Chapter 10: Long-Tongue Snowmane

At first glance, this Ice-Mass Tree looked no different from the others nearby.

Its trunk was covered in snow, its canopy draped in silver, and thousands of ice spikes hung from its branching limbs like curtains.

But upon closer inspection, dozens of ice spikes over a meter long on one thick branch were inverted.

Xia Hong stared intently at that branch and immediately recognized the truth.

Those weren’t ice spikes—they were a massive, snow-white creature resting on the trunk.

A tongue, five or six meters long, dangled from its mouth.

The tongue was white, its surface glazed with frost, so unless you looked closely, you’d mistake it for an unusually long ice spike.

And those inverted “ice spikes” were actually the creature’s backward-facing spines.

In the dark, if you didn’t look closely, you’d never see it.

Only because Xia Hong was on his first outing and extra cautious did he spot it.

Under the night sky, its full size was unclear, but with that long tongue and its back of spines, Xia Hong recognized it.

“Long-Tongue Snowmane—only two meters long. Must be a juvenile!”

The cold beasts around the outer edge of Redwood Ridge were few in species.

Two were most common: Bone-Spike Frost Wolf and Long-Tongue Snowmane.

From what he’d heard from the loggers, Long-Tongue Snowmane was a low-level cold beast resembling a wild boar.

Long-Tongue Snowmane were enormous—even juveniles weighed three or four hundred jin; adults were almost always over a thousand jin.

Snowmane possessed immense strength, favoring attacks with their spines on the back and forehead, but their true danger lay in their multi-meter-long tongues—long, sharp, and capable of hardening or softening at will, making them impossible to defend against.

“If you encounter a juvenile, and you have strong archers plus a dozen skilled loggers to distract it, you might have a chance to kill it. Otherwise, if you meet one in the wild, just run—no question.”

Remembering what he’d heard, Xia Hong took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.

Though the Snowmane’s meat was tempting, he had to face reality.

Luckily, it was night, and the Snowmane was asleep.

If it had been daytime and he’d encountered one awake, he might not have lived.

“Quietly pick some crystal fruits and leave.”

“The Long-Tongue Snowmane’s greatest trait: at night, it becomes extremely drowsy. As long as you don’t attack, it won’t wake up.”

Though the loggers wouldn’t lie to him, Xia Hong wouldn’t risk his life—he picked up a stone from the ground, climbed a tree, and hurled it hard at another tree a hundred meters away.

The stone struck the tree with a single thud, making no great noise.

But the ice spikes on that tree trembled and rained down.

The sound of ice hitting the ground was crystal clear in the silent forest. Xia Hong held his breath and watched the Snowmane closely.

The Snowmane ignored the noise entirely, still fast asleep.

This sight finally put Xia Hong’s mind at ease.

“Carefully picking fruit shouldn’t be a problem.”

Just as Xia Hong was about to climb down from the tree—

*Swoosh…*

A sharp arrow whistled through the air from the opposite side.

In the darkness, Xia Hong couldn’t see the arrow, but from the sound’s direction, he was certain: it came from the Snowmane on the tree.

“Roar…………”

Sure enough, as the arrow’s sound faded, a furious roar erupted from the Ice-Mass Tree.

The sound shook the heavens and earth; the entire tree trembled, ice spikes shattered and rained down, and snow on the ground exploded outward in all directions.

Even Xia Hong’s own tree shook violently.

“Are they insane? Is this the Big Stone Camp?”

Xia Hong screamed inwardly, but his body didn’t dare move.

Around Redwood Ridge, several camps had long ago divided their territories under the leadership of Luo Ge’s camp.

To the west of Great Xia’s territory on Redwood Ridge lay Big Stone Camp’s land.

Right now, Xia Hong had no interest in whether Big Stone Camp had crossed the border.

He only wondered: how dare Big Stone Camp attack a Long-Tongue Snowmane?

He didn’t know Big Stone Camp’s exact strength, but he was certain it was a small camp, no more than a few loggers stronger than Great Xia.

Could such strength kill a Snowmane?

Soon, Xia Hong realized he was wrong.

Big Stone Camp seemed to have something.

“Shi Dong, I hit its left eye—aim with me at its right eye. Everyone else, quickly noose it!”

From the west side of the Ice-Mass Tree came a sharp voice.

Seventeen men arrived in its wake, all clad in fur skirts, each wielding stone axes—except the leader, who carried a gleaming greatsword.

“Iron weapon—must’ve bought it from Luo Ge’s camp.”

Xia Hong stared at the greatsword, his eyes filled with envy.

In the extreme cold, both stone and iron had changed drastically.

Great Xia had once owned one half-iron weapon: Xia Ding’s axe.

“Half” because only the blade was iron; the handle and body were still stone and wood.

Even that half-iron weapon was far sharper than a stone axe.

Xia Hong had once personally chopped with a stone axe against that iron axe—the stone axe cracked, while the iron axe remained unscathed.

If just the blade being iron made it that strong, what about this gleaming greatsword in their hands?

Ignoring Xia Hong’s envy, the Big Stone Camp men had already engaged the Snowmane below the Ice-Mass Tree.

The Snowmane’s left eye was indeed pierced; the black arrow still stuck in it.

Probably in pain, it came down from the tree—its roar stopped, but its breathing became heavy and labored.

Its single remaining eye, now blood-red and tiny, glared fixedly at the Big Stone Camp group.

It dug its hind legs into the snow, then lunged forward in a sudden charge.

Faster than a released arrow, fiercer than a collapsing mountain.

Given its massive body, no one would imagine it could move so fast.

Combined with its speed, its sheer mass scattered the cold air—its impact force was unimaginable.

“Move aside! Throw the nooses—now!”

Again came that sharp voice. Xia Hong turned his gaze to a tree on the west side.

The commander was likely the archer; another named Shi Dong was also an archer, probably hiding elsewhere.

The man shouted orders while the other archer fired wildly.

But none of the arrows struck the Snowmane’s vital points.

Though they didn’t hit, they successfully disrupted its forward momentum.

As the Snowmane was distracted, the fourteen men below scattered, dodging its charge while laying over a dozen nooses on the ground.

The leader with the greatsword, while dodging, flung a noose directly over the Snowmane’s neck.

The Snowmane couldn’t stop its momentum and crashed into the ground covered in nooses.

Its four limbs and head were all caught.

“Pull hard!”

The sharp command rang out from behind the tree. The fourteen men quickly gathered, split into five groups, and yanked the ropes with all their strength, sprinting in five directions.

“Roar…………”

The Snowmane bellowed, but stumbled, flipped over, and slammed onto the ground with a thunderous crash.

At the same moment, two arrows shot from behind the trees like falling stars.

They pierced the Snowmane’s blood-red right eye.

*Pthss…*

Both arrows hit.

The Snowmane let out an even more agonized, furious roar.

“Got it!”

“Hahahaha, Boss is amazing!”

“This beast—let it suffer!”

…………

The laughter of Big Stone Camp clashed violently with the Snowmane’s cries of pain and rage.

Though elated, the Big Stone Camp men didn’t approach, as the Snowmane still thrashed.

The two archers far away stayed hidden behind trees, continuously firing arrows to finish it off.

As time passed, the Snowmane’s thrashing grew weaker and weaker, until finally it lay still.

The Big Stone Camp men finally exhaled in relief.

The leader with the sword struck the ground with a stone several times from a distance, confirming the Snowmane was dead, then called out to the forest.

“Boss, it’s dead.”

From behind the western tree, two middle-aged men emerged, leading the group toward the Snowmane’s corpse.

Seeing them begin to harvest the kill, Xia Hong, still hidden in the tree, frowned slightly.

(End of chapter)