Rise of The Demon General

"Yes. This is one rare pill. Our Lin people have to go to the white cloud's auction house and spent a lot of aer stones to purchase this," Amon said and moved the pill closer to Lei Pang. "We intentionally purchase this pill just for you. You should feel honored, shouldn't you?"

Lei Pang turned his head away. "Get that thing away from me!" He yelled.

"Well, I guess one such as you will be very familiar with what this pill does," Amon said. "Those that consume this pill, will have their energy core shattered. All the cultivations they had accumulated all this time, gone. A spirit stage cultivator can do this feat without using this pill, but of course, it's not like we can invite any spirit stage cultivator just to deal with you. So, this pill will have to do. Now then, how about you open your mouth and let me feed this pill to you?"

"Get away! Get away!" Lei Pang screamed. His scream was borderline frantic.

Amon's hand shot up and clammed Lei Pang's cheeks. Lei Pang was startled to find how strong Amon's hands were. Although his cultivation was suppressed by the chains, his innate physical strength was still not something a teenage kid should be able to overpower, but he felt his face lose strength in Amon's grip.

Amon had targeted the pressure points on Lei Pang's face. Hence, he was able to overcome Lei Pang's strength. Lei Pang's mouth was opened wide due to Amon's grip. Amon's fingers that were holding the red pill slowly approach that opened mouth.

LeI Pang mumbled something hysterically, but because his mouth was force-opened, his words were undecipherable.

Amon let go of his grip. "Are you trying to say something?" He asked.

Lei Pang gasped for a while. His eyes stared at Amon. The defiance that he showed at the start was no longer in those eyes. Instead, terror and helplessness filled them.

"Why… Why don't you just kill me?" Lei Pang asked.

"We won't. We will keep you alive for as long as possible. You, a cripple that is of no use to your clan anymore, and you will suffer torture for the rest of your life. And don't think about trying to bite your tongue to kill yourself. You know we can heal you back to life. You won't die until we allow you to."

After another moment of silence, Lei Pang asked with difficulty, "If… If I talk… Will you let me keep my cultivation?"

Amon nodded. "If you cooperate. We will place you in a different cell. You will no longer be subject to torture. You can also keep your cultivation. So, what do you say? Will you talk?"

Lei Pang was silent.

Amon lifted the pill again. "You see, I don't have all day. So…"

"I… I will talk…," Lei Pang said weakly.

Amon nodded. The red pill was back in his space ring. "Another person will come here and give you the questions. Please answer them truthfully."

Amon turned and walked towards the door. He stopped midway and looked back. "Oh, one more thing. Please cooperate fully in answering all questions. If you make me come back into this room again, there will be no more negotiation. Do you get me?"

Lei Pang nodded weakly. He could see the coldness in this boy's eyes. He had seen it the first time he laid eyes on the boy, but his disbelief prompted him to ignore it. He could now see more clearly the abyss within those eyes. He couldn't believe the person in front of him was a teenage kid. That was impossible. This boy was a demon in disguise.

Amon walked out the door.

When he was back in the room. Madam Lin, Lin Guo, Ta Fei, and the torturer from before only stared at him in silence. This lasted for a while until Amon asked, "So, who will go and question him? Better do it fast while his fear is still fresh."

Hearing Amon's words, Madam Lin signaled to the torturer. "Go, you already have the list of what to ask, right?"

"Ye–Yes, madam. Right away!" The torturer uttered and hurriedly went into the room with Lei Pang.

"How… How do you do that?" Ta Fei finally said.

Amon smiled. He said, "There are two things that supported people who are under torture. The conviction that their suffering is only temporary and the confidence of not losing anything precious permanently."

Ta Fei's questioning expression remained, so Amon elaborated, "You are correct that everyone has a breaking point. But how long and how soon is that breaking point? A person's pain tolerance is a factor. For ones with high pain tolerance, if they are sure that they will be rescued and that all the injuries that they receive will be reversible, then they can last truly long. Maybe indefinitely for as long as those beliefs last. But the reverse is also true. If you take away those beliefs. They will crumble faster even if they have a high pain tolerance."

Amon pointed at the sack that was still in Lin Guo's hand. "Lei Pang believed that his clan is fiercely searching for his whereabouts. He believes that sooner or later, they will find out where he is held and that he will be rescued. That head destroys that belief."

"While for the other belief, you can pluck his nail, crush his fingers. Heck, you can cut his cock, but he knows those are all reversible. He knows that as long as he is back in his clan, he will be able to buy a regrowth pill. Although the pills are very rare, with his clan's resources and his position in the clan, he is sure the clan will be willing to spend for him. He will then recover all the limbs and parts that have been lost. Perhaps if he has someone he loved, then we will be able to use that. Capture the ones he loves and threaten him with their deaths. There is no pill for resurrection, so their loss will be permanent. But he has no such attachment, so we can't use that method."

Amon showed them the red pills. "Which brings us to the next best thing, his cultivation. He is proud of it. Losing cultivation is not something that can be recoverable with a simple pill. He will have to cultivate back from the beginning. However, he is already an adult. The most effective cultivation foundation was tempered during the young formative age. If one only starts cultivating when he is already an adult, his progress will be limited. He will be lucky to break through to the Strength stage, much less return to his current peak Transformation stage. Someone like him who is hailed as a prodigy will lose all privileges. He will just be a nobody even if he returns to his clan. That is something worse than death for someone like him."

Ta Fei looked at Lei Pang who was now conversing willingly with his underling. It was difficult for him to admit, but the result was there. "What about treating him well before you come and threaten him? What purpose does that serve?"

Amon chuckled. "Nothing," He answered. "I am simply trying to prove my points. If you continued to torture him and then I come and he breaks, you might argue that he has simply reached his breaking point. That I simply come at the right time."

"But of course, there is still a chance that he continues to be stubborn after I show him the head and feed him this red pill," Amon said. "However, with those two beliefs gone, he will be more susceptible to breaking. When that happens, I will then ask you to continue your tortures. Without his convictions supporting him, I reckon he will break in one day the most, if not one hour. Still within the requested time limit."

Ta Fei showed a complicated expression. He had been doing this for a long time, he couldn't believe that he was bested by a teenage kid.

"Don't feel bad about it," Amon said, understanding Ta Fei's thought. "You are simply too used to giving physical torture. But you have to understand that the point of torture is never to break their bodies, it's their minds. Well, of course, if you are a sadistic person that reveled in pure suffering, that's another matter. But if it is information you want, it is always more effective to target their minds rather than their bodies."

"I… Thank you for this enlightenment, young master," Ta Fei said with a bow.

Amon nodded. He then said to Madam Lin, "Mother should have no problem answering to the clan head now, right?"

Madam Lin nodded with a warm smile.

"Then I have no more business here, I will excuse myself," Amon said.

"Let me send you out," Madam Lin said.

Lin Guo wanted to accompany them but Madam Lin said that he had other tasks to do. The Lei clan still actively searching for Lei Pang's whereabouts. The head trick was not just to influence Lei Pang, it could indeed be used to send the Lei clan into a wild goose chase.