The monster floated belly-up on the water’s surface, no longer moving. The person knelt beside its throat, wielding a long sword that pierced through the creature’s ear. After digging around, extracting something unknown, and placing it in their palm, they let the rainwater wash over it for several breaths before bringing it to their mouth and swallowing it whole!

Eating prey raw? She watched wide-eyed, inexplicably nauseated, as if she had swallowed the living thing.

This person sat with a lowered head on the monster’s belly, resting for quite a while before leaping to the edge of the pool and beginning to climb upward. Their movements were no longer as nimble as before, likely fatigued from the bitter struggle. Yet they still traversed mountains and cliffs as if walking on flat ground, their posture remaining elegant.

Climbing to about six or seven zhang (twenty meters) away from the large tree, the person stopped to rest on a protruding rocky ledge. Earlier, when digging out their trophy, their back had been toward her, but now they were closer and had turned around, allowing her to finally see this person. Her heart suddenly began to race uncontrollably.

This person had long eyebrows extending to the temples and slightly upturned eyes—a perfect pair of “peach blossom eyes” that would surely make countless maidens swoon when they smiled. However, the killing aura from the fierce battle had not yet faded, and there was no tenderness in those eyes now. Yet somehow, this made them resemble a plum blossom blooming in snowy terrain, bearing a cold beauty amid the chill, equally captivating to the gaze.

Their lips were bow-shaped, somewhat thin and drained of color, tightly pressed together to reveal an appearance of aloofness and pride. Yet these two traits seemed to become virtues in this person as if their aloofness and pride were precisely what they should be.

Their very existence seemed meant to illustrate that beauty is indeed justice.

In short, among all the popular idols and State heartthrobs she had seen before, none could match the beauty before her eyes. Even if some might score equally on appearance alone, in terms of presence, they couldn’t hope to catch up even at full gallop. Where others would appear bedraggled after being soaked through by heavy rain, this person somehow looked languid, as if seated in a golden and jade hall admiring beautiful spring scenery outside, rather than being drenched like she was.

Watching raindrops fall from his forehead, sliding past the corners of his eyes and over his thin lips, she unconsciously swallowed, understanding for the first time the true meaning of “feasting one’s eyes on beauty.”

…Haha, how she admired herself—facing life and death uncertainty, yet still harboring thoughts about a man of unknown origin.

She quickly came to her senses, silently despising herself.

The person, having regulated his breathing, swept his gaze around and suddenly looked in her direction.

That gaze was like an eagle’s, like a wolf’s, more like a steel blade scraping bone, making goosebumps rise all over her body and her hands tremble uncontrollably.

Such a terrifying gaze, such intense killing intent!

She quickly closed her eyes and slightly lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes. On such a stormy night, with her hidden in such dense foliage, could he still sense her gaze?

This person’s senses were frighteningly acute!

She was grateful now for the emerald green dress she wore, which blended perfectly with the tree shadows in the dim light, creating a natural camouflage.

Fortunately, amid the howling wind, pouring rain, and swaying shadows, he too felt uncomfortable lingering in such conditions after his fierce battle. He withdrew his gaze and continued climbing upward.

Honestly, at this moment she was torn. Should she call for help? This person possessed extraordinary climbing skills and could easily help her escape the sinkhole. But a voice deep inside firmly told her that this person was even colder and more merciless than he appeared, and if he discovered someone had been watching him all along, her fate might not be much better than the monster corpse floating in the pool. If so, perhaps staying quietly in the tree might let her live a couple of days longer.

For some reason, this thought was so powerful that she simply watched as he reached the top of the cliff and, with a flash of movement, disappeared completely, the last edge of his clothing vanishing from sight.

The person was gone.

Only then did she relax, finding the densest cluster of branches and leaves to curl up into a small ball, sheltering from the rain while trying to preserve what little body heat remained?

She couldn’t help but feel dejected: the last glimmer of hope had left, and how could she escape now? Rainwater ran from the corners of her eyes into her mouth, tasting only of bitterness:

Having barely survived, why was she trapped in such a desperate situation? Why had Heaven allowed her to live again, only to face death once more?

The wind was strong, the rain cold, and the rustling of leaves monotonous, as if it could continue for ten thousand years. Cold and hungry, she listened until she unwittingly fell asleep.

￥￥￥￥￥

This sleep was exceptionally sweet as if she never needed to wake again.

She had almost forgotten fear, hunger, and other troubles, wishing only to sleep on forever. But a domineering voice suddenly sounded by her ear:

“Hey, wake up!”

It mumbled something else she couldn’t make out, then said:

“How much longer will you sleep? If you don’t wake up, you’ll die!”

She was particularly sensitive to the word “die” and struggled to open her eyelids, only to see a shadow floating back and forth before her.

It was a small boy, appearing less than ten years old, but his form was transparent. Most crucially, he stood in mid-air before the tree staring at her, his face filled with impatience.

What the hell?

Perhaps because she had seen too many strange things in the past half day, or perhaps because her head was muddled and her eyelids burning with fever, she wasn’t particularly startled, only asking woodenly: “And who are you?”

Something that could stand in mid-air probably wasn’t human, right?

The boy pointed to the bottom of the pool: “That’s my true form.”

The pool bottom was pitch black, but she knew there was a monster corpse floating belly-up. She shrank back a little, finding she truly lacked the energy to be afraid: “You’re that monster?”

“You’re the monster!” the boy said angrily. “You don’t even recognize an Ao-fish(Ao Yu/Turtle)?”

“Oh.” So the dragon-headed fish-bodied monster was called an Ao-fish. She indeed didn’t recognize it; Animal Planet had never introduced such a creature. “What do you want with me?” The Ao-fish was dead… right? She hadn’t heard of any large creature surviving having its skull pried open, so the boy floating in mid-air must be its soul?

Supernatural matters—she hadn’t believed in them before. But having awakened in this place, inhabiting the body of an unknown girl, she could now calmly accept it even if this Ao-fish told her the world was circular above and flat below.

“You humans are too weak,” the Ao-fish soul’s form was very faint, but the disdain in its eyes was visible. “You won’t last two days.”

Her spirits lifted at these words: “Can you help me get to the top of the cliff?”

“I cannot; I’m already dead,” The Ao-fish looked at her as if she were an idiot. “Besides, why would I help you get up there?”

She drooped her eyelids: “Then what do you want?”

“Go down.”

“You’re insane!” she cursed without hesitation.

He pointed again at the pitch-black deep pool. “Go down, and you can live.”