Fairy Lingbo

Her features were like a painting, her skin whiter than snow, and her colorful robes fluttered in the wind, making her appear as ethereal as a Fairy; however, her face seemed carved from cold jade, devoid of any expression.

The person who arrived was none other than the Ice Beauty, Ye Zhiqiu. She moved with light, lotus-like steps, slowly walking to the riverbank; clearly, she had also come to cross the river.

For a moment, the entire scene fell silent, and everyone watched her quietly. They were eager to know how a monster-level Genius like Ye Zhiqiu would cross the river, thinking perhaps there might be something they could learn from her. For a time, everyone was filled with anticipation.

Intuition told them that this terrifying river would absolutely not be able to stop Ye Zhiqiu.

Ye Zhiqiu glanced indifferently at the river water, then slowly turned her head and scanned the crowd. When she saw Long Chen, her jade-like face, which seemed unchanged for ten thousand years, showed a slight ripple of emotion.

"Do you want to go together?" Ye Zhiqiu looked at Long Chen and asked.

"No, thank you. I have a way to cross the river." Long Chen smiled slightly and politely declined Ye Zhiqiu's offer.

He knew that Ye Zhiqiu had a way to cross the river and was offering to take him along, but Long Chen was genuinely unaccustomed to this cold beauty.

He would rather face the capricious Tang Waner than face Ye Zhiqiu. He could tease Tang Waner, but when facing Ye Zhiqiu, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Seeing Ye Zhiqiu invite Long Chen, countless people felt their hearts bleeding, their eyes filled with jealousy. How could this kid have such good luck to actually receive the favor of the Ice Beauty?

However, when they heard Long Chen decline Ye Zhiqiu's invitation, they all looked at him as if he were an idiot. Yet, there were also many who admired Long Chen's arrogance. This was what it meant to be wild—Long Chen simply didn't care.

Facing Long Chen's refusal, Ye Zhiqiu's face showed no fluctuation. She gave a slight nod and walked toward the river.

"Young Miss Ye, you mustn't! There are…"

Someone exclaimed, thinking Ye Zhiqiu intended to swim across, but before they could finish, they clamped their mouth shut.

Because people were shocked to discover that Ye Zhiqiu's slender feet were stepping on the water surface without sinking; she was simply standing on the water.

Everyone hurriedly looked at Ye Zhiqiu's feet, and they were horrified to discover that a layer of ice had already formed on the water surface beneath her.

By the time everyone realized what was happening, Ye Zhiqiu had already moved with light, lotus-like steps, as if she were a Fairy traversing the waves, and simply walked out.

She was like a Fairy, treading above the river water. The long wind blew, her clothes fluttered, making people's hearts sway, as if a beautiful painting were unfolding before their eyes.

When Ye Zhiqiu had walked out over a dozen zhang, the water in front of her suddenly churned. Countless Tiger-Mouthed Fish rushed toward her. They didn't care whether she was a beauty or not; in their eyes, everything was just food.

People let out an exclamation, but Ye Zhiqiu seemed not to notice, continuing to walk forward slowly. However, when those Tiger-Mouthed Fish arrived, they suddenly stopped moving.

People discovered that beneath Ye Zhiqiu's feet, an area of several zhang was covered in thick, solid ice several feet deep. Those Tiger-Mouthed Fish had actually all been frozen solid.

For a moment, everyone was shocked and looked at that figure with awe. This was a monster-level Genius; it was simply too terrifying.

To them, this great river was an insurmountable chasm, but for Ye Zhiqiu, it was a smooth, broad avenue.

Long Chen was also deeply shocked, because he could see that Ye Zhiqiu's ice power had reached the point of being able to control it at will, which would be even more terrifying when facing enemies.

Soon, Ye Zhiqiu crossed the river, stepped onto the opposite bank, and disappeared from everyone's sight. Only then did the crowd snap out of their daze.

Someone suddenly reacted, kicked off the ground, and jumped onto the ice surface, wanting to use the path Ye Zhiqiu had walked to reach the other side.

But just as that person ran out a distance of several zhang, there was a cracking sound beneath his feet, the ice shattered, and he let out an exclamation as he fell into the river.

After that person fell into the river, his expression changed drastically, and he swam rapidly toward the bank. However, after swimming only twice, he let out a miserable scream.

A long staff appeared in Long Chen's hand, and he threw it toward that person, shouting loudly: "Grab it!"

That person didn't even think, hurriedly grabbing the long staff. The force on the staff directly carried him out of the water, and in an arc, he flew back to the bank.

It turned out that Long Chen had added a rebounding force to the staff, much like a boomerang, bringing him out of danger.

Everyone hurriedly came up to help and discovered that the lower part of that person's body was already a bloody mess, covered in tooth marks, with blood flowing everywhere.

"Fortunately, his manhood is still there," someone said, feeling relieved.

As soon as that person finished speaking, someone immediately spat, as there were still several women in the distance, and his words were somewhat inappropriate.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for saving my life," that person swallowed a Medicinal Pill and said gratefully to Long Chen.

If Long Chen hadn't acted, he would have had no strength to swim ashore and would have been torn to pieces by the Tiger-Mouthed Fish.

From the moment he was attacked to the time Long Chen saved him, less than a breath of time had passed, yet he was already injured to this extent, which filled everyone with horror.

"No need to be polite, it was just a small effort."

Long Chen smiled. Although they were strangers, he couldn't just watch someone be fed to the fish.

"Senior Brother Long, how can we cross the river? Please, Senior Brother, enlighten us," someone bowed to Long Chen and asked very sincerely.

Long Chen shook his head and said: "This river is one of the tests the branch courtyard has set for us; you have to find a way for yourselves."

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel despair. Such a test was too cruel. Someone thought for a moment, found a huge piece of driftwood, and jumped onto it.

But just after drifting a distance of several zhang, they were attacked by the Tiger-Mouthed Fish. Those Tiger-Mouthed Fish were very cunning; unable to attack the people on the driftwood, they began to bite the driftwood itself, shattering it in just a few breaths.

However, the person on the driftwood was well-prepared. The moment the driftwood was attacked, they had already jumped back to the bank. Everyone saw that this method had also failed and couldn't help but sigh.

Boats couldn't cross, and they didn't have wings to fly over. Could this be the end of their assessment journey?

They had gone through so much trouble to collect the full set of Nameplates, and to have it all end here, they were truly unwilling.

Everyone looked at Long Chen, wanting to see how he would cross the river. Long Chen secretly shook his head; these second-generation rich kids were truly ignorant and incompetent.

Long Chen looked around and set his sights on a large tree. The tree was very tall, a full hundred zhang, rising straight into the sky.

Long Chen walked to the large tree, leaped a few times, jumped onto the middle-upper part of the tree, took out a rope, and tied it firmly to the tree.

Then he jumped down, walked to the edge of the cliff, found a huge rock, and pulled the rope with all his might. Amidst everyone's dumbfounded stares, the large tree, which required several people to embrace, began to creak and groan, tilting from the cliff toward their side.

The entire tree kept bending, emitting a teeth-grinding sound. When it had bent to a certain degree, Long Chen tied the rope firmly to the huge rock.

Long Chen stood on the giant tree, looking at the shocked crowd. He thought for a moment, then cut off a branch beside him with his sword and threw it toward the crowd.

"Thud."

The branch was firmly stuck in the ground. Long Chen waved the sword in his hand, gave everyone a goodbye gesture, and slashed at the rope with his sword.

The rope was severed, and the tree, which had been like a bow arm, suddenly trembled, and the huge force catapulted Long Chen away.

Long Chen let out a strange cry and flew out like a cannonball. In the eyes of the terrified crowd, he flew directly toward the opposite bank.

"Oh no, this is bad."

"Boom."

Long Chen slammed head-first into the large mountain on the opposite bank, creating a loud explosion. Countless mountain rocks rolled down, startling countless birds.

The people on this side of the riverbank gaped at the rising dust on the opposite side, unable to speak for a long time.

"He couldn't have been smashed to death, right?" someone muttered to themselves. A normal person would definitely have been smashed into a meat patty with that kind of force.

"Boom."

Rocks rolled down on the opposite side, and Long Chen crawled out from the pile of stones, spat, and felt as if his mouth was full of lime.

Indeed, showing off is not a good thing. I should have tried it with a stone first. Long Chen patted the dust off his body, turned around, and disappeared on the opposite bank.

Seeing Long Chen leave, the people on this side finally sighed. These are all monsters; how are we supposed to cross?

"Heavens, Senior Brother Long Chen was guiding us!" suddenly someone exclaimed.

"Tch, guiding my ass. If we used this method to cross the river, if a hundred people went, I guarantee there would be exactly one hundred meat patties," someone rolled their eyes. Could that method even be learned?

"No, look at this branch," that person hurriedly pointed at the branch, looking excited.

Everyone was slightly stunned, looking at the branch stuck in the ground. That was what Long Chen had specifically thrown over before leaving, and they didn't understand what it meant.

"It stinks!" To see it clearly, someone leaned in, and immediately felt a foul, unbearable odor wash over them, making them want to retch.

That person held their nose and pulled the branch out of the ground. They saw that where the branch had been cut, yellow sap was flowing out. The foul odor came precisely from that sap.

"I understand! Senior Brother Long Chen told us the method to cross the river!" that person shouted excitedly.

Seeing the crowd confused, that person cut off a section of the branch, tied a piece of ham to it, and threw it into the great river.

The Tiger-Mouthed Fish, which would normally attack crazily upon hearing any sound, actually waited for a long time without any movement. That piece of ham just floated on the water surface.

Everyone looked at each other and couldn't help but let out a cheer. Those Tiger-Mouthed Fish feared this foul odor.

In other words, if they used this kind of wood to make a raft, they wouldn't be attacked by the Tiger-Mouthed Fish.

For a time, everyone felt inexplicably grateful to Long Chen. This was no different from saving their lives. Everyone hurriedly set to work, starting to look for that kind of foul-smelling tree to make rafts.

Actually, this test was very simple. Most cultivators knew the name of the Stinking Camphor Tree. Unfortunately, these pampered Young Masters and Young Misses simply didn't know it, which was why Long Chen had labeled them as ignorant and incompetent.

To see so many Geniuses ruin their future because of such a small matter was truly a pity, which was why Long Chen had given that reminder.

If they still didn't understand Long Chen's meaning, they might as well give up cultivation and just jump into the river to feed the fish.

After crossing the river, Long Chen began to search the mountains and plains for Heaven And Earth Treasure, but it seemed his luck had run out, as he didn't find anything of particular value.

Half a month passed in a flash, and Long Chen had no choice but to follow the markings on the map and head toward the location of the final assessment.

Just as he was walking, the ground suddenly shook violently, and at the same time, a terrifying aura rose up.