Prisoner at the Steps

"Guards! Find out where Black Tiger and his family are. I'll tear him limb from limb!" Lin Hai roared at the sky.

By a small pond in the rear courtyard of Lei Mansion, Lei Yun, dressed in short training clothes, was sweating profusely as she practiced some kind of Spirit Skill. A tall, slender man stood watching nearby.

"Not bad. Yun'er's movement technique has improved a great deal lately!" the man said with a smile.

"Hmph, Grandpa only knows how to say nice things. I grabbed some random person off the street, and his movement technique was actually faster than mine. And you kept telling me how incredibly powerful the Cloud Soaring Movement Technique was!"

Taking the tea her maid handed her, Lei Yun drained it in one go, then pouted.

"No, I want Grandpa to teach me an Earth-grade Spirit Skill!" Lei Yun seized the chance to wheedle.

The man looked about forty, yet he was Lei Yun's grandfather. It seemed he, too, was an accomplished, high-level Spirit Cultivator.

"Silly girl, Earth-grade Spirit Skills are incredibly rare. I don't have one either. As long as you master our Lei family's Cloud Soaring Movement Technique and Thunder Palm, you'll be able to dominate anyone at your level."

"No, I want Grandpa to teach me another, more powerful Spirit Skill..."

"Everything must be done step by step. You can't rush it~"

"Second Miss, the person you wanted has been brought here." As the two spoke, a guard hurried over. After saluting the man, he whispered a few words in Lei Yun's ear.

"Grandpa, I have something to take care of. I'll be going back first."

Lei Yun's face lit up at the news. After greeting the man, she quickly vanished among the crisscrossing courtyards of Lei Mansion's rear compound.

"That child."

The man shook his head with a fond smile.

"You brat, weren't you fast at running? How come you've stopped now? Lock him in the dungeon first and let him go hungry for three days!" Once she confirmed that the captive was indeed Sanbao, Lei Yun bounced around with excitement.

"What kind of skill is that, Miss Lei? If you've got the guts, let's have another showdown," Sanbao said coldly, deliberately taunting her.

Deep down, Sanbao let out a huge sigh of relief. This girl was domineering, but at least she still had some decency and hadn't tried to kill him. If all he had to endure was imprisonment, then his gamble had paid off.

Of course, if she really wanted to vent her anger by killing him, Sanbao still had a trump card that could save his life.

The Luo Clan of Deer Mountain had discovered a Spirit Copper deposit. If he used the news to lure people from Lei Mansion to Deer Mountain, Old Luo could step in and get him out safely. But that trump card would hurt the Luo Clan of Deer Mountain too much. Under normal circumstances, Sanbao would never use it.

"Fine, let's fight. I'm not afraid of you. But you offended me first, so before we compete, I need to knock some of that arrogance out of you. Take him away." Lei Yun had nearly taken the bait, but quickly regained her composure and smirked.

"Get in! Move!"

With a heavy kick from the dungeon guard, Sanbao stumbled and rolled into a dark, damp stone cell underground. Thick, black iron chains bound his hands and feet, making it extremely difficult to move.

After the guard shut the dungeon entrance, the whole place fell into darkness, save for a sliver of pale light filtering through a few ventilation holes. The confinement was stifling.

Sanbao gave a self-mocking laugh. "The accommodations aren't too bad. At least I've got a room to myself."

I'll just have to stay here a few days. Once that girl cools off, she should let me out. Then I can hold back a little and let her win a few rounds. That ought to settle this, right?

With that thought, Sanbao sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly began to cultivate.

The air in the dungeon was stagnant, and a miasmic dampness hung over it. The spiritual energy was extremely thin, so naturally, his cultivation yielded little.

There was nothing he could do about it. He treated it as a way to train his willpower.

And so Sanbao went hungry for several days in the lightless stone cell.

As he waited day after day, Lei Yun still failed to show up. Sanbao began to get a bad feeling. Could that girl have forgotten about him? That would be trouble.

He had managed to endure several days without food, but if he didn't eat soon, he might really kick the bucket.

Fortunately, things finally took a turn.

That evening, the guards finally passed in some food and water. But that was all. The Second Miss Lei Sanbao had been hoping to see was still nowhere in sight.

Several days flew by.

That day, when a guard passed in a bowl of rice, Sanbao seized the chance and called out, "Hey, guard brother! Has the Second Miss Lei come by at all these past few days?"

"Cut the chatter. Eat your food and stay put." The guard couldn't be bothered with Sanbao. As he left, he muttered mockingly, "The Second Miss went to East Ridge Temple. Who knows when she'll be back?"

Sanbao's hearing was excellent. Even with the massive stone door between them, he heard every word.

No wonder he hadn't seen that woman lately. She'd gone out. Who knew how long he'd have to wait now? Sanbao smacked his forehead, realizing he was in trouble.

The stone cell was surrounded on all sides by huge blocks of granite. Sneaking out was practically impossible. On top of that, he was bound tight in chains. Even if he made it outside, he probably couldn't escape Lei Mansion, with its countless experts.

Was he going to be stuck in this hellhole until that woman came back? What if the Second Miss Lei didn't return for a year or even half a year? What then? No, he had to find a way out.

The next evening, after the guards passed the rice into the dungeon, they heard no sound from inside.

"Hey, you brat! Don't try that trick on me. I've seen it all before. What are you pretending to be dead for? It won't work. Even if you die in there, nobody'll care!" the guard shouted, then walked off.

Sanbao lay motionless on the ground. But with his powerful soul, he sensed the two guards stride away, then quietly return to the top of the dungeon.

"Something's wrong, big brother. What if this kid's really dead? Then we'll be in trouble. The Second Miss told us to take good care of him before she left. If anything happens to him, we'll be skinned alive!"

"Don't rush. Let's wait a little longer. That kid doesn't look like a good sort. Don't let him fool us," the more levelheaded guard replied.

Sanbao memorized every word they said. He didn't move a muscle. There were clearly hidden openings outside the stone cell that let them keep an eye on him.

Half an hour later, the two guards hurriedly opened the stone door.

After feeling Sanbao's pulse and temperature, one of them sensed something was wrong. "Big brother, this kid's burning up. Could he really die like this?"

"That shouldn't be possible. He's a Spirit Cultivator, after all. They say he's even a little stronger than the Second Miss. How can his body be so frail? Could the dampness in this dungeon have given him a case of earth miasma?"

After a long discussion, the two decided to fetch a doctor.

Before long, they returned with a short, plump doctor with long white whiskers. His cultivation was only at the peak of the Spirit General realm.

Sanbao didn't dare let up. He circulated his fire and metal spiritual power through his body. To anyone watching, he looked feverish, his face sallow and ghastly.

After feeling the patient's pulse, the doctor shook his head. "You two, this man's pulse is weak, his breathing labored, and all five of his organs are burning. I'm afraid he doesn't have long."

Ignoring the guards' pleas for him to stay, he grabbed his medicine chest and hurried away, leaving the two stunned guards staring after him as cold sweat broke out across their brows.

Sanbao had studied medicine and was skilled in acupuncture. He understood pulse signs extremely well. With a little acting, he had fooled the doctor, whose cultivation was not high enough to spot a flaw. The two men guarding the dungeon were terrified.

"Big brother, what do we do? If this kid dies, the Second Miss will skin us alive when she gets back!" The younger guard was badly frightened.

"Don't panic, don't panic. We'll think of something." The older guard was sweating too, but when it mattered, he still had a few ideas.

"Right! The Eldest Miss is an Alchemist. She must have some miraculous Spirit Pills. If she's willing to help, this man surely won't die!" the older guard cried, struck by an idea.

"Big brother, have you lost your mind? This kid's just a prisoner. Why would the Eldest Miss waste precious Spirit Pills on him?" the younger guard said dejectedly.

"Right... what do we do? Maybe we should just pack up and leave. No, that won't work. I've got old parents at home and children to feed. Where could I go?" The two sighed and lamented. Sanbao couldn't bear to watch them suffer, so he deliberately coughed twice.

"I feel awful... Am I going to die? Big brothers, could you at least let me die in comfort?" Sanbao deliberately dragged his chains, scraping them against the floor with a metallic rasp.

"Younger brother, hurry! Take off the chains."

"Okay, I'll go get the keys!" The two were already so frightened they couldn't think straight. One of them rushed out of the dungeon.

Sanbao thought, That was close. The keys really weren't on them. Good thing I didn't act rashly just now.

Once the guard had gone far enough, Sanbao suddenly sprang into action. While the remaining guard wasn't looking, he slammed a fist into the man's temple, and the guard collapsed to the ground.

Sanbao dragged him into the shadows and hid behind the stone door.

"Big brother, I got the keys. Ah..."