Chapter 39: Interrogating the Prisoners of War

Wu Fei returned once more to Yongji Pass. With the soldiers and commoners inside the pass now certain that victory was safely secured, the streets and alleys were filled with an atmosphere of "God is first, and I am second."

The combat troops and war chariots patrolled the streets with a triumphant air. Although the blades of the mechanical oxen and horses had been cleaned of blood and encased in wooden sheaths, the nicks and bends on the edges—remnants of the slaughter—were still visible.

Whenever the chariots halted, the commanders would replenish the horses' fodder, while the soldiers, acting like seasoned storytellers, recounted to the surrounding crowds how their chariots had left rivers of blood in their wake during the assault. They told of how vast numbers of mountain demon spirits had thrown down their weapons and fled in a rout, with many of the wounded, their limbs severed or arms shattered, crawling on the ground and kowtowing.

As if to corroborate these soldiers' accounts, as the chariots passed through the reserved lanes of the marketplace, the large Southern frontier captives held in nearby cages immediately collapsed in fear, their legs turning to jelly, drawing jeers and laughter from the townspeople.

Following the laughter came even greater praise for Wu Fei’s prestige. Wu Fei also appropriately lifted the nighttime curfew that had been in place across several districts within Yongji Pass.

Before this battle, Wu Fei had been modest, but since they had won, it was only natural to let loose and boast. Even if Wu Fei didn't brag, the soldiers who had participated in the battle certainly would. And the merchants, who had been forcibly detained and had their bets tied to Wu Fei's success, were even more eager to spread the word to maximize their profits.

The family letter that Wu Hanluan would truly recognize had not yet been sent back, but already, the Wu family and the Southern frontier had begun to circulate the sentiment, "One only knows Wu Yuanchang, and knows not..." Well, that description wasn't quite right. Upon returning home, the first words Wu Fei said to his great-uncle and the other clan elders were, "My achievements today are entirely due to the guidance of my eldest uncle."

...Amidst the fluttering colorful flags, the perspective shifts to a cramped building...

Inside the camp, Wu Fei interrogated Jiamude, who had been locked in a dark room for six days and was driven to the brink of madness.

At the table, Wu Fei, wearing a half-face Monkey King mask (leaving his mouth exposed), asked, "Shall we talk?"

Jiamude’s face no longer held the pearly white luster it had when he first arrived; it was now filled with a sickly gray pallor. He looked up at Wu Fei, who was chewing on sugarcane, and asked, "Can you give me one?" Wu Fei nodded.

Wu Fei generously broke off half of the sugarcane he was holding and gave it to him. "Tell me, who is behind the scenes, directing you to hit a wall here?"

Jiamude replied, "It was me."

Wu Fei spat out a piece of sugarcane fiber. "Who directed you?"

Jiamude said, "I am a man about to die; who else would be directing me?"

Wu Fei pondered for a moment, pulled two more stalks of sugarcane from a bucket, picked a red one, and then said to him, "Who controls your life and death?"

At this, Jiamude fell silent. He had tried to resist answering the first three questions, but in every exchange, Wu Fei managed to grasp the key point.

When Jiamude began to resist, Wu Fei did not get angry. He took off his mask and began to introduce himself in a boastful tone: "Oh, let's talk about something else. I am the nephew of the Marquis of Qiansu Pavilion of the Great Yao. My title is equivalent to one that is hereditary and perpetual."

For Xuan Chong, who had experience with online chatting in his past life, once one party started boasting, the other party—if they were a "schoolboy"—would inevitably be unable to hold back. This symptom of competitiveness was strongest around the age of twenty, and the guy opposite him was, well, just a naive hothead.

Sure enough, looking at the smug victor before him who was busy bragging about his family background, Jiamude’s expression turned to one of disdain. "Oh, a title of a feudal lord? Just a watchdog of the Great Yao's south."

Wu Fei was not angered. He slipped into the persona of an internet troll. Having spent years in past lives trading dozens of rounds of insults online with those who thought "the moon is rounder abroad," he had long since mastered the art of dealing with sarcastic remarks like "your country."

Wu Fei retorted mockingly, "That’s right, the very war-mastiff of the Great Yao’s southern gate. After all, there are so many beggars at the gates of my Great Yao! And a beggar is a beggar; when you kneel and reach out for food, a real man might toss you some leftover bones. It’s just a pity that not only are you a beggar, you’re also a thief trying to pry open the walls."

Jiamude’s blood rushed to his head; his ashen face flashed with a red glow as he unleashed a retort ten times as fierce: "A dog is a dog; whoever gives you food, you acknowledge as your master. Even if you are a villain stealing family property. This world of the Great Yao has always been my family's..."

Wu Fei listened to the captive’s rambling with a look of astonishment. Internally, he thought, "Oh, so that’s how it is."

Wu Fei had heard a secret that, for an ordinary person, would be worth a beheading just for hearing half a word! It was a secret concerning the imperial palace of the Great Yao four hundred years ago, involving the transfer of the imperial line and issues of legitimacy. The government had long since scrubbed all relevant historical records clean. Those who kept such secrets were considered rebels. As for the exiled crown prince’s lineage being held hostage in the Southern frontier by the Lihuo Sect, that had been completely covered up.

Regarding this matter, Wu Fei suspected that his uncle knew. Of course, he hadn't told him in the past for fear that a young man might let something slip and bring disaster upon the family.

But now, as a Southern frontier general of the Great Yao and a "fatherly" figure full of "paternal love" for the South, Prince Wu Fei felt he had the qualification and the necessity to understand what kind of mess the Great Yao had left behind in the Southern frontier four hundred years ago.

After his outburst, Jiamude was very satisfied with Wu Fei’s expression.

However, immediately following this, Wu Fei performed a look of "doubt" and retorted with disdain: "You say you are a royal heir of the Great Yao? Heh, your life and death are controlled by others? Does the bloodline of the Great Yao produce weaklings like you?"

Like an oil lamp whose wick had been trimmed and set ablaze again, Jiamude exploded once more. And through this explosion, Wu Fei obtained even more critical information.

...

The Lihuo Sect south of the Ling River was indeed the legacy of the Great Yao’s imperial line. The inner disciples accepted by the Sect’s ancestor were actually all of the royal bloodline. Jiamude, being a direct descendant with extraordinary spiritual roots, was quite favored by the ancestor!

As for the control over life and death, it was related to the mastery of the "Ash-Flow Pill." The legitimate practice of the orthodox sects was the path of "refining essence into energy, and refining energy into spirit."

However, the cultivation method for those "inner disciples" within the Lihuo Sect was the exact opposite of the orthodox disciples.

The cultivation path for the so-called "inner disciples" in the Lihuo Sect was: supplementing "spirit" to nourish "energy," and then supplementing "essence." Jiamude, as a direct disciple, had not used the "Ash-Flow Pill"—a type of incense-like pill—for this reverse cultivation, but still followed the orthodox path.

Upon hearing this information about cultivation, Wu Fei was suddenly wide awake. After careful questioning, he connected it to the systems of his past life and came to the following understanding: the orthodox path was equivalent to "natural development," while the reverse cultivation belonged to "artificial equilibrium maintenance."

Spirit = computing power; Energy = circulating matter; Essence = elements that maintain stability within the system.

Take the reverse cultivation, using an artificial object like a space station as an example. This is a standard system that requires external input of algorithms to maintain.

In a computer, the software that utilizes computing power is "spirit," the "water cycle," "carbon cycle," and "nitrogen cycle" regulated by the computer software are "energy," and the "astronauts" standing by in the space station to deal with temporary malfunctions are "essence."

To maintain the entire system of this space, it mainly relies on the "negative entropy" injected from the outside—that is, the maintenance personnel at the space agency below use software to calculate how to operate the entire space station based on material cycles.

Aside from the space station, all of humanity's adjustments to "the operation of engineering systems they have created themselves" are controlled from the outside through a "computational system." That is to say, they grasp "spirit" to control "energy" and cultivate "essence."

As for "natural development," a person often eats voluntarily when hungry. This starts from "swallowing energy," rather than relying on external "commands" to control what to eat and drink every day.

If a person doesn't know what to eat and relies entirely on external command inputs, scheduled injections, and electrical stimulation—like lying in a "hospital facility" relying on external equipment to sustain life—that is not normal.

At this moment, the "Ash-Flow Pill" could be defined as a type of "external software" adjustment, similar to maintaining bodily stability based on data that one cannot control or know oneself.

Those Lihuo Sect practitioners who had gone astray could only ensure the flow of "energy"—the endocrine cycle within their bodies—by periodically consuming this "external computing power," which in turn sustained the "essence" of their self-awareness.

Wu Fei looked at Jiamude again and understood: those inner disciples in their sect were all a type of "biochemical human" requiring external regulation.

A look of pity appeared on Wu Fei’s face. He thought to himself: "Cultivating by popping pills—they’re all evil sects."

As for evil sect techniques, Wu Fei was not interested. He was already on the path of the "Strategist," so there was no need to make himself beholden to others for some specific requirement.

...Since I have transmigrated, why envy immortality...

Wu Fei and Jiamude bickered for an entire afternoon, extracting a great deal of intelligence, such as the conflicts between various ethnic tribes south of the Ling River. Wu Fei deliberately mocked Jiamude for being unable to lead an army: "Even a dog can drive a flock of geese into a formation, but you? You're not even as good as a pig!"

Jiamude immediately retorted: "The various tribes along the Ling River have never had any cooperation. The Horned People and the Clawed People do not belong to each other; they wouldn't even cooperate when scaling city walls."

In Jiamude’s defense, Wu Fei heard the first key piece of information: the "Clawed People" and "Horned People" had firearms units. That is, as early as four hundred years ago, when the commander of the Southern frontier was not the Wu family, but another general, they had already organized firearms units of "Horned People" and "Clawed People." As for the fate of that general? Since he happened to be on the side of Jiamude’s ancestor’s lineage at the time, the result was that he became a rebel. As for later, the Southern frontier pacification zone was lost.

Wu Fei sighed: "That general was truly a fool. If it were me, I would have plucked your ancestor’s head off and sent it to the Divine Capital."

Jiamude looked at Wu Fei sarcastically: "Your Wu family is just an upstart! For so many years, no one in the Divine Capital has even entered into a marriage alliance with you."

Later, Wu Fei learned that the daughter of that general had married Jiamude’s ancestor as a concubine. Oh, that was no surprise. As for that concubine? Well, she was the person (corpse) in that bronze coffin, whom Wu Fei had given to his Third Aunt after he took it.

As night fell, Wu Fei stuffed a chicken leg into Jiamude’s hand and sauntered away.

...The next day...

The door to Jiamude’s cell opened again. Seeing that it was Xiao Qing who walked in, Jiamude asked in surprise, "Where is that man? Where did he go?"

Xiao Qing looked at Jiamude, twisted her waist, lifted a bucket of water, and splashed it directly into his face. Then she said leisurely, "General-sir had some free time yesterday, so he chatted with you. Today, it’s my turn. If you behave well, I’ll be the one keeping you company from now on. If you resist—"

Xiao Qing pointed to the torture instruments on the wall. "I won't use these; I’ll just have to invite someone else to entertain you."

Xiao Qing reached out and stroked Jiamude’s cheek. "You have such delicate skin and tender flesh; I wouldn't want to hurt you."

...Indescribable Torture...

Wu Fei quickly obtained the formula for the Ash-Flow Pill. The formula was simple, but it required fresh blood to supply it—preferably from young boys and girls. If that couldn't be obtained, a large number of fetuses would be needed. Wu Fei tossed it back to his Third Aunt and set three ground rules with her.

In front of the alchemy furnace, monkeys watched in terror as the red blood flames burned inside the bronze coffin. Their kin, after entering the blood flames, would become skin and bones within half a quarter of an hour.

Third Aunt operated everything with great skill. According to her, she understood it after just one look—though Wu Fei always suspected she might have known how to do it beforehand.

Wu Fei instructed Third Aunt to conduct cautious experiments: using monkey fetuses to try to prepare medicine for an old monkey.

Later, using a microscope he had pieced together, he observed: in the blood flames, the cells of the young monkey were dividing rapidly and aging quickly. The old monkey that took the pill, however, began to reverse the process and return to youth.

Since his system wouldn't answer "biological content" questions for him, Wu Fei deduced: the "computing power" externally input for the user of the Ash-Flow Pill at least required consuming the cell division count. Any negative entropy required another negative entropy system to supply it.

After three rounds of experiments, Wu Fei sealed the results.

After Third Aunt withdrew the bronze coffin, before Wu Fei could warn her, she said in advance, "Young Master, don't worry. Without your request, I will not refine this kind of thing again. After all, it harms the heavens, doesn't it?"

After Third Aunt left, Wu Fei took a deep breath and fell into thought.

Undoubtedly, the "Ash-Flow Pill" was a wicked thing. Jiamude’s ancestral line deserved to lose its imperial aura! And now, the force he had to oppose, the Lihuo Sect, was relying on this wicked thing to sustain a massive organization. Against such a "dark to the extreme" force, he couldn't use spies, because his bribery would be a joke within their system.

Wu Fei couldn't help but ask himself: if his own subordinates were one day faced with the temptation provided by the Lihuo Sect, could they hold out? After all, it was immortality.

...A line of distraction and frustration...

Wu Fei returned to Jiamude’s cell without realizing it, wanting to have a heart-to-heart, but just as he approached the cell, he heard Jiamude’s anxious and panicked voice: "You, you, don't!"

Wu Fei’s curiosity was immediately piqued. He applied a "Breath-Concealing Talisman" to himself and crept toward the cell. However, before he got too close, he discovered a snake tail as thick as a water bucket swaying at the cell door.

Xiao Qing: "Daoist, I just want to have an honest chat with you."

Jiamude, in terror: "I’ve already told you the pill formula..."

The snake braids on Xiao Qing’s head swayed smoothly, but she used a pitiful voice to say, "Wu, wu, but I want to know more. Otherwise, I’ll just keep entwined with you, and I won't let go."

Looking through the cell bars, Wu Fei saw that Xiao Qing had turned into a half-human, half-giant-snake. Her waist stood beside Jiamude, and her massive snake body was wrapped tightly around him, leaving only his head exposed. As for her upper body, well, it needed to be pixelated; to avoid damaging her clothes, she had stripped them off before transforming.

Wu Fei was slightly stunned. He had seen Xiao Qing transform before; she could expand to monster-level size within seconds, her hair would thicken into scales, and she would grow fangs and a long, thin tongue!

If Wu Fei hadn't activated the "Restoration Gem" back then, this mutation would have been irreversible. But after a round of modification by the Restoration Gem, a "Hunyuan Inner Core" appeared in her body. Every time she transformed, as long as three hours had passed, she could rotate the Hunyuan Inner Core again to return to her human form.

During the pursuit a few days ago, the madness Xiao Qing displayed after transforming into a snake-woman was evident to all. Relying on her massive size, she used a five-zhang-long whip embedded with metal spikes. When she swung it, one could see the bones of the large monster victims, and the more painful the victims were, the greater her strength became.

Wu Fei was suddenly surprised, because he realized that Xiao Qing seemed much larger than when she first transformed, and now she seemed to have grown even bigger. It seemed that every time she went into a frenzy, the combat power of her snake-woman form increased.

"Wait!" Wu Fei had a "bold idea."

...Purple scales rubbing against the iron bars...

After Wu Fei revealed himself, Xiao Qing hurriedly let go of Jiamude and began to act pitiful, but in her current gargantuan form, she didn't look very pitiful at all.

Wu Fei gave the order to Xiao Qing: "After you transform back, come see me."