Chapter 237: Tiger Born with Twin Wings, Horns Looming Majestic (Combined Chapter)

In the mountain forest, beast roars and bird cries rose from time to time, mingled with the buzzing of all manner of poisonous insects.

Looking down from a high vantage, the entire stretch of forest seemed to be covered by a thick black blanket; poisonous insects and fierce beasts had gathered together, dense as a tide surging and churning.

Whoosh!

Leaping down from the treetop, Li Yuan had already taken command of three pairs of fifth-tier and two pairs of fourth-tier boots at once, working in concert with the Chen Shan Zhong heavy hammer and the Fire Dragon Sword; his preparations were very thorough.

With five pairs of boots upon him, Li Yuan felt his whole body as light as if it weighed nothing; even the faint breezes around him seemed to lend him force, and he moved with the wind, drifting over a hundred meters in a single bound.

"White Sandalwood Spirit Sheep?"

A sweep of Li Yuan's peripheral vision caught, on one side of the deep ravine, a hairless spirit sheep standing atop a hillock, a full twelve feet tall and rippling with muscle; farther off, an even larger Spirit Fire Lin-ox prowled through the dense forest.

Within the beast tide, one spirit beast after another was mixed in, watching with predatory eyes.

Mountain wild beasts are often drawn by heavenly materials and earthly treasures, but what could attract this many wild beasts and spirit beasts was surely no ordinary spirit item.

Li Yuan's thoughts turned, and his interest only deepened.

The beast herds outside the deep ravine were dense, but his speed was so great that even brushing past them, only a very few spirit beasts grew alert—and even those had no time to block him.

After a few rises and falls, Li Yuan had circled to one side of the deep ravine; looking down from here, he could see the ravine's interior lush with grass and trees—though it was only early spring, it had the luxuriance of midsummer.

A great python, thick as a water vat and grey-green all over, was coiled around a massive tree at the ravine's mouth; its pale-gold vertical pupils swept its surroundings, and its crimson forked tongue was as thick as an adult man's thigh.

"Green Treasure Python!"

This great python was recorded in Mount Hengshan's Ten Thousand Beasts Ranking, belonging to the thousand-gold tier; its flesh and blood were greatly nourishing, its snake gall renowned, and its hide the primary material for crafting famous-grade long whips.

A Green Treasure Python King was ranked even higher, at the ten-thousand-gold tier.

"As thick as a water bucket, about twenty meters long—this counts as a quasi-Python King; worth no less than nine thousand taels of gold."

A python's strength is tremendous; if it coils around you, even someone at the Great Success of Meridian Opening couldn't withstand it. And this is a rare venomous python—its venom is terrifyingly potent, enough to kill even a Viscera Refinement expert…"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and halted his steps: "No wonder even the beast tide doesn't dare enter the ravine—this is a snake den…"

Behind this great python, the deep ravine unexpectedly held dozens more Green Treasure Pythons of varying sizes; beyond them were all manner of venomous snakes—thousands upon tens of thousands, countless—enough to make anyone's hair stand on end at the sight.

The cliff face here was very tall; Li Yuan seized an old vine at its midpoint and hung suspended in midair. He surveyed the deep ravine, and quickly locked onto his target.

Deep in the valley, amid the encircling serpents, there grew a small tree on the cliff wall, roughly two meters tall, with only slender tender branches bearing a dozen or so fist-sized fruits, half black and half silver.

"Could it be the Flood Dragon Blood Golden Body Fruit?"

From a great distance, Li Yuan studied it; the fruit and tree did resemble a species he had once seen in a book.

The Flood Dragon Blood Golden Body Fruit was the primary ingredient for refining the body-tempering spirit pill 'Jin Shendan'; it was said to require bathing in a flood dragon's blood to grow—ten years black, a hundred years silver, five hundred years gold.

"Mostly silver, with only a ring of black—this is at least eighty or ninety years of medicinal age. It's said that when spirit beasts consume this fruit, it has the effect of purifying their bloodlines; no wonder it's attracted so many wild beasts and spirit beasts."

Li Yuan's mind began to work; even if the fruit were only worth a thousand gold, the main point was that spirit pills aiding body tempering were the rarest of all pill types.

"A dozen or so fruits—at the very least enough to refine seven or eight batches of Jin Shendan…"

"Roar!"

While Li Yuan was speculating in his heart, he suddenly heard a low, rumbling roar.

He followed the sound and saw the great Green Treasure Python coiled at the valley mouth suddenly raise its head; outside the valley, in the night, dark shadows could be seen darting in from afar, exceedingly agile and swift.

"People?"

Li Yuan started in shock, then immediately saw that though those shadows came upright on two legs, they were actually a troop of burly, powerfully built black apes.

Each stood over two meters tall, some twenty or thirty in number; and the one bringing up the rear was a towering five or six meters tall, tusks jutting outward, ferociously savage.

"Ghost-Face Apes, huh—a quasi-Ape King?"

Li Yuan recognized them.

Those black apes had features vaguely resembling a human's; their bodies were pitch-black, but their faces bore white markings—at first glance, very eerie, and very easy to identify.

"This mountain actually hides so many Ghost-Face Apes?"

Li Yuan had a deep impression of Ghost-Face Apes, mainly because this tribe of spirit apes had the habit of gathering spirit fruits and brewing fruit wine—wines that ranked among the famous wines of the world.

Many sects would deliberately keep a stock of Ghost-Face Apes for brewing wine…

"Could they belong to someone?"

While Li Yuan's thoughts were turning, another low roar sounded from outside the valley:

"Roar!"

The valley boiled as dozens of Green Treasure Pythons surged toward the valley mouth.

At the valley mouth, that quasi-Ape King of five or six meters wrenched up a great tree and smashed wildly with it, blocking all the pythons inside.

The remaining Ghost-Face Apes, meanwhile, nimbly scrambled up the cliff walls on both sides, and then boulders and great trees came tumbling down.

"These monkeys are too despicable!"

Li Yuan, hanging from the cliff face, cursed under his breath and had no choice but to dart and dodge, evading the rolling boulders and massive logs, swatting them aside as he went and incidentally smashing great swathes of venomous snakes dead.

"Aoo-yo-yo!"

Outside the valley, the Ghost-Face Apes shrieked in excitement.

With their movement, the other already-restless spirit beasts, swept up in the beast herds, also surged toward the valley's interior.

Before Li Yuan's feet had even touched the ground, he saw from all directions wild beasts of every kind, together with boulders and great trees, raining down into the valley's snake horde like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

"Hiss-hiss!"

The great python coiled on the old tree flew into a rage, whipping its tail frantically; boulders were sent flying like cannonballs, and where they landed, blood and mud splattered in all directions—countless wild beasts and poisonous insects were smashed into pulp.

The quasi-Python King roared and went to battle with that great ape.

"Squeak-squeak-squeak~"

The little mouse hidden in Li Yuan's sleeve also let out an excited shriek.

Outside the valley, the mouse tide composed of all manner of rats also erupted into chaos…

"…What are you joining the fun for."

Li Yuan swept up his sleeve in one motion, casually drew out a long spear, and swept it in a half-circle, knocking aside the rolling boulders and various wild beasts.

But even more wild beasts and venomous insects were swept along, shoved and jostled, falling from the sky like raindrops in a constant 'crack-crack-rattle'—who knew how many had smashed themselves to death.

Li Yuan looked up and saw those twenty or thirty Ghost-Face Apes, each gripping a large tree, wildly swinging them to shove even more beasts down.

"The smartest of them all really are the monkeys…"

Li Yuan stepped off the cliff wall without landing, a long spear in his hands dancing so tightly not even water could seep through, unhurried as he made his way toward the Golden Body Fruit.

With the boost of five pairs of boots, he advanced and retreated with ease; though wild beasts and venomous insects filled the sky, none could come close to him.

Boom!

Li Yuan flicked his wrist, and a wild boar weighing a good eight hundred jin was sent flying by his spear, hurled toward the Golden Body Fruit tree over thirty meters away.

"Roar!"

Before the boar even hit the ground, Li Yuan already heard a furious bellow—another giant ape, five or six meters tall, leapt down, gripped a great tree, and with a 'boom' sent the boar flying.

It charged straight toward the Golden Body Fruit tree.

Almost at the same instant, Li Yuan caught a flicker of green, the earth trembled, mud and sand flew, and a giant python—far larger than the one at the valley mouth—burst forth,

erupting from the ground and in a single strike pinning that shrieking giant ape down into the valley.

Boom!

Boom!

The two giant beasts fought savagely inside the valley, dirt and stone flying everywhere.

"Blocking the gate, throwing stones, driving the beasts, ambushes, hidden traps… these spirit beasts are really about to become sentient."

Li Yuan halted, clicking his tongue in wonder.

That giant python had hidden itself well, but when he had looked down from above earlier, he had already spotted something off—within a good ten zhang of the Golden Body Fruit tree, not even a single venomous snake could be found.

Too clean—naturally, it seemed abnormal.

He had tossed that boar over intending to lure the python out, but hadn't expected a giant ape to also be lurking in ambush.

"Smarter than even Senior Brother…"

Li Yuan shifted position, dodging the battling giant beasts, weaving through the beast tide; with the blessing of his Sword Heart Clarity, no matter how deep the night, he had every detail of his surroundings perfectly clear.

With the boost of five pairs of boots, he activated the Divine Foot Sutra; the beast tide was in chaos, yet he remained unhurried, shifting and dodging, strolling as if through an empty courtyard.

"Roar!"

Before long, an angry bellow came from outside the valley—the giant ape that had been drawing the Green-Gem Python's attention smashed down the quasi-Python King, but was itself locked in its deathly coils.

The giant ape inside the valley roared at the sight, and the twenty or thirty Ghost-Face Apes on the cliff finally could hold back no longer, all leaping down to attack.

The great battle among the spirit beasts fully erupted.

Li Yuan seized the moment, leaping in one bound to the cliff wall, his internal force bursting forth, scattering a great swath of venomous snakes, his five fingers spread wide as he grabbed for those Golden Body Fruits.

Pick the fruit, don't uproot the tree.

Daoist Master Li had his principles; in the flash of an instant, he had already made his decision.

"Whoosh!"

Daoist Master Li moved fast; the battling giant beasts and venomous snakes noticed nothing, and a Golden Body Fruit was already clutched in his hand by qi.

But the moment he got one, his eyelid twitched.

A black shadow pounced onto the tree even faster than he was, and with a 'crack' it even snapped the trunk…

"Damn!"

Li Yuan was furious—stealing food right from the tiger's mouth?

Without thinking he grabbed at that black shadow, but only felt his vision blur; the shadow vanished into thin air right before his eyes, and when it reappeared, it was already up on the cliff wall.

"That fast?"

Li Yuan was startled and looked up.

But in the night, atop a strange rock, the fruit thief stopped—it was a small tiger, its fur half black, half white.

But it looked far too small, not at all like a tiger, more like a suckling kitten that hadn't been weaned yet…

"A cow-patterned cat?!"

That was the thought that popped into Li Yuan's mind.

On the strange rock, the little tiger shaped like a cow-patterned kitten turned its head with the fruit tree still in its mouth, and in its stark black-and-white eyes there was unmistakable disdain and fury.

"Roar!"

In that instant's delay, beast roars thundered like lightning, the entire valley boiled over, and every wild beast and spirit beast charged at Li Yuan in unison, their movements so perfectly coordinated it was as if precisely commanded.

"I'm damn—!"

Daoist Master Li was so angry he blurted out a curse.

【108】 These wild beasts completely ignored the real fruit thief and all came for him?

He tapped his foot, and a spear-light burst forth from his long spear; in a single strike, blood drifted across the valley, the long staff swung like a hammer, its momentum like a landslide.

Several Ghost-Face Apes were snapped clean at the waist; with another twist, he smashed two Green-Gem Pythons to the ground, but he didn't linger—borrowing the force, he launched himself into the air,

and before those giant beasts could pounce on him, he burst forth at full speed, charging toward that absurdly fast little tiger.

"Don't even think about running!"

Daoist Master Li raged, bursting forth at full speed, swift as wind and lightning.

The cliff wall was a good three hundred zhang tall, yet he only borrowed force three times before shooting out; behind him, air exploded like thunder, gusting wind rolled, blowing over countless venomous snakes and fierce beasts.

With two pairs of fourth-tier boots plus the Divine Foot Sutra, Li Yuan's speed was already a notch faster than Old Han in his divine armor, let alone now augmented by three more pairs of fifth-tier boots?

He didn't even dare go all-out—his internal qi resisting the gale was draining terrifyingly fast, as if locked in a death match.

He didn't even dare to unleash his full power—channeling internal energy just to withstand the gale drained him at a terrifying rate, as though he were locked in a life-and-death battle.

A thunderous qi explosion blasted a hundred meters behind him.

Li Yuan leapt out of the valley, borrowing force from an old tree on the side to dive down; the gale rolled, and great swathes of grass and trees were pressed flat, all bending in unison.

Li Yuan leaped out of the valley, used an old tree to the side to propel himself downward in a rush; the forceful wind rolled, and vast patches of grass and trees were all pressed into bowing in unison.

"Mm?"

The little tiger running in the mountain stream turned back, saw this scene, looked somewhat surprised in a human-like way, then twisted its body and ran into the mountains.

"A weaned little tiger, yet it runs this fast?!"

Li Yuan, who was chasing relentlessly, was somewhat shocked; this little tiger dodged and changed direction back and forth in the mountain stream, its speed not as good as his, but compared to Old Han, it was probably a notch faster?

"If I didn't have these three pairs of fifth-tier boots, I still couldn't catch it?!"

Li Yuan felt delighted in his heart; could this be encountering some legendary strange beast?

"At least it must be a third-tier 'Priceless' spiritual beast?"

The thought flashed through, Li Yuan's already extremely fast speed increased a few more points, he casually stuffed a handful of superior Yuan-Returning Pills into his mouth, and chased after it tightly.

In less than half a minute, Li Yuan had already vaulted over several mountain peaks, passed through more than ten dense forest valleys.

"Caught up!"

Li Yuan focused his spirit and mind.

Less than a hundred meters away, that little tiger was already very panicked, even dropping the fruit tree it had snatched, and Li Yuan saw clearly, this tiger cub was truly the size of a small milk cat.

On its black-and-white mixed back, there seemed to be a pair of very small wings?

A tiger born with wings?!

"Flying Bear? Qiongqi?"

Li Yuan's heart pounded with excitement; a tiger born with wings, how much better was it than Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong's falcon?

Whoosh!

The thought turning in his mind did not delay Li Yuan from casually picking up the fruit tree, although that little tiger took the opportunity to dodge several more times.

But in just over ten seconds, Li Yuan had caught up, spread his five fingers, internal energy like a net, covering it beneath his five fingers.

"Awooo!"

The little tiger seemed to sense something, its fur bristled all over, fiercely turning back, biting hard at Li Yuan's outstretched palm.

"So cute!"

Li Yuan, who already regarded it as something in his bag, felt no fierceness at all, his face full of a smile from the bottom of his heart, even afraid of scratching this little thing, so he reduced his strength a bit.

But very quickly, his expression changed.

"This little thing..."

Li Yuan's pupils contracted; when his extended internal energy touched that little tiger, it was as if a mud ox entered the sea, instantly disappearing without a trace?

"Crack!"

A palm-sized little thing, yet the sound of its teeth closing was very loud.

Li Yuan dropped his long spear, both hands came out together, Chen Shan Zhong hammer enhanced, internal energy erupted, this was the Eagle Claw Great Grasp.

He embodied more than thirty forms, Great Expansion of Form perfected, all kinds of Wu Gong were already practiced to the point of flowing naturally, casually deploying them with all forms following each other, balancing speed, strength, and flexibility.

Whoosh whoosh~

Amidst the whistling strong wind, the little tiger jumped left and right, actually dodging them all.

"A divine beast!"

The harder he failed to catch it, the more Li Yuan's heart beat; at a certain moment, he exerted force under his feet, inside his chest seemed to explode with the sound of a tiger roar, his body suddenly expanded several times.

His two hands were even as large as palm fans, obviously activating the Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon!

"Awooo!"

Finally, accompanied by a startled, angry, and childish tiger roar, Li Yuan 'Bang' landed on the edge of the cliff, just a little bit short, this little thing was about to jump off the cliff.

"Hah!"

Li Yuan opened his mouth, scalding breath sprayed out more than three meters, the air jet also seemed to condense and not disperse.

The redness on his face and body gradually receded, suddenly feeling his whole body sore and painful, actually having a feeling of exhaustion from fighting many battles.

"Finally caught it!"

Li Yuan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then looked at the 'milk cat' he was holding in his hands.

"It really looks like a cow cat!"

Borrowing the weak starlight, Li Yuan looked at that little thing with an unyielding face, his heart making sounds of wonder.

Supposedly, even a cub, a tiger's appearance is much more rugged than a cat's, but this tiger cub in his hand was very 'delicate', more refined than the cat he raised in his past life.

The fur was smooth and not prickly, a pair of black-and-white distinct eyes were even clear and lively, the only flaw was, right now full of angry fire, currently bristling, 'Mm mm' calling.

"Still want to bite me? Such great strength!"

Daoist Li looked at it happily, his two hands tightly gripping, this little thing naturally could not break free.

He flipped over its back, discovered that the pair of small meat wings seen earlier seemed to have retracted, only two very small traces hidden deep in the fur.

Moreover, he discovered that beside this little fellow's ears, there were two not very obvious protrusions.

"Don't tell me there are horns too?"

Li Yuan thought for a moment, this little fellow's characteristics did not match many tiger-shaped spiritual beasts he knew.

"Mm mm~"

The little tiger cub was still struggling, the force was great, claws and teeth sharp, Li Yuan grabbed the fur on its nape but it was still not obedient, claws and teeth waving, eyes full of angry fire as if it were substantial.

"Spiritual energy is too abundant, this look in the eyes..."

Li Yuan was in a good mood, didn't look closely, one hand holding up the tiger cub, heading towards the place he came from, those spiritual beasts' value could also be very high.

Encountered it, couldn't possibly miss it.

Whoosh whoosh~

In the night wind, Li Yuan stepped like the wind.

The little tiger cub, at some unknown time, had already calmed down, staring at him fiercely, in the depths of its eyes it seemed there was a fire burning.

"The mountain is still cold."

Li Yuan circulated his internal Qi to dispel the chill; he had run too fast on the road, and his clothes were torn with a pile of holes.

"Roar!"

"Hiss!"

Li Yuan turned back, hearing the beast's roar from afar, along with the Ghost-Faced Apes retreating in defeat.

Two giant pythons hung their heads, their bodies covered in wounds; inside and outside the valley, the mountains and fields were littered with the corpses of wild beasts, as well as other wild beasts gnawing on the corpses.

"Truly worthy of a quasi-Beast King; fought for so long and still didn't die."

Li Yuan watched from afar as the snake tide surged within the snake den, covering the corpses of the wild beasts and dragging away the bodies of at least seven or eight spiritual beasts.

Only a dozen or so Green Treasure Pythons remained, guarding the valley with the two quasi-Python Kings, all extremely vigilant.

"I could kill them..."

Li Yuan glanced at the little tiger cub in his hand, which had quieted down but was actually ready to flee at any moment, and decided it was better not to take the risk.

He turned and left, soon returning to the ruined temple to wake Han Han Chuijun and Feng Feng Zhongyi.

"Dozens of Green Treasure Pythons? More than half dead, and two quasi-Python Kings?"

Han Han Chuijun, who hadn't been sleeping, stretched and stood up, his eyes showing some astonishment: "Is this a Golden Body Fruit?"

"Only a black rim remains; at least eighty years of medicinal age. One is worth at least thirteen hundred gold. A fine thing!"

Feng Feng Zhongyi and the others also gathered around.

"This spiritual cat is rare indeed; looks like a tiger cub. Tsk, it's full of spiritual intelligence, isn't it?"

Han Han Chuijun glanced at the little cat, no longer caring much, and signaled for Li Yuan to lead the way.

Everyone was very interested.

Li Yuan led the way back; soon, sounds of battle erupted from within the valley. Han Han Chuijun didn't even use his Divine Armor, only smashing two quasi-Python Kings to death with a single Wind-Thunder Hand Hammer.

"These small pythons are worth a thousand gold or more each; these two large ones are worth at least eight or nine thousand gold!"

"Bai Tan Spiritual Sheep, Spiritual Fire Ling Ox... these few types of spiritual beasts are also worth several hundred gold!"

"There are more over here, and more over here..."

Inside the valley, the Divine Weapon Valley disciples cleaning up the battlefield were all very excited.

Spiritual beasts are rare; clusters of spiritual beasts are even rarer. With so many spiritual beasts, even if the meat couldn't be carried away, it was still a huge windfall.

"Come help quickly!"

Fang Fang Yunxiu skillfully skinned the beasts and extracted their gallbladders; seeing this, the other disciples also joined in.

"Strange..."

Li Yuan carefully scanned the surroundings, heard Han Han Chuijun's voice, turned back, and found Old Han standing beside the Golden Body Fruit tree, his brows tightly furrowed.

"What have you discovered, elder?"

Li Yuan looked over curiously but saw nothing unusual.

"Jiao Blood Golden Body Fruit; as the name suggests, without the irrigation of Jiao Dragon blood, this tree could not grow. Therefore, Golden Body Fruits are very rare. These Green Treasure Pythons do not possess Jiao Dragon bloodlines; how did this tree grow?"

Han Han Chuijun reached out and pulled the tree out; upon examining it closely, his brows furrowed even more:

"Look at this tree..."

"This tree?"

Li Yuan was stunned; his knowledge of spiritual herbs and fruits was limited to books, and he truly didn't understand much.

"Hmm?"

Feng Feng Zhongyi walked over; he noticed the problem at a glance:

"This tree has grown for at most a few months!"

"A few months? This..."

Li Yuan's expression changed; the fruit was eighty or ninety years old, so how could the tree be only a few months old?

"The first possibility is that someone irrigated it day and night with a massive amount of Jiao Dragon blood. The second possibility is that a dragon beast of extremely high rank shed blood here..."

Han Han Chuijun's voice was low: "There are only three possibilities."

"That shouldn't be the case, right?"

Feng Feng Zhongyi felt a shiver of fear: "This isn't some treasure land; who would irrigate a Golden Body Fruit tree here? And with no one guarding it?"

"The second possibility is even more impossible..."

"Extremely high rank?"

Li Yuan looked down at the little tiger cub; the latter was watching Old Han very quietly, as if listening too, which made Li Yuan find it somewhat amusing and feel he was overthinking it.

Let alone that this little fellow isn't a dragon; even if it were, would it shed blood to nourish the tree only to steal the fruit?

"What about the third possibility?"

Li Yuan asked.

"The third? The third is even more impossible."

Han Han Chuijun shook his head slightly: "In legend, the Earthly Immortals who can alter their forms possess blood like that of true divine beasts. If an Earthly Immortal who has altered his form into a divine dragon shed blood here..."

"Earthly Immortal?"

Li Yuan and Feng Feng Zhongyi exchanged glances; to them, these words were already legends.

"Could it be Grand Master Long Long Yingchan? It is said that he..."

"Go!"

While the two were still pondering, Han Han Chuijun had already issued a decisive order, urging everyone:

"Don't take the flesh and blood; only take the bones, skin, and tendons..."

Without lingering long, they hastily packed up and left, carrying large and small bundles on their backs.

Li Yuan carried several hundred jin of quasi-python king meat; he turned back to see Old Han standing on the mountain stream, setting a fire. Before long, thick smoke billowed, and flames shot toward the sky.

After erasing everyone's tracks, Han Han Chuijun floated up to catch up, and on the way, he doubled back to the ruined temple to sweep away everyone's traces there as well.

"So cautious..."

Li Yuan silently noted this.

"Caution never hurts; this valley just feels somehow off."

Watching the smoke shoot toward the sky, Han Han Chuijun felt slightly relieved. He glanced at his disciples and finally understood the source of his unease.

Too many people, too many mouths.

'When traveling, having many people is inconvenient.'

Han Han Chuijun sighed inwardly and urged everyone to hurry on. They did not stop at dawn, nor did they enter any city; they walked straight until the sky darkened again.

Only then did they find a small town to rest in.

"Many people are inconvenient."

Han Han Chuijun shook his head inwardly. By his judgment, they should have walked for several more days, but for now, they could only rest temporarily.

"Master, have you discovered something?"

Having traveled for two days and one night without sleep, Li Yuan was also somewhat weary. Still carrying the little tiger cub, he came to Han Han Chuijun's room; he had wanted to ask on the road.

"You are indeed sharp."

Glancing at Li Yuan, who had closed the doors and windows, Han Han Chuijun sat down and drank tea.

"It is rare to see you so cautious; this disciple is truly puzzled."

Li Yuan set down the little tiger cub. On the road, he had woven a small rope from the quasi-python king's skin, tying one end to the cub and the other to his own wrist.

"Hide when one should hide, reveal when one should reveal."

Han Han Chuijun glanced at the little tiger cub; he could sense the beast was extraordinary, yet he still could not identify what kind of beast it was.

"That Dragon-Blood Golden Body Fruit Tree..."

Han Han Chuijun transmitted his voice secretly, very cautiously: "Of the three possibilities I mentioned earlier, which do you think is more likely?"

The method of secret voice transmission exists within the Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound; Li Yuan had learned it too, so he now transmitted his voice as well:

"The first one?"

"How so?"

Han Han Chuijun gave no definite answer.

"When this disciple entered the mountains, I saw many Ghost-Faced Apes. These spiritual beasts are often kept in captivity; perhaps that mountain range is a beast-rearing ground for some sect?"

Li Yuan answered; he had pondered this on the road and felt that compared to the second and third, the first possibility was the most plausible.

"What do you think, Master?"

"I think..."

Han Han Chuijun paused slightly: "The third one!"

"A, a Land Immortal?"

Li Yuan's heart jumped: "Are you saying?"

"Ten Thousand Beasts Sit in Forgetfulness, Dragon-Demon Heart Sutra!"

Han Han Chuijun lowered his eyelids, his voice somewhat turbulent: "For several months, there have been rumors that the Master of the Star-Picking Tower was severely injured and fled toward the Hengshan Circuit..."

Towards Li Yuan, Han Han Chuijun had no intention of hiding anything; he recounted the intelligence he possessed.

"This..."

Li Yuan felt a chill of fear.

It was not because the Master of the Star-Picking Tower fled to the Hengshan Circuit, but because of what Old Han implied: is the blood of a Land Immortal superior to the blood of a true dragon?

"Among the Grand Masters of the Divine List, surely there are not a few who cultivate the Dragon Form?"

"But those few could not possibly appear in Youzhou at this time, and injured... It must be that their essence blood dripped down to nourish the Golden Body Fruit Tree!"

Master and disciple transmitted their voices secretly; the room fell into silence.

The tied-up little tiger cub lay in the corner, its two ears pricked up as if listening to something, occasionally looking at the master and disciple pair and licking its lips.

Wuu!

In the night wind, a crested eagle dove down from the sea of clouds, piercing through the lingering wisps of smoke, crossing the continuous mountain range, and landing in a manor on the other side of the mountains.

"Hmm?"

An old man sensed the wind sound, tapped his foot, caught the crested eagle, and took down the letter. Just as he was about to read it, he suddenly felt a flash of red light before his eyes. His expression instantly changed, and he knelt and prostrated himself on the ground:

"Tangfutang Deputy Tang Master Yu Yu Banzhou of Youzhoufentang, respectfully welcomes the Dragon King's descent!"

Buzz!

Red light flowed across the letter, transforming into a tall, entirely crimson figure.

The Chi Yan Fa King turned his body, gazing at the continuous mountain range behind the manor, his voice low as a mosquito's hum:

"Master of the Star-Picking Tower, Qin Li Shixian..."