Chapter 12: If I'm Going to Kill a Chicken, I'll Use a Butcher's Knife

"What the hell! Aren't you a mortal, damn it?!"

The Black Tiger Beast was terrified to the extreme; looking at the surrounding scenery, its heart pounded non-stop.

Realizing that the person before it was a cultivator, and the kind of cultivator it could not match, the Black Tiger Beast, which had just been boasting about eating Su Zhangqing, now had only one thought: to run!

It hurriedly turned around, scrambled, and began to flee, fearing that if it ran too slowly, Su Zhangqing would strike again with his sword and take its life.

"Didn't kill it with one sword?"

Su Zhangqing, his white robes unstained by dust, looked at the fleeing Black Tiger Beast and shook his head slightly, seemingly feeling a bit of self-reproach for not slaying this Black Tiger Beast with a single strike.

Seeing that the Black Tiger Beast had not died from one sword and was thinking of escaping, Su Zhangqing would not let such a good practice opportunity go to waste; he immediately pinched a spell seal in his hand.

Several formation flags flew out from Su Zhangqing's robes, landed in the air around the Black Tiger Beast, and immediately, a transparent barrier appeared out of thin air along with the flags.

"I'm truly done for. I've only just opened my spiritual wisdom and started cultivating, and I run into this kind of human cultivator? Isn't this just pure suicide? This Lord Tiger still wanted to live for another hundred years!"

The Black Tiger Beast did not know that the formation had already been set up around it; it was still burying its head and focusing on running, secretly rejoicing when it saw that Su Zhangqing had not caught up.

The next second, it crashed into something, and with a *bang*, it was bounced back.

"What is this!"

The Black Tiger Beast was dazed by the collision, its head aching; after shaking its head and reacting, it looked at the empty space before it and felt completely bewildered.

Feeling the surrounding Qi beginning to boil, the Black Tiger Beast felt that something was terribly wrong; it reached out its tiger claw to probe forward and touched a transparent barrier blocking the way.

"What on earth is this?!"

Having lived in Jiuyin Mountain its whole life, the Black Tiger Beast naturally had never seen such a formation; knowing only that something had trapped it, it flew into a rage and smashed a fist at the transparent barrier.

With a *bang*, a piercing tiger roar followed; the tiger claw felt as if it had struck steel and iron, and a wave of pain shot straight to its crown.

Even under its full-force punch, the barrier showed no sign of breaking.

"With this Four Directions Trapping Earth Array, you still want to escape?"

Su Zhangqing took in everything the Black Tiger Beast did and couldn't help but be amused; carrying his long sword, he walked slowly toward the Black Tiger Beast.

"It's you, you're the one who caused this!"

The Black Tiger Beast instantly realized that everything was the work of this human, and it gritted its teeth and shouted at Su Zhangqing.

Having gained spiritual wisdom, it naturally understood that this human was determined to kill it, and that not chasing it earlier was a hidden move to make it difficult to escape.

"Waaah! It infuriates this King! This King is no pushover; today I will fight you to the death, human!"

Knowing it could not escape, the Black Tiger Beast's anger had reached its peak; instead, it lost the thought of running and decided to fight this human cultivator to the death to seize a glimmer of survival.

The Black Tiger Beast transformed into its vengeful ghost form again, took a fierce step back, leaped several meters high, and in the posture of a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, lunged at Su Zhangqing with its sharp claws.

"Well come!"

Su Zhangqing shouted, his eyes looking seriously at the pouncing Black Tiger Beast. This is more like it; one-sided practice is boring, a real fight is exciting!

In an instant, the Black Tiger Beast was less than a meter from Su Zhangqing; it was pleasantly surprised, thinking this human cultivator must be a fool, as he didn't dodge at all when it attacked.

My claws can slice through boulders with a light swipe; even if you are a powerful human cultivator, you are ultimately flesh and blood. Let's see how you block this strike of my tiger claws, then wait to be torn into pieces by me! The Black Tiger Beast thought this, already envisioning the scene of Su Zhangqing being torn into pieces by its claws, but just as its claws were about to land, its pupils dilated again.

Just as the Black Tiger Beast was about to strike, Su Zhangqing, who had been right in front of its eyes, vanished instantly, and its tiger claws swiped at empty air.

"Where is he?!"

The Black Tiger Beast hurriedly landed on the ground, stunned and unable to react; it was clear that the human was about to be caught, so how did he suddenly disappear? "I'm right here."

Su Zhangqing's leisurely voice came from behind it.

The Black Tiger Beast turned around abruptly, looking at Su Zhangqing in shock. Hadn't he already disappeared? How did he suddenly appear back in place? Are you playing magic tricks on me?! Su Zhangqing yawned boredly; he had thought this Foundation Establishment Realm eighth-layer Black Tiger Beast would have some strength, but it turned out to be just trash, and he had toyed with it using only some basic movement techniques.

"Alright, it's boring, I'm done playing with you."

A smile appeared on the corner of Su Zhangqing's mouth, and he silently pinched a spell seal; the formation flags flew up again, flew toward the Black Tiger Beast, and trapped it within.

The Jiuyin Mountain area, which had just been in beautiful weather, was instantly swept by dark clouds and mist as the flags fell; thunder and lightning flashed, and the heavenly thunder shook the creatures of Jiuyin Mountain, sending beasts back to their caves and birds back to their nests.

"Ten Thousand Nothingness Heavenly Thunder Array!"

"Wild Wind Sword Dao!"

"Desolate Fall Violent Body Fist!"

Su Zhangqing, who had been leisurely just a moment ago, now focused his eyes and unleashed all his divine abilities; they poured out toward the Black Tiger Beast like spilled water.

In an instant, thunder rolled, sword Qi emerged, fist shadows surged, and various strange arts exploded simultaneously, shaking the local spiritual energy into a frenzy as light and shadows scattered everywhere.

If anyone else had seen this, they would surely have taken it for a divine miracle and knelt in worship.

As for the person involved, the Black Tiger Beast that called itself Dahai Wang, it was now sitting on the ground, heart turned to ash, looking at this scene with dull eyes; before it died, its heart had already been scared to death.

"I just gained spiritual wisdom, damn it! You're so strong, you don't have to say it, but you have to use all these divine abilities just to kill me?!"

Boom! Splash! Bang! Heavenly thunder, sword Qi, and fist shadows—various Daoist techniques slammed into the Black Tiger Beast, kicking up dust and debris in Jiuyin Mountain, which only dissipated after a long while.

The Black Tiger Beast was nowhere to be seen; only a few pieces of charred remains were left in a pit several meters deep, likely the flesh of the Black Tiger Beast scorched directly by the heavenly thunder.

"Boring, not satisfying."

Su Zhangqing shook his head slightly; he had expected a master, but it turned out to be a low-level character, wasting his excitement.

However, this battle was not without meaning; at least being able to handle a Foundation Establishment Realm beast with ease showed that although he was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he already had the strength to rival the upper three levels of Foundation Establishment.

Facing the Black Tiger Beast that had been reduced to slag, Su Zhangqing didn't even look, stretched his limbs, but didn't forget his real business; there was still the Huanglan Narcissus waiting for him to find.

(End of chapter)