Chapter 2: The Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial

Before Chen Xiyi could even react, he saw the flickering red dot coming straight toward him.

As a Player, Chen Xiyi showed up as a gold dot on the Player map—something he had studied before—and that red dot was certainly some unknown creature.

“Oh crap, a red name. Wait, let’s talk this out, don’t—”

Chen Xiyi naturally saw what the red dot was: a terrifying Black Mist, with blood-red light swirling within it.

Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The key was that above this Black Mist floated something Chen Xiyi found strangely familiar: a blood-red nickname.

[Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial: Health Points 100%, Status: Endless Slaughter]

The awkward thing was, he had just managed to make it out when the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial killed him with one move.

The gap between them was so huge that it made Chen Xiyi doubt himself; he died without even understanding what happened, and then a bunch of materials dropped, all floating in mid-air.

[You were killed by the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial. Dropped: 1 unit of Wood, 1 Cow, 2 Eggs, 3 units of Wheat…]

Looking at the frozen world around him and the black-and-white color scheme, along with the steadily decreasing countdown before his eyes, Chen Xiyi realized he was respawning.

“Even though it’s totally unscientific, it seems pretty normal for a Player to come back to life after dying.” Chen Xiyi felt a lingering fear; he hadn’t even known he had this ability. Who would go around trying to get themselves killed for no reason?

“And after I died, the world seemed to freeze. It must only continue once I respawn?”

“So this is a single-player Sandbox Game. Then why did you give me a private messaging mailbox? Just for fun?”

“But still, I actually got one-shotted by a Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial.”

[Homestead Owner: Chen Xiyi]

[Class: Player]

[Health Points: 100%]

[Energy Points: 100%]

[Satiety Level: 100/100]

There was no Attack, no Defense, or even other stats like attributes. At least Chen Xiyi got a little 3D figure mirror image.

This Sandbox Game called Homestead also had equipment. Chen Xiyi had crafted a full set of wooden gear, but he didn’t carry it with him. After all, the past ten years had been completely calm, with no monsters spawning. He had naturally assumed that fighting monsters was part of the unfinished half of this half-baked game.

He never expected a Outer Realm Demonic Celestial to spawn today.

Because of this, Chen Xiyi guessed that maybe the game itself didn’t actually spawn monsters—this Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial must have come from outside.

Otherwise, why call it Newborn?

[Respawn?]

Chen Xiyi looked at the text that had suddenly appeared and naturally chose to respawn.

After clicking confirm, Chen Xiyi’s figure reappeared on the bed in the second-floor bedroom of his Wooden Hut, and then Time in the whole world started flowing again.

That Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial came charging at Chen Xiyi once more.

Seeing the red dot racing toward him on the map, Chen Xiyi quickly got up and dove toward a life-sized wooden man figure he had placed in the corner.

This wasn’t just any wooden figure; it was a set of armor made from a Wooden Helmet, Wooden Armor, and Wooden Shield, plus weapons like a Wooden Spear and Wooden Bow—all crafted into this display piece.

But the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial was simply too fast. In the blink of an eye, it rushed up to the second floor and entered Chen Xiyi’s bedroom through the window.

Chen Xiyi didn’t have time to equip all the armor and weapons before the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial pounced on him.

Because of this, he could only quickly equip the Wooden Spear and thrust it at the enemy.

[You used Wooden Spear and dealt 3% damage to the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial’s Health Points.]

[You were killed by the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial. Dropped: Wooden Helmet, 1 unit of Weeds, 3 Sheep…]

“Well, this…”

Chen Xiyi didn’t feel anything about his own Death—no pain, no discomfort. He closed his eyes, then opened them, and the world turned black-and-white with a respawn countdown.

“This round was unlucky. Only the spear I had equipped didn’t drop. The armor dropped, and a bunch of weapons dropped too…”

“But at least it seems like I can fight it.”

Even though he died again, the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial also lost 3% of its Health Points.

[Wooden Spear]

[Durability: 10/10]

[Damage: 3]

“Three points of damage made it lose 3% of its Health Points. Is that because it has no Defense, or because it’s Newborn?”

Chen Xiyi was puzzled by these things. He felt that the Player panel was just for fun—even worse than “for reference only.” The former was just for amusement, while the latter could still be somewhat useful.

He quickly pushed these thoughts aside. Based on this damage, he just needed to hit the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial 33 more times to kill it.

After all, he was a Player and couldn’t really die. Plus, this was a monster! After so many years, it finally brought some rare change to this world called Homestead, which was practically more like an empty box.

It stirred waves in the otherwise calm heart of Chen Xiyi, the Sandbox Game Player.

[You have respawned.]

[You used Wooden Spear and dealt 3% damage to the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial’s Health Points.]

[You were killed by the Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial. Dropped: …]

[Log: …]

Each time Chen Xiyi died, he took away 3% of the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial’s Health Points. And every time he was waiting through the respawn timer, Chen Xiyi reflected on himself.

“If I had equipped all my armor and weapons instead of finding them a hassle to carry, then with a full set of gear, could I have taken on this Newborn Outer Realm Demonic Celestial one-on-one?”

“Probably not. The Outer Realm Demonic Celestial is too fast. If it weren’t for the brief time gap during respawn, I wouldn’t be able to hit it at all. And with its Attack power, it would be hard for me to withstand it anyway.”

“The best chance would still be to slowly wear it down through repeated respawns.”

Chen Xiyi wasn’t some urban special forces king or ancient martial arts heir; he was just an ordinary Sandbox farming Player, basically harmless.

Besides, the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial wasn’t something an ordinary person could handle, so as a regular guy, Chen Xiyi naturally wasn’t a match for it.

Watching the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial’s Health Points steadily drop, Chen Xiyi’s face showed excitement. This was the first little monster he was going to kill.

When Chen Xiyi’s Wooden Spear pierced through the mist surrounding the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial, that last 1% of its health bar emptied, and the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial disintegrated in response. The drops were automatically collected and sucked into Chen Xiyi’s body.

“As long as you dare show a health bar, I fear nothing.”

[You killed the Outer Realm Demonic Celestial. Obtained new Module: Spirit of History. Obtained new function: Reincarnation/Samsara. Obtained outfit: Qingxu Sect’s Chief Elder]