Chapter 106: Battle the Shadow Tiger

Cang Luo saw Uesugi Emiko abandon him and run off alone, a touch of disappointment and loss, but he didn’t care.

Let her run—would I give up a fifth-rank beast core for her?

Come on.

What’s a girl compared to a fifth-rank beast core? What’s more important than boosting one’s own strength?

Besides, we’d only known each other for minutes, and she had a boyfriend—ignore her!

Cang Luo sighed, no longer paying attention to Uesugi Emiko, and focused intently on the nearby Shadow Tiger, silently activating the Body Annihilation Divine Art and beginning to charge the Dragon-Slaying Palm.

Not long after, the Shadow Tiger chased the Flame-Eating Wolf past the giant cedar where Cang Luo hid, then suddenly halted, whipping its head around to stare at the cedar.

It sensed living matter behind the tree!

Meanwhile, Erha spat out thick white smoke to conceal itself.

The Shadow Tiger was a fifth-rank beast; unlike low-rank beasts, it could detect prey not by sight, hearing, or smell, but by sensing spiritual energy.

In truth, the Shadow Tiger, still in its growth phase, shouldn’t have easily detected Cang Luo—but Cang Luo was now activated in Body Annihilation Divine Art, his entire body brimming with spiritual energy, radiating an imposing aura, which is why it noticed him.

“Roar!”

The Shadow Tiger let out a low growl, its eyes greedy as it stared at the cedar—it sensed the prey behind it was overflowing with spiritual energy, a tremendous boon to consume!

But then it remembered its master’s order: Feng Qingyun had commanded it to capture Uesugi Emiko...

“Roar! Roar!”

The Shadow Tiger hesitated, growling twice—behind it lay a delicious prey, ahead lay Uesugi Emiko fleeing desperately.

Eat first, or capture first?

The Shadow Tiger, a fifth-rank beast with considerable intelligence, frowned in deep thought, its tiger face displaying a human-like expression...

At that moment, Erha, hidden in the smoke, suddenly attacked, spitting multiple streams of flame at the Shadow Tiger.

After firing, Erha retreated back into the smoke—it dared not face the Shadow Tiger directly, fearing a single claw strike would kill it.

Cang Luo didn’t know the Shadow Tiger’s power, but Erha did; though Erha had never seen a Shadow Tiger before, as a beast, a first-rank beast, it instinctively feared higher-rank beasts.

Since the Nine Stars Swallowing the Moon, when spiritual energy appeared on the Yuanwu Continent, beasts that evolved into beasts had their genes deeply imprinted with fear of higher-rank beasts.

The Shadow Tiger saw the flames coming and flew into a rage—this cunning, weak first-rank beast, the Flame-Eating Wolf, had repeatedly provoked and obstructed it, yet never dared fight head-on, always hiding and dodging.

This was infuriating!

Have the guts to fight me face-to-face—if I don’t crush you with one claw, I’ll take your name!

“Roar!”

The Shadow Tiger roared, leaping aside to dodge the flames, then lunged into the smoke with its claws glowing with gray-metallic luster—too late, Erha had already vanished.

Inside the smoke, the Shadow Tiger nearly went berserk, wildly slashing its claws, each tipped with a layer of deep-blue spiritual aura that glowed faintly blue through the haze.

This aura, formed from Yin-element spiritual energy, possessed corrosive properties—any wound inflicted by it would let the aura seep into the body, slowly rotting it from within, excruciatingly painful.

If the victim failed to expel the corrosive aura in time—or couldn’t at all—they’d be completely rotted to death within half a minute.

That was why the Flame-Eating Wolf dared not fight it head-on, only harassing from afar.

In truth, if this Shadow Tiger were mature, it could project its corrosive aura externally—then it could simply cut the Flame-Eating Wolf to pieces with aura blasts, skipping the corrosion entirely.

But there was no “what if”—this Shadow Tiger still needed two or three more years to transition from growth phase to maturity, only then would it possess the true power of a fifth-rank beast.

At that moment, Erha, hiding in the shadows, spat out more flames—the Shadow Tiger instantly sensed it and dodged swiftly.

This repeated several times, and the Shadow Tiger felt utterly exhausted—it truly lived up to the human saying.

A tiger fallen to the plains is mocked by dogs!

The Shadow Tiger sighed helplessly, suddenly remembering its master’s command—capture the girl was urgent!

So it abandoned the Flame-Eating Wolf, cast one last glance at Uesugi Emiko’s retreating back, then sprinted after her.

Yet while the Shadow Tiger had no desire to fight, Erha grew more excited with every clash.

A fifth-rank beast isn’t even a match for me? It fled from me!

Hah! I’m so powerful—my master can only challenge one rank higher, but I can challenge four ranks higher!

“I’m so strong!”

“I’m also so strong!”

Seeing the Shadow Tiger trying to flee, Erha leaped ahead to block it, spitting more flames, grinning mockingly, then dashed swiftly toward Cang Luo’s position.

This time, the Shadow Tiger exploded in fury—it had been openly mocked by a first-rank beast.

“Roar! Roar! Roar...”

The Shadow Tiger let out a deafening roar that shook the heavens, sending nearby first- and second-rank beasts scrambling in panic.

A fifth-rank beast’s rage made low-rank beasts tremble in terror.

And Erha, right before it, was so terrified its hormones went haywire—its smoke vanished, its flames died, and it stumbled and fell.

The Shadow Tiger’s eyes lit up—this was my chance! Why didn’t I use my roar earlier? Why suffer so much?

Sigh! I’m still too young, lacking experience!

The next instant, the Shadow Tiger shot forward, lunging at Erha.

Erha, sprawled on the ground, turned its head—and its heart nearly shattered, trembling violently, unable to rise.

Just as Erha thought its life was over, two voices echoed instantly in its mind: Don’t fear—your master’s here!

Behind a nearby giant cedar, Cang Luo had finally waited for his chance—he’d already activated Body Annihilation Divine Art, Dragon-Slaying Palm fully charged, both palms fully charged.

In a flash, Cang Luo appeared behind the Shadow Tiger as it leapt upward, unleashing the Dragon-Slaying Palm fused with three elemental spiritual energies—two blows struck the beast’s abdomen in rapid succession.

BOOM!

The Shadow Tiger was flung backward, crashing hard to the ground, its belly caved in, ribs shattered, blood pouring from all seven orifices, its claw aura flickering weakly before vanishing entirely.

But the Shadow Tiger wasn’t dead yet—it groaned in agony, twitching, its eyes glazed.

Seeing this, Cang Luo immediately hurled his longsword, aided by dynamic tracking, piercing the Shadow Tiger’s eye with perfect accuracy.

Now, the Shadow Tiger was dead beyond doubt.

Cang Luo exhaled a long breath of blood-tinged qi, quickly dispelling Body Annihilation Divine Art and leaning against the tree to recover—no time even to harvest the core.

Compared to the importance of the beast core, Cang Luo was more thrilled by the power of Dragon-Slaying Palm and Body Annihilation Divine Art.

The Shadow Tiger was a fifth-rank beast; though still in growth phase, it possessed the combat strength of a top-tier second-rank beast.

A top-tier second-rank beast had just been obliterated by me in one strike!

“I’m so strong!”

“Body Annihilation Divine Art is so strong!”

“Dragon-Slaying Palm is so strong!”

Cang Luo mentally praised himself wildly...

Yet he knew that without Erha creating the opportunity, he could never have defeated the Shadow Tiger.

From the moment the Shadow Tiger appeared until its death, barely a minute had passed.

In that minute, Erha spent most of the time risking its life provoking the Shadow Tiger, solely to give Cang Luo the chance for a one-strike kill.

Erha was indispensable!

But Cang Luo wasn’t unscathed—he’d maintained the second-layer state of Body Annihilation Divine Art for a full minute; had he not found the kill opportunity within another minute, he would’ve abandoned the hunt.

He could only sustain second-layer Body Annihilation Divine Art for three minutes—two minutes was already near his limit; he had to reserve some strength to flee.

Minutes later, while recovering his injuries, Cang Luo suddenly frowned—someone was approaching!

No need for satellite scan—the person was already visible, no threat.

It was Uesugi Emiko!

Cang Luo froze—wasn’t she gone? Why did she come back?

Worried about me? Afraid I couldn’t defeat the Shadow Tiger, returning to help?

Fallen for me?

Cang Luo was stunned; Uesugi Emiko was stunned too, staring at the seven-orifice-bloodied Shadow Tiger.

The Shadow Tiger is dead?

Killed?

Who killed it?

Cang Jun?

Uesugi Emiko looked around in confusion—Cang Jun seemed injured, meditating; his beast companion, the two-headed Flame-Eating Wolf, was licking its own head nearby...

Aside from Cang Jun, his beast, and the dead Shadow Tiger, no one else was there.

Also, signs of battle were everywhere—fires still smoldered, surely from the Flame-Eating Wolf’s flames.

So the Shadow Tiger was killed by Cang Jun and his beast?

Could Cang Jun kill a Shadow Tiger?

Did Cang Jun conceal his cultivation? Is he more than a Warrior Nine?

Uesugi Emiko was so shocked she forgot why she’d returned.

Just now, the Shadow Tiger’s thunderous roar had terrified nearby first- and second-rank beasts into fleeing.

Unfortunately, Uesugi Emiko had run straight into a second-rank beast—she couldn’t fight it, forced to flee back—and found this scene instead.

Uesugi Emiko hurried to Cang Luo’s side, astonished: “Cang Jun, did you kill the Shadow Tiger?”

Cang Luo replied calmly: “Who else is here? Didn’t I tell you I had a way to kill the Shadow Tiger?”

Uesugi Emiko said nothing—she grabbed Cang Luo’s hand and sent a spiritual probe to examine his cultivation base.

Nine qi rings in gaseous form!

No mist-like appearance, no liquid consolidation—so he wasn’t a Warrior Nine, nor a Master Nine.

Her Yuan consciousness continued to probe, and she discovered that Cang Luo’s dantian was brimming with abundant Yuan energy.

Three attributes!

Cang Jun has cultivated three different elemental cultivation techniques!

Strange! Why is one stream of Yuan energy attributeless? What technique can absorb attributeless Yuan energy?

Did he ingest some elixir that hasn’t been fully absorbed yet?

At that moment, Cang Luo frowned, sensing a presence spying on him; he immediately focused his mind and forcibly expelled Shinsugi Emiko’s Yuan consciousness from his body.

Shinsugi Emiko was startled—his Yuan consciousness was incredibly powerful!

The next instant, she bowed deeply ninety degrees in apology: “Gosumi natsai! Gosumi natsai! Gosumi natsai...”

On the Yuan Wu Continent, there was an unspoken rule: one must not probe another’s dantian without permission.

A warrior’s dantian held too much information—it could reveal not only their exact cultivation base but also their cultivation technique through the stored Yuan energy, allowing one to identify their weaknesses.

It was acceptable for a high-tier to probe a low-tier, since the latter could not resist or retaliate.

But two warriors of equal strength could not do so—it would provoke hostility.

Why did you probe my dantian? Are you trying to find my weakness so you can kill me?

Of course, during battle, probing is allowed—if you can sense your opponent’s dantian in combat, that’s your skill.