Jing Wei shook his head slightly.
"I barely survived," he said.
Lin Mu remained silent, letting him continue.
"I did not understand the Immortal realm," Jing Wei admitted. "I did not know the stages, the systems, or the dangers. Everything was unfamiliar."
"So what did you do?" Lin Mu asked.
Jing Wei gave a small, self-deprecating smile.
"I made a mistake," he said.
Lin Mu raised a brow.
"I triggered an Immortal tribulation," Jing Wei said.
Lin Mu's eyes widened slightly.
"So soon?" he asked.
"I thought it would help stabilize and grow stronger. I couldn't even fly so I reckoned it would help survive." Jing Wei replied. "But I was wrong"
He took a long drink before continuing.
"The tribulation was far stronger than anything I had faced before," he said. "I used everything I had. Every weapon. Every trump card."
"And?" Lin Mu asked.
"I survived," Jing Wei said. "Barely."
His tone was calm, but the mory behind it was not.
"My spatial storage treasures were destroyed," he added. "Everything I had was lost."
Lin Mu felt a heaviness settle in his chest.
"I was left with nothing," Jing Wei continued. "No resources. No tools. No support."
He paused.
"After the tribulation ended, I collapsed," he said. "I had no strength left."
Lin Mu's gaze sharpened.
"And when I woke up..." Jing Wei said slowly.
He looked directly at Lin Mu.
"I was in a cage."
The words hung in the air.
Lin Mu's expression hardened instantly.
The noise of the banquet faded in his perception.
For a mont...
There was only that sentence.
A cage and everything that it implied.
Lin Mu stared at Jing Wei, the words lingering in his mind long after they had been spoken. The noise of the banquet returned gradually, yet it felt distant, muted against the weight of what he had just heard. He leaned forward slightly, his expression serious, his voice steady though there was tension beneath it. "How did you end up in a cage?" he asked.
Jing Wei exhaled slowly, his fingers tightening briefly around the mug in his hand before relaxing again. He seed to search for the right place to begin, as if retracing those mories required care.
"I don't know the exact mont it happened," Jing Wei admitted. "I was unconscious for most of it. After the tribulation, I had nothing left. My body was damaged, my Qi was nearly depleted, and my mind could barely hold together. I rember collapsing, and then... nothing"
He paused, taking a sip of ale before continuing.
"When I woke up, I was already inside the cage," he said. "My wounds had been treated to so extent. Enough that I would not die imdiately. But I was still weak. Very weak."
Lin Mu's gaze darkened.
"So soone found you," he said.
Jing Wei nodded.
"Yes," he replied. "A passing immortal cultivator ca across . Instead of helping, he saw an opportunity."
He gave a faint, almost humorless smile.
"I was sold."
Lin Mu's hand tightened around his mug.
"Sold as what?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Jing Wei t his eyes.
"Yes,"
Lin Mu's aura shifted.
"A SLAVE!?" he shouted, unable to hold back the surge of anger.
Several nearby dwarves turned their heads at the sudden outburst, though most quickly returned to their drinking, assuming it was just another heated exchange. Cattaleya, in the distance, glanced over briefly before going back to her contest, already holding another empty mug in her hand as a defeated dwarf slumped beside her.
Jing Wei raised his hand slightly.
"It is in the past," he said calmly. "There is no need to let it trouble you now."
He pushed another mug of ale toward Lin Mu.
"Drink," he added.
Lin Mu exhaled, forcing himself to regain control. He picked up the mug and drank deeply, finishing half of it in one go. The cool bitterness of the ale helped steady his thoughts, though the anger had not fully faded.
"What happened next?" he asked.
Jing Wei leaned back slightly, his gaze drifting for a mont as he recalled
those days.
"I was kept in that cage for two months," he said. "There were many others with . Different races, different backgrounds. So had been captured, so
betrayed, so simply unlucky."
Lin Mu listened in silence.
"At first, I was too weak to do anything," Jing Wei continued. "I could barely sit
up. But over ti, I recovered enough to observe.""
He took another sip of ale.
"There was little to do in a cage," he said. "No work, no tasks. Just waiting. The only thing we had was conversation."
"That helped?" Lin Mu asked.
"It helped more than anything else at that ti," Jing Wei replied. "The other slaves had been there longer. They knew things I did not. About the Immortal
realm. About the way things worked."
His expression grew thoughtful.
"That is when I learned where I was," he said.
"Where?" Lin Mu asked.
"The Clam Shell Immortal World," Jing Wei replied. "An Immortal world within
the territory of the Northern Immortal Court."
Lin Mu's brows furrowed.
"That is far from here," he said.
Jing Wei nodded.
"Yes," he said. "Very far."
Lin Mu leaned back slightly, thinking through it.
"You appeared in the Northern Immortal Court's territory upon ascension," he
said slowly. "And now you are in the Eastern Immortal Court's territory..."
He shook his head.
"That is a vast distance."
Jing Wei gave a small nod.
"It seems that the Xiaofan World falls under the influence of the Northern
Immortal Court," he said. "Those who ascend from there are supposed to appear within its domain."
He paused, then looked at Lin Mu with curiosity.
"Where did you appear?" he asked.
Lin Mu answered without hesitation.
"The Rust Sky World," he said. "Under the Western Immortal Court."
Jing Wei blinked.
"That should not be possible," he said, clearly puzzled.
Lin Mu gave a faint shrug.
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