Shaodi serves under a Master of Hardship—specifically one who governs Sorrow. He's got a pretty dark backstory: he was cast out of heaven after being accused of killing his former master, then banished to Earth as punishment. While waiting for his new master to arrive, he was basically stuck in imprisonment.
Things changed when Xiaojie freed him from his chains, but she didn't exactly let him walk free. Instead, she put a Spirit Beast collar on him, which keeps him bound to her. His job now is to help his new master—Xiaojie, in this case—win the Calamity of 8 Hardships, whatever that entails. So he went from imprisoned and chained to imprisoned and collared. Not exactly a glow-up, but at least he's got purpose again.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
