Chapter 38 – Sigh of the Snow Maiden

“Is this guy a monster?”

Guo Xinyi stared blankly at the leaderboard, her pretty face filled with shock.

She never imagined that Lin Ze would catch up to the four ahead of him in such a manner.

He’d even overtaken Li Pengyun.

This score-farming speed was simply unbelievable!

A massive sense of crisis suddenly surged within Guo Xinyi.

She had originally thought only Tan Yong, Lv Gang, and Li Pengyun were targets she needed to take seriously.

But looking at it now, Lin Ze was far more formidable than all three of them.

There were still two hours left in the assessment. If Lin Ze maintained this pace of scoring, it was only a matter of time before he surpassed them all and claimed first place.

“No, I need to speed up too!”

Guo Xinyi pressed her lips together, determination flashing in her eyes.

“Emma, let’s go. Keep hunting—we can’t lose to those boys!”

The Steel-patterned Wyrmling raised its head and let out a roar, echoing its master’s fighting spirit with high morale.

Meanwhile.

It wasn’t just Guo Xinyi—Tan Yong also felt the immense pressure Lin Ze was exerting.

To avoid being overtaken by Lin Ze, he poured all his effort into accelerating his hunting pace.

“Damn it!”

Lv Gang stared fixedly at the leaderboard, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

The man he had once called trash had now climbed to a rank right behind him.

The score difference was only a little over thirty points.

That was just the gap of a single third-tier Ferocious Beast.

Although no third party had witnessed his earlier contempt toward Lin Ze, Lv Gang’s immense pride still made him feel a deep sense of humiliation.

“Want to surpass me? Dream on!”

Lv Gang sneered coldly, leading his Iron-clad Dragon Snake deeper into the forest.

He would prove that he would never lose to some lowly commoner from a small backwater town!

Boom!

A thunderous, rumbling explosion echoed from the distance.

Lin Ze stopped in his tracks and looked toward that direction.

“Such a loud commotion… a third-tier Ferocious Beast?”

He raised an eyebrow and strode toward where the sound had come from.

“Come on, let’s check it out.”

Xiao Xue immediately responded with a chirp, staying close by her master’s side.

Before long.

Lin Ze arrived at the location of the explosion.

What met his eyes was a clearing in complete disarray, riddled with potholes.

A fierce battle was underway in the clearing.

On one side was a creature covered in thorny branches, resembling an upright humanoid shrub.

It looked somewhat like a Wither Beast, but its entire body was golden, gleaming brilliantly under the sunlight.

“This is… a Golden Wither Beast!”

Lin Ze recognized the Ferocious Beast before him.

The Golden Wither Beast was an evolved form of the Wither Beast. Upon reaching the Mature Stage, its Power Level could reach Tier 3, Rank 5.

The Golden Wither Beast before him was clearly a mature specimen.

On the other side was a Poison Vine Fiend Pet Beast.

Its master—a male student—stood not far away, watching the battle with a somewhat anxious expression.

Lin Ze studied the man for a few moments, feeling a nagging sense of familiarity.

A moment later.

He finally remembered.

Back when he was eating at the restaurant, among the people Zhou Hong had pointed out and introduced to him, this male student was one of them.

He recalled the name seemed to be Li Pengyun.

Though he recognized the man and could see that Li Pengyun’s situation looked quite dire, Lin Ze still stood quietly in place, showing no intention whatsoever of intervening.

After all, the assessment rules stipulated that no form of assistance could be given to other examinees.

Li Pengyun quickly noticed Lin Ze’s arrival. His gaze landed on the other’s face, and his eyes immediately widened.

“Lin Ze!”

Li Pengyun was somewhat surprised.

But on second thought, this place was already very close to the forest exit. Most examinees should have already reached the vicinity of the exit by this time, so running into each other here wasn’t exactly unexpected.

“Of all people, it had to be this guy!”

Li Pengyun frowned.

After being overtaken by Lin Ze in the rankings, he had to speed up his hunting pace in order to reclaim his position. In his haste, he had accidentally wandered into the Golden Wither Beast’s territory and gotten entangled with it.

And now, of all things, his competitor had to witness such an embarrassing situation.

“Wait—this is actually a good opportunity!”

Li Pengyun’s eyes suddenly shifted, and an idea struck him.

He turned around and shouted loudly toward Lin Ze:

“Lin Ze, this Golden Wither Beast is yours to deal with. Want it?”

Lin Ze raised an eyebrow, staring at Li Pengyun for a few seconds before breaking into a faint, knowing smile.

“Then I’ll gladly accept.”

If someone wanted to hand him free points, he certainly wasn’t going to refuse.

Seeing Lin Ze agree, Li Pengyun immediately ordered the Poison Vine Fiend to retreat.

Man and beast pulled back, taking position over twenty meters away, watching intently.

Li Pengyun certainly wasn’t being generous out of the goodness of his heart by giving the Ferocious Beast to Lin Ze.

It was simply that his Poison Vine Fiend was truly no match for the Golden Wither Beast. Continuing any further would only end in a hasty retreat.

So rather than that, he might as well hand it over to Lin Ze and take the opportunity to gauge Lin Ze’s true strength.

“Judging by his earlier point-farming speed, Lin Ze’s strength is definitely at least on par with mine, if not greater. I wonder what Stage his Pet Beast has reached?”

“Third Stage, Third Tier? Or Third Stage, Fourth Tier?”

“If it’s only that, killing a Golden Wither Beast won’t be easy!”

Thoughts churned through Li Pengyun’s mind, but his eyes remained fixed unblinkingly on the battlefield, afraid of missing a single moment.

Lin Ze paid no attention to Li Pengyun’s actions.

Once the Poison Vine Fiend withdrew, Xiao Xue immediately stepped forward, successfully drawing the Golden Wither Beast’s attention.

The latter’s eyes, shrouded beneath its withering branches, suddenly flashed red. The next second, two thorn-covered vines shot out like lightning, tearing through the air like whips as they lashed viciously toward Xiao Xue.

Facing the enemy’s fierce assault, Xiao Xue remained completely composed.

Without any visible movement on her part, the two vines abruptly slowed as they approached within three meters of her.

Immediately after, frost rapidly condensed across the surface of the vines.

In the blink of an eye.

The two vines turned into frozen sticks, then shattered with a crisp crack, falling to the ground as scattered ice shards.

“Incredible Ice Element manipulation!”

Li Pengyun was taken aback.

He could tell that the Humanoid Pet Beast hadn’t used a Skill at all—she had purely relied on her Ice Element manipulation to effortlessly neutralize the Golden Wither Beast’s attack.

From that alone, one could see how powerful this Pet Beast was.

At the very least, his own Poison Vine Fiend was far inferior to her in Wood Element manipulation.

“Maybe Lin Ze really can take down this Golden Wither Beast.”

Li Pengyun’s gaze flickered.

The next second.

He saw Xiao Xue extend her fair, delicate hand, palm facing upward. Her lips parted slightly as she blew a gentle breath toward her palm.

It was as if a sigh echoed through the void.

Visible white mist surged forth in an instant, sweeping like the wind toward the charging Golden Wither Beast.

Sigh of the Snow Maiden!

The Golden Wither Beast instinctively sensed the fatal danger.

It let out a low growl, its arms suddenly dispersing into countless branches and vines that intertwined to form a massive shield in front of its body, blocking the oncoming chill.

But it was to no avail.

The mist imbued with extreme cold engulfed it along with the shield.

The moisture in the air froze instantly, and the temperature plummeted below zero in a matter of moments.

Crisp cracking sounds rang out in rapid succession.

The Golden Wither Beast didn’t even have time to let out a scream before its body was frozen solid, transformed entirely into a massive ice sculpture.

A gentle breeze suddenly swept past.

Crack!

With a faint sound, the ice sculpture shattered in an instant, dissolving into countless ice particles that vanished into the air.

Silence!

A deathly silence!

Li Pengyun stared blankly at the scene before him, his mind buzzing, unable to snap back to reality for a long time.