Tales Of The Exiled Immortal

"Arghhhhh!"

A loud roar of pain echoed through the dark abyss. The kind of sound that would send chills down the spine of any nearby listener, if anyone had been close enough to hear.

"Arghhhhh!"

The scream came again, sharper and louder, cutting through the silence that wrapped the abyss.

"Haaaaa!!"

Another cry followed, deeper and more violent, shaking the depths of the abyss. The roars went on for who knows how long until, at last, the place fell into a heavy silence.

A long stretch of quiet passed and then a burnt hand reached out from the darkness, fingers dragging across the cold, broken ground. A body followed slowly behind it, moving inch by inch until it finally crawled into the light.

"Finally," Rain groaned, collapsing on his back. His charred hair stuck to his face, and his entire body looked like it had been through a furnace. His clothes were in tatters, his skin burnt, and thin smoke rose from the surface of his flesh.

"When will this torture stop," he muttered, his eyes squinting up at the sky as his wounds healed at an unnatural speed.

Every single day, the same thing happened. A strange, invisible force would pull him into the abyss, tear him apart with pain and agony until he hovered at death's edge, then throw him back out again. His cultivation repaired him almost immediately and then it would start all over again and again.

At first, he tried to resist. He thought maybe if he fought hard enough, he could break free. But even at the Void Shattering Realm, one of the highest cultivation stages, he was still useless against the force that ruled this place.

When he was outside, he was a legend, a name that made even old monsters step aside. But here, he was just a toy for something stronger.

Flat on the ground, Rain closed his eyes, just waiting for it to drag him under again but he wasn’t thinking about himself. His thoughts were locked on his sister.

He didn’t know if she was alive. All he could do was hope.

The Heavenly Emperor, ruler of the four realms had almost beaten her to death in a fit of rage. In retaliation, Rain had stolen one of the Emperor's sacred elixirs to save her and that act had landed him here.

He no longer knew how many years he’d spent in this pit. The endless torture had numbed everything inside him.

He couldn’t even die. Void Shattering Realm cultivators had lifespans that reached close to a million years.

Was he meant to endure this for the rest of his life?

The thought alone was insane and as he drifted deeper into thought, the familiar suction force suddenly returned. It grabbed onto him, pulling him toward the abyss like it always did and Rain just smiled knowingly,

"Seems like my time’s up again," Rain muttered. His eyes opened briefly, then closed again with no resistance.

But this time, the force stopped, it vanished and then came a voice which sounded dry, ancient, and calm.

"You’ve given up already, haven’t you?"

Rain’s eyes snapped open and in front of him hovered a man dressed in flowing white robes, with a long beard and steady eyes, the old man looked untouched by the abyss.

"Who are you?" Rain asked, eyes locked onto him, then shifting toward the abyss.

"You don’t need to know who I am, kid," the old man replied with a small laugh, his fingers stroking his beard like he had all the time in the world.

"Do you want to leave this place?"

Rain didn’t respond right away. His attention was still fixed on the abyss where the force had stopped. Only this old freak could have done it cause it had gone still and the pull was gone.

"Kid, I’m talking to you." The old man’s voice cut in again, firmer this time.

"Do you want to leave this place?"

"Yes." Rain nodded without delay.

Though after a few years of trying, he gave up trying to escape this place. If offered the chance, he wouldn't hesitate to take it even if it's just a crack through the door.

"Then it’s settled," the old man said with a slight nod.

"I’ll release you from this suffering. But in return, you must defeat the Heavenly Emperor."

"But..."

"There’s no negotiation," the old man interrupted before Rain could say anything else. "Defeat him, or suffer a fate much worse than this."

"We’ll meet again. Either when you fail or when you pass." The old man’s voice faded just as his figure disappeared completely.

Rain looked around, confused. "So how do I get out of here?" he muttered.

The moment the words left his mouth, a heavy wave of fatigue crushed him, and he collapsed to the ground with a hard thud.

---

"How dare you block my way, you bastard? Outer sect trash."

A harsh voice rang in Rain’s ears, forcing his eyes open. His vision adjusted quickly to a new surrounding.

"We told you to clean our rooms, and you dared to stay here pretending to be sick? You ignored our orders? Who gave you the guts, huh? You useless rat."

The yelling continued while Rain stared at the faces before him, his brow creased slightly in confusion.

"Aren’t I supposed to be back at my house? Did that old man lie to me?" he muttered under his breath, puzzled at the scene around him.

Before he could figure anything out, a flood of memories rushed into his mind. He groaned, his head throbbing for a moment but the pain vanished just as quickly as it came.

Compared to the torture he had endured over the years in that abyss, this was nothing.

A slow grin crept onto his lips as he processed the new information.

He wasn’t sent home. His body had been destroyed, his soul had been sent to the mortal world, forced into the body of an outer disciple in the Glory Dome Sect.

"How dare you ignore me?! Didn’t you hear me talking to you?"

A loud roar yanked him from his thoughts and at the same time, a gust of wind rushed toward him followed by a fist aimed directly at his face.