The term “Heavenly Prison” typically refers to a prison located in the capital and directly under the control of the imperial court. It is distinct from the “Dungeon” (underground prison) and refers to a prison above ground, where serious offenders were held.

　　Although the Heavenly Prison was built directly on the ground, it actually had many layers, with the main part still underground. The lower down the prison, the more important and dangerous the prisoners were.

　　Throughout history, only two types of people have been able to enter the imperial prison: one is court officials, who are all big shots who can attend court assemblies, and ordinary corrupt officials are not worthy of it; the other is vicious criminals, who cannot be contained in ordinary prisons, or whose level is too low. The fact that they need to be imprisoned in such strict and terrifying prisons is itself a testament to the importance attached to them.

　　Because it’s a martial arts world, the Heavenly Prison also holds many masters, most of whom have committed serious crimes. It’s somewhat similar to Impel Down in One Piece, where floors are arranged according to the degree of crime and danger, with the lower floors being the most dangerous.

　　For example, if Tian Boguang was handed over to the government alive, or if he was arrested by the Six Doors, he would be imprisoned. But people like Tian Boguang were usually in the middle three layers. After their identities were verified, they would be publicly executed.

　　The main reason is that their crimes are so heinous that killing them would not appease public anger.

　　Such heinous criminals who had a terrible impact on society would be imprisoned in the imperial prison and then publicly executed in the city. This was a way for the imperial court to deter the martial arts world and those wicked sects, and also to give an explanation to all the people of the world. In this respect, Tian Boguang was indeed unforgivable.

　　The criteria for “villains” in Evil Valley are actually based on the bounty lists issued by the Six Doors. If someone is listed and their crimes truly deserve the title of villain, they are qualified to enter. Otherwise, once they enter, they will be attacked by the entire evil community of Evil Valley. Therefore, Evil Valley is one of the seven forbidden areas in the martial arts world.

　　The title of “Ten Great Evils” is not self-proclaimed; rather, it refers to the highest-ranking group of individuals with the most bounties within the entire Six Doors organization.

　　For serious villains like Dongfang Bubai and Yu Luosha, there are no bounties. It’s pointless. First, if the bounty is low, no one will pay attention to you. Second, even if the bounty is high, not many people will be willing to earn the money. Instead, it will just lead to a complete falling out.

　　Therefore, most of those arrested by the Six Doors were criminals from the martial arts world, mainly those involved in unorthodox and evil practices. When members of the eight major sects were arrested, they were mostly made to clean up their own messes.

　　The eight major sects are somewhat similar to the Ten Elders under the company in Under One Person. They are semi-official forces that have been officially recognized, that is, the righteous path that has been officially certified.

　　Similar to the Seven Warlords of the Sea, they obey the orders of the imperial court, but are not considered government officials. At the same time, the imperial court accepts their right to rule the mountains and allows them to control some key transportation routes and protect their territory.

　　Meanwhile, most of the experts in the Six Doors and some special departments are provided by the Eight Great Sects (for example, Jin Jiuling is a lay disciple of Shaolin). Because of this, when bad apples appear in the Eight Great Sects, they are usually not exposed to the outside world, but are dealt with internally, which is commonly known as “cleaning up the house”.

　　The Sun Moon Cult, the Ming Cult, and some martial arts families and local gangs are unofficially recognized martial arts forces, belonging to the gray area, not the purely black area that many people think they are in.

　　The Golden Money Gang caused so much trouble in Jiangnan, slaughtering so many people in the martial arts world, yet the imperial court did nothing about it.

　　Because the Money Gang is not officially recognized as an evil sect, it is just a matter of江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) feuds. Therefore, the imperial court will not get involved in these matters. At most, they will help collect the bodies and clean up the mess. This is why Shangguan Jin Hong has no scruples and has become even more ruthless.

　　The “pure black zone” refers to officially certified cults and heretical sects, the kind that the authorities directly crack down on. Such groups exist, the most famous being the White Lotus Cult, as well as Western demonic cults and some forces from Japan.

　　These forces don’t need to follow the rules; just kill them outright.

　　This is also why no one would criticize the eight major sects when they besieged some evil spirits and demons, because these were no longer considered normal martial arts practitioners or martial arts feuds.

　　While the Sun Moon Cult and the Ming Cult were also targeted by the imperial court, the authorities did not directly define their relationship, meaning there was no open conflict, and their conflicts remained largely confined to normal martial arts disputes.

　　The so-called black and white are the divisions made by the righteous sects themselves. The Sun Moon Sect and its subordinate forces do not recognize them. They call themselves the “Divine Sect” and do not consider themselves bad people or doing bad things. This is also the reason why the Sun Moon Sect and some so-called demonic and evil sects act with such confidence.

　　The imperial prison is divided into nine levels. Even the most powerful officials in the imperial court only go up to the sixth level and don’t need to go to the bottom three levels.

　　Normally, only some important rebels and faction leaders are qualified to enter the lower three levels, but they are not set up to imprison them. The real people imprisoned in these three levels are those with high martial arts skills and viciousness, or even great demons who can threaten the court and the foundation of the country.

　　Even a formidable embroidery thief like Jin Jiuling was only at the seventh level; he wasn’t qualified for the last two.

　　The five top experts imprisoned by Liu happy, including even one of the Ten Great Evils, Crazy Lion Iron Battle, could only be placed on the eighth floor through his own privileges, not on the ninth floor.

　　Because the ninth floor can only be opened by the emperor’s personal order, no matter how serious or severe the crime, other prisoners are not qualified.

　　The only one who could be imprisoned here is undoubtedly a terrifying and powerful super demon who dominated an entire era.

　　According to the setting of “The Little Fish and the Flower Without Flaws”, after Yaoyue and Lianxing were captured by Liu Xi and Jiang Yuyan, they were imprisoned on the ninth floor of the Heavenly Prison. Under normal circumstances, only super masters of this level are worthy of being imprisoned here.

　　Gu Santong, the notorious villain who slaughtered over a hundred masters from the eight major sects and tarnished their reputations, was naturally imprisoned on this floor. This was an order personally issued by the emperor at the time, and Zhu Wushi was granted a marquisate and a series of privileges based on this achievement.

　　He rose to power by stepping on the corpses of his good brother, so the person he feared and dreaded the most was naturally this good brother.

　　The term “Heavenly Prison” itself refers to a place surrounded by mountains, with a treacherous terrain, easy to enter but difficult to leave.

　　Therefore, the design and layout here are indeed very dangerous. Not only is the environment very complex, but there are also special Qimen Dunjia formations. People who are not familiar with the routes can easily get lost in different passages and be unable to escape.

　　Secondly, there are some hidden traps; one wrong move and you’ll fall into one’s trap.

　　Besides these, there’s the so-called heavily guarded defense with sentries every three or five steps. Actually, this isn’t a very strong defensive line, but combined with some of the traps and mechanisms here, it’s terrifying.

　　If you try to force your way out and are discovered by these sentries, they will activate alarms and mechanisms, closing all passages. No matter how skilled you are in martial arts, you will slowly starve and die of thirst.

　　Huo Xiu, the owner of Qingyi Tower, died under such a trap, dying of thirst from the very trap he had set (as mentioned earlier, it was Gongsun Lan who did it to avenge Shangguan Feiyan).