As Ning Beichen had expected, not long after this thought crossed his mind, he saw a giant crab scuttling towards him, brandishing its claws.
"Food!"
But this giant crab posed no threat to Ning Beichen; instead, it was hot, delicious food that could fill his stomach.
Ning Beichen scrambled to his feet like a madman and charged at the large crab, shouting wildly. There were no monsters, no mysteries; only an intense craving for food.
With a "boom!"
Ning Beichen's fist struck the crab's shell.
The crab was unharmed, but he cried out in pain, his fist covered in blood.
At this moment.
Ning Beichen noticed that the giant crab's shell was covered in protruding spikes. It was as if he had punched a bed of nails.
However, this punch jolted Ning Beichen back to his senses. He quickly used the wooden saber in his hand to attack the giant crab.
With a "swish," the crab dissolved into wisps of smoke and vanished. There was no crab meat, not even a single crab hair.
This was because everything in this environment was false and did not belong to the real world. How could anything remain for him?
But Ning Beichen's hunger was not fake. He was extremely hungry and wanted to stuff anything he saw into his mouth.
Unfortunately, there was nothing here. Unless he went mad with hunger and ate the sand on the ground.
"Water... How can I possibly leave this place?"
After killing several large crabs, Ning Beichen pondered in his mind.
"Water overcomes fire, but there is no fire here. Water breeds wood, but there is no wood either? This is giving me a headache!"
Ning Beichen was like a headless fly, not knowing what to do. As time passed, coupled with his hunger, he began to grow irritable, venting his frustration on these crabs.
"Eight hundred and eighty-eight..."
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine..."
"One thousand..."
When Ning Beichen continuously killed the one thousandth crab, the surrounding environment shattered like a glass ball. Ning Beichen was then pulled by a mysterious force into a place filled with flames, and those flames were engulfing him on all sides.
"Oh my god! Haitang, Haitang, I quit! Get me out of here quickly."
Seeing the terrifying flames, Ning Beichen's scalp wasn't just numb; his heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys were all going numb.
Water, earth, wood – those were manageable. But Ning Beichen looked up and down, and all he saw was fire. He wanted to ask someone:
"Is this... is this normal?"
But Ning Beichen had no time to complain. He immediately turned and ran, and the flames, as if they had eyes, relentlessly pursued him.
These were not giant crabs, nor were they man-faced flowers. They wouldn't give Ning Beichen time to slowly figure out a solution.
These were flames, things that would kill if touched.
Ning Beichen ran and ran, but as time went on, the flames grew more numerous, leaving him with almost no escape.
Before him lay a vast sea of fire, behind him were dense flames, and on both sides were lava flows. This was a near-certain death trap, where even calling for his mother would be useless.
"Haitang, what kind of inheritance did you pass down? This feels more terrifying than going to hell."
Ning Beichen said, tears welling up.
But there was no alternative. Since Haitang didn't appear, and Ning Beichen had nowhere to flee, he remembered his only reliance: the wooden saber Haitang had given him.
Now, all he could do was hope that this wooden saber would be useful. If it wasn't, then he could only wait for death.
"A-doo!"
Ning Beichen brandished the wooden saber, roaring to bolster his courage. With a lift of his hand, he swung the saber at a cluster of flames.
With a "swoosh," the flames were extinguished by Ning Beichen's single strike.
"It works!"
Ning Beichen became instantly excited. He had been afraid that the flames would be insurmountable. If they could be dealt with, they weren't so terrifying.
Ning Beichen began to wield the wooden saber, slashing at the flames that came towards him.
This wooden saber, made of what material, he didn't know. It wasn't even afraid of fire.
Furthermore, Ning Beichen discovered a remarkable ability of this wooden saber: when he held it, the flames dared not approach him too closely, giving Ning Beichen room to rest.
"I slash, I slash, I slash, slash, slash..."
"I chop, I chop, I chop, chop, chop..."
With each stroke of Ning Beichen's saber, like a gale sweeping fallen leaves, he extinguished seven or eight clusters of flames in front of him.
These flames only looked intimidating, but as soon as Ning Beichen touched them with the wooden saber, they vanished.
Just as Ning Beichen was enjoying himself.
Suddenly, he saw a giant flaming skull lunging ferociously at him from directly in front.
And this flaming skull was different from the smaller flames. While the smaller flames dared not approach Ning Beichen too closely, this giant flaming skull was completely unfazed and charged directly at him.
Ning Beichen immediately rolled to the side, dodging it. He clearly felt the intense heat radiating from the flaming skull; this was not fake, nor an illusion.
Ning Beichen rolled several times on the ground before finally getting up.
He noticed that the flames within the skull's eyes seemed different from the flames outside. Their color was a much deeper red, and they exuded an aura of immense evil.
Ning Beichen, gripping the wooden saber, stared intently at the flaming skull.
When the flaming skull lunged at him again.
Ning Beichen promptly slammed his hands onto the ground.
With a "bang!"
Ning Beichen used the rebound force from striking the ground to propel himself high into the air. He tumbled in mid-air and thrust the saber towards the flaming skull.
Hot!
Burning!
Ning Beichen felt as if he were being set ablaze. He could even smell the scent of roasting meat, and hear the sizzling sound of his hair burning.
"It's over!"
This was the thought in Ning Beichen's mind.
This flaming skull was different from those flames. The wooden saber could not destroy it.
Ning Beichen, his skin scorched and torn, fell from the air. Upon landing, the pain made him cry out uncontrollably.
His skin was almost cooked, and his hair was charred.
Without a mirror, Ning Beichen knew how miserable he looked. He had probably disfigured himself.
But this was not the time to worry about his appearance; it was a matter of whether he could survive.