When a man faces improbable odds, give him a single reason and he shall persist through even the fires of hell!
Victor felt dead, every breath he took sent his mind reeling in pain and anguish, every fiber of his being was alit, screaming for death. His lungs were giving out with the slightest movement.
Every passing nano second only made his state more miserable and the pain almost hollowed out his mind.
Death felt like heaven compared to Life.
But even so he persisted, clinging to the last of his breath with everything he had. His bloodshot eyes remained glued to the book that he was tightly clenching.
In all oddity, he felt like giving up already but there was a fire burning through his chest that kept him alive:
Revenge!
Every pain that he is enduring right now was engraved and carved into his mind and he shall inflict a thousand more pain upon the perpetrators who made his condition as such. This was what kept him going.
After a gruelling amount of time passed that felt like an eternity, his condition finally grew a little better. A bit of strength surged in his limbs.
Without hesitation, Victor opened the book and read through its content. Strangely, he could read and understand all of the words in this book almost naturally, just like how he could understand the words of those women.
'I have never heard of such magic that can make one understand the language and writings no less so easily.'
Victor's pupils quivered, he has already realised that this might be a vastly different world than his own. The ancient wooden floor, the lantern hung in the wall, the oily and greasy wall, all of it felt like a completely different world.
Anyway, as he flipped through the pages of the book, his interest was immediately piqued, his mind gradually going into a trance as he read through them, forgetting all about his pain.
In the end as he reached the last page, a hearty sigh escaped his lips, his expression becoming extremely peculiar.
"Such a strange thing, is that even possible?"
If everything in the book stated was true, then he was in for a pleasant surprise. It was called as the:
Yin-Yang Body Strengthening Sutra!
Such a peculiar name. But it was more terrifying than strange, it allowed one to strengthen their body by doing a set of exercises, there were nine levels and if one reached the ninth level then they would enter the First stage of Body-refining realm.
Victor didn't know what that even meant but it sounded powerful. But there was more question in his mind: How do I even practise it?
His skin wrinkled, his body weak from exhaustion after being drained by those vixens.
There was no way he could practise this thing with his exhausted body, no matter how determined he was.
Soon enough though his answers were quickly answered as the door flung opened again.
A woman in ragged clothes, came into the room. Her face covered in dirt and grease, Her body looked very improvised, so weak that it felt like if one blew, she would fly away like a kite.
She approached him and slowly started to undo his chains, first the arms then the legs, immediately his exhausted body fell to the ground with a cold thud, the chains around his neck yanked his head reeling back, making him grunt in agony while he grew out of breath.
"So… sorry…" the woman meekly responded as she hurriedly loosened his chains and Victor directly fell face-flat into the ground.
"Are you fine?"
"I am fine…" Victor shortly replied, ragged breaths pipped through his lungs, "What do you want?" he spoke, while still lying face down.
"I am here to give you food."
"Food?" He managed to raise his neck and glanced at her hand, finding absolutely nothing, was she going to feed him air?
"My name is Qin Jinjing."
She chuckled, probably noticing his confusion, taking out a pouch from underneath her robes and taking a pill out of it, "This is a food pill, this allows one to gain all the nutrition and vitamins necessary for the body."
Then she directly fed him.
Victor opened his mouth, accepting the pill obediently, at his current state anybody could kill him, there was no need to resort to pills, besides if they wanted to kill him they would have already done it.
As the cold pill travelled down his espionage, Victor's condition grew a little better.
"This should help you get better," Qin Jinjing kindly smiled, standing back up, "You won't be chained all the time but your neck will still be bound so that you won't have funny thoughts."
Then she left the place, leaving a threatening remark behind:
"I warn you to not have it either for your own safety."
"..."
The door shut down and Victor was left alone in the room again, lying on the cold floor. Darkness shrouded him, only faintly illuminated by the yellow flickering lights of the candles.
He turned his focus back to the book and tried to stand up from the ground. It only took him ten minutes, but he finally stood up after mustering every fiber of strength in his body, his senses already growing numb to all the pain.
Taking deep exhales and inhales, he muttered, "Let's try it."
Victor's condition was a lot better now but even so even standing up was already a difficulty, let alone some simple movement, even as he grew numb to the pain, still somehow the pain kicked in when he merely swung his fist.
His center of gravity grew imbalanced and he was about to fall to the ground.
Just then he remembered the faces of those women, especially that 'senior sister'. The anger in his heart shimmered, turning into a raw fueled determination in his heart and he managed to regain his footing.
Trying again to swing his fist and move his body around.
No matter how much it takes or how painful it is, Victor was exacting his revenge, just like how they crushed his pride, he shall crush theirs.