The wind in the valley grew restless.
Yu Sheng didn’t know what was happening, but he could clearly sense that the entire atmosphere of this strange realm was shifting. It was a feeling hard to put into words, but if he had to try…
It felt as if the whole valley was slowly coming to life.
The distant forests were awakening, the mountains stirring, the very earth beneath his feet seed to breathe. Even the sky above was filled with a chilling, hungry gaze that made his scalp tingle.
He noticed Foxy trembling beside him. The fox girl clutched the food in her hands tightly, fear etched across her face. She looked up at the dark night sky, inching closer behind Yu Sheng, muttering sothing under her breath. As she got nearer, Yu Sheng finally caught the words she kept repeating:
“This is what it’s like when immortals die… This is what it’s like when immortals die…”
“What’s going on now?” Irene asked urgently. The little doll was tense too, gripping the kitchen knife in her arms. “Do you know sothing?”
But Foxy didn’t answer, as if she’d fallen into another trance, only repeating that sa sentence over and over.
“Well, that’s just great,” Irene muttered.
Soon, neither Irene nor Yu Sheng had ti to worry about Foxy’s strange behavior.
Yu Sheng sensed that familiar presence nearby. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw shadows gathering rapidly at the edge of the ruined temple. A grotesque mass of swollen flesh was forming, layers upon layers of twisted limbs that looked as if they’d been cut from various creatures, sprouting from the at. Dozens of hungry eyes opened on the monster’s surface, sharp teeth and ripping mouths appearing between them, emitting a low, guttural growl.
Hunger had finally appeared near its prey.
“What in the world is that? It’s hideous!” Irene exclaid.
“Watch out for its sneak attacks,” Yu Sheng warned imdiately. “All its limbs can change shape, and it can suddenly sprout tentacles and tails from its body.” Then he turned to Foxy. “You need to stay safe. You’ve been deeply affected by this thing; you can’t fight it.”
Foxy was in a bad state. Even after the monster appeared, she was still staring fearfully at the sky. But after hearing Yu Sheng’s words, she numbly nodded. Picking up the scattered food from the ground, she backed away, but not too far, as if afraid sothing might happen to Yu Sheng.
“So what’s the plan?” Irene whispered. The monster nearby was still prowling, seeming to wait patiently for sothing. But this delay only made her more uneasy. “Don’t tell
you’re going to charge at it empty-handed and fight it with your fists. You didn’t even bring a weapon—I at least have a kitchen knife.”
Yu Sheng knew he hadn’t brought any weapons because he’d tried before. Most of the monster’s body was harder than stone. Even if he wielded an axe and could chop off so of its softer flesh, the effect would be minimal. So from the start, he hadn’t planned to bring any “weapons.” For an ordinary person without combat training, even if he had a legendary sword, he’d probably end up hurting himself first.
He had prepared other “lethal” ans.
“Just like we planned,” Yu Sheng said quickly. “You control its movents with your threads. I’ll get close and ‘tear a hole’ in it. Keep an eye out. If I ss up, take Foxy and run. Don’t worry about . Foxy can survive its attacks, and Hunger won’t chase you.”
Irene stared at him. “And then what?”
“I’ll revive and catch up with you. We’ll try again. Sooner or later, this thing will die.”
“You’ve got to be kidding !” Irene exclaid. “You’re still using that reckless plan? I thought we agreed you’d try not to rely on ‘reviving’ as your go-to move!”
“I’m doing my best,” Yu Sheng replied, but then frowned. He sensed sothing was off about the monster nearby. “Why hasn’t it attacked yet…”
Irene had the sa suspicion. “Feels like it’s stalling, like it’s waiting for sothing—is it actually planning?”
“Then we can’t let it wait any longer,” Yu Sheng decided, gritting his teeth. “Let’s go!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he charged toward the monster. Almost at the sa ti, Irene, who had been sitting on his shoulder, nimbly flipped off and stretched out her right hand toward the creature. As she landed, the doll’s eyes turned pitch black, and countless fine, eerie black threads spread from her hand, expanding wildly through the space like a rapidly growing spider web!
All the threads avoided Yu Sheng’s path. In the spreading net, he accelerated again. His enhanced body left a blur as he lunged at the terrifying flesh beast!
The monster finally moved. Facing the prey’s proactive attack, it seed montarily surprised but quickly launched a counterattack. A grotesque claw raised high from its back, smashing down on Yu Sheng’s path.
At that mont, Yu Sheng felt that strange… “premonition” again.
He sensed which muscles of the monster were contracting, felt its intent to attack, and where its focus truly was. He seed to see in advance a tentacle extending from behind the claw, ready to block all his possible escape routes in the next second…
He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but this ti his “premonition” was even more accurate than before. He began to realize that this wasn’t just “spiritual intuition.”
Because now he had real spiritual intuition and knew what it felt like. He found that when predicting the monster’s actions, what he “saw” and “felt” was completely different.
When he anticipated the monster’s moves, it was almost from a first-person perspective.
All these thoughts flashed in an instant. In the blink of an eye, Yu Sheng crossed the last few ters, and the flesh beast’s claw ca crashing down.
Yu Sheng didn’t dodge. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the threads spreading from behind him converging in the air. In the next mont, countless black lines wrapped around the monster’s limbs, intertwining and piercing through its claws, tentacles, and giant mouth like so kind of phantom that penetrated bones.
Coldness, numbness, sluggishness—as if even his thoughts were pierced full of holes, his soul wrapped layer upon layer by a chilling spider web.
Overwhelming negative sensations surged up. For a mont, Yu Sheng seed to see a vision—he saw himself trapped in a web, countless threads wrapping around him, even piercing through his limbs. At the edge of the web, a shadow with blood-red eyes watched from the darkness, crawling toward him in a bizarre and hideous manner.
“Yu Sheng! Snap out of it! I can’t hold on much longer!” Irene’s sudden shout snapped him back to reality.
He looked up to see the flesh beast frozen in a strange posture at the center of the layers of black threads. The ends of the threads were taut, as if the monster would break free any second.
There was no ti to ponder the “vision” he’d just experienced. Yu Sheng quickly lunged to a spot beside the monster. In the precious ti Irene had bought, he grabbed the black threads in mid-air with one hand and reached into the air with the other, focusing all his energy, then slowly pulled.
A door appeared, materializing out of thin air. The surface of the door shimred with a flowing, illusory light.
Opening a door in thin air required more energy and ti than opening a physical one. Yu Sheng had to concentrate in a relatively stable environnt to complete the process. Seeing the monster’s limbs trembling and the black threads beginning to fracture, even a few seconds felt like an eternity.
Though his recent “eternities” hadn’t been very long.
The next second, with the sound of a door opening, the imaginary door finally swung wide.
It was larger than any door he’d opened before—large enough to throw the entire monster inside.
Blazing flas erupted from the doorway, illuminating a vast area around it.
On the other side of the door was a lake of boiling lava.
This was the “surprise” Yu Sheng had discovered during countless door-opening experints.
He didn’t know what that place was; he only knew it had endless lava and erupting flas, like a scene from hell.
Hunger was powerful, but its threat ca more from spiritual corruption and its own near-rule-like “hunger” power. As for its materialized “vessel”—compared to the rules, it wasn’t very durable.
It could be roasted.
If it couldn’t be cooked thoroughly, then use a bigger fire.
“Throw it in!” Yu Sheng shouted to Irene.
“Got it!” she replied.
Reviews
All reviews (0)