---9 Blade Mountain---

The cold woke him up. The wet, earthy ground was sapping all of his warmth away from him, unhindered by the rags barely covering his body. The smell of wet dirt and shit filled his nose, a familiar scent.

He tried to prop himself up, but his arms slid away on the muddy dirt of the cell floor. Too weak to react, he plopped on the ground, the fall taking what little air was in his lungs out of him. How long had it been since he was captured? Months?

At this point, he was probably abandoned. He couldn't believe his family wouldn't have already paid the ransom otherwise. Had his second brother finally gotten what he wanted? Ever since he was captured during his journey with the trade caravan, he had a lot of time to think.

It was the only thing he could do here, apart from losing consciousness. At this point, he was convinced this had been a trap of his brother to get rid of him. Despite rescinding his right to become the head, he treated him as a threat. If he ever got out of this place...

Before the vengeful thought could take hold, the energy had already left his body. It was hopeless. There was no escaping this place. Even if he escaped, what could he do?`He was a starved and emaciated wreck. He curled back up, trying to conserve what little heat his body was producing.

BAMM BAMM URGH

The noise of the usual bar fight from the bandit fort above echoed down to his little cell dug into the side of the mountain. The 9 Mountain Blades of 9 Blade Mountain. To think he ended up in such a notorious place of all places.

How had the second brother managed to rope in these fiends? A question he had asked over and over without ever finding an answer. There were 9 masters at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Their notoriety was known far and wide, yet nobody dared to subjugate them as their skills with their blades were genuine.

BOOM

The whole room suddenly shook, and earth trickled from the ceiling. Shocked, he jumped up, panting heavily from the exhaustion of the sudden movement. Urgh, weren't they a little too rowdy today? If they did this much, the whole underground prison would collapse.

Even if they didn't care for the people, they should show at least some consideration for the lives of their hostages, right? Maybe he wasn't worth any money, but there were others here that would still bring in money, no?

A ray of light disturbed the twilight of the dungeon. With a creak, the shabby wooden door at the entrance of the long corridor connecting the cells opened. illuminated by torchlight from the back, a shadowy silhouette entered the darkness.

Chink. Chink. Chink.

With every step, he heard the clanking and rubbing of metal plates against each other. Step, step, step, stop. He heard the cry of iron and the quiet rustling of clumps of earth falling. Then the steps began again. Step, Step, Step, stop. Again, the soft sound of collapsing earth and screeching metal.

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Just what was going on?!

Step, Step, Step... Step Step Step... Finally, the figure towered above him. It was a man completely covered in a suit of metal. Their armored fingers grasped onto the iron bars of his cells and pulled. His eyes widened when he understood what he had heard.

Without any visible strain, that person bent the bars and pulled them from the earthen walls of his cell. On the way out, the burrowed bars ripped out huge, heavy chunks of earth that collapsed into the cell and the corridor.

“T-thank you...” he mumbled, surprised. His throat was sore, and the words barely came out. He had not talked in weeks. There was no answer.

He was free. Just like that. And just like that, the figure trudged on to the next cell to release the next captive. Everything shook again. They really overdid it with their bar fight... wait! Maybe it was not a bar fight at all.

Were there actually people who had come to subjugate the 9 Mountain Blades? In that case, he had to get out as soon as possible. Mobilizing what little reserve he had, he stumbled out onto the corridor.

He was not the only one standing there, weak, dirty, and barely covered in the rags of their former robes. Nobody spoke. They exchanged glances and unanimously moved toward the exit of the underground passage. They all had the same thought.

If there was really someone with the balls to challenge this stronghold, they probably had the strength to back up that confidence. Whether they stood a chance or not, this was going to be a fight between people on the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

These fights could scar mountains and cities. This crude prison would easily collapse if the fight above grew more serious. Beyond the shabby door was a small room lit by a torch. There was a table, playing cards, and two corpses.

Their heads were bashed in, their faces unrecognizable. Their jailers had met a tragic end over a game of cards. They all gave them a couple of weak kicks, venting at least some of their frustration that had built up over weeks of abuse and starvation.

Then they faced their greatest enemy. The stairs lead out. There weren't many steps, but they seemed like an insurmountable mountain to these people at the edge of keeling over by just standing still.

Luckily(?), the decision was taken from them. He was still hesitating when a bright light flooded the stairs for just a moment, then the stairs were gone. The mountain past the first step was also gone. Instead of a set of stairs up, they now face a ravine cut straight through the mountain.

He swallowed. Truly, a fight among immortals...he had to get away from here. Decisively, he took the one step left of the stairs and tumbled down the ravine. Rough stones stabbed and shaved his paper-thin skin, but he could deal with this pain.

He managed to keep it together until he reached the end of the ravine, several stories below. Bleeding all over his body, he stumbled to get back on his feet. It was when he managed to pull himself up and look to the sky that he saw an incredible scene.

6 of the 9 Mountain Blades were fighting a single man. With his body covered in a suit of metal, he looked like an iron giant twice the size of a person. Riding a giant dragonfly, he was calmly swinging a cudgel, completely ignoring the splendid techniques of his opponents that simply glanced off his armor.

The remaining three blades were fighting a man wielding a mighty axe. Despite being clearly more skillful, they were seemingly unable to gain the advantage against the huge weapon, twirling around in the hands of the crude warrior.

His performance had the aura of raw, unrefined power. It inspired him to an extent, but not enough to stay and watch. While the two great warriors faced 9 of the most notorious fiends of the southern XiGuang Province, the captive used the chasm cut in the mountain to escape, away from the battle.

Although they ran as fast as their leg could carry them, which wasn't very fast, they would never forget the sight of their two saviors, fighting a battle against all odds.