Me? I was transported into a book? And I became a vicious villain?

A dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of Chu Mengmeng and Xiao Yichen. He seemed to be covered by a layer of thick ink that could not be dissolved, making it difficult to see his face. His cold voice was a bit sarcastic, "What a wonderful performance, but it's just a dying struggle."

Xiao Yichen frowned, protecting Chu Mengmeng behind him, and asked in a cold voice: "Who are you? Why do you want to be our enemy?"

The black shadow sneered: "Becoming your enemy? You think too highly of yourself. I am only following orders. Taking your lives is just a way to clean up the mess for my master."

"Who is your master?" Chu Mengmeng poked her head out from behind Xiao Yichen and asked.

The black shadow ignored Chu Mengmeng and turned his gaze to Xiao Yichen, with a hint of pity in his tone: "Xiao Yichen, you should have had a bright future, but you ruined your future for this woman. It's really sad and lamentable."

Xiao Yichen clenched the sword in his hand, his knuckles turned white, and his eyes were full of anger: "Don't talk nonsense! It's not your turn to interfere in the matter between Mengmeng and me!"

"It seems that you are still stubborn." The black shadow shook his head, his tone full of disappointment, "Well, since you are so eager to die, I will grant your wish!"

Before he finished speaking, the black shadow flashed and turned into a residual image, attacking Chu Mengmeng and Xiao Yichen.

Xiao Yichen reacted quickly and blocked the attack of the black shadow with his sword. The two of them fought in an instant. The black shadow was extremely fast, and his moves were fierce and deadly. Although Xiao Yichen tried his best to resist, he gradually fell behind.

Chu Mengmeng was extremely anxious, wanting to help, but was afraid that she would become a burden to Xiao Yichen. She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and carefully observed the battle situation, hoping to find the flaws of the black shadow.

"Your opponent is me!" The black shadow suddenly changed direction, gave up attacking Xiao Yichen, and turned to attack Chu Mengmeng.

Chu Mengmeng was horrified and dodged in panic, but was still hit by the black shadow's palm. She flew backwards and fell heavily to the ground, with a trace of blood flowing from the corner of her mouth.

"Meng Meng!" Xiao Yichen's eyes were red with anger. He rushed to Chu Meng Meng without hesitation, helped her up, and asked anxiously, "How are you? Are you okay?"

Chu Mengmeng shook her head, endured the pain, and said, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me."

The shadow stood aside, watching the scene coldly, with a cruel smile on his face: "It's really touching, but unfortunately, your ending has already been determined."

"What exactly do you want?" Xiao Yichen roared.

"I want you to experience what true despair is!" The shadow said, and a black ball of energy suddenly appeared in his hand. "This power is enough to destroy everything, including your hope!"

Xiao Yichen and Chu Mengmeng's faces changed drastically. They could feel the horror of this power. If they were hit, the consequences would be disastrous.

"You can't escape!" The black shadow slammed the energy ball in his hand to the ground... The black energy ball, wrapped in the breath of destruction, slammed to the ground. At this critical moment, Xiao Yichen suddenly threw Chu Mengmeng to the ground and protected her with his body.

There was a tremor of the earth, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and a powerful shock wave blew them away. When everything settled, they found themselves in a closed space, surrounded by cold and hard rocks, without a trace of light.

"Ahem..." Xiao Yichen struggled to get up, feeling a sharp pain in his chest, but he was more worried about Chu Mengmeng's safety, "Mengmeng, how are you?"

Chu Mengmeng also slowly sat up, her face pale, but she tried to suppress her discomfort and said, "I'm fine, how about you? Are you injured?"

Xiao Yichen shook his head. With the weak light, he looked around and his face became more serious. "We seem to be trapped."

"Where is this?" Chu Mengmeng also realized that the situation was not good.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a trap set by the dark forces." Xiao Yichen said in a deep voice, "We are too careless."

Chu Mengmeng was silent. She understood what Xiao Yichen meant. They had been going too smoothly so that when faced with the provocation of the black shadow, they lost their due vigilance and eventually fell into the enemy's trap.

"What should we do now?" Chu Mengmeng asked, with a hint of uneasiness in her tone.

Xiao Yichen didn't say anything, he stood up and carefully checked the surrounding rock walls, hoping to find a glimmer of hope for escape. However, no matter how he groped, he couldn't find any exit, as if they were imprisoned in an eternal dark cage.

"It's useless," the shadow's voice suddenly sounded in the darkness, with a hint of teasing, "I have laid a net, you can't escape."

Xiao Yichen turned around abruptly and glared in the direction where the voice came from, "What do you want?"

"I want you to pay for your stupidity!" The shadow's voice was cold and ruthless. "You will be trapped here forever until the end of your life."

The feeling of despair was like a poisonous snake, slowly entwining their hearts. However, at this moment, Chu Mengmeng suddenly remembered something. She pulled Xiao Yichen's sleeve and whispered, "Wait, do you remember? We were in that cave before..."

Xiao Yichen was stunned for a moment, then a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. He understood what Chu Mengmeng was referring to. It was an adventure they had experienced before, in which they accidentally obtained a treasure, and that treasure might help them escape from their current predicament.

"You mean..."

"Well," Chu Mengmeng nodded, "Maybe we can try again."

They exchanged glances, and the spark of hope rekindled in their hearts. In the darkness, they seemed to have found a new direction, and began to grope their way forward towards the cave deep in their memories...

"It's here!" Chu Mengmeng's voice trembled slightly with excitement.

Xiao Yichen carefully identified the rock wall in front of him with the weak light, and indeed found a clue. This rock wall looked no different from other places, but it felt slightly rough, and some ancient runes could be vaguely seen.

"It seems that our bet was right." Xiao Yichen took a deep breath and took out the treasure he got in the cave from his arms - a crystal clear jade pendant. The jade pendant emitted a faint fluorescence, reflecting the solemn faces of the two people.

According to the method in his memory, Xiao Yichen placed the jade pendant close to the rock wall and chanted something. As he chanted the spell, the light of the jade pendant became brighter and brighter, and finally turned into a beam of light, shooting straight at those ancient runes.

Rumbling--

There was a sudden earthquake, and a crack appeared on the rock wall. A dazzling light shone through the crack, illuminating the entire space.

"Let's go!" Xiao Yichen pulled Chu Mengmeng up and rushed into the light without hesitation.

They successfully escaped the shadow's trap, however, before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they realized that the situation was not good.

"My spiritual power..." Chu Mengmeng's face was pale. She could feel that the spiritual power in her body was rapidly draining away.

Xiao Yichen also noticed something was wrong. He looked around and found that they were in a desolate Gobi Desert, and some important resources that they had previously stored in their storage bags were missing.

"Damn it, the black shadow must have done something!" Xiao Yichen clenched his fists, his eyes full of anger.

Chu Mengmeng gently pulled his sleeve and said softly, "Don't be impulsive. The most important thing for us now is to find a safe place and recover our strength."

Xiao Yichen was silent. He knew that Chu Mengmeng was right. This adventure cost them a lot, and also made them realize that when facing a powerful enemy, calmness and strategy are more important than impulse.

"We..." Xiao Yichen paused, as if he had made a decision, "We need to change the plan."

The biting cold wind whistled across the Gobi Desert, carrying fine sand. Chu Mengmeng pulled her cloak closer, but still felt the chill piercing her bones. It was not only the physical coldness, but also an invisible cold breath that lingered in her heart and could not be shaken off.

Xiao Yichen's situation was not optimistic either. His originally handsome face now looked a little haggard, his brows were tightly knitted, and his deep eyes were full of solemnity. The black shadow's move this time was undoubtedly a wake-up call for them - they underestimated the enemy's strength.

"We must change our strategy." Xiao Yichen broke the silence with a firm tone, "We can no longer be led by the nose like a headless fly."

Chu Mengmeng nodded in agreement. Although she looked a little confused on weekdays, she never failed at critical moments. She understood that now was not the time to be depressed. They needed to analyze calmly and find a solution.

"The black shadow's goal is to prevent us from finding the sealed place, so he will definitely continue to set up obstacles and consume our strength." Chu Mengmeng analyzed, "We can't follow the original route anymore. We must find another way."

"You're right." Xiao Yichen pondered for a moment, "I remember that ancient books record that in addition to the route we found before, there is another more secret passage that leads to the sealed place."

"Really? That's great!" Chu Mengmeng's eyes lit up, but soon dimmed again, "But we don't know where that passage is..."

"Don't worry, I have a way." Xiao Yichen smiled confidently and took out a yellowed parchment scroll from his arms. "This is something I accidentally found before. It contains some legends about the sealed land. Maybe it can help us."

Chu Mengmeng took the parchment and studied it carefully. The words on the parchment were ancient and obscure, but Chu Mengmeng, with the advantage brought by time travel, miraculously understood part of the content.

"It says here that in order to find the secret passage, you need to collect three treasures..." Chu Mengmeng explained to Xiao Yichen as she read, "They are 'Night Pearl', 'Sky Star Stone' and 'Xuanwu Order'..."

After listening to this, Xiao Yichen frowned slightly. He had never heard of these three treasures. It might not be easy to find them.

"It seems that we are about to start a new adventure." Xiao Yichen took a deep breath, and a gleam of determination flashed in his eyes.

Chu Mengmeng also clenched her fists. This time, they would not sit and wait for death. Instead, they would take the initiative to find the three treasures, find the secret passage leading to the sealed land, and completely smash the conspiracy of the dark forces.

"We..." Chu Mengmeng suddenly stopped talking, staring at the last line of words on the parchment scroll, her face becoming extremely solemn, "It says..."