Chapter 00268: The Invisible Nightmare Energy
# The Invisible Nightmare Energy
Chapter 268
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 268: The Invisible Nightmare Energy
He Lingchuan walked up to the row of low houses.
This used to be a post station, but the guest rooms and courtyard in front had been affected by the war.
Surprisingly, the row of stables at the back remained mostly intact, with only one room having been burned down.
Now the captives were sitting in rows, their hands tied behind their backs and leaning against the wall.
Anyone who dared to move even a little would face punishment.
There were more than a hundred people here, all looking dejected.
The small leader and the subordinate general were locked up in two other stables nearby.
He Lingchuan went from stable to stable, and soon he noticed that a red light was actually emanating from one of the captives.
To be precise, it was overflowing from his waist.
His interest was piqued, and he beckoned the soldier watching the captives to come closer. “When was this person locked up?”
“Just now,” the soldier replied. “He had been hiding sneakily in the city; we don’t know what he was up to, but we found him during the search.”
“Oh?” He Lingchuan was curious. “The patrols in Xunzhou have all been withdrawn, and he still didn’t run? Has he been searched and interrogated?”
“Not yet, the higher-ups are all busy and haven’t had the time to deal with such an insignificant minion.”
But He Lingchuan had plenty of time to spare. “Then I will handle it.”
“Ah?” The soldier was taken aback. “B-but…”
“You don’t know who I am?”
“I know, I know!” Even if he hadn’t known before, after tonight’s battle, He Lingchuan had become familiar to almost half the army, “You are the esteemed Young Master He!”
“Is there any problem with me interrogating a captive that the others have no time to deal with?”
Of course, there wasn’t.
With a gesture from He Lingchuan, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai stepped forward and pulled the captive he had his eyes on from the pile of people.
The man stepped back, “What are you trying to do?”
He was small and thin, hardly able to resist being grabbed like a chick and pulled out.
He Lingchuan noticed that as Shan Youjun and the others approached him, the red light around his waist vanished.
He had been crouching down, hands tucked away at his waist.
So, it’s still controllable?
After the battle, the remaining low houses were too few; every one of them had its use.
He Lingchuan could only take over one of the tents, forcibly driving out the original occupant, and tossing the captive inside.
Yan Lang nimbly settled at the door, laying down with a clear warning to stay away.
Shan Youjun found two chairs to bring in, giving one to Young Master He and forcing the captive into the other.
He Lingchuan did not intend to beat around the bush: “What’s this red light on you?”
The man looked utterly confused, “What red light?”
He Lingchuan took matters into his own hands, pulling apart his waist cloth for a look.
Nothing there.
Then he removed the light armor he wore on the outside.
Still nothing.
Next, he stripped away two more layers.
The man’s face went pale, his gaze wandering unsteadily.
As they watched He Lingchuan undress the captive, Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai exchanged glances, their expressions strange.
Having been around the Young Master for almost a month, how could they not know he had such tastes?
This captive had neither good looks nor physique; why was the Young Master so interested in him?
Oh dear, what if the Young Master started eating close to home? Would they just stand by?
The two of them looked at each other in silence, both feeling a strange sensation in their hearts.
Fortunately, at this moment, with a swift pull, He Lingchuan tore away the captive's inner garment, and something fell onto the ground with a clatter.
It appeared to be a short copper staff.
He Lingchuan picked it up for a closer look and found it to be quite peculiar, only slightly longer than his middle finger, with thickness comparable to a flute.
The head of the staff was carved with the face of an unknown beast, resembling both a bat and a pig, with a pointed beak, a short snout, and small ears.
The body of the staff was engraved with countless patterns, resembling both designs and characters, but He Lingchuan couldn’t decipher them.
This wasn’t even from the ancient language of the immortals.
However, the arrangement was uniform and tidy, fitting some sort of pattern, exuding a solemn and austere beauty.
He Lingchuan ran his fingers over the patterns, and a strange thought crossed his mind:
Could this be some kind of formation?
In addition, embedded in the staff was an oval-shaped gemstone, about the size of a quail’s egg.
What color was it? Hard to say, because to He Lingchuan, the gemstone actually seemed to contain a red substance swirling within it, resembling either a liquid or a gas, or perhaps fluctuating between the two states.
This substance took up three-quarters of the volume of the gemstone, meaning it was almost full.
Thinking back to the red light he saw outside the temporary holding cell, He Lingchuan’s heart stirred, and he turned to Shan Youjun, “Did you see this gemstone?”
Shan Youjun nodded.
“What color?”
“Dark red.” Shan Youjun thought that the Young Master's behavior in the past half-hour had been somewhat unusual.
But in He Lingchuan’s eyes, it was clearly a bright red, akin to blood. “Look closely, can you see the color swirling inside the gemstone?”
Shan Youjun’s expression became even more bewildered, but the captive’s face changed drastically.
Indeed, others couldn't see it.
He Lingchuan smiled cheerfully at the captive, “It seems you have something to say, hmm?”
“N-no, I don’t.”
“You can see the abnormalities in the gemstone, right?” He asked the captive, “What is this thing for?”
The captive stammered, “There’s nothing abnormal; it’s just a toy I got from a peddler.”
He Lingchuan played with the short staff but found no other mechanisms; the entire staff seemed to be crafted as a single piece, without any joints or interfaces.
The craftsmanship was exquisite.
Would a peddler sell this? Hmph.
Then, he pressed the gemstone.
The beast’s eyes at the end of the staff lit up, and it suddenly opened its mouth, letting out a roar as the patterns on the staff began to slither like snakes.
As He Lingchuan held the short staff, he felt as if something was gathering around him from all directions.
In just a few blinks, streams of red light descended from the sky, pouring into the beast’s mouth.
In other words, it wasn’t roaring; it was sucking in.
He Lingchuan finally understood how the red light he had seen outside had come about.
But he still couldn't comprehend how these lights were formed; he even felt like they were being illuminated by the beast's eyes before being consumed by its mouth.
He waved his hand, and the red light passed through his palm, as if it were nothing.
The patterns on the staff began to busy themselves, slithering from the beast’s mouth into the red gemstone, each pattern glowing with red light.
But when they swam out from the gemstone again, they returned to their normal state.
This cycle repeated.
After a few glances, He Lingchuan understood: The red light being sucked in by the beast’s mouth was carried to the gemstone by these patterns and stored inside.
So the red substance within the gemstone was formed from these external red lights compressed together?
Hmm, it was getting stranger.
The captive stared at him, unable to stop his surprise, for He Lingchuan’s expression had already revealed everything:
He could clearly see how this short staff operated.
How is this possible! Only those disciples who had “opened their heavenly eyes” through special means could see the nightmare energy!
“If you still want to hide it, we’ll use severe punishment,” this was the final ultimatum.
The captive gaped in shock.
Shan Youjun stepped forward, “Boss, let me take over.”
“Hmm, I leave it to you.” He Lingchuan crossed his arms and stepped back two paces, “Interrogate him well; you might uncover something else.”
Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai stepped forward and started swinging their fists.
They were very experienced, standing beside the captive; thus, when they punched him in the abdomen, the vomit and blood that spewed from the captive’s mouth wouldn't splatter onto them.
The captive howled as he was beaten; after receiving a few more hits, his face was swollen to such an extent that it seemed half the size of his head, and his eyes squinted into mere slits.
But he gritted his teeth and refused to confess.
Shan Youjun called for a bucket of clean water, then grabbed a cloth to soak it in the bucket.
Afterward, he flipped the captive’s chair backward, positioning him upside down, and covered his face with the wet cloth.
The cloth could suffocate someone, and Shan Youjun even scooped a ladle of water and slowly poured it over his mouth and nose.
The man made muffled sounds, struggling like a fish on a chopping board.
In reality, he was now even more tormented than a fish out of water.
He Lingchuan recognized this torturous method as “water torture.” It appeared bloodless and without injuries, yet the victim had to experience the dual torment of suffocation and drowning, with both physical and psychological limits repeatedly trampled.
As long as the torturer controlled the rhythm, quick or slow, neither fast nor slow, the captive’s pain would compound.
He Lingchuan had observed for a dozen breaths when a noise erupted outside, as if a large group was coming.
What happened?
He stepped out of the tent and saw indeed that a troop was entering the military camp through the front gate, numbering around six hundred people, including cavalry, infantry, and over a hundred wagons, as well as porters that were easy to recognize by their clothing and appearance.
However, they all looked downcast.
Many had blood on their clothes and were hurt, appearing weak and exhausted.
As they entered the camp, they almost collapsed onto the ground, hardly able to move.
He Lingchuan's heart sank.
This troop had only separated from theirs two days prior, taking the route through Bailu Town to Songhua Plain, and had nearly a thousand members, even more than He Chunhua’s group.
After the battle with Xinhwang, He Chunhua had also sent people to Bailu Town to ascertain safety, and yet this troop had arrived first.
They certainly looked like the standard package that had just suffered a defeat.
The soldiers in the military camp set down their tasks, silently watching them.
The leading general, Wu Shaoyi, dismounted to meet He Lingchuan, his face filled with shame: “Young Master, we encountered an ambush in Bailu Town! I could only bring back these few wagons.”
He was still swaying a bit as he got off the horse when He Lingchuan supported him, noticing his pale face and injuries on his shoulder, blood completely soaking his sleeve.
At this moment, dawn was breaking from the east, and He Lingchuan inhaled a breath of cool air in the early spring of the North:
“Xinhwang was also attacked.”
The news that Wu Shaoyi brought was truly the worst of the night.
Bai Liqing, Gui Yuan, Dong Rui had fled, the Xinhwang military camp was a mess, and He Chunhua's troops had suffered losses… All of this news paled in comparison to this last piece of shocking information.
Wu Shaoyi hurried to see He Chunhua, who, though solemn in expression, first sought out the military doctor to treat Wu's injuries.
Their conversation took place during the treatment.
The defensive strength of Bailu Town was greater than that of Xinhwang.
Wu Shaoyi and another grain transport leader, Zhou Hongyue, had also focused their defenses on Jutang Pass, which was scheduled to be crossed a day later; after entering Bailu Town, they ordered their troops to rest in place.
Both were cautious and had not wandered into the town but instead resided in the requisitioned civilian houses.
As it happened, Wu Shaoyi drank too much water, and when he temporarily went out to relieve himself, barely managing to finish, he was blown to the ground by the shockwave from the explosion.
Begging for monthly tickets~
(End of Chapter)