A Will Eternal

“You!!” Lu Shiyou said through gritted teeth. He wanted to refuse, but at the moment, the torment he was feeling actually surpassed the torment normally felt by prisoners who ate the pill....

Other prisoners felt the pain of being unable to release the pent-up pressure, but because of Lu Shiyou’s unique nature, the pain caused by not being able to consume one of the pills was almost impossible to bear.

Bai Xiaochun was a bit embarrassed; even he felt that what he was doing was a bit shameless.... This was a case of taking advantage of someone against their will, of blackmailing them in a key moment.

Blinking a few times, he said, “Just talk, alright? Tell me what you know, and I’ll give you another....”

Lu Shiyou’s eyes seemed to contain all of the passion burning in his body, all of the fire that normally pulsed in his qi passageways. In fact, he only managed to hold out for a few breaths of time before telling Bai Xiaochun everything he knew.

In turn, Bai Xiaochun didn’t go back on his word. After getting the answers to his questions, he gave Lu Shiyou the Aphrodisiac Pill. After consuming it, his skin flushed bright red, causing Bai Xiaochun to sigh as a strange expression appeared on his face.

“This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. It seems that I need to change my Aphrodisiac Pill formula a bit.” After observing Lu Shiyou for a bit longer, he turned to leave.

However, just when he was about to walk out of the cell, Lu Shiyou shouted madly, “Fellow Daoist Bai, wait! I... I want another one of those medicinal pills!! I'm... I'm almost there! Almost! Just give me another one, alright...?”

Lu Shiyou was shaking visibly, and his eyes shone with an unprecedented level of desire.

The sight left Bai Xiaochun completely shaken.

“You already took three pills!! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Eating too many of the things isn’t good for you!”

“Just give me three more.... Fellow Daoist Bai, I beg of you, please just give me three more!!” Lu Shiyou would never have been able to guess that Bai Xiaochun’s medicinal pills would have such a profound effect on him. It had started a fire within him that somehow caused signs of recovery to appear within his crippled cultivation base. Ever since his cultivation base had been destroyed, his life had been one of despair, with nothing but death ahead of him. But suddenly, he had hope!

How could Bai Xiaochun possibly agree to his request? After all, he was in the Wildlands, with no way to concoct more medicine, and no way to replenish his stock. Once he ran out of medicinal pills, it would be difficult to maintain his reputation as a dark inquisitor.

“No way, giving you so many would be a waste.”

“Fellow Daoist Bai, I... I know a secret. If you give me three of those pills, I’ll tell it to you!”

“I'm not interested!” Bai Xiaochun replied, not even looking back over his shoulder.

With that, he took another step forward, placing him right at the edge of the black mist. As for Lu Shiyou, his eyes were bloodshot with anxiety as he blurted, “It's a secret about Giant Ghost City! Once you know it, you’ll be safe from anything in the city under the level of a demigod!”

When Bai Xiaochun heard that, he stopped in place and looked suspiciously back at Lu Shiyou.

When Lu Shiyou saw Bai Xiaochun looking back, his heart flushed with excitement, and he quickly began to reveal the details of the secret. As Bai Xiaochun listened, his heart began to pound, and his eyes became as wide as saucers.

“What did you just say? Giant Ghost City actually has hundreds of teleportation portals in it? Most of them lead to other random locations within city limits? But one can teleport you tens of thousands of kilometers away from the city?

“And some of them are booby trapped? And there’s even a trap golem in one of them? It can only be summoned once, for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, but is as strong as a deva??”

Bai Xiaochun almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His heart was pounding, sending blood coursing at top speed through his veins. As Lu Shiyou continued to explain his secret, Bai Xiaochun learned that one of his ancestors had been a famous grandmaster of spell formations, and had been involved in the construction of Giant Ghost City. He had been the one who actually set up the city’s defensive spell formations.

Of course, he had been forced into the matter by the original giant ghost king, and had been given no choice other than to create the city’s grand spell formation. However, he knew that because of the secrets he had been privy to, he would most likely be put to death at the end of the project. Therefore, he had created a path of escape for himself.

Throughout the construction of Giant Ghost City, he had left all sorts of traps here and there. The grand spell formation itself was riddled with smaller spell formations that not even the original giant ghost king had been aware of.

Unfortunately, despite concealing the matter from the original giant ghost king, he hadn’t been able to escape the fate of death in the end. However, the information about the network of smaller spell formations was passed down from generation to generation among his descendants.

Although it wasn’t clear how he had managed to get the information out, it was never discovered by the original giant ghost king, nor by any of the following generations, all the way down to the ninth. Therefore, it was likely that the current ninth generation giant ghost king didn’t know about it either.

Lu Shiyou went on to explain that the reason he had fallen into the practice of plundering the wealth of the smaller clans in the city was for the purpose of being able to activate the spell formations in the city. Although those teleportation formations were ancient, and many had fallen into disrepair, there were some that still worked.

However, they needed large amounts of soul medicine to be activated. Unfortunately, Lu Shiyou had never saved up enough soul medicine, which was why he had been unable to escape when the marquis came for him.

Besides, once he activated the spell formations, the giant ghost king would never have let him off the hook.

The news Bai Xiaochun was learning battered his heart with waves of shock. Of course, at the moment, he had no way to confirm whether or not the information Lu Shiyou was giving him was true or not. If it was... then it was of monumental importance to Bai Xiaochun.

“This might be my chance to get away! If the Bai Clan comes after me, then as long as I can get out of Devil Penitentiary itself, I could use those teleportation portals to make a complete getaway!!” Heart trembling with excitement, he settled his thoughts and asked for some more details about the teleportation formations and their locations. According to the list he was given, there were a total of 371 formations. After making a complete record of them, Bai Xiaochun tossed three Aphrodisiac Pills over to the anxious Lu Shiyou.

As soon as Lu Shiyou had them, he tossed them into his mouth. Moments later, his face turned bright red, and he began to tremble violently as his previously blocked-up qi passageways began to surge on the verge of opening up. At that point, a look of hesitation appeared in Bai Xiaochun’s eyes as he considered whether or not to kill the man to keep him quiet.

To kill him would be the safest thing. After all, if the information about the teleportation formations was true, then it would be very important that the information not get out, lest it create a major danger for Bai Xiaochun.

“This guy is vicious and merciless. Definitely a villain. He’s also no fool. Considering how important my medicinal pills are to him, and the nature of the things he just told me, there’s no way he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions....” At this point, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes flashed.

“He must be lying! What a treacherous rogue! Hmph. Well, I’m no idiot....” Feeling very superior to Lu Shiyou, he waited a bit until the man let out a howl, and then shook back and forth a few times. He was now panting, and covered with both sweat and filth that had been expelled from within him.

Soon, his eyes regained their focus, and he looked up at Bai Xiaochun. Chuckling, he said, “I never thought I would wake up. I assumed you would kill me after learning my secrets.”

Of course, he had had no other options. Considering how important the medicinal pills were to him, he had decided to gamble a bit. Besides, if Bai Xiaochun did kill him, he had a secret weapon, something that would make anyone who used the teleportation formations regret doing so.

“You didn't kill me because you wanted to give me another chance to talk, isn’t that right, Bai Hao? Alright, I’ll tell you something else. Among the more than 300 spell formations, there are 27 that require a special sealing mark to use. Without the sealing mark, you’ll be stuck on the outside. Furthermore, most of the teleportation formations only link to other places in the city. There’s only one... that leads to a spot 50,000 kilometers outside of the city!

“Bai Hao, I know that you betrayed the Bai Clan, and were also imprisoned by orders from the giant ghost king. You probably want to get out of here just as much as I do. Therefore, when the time comes, just bring me with you. I can open those 27 locked formations, and can also take you to the one leads outside of the city!

“Without me, you won’t be fleeing anywhere! And by the way, the formation that leads outside of the city is also one of the ones that needs the sealing mark to enter!” Lu Shiyou’s eyes glittered with deceit; by this point, he was absolutely confident that this Bai Hao would agree to his demands. Then, when the time came to make his actual escape, he would simply kill Bai Hao and escape on his own.

“I don’t have any other choice,” he thought, his heart bursting with greed. “I need those medicinal pills, and this Bai Hao definitely has more of them in his bag of holding. He’s dead one way or another!”

Of course, Bai Xiaochun was no fool. Considering how Lu Shiyou felt about the Aphrodisiac Pills, it seemed obvious that he hoped to get free of the cell and kill Bai Xiaochun for his supply. Before doing anything else, though, Bai Xiaochun decided to confirm what he had just heard. “You can only get into those formations with a special sealing mark?”

“That’s right!” Lu Shiyou said with a pleased smile.

A strange look could be seen on Bai Xiaochun’s face as he proceeded to ask, “Interesting. So without that sealing mark, I would be stuck on the outside. Presumably there would be some danger involved with trying to break inside?”

Looking a bit surprised, Lu Shiyou nodded.

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, and then cautiously asked, “And uh... all you have to do is get into the teleportation formation to activate it?”

“What’s with all the questions?” Lu Shiyou barked, annoyed. “Cut the bullcrap. The only way to get into the formations is with the special sealing mark. Once you’re inside, of course anyone can activate them!” Lu Shiyou was completely convinced that he had pulled the wool over this Bai Hao’s eyes. They both had the same goal now, and it only made sense for them to cooperate. If he didn’t agree to cooperate, then Lu Shiyou would simply tell his secret to some other people to ruin his plans, assuming he stayed alive long enough.

“Are you sure about all that?” Bai Xiaochun asked, his eyes shining.

“Absolutely sure!” Lu Shiyou replied, frowning. All of a sudden, he felt like something was off about the situation, although he wasn’t sure what.

After getting his confirmation, Bai Xiaochun smiled. As soon as Lu Shiyou saw that smile, his face fell.

Before he could move, Bai Xiaochun waved his hand, sending a blast of wind out that pierced into Lu Shiyou’s forehead.

“You--” Lu Shiyou’s eyes went wide with disbelief. Never could he have imagined that, after everything he had just said, Bai Hao would actually kill him.