Chapter 212: My First Cultivator Kill

How different can a tiger cub and a bee really be?

They both have stripes.

Yang condensed a wisp of his qi and drew it to the tip of his finger, letting it trail through the air towards the cub. The tiger cub watched curiously with unblinking wide eyes, tilting its head to the side as a tendril of qi reached it. As soon as the qi rushed against its nose, its pupils dilated. It looked at Yang, clearly tempted and shedding much of its wariness.

Yang waited patiently, taking care to avoid any sudden movements as the cub took a small, tentative step forward. He noticed with some shock that its wounded paw seemed to have completely healed. He let out a silent breath of relief that he hadn’t thought to try something asinine like actually trying to kill the cub. Given his own fighting skills and the cub's rapid regeneration, he likely would have ended up as its next meal.

Now that he was aware of these beasts' recovery speed, he was doubting the odds of those four getting out of this alive. 

Glancing sideways, he saw that the mother tiger must have also realized that the cub was healed and safe from Yang for now, and had mostly turned her full focus on the cultivators.

With that, they seemed to have lost the advantage of the adult tiger’s attention being divided two ways.

Yang kept an eye on the fight while keeping most of his attention on the cub, hoping it would take the bait instead of lunging for his throat again. 

It was close now; if he reached out, he would be able to touch the cub. He made sure to maintain absolute stillness, not wanting to spook it. 

A few more steps and they would be close enough to touch.

The cub came closer but stopped, not willing to touch him, though its eyes remained fixed on the wisp of qi Yang was holding. Yang let it trail off in the air again, and the cub couldn't help but tentatively extend its tongue, taking a taste.

Its eyes widened immediately, breaking the final barrier. It took the last step, placing both paws around Yang's hand and drawing his finger into its mouth, and began suckling. 

Yang couldn’t help but let out an involuntary smile at the feeling of rough tongue and soft gums working around his finger. He let out a soft chuckle as he used his other hand to cradle the cub, looking down at the absurd sight of a tiger offspring suckling on his finger like a bottle. 

His index finger rested between very sharp-looking canines. Thankfully, the cub had decided against taking a bite. Yang appreciated not having to learn what it felt like to regrow a digit.

He increased the flow of qi as he held the cub, now turning most of his attention to the fight and especially to the smarmy male lackey who had stolen and placed his flying carpet in his storage ring.

That one needed to die first.

Yang, now free from the immediate worry of being killed by the cub, decided it was time to give his new friends the attention and help they deserved. He took out his talismans and launched a dozen immobilization talismans at the cultivators. While he was a major realm below them, it was bound to make it difficult for them if he tossed dozens of them at once. After all, he had managed to get even Senior Brother Zhen Hao lightly seared in the statue chamber.

And it seemed to have borne fruit here as well, as two of the cultivators, the carpet thief and the other female cultivator, got caught in the immobilization talisman. The female leader and the other male cultivator managed to deflect the rest of the talismans at the mother tiger, who flicked them off like mere irritants. 

Yang gulped, glad that he hadn’t tried attacking the adult tiger or permanently harmed the cub. He looked down at the cub cradled in his arm. Little one, you must speak up for me in front of your mother. 

With half of them immobilized, the fight seemed to become even more one-sided as the pressure on the remaining two doubled. 

Yang shot around twenty fireball talismans at them; being the fair person he was, he divided them equally amongst the standing and downed cultivators, not wanting any of them to feel left out.

The barrage of fireball talismans found its mark and managed to injure the still-fighting cultivators, allowing the tiger to seize the upper hand, slicing half the face of the female cultivator with a powerful swipe, tearing a deep, guttural cry out of her throat. 

Yang winced as he noticed half her face droop down from the deep gash, allowing Yang to see yellow globules, red stringy tissue, and something white; it took a few seconds for him to realize it was actually bone. Rivulets of blood were dripping down her face and the front of her body. The lady looked particularly deranged with her injury, especially considering the poisoned glare she was shooting at Yang for the few seconds she managed to take her gaze off the tiger.

Seeing them busy with the mother tiger, he turned his attention to the neglected cultivators. He took out a needle and used his spiritual sense to guide it towards the carpet thief's eye. 

The cultivator on the ground stared with wide, helpless eyes, unable to move or even blink as he watched the needle approach his eye. He felt the agonizing pain of it piercing his eye and the wet pop sound echo in his skull.

Yang pushed the needle in deeper, past the eye, into the brain until he felt it slam to a stop as it hit the other side of the cultivator’s skull. He found that the cultivator was still alive.

 That would not do.

Yang, instead of calling back the needle, made it go haywire inside the brain, wreaking havoc in an effort to kill any chanceof survival. He kept at it until he was sure the cultivator was dead, and he could see blood and brain matter dripping down his nose and the ruined eye socket. It barely took a few seconds, but for the cultivator it may as well have been an eternity.

He suddenly winced as he felt a sharp bite on his finger and looked to see that, in his distraction, he had stopped releasing qi, and the cub was not pleased.

He resumed the outflow of qi as he summoned the needle from the same eye socket it had entered through. Repeating the same process with the immobilized female cultivator. Once he was sure she was dead as well, he used his qi to summon their storage rings and turned his attention back to the remaining two. 

They appeared to be having a far more miserable time than before. While Yang was grave robbing—was it considered grave robbing if those being robbed were not in a grave? A question for his Senior Brothers to answer. 

Back to the present, the remaining male cultivator seemed to have lost an arm. Yang looked at the severed limb lying a few feet away and checked to see if it was the hand where he wore his storage ring, only to find it empty. What a pity.

He examined the storage rings he had managed to acquire and found he was able to access their contents easily. Fortunately, those two cheaped out and got the low-quality stuff that lost the seal upon the owner's death. He retrieved his flying carpet, leaving the rest to sort through later, and quickly climbed on, setting the cub on the ground, who whined at the action and tried to jump on the carpet. Yang immediately pushed the carpet higher, not wanting the mommy tiger to think he had any intention of stealing the little ancestor.

He rose above the treetops and shot a dozen or so more fireball talismans to injure the barely surviving cultivators until he got struck with another bright idea.

He summoned his needles and made them go towards the female cultivator. She didn't even notice as she was busy fighting the beast for her life. Both the needles pierced the rope at her waist, making an X-shaped hook. Once he was sure it was as secure as it could be, he pulled.

The rope flew towards him with the needles. He quickly caught it with one hand while tossing a few more fireball talismans like confetti with his other hand in thanks. 

Let no one say that he doesn't know how to repay favours.

He turned, looking at the cultivators with one foot in the grave, and flew the carpet higher and farther into the forest.

Letting out a laugh, he called over his shoulder. “Thank you for the rope and storage rings!”

This is enjoyable, He thought, grinning. No wonder Senior Brothers Yuan Shen and Zhen Hao enjoy taunting others so much.

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