Feng Bei crouched there. Beneath her, the abyss was pitch-black and lightless, like a mire, yet also like a mirror surface, reflecting Feng Bei’s helpless shadow.

The floodwaters continued to pour down, cascading from all four sides like waterfalls.

The Baili squirmed madly in the water, their human faces letting out hungry wails.

But whenever a school of the Baili fell into the pitch-black abyss, it was as if they had fallen into another dimension. They would create only a few ripples before vanishing bizarrely.

The space beneath Feng Bei’s feet was like a bottomless black hole, swallowing everything.

Stalks of red flowers emerged from the darkness, joining together and twisting strangely as they wound their way up Feng Bei’s legs.

The area around Feng Bei and the flooded Baili Village seemed to have become two separate worlds.

Even the torrential rain stopped abruptly in mid-air, hanging suspended as inky-black droplets.

The sky grew darker, and even the downpour was dyed an inky black.

The art style shifted abruptly. Everything before his eyes seemed to transform into an ink wash painting, like a waking dream, both illusory and real.

SHING.

The "Ink World," like an invisible curtain of light, spread outward with Feng Bei at its center.

In an instant, the world before Zheng Xiu’s eyes changed completely.

He stared at his palm in shock. With a slight wave, the edge of his hand left five long, distorted afterimages, hazy and dreamlike.

The picturesque, magnificent art style brought an inexplicable chill to Zheng Xiu.

[You are about to enter the ’Darkness’.]

[You have been tainted by the ’Filthy Land’.]

[Initiating a passive Will check.]

’Darkness?’

’Filthy Land?’

Enduring the increasingly violent throbbing in his chest, Zheng Xiu’s head spun. He stared at the two new terms, finding it difficult to think.

His forehead itched, and the blood-colored Dice burst out, spinning in the air beside him as if it were alive.

[Sixteen.]

[Resistance successful.]

But it wasn’t over.

[You continue to be tainted by the ’Filthy Land’.]

[Initiating a passive Will check.]

[Four.]

[Resistance failed.]

[Will -1.]

[You continue to be tainted by the ’Filthy Land’...]

After one check after another, Zheng Xiu’s Will was inexplicably corrupted, dropping below thirty.

Fine, web-like strands of blood crept across Zheng Xiu’s vision.

They were faint at first, but as his Will dropped lower, the blood-red strands became more and more conspicuous.

It was as if a "cobweb" filter had been placed over Zheng Xiu’s eyes, making the world look completely different.

POP~

Zheng Xiu felt the pain in his chest intensifying.

’It burst.’

"SKREEEEE—"

A shrill cry echoed through the night.

The blood vessel in Master Zheng’s chest finally ruptured. However, what burst forth was not blood, but wisps of faint black energy.

The black energy swirled before Zheng Xiu’s chest, coalescing into a rotten sparrow.

It was the Caged Sparrow!

Ever since Zheng Xiu had passively used Capture on the Caged Sparrow on the Path, he had suffered no ill effects aside from the strangeness on the surface of his body. In fact, he had even gained the [Projection] Ability. Because of this, during his recent days of grinding his alt account in the Ghostly Realm and palling around with the Treasure King, Master Zheng had gradually forgotten the sparrow even existed.

The first time he’d stayed in one of the village houses, his neck had been snapped by Feng Bei’s maddened father. The sharp pain in his chest had alerted the ’AFK’ Zheng Xiu, who at the time thought the sparrow must serve as some kind of warning system.

Now, the rotten sparrow beat its wings and soared high, its cry shrill. It flew into the air, then dove back down, disappearing into the crown of Master Zheng’s head.

The blood vessels in his chest continued to throb, but what flowed through them was no longer fresh red blood. Inky-black patterns traced the paths of his veins, spreading across Zheng Xiu’s entire body in an instant.

Zheng Xiu’s mind cleared. The Dice stopped making checks, and his four canine teeth extended slightly, growing a bit sharper.

A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder blade, and Zheng Xiu strained.

POP~

A single wing unfurled, its bony feathers separating. As Zheng Xiu spread the solitary wing, the "feathers" that fell from it were like drops of ink, tracing shadowy trails through the Void.

With a beat of his wing, Zheng Xiu easily lifted himself from the floodwaters and hovered in mid-air.

"What is this?"

These changes were far beyond Master Zheng’s expectations. For a moment, he even forgot he was in the Ghostly Realm, curiously manipulating the inky wing and curling it in front of him.

He reached out to touch it, but his five fingers passed right through. The inky wing wasn’t solid.

"Holy shit, did I... merge with that sparrow?"

An absurd thought flashed through Zheng Xiu’s mind.

The second thought was: ’I can fly!’

The third thought was: ’Have I become a Birdman?’

In a flash of thought, Zheng Xiu’s gaze sharpened as he looked down from the sky.

Below, flowers as red as blood, thousands of them, were wrapped around Feng Bei’s entire body, dragging her toward the black mirror surface.

From Zheng Xiu’s vantage point, the original shape of Baili Village was long gone.

The red of the flowers, the white of the fish, and the black of the water formed a starkly colored ink wash painting.

The red flowers formed giant tendrils that snaked toward Zheng Xiu in the sky.

Although the red flowers were beautiful, Zheng Xiu’s brow twitched as a chill crept into his heart.

[Intuition].

’Danger!’

Zheng Xiu didn’t know why any of this was happening, nor did he know what the red flowers, the abyss, the Darkness, or the Filthy Land truly were. But his Intuition told him that the situation was exceptionally dangerous. Whether he could speedrun this or not, everything hinged on this moment.

"Younger Brother Zheng! You..."

Zheng Xiu’s current appearance could hardly be called righteous; in fact, he looked identical to the "demons" described in legendary scrolls. Wang Cangyun, already on the verge of death from being gnawed on by the Baili in the inky floodwaters, was so shocked by Zheng Xiu’s bizarre state that he spat out half a mouthful of blood. An expression of ’misplaced trust’ was written all over his astonished face.

"Young Master!"

Just then, Wang Cangyun saw a weak hand reach out from the mire-like darkness by Feng Bei’s feet, only to sink back down. He cried out in alarm, stopped struggling, and no longer cared whether his trust in Younger Brother Zheng had been misplaced. Dragging with him hundreds of clinging, leech-like Baili, he leaped without hesitation into the abyss!

SPLASH!

Covered in blood and gore, Wang Cangyun roared as he fell into the "water."

Beside Feng Bei, only a faint ripple remained.

More red flowers reached out. Feng Bei looked up, staring blankly at the empty space beside her. Beneath her messy hair, her left eye was vacant and lifeless.

She allowed the tendril-like flowers to drag her in.

Sinking.

Sinking.

Sinking.

Feng Bei hugged her knees tightly.

Zheng Xiu flew higher into the sky.

He was now truly experiencing what the "Ghostly Realm" was. It was clearly just an ordinary rainstorm, but as Zheng Xiu ascended, the "blackness" became almost tangible, pressing in on him from all sides.

Soon, Zheng Xiu slammed into an invisible barrier, spinning back down over Baili Village.

’Fuck! A barrier bounced me back!’

Looking back, Zheng Xiu’s scalp tingled in horror. The distorted, ink-painting-like area had, at some point, expanded to cover the entirety of Baili Village, filling his vision.

The night sky where he was and the area covered by red flowers were clearly demarcated, their art styles completely different. They were truly two separate worlds!

"I can’t get out!"

’Twenty-six households, not a single survivor!’

’This is what happened twenty years ago!’

’If this bizarre scene playing out before me is real, then phenomena beyond ordinary comprehension already existed in this world twenty years ago.’

’It might even mean that during the Northern Barbarian Chaos, the military strategist’s mad ravings after returning from the battlefield were also true!’

’Dad was actually a badass back then!’

’How have I not found any trace of it all these years!’

Zheng Xiu was secretly vexed. At the same time, he was trying to figure out a way to speedrun this.

If the night doesn’t fade, Dawn will never come.

The "Darkness" covering the area of red flowers terrified Zheng Xiu. He couldn’t imagine what fate would befall his Incarnation, [Zheng Shan], if the "Darkness" spread to cover this entire place.

[Intuition]!

[Intuition]!

[Intuition]!

Every inch of his skin seemed to be screaming and roaring. His face, covered in black tattoos, grew more demonic and sinister as an ominous premonition flooded his mind.

This was an unprecedented Omen.

Never before, in all his times hovering on the brink of death, had Master Zheng felt such a heart-pounding terror.

It was as if what lay hidden behind the Darkness was true, genuine "death."

[You have a premonition. If you die in the Darkness, ’Zheng Shan’ will truly die.]

[Your Intuition tells you that everything you are currently experiencing seems to be related to Feng Bei.]

The vague [Intuition] finally coalesced into clear text.

Staring at the words formed by his [Intuition], Zheng Xiu froze in mid-air. He first glanced back toward the abyss.

Then, a mournful and miserable thought surfaced:

’If Zheng Shan dies, does that mean I suffered death by a thousand cuts all this time in the Ghostly Realm for nothing?’

Anger, frustration, and vexation.

Master Zheng was furious.

"I, Zheng Xiu, the renowned Richest Person, will not take a loss on this deal!"

Zheng Xiu beat his wing. The inky appendage trailed a long shadow through the air, as if tearing the night sky in two.

’When in doubt, use [Scouting] first.’

[Scouting successful]!

[It seems very dangerous over there!]

’?’

"Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes!"

With each slash, the unremarkable Mountain Bandit Saber unleashed waves of inky blade-shadows, severing the incoming red flower tendrils.

Feng Bei remained crouched there, motionless.

[Intuition]!

[Scouting]!

Since the strange transformation began, the Dice hadn’t returned to Zheng Xiu’s brow. At his mental command, it spun continuously, overclocking itself.

Zheng Xiu decisively turned and charged into the "Darkness"!

POP~

After a sensation of "breaking through," the world before Zheng Xiu’s eyes suddenly became a kaleidoscope of vibrant color, completely different from how it looked on the outside.

"Feng Bei!"

Zheng Xiu dove down, his speed so great that the inky afterimage trailing behind him was like a dark, oppressive cloud tearing through the five-colored ink wash.

Feng Bei, still crouching, slowly raised her head. The fierce wind kicked up by the beating of the wing on Zheng Xiu’s left shoulder blew her tangled, straw-like hair aside.

A pair of vacant, lifeless eyes, seemingly unfocused, looked toward Zheng Xiu.

It was the first time Zheng Xiu had seen Feng Bei’s right eye.

Deep within the pupil of her right eye, there was a strange pattern.

It looked like two distorted words—"Ding Wei"!

"Feng Bei!"

Master Zheng reached his hand out to Feng Bei and grinned, revealing his sharp fangs.

A glimmer of light gradually appeared in Feng Bei’s dim, lifeless eyes.

As if by reflex, Feng Bei reached out her hand toward the diving Zheng Xiu.

The next second, her hand was grasped tightly by his large, warm one.