Survival Match (VI)

He wanted to eat great mouthfuls of meat, gain weight, and get fat!

"Hey, hey, Brother Jie, save some for me!"

"If you want some, go hunt for yourself. I-"

What kind of scene was this?

There was roast chicken here that nobody would eat, yet over there they were fighting over it.

After a day of rest, Gongsun Qianxun had more or less recovered, and the miasma toxins in her body had completely disappeared.

Having lost a day, the team still had something to do before setting out: stockpile food in preparation for the challenges awaiting them in the ridge region.

Three days in, some of the thousand contestants finally could not take it anymore and chose to withdraw.

They had all sorts of reasons, but the biggest was that they could not endure the harsh environment.

In front of the livestream:

Viewer A: "Look, another one's dropped out. I told you these Beast Tamers were all pampered. How could they stomach hardship?"

Viewer B: "Three months! This has only just started. If you ask me, getting out early is a wise move."

Viewer C: "When do you think Chicken Bro will quit?"

Viewer A: "Forget it, don't bring him up. He cost me so much money in the last Fishing Competition. Just thinking about it makes me furious."

Viewer D: "He's already first in points. If he actually withdraws, I'll look down on him. We should be guessing when he'll clear the third stage instead."

Viewer C: "Right, right. How long do you think Chicken Bro will take to reach the flat summit of Wuji Peak? I bet a month and a half, a hundred and fifty taels. Anyone willing to take that bet?"

Viewer B: "I bet two months, two hundred taels."

Yang Pucai: "I bet he won't last a month. Fifty taels."

In the VIP box:

City Lord Guo Mingzhi beckoned, and the old steward hurried eagerly to his side. His lordship had made a killing last time. Was he about to do it again?

"How long does my lord think the young lord's friend will last this time?"

Guo Mingzhi thrust out his enormous belly, a shrewd gleam flashing in his eyes. "The protagonist usually appears last. Go, wager a hundred high-grade beast crystals on Jiang Hao reaching the destination at the very last moment of the three months."

The old steward: ???

What kind of play was this? Was his lordship really that confident?

The old steward took the money pouch and went to place the bet. Before leaving, he gritted his teeth and made a wager of his own-not much, just a hundred mid-grade beast crystals. After serving the city lord for so long, he had come to see that nothing in this world could stump his shrewd master.

If he was going to follow him, he had to learn by his example. He could not go wrong.

It was not just the broadcast hall in Primordial City. Ordinary people in Wuji City, Shenzhou City, and other cities were all following the Beast Pet Tournament.

Yet few noticed that the City of Eternity, at the other end of the Wuji Mountains, was already trapped in deep waters and scorching flames.

Biting winds howled, the winds of the north mercilessly ravaging the city known as the Shenzhou Kingdom's unbreakable fortress. Atop the walls, ranks of armored Shenzhou Army soldiers stood ready for battle, but a closer look revealed that their lips had turned purple from the cold. In stark contrast stood the sea of snowy-white wolves outside the city. Astride each Frost Snow Wolf sat a North Sea Army soldier, bare-chested and displaying a powerful, muscular physique, still brimming with vitality even in the bitter wind.

An air of slaughter had long permeated the land. Neither side in the standoff moved; only the war drums thundered skyward. Still vigorous in his old age, Dragon Venerable stood atop the gate tower in black armor, gazing out beyond the city. Enemy soldiers filled his vision, but the man beneath their commander's banner was the one he feared most.

The man was thirty, with savage, wolflike eyes and a scar across his face. He looked ordinary enough, yet he was more dangerous than the entire North Sea Army combined. This was Xiao Lin, the North Sea Kingdom's Saint.

Clad in furs, Xiao Lin sat firmly upon his war chariot. Before him stood a low table bearing a platter of meat and a wine cup. Beside him knelt a beautiful woman, likewise dressed in luxurious furs. She suddenly drew a cup of wine from inside her robes and respectfully placed it on the table before Xiao Lin, then took the empty cup, filled it with wine, and tucked it back into her bosom. The cup she had just set down still carried wisps of her body warmth and lingering fragrance.

Xiao Lin lifted the cup beneath his nose and sniffed lightly. Then the corners of his mouth rose, and he drained the wine with an expression of pleasure.

Setting down the cup, Xiao Lin raised a hand, pinched the woman's chin, and tilted her face upward. Her lightly powdered face was expressionless, but Xiao Lin still caught the trace of fear she was desperately hiding in her eyes.

"Sister Qing, if I avenge you, how will you repay me?"

The woman's name was Yue Qingqing.

"If Marshal Xiao can help me kill Dragon Venerable and Long Yun, I will serve you as an ox or a horse, entirely at your command."

At that, Xiao Lin laughed aloud several times, then suddenly pulled her into his arms and bit viciously into her red lips without the slightest restraint. Sweet, metallic blood flowed down his throat. Only after a while did he release her, grinning savagely. "How could I bear to make Sister Qing toil like an ox or a horse? Just give me a son. The thought of Dragonkeep's eldest young master's fiancée bearing my child excites me like nothing else. What do you think?"

Yue Qingqing trembled all over, desperately trying to break free. Even the pain in her lips could not compare with the agony in her heart.

The title of Dragonkeep's eldest young master's fiancée had once brought her and her Lineage unparalleled glory. The Yue Family had once been a great Lineage in the City of Eternity, possessing immense wealth. Everyone in the city had treated her with the utmost respect.

Sadly, all of that had shattered ten years ago.

On this very day ten years earlier, someone had accused her father of treating human lives like grass. Long Yun had personally led an investigation. Although he had ultimately cleared her father of that accusation, he had uncovered his acceptance of bribes. Ignoring her pleas, he had insisted on confiscating everything her family owned.

In a fit of rage, her father had hanged himself. Unable to endure the blow, her mother had followed him in death.

The mighty Yue Family had been ruined overnight, its home destroyed and its members dead.

All of it was thanks to the man she had loved for more than a decade. At that moment, she had finally awakened: all those years of devotion could not outweigh the words "impartial and incorruptible" in his eyes.

She hated Long Yun now as deeply as she had once loved him. She had defected to the North Sea Kingdom at any cost, offering every scrap of intelligence she possessed about the Shenzhou Army to the man before her. Even becoming his plaything was a price she was willing to pay.

After every effort she could muster, she had finally persuaded Xiao Lin to invade the Shenzhou Kingdom. Now was her chance to avenge her family. She would stand before Long Yun and watch Xiao Lin destroy everything he wished to protect.

She would tell him to his face just how terrifying a betrayed woman could be!

Xiao Lin silently pushed the quiet woman away, rose, and looked up at the iron walls standing before his army.

City of Eternity, you will fall and crumble at my hands. I, Xiao Lin, will flatten you, cross the Wuji Mountains, and conquer all of Shenzhou!

"All troops, heed my command! Help me smash through the City of Eternity! I hear Han Qing, the Shenzhou Kingdom's third princess, is as beautiful as an immortal. The day I conquer Shenzhou will be the day I take her as my bride!"

"Hah!"

"Attack!"

His voice was utterly ordinary, as though he had not ordered an assault on a city, but merely announced that it was time to eat.

Five hundred thousand North Sea troops moved as one, laying siege to the hundred and fifty thousand Shenzhou defenders.

The Frost Snow Wolves at the front began to run, moving faster and faster. Once they had opened a gap between themselves and the comrades behind them, they abruptly accelerated into a charge.

They crossed several hundred meters in the blink of an eye!

When the first Frost Snow Wolf leaped high toward the wall, it seemed to be committing suicide. Yet in the next instant, its sharp claws dug firmly into the masonry, anchoring it halfway up the wall, ten meters above the ground.

Its rider clung tightly around its neck. Just like that, the Frost Snow Wolf carried its master slowly toward the battlements like a gecko.

One did it.

Then two.

Within mere seconds, Frost Snow Wolves covered the entire wall.

Dragon Venerable's expression was grave. Standing to either side of him were Dragon Venerable and Prince Han Mo.

Without waiting for Dragon Venerable's orders, Long Yun raised a hand. The Shenzhou soldiers, already poised for battle, drew their bows, nocked arrows, and began shooting at the Frost Snow Wolves.

Whoosh!

The arrows tore through the air, their downward momentum instantly killing the wolves highest up the wall.

The Snow Wolves struck by the arrows plummeted toward the ground with their riders, screaming.

"The arrows are poisoned! Be careful!"

Warned by a North Sea soldier whose head was covered in little braids, those who had not been hit stared fixedly at the battlements, awaiting the second rain of arrows.

Amid the war drums, the second volley arrived less than three seconds later.

"Awooo!"

Suddenly, howls rang out. Along with them, streams of freezing air burst from the Snow Wolves' mouths. The cold was overpowering. Before the descending arrows could hit their targets, they froze and shattered into fragments. Even the sturdy walls developed a dense web of cracks beneath the thick ice.

As descendants of the Frost Giant Wolf, the Frost Snow Wolves had their own special technique, Absolute Ice Seal. Although it could not compare with their ancestor's Absolute Zero, its power was still formidable.

With this layer of ice, the Snow Wolves climbed even faster, ascending several meters in just a few seconds. The City of Eternity's walls had been continually reinforced and raised specifically to counter these Snow Wolves. By now, they stood twenty-five meters high and ten meters wide, that width giving the Shenzhou Kingdom's Beast Tamers room to operate.

A thick layer of grease had been poured over the outside of the walls. Over time, the entire surface had come to look black.

With the arrows no longer effective, the Shenzhou Army changed its defensive measures without waiting for Long Yun's orders. Several soldiers worked together to carry each enormous cauldron, filled with hot oil that boiled and bubbled. Behind them stood several more men holding torches.

When the hot oil was poured down, they threw their torches after it, adding fuel to the fire!

As the flames formed an absolute defensive line, the Snow Wolves all spewed freezing air. This was a contest between ice and fire.

The freezing air froze the flames, but there were always fish that slipped through the net. Even a speck of the dense shower of hot oil and flame was lethal. Soon, hundreds upon thousands of burning wolves appeared on the walls, their piercing screams and howls creating a striking spectacle!

And that was not all. As the burning wolves fell, they became weapons against their own comrades, crashing down upon those below like a meteor shower of fire. Instantly, the foot of the walls descended into chaos, disrupting the North Sea Army's offensive rhythm. This was exactly what every Shenzhou soldier hoped to see.

"Excellent!"

At the sight, Prince Han Mo could not help cheering.

The Shenzhou Army's morale soared even higher. After all, those below were Beast Tamers, while they fought them with mere mortal bodies. Life and death often hung on a single instant.