After the Immortal Disappeared

Hee Lingchuan walked to the row of single-story buildings. This place was originally a post station. The front guest rooms and courtyard had been damaged in the war, but the row of stables in the back was mostly intact. Only one on the side had been burned down.

Now, the captives were sitting in rows here, their hands tied behind their backs, leaning against the base of the wall. Anyone who dared to move would get a beating.

There were over a hundred people here, all looking dejected.

The minor leaders and lieutenants were held separately in two adjacent stables.

Hee Lingchuan checked the stables one by one. He soon discovered that a red light was actually emanating from one of the captives.

Strictly speaking, it was seeping out from his waist.

His interest was immediately piqued. He crooked a finger, beckoning the soldier guarding the captives to come closer. "When was this man brought in?"

"Just now," the soldier replied. "He was hiding furtively in the city. We don’t know what he was up to, but we found him during a search."

"Oh?" Hee Lingchuan said, surprised. "The Xunzhou Rangers have all withdrawn, and he still didn’t run? Has he been searched and interrogated?"

"Not yet. All the commanders have been too busy to spare a moment." The leaders were all occupied, so who had the time to interrogate an insignificant grunt?

But Hee Lingchuan had plenty of free time. "Then I’ll do it."

"Huh?" The soldier was taken aback. "But... but..."

"You don’t know who I am?"

"I do, I do!" Even if he hadn’t known before, after tonight’s great battle, Hee Lingchuan had become a familiar face to half the army. "You’re Mr. Hee!"

"Is there a problem with me interrogating a captive no one else has time for?"

Of course there wasn’t.

At a signal from Hee Lingchuan, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai stepped forward and plucked the chosen captive from the crowd.

The man recoiled. "What are you doing!"

He was scrawny and small. How could he resist two large men? He was lifted out like a chick.

Hee Lingchuan noticed that as soon as Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai walked toward the man, the red light at his waist vanished. He had been sitting hunched over, his hands tucked at his waist.

’So, it’s controllable?’

Too few of the single-story buildings remained after the battle, and each one was in use. Hee Lingchuan had no choice but to commandeer a tent, kick out its original occupant, and then toss the captive inside.

The Rock Wolf, knowing the routine, ambled over to the entrance and lay down, giving off a clear "strangers keep out" vibe.

Shan Youjun found two chairs and brought them in. He gave one to Eldest Young Master Hee and stuffed the captive into the other.

Hee Lingchuan didn’t plan on beating around the bush. "What’s with the red light on you?"

The man looked bewildered. "What red light?"

Hee Lingchuan took matters into his own hands, pulling open the man’s waistband to look. Nothing. He then removed his outermost layer of Light Armor.

Still nothing.

He then took off two more layers.

The man’s face went pale, his gaze shifting uncertainly.

Watching Hee Lingchuan undress the captive, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai exchanged a strange look. They’d been by the Eldest Young Master’s side for nearly a month now; how had they not known he had this kind of hobby?

This captive wasn’t good-looking and had no physique to speak of. Why on earth had the Eldest Young Master taken a fancy to him?

’Oh dear. If the Eldest Young Master starts preying on those close to him in the future, should I yield or not?’

The two looked at each other, speechless, their minds in a turmoil of conflicted emotions.

Fortunately, at that moment, Hee Lingchuan tore open the captive’s middle tunic with a RIIIP, and something fell to the ground with a CLATTER.

It looked like a short, bronze scepter.

Hee Lingchuan picked it up for a look. The scepter was tiny, just a little longer than his middle finger and as thick as a flute. The top was carved with the head of some strange beast—it looked like a bat but also a pig, with a pointed snout, a short nose, fine teeth, and small ears.

The body of the scepter was engraved with countless lines that looked like both patterns and writing, but Hee Lingchuan couldn’t understand them.

It wasn’t even the Immortal Language from Ancient Times.

But their arrangement was symmetrical and neat, conforming to some kind of pattern, possessing a solemn and stately beauty. As Hee Lingchuan traced the lines, a strange thought popped into his head:

’Is this some kind of Array?’

In addition, an oval-shaped gemstone the size of a quail’s egg was embedded in the scepter’s body.

What color was it? It was hard to say, because to Hee Lingchuan’s eyes, a red substance was swirling inside the gem. It seemed like a liquid, but also a gas, or perhaps it was constantly shifting between the two states.

It occupied three-quarters of the gem’s volume, meaning it had nearly filled the entire gemstone.

Recalling the red light he’d seen outside the makeshift prison, Hee Lingchuan’s interest was stirred. He turned his head and asked Shan Youjun, "Do you see this gemstone?"

Shan Youjun nodded.

"What color is it?"

"Dark red." Shan Youjun felt that his Master’s behavior for the past hour had been a little strange.

But to Hee Lingchuan, it was clearly a vivid, blood-like red. "Look closely. Can you see the color flowing inside the gem?"

Shan Youjun’s expression grew even more bewildered, but the captive’s face changed drastically.

’Just as I thought, others can’t see it.’

Hee Lingchuan said to the captive with a grin, "Looks like you have something to say, hmm?"

"N-no."

"You can see the abnormality in the gem too, can’t you?" he asked the captive. "What is this thing used for?"

The captive stammered, "Wh-what abnormality? It’s just a toy I got from a peddler."

Hee Lingchuan toyed with the short scepter but couldn’t find any other mechanisms. The entire scepter seemed to be cast in one piece, without a single seam.

’The craftsmanship is quite high. A peddler would sell this? Heh.’

Then, he pressed the gemstone.

The eyes of the beast on the scepter’s head lit up. It suddenly opened its mouth as if to roar at the sky, and the lines on the scepter’s body began to move like snakes.

As Hee Lingchuan held the scepter, he felt as if something was gathering from all directions.

In the span of a few blinks, streams of red light descended from the sky and flew into the beast’s mouth.

In other words, it wasn’t roaring, but inhaling.

Hee Lingchuan finally understood where the red light he’d seen outside had come from.

But he still couldn’t figure out how the light was formed. He even felt as though it was being projected from the beast’s eyes, only to be immediately drawn into its mouth.

He waved his hand through it, and the red light passed through his palm as if it were nothing.

The lines on the scepter’s body also got busy. They swam from the beast’s mouth to the Ruby, each line glowing with red light.

But when they swam out of the Ruby, they returned to their normal state.

This process repeated.

Hee Lingchuan understood after watching for a few moments: the red light inhaled by the beast’s mouth was transported by these lines into the gemstone to be stored.

’So the red substance inside the Ruby is formed by the compression and accumulation of this external red light?’

’Hmm, this is getting stranger and stranger.’

The captive stared at him in utter astonishment, because Hee Lingchuan’s expression said it all:

He could completely see how the short scepter worked.

’How is this possible! Only Attendant Disciples like us who have had their Celestial Eye Opened through special means can see Nightmare Qi!’

"Keep hiding it, and you’ll be severely tortured." This was the final ultimatum.

The captive was dumbfounded.

Shan Youjun took a step forward. "Master, let me do the honors."

"Mm, he’s all yours." Hee Lingchuan crossed his arms and stepped back. "Interrogate him well. You might get something extra out of him."

Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai walked up and started punching him.

They were very experienced. They stood only to the captive’s side, so that when they punched him in the stomach, the vomit and blood that spewed from his mouth wouldn’t splash onto them.

The captive yelped and screamed from the beating. After a few more blows to the face, his cheeks swelled up high, and his eyes were squeezed into thin slits.

But he gritted his teeth and refused to confess.

Shan Youjun called for a bucket of clean water and a cloth. He soaked the cloth in the bucket. Then he grabbed the back of the captive’s chair and flipped it backward, leaving the man upside down, before covering his face with the wet cloth.

The wet cloth alone was enough to suffocate someone, but Shan Youjun also ladled some water and poured it slowly over the man’s mouth and nose.

The man made gurgling sounds, struggling like a fish on a cutting board.

In fact, he was in more agony than a fish out of water.

Hee Lingchuan knew this was waterboarding. It looked bloodless and left no wounds, but in reality, the victim experienced the double pleasure of suffocation and drowning, their physical and psychological limits repeatedly trampled.

As long as the torturer controlled the rhythm—speeding up, slowing down, varying the tempo—the captive’s suffering would multiply.

Hee Lingchuan had been watching for just over ten breaths when a commotion erupted outside, as if a large contingent of troops had arrived.

’What happened?’

He strode out of the tent to look. Sure enough, a column of troops was entering the military camp through the main front gate. There were about six hundred of them, including cavalry, foot soldiers, over a hundred carriages, and even conscripted laborers, recognizable by their clothes and appearance.

But they were dejected. Many had blood on their clothes and were wounded. They looked weak and exhausted, collapsing to the ground the moment they entered the camp, barely able to move.

Hee Lingchuan’s heart sank.

This contingent had separated from them only two days ago, taking the Bailu Town-Songhua Plateau route. They numbered nearly a thousand, even more than Hee Chunhua’s own force. After the battle at Xinhuang, Hee Chunhua had sent men to Bailu Town to scout for safety, but instead, this contingent had arrived first.

And they had all the hallmarks of a defeated army.

The soldiers in the camp all stopped what they were doing and watched them in silence.

The leading general, Wu Shaoyi, dismounted upon seeing Hee Lingchuan, his face full of shame. "Eldest Young Master, we were ambushed at Bailu Town! I only brought back these few carriages."

He staggered as he dismounted and was caught by Hee Lingchuan. His face was pale, his shoulder was wounded, and blood had soaked his entire sleeve.

At this moment, the East was faintly lit by dawn. Hee Lingchuan let out a breath of cool air in the early spring of the Northern Land.

"Xinhuang was attacked too."

The news Wu Shaoyi brought was truly the worst of the entire night.

Baili Qing, the Ghost Ape, and Dong Rui had escaped; the Xinhuang Military Camp was in chaos; Hee Chunhua’s forces had suffered heavy losses... none of this news was as shocking as this final piece.

Wu Shaoyi rushed to see Hee Chunhua. Although the latter’s expression was grim, he first had a military medic treat Wu Shaoyi’s injuries.

Their conversation took place during the treatment.

Bailu Town’s defensive forces were stronger than Xinhuang’s. Wu Shaoyi and the other supply escort general, Zhou Hongyue, had focused their defensive preparations on Jutang Pass, which they would pass through a day later. After entering Bailu Town, they had ordered the troops to rest in place. Both men were cautious and didn’t wander around town, instead staying in civilian houses commandeered by the army. As it happened, Wu Shaoyi had drunk too much water and went out to relieve himself. Before he could even shake it dry, he was thrown to the ground by the shockwave of an explosion.