Chapter 11: Black Tiger Beast

With the speed of flying on a sword, Su Zhangqing only spent about an hour traveling the tens of kilometers to reach this mountain region.

"It seems this is the Jiuyin Mountain I was looking for."

Su Zhangqing curiously sized up the mountain range beneath him from high in the sky.

He saw that the mountain range was exactly as Master Shuiyue had described.

The terrain was incomparably steep, with precipitous cliffs and dangerous paths everywhere; thick mists shrouded and concealed parts of the mountain range, and apart from a few peaks that towered into the clouds, it was impossible to see the situation at the foot or on the slopes of the mountains.

Most peculiar of all, fierce beasts would let out wild roars from time to time, which made one feel terrified upon hearing them.

If it were an ordinary mortal, they would likely find it difficult to climb up, let alone survive inside; only cultivators who could fly on swords would be able to enter.

Su Zhangqing felt no fear; he stepped on his Flying Sword, passed through the shrouding clouds, flew directly toward the mountainside, and found a relatively open area to land.

As soon as he landed, he saw a strange, small deer with four horns; indeed, there were many spirit beasts and monsters here, but this first deer he encountered looked harmless and instead ran away, startled by him.

Su Zhangqing was not in a hurry to find the Huanglan Narcissus; he had to seize the opportunity of this first time leaving the mountain to relax properly.

Afterwards, one could see a youth in white clothes wandering alone through the steep Jiuyin Mountain, occasionally picking some medicinal herbs recorded in the classics.

"By the way, come to think of it, ever since I began cultivating, I haven't had a real battle with anyone. Now that I am about to break through my realm, I don't even know what my true level is."

"Why not find a monster to test my skills?"

As Su Zhangqing walked, he suddenly thought of this and muttered to himself.

Once this thought emerged, Su Zhangqing felt his hands itching more and more, and he couldn't wait to practice his results immediately.

Su Zhangqing hurriedly started running, wanting to find a monster to satisfy his idea.

However, he had not even taken two steps when he heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes; just as Su Zhangqing was preparing to step forward to investigate what was making the noise, a huge black shadow jumped out from the bushes in the next second.

"Roar!"

The huge black shadow let out a heaven-shaking roar, instantly causing the forest and bushes to sway and rustle; countless birds and spirit beasts were intimidated by this roar and scattered in all directions, and the sound of the roar continued to echo through the cliffs.

Su Zhangqing, however, felt no fear; his previously relaxed expression became serious, and he fixed his eyes on the huge black shadow to size it up.

He saw that this huge black shadow was a black tiger.

This tiger beast looked to be about three or four meters long, its entire body was incredibly tall and strong, there was a large "King" shaped white spot on its forehead, its whole body was covered in black fur like a suit of black silk brocade, its four limbs and five claws were thick and massive, the tips of its claws looked extremely sharp, and it had a thick, long tail that swayed according to its will like a black steel whip.

It looked extremely mighty and majestic, worthy of being the king of all beasts.

Only then did Su Zhangqing remember that he had seen this kind of monster in the Qingyun Sect classics, where it was named the Black Tiger Beast.

Unlike ordinary tigers, the Black Tiger Beast was a monster born with a spirit root, and it could cultivate; once it grew through cultivation, it could not only develop intelligence, but its highest realm could reach the Golden Core Realm, and with this alone, it could occupy a mountain range and be called the king of the mountains.

It was a monster of no small strength.

Furthermore, according to the records, the Black Tiger Beast had a cruel temperament; it would not only prey on other monsters in the mountains but could even transform into a ghost servant to kill and devour humans.

"I was just thinking of sleeping and you brought me a pillow; it's perfect to use you to test my strength."

After Su Zhangqing examined it carefully, he said with a hint of pleasant surprise. Just as Su Zhangqing was sizing up the Black Tiger Beast, the Black Tiger Beast was also pacing back and forth, sizing up this human who had trespassed into its territory.

It had lived in the mountains for more than ten years; more than ten years ago, it had eaten two humans, and the wonderful taste of human flesh had kept it thinking about it for a long time, but it hadn't encountered any humans in the last ten years.

This was the first time it had encountered a human since it first developed intelligence.

"Wahahaha! It's been so many years since I've encountered a human! Today, I, the King, just wanted to come out to find some food to fill my stomach, and I actually ran into you. This is truly a surprise!"

Suddenly, the Black Tiger Beast shook its body, transformed into a ghost servant with a tiger's head and a human body, and spoke to Su Zhangqing in human language from its bloody mouth with an arrogant laugh.

Now that it had developed intelligence, it could clearly sense the fluctuations of Qi, but the person in front of it had no cultivation fluctuations on his body; he was clearly just a mortal with no power to truss a chicken.

Now, it didn't care at all that Su Zhangqing was a human cultivator; it transformed into a ghost servant directly, preparing to make a move on Su Zhangqing to properly savor the taste of human flesh.

"Little brat, do you know that this is my territory? A common mortal like you with no cultivation dares to trespass here; you are truly seeking your own death."

The Black Tiger Beast looked at Su Zhangqing, its eyes full of desire for a delicious meal.

"My territory? What kind of king are you?"

Hearing the Black Tiger Beast say this, Su Zhangqing couldn't help but smile and ask in return.

It turned out that his Heaven-Concealing Technique made it impossible for this Black Tiger Beast to detect his cultivation, which was why it mistook him for a mere mortal.

And it was still thinking about how to eat him.

"I am known as Dahai Wang, and everything within a hundred meters here is my territory; all living things are my food, and you are no exception!"

"I advise you to surrender, so as not to force me to hurt you. Just let me take a bite and it will only hurt for a moment. If not, I will gnaw on your limbs and let you watch yourself being eaten bite by bite."

The Black Tiger Beast opened its bloody mouth and spoke to Su Zhangqing very arrogantly, its words extremely malicious.

"Oh? Do you really want to eat me that much?"

Su Zhangqing had just seen the Black Tiger Beast transform, and after hearing it speak, he immediately thought of the descriptions of its cruelty in the books, becoming much more cautious.

"Then let's see if you have the strength for it!"

Before the Black Tiger Beast could react, as soon as Su Zhangqing finished speaking, he drew his long sword, and in the Black Tiger Beast's widened pupils, his figure turned into a blurred shadow and vanished instantly.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived beside the Black Tiger Beast and slashed out with his sword; countless sword Qi shot out from the blade, turning into a fierce, violent wind that whistled toward the Black Tiger Beast.

"What is going on?!"

The Black Tiger Beast was instantly stunned, its fur standing on end.

Didn't this person have no Qi fluctuations on his body? How could he use a human cultivator's sword technique? And this single sword strike alone made it feel a biological, instinctive fear of death.

At the critical moment, the Black Tiger Beast erupted with latent, immense power in its feet and jumped away from the spot, barely letting the sword Qi graze past its chest.

As it landed, panting, it saw that the fur on its chest had been almost entirely shorn off by the sword Qi; if it had gone any deeper, it would have likely gutted it open.

As the dust settled, it saw that the spot where it had been standing had been blasted by the sword Qi into a hole more than two meters deep, and the trees within a few meters had all been cut down in that single strike, falling to the ground in a level row.

(End of chapter)