A Will Eternal

The captain cleared his throat. “Just keep your eyes to yourself. Don’t be such a prude. Oh right. Don’t forget to leave the prisoners in the cells alone. They’re murderers and fiends, every last one of them. Accidents have happened in the past, you know. Their cultivation bases are sealed, but on one occasion, one of them bit off the ear of one of the guards.”

After giving a few more reminders and warnings, the captain left to enjoy himself.

Bai Xiaochun felt like a new world had been opened up to him. After looking around, he realized that quite a few of the gray-robed prisoners were looking over at him. They quickly identified him as a new guard, and hurried over to offer greetings.

“Greetings, exalted one....”

“If you need anything, exalted one, please just say the word....”

“You’re so young, exalted one. Now that you’re a guard in Devil Penitentiary, you have boundless prospects for the future. You’re like a dragon among men....”

As everyone began to fawn over him, Bai Xiaochun noticed several attractive female cultivators giving him the eye. Obviously, they were trying to seduce him!

Bai Xiaochun’s heart started to pound with the realization that all he needed to do was point his finger, and any of those female cultivators would cater to his every whim....

“Fudge, this place is evil!!” Panting, Bai Xiaochun realized that this really wasn’t the type of place for him. As he continued to revel in the praise of the prisoners, and the gentle voices of the female cultivators, he continued to stew in anxiety....

“Who would ever have thought that Devil Penitentiary would be like this?” he thought. “Bai Xiaochun is a pure person! How could he deign to wallow in a place like this...?”

As he anxiously allowed the prisoners to lead him off into the distance... he came to understand what Devil Penitentiary was really like, that it was the type of place where you could truly say... anything goes.

Eventually, Bai Xiaochun realized that he really liked Devil Penitentiary, and that the world really was a wonderful place.

“But Bai Xiaochun is a clean-living and honest person. I definitely won’t do anything to violate my conscience!” Six hours later, Bai Xiaochun felt more wonderful than ever about being in Devil Penitentiary. At that point, he followed the directions given him by the helpful prisoners to meet back up with the rest of the squad.

The captain was already present, as were seven or eight of the other guards. Everyone seemed to be in wonderful moods, and were chatting happily. However, the long-faced young man was also there, and as soon as he saw Bai Xiaochun, his expression turned grim.

He held this traitor from the Bai Clan in complete contempt. As far as he was concerned, anyone who would kidnap his own father and kill his own fellow clan members was completely perverse, and the type of person who actually deserved to be locked up in Devil Penitentiary.

Furthermore, he had been friends with Bai Qi, which deepened his hatred.

As for the other guards, they simply pretended not to see Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun stood there feeling a bit awkward, and starting to get angry.

“What’s the deal with this guy?” he thought. “What’s he picking on me for?” With that, he began to assess the young man’s cultivation base, which caused the young man to look over at him with icy eyes.

The captain could see that tension was building up between the two of them, so he quickly planted himself in the middle and then pointed at a nearby skull.

“Alright, let’s get to business. See that guy, Bai Hao? That’s Old Devil Zhou.”

The long-faced young man snorted coldly, and Bai Xiaochun suppressed his anger to look in the direction the captain was pointing.

Within the huge skull sat a burly man who, despite being seated cross-legged, was still nearly two meters tall. From the look of it, if he stood up, he would almost be as tall as one of the savage giants. He was a real brute.

His eyes glowed red, and a ferocious-looking smile twisted his lips. Furthermore, he looked at the guards with a greedy expression that almost made it seem like he wanted to eat them.... As soon as Bai Xiaochun laid eyes on him, he got the sense that the man was a cannibal of some sort.

He had a murderous aura that made him seem completely impervious to reason, the type who would murder people left and right without the slightest compunction.

“This is Old Devil Zhou,” the captain continued. “Not only is he a cold-blooded murderer, but he’s addicted to eating children. A hundred years ago, he ate so many children it was impossible to count. However, because of his connections to the Cai Clan, one of the three great clans, he managed to get spared from the death penalty!”

Bai Xiaochun frowned. He wasn’t the type of person who instantly believed everything he heard. However, although the captains story seemed a bit unbelievable, based on what this Old Devil Zhou looked like, it seemed possible.

“But now that he’s here,” the captain continued icily, “he has to live a life of suffering.” By this point, all of the rest of the guards had gathered.

“Alright, let’s begin. This is our last chance to get him to talk!” The captain waved his sleeve, and Squad 9 headed, grim-faced, toward Old Devil Zhou’s cell.

When Old Devil Zhou saw them coming over, his vicious grin widened, and his eyes glittered. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet, grabbed the eyeholes of the skull, and let out a furious roar.

That roar caused everyone to stop in place for a moment.

“Useless fools! I, Zhou Yunlong, have eaten so many people like you I’ve lost count!”

“Shut up!” barked one of the guards, jumping forward and performing an incantation gesture. Then he waved his finger at the skull, which changed colors. At the same time, the flicker of lightning could be seen inside, causing Old Devil Zhou to tremble, and then let out an agonized shriek.

The guards of Squad 9, looking very fierce and dangerous, went about using all the tricks they could think of.

“Tell us where the treasure is!”

“Spit it out and we won’t torment you! But if you don’t talk, then don’t blame us for what happens!”

“Senior Zhou, there’s no need to be like this. Now that you’re in here, you won’t be getting out. None of your assets on the outside will do you any good. Why not just reveal the truth? Then things will go easy for you! In fact, life inside could actually be pretty nice for you.”

Some of them threatened, some of them cajoled. Every method possible was pulled out to try to get him to reveal the location of whatever treasure it was they were talking about. However, no matter what they did, and no matter how Old Devil Zhou screamed, the vicious smile never left his face. And in fact, it only grew more vicious.

Finally, the long-faced young man strode forward. Laughing coldly, he said, “Not gonna talk, huh? Fine, I’ll force it out of you!”

As soon as the young man walked forward, the other guards started to get excited.

“Zhao Feng is Squad 9’s inquisitor! If you don’t talk, then he’ll pry your mouth open!’

“That’s right! The other eight squads might not have succeeded, but Zhao Feng can!”

Even the captain’s eyes were glowing with anticipation. As for Bai Xiaochun, he simply watched what was happening. Although he wasn’t sure what an inquisitor was, he had the feeling that the long-faced young man must have some higher standing than everyone else. It sounded like inquisitor was a title or rank of some sort.

The long-faced young man walked up to the cell and performed a double-handed incantation gesture, summoning a long black needle. Instantly, the needle shot forward and stabbed into Old Devil Zhou, provoking an unprecedentedly ragged scream.

A moment later, Old Devil Zhou’s eyes turned bright red, and yet the arrogance within them didn’t fade in the least. Eventually, he stopped screaming, and then started laughing.

“That’s all you’ve got? I’ve eaten tons of inquisitors like you in the past. Delicious, every last one of them! I wonder what you taste like though?”

The long-faced young man looked angrily at Old Devil Zhou, then went to work on another incantation gesture. However, no matter what he did, Old Devil Zhou just kept laughing and laughing. Furious, the other guards did everything they could to help out.

Bai Xiaochun stood off to the side, looking on in shock as the guards of Squad 9 interrogated and tormented Old Devil Zhou. Nearly a day passed, and although Old Devil Zhou was left gasping for breath, he still didn’t say a word about his treasure.

“Dammit this guy is tight-lipped!” Eventually, the guards began to back down, glaring at Old Devil Zhou as if they wished they could break into his brain to get the information they wanted. That was especially true of the long-faced young man.

“When Old Devil Zhou was incarcerated recently,” the captain explained, “he didn’t have a thing on him. But he built up quite the treasure trove in his life. He obviously hid it away somewhere!

“He was in the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage, half a step into the Deva Realm. He dominated the world for an entire sixty-year-cycle, and massacred more than thirty entire clans! He definitely has a lot of treasures!”

After seeing how angry his fellow guards were, Bai Xiaochun hesitated for a moment, and then finally asked, “Um... why don’t you soulsearch him?”