Success

The snow continued to fall relentlessly.

Looking around, the mountains were covered in pure white, so bright it made one's eyes ache, a monotonous expanse of desolation.

Thick layers of snow piled up, filling in gullies, weeds, and tangled tree roots, smoothing out every corner that could have been a hiding place. The cold wind, carrying ice shards, brushed across the snow, seeping into the gaps in clothing, the biting chill tightening around the body. The mountains and forests were deathly silent and desolate, without the cries of wild animals, only the whistling of the wind and snow weaving through the woods, mingling with the soft rustling of falling snow, echoing in the empty wilderness.

Lu Heng knelt in the snow, a thin layer of snow accumulating on his shoulders and back.

His gaze was fixed on the snow layer where the rabbit had just breathed. The old wound on his arm was being torn apart by the low temperature, and a dull, numb, and aching sensation kept coming from his muscles and bones. He knew in his heart that catching the bait alive would not be an easy task.

The hare only poked its head out for a moment to breathe, so swift and difficult to catch. Trying to dig through the snow, build a burrow, or block the nest by force would be futile.

He carefully explored the slightly sunken areas on the snow, but wherever he dug, he found either frozen, hard snow or a shallow, abandoned tunnel. Rabbit burrows are interconnected underground, and rabbits can easily change their routes, making it impossible for a person standing on the surface to predict their tracks.

After several attempts and trials, all ended in failure.

A heavy sense of frustration weighed on Lu Heng's heart, and he finally understood the predicament he was in.

Blocking the nest was not an option, and digging deep into the frozen ground was also futile. The heavy snow acted as a natural protective shield, and as long as the small beasts underground refused to come out, no amount of human effort would be of any use.

The lingering pain from the old wound kept tearing at me, my frozen fingertips had lost most of their sensation, and irritability spread upwards along my limbs.

But he forcibly suppressed his agitation, daring not to panic in the slightest.

The more impatient he is, the more likely he is to expose his weaknesses. Now he has no other way out.

To fend off Forest Rock Tiger, only live bait is available; to get live bait, one must wait patiently for a wild rabbit to appear.

Wild rabbits can lie dormant underground for a long time, but they cannot withstand the lack of oxygen and suffocation.

Its only weakness is its eagerness to breathe.

Lu Heng took a few steps back, using the low snow slope to conceal his figure, lowered his torso to steadily support the Hand Crossbow, and lay motionless in a prone position.

The long wait has begun.

Snowflakes continued to fall on his shoulders and brow bone, piling up layer by layer. The cold wind relentlessly stole his body heat, and his limbs gradually became numb. He dared not move an inch, dared not shift his gaze, and even deliberately kept his breathing light, for fear that the slightest movement would scare away the wild rabbits hiding under the snow.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

A full half hour.

The extreme cold, the dryness, and the torment piled up one after another.

The entire mountain forest was as still as if frozen solid, the biting cold constantly eroding his flesh and blood, gradually wearing away the last vestiges of his patience. Just as he was stiffening all over and almost got up to change positions, a barely perceptible movement appeared on the smooth snow surface in front of him.

The snow layer arched slightly upwards, so slightly that it was almost imperceptible unless one was watching closely the entire time.

A sudden twitch in his old arm wound jolted him awake, the sharp pain jolting Lu Heng back to his senses. All his fatigue vanished, and a fierce glint instantly flashed in his eyes.

They've arrived.

A few breaths later, a thin crack appeared in the snow, and a wisp of white mist drifted out through the crack.

A grayish-brown hare cautiously poked its head out, its small, dark eyes quickly scanning its surroundings. It only dared to show half of its face, took a quick breath, and then, once it was sure there was no danger, retreated back into the ground.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Lu Heng pulled the trigger, and the crossbow bolt whistled through the air.

He deliberately avoided vital points, keeping his sights firmly locked on his hind legs.

With a muffled thud, the arrowhead pierced the flesh of the rabbit's hind leg, not killing it outright, but completely crippling its ability to escape.

A tearing pain swept over the hare, which suddenly sprang out from under the snow, rolling and kicking wildly in the snow. Its small body struggled frantically, and its faint cries were swallowed by the wind and snow.

Lu Heng strode forward, pressed down on the trembling rabbit's body with one hand, and firmly restrained it.

Live bait acquired.

He immediately began preparing the poisoned bait. His fingertips touched the Cold Stiff Poison Gland, and the cool, sticky venom squeezed into his palm, releasing a faint, fishy smell. Ignoring the rabbit's constant kicking and struggling, he forcibly pried open its mouth and poured all the venom into its throat.

The Cold Stiff toxin takes effect extremely quickly.

In just a few breaths, the wild rabbit, which had been struggling violently, became weak and trembling, its head drooped limply, its eyes became dull and unfocused, and only its body occasionally twitched slightly.

Next, the Spider Poison Gland was removed, and the thick venom was evenly applied to the rabbit's fur, wounds, chest, abdomen, and limbs, allowing the double toxins to penetrate the fur and muscle layer by layer.

After processing, Lu Heng grabbed the clean, fresh snow rabbit and repeatedly rubbed its body to wipe away the residual poisonous smell from his palms, diluting the human scent and concealing the traces of human intervention as much as possible, leaving only the fresh blood unique to living creatures to prevent the tiger from smelling something amiss and becoming wary.

His old injury throbbed again with the tossing motion, and he carried the half-conscious, staggering rabbit quickly toward the Trial Grounds.

In the center of the clearing, the Forest Rock Tiger still lay quietly on the snow-covered plain.

The wind and snow could not shake its massive body, nor could the biting cold diminish its ferocity. Its lazy, crouching posture concealed the innate arrogance of the mountain overlord, completely disregarding everything around it.

Lu Heng stopped at the edge of the trial and gently tossed the rabbit into the arena with a powerful throw.

The poisoned hare barely maintained consciousness, staggering and crawling, its weak struggles instantly capturing the tiger's full attention.

The giant beast, which had been resting with its eyes lowered, suddenly raised its head, its dark eyes locking onto the tiny prey. Its indifferent and aloof demeanor vanished, replaced by a predator's cold hunting desire.

It slowly rose, its heavy feet crushing the snow with its steady, deliberate steps, not in a hurry to pounce.

The cruelty ingrained in the blood of the feline beast was on full display at this moment. Its large tiger paws repeatedly patted, pushed, and tossed the rabbit, watching its prey futilely dodge and teeter on the brink of collapse. It knocked the rabbit down again and again, only to let it briefly escape each time, toying with it and wearing down its last bit of life.

On the pure white snowfield, the enormous tiger's shadow and the slender rabbit's body formed a striking contrast.

Having grown tired of this boring game, the tiger lowered its head and its sharp teeth snapped shut cleanly.

In the blink of an eye, the faint struggles vanished completely.

The hare remained motionless, swallowed whole by the giant beast.

Lu Heng stood outside the circle, a hint of surprise flashing through his mind—this was clearly a mirror image of a ferocious beast generated by the trial, not a real living being, yet it ate and ate like an ordinary beast.

The surprise quickly faded, and reason regained control of her thoughts.

He reflected to himself: he had ultimately relied on a sneak attack with poison to win, rather than confronting the enemy head-on with his own strength. While this method could save his life, it also exposed the weakness of his combat power, and his dependence on poison would become a hidden danger sooner or later.

But there's no time to think about it now.

Whether it's mirrored or not, or whether it needs to eat, is irrelevant; the key is that it swallowed the bait.

The live bait, a mixture of the deadly venoms of the Cold Stiff and the spider, fell completely into its abdominal cavity.

It disdained to even glance at the previously placed, non-poisonous dead meat; the fresh prey finally broke down its proud guard.

The wind and snow continued to howl and surge, Trial Grounds once again fell into deathly silence.

The tiger swallowed its prey, swung its thick, long tail, and prepared to lie down again to rest on the snow.

But Lu Heng knew in his heart that the real battle had only just begun from this moment.

The two deadly poisons lurking in its abdominal cavity are silently eroding this Black Iron Tier mountain forest overlord.