion Ye, this guy’s name is Niu Heng. He was originally a disciple of the Vajra Sect, then betrayed them, and then went and committed a bunch of murders in a small town. That’s how we caught him."

You could tell just from the Bloodthirst talent entry.

Before getting caught and thrown into the Imperial Prison, Niu Heng must’ve killed loads of people.

Ye Liuyun nodded to show he understood.

He wasn’t all that interested in Niu Heng’s history. The only thing that piqued his curiosity was Niu Heng’s talent entries.

Seeing that Ye Liuyun wasn’t in the mood for chatting and was fully focused on the punishment, Xiao Yongning tactfully shut up and let him watch in peace.

...

At first, Niu Heng was pretty damn arrogant.

Kept yelling that the torturers were weaklings or whatever.

But after half an hour, his yelling started to die down.

There’s more than one torturer in the Imperial Prison—if one gets tired, there’s always someone to switch in.

But even with the Tough as Nails talent, Niu Heng couldn’t be invincible forever.

In the beginning, the whips just left red marks. But after a while, those marks turned into bloody welts.

Sweat started to bead up on Niu Heng’s forehead as he kept shouting.

"Stop... just stop already!"

"Enough already!"

"I’ll confess to everything."

That’s the thing about the Imperial Prison—even if you’ve got steel bones, they’ll break you sooner or later.

No matter if it was Xiao Yongning or the torturing guards, they all just looked on, indifferent.

They’d been in the Imperial Prison long enough. What kind of prisoner haven’t they seen? Some have even acted tougher than Niu Heng at the start. So what? They all get broken in the end.

"Confess your ass! Is anyone even interrogating you?"

This isn’t the magistrate’s office. Whether you admit your crimes or not has nothing to do with whether you get beaten or not.

The torture guards rotated again and again, and Niu Heng’s voice got smaller and smaller—eventually you couldn’t even hear him.

A prisoner like Niu Heng normally wouldn’t get beaten to death on the first day.

But because Ye Liuyun was here, Xiao Yongning gave special orders: run through the entire punishment cycle. If he’s not dead at the end, start over from the beginning—beat him till he dies, as long as it makes Ye Liuyun happy and satisfied.

This guy took quite the beating.

He lasted almost two hours before finally breathing his last.

The torturers’ arms were all sore.

Watching the talent entry float off Niu Heng’s corpse, Ye Liuyun smiled, satisfied.

Well, that just convinced Xiao Yongning even more that Ye Liuyun definitely has some special kink.

"Centurion Ye, we’ve got plenty of other prisoners here. Would you like to watch some more, sir?"

"No need!"

I collected the Tough as Nails talent entry.

As for Xiao Yongning’s offer, Ye Liuyun just waved him off casually.

"Next time. It’s getting late. Next time I stop by, if any new prisoners come in with special powers, make sure to let me know."

"Understood. You can count on me, Centurion Ye."

Xiao Yongning wasn’t stupid—this kind of thing was easy enough for him to arrange.

If he could use it to build a relationship with a centurion, it was a sure-win deal.

After a few words of small talk—

Ye Liuyun left the Imperial Prison, gesturing for Xiao Yongning not to see him off. Then he finally looked over his own character panel.

"Talent Entry System!

Host: Ye Liuyun!

Level: Innate, mid-stage!

Martial Arts: Wind-Slaying Saber Skill, Cangyang Force, Pine Wood Saber Skill, Jade-Shattering Hand, Blazing Blade Skill, Phantom Ninefold Step, Overlord Saber,

Talent Entries: Child of Destiny (Gold), Battle Physique (Gold), Human-Saber Unity (Purple), Extraordinary Comprehension (Purple), Swordsmanship Talent (Green), Extreme Yang Body (Purple), Scent Tracker (Blue), Tread Snow Without a Trace (Purple),"

"Battle Physique (Gold): Grows stronger with each battle, can rapidly learn and progress during combat, possesses extraordinary talent for martial arts and techniques."

A second gold-grade talent entry appeared.

And it’s a cultivation-focused talent entry.

Unlike the effect of Child of Destiny, Battle Physique helps you grow even faster.

The most important thing is—

"This feeling... it’s about to break through!"

As soon as the Battle Physique fused, his previously calm inner strength suddenly became restless.

This sensation really was like a breakthrough incoming.

Gold-grade entries really are something else. Forcing himself to suppress the restless inner strength, with nothing going on this afternoon, Ye Liuyun just went back to the mansion.

.....