"You have some truly rotten luck, disciple." His master commented as Xiang struggled against the restraints binding him, his futile efforts yielding nothing other than a painful ache around his wrists and feet, his skin rubbed red and raw by the achingly tight manacles chaining him.

  Xiang practically had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from saying something he knew he'd regret later on. "Thank you, master, I noticed." He eventually ended up saying as he gave up on his futile struggle, glaring at the chains holding him.

  They weren't enchanted in any way, nor were they imbued with any formations or talismans. They were just regular chains made of incredibly heavy and tough metal, a fact which meant they would've struggled to truly hold down a Foundation-level cultivator.

  Unfortunately, Xiang wasn't at that level. After all, if he was that powerful, then he doubted he'd have ever ended up in this situation to begin with, and as his master's far too amused chuckles echoed in Xiang's mind, the boy frowned as he mentally glared at the man responsible for said situation.

  Still, his next words thankfully allowed Xiang to relax. "Relax, disciple. Your master has a plan." He told Xiang, his mental voice still far too amused for the boy's liking. "I'll admit, I never expected that mere beasts would take over the secret exit I'd prepared eons ago, but in hindsight, perhaps it's not so surprising. The Qi of the hidden realm must've attracted them." He mused. "Still, for it to be taken over by the clan of a Nascent Soul level beast? Heh. Now that's just unfortunate."

  Xiang held back a sigh, quietly looking up at the damp, stony ceiling of his cell as he closed his eyes and counted to ten, taking deep breaths as he desperately tried not to crash out.

  These past weeks had been the hardest of his entire life. From being framed and humiliated by Elder Shen's nephew, being arm-twisted into signing up for the Hidden Realm Excursion, all the way to having to flee from his life from a Foundation-level devil cultivator that wanted to use his body as a meat suit... Needless to say, it hadn't exactly all been sunshine and rainbows.

  However, as he exhaled sharply and felt his stress levels drop to a more manageable level, he also reminded himself that despite all the hardship he'd gone through, he'd also been extremely fortunate.

  It wasn't every day that a mere Qi Refining nobody stumbled onto the inheritance grounds of a truly ancient old monster and managed to impress them enough to become their disciple, after all.

  And speaking of said old monster, Xiang snapped to attention as the ring around his finger vibrated faintly, and with it, his master's telepathic voice echoed in Xiang's head.

  "Hmmm.... Alright, listen well, brat. I have a plan that will hopefully take care of the Nascent Soul beast, but you'll need to pull off some pretty damn convincing acting if you want to get through this. Pay close attention, because if this fails, then things will really get difficult." His master began, and as he explained his plan, Xiang's eyes grew wider and wider.

  Eventually, as his master finished telling him his plan, Xiang couldn't help but be curious. "Master, are you sure this will work?" He worriedly asked, glancing around at his damp, empty cell and huddling together to scrounge up some slight warmth. "It's still a Nascent Soul level monster we're talking about..." He continued, growing progressively more worried the more he thought about it.

  Nascent Soul experts were the stuff of myths and legends, the true overlords of the continent. They were the unshakable pillars not of mere sects, but of whole factions. A mere word from one could catapult a person or even a whole sect into wealth and power, or alternatively, doom them to a fate worse than death, for that was just how powerful and influential even the weakest one was.

  Not even his sect had ever been able to boast of having one despite being widely considered the strongest in the local region; instead, only three Core Formation experts reigned there, a middle-stage one as Sect Master, and two others at the early stage being the sect's Grand Elders.

  Moreover, Xiang had never even seen a Core Formation cultivator, who were already considered to be powerhouses and true movers and shakers in their own right. To him, a relatively talentless boy who'd been forced to flee for his life from a half-dead early-stage Foundation-level devil... Well, considering he was now the captive of a beast clan with a Nascent Soul monster nearby, needless to say, Xiang was feeling a bit numb from it all.

  If it wasn't for the sheer confidence and complete assurance that his master had, Xiang felt like he would've long since broken down into a depressed, crying mess from the sheer terror and stress of it all.

  "Hmph... This little island truly has fallen far from back in my days." His master sighed, his voice wistful. "Disciple, if there's anything you must take away from my teachings, let it be this. The world is far, far vaster than you or I could ever imagine. A Nascent Soul might seem like an insurmountable obstacle now, but in the grand scheme of things, they are naught but slightly bigger ants."

  Xiang had to really force himself not to roll his eyes. "Of course, Master, of course... But I can't help but notice you didn't answer my question." He pointed out, voice just the slightest bit snarky.

  His master scoffed. "Ugh. Children these days..." Despite not even having a physical body and merely being a voice in his head that came from an old, rusty ring, Xiang could practically feel his master doing a classic old man headshake.

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  Still, his master sobered up quickly, and his following words did remarkably little to ease Xiang's anxiety. "No, I'm not a hundred percent sure, Xiang, but our options are remarkably limited. This is the most likely plan to succeed with the least cost and risk, but we're nonetheless trying to get one over a being three whole major realms above you."

  His master sighed. "And... For all that I spoke dismissively earlier, do not underestimate the difficulty of such a task, or the power difference between you. Even for the strongest perfect stage Core Formation cultivator I've ever seen, the stars would have to align and the heavens shine for them to even have a chance at merely beating back the weakest imaginable Nascent Soul enemy." He explained, and Xiang listened raptly, for what else could he do?

  "The chasm between Core Formation and Nascent Soul is ten times greater than that between Qi Refining and Core Formation itself. Generational geniuses might be able to fight a realm above themselves, but believe me, disciple. Such things are only possible at the lowest levels of cultivation. Words truly cannot express how unimaginably difficult the task before us should be... If not for the fact that your master is just so smart and amazing, eh? Eh?"

  And just like that, the tension in Xiang's limbs fell away as it was replaced by exasperation. "Master, you... Damn it..." He practically whined as his master's laughter filled his mind.

  Still, the mini-lesson had served its purpose well. Ever the studious sort, it was easy for Xiang to distract himself from the situation at hand by listening to his master as he spoke, and for all that it was honestly unlikely he would live to ever make use of it, he was nonetheless grateful for the knowledge he was being bestowed.

  After years and years of having to content himself with whatever scraps his sect allowed a nobody, talentless Outer Disciple like him to have, being given the full attention and teachings of a genuine, wise old monster like his master was akin to giving a man dying of thirst in the desert access to the fountain of youth itself.

  Still, unsurprisingly, the distraction couldn't last forever as his master's lesson abruptly came to a halt. "They're coming." He murmured to Xiang, causing the boy to stiffen. "Remember the plan, disciple. Consider this a follow-up test to the one I gave you when we first met." He said, and with those words, his presence faded away from Xiang's mind, retracting itself into the ring on his finger as his master hid himself.

  ?Taking a moment to compose himself, Xiang took several deep breaths before straightening out his facial expression, staring at the door as he waited for his captors to show themselves.

  And show themselves, they did. Their footsteps echoed far too loudly in the otherwise eerily quiet prison, and as the door to his cell was wrenched open with a screeching noise, Xiang forced himself not to look away as two people strode into his cell.

  Although, calling them people wouldn't have been wholly accurate, for they were really more like semi-humanized beasts, the two looking more akin to a bipedal tiger and coyote.

  They were also, unfortunately for Xiang, at the Foundation Establishment level, meaning that any direct resistance would be pointless at best and catastrophic at worst.

  The tiger-man let out a growl as he wrenched Xiang to his feet, manhandling him like he was a piece of particularly stinky trash as his deformed paws fumbled with a key that he eventually managed to use to unlock Xiang's restraints.

  Xiang winced as the tiger-man's careless handling resulted in more than a few accidental scratches against his dirty and half-naked form, but otherwise held his tongue, years of experience from having to lower his head and accept whatever abuse his stronger and more talented fellow sect disciples threw his way helping make the whole thing a lot less pride-shattering than it otherwise would've been.

  Still, that didn't exactly mean it was a pleasant experience as the jackal-man scoffed at him as the tiger dragged him out of his cell and into the decrepit prison beyond, with the jackal following along behind them.

  Xiang had been unconscious when he'd been thrown into his cell, so he hadn't been able to really see all that much of the prison itself, but now that he could, he couldn't help but wish he hadn't.

  The prison was a winding, dirty, unkept mess. Most cells were empty, but some did hold either old skeletons or newer carcasses, some of whom were still in the process of rotting away, filling the air with a pungent, vomit-inducing smell that Xiang only barely managed to resist.

  On the other hand, his two guards hardly seemed to care about the sights around them, although Xiang did catch the tiger-man dragging him wrinkling his nose in disgust as they passed by a rotting corpse still clad in the uniform of some sort of sect Xiang was unfamiliar with, and despite himself, the boy couldn't help but feel his heart thundering in his chest as he was dragged ever forward.

  However, for as macabre as the prison was, Xiang couldn't help but note that other than himself and the guards, he never did see any other living being either guarding or being held in this hellhole, a tidbit of information that he quietly tucked away.

  Eventually, their march came to an end as they reached what seemed like the end of the prison. And fortunately so, because by that point, Xiang's arms felt like they were about to be torn right off, considering how uncaringly rough the tiger-man had been.

  Less fortunately, however, was the being awaiting them right before the exit to the prison, and the moment that his eyes managed to focus on her, Xiang felt as if his breath had just been stolen away, and most definitely not in a good way.

  She was beautiful, undeniably more so than any woman Xiang had ever laid eyes on. However, to the boy, that was a fact so far down the list of priorities that it wasn't even funny, because more so than her beauty, what truly stood out about her was her sheer, oppressive power, a fact made only more apparent as her attention fell upon him like it was a physical force.

  Xiang was driven to the ground, unable to even so much as wheeze as what felt like a veritable mountain pressed down upon him. It was like the finger of a great titan, amusedly forcing an ant into the dirt, wondering whether to crush it or not.

  "Well, well, well..." A husky, feminine voice echoed through the prison entrance, and Xiang barely had the presence of mind to notice the two guards tremblingly bow as deeply as they could before fleeing like spooked rabbits. "What a delicious little treat my lovely subjects have brought me today..."

  A hand abruptly seized Xiang's chin, one that was paradoxically as soft as velvet and yet also as unyielding as the toughest enchanted steel, and with a smooth yet impossible to resist motion, Xiang was forced to look up into a pair of slitted eyes that gleamed with the darkest of malice and sadism.

  The Nascent Soul level beast before him smiled widely, and all that Xiang could do was tremble.