Chapter 267: Invisible Nightmare

He Lingchuan walked up to the row of single-story buildings. This place had originally been a post station. While the front guest rooms and courtyard had been affected by the war, the stables at the back were largely intact, with only one adjacent stall burned.

Now, the prisoners sat in rows here, their hands bound behind their backs, leaning against the wall. Anyone who dared to move would be punished.

There were over a hundred people here, all dejected.

The lower-ranking officers and deputy generals, however, were kept in two separate stables next door.

He Lingchuan checked each stable and soon discovered that a red light was emanating from one of the prisoners.

Strictly speaking, it was spilling out from his waist.

His interest was immediately piqued. He crooked a finger, motioning for the soldier guarding the prisoners to approach. "When was this person brought in?"

"Just now," the soldier replied. "He was skulking around the city; we don't know what he was planning, but we found him during our search."

"Oh?" He Lingchuan asked, surprised. "The Xunzhou cavalry have all retreated, and he didn't flee? Has he been searched and interrogated?"

"Not yet. The commanders haven't had a chance." The commanders were all busy; who had time to interrogate an insignificant low-ranking soldier?

But He Lingchuan was quite free. "Then I'll do it."

"Huh?" The soldier paused, "Bu-but..."

"Don't you know who I am?"

"I know, I know!" Even if he hadn't known before, after the major battle tonight, He Lingchuan had become a familiar face to half the army. "You're Young Master He!"

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

Of course not.

At He Lingchuan's signal, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai stepped forward and picked out the prisoner he was interested in from the crowd.

The man tried to shrink back. "What do you want?"

He was small and thin, no match for two large men, and was pulled out like a chicken.

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

So, it was controllable?

After the battle, there were too few remaining single-story buildings, and each had a purpose. He Lingchuan had no choice but to commandeer a tent, drive out its original occupant, and then throw the prisoner inside.

Rock Wolf, familiar with the routine, moved to the entrance and lay down, signaling "no strangers allowed."

Shan Youjun brought in two chairs, one for Young Master He and the other for the prisoner.

He Lingchuan didn't beat around the bush. "What's with the red light coming from you?"

The man looked bewildered. "What red light?"

He Lingchuan personally reached out, pulled open the man's waist area to check, found nothing, then removed his outermost light armor.

Still nothing.

Next, he took off two more layers.

The man's face turned pale, and his gaze darted nervously.

Watching He Lingchuan undress the prisoner, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai exchanged strange glances. They had been with the Young Master for almost a month; how had they not known he had such a preference?

This prisoner was neither handsome nor well-built, so why had the Young Master taken an interest in him?

Oh dear, if the Young Master started pursuing those close to him, should they comply or resist?

The two exchanged silent, complicated looks, their minds racing.

Fortunately, at that moment, He Lingchuan ripped open the prisoner's inner garment with a 'chua' sound, and something fell to the ground with a thud.

It looked like a bronze short staff.

He Lingchuan picked it up. The short staff was incredibly miniature, only slightly longer than his middle finger, and as thick as a flute. Carved onto its top was the head of an unknown monster, resembling a bat and a pig at the same time, with a pointed snout, a short nose, tiny teeth, and very small ears.

The staff was intricately engraved with countless patterns, resembling both designs and characters, but He Lingchuan couldn't understand them.

It wasn't even the language of ancient immortals.

Yet, their arrangement was symmetrical and neat, following a certain pattern, possessing a solemn and majestic beauty. As He Lingchuan ran his fingers over the markings, a strange thought came to his mind:

Could this be some kind of magic array?

Besides this, an oval-shaped gemstone, the size of a quail egg, was embedded in the staff.

What color was it? It was hard to say, because to He Lingchuan, there was a red substance swirling within the gemstone, appearing like a liquid or a gas, or rather, constantly transforming between these two states.

It occupied three-quarters of the gemstone's volume, meaning it was almost completely filled.

Recalling the red light he had seen earlier outside the temporary cells, He Lingchuan's heart stirred. He turned and asked Shan Youjun, "Did you see this gemstone?"

Shan Youjun nodded.

"What color?"

"Dark red." Shan Youjun felt that his employer's behavior for the past half-hour had been a little unusual.

But to He Lingchuan, it was clearly a vibrant blood-red. "Look closely, can you see the color flowing inside the gemstone?"

Shan Youjun's expression grew even more confused, but the prisoner's face changed dramatically.

Sure enough, others couldn't see it again.

He Lingchuan smiled at the prisoner. "It seems you have something to say, hmm?"

"N-no."

"You can also see the anomaly inside the gemstone, right?" He asked the prisoner. "What exactly is this thing used for?"

The prisoner stammered, "There's no anomaly. This is just a toy I got from a peddler."

He Lingchuan toyed with the short staff but found no other mechanisms. The entire staff appeared to be a single casting, without even a fitted joint.

The craftsmanship was very high. A peddler would sell this? Ha.

Then, he pressed the gemstone.

The monster's eyes at the top of the staff lit up. It suddenly opened its mouth as if letting out an upward roar, and the patterns on the staff began to slither like snakes along its surface.

As He Lingchuan held the short staff, he felt as if something was converging from all directions.

Within a few blinks, one red light after another descended from the sky and entered the monster's mouth.

In other words, it wasn't roaring, but rather absorbing.

He Lingchuan finally understood where the red light he had seen outside came from.

However, he still didn't understand how these lights formed. He even felt as if they were projected by the beast's eyes before immediately being drawn into its mouth.

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

The patterns on the staff also became active. They moved from the monster's mouth to the ruby, each pattern flashing with red light.

But when they moved out of the ruby again, they returned to their normal state.

This process repeated.

He Lingchuan understood after a few glances: the red light absorbed by the beast's mouth was transported by these patterns into the gemstone for storage.

So, the red substance within the gemstone was the compressed form of these incoming red lights?

Hmm, this was getting stranger and stranger.

The prisoner gazed at him, unable to suppress his surprise, because He Lingchuan's expression said it all:

He fully understood how the short staff worked.

How was this possible? Only their disciples, who had undergone special means to "open their heavenly eyes," could perceive demonic energy!

"If you continue to conceal information, you'll be subjected to severe torture." This was the ultimatum.

The prisoner was dumbfounded.

Shan Youjun stepped forward. "Master, I'll take care of it."

"Good, I'll leave it to you." He Lingchuan folded his arms and stepped back two paces. "Interrogate him thoroughly; you might uncover more."

Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai stepped forward and began to strike with their fists.

They were very experienced. They stood only to the prisoner's side, so when they punched him in the abdomen, the vomit and blood expelled from his mouth wouldn't splash onto them.

The prisoner screamed from the blows, and his face was hit several more times. His cheeks immediately swelled up grotesquely, and his eyes were squeezed into narrow slits.

But he gritted his teeth and refused to confess.

Shan Youjun had someone bring a bucket of clean water and a cloth, which he pressed into the bucket to wet. Then, he grabbed the back of the prisoner's chair, tilting it backward so the man was upside down, and covered his face with the wet cloth.

A wet cloth alone could suffocate someone, but Shan Youjun also scooped a ladle of water and slowly poured it over the prisoner's mouth and nose.

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

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

He Lingchuan knew this was "water torture." It appeared to cause no bleeding or visible wounds, but in reality, the victim experienced the dual torment of suffocation and drowning, their physical and psychological limits repeatedly violated.

As long as the torturer controlled the rhythm—fast, slow, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, neither fast nor slow—the prisoner's suffering would multiply.

He Lingchuan watched for about a dozen breaths when an uproar sounded outside, as if a large contingent of people was arriving.

What was happening?

He strode out of the tent to look and saw that a contingent, numbering over six hundred, was indeed entering the military camp through the main front gate. There were cavalry, foot soldiers, over a hundred carriages, and even laborers whose attire and appearance instantly identified them.

But they were dejected, many with bloodstained clothes and wounds. They looked weak and exhausted, and upon entering the camp, they collapsed to the ground, almost unable to move.

He Lingchuan's heart sank.

This contingent had separated from them only two days prior, taking the route through Bailu Town and Songhua Plain. It originally numbered nearly a thousand, more than He Chunhua's own forces. After the battle at Xinhuang, He Chunhua had also sent people to Bailu Town to inquire about its safety, but this contingent had arrived first.

And they looked exactly like a defeated army that had endured the standard package of hardships.

The soldiers in the camp put down their tasks and silently watched them.

The leading general, Wu Shaoyi, dismounted and, seeing He Lingchuan, looked ashamed. "Young Master, we were ambushed in Bailu Town! I only managed to bring back these few carriages."

He stumbled slightly as he dismounted, but He Lingchuan steadied him. He saw that Wu Shaoyi's face was pale, his shoulder wounded, and blood had soaked his entire sleeve.

At this moment, dawn was breaking in the east, and He Lingchuan exhaled a cool breath in the early spring of the northern lands.

"Xinhuang was also attacked."

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

Baili Qing, Gui Yuan, and Dong Rui had escaped; the Xinhuang military camp was in chaos; He Chunhua's forces had suffered losses in both soldiers and generals... all these pieces of news were less shocking than this last one.

Wu Shaoyi hurried to see He Chunhua. Though He Chunhua's expression was serious, he first found a military doctor to treat Wu Shaoyi's wounds.

Their conversation took place during the treatment.

Bailu Town had stronger defensive capabilities than Xinhuang. Wu Shaoyi and another supply transport general, Zhou Hongyue, had focused their defenses on Jutang Pass, which they would pass through a day later. Upon entering Bailu Town, they ordered their forces to rest in place. Both were cautious and did not wander into town, instead staying in civilian houses requisitioned by the army. As a result, Wu Shaoyi drank too much water and went out to relieve himself temporarily. Before he had even finished, he was thrown to the ground by an explosion's blast wave.