Chapter 30: A Feline Creature Suddenly Appears on the Snowfield

Yes, during this period of his evolution, his body once again began shedding its skin.

As his sharp claws tore at it, ripping sounds like tearing silk rang out one after another—those were the snake skins coming off his body.

Now, even the old skin he shed could not be underestimated for its defensive power.

Watching the old skin peel away piece by piece, Baichuan could only feel an exhilarating rush coursing through his entire body; the itching numbness and stabbing pain were gone.

One had to admit, having a pair of nimble claws really made a huge difference.

Thinking back to the beginning, when he wanted to shed his old skin, he had to search everywhere for all kinds of narrow crevices to squeeze into, using those places to rub the old skin off, and even then it wasn't easy to rub it clean.

Nothing like now—easy, clean, and quick.

After Baichuan completely crawled out of his shed, he was astonished to discover that his body had actually surged to six meters in length.

This size had already surpassed the recorded limits of the Yanjingwangshe.

At this size, he was no weakling even among the Python family, let alone with his other abilities.

"Everything's taken care of, time for a hearty meal." After taking a look at his suddenly enlarged body, Baichuan's small front claw patted his empty, sunken belly, and then he slithered out of the cave.

One meter… two meters…

As the distance of his slithering grew, the great snake's pitch-black figure grew fainter and fainter, as if fading in color.

Until at last, it vanished into the air as if it had become transparent.

……

Snowfield.

The cold wind blew, snowflakes fluttered, piercing straight to the bone.

"Squeak~ squeak~"

A piercing, utterly wretched shriek suddenly rang out across the snowfield.

Then, a white rabbit with a broken leg hopped out, limping.

Its expression was one of sheer terror; those long ears, which on ordinary days were either perked high or in a relaxed state, were now pressed tightly back against its body.

A pair of shiny black eyes now filled with fear, constantly twisting its head to look back, as if some monster were pursuing it from behind.

This drove it to never stop its feet, struggling forward through the snow without pause.

As it struggled, blood began to seep continuously from its broken thigh, first soaking the fur of the leg, then dripping steadily onto the pristine white snow.

For a moment, the white was snow, and the red was blood.

At the same time, not far behind this rabbit with the broken leg.

"Crunch crunch~"

A faint crushing sound began to appear; the accumulated snow was being pushed aside bit by bit, and soon a long, massive groove began to slowly appear across the smooth snowfield.

At a glance, it seemed as though some invisible, enormous, dangerous creature had passed by.

In fact, that was exactly the case.

The one passing by was none other than Baichuan, who was in an environment simulation—commonly known as "stealth"—state.

Of course, Baichuan wasn't merely passing by; he had been tailing that snow rabbit the whole time.

Since leaving the cave such a long time ago, aside from catching a single snow rabbit by luck not long after he started, he had been unable to find any other creatures.

With no other choice, he looked at the little rabbit in his claws—not even enough for a single mouthful—on this day of biting cold wind.

A sudden idea struck him: rather than swallowing it now and still not being full, he might as well use it as bait for an experiment.

No sooner thought than done. The next moment, he easily snapped one of the rabbit's thighs to prevent it from vanishing in an instant, and then deliberately inflicted another wound on it.

After that, he tossed it onto the snowfield and leisurely trailed behind it.

He let the wretched rabbit struggle forward through the cold wind, allowing the dripping blood and its scent to be carried farther by the constantly blowing wind.

As the rabbit kept fleeing, before long.

A nimble figure quietly appeared on the snowfield.

The moment he saw that figure appear, Baichuan instinctively held his breath and stopped his slithering.

The scales all over his body seemed to come alive, pressing tightly against themselves to reduce the spread of his scent.

Only then did he peer from afar, carefully examining that figure.

The figure, viewed as a whole, looked much like an enlarged cat—but unlike a cat.

Its body was stocky, its limbs relatively long, its tail short and thick with a blunt-rounded tip; the base of its ears was broad, the ear tips bore black tufts standing erect, its cheeks had long drooping fur, and its belly fur was also very long.

The fur along its back was darker, a reddish-brown, with deeper coloring along the center; its belly was a pale yellowish-white; the fur around its eyes was whitish, and its cheeks had two to three distinct vertical brown-black stripes.

This was a creature unique to the snowfield—a lynx.

At this moment, it was tiptoeing closer to the snow rabbit that kept bleeding.

Seeing this, Baichuan smiled.

Because, whether by coincidence or not, this lynx happened to be sneaking toward him from the side.

And it was drawing steadily closer to him.

How wonderful. He had thought he'd have to take the initiative to sneak up from behind for an ambush, but he hadn't expected the target to deliver itself right to his door.

Looks like he was going to play the part of the one who "waits by the stump for the rabbit" after all.

As the target drew closer and closer, Baichuan reined in his aura more and more, waiting only for the target to step by step into range so he could erupt in a killing strike.

Meanwhile, the lynx had no idea that within this pristine snowfield, another unseen predator was lying in wait for its arrival.

It crept forward step by cautious step, while cleverly rolling its eyes to scan its surroundings.

The prey's wailing told it that such a commotion would soon draw a large crowd of carnivores.

It had to close in and take it down at top speed, so it could leave at leisure.

As it drew closer—one meter… two meters…

Soon, it entered Baichuan's attack range—six meters.

And at that moment, it finally sensed something was wrong.

Because it seemed to have bumped into something that shouldn't exist—something pointed, hot, and long.

What is this?!

In an instant, the lynx instinctively raised its head.

And as if perfectly timed with its upward glance, the next moment, a ferocious and enormous pitch-black snake's snout slowly emerged from the air, its cold, sharp eyes fixed dead on it.

That proudly raised head, that neck flared wide like a cloak, the dazzling and mysterious golden patterns.

Its mouth already wide open, sharp and hard venomous fangs gleaming in the snow.

Startled by this, the lynx's entire body bristled, its back arching as it prepared to leap backward.

Because its keen vigilance told it—this was another predator, and it had been targeted!

But it was too late. One must remember that Baichuan had also encountered a feline for the first time, having long heard that felines' reaction speed and sensitivity were extraordinarily powerful.

So, to guarantee a hundred percent ambush success, he forcibly suppressed the urge to strike from a distance of thirteen meters.

Instead, he waited until it was six meters away—right beside him.

Only then did he slowly open his jaws and dive downward.

The next moment, a piercing sound of tearing through the air rang out.

"Puchi!"

The sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out—that was the venomous fangs sinking into the neck.

Giving it no chance to resist, the great snake's flexible yet tough body immediately began winding around the lynx's limbs and torso.

Then locked it in a death grip.

And at that moment, golden venom began to be injected at tremendous speed from the great snake's fangs, flooding wildly into the lynx's body.

(End of this chapter)