Deep within the compact forest, Xiang Shaoyun brought his newfound companion, the striped tiger cub, back in the direction of its mother, intending to give it back. He was very clear that demonic beasts had their own sets of rules and feelings—as long as he did not hurt the tiger cub, he believed that the large beast would not do anything untoward to him.
Right now, the cub looked like it was having the time of its life. One moment, it would be jumping and prancing around Xiang Shaoyun, another moment and it would be playing among some rocks, and yet another moment, it would be rolling around in the grass.
Xiang Shaoyun could not be bothered to take care of it. He was on constant vigilance the whole time, waiting to see if any demonic beasts would pop up. A while later, the tiger cub emitted a loud meow, causing Xiang Shaoyun to inadvertently turn in that direction. He saw the cub happily nibbling away at a stalk of yellow ginseng, which was an old medicine it had dug out from god-knows-where.
“Friend, have mercy!” Xiang Shaoyun cried out in shock.
Alas, the cub’s mouth was too quick for him to react. Within a matter of moments, half the old medicine ended up in its stomach.
“Damn it.” Xiang Shaoyun’s expression changed. Grabbing the cub in his bosom, he made preparations to swiftly leave the area.
Screech!
An ear-piercing cry suddenly came from close by as a shadow suddenly leapt out of a hidden corner. The shadow was way too quick for Xiang Shaoyun to react to. The moment Xiang Shaoyun tried to get away with the cub, his shoulder was clawed by the fierce beast, and he bled fresh blood.
Enduring the pain caused by the scratch, Xiang Shaoyun gritted his teeth and tried to get away again. However, the creature once again charged straight at him, hard to even catch sight of. Without hesitation, Xiang Shaoyun jumped to the side, resulting in part of his clothes getting torn to shreds.
At that moment, Xiang Shaoyun finally got a clear view of the shadow that was attacking him. It was a blue marten, a creature with a body about half a meter long. Its blue fur was straight and upright, and it flashed its sharp teeth, staring furiously at Xiang Shaoyun.
To be more precise, it was actually staring at the striped tiger cub in Xiang Shaoyun’s hands. It was the guardian of the yellow ginseng, an extremely important old medicine for its bloodline. Never had it imagined that it would be eaten by this small brat!
This blue marten was a tier-2 Intermediate Demon, comparable to a regular second-stage Astral Realm cultivator. Luckily for Xiang Shaoyun, the blue marten’s offensive power was not its strong suit, or he would’ve been dead meat. It specialized in speed, making it almost as fast as lightning. Normal Astral Realm cultivators would not be able to escape once it had locked onto them.
Screech!
Crying out once again, the blue marten charged at Xiang Shaoyun, increasing its speed by yet another level. It seemed to want to kill both Xiang Shaoyun and the striped tiger cub at once!
Gift of instincts!
Knowing that he had nowhere to run, Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes began to glow, focusing on the blue marten. As he entered a state similar to deep meditation, Xiang Shaoyun’s gift of instincts allowed him to clearly discern the speed and angle from which the blue marten was coming from.
Gale Winds Kick!
A quick kick whipped out, containing all the strength he could send out externally. He wanted to completely incapacitate, if not outright kill, the blue marten with a single kick. Only, the blue marten somehow managed to change direction midair, narrowly dodging Xiang Shaoyun’s kick before charging at him from yet another angle.
Si!
Xiang Shaoyun’s arm was deeply cut; he could almost see the white bone.
“Get lost!” Xiang Shaoyun bellowed, utterly enraged. He sent out kick after kick, forcing the blue marten back quite some distance.
Xiang Shaoyun proceeded to use offense as his defense, sending a barrage of Gale Winds Kicks at the marten. Each kick carried with it 500 kilograms of weight, causing ripples in the air.
The blue marten, however, was way too fast. No matter what he did, his kicks would not connect. At this moment, the blue marten once again seized the opportunity and leapt straight at the tiger cub in Xiang Shaoyun’s hands. It seemed like it wanted to murder the cub that ate its yellow ginseng before anything else.
Xiang Shaoyun’s gift of instinct was not able to react in time. The blue marten’s claws were barely an inch away from the tiger cub, about to claw it to death.
Roar!
All of a sudden, the cub’s cries seemed to become much more imposing, as if it were the king of the forest. Its overbearing aura spread out, striking the opposing party with fear. Although the blue marten was a tier-2 Intermediate Demon, it was scared by the indomitable roar of the king of the forest. It cowered momentarily, not daring to attack the small tiger.
Xiang Shaoyun grasped this once in a thousand opportunity and sent a finger straight at it.
Star Destroying Finger!
Pow!
The blue marten’s strong suit was its speed in combat. However, it was on the weaker side in terms of attack and defensive power. Hence, it was injured by Xiang Shaoyun’s attack. That being said, the blue marten was rather tenacious. After crying out in pain, it escaped into the grass and vanished from sight.
Xiang Shaoyun chose not to press his attack. Blood was rapidly flowing from his body; if he did not deal with the blood soon, it would pose a danger. After he finished briefly wrapping his wound, he turned to look at the cub. When he caught sight of it, it was clawing at a patch of soil.
Eyes shining, he quickly ran over and lifted the cub over to one side. He then began to quickly tear the patch of soil apart, his face glowing with excitement, “S-such a big stalk of yellow ginseng! It looks like it’s just barely 300 years old! It qualifies as a spirit medicine!”
“Meow!”
The cub cried out in dissatisfaction. It had once again reverted to having a cute little kitty’s meow, a far cry from the imposing manner it struck just now.
“Kid, you already ate a stalk of yellow ginseng, leave this one for me. Count it as payment for my troubles,” Xiang Shaoyun said to the tiger cub.
This particular ginseng had the benefit of having been through years of cultivation. It contained numerous benefits in tempering a martial artist’s body, and it could fetch a price of more than 3,000 gold.
Wrapping up the yellow ginseng well, Xiang Shaoyun continued to bring the tiger cub back to its mother. As the two of them drew nearer to the place where he had seen the adult tiger, all he saw was a bloody mess of flesh and meat, a very disgusting sight to behold. Although he had killed small demonic beasts before, Xiang Shaoyun had never once killed a person. Seeing the carnage that had unfolded, he could not help but feel nauseous.
“It’s not like I’ve never seen a dead person. How many people have already died for me? Isn’t the path of the overlord littered with such occurrences? I, Xiang Shaoyun, can handle all this,” Xiang Shaoyun resolved and said as he swallowed his saliva.
His eyes then fell on a sword lying beside the dead man. Picking it up, he exclaimed, “This is a tier-2 sword! I should keep it with me.”
Following that, he caught sight of a bag stuffed with items near the dead man. Running over, he grabbed the bag and opened it. Once he caught sight of its contents, he gasped and said, “This guy’s earnings were quite substantial alright. He actually has quite a few old medicines! What a pity, they all belong to me now!”
Looking through the items again, he found that apart from a huge number of old medicines, there was a jade bottle containing four healing pills, as well as a few golden notes and a battle technique.
“Is this a wealth bestowed upon me by the heavens?” Xiang Shaoyun laughed gleefully. Just as he was about to wrap the items up again, he heard a faint rustling and stiffened up.
Whistle!
Out of the blue, a blast of wind shot out from nowhere, heading straight for the back of his head.