Crossing

Chapter 1: Crossing

He gazed up at the azure sky. It stretched clear and endless, with white clouds drifting on a gentle breeze!

All around him lay a beautiful landscape of mountains and clear waters. He could hear the stream flowing, fish splashing playfully, and birds and beasts calling from the nearby woods...!

"What a paradise!" He Yu sighed inwardly. Then, immediately, frustration welled up, and he wanted to curse the heavens. Was this really necessary? He hadn't done anything wicked! He'd simply tried to do a good deed, and this was how they repaid him?

Thinking of the beauty who'd been about to get hit by a car, He Yu couldn't help feeling dejected. He'd kindly rescued her, but who'd have guessed that she'd panic, squeeze her eyes shut, and shove him—leaving him the one to suffer a tragic fate?

"Ah! How am I supposed to live like this from now on? Fine, I've transmigrated, but did you really have to do this to me?" He Yu stared at his reflection in the clear river water, utterly speechless. A crab! He'd actually become a little crab—a river crab from a small stream, to be precise.

Transmigration wasn't a problem. To He Yu, it was something he'd always wanted. But transmigrating into a river crab?

He couldn't just take that in stride!

He Yu stared blankly at Cangqiong with his despairing crab eyes. He'd completely lost hope for the future.

He gazed at the sky in a daze, then suddenly felt a jolt. He was certain he'd been watching it for a long time, so why hadn't the sky changed at all? He couldn't see the sun, moon, or stars, either.

"What...? What's going on?" Though he no longer had any hope for the future, He Yu couldn't help being astonished by this discovery.

There was light even without the sun, moon, and stars? He Yu felt that all this had gone beyond his understanding.

After investigating for a long time without learning a thing, He Yu could only bury his astonishment and return to staring blankly.

Who knew how long had passed when a wave of hunger flooded his consciousness.

He Yu had no idea how long it had been since he transmigrated, but it had certainly been several days. Going without food for days was agonizing!

At the thought of eating, he froze again. What did crabs eat?

He'd always known how to eat crabs, but never what crabs ate. Now that he'd become one, he was stumped.

Though he had no idea what crabs ate, He Yu could guess it wasn't anything good. Probably water plants or plankton? Maybe they even ate mud.

Was he going to starve to death?

His hunger kept growing stronger. He Yu felt dizzy, and golden sparks danced before his eyes.

He looked at his tiny body, no bigger than his little finger, then at the many kinds of fish, turtles, and shrimp swimming happily through the river...!

A snake?

He saw a water snake dart past not far away, and a chill ran through him.

It seemed even eating raw aquatic creatures was beyond his reach!

"Forget it. Let's see if there's anything edible in the woods up ahead." Though He Yu had transmigrated into a river crab, he didn't have to follow a crab's usual diet!

With his two "huge" pincers held up, he scuttled forward on his six crab legs. A little blue crab walking straight ahead looked distinctly bizarre.

The woods weren't far from the stream. Even though walking took a great deal of effort, the distance was short, and he arrived before long.

As soon as he entered the woods, he saw lush vegetation and flowers in full bloom, with a dazzling variety of species. He Yu was astonished, because many of the plants could only grow in different seasons and environments.

"What kind of place is this? It feels completely wrong! There's no sun, moon, or stars, but it's still bright, and there's no night. And now there are plants growing together that absolutely shouldn't be able to grow together!" He Yu was filled with questions.

As he wondered, a red glow flickered before his eyes, and at the same time a fresh fragrance wafted toward him. He looked around and saw a little tree, just over a foot tall, with three branches. Each branch bore a crystal-red fruit, perfectly round like a sphere, about an inch in diameter. The red glow and fragrance came from these three fruits.

"No way! Is that a Vermilion Fruit?" He Yu stared in disbelief. In his previous life, he'd read plenty of wish-fulfillment novels, especially the immortal-hero genre. He'd once dreamed of cultivating immortality, but had never managed to get started. Still, he'd studied theories of cultivation and ancient texts like Shennong's medical books. He'd seen Vermilion Fruits described in those books, and these fruits matched the description exactly.

After his initial shock, He Yu was overcome with joy. Vermilion Fruits were incredible treasures, capable of greatly enhancing one's essence, energy, and spirit.

His stomach was ravenous, and three fruits that were almost certainly Vermilion Fruits sat right in front of him. How could He Yu possibly hold back? He immediately rushed toward them.

He Yu didn't know that ordinary Vermilion Fruits were purplish red and fifty years old. These crystal-red fruits were ten times older, at least five hundred years old.

The tree stood just over a foot tall, but climbing it was no easy feat for He Yu. Compared to his body, which was no bigger than his little finger, the tree might as well have been a towering giant.

With such a tempting prize right in front of him, how could he give up? On top of that, hunger was about to make him pass out. It was simply worse than dying. Enduring the intense hunger, He Yu gripped the trunk tightly with all six of his crab legs, while wrapping his two large pincers around it as well.

He tried to climb up. He'd expected it to be difficult, but it turned out to be astonishingly easy.

"So crabs are this good at climbing trees!" he marveled inwardly, already making rapid progress toward one of the Vermilion Fruits.

Following a branch, He Yu reached one of the fruits. It was several times larger than he was. A little drool trickled from his mouth, but he didn't hesitate. He quickly began to gnaw. The moment a mouthful of fruit entered his stomach, his hunger vanished completely, and the flesh turned into a pale green stream of energy that spread throughout his body.

He felt full of energy!

He waved his two large pincers and clearly felt that his strength had more than doubled. His body also seemed to have grown a tiny bit.

"What an amazing effect! It really is the legendary Vermilion Fruit," he thought, shouting with excitement.

He looked at the fruit before him, which he'd eaten one bite out of—about one percent gone—and the two untouched fruits beside it. His eyes shone with excitement.

Just one bite had such an amazing effect. What if he ate all three fruits?

"Hmph! Since I've become a crab, I'll become the greatest crab king the world has ever seen. These three Vermilion Fruits are just the beginning." He Yu roared inwardly. There was no way he could return now. The heavens had made him transmigrate into a river crab, and there was nothing he could do about it. He'd been in despair, but the appearance of the Vermilion Fruit had given him a new idea. If this world had Vermilion Fruits, there couldn't be just one tree. There had to be more—perhaps other spiritual fruits of heaven and earth, or even cultivators.

Cultivation. He Yu had set his mind on cultivating. Even without legendary cultivation manuals, he could still do it by constantly eating spiritual fruits of heaven and earth.

River crabs could evolve into giant crabs, and giant crabs could evolve into giant sea crabs, or even... crab demons!