Chapter 39: Interrogating Prisoners Of War
Wu Fei returned to Yongji Pass again. After the officers and soldiers and common people inside the pass confirmed that victory was safely secured, the streets and alleys were filled with an atmosphere of “Heaven first, I second.”
Battle soldiers and war chariots patrolled the streets in a triumphant posture. On the blades of the wooden ox and flowing horse, although the blood had already been washed off and they were wrapped in wooden sheaths, the nicks and bends on the blades were still visible; these were all left by killing.
On war chariots that occasionally stopped, the chariot captain was supplementing the horses with food and grass, while the soldiers were like storytellers, narrating to the common people surrounding the war chariots: When our war chariots launched a surprise attack, they left behind a river of flowing blood. Large numbers of mountain imps and monsters dropped their weapons and fled in defeat; many guys with injured limbs and broken arms crawled on the ground kowtowing.
It seemed to verify that what these soldiers said was true. When the war chariots passed through the reserved passage in the marketplace, the tall Southern Border captives locked in cages nearby immediately went weak in the legs and collapsed on the ground, causing the common people to burst into laughter.
After the laughter, they even more fervently spread Wu Fei’s prestige. Wu Fei also appropriately lifted the curfew in multiple districts inside Yongji Pass at night.
Before this battle, Wu Fei was very modest, but after winning, he could naturally boast freely. Even if Wu Fei didn’t boast, the soldiers who participated in this battle would boast. And the merchants who were forcibly detained and had to bet on Wu Fei for maximum interest would boast even more.
The family letter that Wu Hanluan truly acknowledged had not yet been sent back, but at this time, the Wu Family and Southern Border had already begun “only knowing Wu Yuanchang, not~” Hmm, this description isn’t quite right either. After Wu Fei returned home, his first words to Uncle Grandfather and other family elders were: “Today’s achievements are all thanks to Uncle’s promotion.”
…With colorful flags fluttering, the perspective shifts into a certain narrow building….
In the camp, Wu Fei interrogated Jia Mude, who had been locked in a small black room for six days and had gone mad from holding it in.
At the table, Wu Fei wearing a Monkey King half-face mask (mouth exposed), asked: “Shall we chat?”
At this time, Jia Mude’s face no longer had the pale glow from when he first arrived, but was filled with ashen qi. He looked up at Wu Fei chewing sugarcane and asked: “Can you give me one?” Wu Fei nodded.
Wu Fei very generously broke off half of the one in his hand and gave it to him: “Speak. Who is behind this time you came here and hit a wall.”
Jia Mude: “Me.”
Wu Fei spat out a mouthful of sugarcane fiber: “Who instructed you.”
Jia Mude: “As a man about to die, who else would be the chief envoy?”
Wu Fei pondered for a moment, drew two pieces of sugarcane from the bucket, and picked a red one. Then he said to him: “Who controls your life and death?”
At this time, Jia Mude fell silent. For the previous three questions, he wanted to resist answering, but each time in the conversation, Wu Fei could grasp the key points.
When Jia Mude started resisting, Wu Fei wasn’t annoyed. He took off the mask and began introducing himself in a tone of self-boasting: “Oh, let’s talk about something else. I am the nephew of the Ting Marquis of Da Yao’s Thousand Hosts Pavilion. My family’s rank is equivalent to hereditary without replacement.”
For Xuan Chong, who had experience with online chats in his previous life, once one side starts boasting, if the other is a “little kid,” they inevitably can’t hold back. This competitive symptom is heaviest around twenty years old, and the guy opposite, well, he’s just a hot-headed youth.
Sure enough, Jia Mude looked at the victor in front of him who was smugly revealing his family background, and his expression showed disdain as he said: “Oh, marquis rank, huh. Da Yao South’s gatekeeping dog.”
Wu Fei wasn’t annoyed either, entering the state of an internet troll. Back in the day, he had exchanged dozens of rounds of mutual flaming online with those guys whose foreign moons were rounder, and he had long practiced good skills against Yin Yang weird phrases like “your country.”
Wu Fei countered mockingly: “That’s right, Da Yao South Gate’s war mastiff! Who told Da Yao to have so many beggars at the gate! And being beggars is one thing—kneel down and beg for food, and real men might even reward you with some leftover bones. But not only are you beggars, you even have to be wall-prying thieves.”
Jia Mude’s vital energy surged instantly, his originally ashen face flickering with red light, and he began a dozens-fold retort: “A dog is a dog; whoever feeds you, you recognize as master. Even if it’s a petty person stealing family property. This world under Heaven of Da Yao has always been my family’s…”
Wu Fei listened to this captive blabbering with an expression of astonishment. Of course, in his heart it was “Oh, so that’s how it is.”
Wu Fei heard secrets that ordinary people would be executed for hearing half a word! The Da Yao court secrets from four hundred years ago involved imperial lineage transfer and issues of legitimacy; the official records had long been wiped clean. Private possession was equivalent to rebellion, and as for the exiled crown prince lineage being held hostage by Li Huo Sect to Southern Border, it was completely covered up.
Regarding this matter, Wu Fei suspected his own uncle knew. Of course, not telling him in the past was out of fear that the young man would let it slip and bring disaster to the family.
And now, as Da Yao’s South Pass great general, the little father full of “paternal love” toward Southern Border, His Highness Wu Fei felt he had the qualification and necessity to understand what kind of mess Da Yao had left in Southern Border four hundred years ago.
After a torrent of output, Jia Mude was very satisfied with Wu Fei’s expression.
However, immediately after, Wu Fei’s face performed “doubt” and disdainful refutation: “You say you’re a Da Yao imperial descendant, heh, with your life and death manipulated by others? Da Yao bloodline wouldn’t have such a cowardly breed.”
Like an oil lamp whose wick was trimmed and burning brightly again, Jia Mude erupted once more, and this time in the outburst, Wu Fei obtained even more crucial information.
That Li Huo Sect south of the Ling River—its old ancestor was indeed the Da Yao imperial descendant lineage. The old ancestor’s closed-door disciples were actually all family bloodline, and Jia Mude was a direct descendant with extraordinary spiritual root, quite favored by the old ancestor!
As for controlling life and death, it was related to mastery of the Ash Flow Pill. Prestigious orthodox sect magic cultivation is the path of refining essence to qi, refining qi to spirit.
While in Li Huo Sect, the cultivation mode of those inner sect disciples is the reverse of orthodox disciples.
The so-called “inner sect disciples” in Li Huo Sect cultivate by supplementing “spirit” to nourish “qi,” then supplementing “essence.” And Jia Mude as a closed-door disciple did not use this incense and fire nature pill like Ash Flow Pill for reverse refining; he still followed the orthodox path.
After hearing the cultivation information, Wu Fei suddenly wasn’t sleepy anymore. After careful questioning, connecting to his previous life’s system, he had the following understanding: The orthodox path is equivalent to “natural development,” while reverse refining is “artificial balance maintenance.”
Spirit = computing power, qi = circulating substances, essence = elements that maintain stability within the system.
First, reverse refining, taking a space station as an example of an artificial object. This is a standard system that requires external input of algorithms to maintain.
Software in a computer that uses computing power is “spirit,” the “water cycle,” “carbon cycle,” “nitrogen cycle” mobilized by computer software is “qi.” Astronauts on standby in the space station to handle sudden failures are “essence.”
To maintain this space’s entire system, it actually relies most importantly on external injected “negative entropy,” that is, maintenance personnel at the ground space agency performing calculations via software to understand how to operate the entire space station based on material cycles.
Besides space stations, all human “self-created engineering system operations” adjustments stand externally controlling via “computing systems.” That is, grasping “spirit” to control “qi,” cultivating “essence.”
As for “natural development,” people often autonomously eat when hungry; this starts from ingesting qi, not relying on external “commands” to control what to eat and drink daily.
If a person doesn’t know what to eat themselves, completely relying on external instruction input, timed injections and electrical stimulation, for example lying in a “hospital facility” maintained by external equipment, that’s abnormal.
And at this time, the Ash Flow Pill can be defined as an “external software” regulation, similar to maintaining body stability with data that cannot be controlled or known by oneself.
Those deviant cultivators in Li Huo Sect can only ensure the flow of this “qi” in their internal endocrine cycles by periodically devouring this “external computing power,” thereby sustaining their self-conscious “essence.”
Wu Fei looked at Jia Mude again and understood: Those inner sect disciples in their sect were all “cyborgs” requiring external regulation.
Pity appeared on Wu Fei’s face, and he inwardly complained: Pill-popping cultivation, all evil sects.
Regarding evil sect techniques, Wu Fei wasn’t interested now; he was already on the “military strategist” path and had no need to subject himself to others for certain demands.
…Having transmigrated, why envy immortality…
Wu Fei and Jia Mude bickered for a full afternoon, extracting quite a lot of intelligence, such as contradictions between various race tribes south of the Ling River. Wu Fei deliberately mocked that Jia Mude fundamentally didn’t know how to lead troops in battle: “Even a dog can herd a flock of geese into a line; you? Not even as good as letting loose a pig!”
Jia Mude immediately retorted: “The various races along the Ling River originally have no cooperation between them; horned people and clawed people don’t belong to the same group, and they won’t cooperate even when climbing city walls.”
In Jia Mude’s rebuttal, Wu Fei heard the first key information: That “clawed people” and “horned people” have firearm troops. That is, as early as four hundred years ago when Southern Border’s garrison general wasn’t the Wu Family but another general, he had formed firearm troops of “horned people” and “clawed people.” As for that general’s end? Because he happened to stand with Jia Mude’s ancestral line at the time, the result was becoming rebel army. As for later, the Southern Border pacification zone was lost.
Wu Fei sighed endlessly: This general was really foolish. If it were me, I’d have taken your ancestral heads and sent them to Divine Capital.
Jia Mude then mockingly looked at Wu Fei: “Your Wu Family is just upstarts! All these years, no one in Divine Capital has married into your family.”
Subsequently, Wu Fei learned that the daughter of that general back then had married Jia Mude’s old ancestor as a concubine. Oh, then it’s not strange. As for that concubine? Hmm, the person (corpse) inside that bronze coffin, after Wu Fei took her down, he directly gave her to San Gu.
As night fell, Wu Fei stuffed a chicken leg to Jia Mude and then swaggered out.
…The next day…
The door to Jia Mude’s prison cell opened again. Seeing Xiao Qing walk in, Jia Mude asked in surprise: “What about that person? Where did he go?”
Xiao Qing looked at Jia Mude, twisted her waist, lifted the bucket and immediately splashed a face of cold water on him, then leisurely said: “General had time yesterday so he chatted with you. Today it’s me. If you behave well, it’ll be me accompanying you from now on. If you resist—”
Xiao Qing pointed to the torture instruments on the wall: “I won’t use these, so I can only ask others to entertain you.”
Xiao Qing touched Jia Mude’s cheek with her hand: “You’re so fair and tender-skinned; I don’t want to hurt you.”
…Indescribable interrogation…
Wu Fei soon obtained the Ash Flow Pill formula. This formula was simple, but required fresh blood supply. Best was from young boys and girls. If no young boys and girls, then large amounts of fetal young. Wu Fei handed it over to San Gu and then made a three-chapter agreement with her.
In front of the alchemy furnace, monkeys trembled as they watched the red blood flames in the bronze coffin; their kind, after entering the blood flames, became skin and bones in less than half a shichen.
San Gu operated everything very skillfully. In her words, one look and she understood. — Wu Fei always suspected she already knew beforehand.
Wu Fei required San Gu to conduct cautious experiments, um, trying to prepare using monkey fetuses to give to old monkeys.
Then using the microscope he had accumulated, he observed: In the blood flames, the little monkey’s cells were rapidly dividing. And rapidly aging. While the old monkey taking the pill began reversing to rejuvenate.
Since his own system wouldn’t explain “biological content” to him, Wu Fei deduced: This Ash Flow Pill’s “computing power” externally input to the taker at least consumes the cell division count. — Any negative entropy requires another negative entropy system to supply.
After three rounds of experiments, Wu Fei sealed the experiment.
San Gu took back the bronze coffin and, before Wu Fei could warn her, proactively said: “Young master, rest assured. Without your request, I won’t refine this thing again. After all, it harms Heavenly Harmony, doesn’t it?”
After San Gu left, Wu Fei took a deep breath and fell into contemplation.
Undoubtedly, the “Ash Flow Pill” was utterly unconscionable. Jia Mude’s ancestral line losing Son of Heaven’s Aura was deserved! And now the hostile force he faced, Li Huo Sect, relied on this utterly unconscionable thing to maintain a massive organization. For such a “pitch-black extreme” force, he couldn’t use espionage, because his bribes would be a joke in their system.
Wu Fei couldn’t help asking: Himself, um, if the people under him one day really faced the temptations offered by Li Huo Sect, could they withstand it! After all, it’s immortality.
…Heart troubled divider…
Wu Fei unwittingly returned to Jia Mude’s prison cell, wanting to have a heart-to-heart talk, but just as he approached, he heard Jia Mude’s anxious and panicked voice: “You, you, you don’t!”
Wu Fei’s curiosity surged, he stuck a Breath Concealing Talisman on himself, then tiptoed toward the prison cell. But before getting too close, he saw a bucket-thick snake tail swaying at the prison cell door.
Xiao Qing: “Daoist, I just want to have an honest chat with you.”
Jia Mude in fear: “I’ve already told you the pill formula.”
Xiao Qing’s snake braid hair swayed softly, yet she said in a pitiful voice: “Woo, woo, but I want to know more. Otherwise, I’ll keep wrapping around you, not letting go oh.”
Through the prison cell fence, Wu Fei saw that Xiao Qing had turned into a half-human giant snake, with half her waist upright beside Jia Mude, while her massive snake body wrapped Jia Mude tightly, only leaving a human head exposed. As for the upper body, um, needs mosaic; to not damage clothes, she stripped naked before transforming.
Wu Fei was slightly stunned. He had seen Xiao Qing transform before; she could inflate to monster level in seconds, hair thickening into scale-like, growing fangs, tongue becoming slender!
If not for Wu Fei activating the Restoration Gem back then, this mutation would be irreversible. But after one round of Restoration Gem transformation, a “primordial inner core” appeared in her body; each time after transforming, as long as three shichen pass, she could rotate the primordial inner core again and turn back to human form.
In the pursuit battle some days ago, Xiao Qing’s madness after turning into snake woman was witnessed by all; relying on her large size, she wielded a five-zhang long whip with metal spikes. When the long whip lashed, the wounds on victim giant beasts directly exposed bones, and the more pain the victims felt, the stronger her strength became.
Wu Fei suddenly felt surprised because he discovered that Xiao Qing’s snake body form last time seemed much larger than the initial one, and now it seemed even bigger. It appeared every time she went berserk, this snake woman form’s combat power was enhancing.
“Wait!” Wu Fei had a “bold idea.”
…Purple scales rubbing iron fence…
After Wu Fei revealed himself, Xiao Qing quickly released Jia Mude and began acting pitiful, but her massive behemoth appearance wasn’t pitiful at all.
Wu Fei issued a command to Xiao Qing: “Change back, then come to me.”
