When he awoke, he found himself in a dimly lit stone room.

‘Infinite regression? Is my third time going to be as an ant? I could get behind that,’ he groggily thought. Then, the world expanded into a mixture of scents, and Jun knew he had survived.

Meat. Blood. Bones. He recognized this place as the warehouse. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the room came into view. It was a mixture of a farm coupled with a slaughterhouse. Pigs, cows, and chickens were squeezed into narrow spaces by metal fencing. They looked distinctly different from their Earth cousins, though Jun wasn’t too interested in the details right now.

After all, none of that changed the fact that Chen Hao was tied up using rope and chains. The dog blinked once, then twice. His eyes weren’t deceiving him. The boy was tied above a massive, bubbling cauldron. Slow, menacing pops let out noxious fumes into the air, and the animals all around them shuddered.

The boy’s old robes were nowhere to be found. Instead, tattered and ill-fitting rags adorned his body. In front of him stood a creature beyond the depths of hell.

Yes, it was none other than the swamp hag.

It was at this moment Jun realised he was trapped in a cage. He twisted and pulled, yet nothing happened. He was stuck here. The butcher lady menacingly grabbed a big ladle.

“What do we have here? A little thief alongside his filthy mutt.” She said, shoving the ladle in Chen Hao’s face. He recoiled from the smell of it all.

“I’ve never stolen anything. I bought a single bone. That’s all I did,” the boy yelled, struggling against his bindings. Instead, the woman slightly lowered him, which raised another panicked shout from Chen Hao.

“Lies! Your filthy dog ran into my shop and stole a whole pile of bones. If it wasn’t you behind this, then who was it?”

Chen Hao looked at Jun with surprise in his eyes, which slowly morphed into disappointment. Jun couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Do you know how much those bones were worth?” she asked. The bile and the venom spilling from those words would poison an entire city.

She didn’t let Chen Hao speak as she continued.

“Ten thousand spirit stones. That’s how much it’s worth-”

“Bullshit!”

Glaring at the interruption, she picked up a nearby cleaver and tossed it at Jun as he yelped. With barely a second to react, he squeezed into one corner of the cage. Blood flew, and moments later, he howled in pain as a portion of his tail was gone.

“One more bark from the bitch-spawn and I’ll shut it up for good.”

Jun breathed in short, quick breaths, struggling to keep it together. Only anger kept him going.

‘Trust my words. If you let us live, you will one day experience hell beyond your comprehension. This time, I won’t hesitate.’

Never in his life had Jun hated someone so much as this. Tearing her apart into a thousand pieces would not be enough to calm his rage.

“As I said, ten thousand spirit stones. It translates to, well, about ten years of labour. I am a merciful woman, so I won’t sell you into slavery. Instead, you will be working for me. Every day, from dawn to dusk, without a moment of laziness. Is that clear?”

Chen Hao gritted his teeth, which prompted the woman to once again lower him closer to the cauldron. He was oh so close to the bubbling poison.

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“Do you understand me, boy? Do not test my patience!"

“Yes. I understand,” he said, glaring at the woman.

“Get that look out of your eyes. You should be grateful that you get to work for me.”

“You’ve got no idea who you messed with! The lower sect has its own rules, and I am a well-connected woman. Trust me when I say that if you go and contact the elders, you will die a slow and painful death. Or, if not you, then that stupid mutt of yours will.”

“Remember this—you are watched no matter where you go. Every move. Every action. The second you leave the lower sect or talk to any loose-lipped disciples, I will hunt you down personally. You take a step inside those precious little quarters where you live, or talk to any of your dear friends, and you'll never walk again.”

With that, she slowly undid Chen Hao’s bindings. He barely missed the cauldron, only inches away from becoming a stew. The woman wasstanding in front of him with only a ladle in hand. Waiting for him to do something, perhaps. But, nothing of the sort happened. Chen Hao made his way to the dog cage, and the woman tossed him a simple steel key. In silence, the boy unlocked Jun’s cage, tenderly picking him up.

In all honesty, Jun expected the kid to just leave him there. It was the dog’s fault that all of this had happened. But, when their eyes met, Jun saw no anger or rage toward him. There was only kindness, hidden away by layers of grief.

“I’m so sorry, boy. You should not have to endure this because of my mistakes. I promise you, as long as I am alive, I will never let this happen again.”

“Now, get out of here. I don’t have to say twice what will happen if you’re late tomorrow,” she said, spitting on the ground. Her rotund body turned towards a pig as she led it towards where Chen Hao had just sat. It squealed and cried, but her thick arms dug into its flesh, keeping it still. She decapitated it in a single blow, blood spraying across the chair. She turned back to them, licking the blood splatters off her face.

Chen Hao made his way out of the warehouse into the shadowy streets without a glance back. The sun had long set, and if it was the same day, that meant they had been unconscious for hours on end. The boy limped a few blocks away before collapsing to the ground in a nearby alley. Whatever was in that cauldron was messing with his head, and in more ways that one. The fumes must have poisoned him.

“Teacher Li was right. I should have listened to him.”

That was all the boy said before he curled up in a ball, taking shaky, feverish breaths. For the first time in forever, Jun couldn’t predict what Chen Hao was thinking about. Instead, he inspected the boy’s condition.

He was no expert, but he had taken multiple mandatory first aid classes and had a decent grasp of anatomy. Unfortunately, everything he knew told him that he needed to call a proper doctor for this. He quickly debated seeking someone out, but eventually, he settled down on the ground, keeping a vigilant watch over Chen Hao.

Jun had no clue where he would find a proper healer, not to mention the fact that they were probably being monitored right now. They would easily kill a dog if it strayed too far. Besides, much worse things could happen to Chen Hao while he was sleeping here in this state, unable to defend himself. There was nothing left but to trust in a cultivator’s survivability.

And so, Jun lay on the ground next to the boy. Anger, shame, fear, and the urge to kill mixed in equal proportions. For hours on end, he made schemes and plots, devising ways to kill the old hag. He once again remembered the “successful” heist. It was over the moment she saw him. Of course she could track down a new disciple with a dog.

Had he been stronger, he could have overpowered her or her goons. Had he been smarter, he would’ve wondered why she left the doors unlocked during her quick trips. Had he known formations better, he would’ve sensed the trap ahead of time and prevented it. As it stood right now, he was lacking in everything.

Such thoughts continued until the crack of dawn. Jun could not force himself to go to sleep. Instead, having made his plans, he forced down the simmering emotions. On the bright side—they were not dead.

Jun squeezed out a smile as the first rays of sunshine hit Chen Hao’s face. Stewing in negative emotions was the opposite of what he needed to do right now. Such things often ended in never-ending downward spirals and panic attacks.

Then, he panicked as dawn came, remembering what the butcher had said.

“Wake up, boy. The sun is up. She’ll have both of our heads if we don’t show up.”

Jun wanted to drag him to the shop, but looking at the boy’s wounds, Jun had second thoughts. Instead, he gently shook Chen Hao awake, licking a cut on the boy’s cheek. Wincing, the kid slowly stood up.

“I thought it was all a bad dream,” he said, his voice raspy. Both of them hadn’t seen water for some time.

“We’ve got to figure out a plan. There’s no way we’re going to let some stinky hag get the best of us. One step at a time.”

Gone from his eyes was the endless optimism. A grim determination was all that remained.

“It’s not the end of the journey, boy. By the end of this year, we will get our revenge, and you will become an official disciple. That is the least I can give to you. Now, let’s give ‘em hell.”