This was a kind of intuition.
Although the high-martial world didn't have spiritual energy, cosmic energy, or any of that miscellaneous stuff—
The feeling in the high-martial world was vastly different from the ordinary world Lin Chen had been in before transmigrating.
Moreover, from what he knew—
The wilderness of the high-martial world contained many dangerous creatures.
Only large towns and cities were somewhat safer.
Because no one knew exactly what other worlds the wilderness might be connected to.
And right now, in this forest, from what he could currently observe, there were no obvious dangerous creatures.
Of course, that was only if you didn't count the Earth's Cancer standing beside him.
"Where is this?"
"So dizzy."
Fujiwara Chika held her head and shook it.
"Right, I was swallowed by a spatial rift together with a strange boy."
"..."
"So, where exactly am I strange?"
Lin Chen spoke helplessly, startling Secretary Fujiwara.
"Ahh! S-sorry, sorry."
Secretary Fujiwara pressed her palms together and raised them above her head in apology.
"It's b-because, I saw you running straight toward me, so I felt it was slightly strange."
Secretary Fujiwara had quite a good personality—her apology was sincere, she was easygoing and down-to-earth, without any airs of a young lady.
Lin Chen had only made an offhand remark anyway and didn't dwell on it.
His attention was more focused on the surrounding environment.
For some reason, this snow-covered forest gave him a strange sense of familiarity.
As if he had seen it somewhere before.
But thinking about it, weren't snow-covered forests like this everywhere?
"So cold."
Secretary Fujiwara rubbed her hands together, stamping her feet in place.
Lin Chen was cold too.
The current temperature was already more than ten degrees below zero.
The two of them were still wearing summer clothes—of course they were cold.
Strong martial artists naturally wouldn't fear this bit of cold, but the two of them were still too weak right now.
"Hold this backpack—it'll be slightly warmer."
Lin Chen tossed his backpack to Fujiwara Chika, then began using breathing techniques to resist the cold.
"Oh right, what's your Body Level?"
Lin Chen asked.
"Level 2.9." Fujiwara Chika answered honestly.
She didn't like martial arts training.
Compared to martial arts, she preferred music and eating.
'Give me back my backpack,' Lin Chen complained internally.
But in the end, Lin Chen didn't ask for the backpack back.
Because Fujiwara Chika's Body Level was purely built up through resources—her skills were terrible.
She didn't know breathing techniques or anything like that. She was just a pure blank slate.
"Let's go."
Lin Chen observed the surrounding environment briefly and spoke.
"Go where?"
Secretary Fujiwara hugged the backpack tightly, asking somewhat timidly.
This was slightly different from the Secretary Fujiwara in Lin Chen's impression.
After all, in the original work, Secretary Fujiwara's abilities were actually quite strong.
But that was probably in an orderly modern society. Suddenly transmigrating to this kind of other world—
Having lost order and the protection of her family, as a martial arts washout, Secretary Fujiwara naturally felt quite insecure.
"First, let's find a place where people live."
"If we really can't find one, we'll find a cave to take shelter."
Lin Chen spoke.
He had already experienced one sudden transmigration, so psychologically he accepted this quite quickly.
Moreover, with his current physical strength plus breathing techniques, lasting until dawn wouldn't be a problem.
If they really couldn't find any traces of humans, hunting some animals would mean he wouldn't actually freeze or starve to death here.
There was no immediate danger to their lives.
Lin Chen walked in front, with Secretary Fujiwara hugging the backpack and following closely behind.
Fortunately, she wasn't a completely weak girl—with her Body Level, she could easily keep up with Lin Chen.
Walking through this place that resembled a primeval forest—
From time to time, there were beast roars, or other unknown sharp screeching sounds.
This made Secretary Fujiwara have to quicken her pace, following even closer to Lin Chen.
As if to bolster her own courage—
Fujiwara Chika looked at Lin Chen's back and spoke softly.
"Come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves yet."
"I'm Fujiwara Ch-Kaguya... I'm Fujiwara Kaguya."
When saying her own name, Fujiwara Chika paused briefly, swapping her name with her good friend Kaguya's name.
After all, the Fujiwara family was quite famous in Z City.
In this kind of other world where calling for help was useless, she was genuinely worried that the boy in front of her might get some bad ideas because of this.
"I'm Lin Chen."
Lin Chen smiled.
He saw right through Secretary's little scheme.
He was just about to tease her a bit.
Suddenly, Lin Chen stopped in his tracks.
"Found it."
Ahead was a small clearing of tree stumps—clearly cut by humans with axes.
And beside this small clearing of stumps, there was also a path that wasn't very obvious.
Phew.
Lin Chen let out a breath of relief. Finding traces of human activity was good.
He didn't want to actually stay in the forest and live like a wild man.
"Really! That's great."
Secretary Fujiwara also saw the stump traces and said happily.
"You're really amazing, Lin Chen"
While happy, Secretary didn't forget to provide Lin Chen with emotional value.
But Lin Chen's expression hadn't completely relaxed.
Finding people was only the first step.
He still needed to confirm which world he was in. If it was a world connected to the high-martial world, that would be fine.
If it was an unknown world, then that would be troublesome.
He might not be able to return.
Lin Chen walked toward that small path.
This path had people walking on it, but probably very few, so the trampled traces weren't very obvious.
Walking to the edge of the path, Lin Chen noticed that red threads were tied to trees on both sides.
With some small bells hanging from them.
"Threads and bells?"
Lin Chen's sense of familiar déjà vu grew stronger and stronger.
"Lin Chen."
Secretary Fujiwara timidly poked Lin Chen's arm.
"What is it, Fujiwara-san?"
"I think I hear sounds coming from far away. They don't sound like wild beasts."
Secretary Fujiwara spoke.
Her Body Level was nearly a full level higher than Lin Chen's, so her five senses were more acute.
Moreover, she had deep expertise in music.
The sounds coming from the distance seemed to be made by some kind of bell instrument.
"Lead the way. Let's go."
After hearing Secretary Fujiwara's words, Lin Chen didn't hesitate to trust her, immediately heading toward the place where she heard the sounds.
Ding-ling.
The closer they got to that direction, the wider the path became.
At the same time, the sound became clearer and clearer—Lin Chen could hear it too now.
It was like someone vigorously shaking a string of bells, producing short, powerful chiming sounds.
Finally, Lin Chen could see the flickering firelight.
Amidst four clusters of flames—
A person wearing strange clothing, holding kagura bells, was dancing a dance that possessed considerable aesthetic beauty.
"How beautiful."
The two had already walked up close.
Secretary Fujiwara was captivated by that beautiful dance.
Full of power and beauty, surpassing any dance she had ever seen.
And Lin Chen beside her was also frozen in place.
The next moment—
His entire expression lit up.
He finally understood why he had felt that sense of déjà vu earlier.
At the same time, his worries about being trapped in another world also vanished like smoke.
This was the Demon Slayer world.
And the person dancing before them—
Was undoubtedly Kamado Tanjuro, performing the Dance of the Fire God.