The tall man before them had long, messy, curly hair and a scraggly beard. His face was so covered in frost and snow that it was impossible to see his true features.

He looked less like a Poacher and more like a Wildman.

"Stop!" Xia Fangran roared, raising his Heaven-piercing Halberd.

But the frost-covered Wildman seemed not to see the Ironspear Point, simply continuing forward. ’Does he have no regard for his own life?’

Unbelievable!

Xia Fangran was utterly stunned.

Rong Taotao had been luring Soul Beasts here for a solid month and a half, and any one of them could have appeared. Xia Fangran was long prepared to face any creature.

But the one drawn by the whistling tonight was far beyond anything Xia Fangran had expected.

The man continued walking forward heedlessly until his chest pressed right against the Ironspear Point of the Heaven-piercing Halberd!

Of course, Xia Fangran wasn’t about to take a life so easily. He turned the Long Halberd, pressing the flat of its head against the man’s chest. With a sudden burst of strength, he shoved the man back several steps and growled, "I told you to stop!"

Struck by the immense force, the Wildman staggered three steps back!

Finally, a flicker of focus entered the hollow eyes of the Wildman who had been pushed away, and he turned to look at Xia Fangran.

"Can you talk?" Xia Fangran asked, his brow furrowed. He pulled Rong Taotao behind him with one arm and gave him a push, signaling for the boy to get back to the cave.

The Wildman, his face caked in frost and his body clad in rags, stared blankly at Xia Fangran. He seemed to realize that this man was blocking his path. The next moment, his hands made a grasping motion at his sides...

Two short halberds silently materialized.

Xia Fangran’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes flew wide as he stared intently at the design of the two hand-halberds.

They had the same grid-like head as a Heaven-piercing Halberd, but they weren’t polearms. They were short-shafted Snow Halberds!

He looked at their undulating points, and then at the wavy side blades flanking the grid-like heads...

’Mad Song Halberd?’

Xia Fangran cried out in shock, "Xiao Ziru?!"

As the name was spoken, the expressionless Wildman’s mouth split into a wide grin. He cracked his neck from side to side with a series of sharp snaps, and his once-vacant eyes suddenly blazed with a fervent light.

"Get back! Rong Taotao! Get back to the cave now!" Xia Fangran roared. He pulled his phone from his pocket and tossed it to Rong Taotao. "Call the Snow Burning Army! Speed dial one!"

Xia Fangran was normally so composed; his extreme reaction truly startled Rong Taotao. The boy scrambled to catch the phone and immediately retreated toward the cave.

FWHOOSH...

The next moment, the snow-covered ground began to surge, rising and falling like ocean waves.

’Snow Realm Soul Skill: A Snowy Ocean?’

’But that’s the signature Soul Skill of a high-ranking Soul School graduate!’

"Whoa! Whoa!" Rong Taotao cried out as his body was tossed from side to side on the surging waves of snow. He was about to lose his balance and be swallowed by the "ocean of white snow"!

Stumbling and staggering, he quickly thrust out a hand and blasted a Snow Burst Ball at the ground beneath him!

BANG! A full-powered Snow Burst Ball with tremendous recoil, he held nothing back. The blast propelled Rong Taotao right out of the "ocean of white snow," sending him flying toward the cave.

Behind him, the unending CLANG of metal rang out. The twin short halberds and the Heaven-piercing Halberd clashed, weaving a deadly melody in the stormy night.

Xia Fangran’s enraged roar echoed through the night sky: "Xiao Ziru! Are you fucking crazy?!"