No strange things are allowed to evolve!

Seven points multiplied by four, plus the original two points, equals thirty points each!

I'm going to kill this scoundrel who has no sense of martial ethics today!

Thirty centimeters...

Aren't all fantasy novels based on turn-based combat?

Who on earth wrote all this harmful nonsense?!

Ten centimeters...

Jiang Shu's finger was almost touching the plus sign on the panel.

The sharp claws were inches away from Jiang Shu's eyeballs.

One second... just one second is enough!

Then, a pocket watch appeared out of thin air in his hand—

[The Deceased's Pocket Watch: Stops time for one second; the holder remains unaffected]

Just as Jiang Shu's fingers were almost touching the button on the pocket watch, about to press it, and his other hand only needed to release it to convert all the evolution points into strength and speed...

A trench coat suddenly floated past his eyes.

Hmm? A trench coat?

Then Yuma, who was rushing towards him, suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Without any buffer or weakening, it turns from the peak to the decline in an instant.

It seems to be even faster than LPL.

But Jiang Shu was almost certain that he hadn't pressed the button on the pocket watch yet.

While it's possible that the substitute created by the [Undead Puppet Technique] would actively protect its master, it's highly unlikely that a substitute would actively protect its master.

The reason is simple: although the [Undead Puppet Technique] is a calamity-level skill that can summon up to five powerful henchmen and has many uses, making it a semi-noble AOE skill, it also has a fatal flaw—the overall strength of the puppets depends on Jiang Shu's strength.

Jiang Shu's stats were only two, and his puppet wasn't much stronger either, far from enough to block the claws that were even more powerful than the sneak attack from Little Bear Hard Candy.

What happened?

Jiang Shu's gaze slowly moved upwards.

Then he saw the leg that stretched between him and Yuma.

This leg should have been long, straight, and perfect, so much so that even Jiang Shu couldn't help but take a second look when Xue Wang stepped on the gas.

But at this point, the leg became incredibly thick and muscular.

It ripped through Snow King's flat shoes and burst half of Snow King's jeans.

Her originally fair skin was now covered with a layer of red, as if burned, and was constantly radiating heat.

At the last moment, Yuki-oh used a perfect split to hold off Yuma with her legs.

The claws were only half an inch away from Jiang Shu's eyeballs, but they couldn't get any closer.

The pocket watch in Jiang Shu's hand disappeared quietly, and his fingers, which were almost touching the panel, were gently withdrawn.

Suspended in mid-air, Yuma stared at the Snow King in shock and horror.

This is what you call being bad at fighting?!

Snow King slightly raised his head.

The urgency she had shown earlier was gone from her delicate face, which was completely disproportionate to her leg; only anger remained.

Her eyes were red, and her large, watery eyes were brimming with tears, ready to spill at any moment.

"Didn't I tell you to wait a moment?!"

boom!

Jiang Shu felt something brush past her face.

He instinctively squinted, just like how people tend to protect their eyes when a strong wind blows.

When she came to her senses, Yu-chan's head had already disappeared.

To be precise, it was smashed to pieces like a watermelon that had fallen to the ground.

The blood mist that burst from the head, under the sunlight, actually created a rainbow, as if it were growing out of Yuzhen's neck.

Where a head should have been, there was instead a fist the same size as Yu-chan's head.

The swollen, veiny arm where the fist was located naturally tore through the entire sleeve of the white shirt, causing it to burst open at the shoulder, revealing Snow King's collarbone and half of his chest.

At that moment, the trench coat fell to the ground.

The next instant, the headless corpse fell to the ground with a muffled thud, and blood began to flow.

"Holy crap..." Jiang Shu murmured, his eyes burning, "There's even an Extreme Heavenly Demon?!"

"Waaah..."

A sobbing sound suddenly came.

The Snow King, now restored to his original state but missing half of his clothes and pants, was squatting on the ground, hugging his knees and weeping silently.

Although the reason is unknown, it is clear that Snow Queen seems to have suffered some kind of blow, and is very aggrieved and sad.

Is it because of this skill?

Is there some huge price to pay?

Seeing this, Jiang Shu, having regained her senses, picked up her trench coat from the ground and gently draped it over Xue Wang.

"You're pretty awesome."

Upon hearing this, the Snow King's voice was barely audible: "I...I didn't want to frighten you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu felt a little relieved.

Oh, it turns out it wasn't some killer move that would come at a great cost; this guy just has an image to maintain.

That's normal, most girls wouldn't want to become a muscular hunk, right?

Knowing what Xue Wang was worried about, Jiang Shu comforted her, "Don't worry, it won't scare me."

"It's not that I'm afraid of scaring you, I'm just worried that you might..." Snow King muttered softly.

What will happen?

"No."

Realizing that the Snow King still seemed to care, Jiang Shu had no choice but to change her approach, speaking as if sighing.

"Actually, I'm quite envious."

This statement had an effect.

Snow King's ears twitched slightly.

"What are you envious of?"

"I envy this ability, it's a skill, right? To be honest, it's really amazing."

Jiang Shu sincerely said:

“When I was young, around the beginning of junior high school, during my adolescence, I started to understand some things, and I longed to have the ability to freely control my body to grow bigger and smaller.”

"Hmm...and then?" Snow King turned half of his face to the side.

"Unfortunately, despite my continuous training, I only succeeded in part of it," Jiang Shu sighed.

"It's already amazing that you can achieve even a part of it through training alone."

Xue Wang, who had clearly mistaken Jiang Shu's description of achievements for his current perfect physique, finally turned his head and looked directly at Jiang Shu:

"This is a skill of the Courage-type spiritual root, Nightmare-level 'Bloodline Surge,' which can enhance the user's strength and speed by three times. Although there are no restrictions on its use, it will turn into that ugly state just now."

As she spoke, she lowered her head again, seemingly embarrassed: "I have a rage-inducing spiritual root, and almost all the skills I can learn look like this... so except in the hatchery, I basically never use them. Even if I do use them, I'll avoid others, just in case..."

"It's not bad-looking, I like it very much."

Jiang Shu casually interrupted her internal strife, then gently rubbed Xue Wang's drooping head before looking up at the distant green mountains.

The kind of man I just saw in the gym.

No, it should be said that these are legs that have never been seen in the bodybuilding world in the last hundred years.

It feels like it could crush my head...

That's really powerful!

A rage-inducing spiritual root, huh? What a spiritual root brimming with violent aesthetics...

As he was lost in his fantasies, he was completely unaware that the Snow King's face had turned bright red, even redder than when he had used the skill earlier.

Noticing this, Snow Queen quietly untied her hair tie, let her high ponytail down, and used her hair to cover her face.

"The side effects are kicking in..."

"What?" Jiang Shu turned his head and asked.

"Ah, it's nothing." Xue Wang tightened her trench coat to cover her arms and legs, and finally stood up.

It was only then that she remembered to check on Yu-jin's body.

I was so angry just now that I accidentally hit Yuzhenyang.

This is also the drawback of the Rage Spirit Root. Although it greatly enhances strength and speed, it can easily turn you into a berserker if you're not careful.

Then she discovered that the real corpse had turned into a headless, yellow-skinned little beast wrapped in a monk's robe.

Snow King didn't recognize her at first.

"This is..."

“Weasel.” Jiang Shu said casually, “It’s also called a yellow weasel in folk terms. I’m afraid Yuan Shun and the other monks in this temple are all transformed from this thing. It’s a harmful creature. Killing it is fine, there’s no need to worry about it.”

"Ah."

Snow Queen didn't feel too much guilt, after all, the old lady's heartbroken appearance was still vivid in her mind. She was only surprised that Youzhen was actually a weasel in disguise, and that his words seemed to indicate that he was also an evolved being:

"But it's a weasel... Well, that's true. There are some examples of animals that are quite intelligent and have become evolved, and there are even quite a few of them active in the community now."

"Very common?"

“It’s not very common, but we do encounter it occasionally.” After explaining, Snow King added with some confusion, “It’s just that it’s rare to see so many of them gathered together.”

"Is that so? That's quite interesting."

As the two were talking, two people suddenly passed by in front of them.

From goodness and from beauty.

They seemed to have made up and were preparing to return to the main hall together.

Upon seeing Jiang Shu and Xue Wang appear here, You Shan's face darkened. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed his senior brother's monk's robe and the half-weasel.

Yumi was a bit slow to react, but she still noticed the uninvited guest in the courtyard and Yuma's headless corpse.

"Senior brother!!"

Seeing the two men's eyes wide with fury, Jiang Shu patted Xue Wang on the shoulder.

"Could you perform that again?"

This time, the Snow Queen did not resist her ugly appearance during battle.

Because she met a companion who thought that was wonderful!

"Alright, let's do it one more time! You'd better watch carefully this time!"

"Roger that!"

Soon, Jiang Shu discovered that the Zen temple was not empty. The evolved beings that the weasels had transformed into seemed to be wandering monsters, inexplicably appearing from various corners.

So the Snow King could only perform that act again and again.

At each location, the Snow King would take off his trench coat and hand it to Jiang Shu, then quickly finish the battle by tearing off the coat before putting it back on and heading to the next location.

The two seemed to be outdoor enthusiasts, constantly taking photos and making pictures at various locations around Yunfu Temple.

They originally planned to head straight for the place with the strongest smell of blood, but in the end, the two of them actually managed to clear the map.