Chapter 02: Escape

After breakfast, everyone went back to their hard work, which was much too hard for their age as slaves.

Li Wei returned to his task of wielding a large axe and chopping wood.

Li Wei was exhausted after just a few swings. It took him at least three swings to cut through the wood. "This small body is struggling to lift the big axe and chop wood in one swing."

As Li Wei chopped the wood into smaller pieces, his desire to escape grew stronger. He saw a middle-aged man cleaning tools nearby and decided to ask.

Li Wei turned around with curiosity. "Uncle, is there no way to escape from this place?"

The middle-aged man stopped his work for a moment and looked at Li Wei with sad eyes.

The middle-aged man shook his head and replied, "Kid, it's impossible to escape from here. Once our souls sign a contract with the demon sect leader, we're bound forever."

Li Wei, who was now a different soul from the original Li Wei, asked to know more about the situation.

Li Wei frowned. "But why? What happens if we try to cross the sect's boundary?"

The middle-aged man stared into the distance as if remembering a painful past. "Your souls will be tortured, Li Wei. The pain is unimaginable. It's like being whipped and burned alive."

Li Wei was shocked and afraid. "How do you know, uncle? Have you tried it?"

The middle-aged man nodded slowly, his face filled with old, reopened wounds.

"Yes, I tried to escape once. The pain... words cannot describe it. It felt like my soul was being torn from my body, endlessly whipped and burned with hellfire." The middle-aged man didn't want to relive those memories.

Li Wei muttered to himself, "I feel guilty for making him remember his dark past..."

Li Wei was terrified and afraid; he didn't know what it felt like to have his soul torn from his body. "Then how did you come back? Why didn't you die?"

The middle-aged man sighed heavily. "The sect elders found me before I really died. They dragged me back to the demon sect's territory. Since then, I've never thought of trying again. They can sense when someone tries to escape, and the torture is a warning to all of us."

Li Wei bit his lip, trying to hold back his fear and despair.

"Then there is no hope for us, Uncle?" he asked.

The middle-aged man looked at Li Wei with compassion. "Kid, there is always hope, but it is not easy or quick. We have to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. Maybe one day someone will come and help us. Until then, we must persevere and not give up."

Li Wei wanted to try to escape, but he still had doubts in his heart. Many questions swirled in his mind.

The middle-aged man gently patted Li Wei's shoulder, trying to give him some strength.

"Stay strong, Li Wei. Today may be dark, but one day the light will come. We just have to endure until that day comes."

Li Wei nodded slowly, trying to imprint the man's words into his heart.

After cleaning up from the dirty, hard work, everyone returned for dinner.

At dinner time, Li Wei wanted to escape from this harsh place. From what he had heard, the demon contract would only torment the soul until the person who crossed the boundary was found by the elders of the demon sect.

Ordinary people couldn't escape the demon sect's territory with the contract. But Li Wei, now with Ren's soul, had a chance to escape.

"Worth a try," Li Wei thought as he ate his dog food.

The slaves in the demon sect suffered a lot; if they got sick, there was no excuse not to work. Sick or not, as long as they were alive, they had to keep working.

The demon sect's disciples often came every few months to torture the slaves. They used the slaves as punching bags for their newly learned techniques.

Many slaves were injured or even disabled by these beatings. But as long as they lived, they were tortured and forced to work despite their poor condition.

The disciples smiled with satisfaction as they watched the slaves work hard until they died of exhaustion. Li Wei hated this and planned to escape the sect that night.

Bedtime.

In the silent and dark midnight, Li Wei awoke from his sleep. The place where he slept was very cramped, as many people shared the same room.

The room was lit only by the moonlight sneaking through the cracks in the wooden walls. Li Wei's heart was filled with an indescribable mixture of fear and courage.

"I must escape," he thought. "This is my only chance to get out of here."

Li Wei, now with Ren's soul in Li Wei's body, knew he had to take this risk. Even though he was only eight years old, he felt the burden of life was too heavy.

"I'm in the body of an eight-year-old boy, it's really too much," Li Wei said, holding his chest.

Silently, he opened the front door and stepped out into the quiet night. No demon sect cultivators were guarding that night, confident that the soul contract they had signed would make the slaves too afraid to try to escape.

"This is the time," Li Wei said to himself. He ran in the opposite direction of the distant lights, toward the trickling sound of the river in the night.

"I must hurry," he urged himself. His small feet ran swiftly over the cold, rocky ground, feeling every thorn and pebble pierce his soles.

After running for a long time, his breathing became ragged and his weak body began to run out of energy.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

He decided to slow down and walk. "I have to keep moving, I can't stop now," he told himself firmly. The pain in his feet grew stronger, but Li Wei ignored it.

"I am far from the demon sect. But have I left their territory?" His mind was filled with conflicting doubts and hopes.

Li Wei decided to continue walking until sunrise. "When the sun rises, maybe I'll be far enough away from the demon sect," he said to himself. Step by step, he walked under the sky, which began to redden, a sign of the approaching dawn.

As the sun began to rise, its warm rays illuminated the path Li Wei had taken. He looked back at the way he had come.

"I did it," he whispered to himself. "I got out."

With eyes full of determination, Li Wei promised himself, "I will return. I will save all the slaves as soon as I am strong enough."

New strength and hope filled his heart. He knew that his journey was long and full of obstacles. But with his determination, he could get through anything.

"Just wait."

As the sun rose, Li Wei stepped forward, leaving his dark past behind and moving toward a brighter future.

Maybe...

Every step was a step towards freedom and the strength that would one day bring him back to save those left behind.

"Hold on until I arrive."