Prison Start

Wutan City, Jialie Clan dungeon.

Ye Xiu woke up groggily, his vision filled with black stone walls. A pungent stench of urine assaulted his nostrils, making him cough uncontrollably.

Clatter—clatter—

The iron chains on his wrists rattled as he tried to lift his arms. Ye Xiu looked down and saw his arms covered in dense, crisscrossing scars; some had scabbed over and turned black, while others were still oozing fresh blood.

"Where... is this?"

As soon as he spoke, his throat felt like it had been scrubbed with sandpaper, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible.

He remembered leaving the office after work, being blinded by the glaring headlights of a car at the corner... and then waking up here.

Could it be that I hit the jackpot and transmigrated? (Here, the identity and talent are directly replicated; the body itself is the protagonist's own, not a soul transmigration.)

A tidal wave of memories surged in, giving him no room to breathe as they forcibly inserted themselves into his brain.

Ye Xiu, just turned fifteen, lost his parents early. To make ends meet, he sold himself into the Jialie Clan at ten to work as a servant, performing the filthiest and most exhausting chores, barely struggling above the poverty line.

Until two weeks ago, when the Jialie Clan, in order to compete with the Xiao Clan for the medicinal market, spent a fortune to hire the Alchemist Liu Xi.

As it turned out, Liu Xi accidentally discovered that Ye Xiu possessed an Innate Medicine Body, and the blood of an Innate Medicine Body could significantly increase the success rate of alchemy. Thus, Ye Xiu was thrown into the dungeon, to be bled daily for the refinement of pills.

"Jialie Clan... Xiao Clan... Liu Xi... Have I transmigrated into Battle Through the Heavens?"

As a ten-year veteran reader, he considered himself well-read, and Battle Through the Heavens was undoubtedly one of the most classic web novels; he had naturally read it no fewer than five times.

The current plot is the Jialie Clan hiring Liu Xi to suppress the Xiao Clan... It seems the Jialie Clan's good days are coming to an end.

In a few months, the Jialie Clan would offend the protagonist Xiao Yan, leading to the bankruptcy of their plans, and before long, they would be doomed beyond salvation.

"But I don't think I can last a few months..."

Ye Xiu checked his own condition. His cultivation talent shouldn't be bad; without any cultivation resources, just by doing ordinary exercises every day, he had already reached the fourth stage of Dou Power.

However, his tendons were now severed, and he was locked in shackles; trying to escape the dungeon was nothing but a pipe dream.

Moreover, he was bled every day and only fed one meal, the kind that even a dog would shake its head at. With his frail physique, he would likely kick the bucket in less than a week.

"This starting point is practically hell mode..." Ye Xiu's scalp tingled, and his heart turned cold.

I can't be about to die right after transmigrating, can I? That would truly nail me to the pillar of shame for the transmigrator army...

"System?"

In the quiet dungeon, Ye Xiu's tentative voice rang out.

"I am here."

"Holy crap, it really is a system! So you were here all along!"

"Mm."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"I did not receive instructions from the host; the system has no obligation to speak."

As expected, the system is the standard equipment for a transmigrator; otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to survive.

It's just that this system seems a bit emotionless.

"Ding, Sign-in System fully enabled. First sign-in location has been reset: Wutan City."

"Ding, the first sign-in grants a massive cultivation boost reward! Does the host wish to sign in immediately?"

"What's there to hesitate about? Sign in!"

"Ding! Sign-in successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining cultivation: Nine-Star Da Dou Shi!"

"Ding! Detected that the host lacks a cultivation technique; cultivation upgrade failed!"

"Ding! Detected that the host has dual Fire and Wood attributes. Out of humanitarianism, the system grants the host the Profound-tier high-grade technique: Burning Heaven Sword Art!"

"Ding! Re-signing in... Sign-in successful! Congratulations to the host for obtaining cultivation: Nine-Star Da Dou Shi!"

Ye Xiu's mood was like a roller coaster, rising and falling.

Boom!

At the same time, the power within Ye Xiu's body surged instantly. His cultivation skyrocketed with sparks and lightning, reaching the Nine-Star Da Dou Shi in the blink of an eye!

Moreover, his foundation was extremely solid, as if tempered through a thousand trials; he would have no fear even when facing practitioners of the same level!

Following that, the entire content of the Profound-tier high-grade technique Burning Heaven Sword Art appeared in Ye Xiu's mind, and it was perfectly cultivated to the Da Dou Shi stage.

Not only that, but Ye Xiu also felt a massive stream of other knowledge in his mind.

Zengqi Powder... Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid... Huiling Pill...

This was actually alchemy knowledge for first to third-grade pills!

These were not things rewarded by the system!

Furthermore, Ye Xiu felt as if he had long since fully mastered the refining methods for these pills. If he had fire, a cauldron, and the materials for alchemy right now, he was afraid he could refine the pills immediately!

"This... could it be a talent inherent to the Innate Medicine Body?"

"As long as the cultivation level is reached, one can automatically become an Alchemist of the corresponding grade?"

Ye Xiu gasped, his breath hitching; if this were truly the case, then his talent was simply heaven-defying...

His current cultivation was at the Nine-Star Da Dou Shi level, which meant he was simultaneously a Third-Grade Alchemist!

Clang!

The iron chains snapped instantly, and the injuries on his body fully recovered as his cultivation rose. Ye Xiu stood up from the dungeon floor and stretched his neck from side to side.

At this moment, a series of clanking chains echoed from the end of the dim corridor; it seemed the door had been opened.

Then, the sound of footsteps reverberated through the empty dungeon hallway, growing closer and closer.

A jailer with a face full of flab carried an oil lamp, cursing as he walked over: "Damn it, how long has it been? Why do they need more blood again? I wonder if this little brat can even hold on today... Hm?"

The dim light of the oil lamp illuminated the cell. When the jailer's initially indifferent gaze swept over, he froze abruptly. He saw the boy who should have been chained to the corner of the wall... now standing straight in the center of the cell!

"You dog! Who told you to get up! And you dare to break the shackles? You're courting death!" The jailer's face darkened, he shouted fiercely, pulled out his keys, and began to rattle them as he prepared to open the cell door.

Ye Xiu watched quietly as he unlocked the door. The jailer stepped in aggressively and whipped out the lash from his waist.

Crack!

The whip struck, but it produced a dull thud, as if hitting solid steel.

The jailer was startled; the youth had caught the tip of the whip with just two fingers, doing so with effortless ease!

"You... you son of a bitch, you dare to fight back!" The jailer pulled with all his might, but the whip didn't budge an inch.

Ye Xiu flicked his fingers slightly.

A surge of scorching Dou Qi surged violently along the whip!

"Ah!" The jailer felt as if his palm and his entire arm had been branded by a hot iron. Piercing pain shot through him, and he let out a miserable scream, involuntarily releasing the whip.

Ye Xiu caught the whip and gave it a casual flick; the leather lash shattered into pieces in his hand, turning into charred fragments that fell to the ground with a rustle.

He raised his eyes to look at the ashen-faced jailer and said coldly:

"I remember that you've used this whip to lash me many times over these past few days, haven't you?"

"I... I..." The jailer was scared out of his wits by this bizarre scene.

Ye Xiu took a step forward, closing the distance to the jailer as if he had mastered the art of shrinking the earth.

A powerful pressure made the jailer feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar; his whole body went rigid, and even his tongue became tied.

"Nine... Nine-Star Da Dou Shi!" The jailer finally broke down, begging incoherently, "It... it has nothing to do with me! It was Master Liu Xi! It was the orders of Patriarch Jialie! Spare me! Young Master Ye Xiu! Forgive me! I was forced! I..."

"Shh." Ye Xiu held up a finger to his lips.

At his fingertip, a wisp of crimson Dou Qi radiated a lethal heat. "You're too noisy."

The moment his words fell, his finger, wreathed in crimson Dou Qi, struck out like a ghost, landing squarely between the jailer's brows.

Puff.

A soft sound.

All expression froze on the jailer's face. The vitality in his eyes faded rapidly; his body swayed, then he fell straight backward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Ye Xiu withdrew his finger, crouched down, fished a pouch of coins from the jailer's body, and tucked it into his pocket.

He strode forward, stepped over the jailer's corpse, and walked out of the cage that had imprisoned him for so many days.

"Liu Xi, Jialie Bi... your good days are over, hehehe!"