Moments after the Heart-Questioning Powder was fed to him, Zhang Guilu's eyes suddenly went vacant and unfocused. His whole body slackened, and his earlier ferocity vanished without a trace.
"What is your name?"
"Zhang... Zhang Guilu..."
This time, the answer came readily.
The medicine had clearly taken effect.
"Who is the Master?"
Zhang Guilu's lips trembled, and he seemed about to speak. But the next instant, a fierce struggle flashed deep within those cloudy, unfocused eyes. His teeth clenched again, and he forcibly swallowed his words.
"...Can't say... anything about the Master... can't say..."
"Even the Heart-Questioning Powder can't suppress it?" Hu Yan frowned. "That's strange."
This really was proving difficult.
The Heart-Questioning Powder could disrupt a person's conscious mental defenses, but this man's instinctive fixation was so powerful that even with his mind scattered, he could still grit his teeth and hold out.
But failing to get it out of his mouth did not mean they could not see it.
The [Bodhi Heart Lamp] had been ineffective earlier, but now was the perfect opportunity to peer inside with it.
Jiang Che sat down opposite Zhang Guilu and gently pressed one hand against his forehead.
The Bodhi Lamp within his heart ignited.
"Think carefully... why, exactly? Who is the Master? What makes him worth serving with your lives?"
Zhang Guilu's lips remained tightly pressed together, but his scattered mind was already flowing uncontrollably toward the depths of his memories, like water bursting through a breached dam.
Those fractured, surging images could no longer be held back.
Wastelands, army camps, crumbling city walls, and face after face, numb, exhausted, and lifeless... The military households stooped over barren fields, scraping out a living, drilled beneath the city walls, and huddled around campfires through nights of terror, destined to remain trapped in Ailin