Chapter 384 - 383: A Vicious Struggle

Chapter 384: Chapter 383: A Vicious Struggle

There were no roads in this desolate, remote wilderness. The mountain forests were covered in tall grass and rocks, so the horse couldn’t break into a gallop. It could only walk slowly, at a pace not much faster than Hee Lingchuan’s own.

As he led the horse over a low slope, a sudden sense of alarm rose in his heart, as if a tangible threat was right beside him.

’I’m being watched.’

Hee Lingchuan remained impassive and continued leading the horse forward. The Heart-Protecting Mirror in his robes said to him, "Hey, we’ve got a situation."

He let out a quiet "Shhh."

Just then, a RUSTLE came from the grass to his right rear. It sounded like the wind through the bushes, or perhaps a rabbit brushing past the tips of the grass.

Hee Lingchuan thought, ’Here it comes!’ With a backhanded flick, he threw something out as he dropped and rolled beneath the horse’s belly.

What pounced out of the grass was a magnificent striped tiger, weighing at least six hundred pounds. For such a behemoth to launch itself from the blades of grass with barely a sound was astonishing.

Wind follows the tiger. The old saying was true.

But just as it pounced toward Hee Lingchuan’s back, it saw something flying toward its nose. It swiped with a paw, and the object was torn open by its sharp claw tips.

With a soft POP, the object exploded, filling the air with yellow smoke.

This was immediately followed by an indescribable stench that engulfed its head completely.

A tiger’s sense of smell is more than ten times keener than a human’s. A stench that even a person couldn’t bear was like a club to its head.

It could think of nothing else. It leaped forward a few steps to get away from the odor, lowered its head, and retched.

It was a physiological reaction, utterly impossible to control.

A figure flashed through the yellow mist. Holding his breath, Hee Lingchuan charged out, his Floating Life Blade slashing down at the tiger’s neck.

Just as the tiger was about to be beheaded, a heaven-shaking roar came from the grass. Incredibly, another striped beast pounced out and slammed directly into Hee Lingchuan.

The two of them went tumbling.

There were actually two tigers, ambushing him from front and back.

The tiger’s roar was soul-shaking, and it had exploded right next to him. Hee Lingchuan felt as if a thunderclap had gone off by his ear. His heart clenched, and his body inevitably froze stiff.

This was the Tiger Demon’s innate Divine Technique, "Dread." Weaker-willed prey would be scared literally to death, their insides rupturing from fear.

In an instant, the two were rolling on the ground together.

The massive tiger head was just a foot away, its open maw large enough to fit two human heads. Its ten claws were like Spring Blades, each a foot long. With a SHING, they extended and raked toward his body.

If they connected, at best he’d be disfigured; at worst, disemboweled.

But just then, a red light flashed from Hee Lingchuan’s body. The tiger’s claws struck him as if scraping against metal, emitting a harsh GRINDING sound.

At the same time, the Heart-Protecting Mirror on his chest vibrated gently.

Its owner-protection function had activated automatically.

Hee Lingchuan’s paralysis lasted only a moment. His Divine Soul had long traveled through the Cyan Netherworld, making it tougher than that of an ordinary Cultivator. Even though he’d taken the full force of the tiger’s surprise roar, the state of dread lasted less than a second before he shook it off and regained his mobility.

Seeing the tiger swipe at him again, Hee Lingchuan raised his blade to barely block the blow, then twisted his hand for a counter-slash.

The tiger’s paw was wounded.

If the beast hadn’t retracted its paw so quickly, it would have lost half its forepaw.

The two separated as quickly as they’d clashed. Hee Lingchuan used the momentum to flip backward, sending a Flying Blade shooting out.

The tiger’s eyes and claws were swift. It batted the Flying Blade aside, its movements so fast they left afterimages.

Taking advantage of that moment, Hee Lingchuan raised a hand and fired his Hooked Rope.

By the time the tiger lunged forward again, he had already used the rope to launch himself into the air, kicked off the tree trunk twice, and landed on a high branch above.

The other tiger, the one hit by the fragrant ball, had now also recovered from the negative effects, though it still shook its head occasionally.

The impact of the stench lingered, making it shudder from the memory.

The two tigers met up. The tigress roared at the male repeatedly, calling him a "useless piece of trash," and the male could only flatten his ears and take the scolding.

It paced back and forth twice beneath the tree, looked up at Hee Lingchuan, and suddenly said, "Leave the Emperor’s Liquid, and I’ll spare your life."

Hee Lingchuan spread his hands. "I drank it all."

"Nonsense! You don’t have the lingering scent of someone who’s consumed it!"

The tigress roared, "Eat him now, there’s still time!" Dawn had just broken, and all living things had just consumed the Emperor’s Liquid. Catching and eating him would be just as nourishing.

Hee Lingchuan said flatly, "And here I thought the Demons of Beiga were reasonable."

The tiger laughed loudly. "Look where you are. If you want to talk reason, go back to the city!"

In this desolate wilderness, especially right after a surge of Emperor’s Liquid, sharp teeth and claws are the only law that matters!

It hugged the tree trunk and shot upward, its speed somehow matching its pace on land.

’’This big cat is a master of all trades,’ Hee Lingchuan mused. ’All it’s missing is a pair of wings.’’

Hee Lingchuan threw a pair of darts, but the tiger didn’t dodge or evade. Incredibly, the darts failed to pierce its hide.

Hee Lingchuan frowned.

These two beasts hadn’t used any Divine Techniques. Hee Lingchuan had thought they were holding back, but it turned out they had put all their skill points into their personal stats.

This type of strength-based Demon loved to enhance its own body.

The so-called Great Dao is Simple. As long as their hide was thick enough, their claws sharp enough, and their speed fast enough, a Cultivator’s myriad Exotic Techniques were as useless as paper in front of them.

Fortunately, Hee Lingchuan had already taken the Heart-Protecting Mirror from his robes and was flashing it at the tiger.

They were very close, and the daylight was bright. The tiger immediately saw its own large head in the Mirror.

Seeing its reflection wasn’t unusual for a Tiger Demon, but the tiger in the Mirror suddenly winked flirtatiously at it and leaned in to sniff.

The tiger froze. ’This... this doesn’t seem to be me.’

’It looks like another tigress—her face is nice and round, her eyes are big, and her teeth are sharp.’

’Most importantly, she looks much younger and prettier than the old hag behind me.’

It was completely mesmerized.

The tigress shot past him up the tree. Seeing him drop the ball again, she angrily raked her claws across his hind leg. ’If this idiot hadn’t fallen for that human’s trick just now, the two of us would already be sharing the Emperor’s Liquid!’

She didn’t have time to worry about why her mate was frozen stupid. She opened her jaws and lunged for Hee Lingchuan’s heels.

Just then, two figures leaped from another large tree and slammed directly onto the tigress.

The two Mountain Demons possessed by Evil Ghosts—the ambush was a success!

Both creatures were heavier than a grown man. They crashed like cannonballs into the tigress’s flank, and caught off guard, she went tumbling to the ground along with the two Mountain Demons.

They fell into a tangled brawl. The roars of the tiger and the shrieks of the demons shook the heavens as dead branches and mud flew everywhere.

The Mountain Demons were no match for the tiger, after all. After just three exchanges, one had its neck bitten through. The Evil Ghost possessing it immediately flew out and shot back toward the Mirror.

During this time, Hee Lingchuan, still in the tree, fired two Sleeve Arrows at the tigress. These Magical Artifacts, personally refined by Master Li Fubo, had excellent armor-piercing capabilities and were no longer deflected by the tiger’s hide.

The tigress was hit in the back and foreleg. Aside from the damage from the impacts themselves, the wounds felt as if they were being seared by fire, making her howl incessantly in pain.

Hee Lingchuan then saw a row of large blisters, like mushrooms on a tree stump, rapidly form around the tigress’s wounds. He nodded in satisfaction.

He had coated the Sleeve Arrows with Earth Cave Spider venom, a gift from Second Madam Zhu. If the blisters weren’t lanced to drain the pus within a few breaths’ time, the spider toxin would spread through the bloodstream, dissolving muscles and paralyzing the prey.

At this point, he also leaped to the ground to battle the tigress.

Once he entered the fray, the pace of the battle quickened dramatically. The tigress had no time to deal with the poison, and her body soon grew heavy, to the point where she could barely lift her claws.

She could only call for the male tiger’s help.

The previously dazed male tiger did indeed leap from the tree and pounce toward Hee Lingchuan.

The tigress felt a flicker of relief, but as the male tiger ran past her, he suddenly turned and pounced on her, biting through her windpipe and snapping her neck in a few swift moves!

The tigress died with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

She couldn’t see the Evil Ghost that had possessed the male tiger.

The male tiger had been bewildered by the Mirror earlier, leaving his mind in chaos, which had greatly increased the Evil Ghost’s chances of successfully invading him.

Hee Lingchuan approached the tigress and let the Heart-Protecting Mirror absorb her soul, shaking his head and remarking, "Seems you two weren’t a very happy couple."

Although the male tiger was controlled by the Evil Ghost when he killed his mate, he hadn’t put up much of a struggle. Even now, he was licking his lips as if savoring the taste of fresh blood.

Seeing Hee Lingchuan stand up, the Mirror reminded him, "Hey, search the body! It might have some Emperor’s Liquid stashed away!"

Tiger and Leopard Demons can often store items in their large teeth. Even if the tigress had consumed the Emperor’s Liquid last night, only a few double-hours have passed. Her corpse would still be excellent for alchemy.

But Hee Lingchuan glanced at the sky. "No need. We’ll leave it for the guests below."

Several White Cranes were already circling in the sky, seeming to observe the scene below.

The Spirit Rain had stopped.

If he only decided to pack up and leave now, he would face countless interruptions.

When the tiger had pounced earlier and he’d thrown the fragrant ball, his mount had long since bolted and vanished.

This terrain wasn’t suitable for a horse anyway, so it was no great loss. Hee Lingchuan left the tiger carcass, activated his Body Technique, and dove into the jungle.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to toss an Eye Spider onto a nearby tree trunk and order it to hide and watch the show.

The trees above were tall and the undergrowth below was dense, completely concealing the tracks of anyone moving stealthily.

The male tiger also disappeared into the forest.

The crows perched nearby grew anxious. They wanted to follow Hee Lingchuan but didn’t dare get too close, so they could only circle high in the air, trying to pinpoint his location.

With the fighting below over, the Crane Demons circled a few more times before landing to peck at the tigress’s corpse.

Any creature that had consumed the Emperor’s Liquid last night now had flesh and blood saturated with Spiritual Qi. Ordinarily, these Crane Demons would never have the chance to feast on a tiger’s carcass.

But they had no table manners. Their noisy squabbling showed they didn’t understand the principle of getting rich in silence, and they soon attracted vultures as well.

Then, more than twenty Ape Demons arrived, drawn by the sound. Each one was as large as a Mountain Demon.

They were domineering by nature and wanted the meal all to themselves, so they immediately started a great battle with the Bird Demons.

A quarter of an hour later, the ground was littered with corpses. Only a few Bird Demons remained, barely managing to flap away. Three of the Violent Apes were dead and seven were injured.

But as the victors, in addition to the tiger carcass, they could also feast on the bodies of the Bird Demons.

And then, the humans appeared.

No one knew just how many fights over food and brutal slaughters had occurred today at Three-Heart Lake, a place usually devoid of human presence.

Normally, Demons and humans might not be so irritable and frenzied, but under the influence of the Emperor’s Liquid, everyone’s eyes were red with slaughter today. They fought with reckless abandon, knowing no retreat, battling until death.

Hee Lingchuan was just glad he had slipped away early.

If he had stayed, he would have had to face an endless battle of attrition, a task beyond the strength of a lone traveler like him.

At that moment, the black-robed youth and his party finally arrived at the shores of Three-Heart Lake.