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A hush fell over the square when Grand Secretary Fang walked in.

Everyone held their breaths, waiting for Mr Fang to announce the chosen terrain.

Feng Wu watched as Grand Secretary Fang scanned the crowd with his eyes, and he gave Feng Wu a slight nod when he spotted her. He then scanned the crowd again.

Huo Yin poked Mu Yaoyao in the arm. “Princess Mu, Mr Fang was looking at you.”

Mu Yaoyao was secretly elated, but she only said indifferently, “He’s my grandpa. What’s so surprising about that?”

Grand Secretary Fang had no idea of the silent war going on in the crowd. Without any preamble, he started to announce the rules of the physical tryout right away.

“Same as every year, the college will give each of you a headband, which you should tie around your forehead. The headbands are specially made by alchemists for the occasion, and they’re only effective in the chosen terrain.”

Soon, teachers came out to give each candidate a headband.

Feng Wu looked down at the headband in her hand.

It looked a lot like the sports headband she used to wear in her previous life. It was about 3 or 4cm in width, and one could easily tie it around their head.

Once all the candidates had put on the headbands, Grand Secretary Fang announced, “Activate your headband with your spiritual essence, and you’ll find seven stars on the front of the headband over your forehead.”

Everyone did as told, and they all had their seven stars. It was just that the stars looked rather dim.

“Mr Fang, Feng Wu doesn’t have any stars on her headband!” After hearing the rules, Huo Yin thought of a way to make fun of Feng Wu right away.

Did Feng Wu think she could look down on them just because she got first in the written exam? They were moving into the physical tryout now!

As expected, everyone turned in Feng Wu’s direction.

It was common knowledge that Feng Wu had no spiritual essence.

Instantly, everyone was talking under their breaths and sneering at her.

“Pfft —”

“She can’t even make the stars appear?”

“How is she going to get through the tryout if she can’t even do that?”

“Forget about the written exam. What’s she going to do now?”

–

Grand Secretary Fang frowned.

Only then did he remember that Feng Wu had been keeping her ability a secret from the world.

She was already a Level 5 Spiritual Grandmaster, but she could still stay calm and composed despite the taunts. That temperament alone was enough to win her much admiration.

She was too young to go through so much hardship.

All those ignorant youngsters. They knew nothing.

Grand Secretary Fang scanned the crowd with cold eyes!

Instantly, the temperature dropped and a cold wind blew.

The candidates felt a chill seeping into their bodies from their feet and up into all four limbs.

It was freezing…

And terrifying…

They realized that Grand Secretary Fang was angry.

With a wave of his hand, Grand Secretary Fang directed a streak of spiritual essence toward Feng Wu, and the next second, seven stars appeared on Feng Wu’s headband as well.

Like everyone else’s, they were dim.

Grand Secretary Fang then spoke in a solemn voice.

“You’ll be able to collect spiritual essence by killing spiritual beasts once you’re in the chosen terrain. With enough spiritual essence, you’ll be able to light up the stars on your headbands.

“As for other methods of increasing your spiritual essence, it’s up to you to find out.

“I’m only going to emphasize one thing: harming other candidates is forbidden! Everything you do will be watched by Imperial College!”

After that, Grand Secretary Fang waved his hand.

The portal slowly opened.

Instantly, white light shot out of the portal, enveloping all the candidates!

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Whoosh —

All the candidates flew into the portal.

Only then did someone cry out in surprise. “Wait, which terrain are we entering?!”

Feng Wu was the only one with the answer.

Proud Snowfield.

The portal worked like a catapult.

Whoosh —

All the candidates were thrown out, and they scattered around Proud Snowfield.

1000 candidates might sound a lot, but Proud Snowfield was an immense place. Once they arrived, the candidates were lost in the snow-covered land and no one knew where the others were.

Luckily, they were all sent to the southeast corner of Proud Snowfield instead of all over the entire area. Otherwise, it would take them more than a month just to walk out.

And the physical tryout was going to last seven days.

Feng Wu had no idea how the others arrived. She only knew that she was falling from high up in the sky.

Thump!

She crash landed.

Fortunately, Feng Wu had practice — she had jumped from that giant eagle once. At the critical moment, Feng Wu spun around and landed on her back. She then pulled a sled out of her ring!

Yes, Feng Wu had brought a sled with her because she knew she was going to Proud Snowfield.

Sitting on the sled, Feng Wu slid down the slope.

She felt as swift as a swallow.

Snow was kicked up into the air on both sides.

As Feng Wu slid down, she gained speed.

What she failed to anticipate was that as the sled moved forward, snowflakes kept flying into her eyes.

In the end, she tumbled into a snow pit with a thud.

Pffft —

Feng Wu fell face down, and it seemed to take her forever to get out.

She thought she was going to suffocate.

After getting out of the pit, Feng Wu shook off the loose snow, then checked her surroundings.

Everywhere she turned, she saw stretch upon stretch of white.

The plateau was covered in snow. A short distance away stood a giant pine tree with rime-encrusted branches. The little icicles glittered in the sunlight.

The wind was chilly, and Feng Wu shuddered.

Without thinking, she sat down cross-legged and activated her spiritual essence.

She hadn’t gotten her spiritual essence back for long and she was quite capable already. It was just that she had kept it from the others.

Feng Wu was circulating fire spiritual energy throughout her body when —

She sensed something dangerous in the snow pit she fell into earlier.

Feng Wu’s stomach lurched!

It felt so powerful!

She turned around to see a frost magical beast!

It looked like a cheetah, but with thicker fur which stuck out stiffly like icicles, resembling the spines of a hedgehog!

The fur shone brilliantly under the sun!

The name Spiny Frost Beast came to Feng Wu’s mind right away!

And it was a beast at the Spiritual Grandmaster stage!

Feng Wu’s heart sank. This had to be her unlucky day. She just happened to fall into the nest of a Spiny Frost Beast?

One Spiny Frost Beast… two Spiny Frost Beast… three…

Seeing the beasts crawl out of the pit and glare at her, Feng Wu despaired a little.

She had smashed into the nest of some hibernating Spiny Frost Beasts. Seriously?

She could try to fight her way out if there was only one of them, but now —

There were three!

Without hesitation, Feng Wu turned around and bolted!

Rumble —

As soon as Feng Wu moved, the three Spiny Frost Beasts, who were moving slowly, took action as well.

Feng Wu sprinted off!

And the three Spiny Frost Beasts took off after her!

Proud Snowfield was a world of vast whiteness. If one were to look down from above, they wouldn’t miss the breathtaking chase that was happening at the moment!

Looking over her shoulder, Feng Wu saw that the three beasts had split up and formed a triangle behind her. It was a typical assault formation and they wasted no time in pressing forward.

The distance between Feng Wu and the beasts kept getting narrower.

Feng Wu calculated in her head. At this rate, she would be worn out in less than an hour and the three beasts would surround her!

When that happened, she would be in a disadvantageous position.

Feng Wu scanned the surrounding area, hoping to find something to work with.

Wait!

In the distance, as far away as her eyes could see, stood a pine grove, the trees covered in rime.

Rime formed when frost covered the surface of the branches in cold weather. From afar, the scene looked magical.

Feng Wu ran as fast as she could toward the pine grove with the three beasts at her heels!

Their faces looked even more ferocious during the chase and their spines glinted in the sunlight!

Boom —

There was a loud noise!

Instinctively, Feng Wu looked over her shoulder. Of the two beasts running in the rear, the left one leapt up, stepped on the beast in the front, and jumped!

The one on the right stepped on the beast in the front before stepping again on the one that was still in mid-air!

They were using one another as stepping boards!

Shit!

Feng Wu then saw the beast on the far right pounce swiftly at her after that maneuver!

Rumble!

The beast was almost on Feng Wu when —

Feng Wu rolled on the ground, and the beast narrowly missed her!

However, that slowed her down, and the two beasts behind took the opportunity to catch up to her.

Feng Wu then realized that the beasts were a family.

The one in the front was the father, while the mother ran on the left and the son on the right.

The family of three was hunting Feng Wu and wanted to have her for lunch.

Proud Snowfield was a tough place with vile weather and little food. This fresh human being just happened to show up on their doorstep, and the family of Spiny Frost Beasts was elated!

The aroma of warm human flesh titillated their senses and their mouths watered!

The beasts exchanged looks and saw the excitement in each other’s eyes.

This human was theirs!

Immediately —

Two beasts circled Feng Wu.

She rolled away swiftly, then jumped to her feet.

The mother beast slashed down at Feng Wu’s head with a front paw.

Feng Wu evaded, but the paw still caught her cheek and cut her skin open…

Blood ran down her fair cheek.

It hurt…

The smell of blood agitated the beasts further!

“Roar —”

They charged at Feng Wu at full speed!

On guard, Feng Wu narrowed her eyes.

She knew very well that she couldn’t handle all three beasts all at once, and her best strategy was to separate them.

With that in mind, Feng Wu wiped the blood off her cheek and jumped into a pine tree!

She moved very fast.

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Grabbing a frozen branch, Feng Wu swung forward, and the next second, she had flown into a second pine tree.

The three Spiny Frost Beasts were all bewildered!

This human girl was more agile than a monkey!

But did she think she could get away so easily?

All three beasts had eerie smiles on their faces.

Chase!

They went on pursuing her frantically!

Right at that moment!

Thud!

The son stepped on a spike, which nailed it to the spot!

The father and mother beasts turned in their son’s direction immediately.

The son whimpered, but brandished its front paw at its parents, gesturing at them to continue the chase.

It had been a while since it smelled fresh human blood, and it missed it!

The parents exchanged looks, darted loving glances at their son, then dashed off again!

They had to catch this human girl!

Feng Wu swung and leapt from one pine tree to another, and she looked over her shoulder every now and then.

She noticed right away that only two Spiny Frost Beasts were after her now.

However, they were two very smart beasts.

They evaded all the traps Feng Wu had set for them.

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer, an idea struck Feng Wu all of a sudden!

Yes!

When the beasts flanked Feng Wu again, she dove headfirst into a snow pit.

“Hiss —”

Both beasts smirked.

Spiny Frost Beasts grew up in this snowfield and they knew the terrain like the back of their paws. Where did this petty human girl think she could hide?

Thump!

Th father smacked the snowy ground with a front paw!

The next moment, it dove into the snow pit!

And the mother beast followed suit.

When they were both in the pit, Feng Wu jumped out with a smile on her face. “Boom!”

Immediately —

An explosion went off in the pit, fueled by fire spiritual energy.

The father beast was closer to the explosion, and the blast hit it right in the face!

Its left eye became a bloody hole.

“Ahhh —”

Its painful wail drifted up from underground.

The mother beast was devastated. Without hesitation, it dashed out of the pit and charged at Feng Wu!

Meanwhile, Feng Wu had already set up a simple Frost Killing Formation.

It was plain and straightforward.

The formation was created with Ice Thread tied between two pine trees.

The thread was colorless, odorless, and almost invisible in the sunlight.

Once Feng Wu infused the thread with spiritual essence, it became very taut and could cut open flesh at the slightest touch.

Hence, when the mother beast jumped out of the pit —

Feng Wu ran like a duck in a thunderstorm, yelling, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

1The mother beast grinned, its face savage. It opened its mouth so wide that it could swallow Feng Wu whole.

“Roar —”

The beast growled, then dashed after Feng Wu without hesitation!

It was so eager to eat Feng Wu!

And it failed to notice the thin thread tied between two pine trees.

Its guard was completely lowered when it charged forward —

Thud!

Sudden, that Ice Thread —