A Prison Start

Wutan City, the Jialie Family dungeon.

Ye Xiu slowly woke. His view was filled by a black stone wall, and a powerful stench of urine rushed into his nose, making him cough.

Clatter—clatter—

The chains around his wrists rattled as he tried to lift his hands. Ye Xiu looked down and saw that both his arms were covered in countless knife scars. Some had scabbed over and turned black; others still bore fresh streaks of blood.

"Wh... where is this?"

The moment he spoke, his throat felt as though it had been scraped with sandpaper. His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

He remembered leaving the office after work. At the corner, glaring headlights had blinded him... and then he'd woken up here.

Could it be that I got lucky and transmigrated? (His identity and talent were copied directly here. This was his own body, not a soul transmigration.)

A flood of memories surged in right after, leaving him no time to catch his breath as they forced their way into his mind.

Ye Xiu was fifteen, with both parents long dead. To make ends meet, he had sold himself into servitude to the Jialie Family at the age of ten. He did the dirtiest and most exhausting menial work, barely scraping by.

Then, two weeks ago, the Jialie Family had hired the Alchemist Liu Xi for a hefty sum to compete with the Xiao Clan for the pill market.

As it turned out, Liu Xi had accidentally discovered that Ye Xiu possessed the Innate Medicine Body. The blood of someone with the Innate Medicine Body could greatly increase the success rate of pill refining, so Ye Xiu had been thrown into the dungeon and drained of blood every day to make pills.

"The Jialie Clan... the Xiao Clan... Liu Xi... Did I transmigrate into Battle Through the Heavens?"

As a ten-year veteran reader, he considered himself widely read, and Battle Through the Heavens was undoubtedly one of the most classic web novels. Naturally, he'd read it at least five times.

The story was at the point where the Jialie Family had hired Liu Xi to suppress the Xiao Clan... It seemed the Jialie Family's good days were numbered.

In a few months, the Jialie Family would offend the protagonist, Xiao Yan, and their plans would fall apart. Before long, they would be doomed.

"But I don't think I'll last until then..."

Ye Xiu checked his condition. His cultivation talent should have been decent. Without any cultivation resources at all, he'd reached the fourth segment of Dou Power just by doing ordinary exercises every day.

But now the tendons in his hands and feet had been severed, and he was chained up. Escaping the dungeon was pure wishful thinking.

On top of that, they drained his blood every day, and he only got one meal. Even a dog would turn up its nose at the food. With his frail body, he probably wouldn't last another week.

"This is practically a hell-mode start..." Ye Xiu's nape prickled, and his heart sank.

Was he really going to die right after transmigrating? He'd end up as a disgrace etched onto the transmigrator army's pillar of shame...

"System?"

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

"I'm here."

"Holy shit, there really is a system! So you were there!"

"Mm."

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"The host had not issued any instructions. The system has no obligation to speak."

As expected, a system was a standard feature for transmigrators. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have known how to stay alive.

Though this system seemed a little... emotionless.

"Ding! The Sign-in System has been fully activated. The first sign-in location has been updated: Wutan City."

"Ding! The first sign-in will grant a substantial cultivation reward! Host, would you like to sign in now?"

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

"Ding! Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained a cultivation level: Nine-Star Great Dou Master!"

"Ding! The host has no cultivation method. Cultivation advancement failed!"

"Ding! The host has dual fire and wood attributes. In the spirit of humanitarianism, the host has been gifted a High Xuan Tier cultivation method: Burning Heaven Sword Art!"

"Ding! Signing in again... Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained a cultivation level: Nine-Star Great Dou Master!"

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

Boom!

At the same time, power surged through Ye Xiu's body. His cultivation level rocketed upward in a blaze of speed, reaching Nine-Star Great Dou Master in the blink of an eye!

His foundation was incredibly solid, as though it had been tempered a thousand times. He had nothing to fear, even if he faced another cultivator at the same level!

Next, the complete contents of the High Xuan Tier cultivation method, Burning Heaven Sword Art, appeared in Ye Xiu's mind. He had also somehow cultivated it to the Great Dou Master stage.

Not only that, Ye Xiu also sensed another massive stream of knowledge in his mind.

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

These were actually the pill-refining methods for first- to third-grade pills!

They weren't rewards from the system!

What's more, Ye Xiu felt as though he had already mastered how to refine these pills. If he had fire, a cauldron, and the ingredients right now, he could probably make them at once!

"Could this... be a talent that comes with the Innate Medicine Body?"

"Once my cultivation reaches the right level, can I automatically become an Alchemist of the corresponding grade?"

Ye Xiu sucked in a sharp breath. If that was true, then his talent was absurdly powerful...

His cultivation level was Nine-Star Great Dou Master, which meant he was also a third-grade Alchemist!

Clang!

The chains snapped instantly, and his injuries healed completely as his cultivation advanced. Ye Xiu rose to his feet in the dungeon and rolled his neck from side to side.

Just then, a series of rattling chains came from the end of the dim corridor. The door must have opened.

Footsteps echoed through the empty dungeon passage, drawing nearer and nearer.

A jailer with a face full of coarse flesh came over carrying an oil lamp, grumbling as he walked. "Damn it, it hasn't even been that long. Why do we have to drain his blood again? Wonder if the little brat can even take it today... Hm?"

The dim yellow lamplight illuminated the cell. The jailer's normally indifferent gaze swept across it, then suddenly froze. He saw the kid who should have been chained in the corner... standing bolt upright in the middle of the cell!

"You little shit! Who told you to get up? You even dare break your shackles? You're asking to die!" The jailer's face darkened as he shouted. He pulled out his keys, jangling them as he prepared to unlock the cell door.

Ye Xiu silently watched as the jailer opened the cell door, strode in aggressively, and swung the whip at his waist.

Crack!

The whip struck him, but the sound was a dull thud, like metal hitting metal.

The jailer jumped in fright. The boy had caught the tip of the whip between two fingers as casually as if it were nothing!

"Y-you little bastard, you dare fight back!" The jailer yanked with all his might, but the whip wouldn't budge.

Ye Xiu's fingers twitched slightly.

A wave of scorching Dou Qi surged along the whip!

"Ah!" The jailer felt as though his palm and entire arm had been seared by a hot iron. The pain bored into him, and he screamed, releasing the whip despite himself.

Ye Xiu caught the whip and gave it a casual flick. It broke apart piece by piece in his hand, crumbling into charred fragments that pattered to the ground.

He raised his eyes and looked at the ashen-faced jailer, his voice cold.

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

"I... I..." The jailer was so terrified by the bizarre scene that he nearly lost his wits.

Ye Xiu took a step forward and appeared right in front of the jailer, as though he'd folded space.

A powerful pressure plunged the jailer into an icy abyss. His whole body stiffened, and even his tongue tied itself in knots.

"N-Nine-Star Great Dou Master!" The jailer finally broke down and begged incoherently. "I-it wasn't my fault! It was Master Liu Xi! It was the Jialie Patriarch's order! Spare me, Young Master Ye Xiu! Please let me go! I was forced into this too! I..."

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

A wisp of scarlet Dou Qi at his fingertip radiated deadly heat. "You're too loud."

The instant he finished speaking, the finger wreathed in scarlet Dou Qi shot out like a ghost and struck the jailer between the brows.

Pfft.

A soft sound.

Every expression froze on the jailer's face. The light of life quickly faded from his eyes. His body swayed, then toppled straight backward, crashing heavily to the ground.

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

He set off, stepped over the jailer's corpse, and walked out of the cell that had held him captive for days.

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