A Will Eternal

Hey guys, I'm excited to let you know that Physician's Odyssey is now out of sneak peek and available for everyone to read, with 60 chapters to start!  This is a modern wuxia novel that is part of our big 2019 kickoff to more genres.  Authored by Smoking Pipe Bro and translated by Wuxiaworld veteran Thyaeria (who is also working with us on The Great Ruler and Tales of Demons & Gods), this Zongheng novel brings us the story of the brilliant physician Su Tao.  Su Tao is a medical genius, but just wants to maintain...

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Li Xu’s gaze was so intense that Bai Xiaochun subconsciously shrunk back. Although Li Xu wasn't a deva, he was in the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage, and coupled with the fact that he was the warden of Devil Penitentiary, it made him seem like the sinister type of individual who could erupt with incredible power at any moment.

“Bai Hao, if you can get this prisoner to talk, you’ll be named the number one dark inquisitor in Devil Penitentiary! And if you can't, then you can get your ass out of here and figure out how to handle your own problems without our help!” Li Xu’s patience had clearly been worn thin in recent days. Furthermore, he only had two more days to get the information he needed out of this prisoner, otherwise he would be in big trouble.

That only served to increase his irritation. Furthermore, he had to be careful not to kill this particular prisoner. After all, some discreet inquiries had confirmed that it was the Giant Ghost King himself who had issued orders for the prisoner to be sent here for interrogation.

When the captain of Squad 9 heard the warden’s demand, his face fell. Sun Peng was also taken aback. After all, Sun Peng had recommended Bai Hao, and yet, Li Xu seemed to be turning what was supposed to be a good situation into the opposite.

Bai Xiaochun stopped in place, his brow furrowed as he looked over at Li Xu.

The other three deputy wardens and the dark inquisitors all looked on with expressionless faces. However, inside, most of them were chuckling coldly, especially the dark inquisitors from the other three cellblocks. They were all proud people, and considering that they had already failed with their own interrogations, they were convinced that calling on this young punk was a complete waste of time.

“Can you get him to talk?! If not, then you can just get the hell out of Devil Penitentiary this instant!” Li Xu’s voice was cold and tyrannical, and was met with complete silence by everyone else in the room. Sun Peng sighed inwardly, and the captain of Squad 9 was trembling, and didn’t dare to speak.

Bai Xiaochun wasn’t very pleased by the situation. He knew that Li Xu didn’t like him very much, but it wasn’t as though he had asked to come here. He had been called!

“Venting his anger on me, huh?” he thought. “Is he trying to use this situation as an excuse to kick me out of Devil Penitentiary?” 

It was a problematic situation. After all, if he got kicked out of Devil Penitentiary, he would have the Cai and Bai Clans to deal with. Considering the difficulties that would be involved in that situation, he decided that he would be best served by enduring his current lot.

Therefore, he slowly walked forward toward the skull cell, where he looked a bit more closely at the man inside. He had seemed familiar earlier, and now, after examining him up close, he realized that he was one of the three Cai Clan elders who had chased him here to begin with.

The elder recognized Bai Xiaochun, and despite having disheveled hair and blood oozing out of the corners of his mouth, he still looked at him with the same expression of disdain as before. Despite how he had clearly been bruised and beaten, the killing intent in his eyes was clear. He even went so far as to hawk up a mouthful of bloody spittle and spit it onto Bai Xiaochun’s robe.

Bai Xiaochun waved his robe to remove the spittle from it, then looked at Li Xu and said, “Who exactly is this, Warden?”

When Li Xu saw how calmly Bai Xiaochun was acting, he snorted coldly and said, “You don’t qualify to know who he is! I just need answers. Can you get him to talk? If not, then just screw off!” 

The truth was that he really was using this situation as an excuse to kick Bai Xiaochun, who he had never liked from the very beginning, out of Devil Penitentiary.

Considering that there were so many people around, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t maintain his cool any longer. Anger flaring, he looked at Li Xu and said, “Warden, if you want me gone, just say the word. There’s no need to do it this way. You want me to get him to talk? How exactly? You won’t even tell me who he is, and yet expect me to conduct a thorough interrogation? Screw this! If you don’t want me around, then I’ll just leave!” He flicked his sleeve. “However, know this: other than Bai Hao, nobody in Devil Penitentiary will be able to get this guy to talk!” 

Chuckling coldly, he turned to leave.

Bai Xiaochun was fully aware that his words would be insulting to the other dark inquisitors. However, considering that Li Xu had caused trouble for him for no reason at all, he felt he had no choice. Even worse, Li Xu was trying to use this situation as an excuse to kick him out of Devil Penitentiary! Therefore, if he wanted to fight back, he needed to act wildly self-confident.

“If Li Xu is really that anxious about this matter, he’ll definitely keep me around. If not, then I guess I screwed myself. Did you really set this whole thing up to kick me out, you bastard?” Even as he began to walk away, a cold voice rang out behind him.

“He's one of the elders from the Cai Clan. I want to know what types of souls they have used in their clan for cultivation and flame conjuring purposes in recent years, and also how many!” Although Li Xu’s voice was still ice cold, his wording was slightly more polite than before.

Bai Xiaochun stopped in place. Based on what Li Xu had just said, it seemed he really did want the answers to those questions, and wasn’t just using the situation to target Bai Xiaochun.

“An elder from the Cai Clan,” he thought, “captured and brought to Devil Penitentiary....” He looked at the man in the cage, and suddenly, numerous puzzle pieces clicked together in his mind.

“What types of souls, and how many?” he said out loud. There didn’t seem to be any hidden meaning to the question. The difficulty would lie in making sure that the Cai Clan elder didn’t withhold any information, or give incorrect information.

Sounding slightly annoyed, Li Xu said, “Metal. Wood. Water. Fire. Earth. Those are the five different properties souls can have. The other four dark inquisitors all asked him this question earlier, and each one came out with a different answer. Therefore, you need to get proof that the answer he gives is true. As for how you prove that, it will depend on your skill.”

Bai Xiaochun walked back to the skull cell and looked at the Cai Clan elder. Obviously, if he had moved any slower when this man and his two fellow elders had been chasing him recently, they would have killed him. Therefore, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of compassion for the man.

One thing he had learned in his time here in Devil Penitentiary was that although the three great clans seemed to be allied with each other, that was mostly because of external factors, over which they had little control.

Then he thought back to how the Giant Ghost King had saved him from the Bai Clan, and suddenly, a new idea formed in his mind.

“The Giant Ghost King obviously doesn’t get along with the three great clans. But what makes the three clans think they can pick a fight with a demigod?! And considering the level of the Giant Ghost King’s cultivation base, why doesn’t he just wipe them off the map?” Bai Xiaochun very much wanted to know the answer to this question.

Considering that Li Xu was standing there waiting for an answer, Bai Xiaochun knew he had no choice in the matter. If he wanted to survive in the Wildlands, he needed to pick a side. The Giant Ghost King? Or the three great clans?

Once he made his choice, he had to stick to it. In the end... he didn’t need to spend a lot of time thinking about which option to pick. Eyes flickering with cold light, he opened the door of the cell and stepped inside.

At the same time, he sent black smoke flowing out of his palm, which spread out into the cell and made it impossible to see inside. Not even Li Xu, who was in the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage, could see past the obscuring mist that Bai Xiaochun’s mask could create.

Cellblock D’s dark inquisitor was familiar with Bai Xiaochun, and stood there silently. As for the other dark inquisitors, they all thought that Bai Xiaochun thought too much of himself, and chuckled even more coldly than before.

Smiling icily, they began to transmit a conversation between themselves.

“He's just being deliberately mystifying. Let’s see what supposed skills he has. Does he really think he can get this guy to talk when we couldn’t?!”

“There's no need to even ponder the question. Of course he’s just putting on an act. He’ll definitely just come up with some random answer.”

“Hmph! One of us definitely got the right answer out of him already. There’s really no need for the warden to ask again!” 

Li Xu frowned, but in his anxiety, all he cared about was Bai Xiaochun getting the right answers. As long as he got the truth out of the Cai Clan elder, Li Xu could accept any situation.

Inside of the cell, Bai Xiaochun looked at the Cai Clan elder and sighed.

“Just tell me what I want to know,” he said. “After all, when I ask questions, I frighten even myself.”

Eyes burning with killing intent, the clan elder spat on Bai Xiaochun and then said, “If you hadn’t run as fast as you did, you little bastard, then I would have crushed you to death! Now that you’ve provoked the Cai Clan, you've guaranteed an early death for yourself!” 

“Is it really that fun to go around spitting on people all the time?” Bai Xiaochun said. Irritated at having been spit on twice, he slapped his bag of holding to produce... a handful of Aphrodisiac Pills.

“Tight-lipped? Let’s see if you dare to keep your mouth shut after this!”

Outside of the cell, enough time passed for a bit less than half an incense stick to burn. Then, hoarse screams echoed out that seemed to contain pent-up emotions.

The three dark inquisitors were shocked, and quickly began to transmit another conversation.

“From the nature of the screams, it seems this Bai Hao does have a bit of skill after all. And yet, to get people to howl in pent-up fashion like this is something we could do with our eyes closed.”

Clearly, they were still just as disdainful as before.

As for the captain of Squad 9, as soon as he heard that scream, his eyes brightened. As of this moment, he felt as if all of his confidence was being confirmed.

Li Xu’s expression was still grim, but inside, he was anxiously contemplating the potential for both loss and gain.

Even as different thoughts ran through everyone’s minds, the screams from inside the cell grew more intense, filling up with indescribable rage.

“You will die in pain, Bai Hao!! I’m going to kill you! If you hadn’t been fast enough last time, I would have ripped you to pieces!”

Apparently, the Cai Clan elder was attempting to use this method of angry cursing to alleviate the indescribable pain and torment he was undergoing.

“Aaaaghhhhhhhh....”

The screams intensified over the course of an entire hour. Everyone outside the cell was panting, and as for the three dark inquisitors, they continued to exchange shocked glances. Warden Li Xu’s eyes shone brightly, and there was little need to mention the surrounding guards from Cellblock A. Everyone was completely shocked.

“Just what exactly is Bai Hao doing in there...? How could he provoke such screams of pent-up emotion...?”

“Heavens! Even just the sound of it is bone-chilling....”

“Even more terrifying is that, despite how much time has passed, the screams only continue to grow more bitter, and the victim’s life force is actually growing more abundant.... This... this is unimaginable!”

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Translator: Deathblade. (Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest)

Editor: GNE. Memes: Logan. Meme archives: Tocsin. Chinese language consultant: ASI a.k.a. Beerblade. AWE Glossary. Xianxia-inspired T-shirts.

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