The game starts with escaping from the famine and flipping the table

Outside the lava cave.

The crater atop Mount Buting was scorching hot, with crimson magma churning within its belly. The rising white steam mixed with pale purple miasma condensed into a hazy mist at the summit, which twisted and dissipated with the wind, yet carried a bone-chilling poison.

Su Mingyi, dressed in a black outfit, stood motionless in the scorching wind on the rugged rocks at the edge of the volcano, his back straight as a pine tree, exuding an aura of inviolability.

His face was cold and stern, his jawline taut and straight. His usually gentle features were now covered with a layer of frost, and his eyes were as sharp as a hawk in the sky. His cold light swept across the surging miasma around him, leaving no corner unchecked. The vigilance in his eyes was almost tangible, enough to push back the surrounding heat wave by three points.

On his shoulder perched a golden bird, the Yellow Bird.

The yellow bird's feathers are smooth and glossy, as if forged from pure gold, shimmering with a flowing luster under the intense sunlight of the volcano, each feather immaculate and spotless.

At this moment, it tilted its small head, its round eyes darting around, sometimes lowering its head to peck at Su Mingyi's clothes, sometimes looking up at the miasma in the distance.

Every now and then, the yellow bird would let out a clear and melodious cry. The sound was clear and transparent, penetrating through layers of heat waves and poisonous miasma, breaking the silence of the mountaintop, and reaching the distant horizon. It was a little lively, but it also contained a subtle sense of vigilance.

At Su Mingyi's feet, on a rock scorched black by the heat, a jet-black serpent was coiled.

The black serpent's scales were large and hard, shimmering with a cold, iron-like luster. Each scale gleamed with a faint, dark light, as if it could absorb all the light around it, creating a stark contrast with the scorching hot rocks.

Its body was as thick as a bowl, coiled lazily yet always alert, its tongue flicking out rapidly from time to time, the crimson tip slicing across the scalding rock surface, carrying a chill, taking in every breath and every movement around it, its snake eyes half-closed, concealing a sharp edge.

one person.

A bird.

A snake.

They guarded the key passage to the volcano.

Like an insurmountable boundary marker.

This is solely to prevent any uninvited guests from entering the volcanic lava cave.

Mount Buting is a place fraught with danger. Countless ferocious and bloodthirsty monsters lurk in its deep forests and mountains, and they will attack any intruders in groups at any time.

Even worse are the rogue cultivators who flock to the volcano after hearing that it holds a treasure. These people have mixed cultivation levels and vicious natures. They will stop at nothing to get the treasure and are even more troublesome than demonic beasts.

Su Mingyi's gaze fell once again on the churning miasma in the distance, his brows furrowing slightly, a faint "川" character forming between his eyebrows.

His spiritual perception was extremely strong, far surpassing that of other cultivators of the same level. At this moment, he extended his perception to the extreme, covering a hundred miles around the crater.

Faintly, Su Mingyi sensed several faint yet greedy auras slowly approaching from the direction of the volcano. The auras were filled with naked voyeurism and lust, making no attempt to conceal their intentions.

Upon realizing this, a cold glint flashed in Su Mingyi's eyes, a glint colder than the scales of the Xuan Snake and more scorching than the magma inside the mountain.

He slowly raised his right hand, palm facing upward, and a wisp of pitch-black flame quietly ignited. Unlike ordinary flames that are blazing and dazzling, this flame emitted a faint, dark light. It was surrounded by a bone-chilling cold and an aura of destruction. Wherever it touched, even the air was scorched and cracked. It was his natal flame—the Netherworld Black Flame.

The black flames danced slowly in his palm, growing increasingly fierce as he focused his mind on them.

The yellow bird seemed to sense the impending danger instantly. Its clear chirping suddenly turned into a sharp cry that pierced the sky and carried a terrifying power.

Its wings suddenly spread open, reaching a width of over ten feet. Golden light flowed and surged across its wings, with specks of golden light gathering at the tips of its feathers, resembling the sharpest blades. Its spiritual pressure spread outwards, forcing the surrounding heat waves back several feet.

The black snake at his feet instantly shed its languor, straightening its body like a black longbow poised to be released.

The snake's half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open, its vertical pupils flashing with a chilling killing intent. Its tongue flicked out more frequently, its scarlet tip sweeping rapidly through the air, locking onto the approaching presences. The scales on its body stood up, their cold luster intensifying.

A violent demonic power emanated from its body, intertwining with Su Mingyi's spiritual power and the Yellow Bird's spiritual power, forming an invisible barrier at the crater.

A major battle is about to break out.

In the distant miasma, several blurry black figures silently approached, their speed increasing, and their faint auras becoming clearer, their greed growing stronger, no longer concealed in the slightest.

The Netherworld Black Flame in Su Mingyi's palm burned even brighter, its black light soaring into the sky, almost merging with the dark clouds. He circulated his spiritual power to its limit, his black robes fluttering in the gale, his aura rising steadily, and his chilling killing intent locked onto the shadowy figures, ready to strike at any moment.

A storm that will sweep across the entire Buting Mountain is quietly brewing and about to erupt.

Just then, a deafening roar suddenly erupted, as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were splitting apart. The rocks on the mountaintop trembled violently, and scalding hot rocks rolled down from the edge of the crater, plunging into the churning lava below and splashing up waves several meters high.

Su Mingyi, Huang Niao, and Xuan She on the mountaintop, along with several dark figures in the distant miasma, all turned their heads in unison to look in the direction from which the sound came.

One side of the main peak of Mount Buting.

As if suddenly cleaved open by a colossal sword that split the heavens and the earth, a massive crack stretched from the foot of the mountain to its summit. From within the crack, a dazzling crimson light shot out, its intensity as fierce as the sun, carrying an aura of world-destroying power and rich treasure energy. It shot straight into the sky, dyeing the dark clouds in the heavens crimson, and could be clearly seen within a radius of a hundred miles.

This sudden change completely shattered the standoff on the mountaintop.

The dark figures in the distant miasma no longer cared about hiding. Their long-suppressed greed erupted completely, and they let out a few low roars. Their bodies swelled up and they rushed straight towards the crater like a surging tide.

Those dark figures, like ferocious beasts, were actually demon kings with profound cultivation. Their bodies were surrounded by violent demonic power, and their aura was extremely fierce, as if they could devour everything.

Su Mingyi's expression darkened. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped forward and shot forward like an arrow. His dark figure drew a sharp arc under the crimson light of the sky, like a dazzling meteor streaking across the night sky.

He knew perfectly well that his little sister and Yu Shuheng were inside the lava cave, and he absolutely could not let these demon kings break in and endanger their lives!

Therefore, he would never allow these demon kings to venture even half a step into the volcano. Today, even if it meant fighting to the death, he would guard this vital passage as if it were his own life.