Asura came to a rough awakening. It had been a long time since he had felt so miserable. His body ached with a sense of weakness and tiredness. Worse yet, his mind felt scrambled, disorientated, and groggy. Some of which was shaken out when a scalding pot of water was dumped upon his head. Unfortunately, he soon found that he could not even scream, as a firm section of rope occupied his mouth.

“Good. He’s awake.” Someone said.

Asura’s eyes, bulging from the pain, stared at the source of the voice. Sitting across from his tightly bound form was a totally unfamiliar person. A human man, it seemed, dressed in the white flowing robes that Daoist sects tended to adore. Who was this person?

The man continued, “Wang Xie, you sure know how to give the sect trouble.”

What? Wang Xie? The Demon Lord attempted to speak, before realizing that only muffled sounds were audible.

“Don’t bother. You’re bound and gagged. With your cultivation gone, there is nothing you can do to resist,” The presumed Daoist spoke in response, “Still, I was right. We should have just put you to death.”

At this point, Asura had ceased to move, silently suffering from the intense burn. His mind began to jog. What did that bastard do to me? Naturally, the bastard in mind was not the stranger across from him, but the mysterious voice that had activated the Golden Lotus to do…something. There was too much he didn’t know, and, as the human had said (and he had long since sensed), he was now apparently powerless. Begrudgingly, he listened attentively as the Daoist continued.

“Now, it seems that only you know what has happened. Since it would be such a shame to kill an important source of information, I will graciously allow you to speak.”

The rope in Asura’s mouth slackened just enough to mumble out some barely intelligible words. The man raised his hand in interruption just as Asura was about to speak.

“Do not plead for mercy, or anything of the sort. Your crimes were heinous enough to deserve even worse, but you were lucky your master pleaded on your behalf.”

Asura snorted in his mind. Was he such a pathetic being? He was arrogant and indomitable above all else. Even now, he burned this man’s face into his mind so as to remember who to kill later. Still, in his current, deprived form, he had to bow his head with gritted teeth. Arrogance was not stupidity.

He ventured cautiously, “I am not sure what you are talking about. If you could tell me more, perhaps I could assist you better in understanding the situation.”

The ropes both in his mount and binding him immediately tightened to a painful degree, constricting him even more. Asura endured it silently, looking at the human with baleful eyes.

“Hmph. Impudent. I am still in shock that the sect could raise such an ingrate. Even now, you do not know your place. You should know that I, Elder Yan Tie, am not a person patient enough to deal with your stupidity.”

The self-proclaimed Elder stood up with a flourish and stepped outside of the cell. On his way out, he stated loudly enough for Asura to overhear, “Formation, lock his cell for another three days. See if he is more cooperative after stewing for three days. Do not heal his burns.”

The entrance he passed through quickly shut, blocking out the only source of light in the cramped room. In an instant, Asura was left alone with his wounds and his thoughts. He stared at the entrance for a moment longer before shutting his eyes to inspect his body’s condition.

His eyes flashed open the very next second. There was nothing to inspect, since it was impossible to inspect anything without spiritual energy. That bastard really left me with nothing! Asura was both shocked and furious. To kill a Demon Lord was one thing, but it was another to completely deprive one of all abilities outside that of a mortal’s. In his state, he could only vaguely sense a gaping void in what was presumably once his dantian.

What did he do this for? Asura thought, closely analyzing the situation with the trace pieces of information he had with him. Firstly, it was by this point obvious that he was no longer a Demon Lord, evident by the lack of connection he felt with the Nether Realm. Secondly, this was likely not even his body. And if it were, it was distorted to a degree that no one would recognize it.

As a Demon Lord in the prime of his life, Asura had possessed an incredibly powerful body that could contend with many Immortals with physique alone. Now, the form he inhabited was malnourished, scrawny, and strangely, human. From what he could vaguely sense, this body had only been tempered loosely, barely better than a newborn imp’s. With a shattered dantian and crippled cultivation, he was little better than the human equivalent: a mortal martial artist.

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This could genuinely be considered the weakest point in his existence. Even as a newly formed demon, he had possessed an innate ability to use spiritual energy, and now even that had been robbed of him. Bodily situation aside, he needed to understand the circumstances that brought him to his point. Why was he now a human, apparently imprisoned by a Daoist sect, and not even in the Nether Realm?

This was a truly baffling point. The identity of the voice was obviously an immensely powerful being that had taken to toying with this mere Demon Lord, but why? Asura considered a few options. He had made more than a fair few enemies throughout his rise to prominence, and more than a few had solid backings. It was not totally impossible that an old monster had come to find trouble with him due to some spat with a junior, but this was highly unlikely.

Asura was one of the few pinnacle Demon Lords of the Nether Realm, already a formidable figure in his own right. The only beings who would, or even could, find trouble with him were deities or their equivalents. But the way the voice had brazenly infiltrated the Nether Realm and rendered a Demon Lord hapless to even struggle in his own home turf suggested something even more terrifying.

He immediately ceased his train of thought. In his current diminished state, even thinking their names would signal their attentions. But this conjecture itself was depressing. What had he done to warrant the action of one of these behemoths? Most pressing, however, was getting out of his mortal shackles. And that, sadly, required cooperating, at least for a bit, with that disdainful Yan Tie.

---

When Yan Tie returned three days later as scheduled, his expression was dark. Asura was pleased with himself; anything bad for his captor was at least a moral victory. As three days ago, he was still bound to a chair with constricting ropes, but now he was armed with a plan and adorned with boils for burn marks.

Yan Tie quickly took his seat across from Asura, before impatiently speaking.

“I hope this time alone has convinced you to speak sensibly. If you still want to play stupid, we have all the time in the world.”

The rope that acted as his gag came loose once more, allowing the once-Demon Lord to talk. What came out of his lips would thoroughly disbelieve anyone who knew him as a Demon Lord.

“I have. Elder Yan Tie, I have reflected over my actions, and I would like to offer a humble apolo—”

Although disappointed, Asura was more or less prepared for the retightening of the ropes and the subsequent pain. Perhaps that was a little too disingenuous? Still, it was a good thing Yan Tie was only physically punishing him and not leaving the room. It proved he had some wiggle room. He could deal with the pain, but if Yan Tie really decided to simply leave him here to rot, this Demon Lord would really be at his wits’ ends.

Yan Tie was quick to berate him, “You scoundrel! You still have the guts to act humble and apologize?! Why didn’t you kowtow before the Sect Leader after you went and got your fellow disciples killed? Why didn’t you apologize for being a worthless piece of trash? What does it matter that you are now apologizing for disrupting Dark Watery Prison?”

Asura glanced at the heavily breathing Yan Tie. It didn’t seem like he was acting, and for that he was grateful. The more he spoke, the better, even if he was enraged.

“I-I didn’t mean to insult Elder Yan Tie. I am truly sincere in apologizing for my crimes against the sect. While I was held here, I have truly come to understand the weight of my actions. If I could help Elder Yan Tie in uncovering the root of Dark Watery Prison’s problems, that would be my honor.”

Thankfully, there was no backlash aside from Yan Tie’s verbalized frustration.

“Your honor? What honor does a homeless, beaten dog have? Dark Watery Prison’s formation has a glaring hole in its security now, and you talk about honor? Would it be your honor to explain how you managed to shine a light bright enough to break a formation? Would it?”

Asura carefully responded, “To my understanding…it may have to do with my physique.”

Yan Tie instantly snapped shut, as if he had come to understand.

“What about your physique?” He inquired, far less impassioned as before.

Briefly considering his possible responses for a second, Asura chose to gamble with his answer.

“As you may know, my True Bright Star Physique has been harvested, but perhaps some of its remnants have flared u—”

Yan Tie chose to directly slap Asura this time.

“Wang Xie, do you think I still want to play games? Lying about your physique for no reason? The Extreme Blazing Sun Physique and True Bright Star Physique are vastly different, do you think I am as stupid as you are?”

The Sect Elder paused for a moment.

“But you may be right. Perhaps your physique really did return to some extent. Even a chained dog still has a bite. Perhaps being jailed for five years was enough for your body to recover a bit.”

“Elder Yan Tie, I think you may be right!” Exclaimed a new figure, walking through the cell entrance.

Yan Tie stammered as he rose to greet the new arrival, “S-sect Leader, I did not know that you were coming. I have just discovered the cause of the problem, there is no need for you to come and see me.”

The Sect Leader casually waved him off before turning his attention to Asura. “Yes, it seems so. I overheard it all. It has been hard on you these past few days, as the Punishment Hall Elder. ”

“Yes, thank you for your kind words, Sect Leader. Then how do you believe we should deal with this criminal?”

Asura wasn’t surprised the Elder immediately deferred to the Sect Leader. Although he had lost all his spiritual senses, the physically visible condensed aura around the Sect Leader proved that this human was at least at the Aura Union stage. Yan Tie was obviously inferior in cultivation, Wang Xie’s body even more so. With such an expert around, his already slim chances of escape diminished even more.

However, the Sect Leader’s next few words gave Asura some hope.

“Since Wang Xie seems so cooperative, let us take him to the Medicine Hall and examine his body to see if this is really true.”