What Are You Looking At? Wanna Start Something?

The large man's black bird let out a sharp cry beneath his feet, Its body radiated a deep black glow, seemingly blending into the night, and its speed surged dramatically.

Xie Sunan frowned slightly and said, "It's about to catch up!"

Chen Shu replied, "No kidding, I can see that!"

Behind the three, a beam of dazzling green light lit up the dark canyon completely—no one could ignore it.

It was the light of life, the light of love!

"No problem!"

Xu Xingxing remained perfectly calm,

On each side of the mutant thunderbird's body, a new pair of wings grew out,

Though formed by blue light and energy, they still boosted its speed dramatically.

...

...

Chen Shu's mouth twitched as he clutched the thunderbird's feathers tightly and said:

"All your damn skills are for escaping, aren't they?"

Xu Xingxing looked as if it were obvious: "Of course. Survival is the priority—my family strongly supports me!"

...

The thunderbird still moved unhurriedly, occasionally stopping to shake its butt, always keeping a safe distance from the large man.

Chen Shu spoke up, "I advise you to quit while you're ahead—don't keep chasing us."

The alternate dimension was even more dangerous at night; many ferocious beasts were nocturnal.

"Kid! You're going to pay today, no matter what!"

The cold wind howled, but the man's anger hadn't cooled a bit.

The green glow on his head was blinding in the darkness,

And as the chase went on, some beasts had already started to creep closer.

"Crap! Run! A huge group of beasts is approaching!"

Xie Sunan suddenly tensed and shouted, a flash of panic in her eyes.

Xu Xingxing nodded and had the thunderbird accelerate at full speed, darting forward.

Just then, Chen Shu's eyes narrowed.

From the distance, clusters of blue light floated in all directions—countless, too many to estimate, like ghostly flames suspended in the night.

"Damn! It's a swarm of ice bats!"

One after another, black bats flew through the air, their eyes glowing deep blue with savagery and violence.

The top predators of the night had been unleashed!

Ice bat swarms were one of the major beast hordes in the Ice Canyon, extremely dangerous—few beastmaster teams dared to face them directly.

The Spirit Guard in the sky looked slightly serious, his contract beast beneath him also fully alert, ready to rescue the three at any moment.

"Damn it! Why is my luck so bad today!"

The large man cursed loudly—this had to be his worst day yet.

The worst part? Every single ice bat seemed to be staring greedily at the green glow above his head.

The two turned simultaneously to Chen Shu and asked, "Naughty Chen, what's the plan? There's definitely a lord-level ice bat among them!"

Chen Shu froze for a moment as a set of options appeared in front of him.

[Option 1: Rely on your overwhelming strength to annihilate the entire ice bat swarm! Reward: Promotion to Black Iron-level Beastmaster! Bonus reward: One Immortal Gravestone!]

[Option 2: Shout heroically, "We're gonna die! We quit the competition!" Reward: Moderate amount of Beastmaster Power]

[Option 3: Head deeper into the canyon and use even more fearsome beasts to scare off the bat swarm. Reward: +1 to Charge skill]

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. What the hell is that bonus reward in the first option supposed to mean?

What use do I have for a gravestone?!

"Head deeper into the canyon!"

Chen Shu gave the order. At this point, the trio was already more than 500 meters deep, and if they went any further, they were bound to encounter even more powerful beasts.

The mutant thunderbird let out a shriek, its speed suddenly skyrocketing. Using agile maneuvers, it temporarily shook off the swarm of ice bats.

"Should I stop them? These three really don't fear death," muttered the Spirit Guard as he stroked his chin with a hint of hesitation in his eyes—ultimately choosing not to interfere.

"Hurry up!"

The ice bats were still relentlessly chasing them from behind.

Meanwhile, the big guy was in a miserable state—because of the green glow above his head, most of the bats had been drawn to him instead.

"Fine, you win this time!"

The man's contract beast reversed direction and soared back toward the upper canyon.

Chen Shu and the others descended deeper and deeper. The night grew darker, and visibility was reduced to just five meters.

Thankfully, Xie Sunan's insect-butterflies could still detect nearby beasts, and with the thunderbird's high speed, they were safe for the moment.

"Damn it, are these bats crazy or what?"

Chen Shu kept glancing back—they were still being hunted, and some were clearly Black Iron level.

A moment later, Xie Sunan's expression turned grave. "There's another group of beasts directly below!"

"Let's go check it out!"

The thunderbird dove even faster, and the group could feel the air getting colder and colder, shivering involuntarily.

Whoosh... whoosh...

A series of thunderous snores echoed from below, rising and falling like a beastly chorus.

It sounded like dozens of savage creatures were fast asleep.

Chen Shu's eyes lit up—he spotted nearly ten glowing blue patches below.

"Holy crap! Tier-2 Iceleaf Flowers!"

Xie Sunan and Xu Xingxing flinched in shock. "You can see that far?!"

"Talent. Pure talent…"

Chen Shu replied, eyes gleaming with greed.

Tier-2 Iceleaf Flowers were used to make Black Iron-level ice-type potions—their value was several times higher.

"Keep quiet, let's go harvest them!"

The three were full of excitement, completely ignoring the possible consequences.

The mutant thunderbird silently glided downward. Once closer, the group could see what beasts were below.

They were all massive, muscular Frost Direwolves!

"What are the chances?"

No time to think—

As the thunderbird neared the flowers, Chen Shu rudely yanked one up.

Though some medicinal potency would be lost, it didn't matter.

Sensing movement, the Frost Direwolf nearest to the flowers opened its eyes.

It stared blankly at the scene before it.

"Huh? Where's the herb?"

Its brain wasn't big enough to process what had just happened.

A moment later, it finally threw its head back and howled.

Awooo!

A single wolf howl echoed throughout the canyon, and countless Frost Direwolves suddenly awakened.

Iceleaf Flowers could be used for alchemy—but if consumed directly, they also enhanced a beast's ice-elemental power.

The stolen herbs instantly enraged the wolf pack.

Awoo! Awoo!

Howls overlapped and reverberated, making the canyon depths utterly terrifying.

"Snatch and run—this is thrilling!"

The trio looked absolutely exhilarated as they fled at top speed.

At that moment, the Frost Wolf pack immediately identified the flying ice bats above as the suspects.

The Frost Direwolves were naturally violent, and the ice bats weren't exactly friendly either.

The two sides locked eyes, as if saying:

"What are you looking at?"

"What, you wanna go?"

And then… all hell broke loose.

If you wanna fight, then let's fight! Let's see who gets shredded first!