The intense light shone on his pale face, stinging his skin.
Bi Fang's vision went dark, and the relaxation from his successful survival almost made him tumble into the pit. He grabbed onto a rock, shielding his eyes with his other hand.
Down the long well shaft, the vicious sunlight erased the darkness layer by layer, from top to bottom, inside out.
In just a few minutes, the steam from the underground river rose, making the cave stifling as if it were the steamer in "Journey to the West" where monsters cooked the plump monk.
Clinging to the edge of the hole, Bi Fang used the last of his strength to pull himself up. With one final effort, he rolled over and lay exhausted on the desert sand.
High sand dunes surrounded him on all sides. Bi Fang thought he was hallucinating; the dunes seemed like crowds of people cheering around him.
It took him a while to realize that the dunes were real, and so were the cheers.
He had survived.
