Before the muggle bestie went onto the battlefield, she had the following exchange with a fellow trainee from Swift Wind Pavilion—
"The strong fear nothing! Chang Hanshan, your eyes are quite good! Worthy of being my fellow trainee! Tell me, as Mentor Zhou Zhe's disciple... are you the Hunter, or the prey?"
"I am Split Open."
Chang Hanshan herself was clearly calm and composed, without the slightest hint of nervousness.
There was not a trace of fear to be smelled on her.
This made Jinuo, who saw himself as the protagonist, encounter a "rival" other than Little Red Hair Dugu Xiu for the first time.
Zhou Zhe had no intention of interfering with the healthy competition among the three trainees.
As long as they did not hold each other back, and all three reached a Black Iron Three-Star strength rating within two months, that would be enough.
The 3 points of "Dignity" they provided him were an unexpected delight.
"The livestream has started."
Zhou Zhe clapped his hands. "Pause your training for now. Watch how others fight."
"This is a true life-and-death struggle."
"Watch more, learn more, think more."
"It will help your growth greatly."
Though Zhou Zhe's tone was quite calm, everyone fell silent as cicadas in winter. They immediately put down their training, obediently gathered in a circle around him, and focused intently on the cosmic livestream.
From the trainees' positions alone, one could see the entire food chain of Swift Wind Pavilion.
With Zhou Zhe at the center, Zhang Miaoran stood to his left, while Little Red Hair Dugu Xiu and Mobile Game Guy Jinuo stood behind him. The others spread outward in order of their actual combat strength.
For this Cosmic Arena Combat, Dao had pulled a little trick.
The arena had been set upon a Frozen Planet.
Dao's voice spread across the universe. "It once possessed a glorious history of 14.4 billion years, with its population multiplying to 22.4 billion."
"Every High Sapient Lifeform on this planet could enter the Transcendent Sequence upon reaching adulthood."
"Later, some unfortunate events occurred."
"All life was annihilated, civilization shattered, and the world was downgraded."
"Now, it has become a stage for gladiators to display themselves."
"A friendly reminder..."
"This is a death race!"
"So there will be no grand finale duel this time."
"All gladiators, please make sure to kill your opponents within three thousand breaths."
"What will happen if you exceed the time limit?"
"You'll find out when the time comes."
This string of remarks made Zhou Zhe's eyelid twitch.
Many Earth Humans knew very well what those so-called "unfortunate events" were.
This Frozen Planet had originally been called Piaowol.
A little over a month ago in Earth time, the rulers of Piaowol Star had apparently suffered some sort of brain malfunction. On a whim, they gathered every wise person on the planet and, in an act of mind-numbing idiocy, launched a brainstorming project codenamed "Deceive God."
They had concocted a series of seemingly flawless plans, trying to use certain tricks to deceive Dao through Piaowol Star's Cosmic Gladiators, thereby seizing benefits so immense that they could not possibly digest them.
The sages of Huaxia had been right—profit clouded the mind.
As long as the profit was great enough, people could be tempted to take desperate risks.
What happened next?
There was no next.
Dao wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, so in an instant...
Every living thing on Piaowol Star died without exception.
Now, the highest temperature on this planet was around minus fifty degrees Celsius.
With one glance, Zhou Zhe saw a huge group of rookie Cosmic Gladiators frozen stupid.
There were an enormous number of contestants this time.
There were 560 Earth gladiators alone!
There were as many as 734 million livestream viewing angles to choose from!
Using his authority as a Black Iron Five Stars gladiator, Zhou Zhe directly locked the livestream view onto Chang Hanshan.
At this moment, Chang Hanshan was wrapped in thick winter clothes, wearing windproof gloves, a scarf, a mask, goggles, and insulated boots.
She was protected from head to toe.
If she had not still been carrying a Straight-Bladed Long Saber custom-made for her by Swift Wind Pavilion, Zhou Zhe truly would not have recognized her.
"It's still midsummer in Huaxia right now."
A faintly amused expression appeared on Zhou Zhe's face. Azure-gold lightning flickered in his clenched palm. "My guess was correct after all."
On the frozen Piaowol Star.
"Earth Human! You could say this is my home ground!"
"I am a warrior of the Ice Crystal Fur People from Sweet Planet! No matter how cold it gets, I can fight and win! You're dead!"
"That low-grade cold weapon in your hand can only scratch my itch. It cannot truly hurt me at all!"
Across from Chang Hanshan, an alien standing roughly two meters tall was spouting arrogant nonsense.
Hearing the other party's threats, a trace of nostalgia surfaced on Chang Hanshan's face beneath her goggles, scarf, and mask.
"Long time no see, the first guy to die by my hand."
Chang Hanshan suddenly smiled. "It's truly wonderful that the butterfly effect didn't affect the chosen gladiators or the venue!"
She had originally intended to chat with him for a few more lines, but then she remembered the saying Your Highness Zhe often taught the trainees: "Only cowards babble endlessly. A true Zuan native says at most five sentences to an enemy." She immediately settled down.
Then...
Kill the opponent as quickly as possible!
Return to Earth!
Eat half-baked cheesecake, roast duck, and durian mille-feuille, then drink some milk tea to warm herself up!
On this damned planet, even a puff of breath could freeze into ice. It was cold enough to explode!
It simply was not a place for humans!
In the blink of a thought, Chang Hanshan drew her Straight-Bladed Long Saber from its sheath.
It was worth mentioning that the entire saber was evenly coated in a thin layer of red oil.
The red oil gave off an intense, pungent smell. Even through all her protective gear, Chang Hanshan could not help but sneeze as she gripped the saber.
"Die!"
With saber in hand, she charged!
Wind Riding Slash!
...All right, there was no wind riding, only a slash!
Then she would just hack him down head-on!
Whoosh!
The saber light swept past.
The Ice Crystal Fur Person from Sweet Planet seemed to have had its soul snatched away. It stood utterly motionless as the blade struck it squarely in the face!
Two crystal-like hairs snapped apart.
No blood splashed out—naturally. Chang Hanshan's current absolute strength was far too weak; she had not even cut through its skin.
The next moment...
Something bizarre happened.
The Ice Crystal Fur Person's dazzling, crystalline fur turned gray in the blink of an eye.
As though it had been corroded by a deadly poison.
Its massive body also began shrinking wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Two meters...
One point eight meters...
One point three meters...
Seventy centimeters...
In just a few breaths, the alien had shrunk to the size of a fingernail.
Chang Hanshan strode forward and coldly stomped down.
Splat!
A red flower bloomed across the ground.
The Sweet Planet alien died!
In the blink of an eye, Chang Hanshan vanished, teleported away from the Frozen Planet.
Time passed second by second.
Sixty percent of the duels had already been decided, and all the winners had been teleported away early.
The remaining ones...
Around 293.6 million Cosmic Gladiators who had failed to complete their duels suddenly froze in place like flies trapped in amber.
The three thousand breaths were up!
Piaowol Star seemed to contract.
A moment later, it suddenly expanded!
Brilliant light bloomed freely in the cold universe!
The beautiful fireworks completely erased nearly 300 million lives in the blink of an eye!
And that was not all.
The planetary system where Piaowol Star was located was also destroyed by the shockwave, collapsing into ruin.
On Earth.
Zhou Zhe took in the destruction of the Frozen Planet, then slowly rose to his feet and patted Zhang Miaoran's fragrant shoulder. "Later, bring Chang Hanshan to my office."
(The Straight-Bladed Tang saber currently passed down through Swift Wind Pavilion is seriously handsome! If you don't believe it, look up some model pictures—it has an incredibly high style rating!)
The food is here. Time to eat!
Before you continue