However, even though it detected its prey in time, its speed was far from matching that of the Snow Lynx, and the distance between them was closing visibly fast.

The panicked prey took off haphazardly toward the outer edges of the snow plains, dragging along the powerful predator from the depths of the wilderness.

As the prey entered its attack range, the pupils of the Snow Lynx slowly narrowed, like a dark abyss completely swallowing the shadow of the prey reflected in its eyes.

Suddenly, the Snow Lynx leaped into the air, and each of its robust foreclaws shimmered with an icy blue glow. With a fierce swipe of its paws, a terrifying ten-meter-long claw shadow shot toward the doomed prey.

Without any suspense, the prey was instantly slashed into several pieces, losing all signs of life before it could react.

Another Talent Skill of the Snow Lynx: Ice Trace Claw.

After landing back on the ground, the famished Snow Lynx pounced on the not yet completely cold corpse of its prey and gobbled it up hungrily.

"Grr!" (Eat while it's still warm!)

After feasting for a while, the eyes of the Snow Lynx showed a hint of dissatisfaction.

It was still not full.

It glanced around, the pupils tightening again, scouring for any traces of potential prey.

After a short pause.

"Grr?" (Where am I?)

…

"It seems like an hour has passed." Lin Su popped his head out from the ice cave to check the sky, murmured to himself, and hugged Qiuqiu in his arms, "Let's go Qiuqiu, we can go out now."

"Meow, meow!" (Let's go, set off!)

By now, Qiuqiu had understood what his future evolved form would be and had grown noticeably more arrogant than before, still an elite race, yet his demeanor was no different from that of a sovereign race.

I, Qiuqiu, am the future sovereign race!

It floated mentally.

Realizing there was an issue with Qiuqiu's mentality, Lin Su gently tapped the little guy's head, "Don't be too arrogant, you haven't evolved yet. Even with an evolutionary path, you need to continue improving and accumulating power before you can evolve."

"Meow~" (Got it~)

Seeing Qiuqiu adjusting its attitude following his words, Lin Su sighed in relief.

Underestimating opponents and arrogance are very detrimental traits for battle pets, and even though Qiuqiu only showed some signs, it was necessary to nip them in the bud early on.

The plan to deceive and evade was a success; now all he needed to do was return to the Lin Family, and he could safely release Qiuqiu and inform his parents that this was the battle pet he had contracted in the Frost Fall Mountain Range.

Thinking this, Lin Su did not hesitate to step out of the ice cave and walked in the direction of Yongnan City.

After a few steps, Qiuqiu's ears twitched slightly in his arms.

"Meow!" (Something is approaching!)

Huh?

Alerted by Qiuqiu's warning, Lin Su quickly scanned the surroundings and soon spotted a white figure approaching at ghostly speed. Thanks to the enhanced vision from his Body Refinement Realm cultivation, he was barely able to make out the outline of the figure.

A Snow Lynx!

Recognizing the race of the beast, Lin Su's expression changed drastically.

This was a high-ranking sovereign race.

And this speed, much more terrifying than that of Qiuqiu, was definitely not something a juvenile stage beast could possess.

This was an elite stage beast.

Qiuqiu poked its head out from Lin Su's arms, its pupils also narrowing into a sharp point, facing the similarly sharp eyes of the Snow Lynx directly, the next moment, it spat out a storm of Frost Snow that swept toward the Snow Lynx approaching head-on.

The Snow Lynx roared, and its previously leaping movement was disrupted by the storm for a moment. The sharp edges of the frost flowers slipped through the fine gaps between its dense fur, bringing up numerous tiny bloodstains.

After all, being an elite stage beast, Qiuqiu's Frost Storm couldn't inflict major damage on the Snow Lynx. Although the injuries appeared severe, they were mere superficial wounds that would soon recover.

The disruption caused by the Frost Storm gave Lin Su some time to snap out of his initial panic and quickly calm down. He scooped up Qiuqiu and ran without hesitation towards Yongnan City.

Beast gathering areas were territories left by human warriors for beasts, and also where human martial artists honed themselves and Beast Tamers searched for battle pets.

Inside the gathering area, if a beast hurt or killed a person, it was seen as the person's own incompetence.

But a wild beast leaving the gathering area and hurting people would be immediately killed.

So as long as he left the boundaries of the beast gathering area, the Snow Lynx would definitely not dare to keep chasing.

"Qiuqiu, be ready to release the Frost Storm at any moment."

"Meow!" (Understood!)

With Qiuqiu's current stamina, releasing the Frost Storm twice in a row was its limit. Thus, it could only unleash it one more time and needed to save this last Frost Storm for when it was most needed.

The tiny bloodstains on the elite stage beast's body healed rapidly with its robust vitality; the itchy and painful sensation made the Snow Lynx even more ferocious. Its slender, needle-like pupils menacingly focused on the retreating figure of Lin Su. Noticing the majestic Yongnan City in the distance, its eyes showed a hint of wariness.

The speed of the Snow Lynx suddenly increased, ice flowers blossoming under its feet as it rapidly pursued Lin Su.

The distance between it and Lin Su was slowly decreasing, just as the distance to the border of the Frost Fall Mountain Range was also closing in.

Just as Lin Su stepped onto the border line, the Snow Lynx let out an angry roar. A streak of Ice Trace Claw, filled with the Snow Lynx's unwillingness, swiftly descended toward Lin Su's back.

"Now!"