With a loud THUD, Huang Yulang felt his arms go numb.
His body flew backward uncontrollably, slamming hard against a large tree behind him.
The entire tree shuddered from the impact.
PFFT—
Huang Yulang spat out a mouthful of blood.
His face paled, and his heart was seized with absolute terror.
The ferocious tiger twisted around and pounced at Huang Yulang again.
As it drew near, it raised its sharp claws and swiped violently at his head.
Huang Yulang executed a profound Step Technique, darting directly behind the large tree.
With a CRUNCH, the spot where the tiger’s claws struck—the trunk of a tree so thick a person could barely wrap their arms around it—was shattered, more than half of it splintering away.
Huang Yulang’s pupils contracted, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
He couldn’t spare a thought for the horrified old hunter; he just turned and ran for his life.
ROAR—
The vicious tiger roared in fury and gave chase.
Fortunately, the forest was dense.
Huang Yulang weaved left and right, and though the tiger was agile, its body was larger than an elephant’s, so for the moment, it couldn’t catch him.
Seeing that Huang Yulang had led the vicious tiger away, the old hunter glanced at his fallen companions.
With tears in his eyes, he scrambled away in a sorry state.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
One by one, trees as thick as bowls were either rammed and broken or swatted apart by the ferocious tiger.
The sight made Huang Yulang’s heart pound in terror, and he fled with even more desperation.
Huang Yulang deliberately fled through the densest parts of the woods.
Nearby beasts poked their heads out at the commotion, but one look at the Striped Tiger sent them whimpering and scattering in all directions.
But the damned tiger ignored those beasts, focusing all its life-or-death energy on hunting down Huang Yulang.
Huang Yulang silently cursed his luck.
‘Against a massive tiger that’s likely started cultivation,’ he thought, ‘my chances of winning are less than ten percent.’
‘Just a moment ago, I was so pleased with myself for gaining a thousand jin of strength.
I was already looking down on worldly martial arts masters.
I can’t believe I ran into a Demon Beast so soon.’
The man and the tiger continued their chase for over an hour.
Suddenly, the way ahead brightened.
Chased by the tiger, Huang Yulang burst out of the dense forest only to find himself at the edge of a cliff.
Huang Yulang skidded to a halt, his momentum carrying him forward until he teetered right at the cliff’s edge.
A glance down revealed a drop of at least four or five hundred meters.
‘I’m done for.’ Before Huang Yulang could process another thought, the Striped Tiger burst out of the forest, leaping into the air and pouncing at him.
A fierce light ignited in Huang Yulang’s eyes.
With nowhere left to run, his only choice was a fight to the death.
Desperate situations awaken primal instincts.
Without a shred of hesitation, he leaped up to meet the descending tiger.
The blood in his veins surged, and an endless torrent of power flooded into his Spirit Wood Sword as he brought it down viciously on the tiger’s head.
But this tiger was no pushover.
It extended a paw to meet the Spirit Wood Sword, and they collided.
With a muffled BANG, the sword was knocked from Huang Yulang’s hand, tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
Man and beast tumbled uncontrollably, landing precariously back on the cliff’s edge.
ROAR—
The vicious tiger roared and swiped its claws at Huang Yulang’s chest.
He dropped and rolled, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow, but the bearskin on his back was shredded, and a searing pain tore through his waist.
But Huang Yulang paid it no mind, instead swinging his fist and smashing it violently toward the tiger’s eye.
The vicious tiger jerked its head aside to dodge, but the punch still landed squarely on its nose, making it roar in pain and rage.
With a savage glint in its eyes, the tiger opened its cavernous jaws and lunged for Huang Yulang’s head.
He instinctively dodged, but the tiger’s teeth clamped down, crushing his shoulder.
“AHHH—”
Huang Yulang let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He desperately wrapped his good arm around the tiger’s neck and, with every ounce of his remaining strength, pulled.
Incredibly, the tiger’s body, which weighed several thousand jin, was dragged forward.
They were already on the precipice, and the tiger instinctively dug its claws into the ground to stabilize itself.
Perhaps the tiger’s strength was too much for the ground.
A rock beneath its paw gave way, and its own momentum made it impossible to regain its balance.
It tumbled uncontrollably over the edge of the cliff.
With its jaws still clamped onto his shoulder, Huang Yulang was unable to break free and was dragged down into the several-hundred-meter chasm along with it.
“No…!” Huang Yulang screamed in terror as he plummeted, his body weightless, but his arms remained locked in a death grip around the tiger’s neck.
The tiger, too, instinctively opened its mouth.
It let out a pathetic whimper, its limbs flailing wildly as it tried to grab onto something, anything.
It was useless.
The two of them plunged straight down into the abyss.
The tiger was falling back-first, with most of Huang Yulang’s body sprawled over its neck.
The fall took only a few moments.
With a deafening BOOM, a massive boulder at the bottom of the cliff was shattered to smithereens by the Striped Tiger’s multi-thousand-jin body.
Rock fragments flew everywhere, and a cloud of dust billowed into the air.
A whimper.
The spine of the incomparably ferocious beast was completely shattered, and its internal organs had suffered irreversible damage.
Blood seeped from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Yet, it didn’t die instantly.
It let out a mournful cry, twitched a few times, and then lay still.
As for Huang Yulang, most of his body had been cushioned by the tiger’s neck.
Only one of his feet hit the ground, but in that instant, the bones in it shattered completely.
The pain was so excruciating he almost fainted.
Huang Yulang immediately let go of the tiger’s neck and fell to the ground.
His shoulder was a bloody, mangled ruin, and his left arm was nearly useless.
Clutching his twisted and deformed foot, he howled in agony.
Still, it was a blessing in disguise.
After screaming for a moment, Huang Yulang, now drenched in a cold sweat from the pain, looked at the motionless Striped Tiger and then up at the towering cliff.
Having survived against all odds, he lay limply on the ground, gasping for air.
His injuries were severe, but his life wasn’t in danger.
That alone was a miracle.
He looked at the dying Striped Tiger and rested for a moment.
A vicious glint flashed in his eyes.
Enduring the excruciating pain in his shoulder and foot, Huang Yulang crawled over to the tiger’s side.
“You damned beast!
You wanted to eat me?
You think you’re worthy?
You made me suffer this much…
Today, I’m going to skin you alive!”
With malice in his heart, Huang Yulang raised his right fist and unleashed a furious barrage of punches on the dying tiger’s neck.
The pitiful Striped Tiger had roamed these forests for decades and had even become a Demon Beast, but its grievous injuries left it as helpless as a fish on a chopping block.
Huang Yulang beat it until its neck broke, ending its life for good.
The moment the Striped Tiger died, the crimson Jade Pendant activated on its own.
It devoured the tiger’s Essence of Blood and Qi completely, then immediately channeled it back into Huang Yulang.
Huang Yulang’s injuries healed at an astonishing rate.
A large amount of surplus Essence of Blood and Qi then spread throughout his body.
The Blood Qi inside him, which had once flowed like a gentle stream, now surged at more than double its previous speed.
A new, more potent strength began to well up from within.
Huang Yulang leaped to his feet in delighted surprise.
He flexed, sensing his newfound power.
If he had possessed a thousand jin of strength before, now, after absorbing the essence of a Striped Tiger that had begun cultivation, his strength had increased to at least fifteen hundred jin.
His physical condition had also improved dramatically.
Huang Yulang was ecstatic.
‘The Essence of Blood and Qi from a single Demon Beast like this Striped Tiger must be equal to that of hundreds of black bears,’ he thought.
‘I really hit the jackpot this time.’
‘If healing my injuries hadn’t used up so much of the Essence of Blood and Qi, my strength might have increased by another one or two hundred jin.’
The huge boost in strength thrilled Huang Yulang, but when he recalled what had just happened, a lingering fear remained.
‘I can’t be so reckless from now on,’ he resolved.
‘Even with my current power, I doubt I could’ve beaten that Striped Tiger in a straight fight.
In the future, unless I’m absolutely confident, I’d better steer clear of any Demon Beasts.’
However, Huang Yulang was also curious.
Meishan was vast, but the Spiritual Qi here was pitifully scarce.
‘It can’t be that simple for an ordinary animal to become a Demon Beast.’
Huang Yulang found his Spirit Wood Sword.
After a great deal of effort, he finally skinned the Striped Tiger.
He discarded his old Beast Hide and draped the new tiger pelt over his shoulders.
After a hearty meal, he decided to try his luck.
Even if it meant combing through all of Meishan, he was determined to find out how the Striped Tiger had become a Demon Beast.
「A few days later.」
Huang Yulang finally found the Striped Tiger’s den.
It was a large, natural-looking cavern.
The light inside was dim, but clear enough to see everything.
Apart from some gnawed bones scattered about, there was nothing else.
With the tiger dead, Huang Yulang had little to fear.
He carefully examined the stone cave as he ventured deeper inside.
As he ventured deeper, he began to hear the faint sound of running water.
Surprised, Huang Yulang quickened his pace.
When he reached the back of the cave, he saw a light.
He walked toward the light, and the passage suddenly opened up.
A small, picturesque valley unfolded before him.
A waterfall cascaded from a high peak into a pool below.
Water from the pool formed a babbling brook that flowed out through a crevice in the valley, its destination unknown.
Several lotus flowers bloomed in the pool, their fragrance filling the small valley.
To Huang Yulang’s surprise, there was even a dilapidated thatched hut off to one side.
Huang Yulang hurried over to the hut.
Aside from a stone table covered in moss, there was nothing else.
Huang Yulang pondered for a moment before turning back to the pool.
He stared at the blooming lotuses, momentarily lost in thought.
‘Someone definitely lived in this valley a long time ago,’ he mused.
‘These lotuses must have been planted by them.
Their fragrance is so pure.’ The lotus seeds they bore were especially beautiful, looking translucent and crystalline.
Huang Yulang didn’t know what variety of lotus it was, but the flowers were extraordinarily beautiful.
Driven by curiosity, he picked two seeds and began to chew them slowly.
The seeds were fragrant in his mouth.
He chewed them for a moment and swallowed.
The next instant, a cool sensation spread through his stomach, immediately followed by a wave of energy that diffused throughout his entire body.
‘What is this?’ Startled, Huang Yulang quickly sat down cross-legged and began circulating his Qi Refining technique.
His Wood Attribute Spiritual Root seemed especially excited, greedily absorbing the surging energy within him.
In the span of just a few breaths, Huang Yulang was shocked to find that the effect was greater than what he could achieve from several hours of hard cultivation.
His spirits soared, and he threw himself wholeheartedly into his cultivation.
The energy from the two lotus seeds was immense.
Huang Yulang could clearly feel the ball of Spiritual Qi in his Dantian expanding rapidly—doubling, then growing five times larger, then ten times its original size…
In the end, it had grown a full fourteen-fold before the energy was completely exhausted.
Even so, his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root felt unsatiated, still buzzing with excitement.