Chapter 332: Gin Ichimaru's Shock — The Possibility of Surpassing Aizen!
"Snow Shades? Never heard of them..."
Chen Duo and Huang Feihong both looked confused.
In their respective worlds—Huang Feihong's low-tier martial world went without saying, and Chen Duo's world of gifted individuals mainly revolved around conflicts between humans with powers—
there were barely any dominant demons or monsters.
"Must be some kind of monster."
Gin Ichimaru couldn't quite tell either.
Although the Shinigami world had Hollows, those were fallen souls—corrupted spiritual beings—not pure monsters. The Shinigami system simply couldn't produce that type of creature.
Still, since he assumed everything happening here was just part of Aizen's twisted sense of fun,
he naturally classified the Snow Shades as a type of Hollow.
Whoosh... whoosh...
The snow-covered ground stretched into towering, seemingly endless mountains, where a single misstep could mean falling into a bottomless abyss.
A freezing blizzard whipped through the landscape, and the sheer cold alone had already begun to affect Chen Duo and Huang Feihong.
[Frozen Status]: Constitution less than [40], lose 5 HP per minute while in the White Ruins.
Constitution determined health points.
Both Chen Duo and Huang Feihong had constitution stats around [10], translating to no more than 100 HP.
Fortunately,
Chen Duo's inner Qi and the ability [Holy Child of the Gu Body] could temporarily boost her stats, giving her a slight increase in health.
As for Huang Feihong, his [Shadowless Kick] and [Tiger-Crane Style]—both low-level martial arts—had reached level 5 and gave him passive boosts to constitution and strength.
That was the only reason they hadn't frozen to death already.
Even so,
the two had only gained a few dozen extra points of health at most, and now they were reaching their limit.
"Can't go on any further?"
Gin Ichimaru didn't care about their survival, but he still asked out loud, wondering what Aizen's purpose was in sending these two to him.
Both of them were shivering violently. Chen Duo frowned and said, "If we keep going, we'll die."
She stated it flatly, almost indifferently, as if her own death didn't concern her.
They had both underestimated just how brutal the White Ruins environment really was.
Even without monsters, a few hours in this cold would be enough to kill any player with low constitution.
What they didn't know...
was that the Frozen Status could stack. They were still in the outer edge of the White Ruins, and the HP loss per minute would only increase the deeper they ventured.
"There's a cave up ahead. Want to take shelter inside?"
Gin Ichimaru narrowed his eyes.
He wasn't planning to let them die just yet, not until he was sure this wasn't one of Aizen's traps.
He pointed to a dark cave not far away.
Chen Duo and Huang Feihong exchanged a glance, then both nodded.
The game's strange text had already explained that death here wasn't permanent, and players would simply revive in the safe zone.
But no one wanted to test that rule the hard way.
"ROAAAR...!"
Just as they reached the cave entrance,
a deafening roar echoed from within.
Before they could even react, a massive snowball—clearly constructed and packed—rolled out from the higher ground inside the cave like a cannonball barreling downhill.
"Watch out!"
Huang Feihong reacted swiftly, pulling Chen Duo aside while shouting a warning to Gin.
The huge, solid snowball had the weight and force of a boulder. A direct hit could easily turn someone into mush.
"Shinsō."
Gin Ichimaru didn't budge. He didn't even blink.
He simply swung his short blade.
The enormous snowball split cleanly down the middle, perfectly sliced, and rolled harmlessly past him on both sides.
Before Huang Feihong could even process what happened,
Gin had turned into a blur. When he reappeared, he was holding a round, severed head.
White fur, a corpse-like purplish-black face, jagged teeth like barbed wire—
the head alone was the size of a millstone.
Judging by the proportions, the Snow Shade's body must've been at least five or six meters tall.
A monster like that...
Even Western firearms might have trouble piercing its hide.
Despite the power of the West's hot weapons, they were still in the early industrial age.
Even if a rifle hit a tiger or bear, unless it struck a vital point, it might take multiple shots to bring it down.
And this Snow Shade was likely the size of several bears put together.
Huang Feihong walked over, asked Gin a few questions, then closely inspected the creature's pelt and body structure.
He picked up a sharp stone and scraped it against the skin.
"So tough..."
Even as a low-tier martial artist, Huang Feihong was among the elites. He could normally pierce thin iron sheets with his full strength.
But here, the creature's hide didn't even show a scratch.
Gin had killed this kind of monster with ease...
Could it be true?
Had he really been chosen by some omnipotent Reincarnation Game? Were his two companions from completely different worlds?
A strange emotion welled up in Huang Feihong.
There was fear and confusion, but also hope and excitement.
His wish was to teach martial arts and save his country.
But the Qing government was corrupt and useless, the foreigners ran rampant, the people suffered, and ignorance prevailed.
Martial arts were no match for gunboats and cannons.
He had already realized that martial prowess alone couldn't save the nation.
To the foreigners, he was no more than a performing monkey.
But if everything about the Reincarnation Game was real...
Could he find a new path to save his people?
As that thought crossed his mind,
his lips, trembling from the cold, began to show a faint flush of color.
[You killed a Snow Shade. EXP +20, Reward Points +15]
Notice: First kill. Game shop unlocked. Players may now purchase items (up to 5).
A game shop appeared before Gin Ichimaru's eyes.
He browsed the items with mild interest and chuckled, "As expected of Captain Aizen. Even the fine details are this convincing?"
His gaze paused on a few items:
[Sharingan (One Tomoe)]: A Uchiha eye infused with Yin-attributed chakra. Grants observation, duplication, and genjutsu detection. Price: 2,000 reward points.
[Phantom Serpent Bloodline]: A low-tier magical beast bloodline from the Dou Qi Continent. Strong genjutsu capabilities and high genjutsu resistance. Price: 200,000 reward points.
"Is this Captain Aizen's way of testing me?"
To Chen Duo and Huang Feihong, it looked like Gin was talking to himself.
But in reality, he was trying to communicate with Aizen, whom he believed to be secretly observing.
Still no response.
A strange mix of irritation and unease rose in Gin's heart. This shallow and pointless "test" was far too obvious.
How could he possibly fall for it?
Was Aizen just toying with him?
Fine then.
If that's what you want...
Gin frowned slightly and said, "Submit Zanpakutō—Shinsō!"
In an instant, a flood of reward points entered his account.
His Zanpakutō, leveled up to 35 and at a captain-class level, contained enough essence to be worth 300,000 points.
So this was the power of a Tier Two world.
The foundation was deep indeed.
"Buy: Phantom Serpent Bloodline."
Gin didn't hesitate to spend most of his points to purchase the [Phantom Serpent Bloodline].
Then, finding it still lacking, he bought the [Sharingan (One Tomoe)] as well.
The next second,
his eyes widened sharply.
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