As I suffered an agony a hundred times worse than drowning, as the vile liquid penetrated through my nostrils and lungs, it made me feel as if I was drowning in liquid lava. With every bit and piece of my body in utter and complete agonizing pain. I wanted to scream, and when I did, I instantly regretted it as I have let the liquid that felt like a living thing access to my body. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

The liquid, a nefarious, destructive, and painful substance enveloped me and pressed against every fiber of my body, making me wish that death would come and claim my life as fast as it could, but the reaper was too slow in his work that I wanted to curse at him. I wasn’t dying any time soon. And it took a lot of time for the cultivators to notice that I am still alive and in utter pain.

I lost sight in one of my eyes, the burning pain from my broken leg increased ten folds. And my back felt like it broke and was reconstructed but in a deformed way. I was suffering, it was as if the liquid was morphing my body, molding it like clay dough to the shape it wanted.

"He still lives. Good!" one of the cultivators said, then the same power pulled me from the pool. Like a hand that grasped on the body of a small bird, making it feel useless and unable to do anything but beg for the mercy of its captive.

He threw me against the pool’s rim, I fell on my back, gasping for air that resisted contending agaisnt the burning liquid in my lungs.

I was unable to see well, my mind was in chaos, and my lungs were full of the disgusting liquid, I wretched and coughed out whatever I could, but I felt like there was much more left inside my lungs as they burned with every breath I took.

"You, what’s your name?" asked on of the cultivators, he was the man with the crimson robe.

He was addressing me. I didn’t want to annoy him, so I spoke through grit teeth, "Shen Bao."

"Shen Bao, today is your lucky day, you’ll be of service to an Immortal, rejoice and take pride in it." said the man earing crimson, his gaze however was filled with scorn, as if he saw me as nothing but an ant, a tool to his devises. A nonentity.

It was humiliating, to be looked down upon, to be treated this way and to be expected to be thankful to your torturer, but for now, they hold the keys to my survival, and I could do nothing but follow their orders, perhaps I could live.

"You’ve survived the Bone and Body Grinding Poison, that is a feat not even we Immortals could do, that means you’re fated to be of great use to us. Brat, move to that door, and place your hand in it." said the man.

’Brat... no matter how you look at it, I look much older than him. But if he is an Immortal, the same as the ones in those books, then he could be hundreds of years for all I know. So he is probably right in calling me brat.’

I looked forward from where I was lying down. There was a golden door there, filled with writings of all sorts. I didn’t understand any of them, but in the middle of the writings was a palm print.

"Place your hand on the palm print. Once you do that, that door will open, and you’ll be set free. I even have your antidote; you’ll be good as new once you drink this." The cultivator said.

’brand as new?’

I finally realized what he meant as I looked at my hands, I was a healthy old aged man, I still had muscles and a good build, but after being dipped into that pool, everything changed. My skin turned pale green, pustules and odd tumorous blobs grew abnormally all over my body, this looked like a severe case of Neurofibromatosis, I’ve read an article about it once. I was a monster...

"Hurry!"

I tried to stand up, but my right leg gave up on me, the broken bone hadn’t healed yet and with the Bone and Body Grinding Poison, it had undoubtedly been affected and now it’s in an even worse condition.

"MOVE!" shouted one of the cultivators, and I had no choice but to do so.

I dragged myself forward, feeling every part of me in utter agony, every bone of my body screaming in pain as I moved forward. The pain was too much, yet I didn’t faint or fall unconscious, I cursed the strong constitution of this body as it would have spared me much of this pain if I was just a weak normal human.

Once I reached the gate, the crimson wearing cultivator said, "Press your palm there, brat. We don’t have much time."

I did as I was told, all for that antidote, if I get it, I could get rid of these disgusting features...

Once my hand locked onto the gate, it felt like it was glued. Something pricked me in the palm, and a gust of blood surged out from the palm print and spread all over the door. I felt dizzy and anemic. But I still couldn’t fall unconscious.

I dropped to my knees huffing once the door creaked open.

"It’s open! We finally did it! Ten years of hard work finally got us here!" the Crimson robed cultivator spoke in glee.

The door kept opening revealing the inside. The cultivators rushed toward the door. They wanted to claim what was there. But something was not right.

Right I front of me was a purple colored skull, it was too big, almost as big as the door’s size, it looked like a ghost, ethereal and see through. Yet the cultivators didn’t seem to notice it, or even care about it if they did.

Soon, the purplish skull dissipated into a cloud of gas and fell to the ground, seeping like a coiling snake. It came to me, but the moment it touched me, it removed itself and went away, looking for something.

The purple smoke also avoided the cultivators, but they still didn’t seem to notice it.

It went out probably that was the ghost of someone and it was leaving the dungeon we’re in.

The cultivators all went inside the new room but I grabbed at the last one’s robe and said.

"The antidote!"

The cultivator smirked in my face and said, "Do you think if we had the antidote we wouldn’t have dipped ourselves in the pool and open the door ourselves? Foolish mortal, now die!" he said and lifted his leg up to stomp on my face.

Yet the earth trembled and a shaking far worse than anything I have ever felt before started.

The scarce light that came from the exit of this dungeon was cut off. And the volume of the purple fog began increasing in the room.

The people who were chained began falling unconscious, it was sudden, and silent. Like nothing I have ever seen before, it was like a spell to make everyone fall asleep. Yet, their bodies shriveled up and dried up right in front of my eyes.

Not even the cultivator who wanted to stomp my head into the ground was saved from this fate, even he was turned to a skeleton, then his skeleton turned to ash. All that was left of him was his clothes and a small brown pouch.

The cave was silent. For the first time since I got here, it was as silent as the night. No more came the sound of wailing and pained moans, not even the sound of the Cultivators who went into the room.

I can’t stay here, perhaps the purple ghost had ignored me at first was a coincidence, but I doubt it will do it again.

There was no way out from where we got in from. There is only the cave.