Tiger Vitality-Peering Pill

Backer City.

This city lay close to the towering mountains of the Southern Suppression Region. Dawn always crossed the ridge and fell upon the city a little later, while sunset always arrived swiftly.

On this day, dusk was already deep when, just before the city gates closed, two conspicuous young men stepped into the city.

One was refined and handsome, with a genial smile on his face. The other was tall and imposing, with a long weapon strapped to his back, its tip covered by a cloth bag so that its edge did not show.

They were none other than Shushan disciple Chu Liang and Heavenly Gang Sect disciple Yun Chaoxian.

Yun Chaoxian had originally invited Chu Liang to join him in dealing with the Demon Race divine envoy, and Chu Liang had wanted to refuse. After all, Yun Chaoxian held him in the highest esteem because of that Myriad Swords Art, but Chu Liang himself knew exactly how much he was worth.

A battle of this level was still a little beyond him.

But Yun Chaoxian kept persuading him and promised that, if they gained anything after the matter was done, it would all belong to Chu Liang. Yun Chaoxian himself only needed to complete the sect-assigned task of killing the divine envoy.

Hearing that, Chu Liang could not help feeling tempted.

Of course, he had been purely moved by Yun Chaoxian's sincerity, and not by anything else.

Mm.

He had not used the jade slip to summon his master earlier, so he still had one use of the Grand Summoning Art in reserve. This sort of slightly risky undertaking was not something he could not participate in at all.

Take a gamble, and bronze could turn to gold.

He had not forgotten to first return to the cat clan's cave dwelling on East Mountain, where he saw the Cat King and Madam Ming, brother and sister, before finally setting his mind at ease.

When the demons of Hidden Forest Mountain heard that the Tiger King was dead, they immediately scattered like birds and beasts. The two of them had escaped in the confusion as well. From now on, the Tiger King would no longer be able to cause them trouble.

Madam Ming naturally thanked Chu Liang profusely, then returned home to live with Estate Master Ming. She had nearly been forced into a second marriage during a visit to her family, and she had long been yearning to return.

After confirming their safety, Madam Ming's matter could be considered brought to a perfect conclusion. Only then did Chu Liang set out with Yun Chaoxian.

As for how Yun Chaoxian tracked the divine envoy's location... at the mention of it, he gave a chuckle.

"When I punched him earlier, I left a little something behind too. I planted our sect's secret technique on him: Sound Wave."

"For three days, his whereabouts will remain under my control. It's just that Sound Wave needs to wait for an echo to determine a location, so it takes a while. There's a chance he'll already have left by the time we get there. But as long as he stops somewhere, he won't be able to escape the palm of my hand."

"I found Hidden Forest Mountain earlier by relying on Sound Wave. The last echo it sent back was from near Backer City. If he entered the city, he probably won't leave again so quickly. After tonight, I'll be able to find his exact location."

As he spoke, Yun Chaoxian clenched his fist confidently.

Who would have thought this fellow had actually kept something up his sleeve? Chu Liang praised, "Brother Yun truly possesses extraordinary wisdom."

"Of course." Yun Chaoxian's lips curled upward in a wickedly charming smile. "Within our Heavenly Gang Sect, I'm famous for having a quick mind."

"Indeed." Chu Liang nodded.

At the same time, he began to faintly worry about the Heavenly Gang Sect's future.

By the time the two entered the city, it was already late. They found an inn to rest in first, rented two rooms, and agreed to meet again the next morning.

After returning to his room, Chu Liang washed up and lay down on the bed. Only then did he finally settle in and find some spare time to reward himself.

Having slain the Tiger King earlier, there was now another tiger phantom within the White Tower.

"Refine."

Without another word, he directly activated the refinement.

Boom!

When the radiance floated out, Chu Liang caught it and found that it seemed to be a white medicinal pill.

Tiger Vitality-Peering Pill:

A high-grade medicinal pill containing the innate essence of a fierce tiger. The one who consumes it can gain the strength of ten tigers, enhance blood and vitality, improve sleep, and restore a man's virility.

"Whoa." Sensing the pill's effects, Chu Liang could not help letting out a cry of surprise.

How powerful.

Though it appeared to have several effects, the most useful one was obvious at a glance: restoring... ah, gaining the strength of ten tigers.

The strength of ten tigers!

Cultivators of the three teachings differed from martial cultivators. Among the Three Passes and Nine Realms, the only stages where they devoted themselves wholly to cultivating the physical body were the first realm, Body Tempering, and the sixth realm, Dharma Body.

But the Dharma Body Realm was meant to bestow special spirituality upon a mortal body, not simply to temper one's strength.

Thus, throughout the entire cultivation process, the greatest increase in physical strength generally came only at the beginning.

Of course, once one's qi channels were connected, strength would naturally grow with profound cultivation. But in the end, that was not pure physical strength.

For example, a mighty figure of the Dao Inquiry Realm could easily pull up mountains. But if he did not use even a thread of true qi, his pure bodily strength might not be much greater than that of cultivators in the earlier realms.

Yet these ten tigers' worth of strength was added directly to the body.

After taking this pill, in terms of strength alone, Chu Liang might be stronger than many martial cultivators.

If a martial cultivator ate this sort of strength-increasing pill, he would need to consider it carefully. First, strength gained through external means was difficult to control; second, it would also exhaust one's potential.

But Chu Liang was not a martial artist to begin with. These ten tigers' worth of strength were like something he had picked up for free. He did not need to consider whether it would hinder future growth, so there was no need to overthink it.

After some consideration, he did not hesitate for long before swallowing the Tiger Vitality-Peering Pill.

Hoo—

The pill entered his stomach, and a scorching current immediately surged forth, traveling through all four limbs and every bone.

The joints throughout Chu Liang's body began to crack involuntarily, popping without cease. It was as though a true fierce tiger had awakened within him and was stretching its sinews and bones.

"Ah—"

After a long while, Chu Liang let out a low roar and opened his eyes.

Unless he carefully sensed it, there seemed to be no changes within his body? He only felt utterly exhausted, drenched in sweat, parched and dry-mouthed.

Chu Liang rose to pour himself a cup of water, but the instant his left hand gripped the cup, there came a crack.

The white porcelain teacup shattered into fine powder in response, splashing water over half his trousers.

"This..." Feeling the difference in his palm, he had clearly gripped the cup with what felt like normal force, yet he had crushed it alive.

It seemed the strength gained from taking pills truly was not so easy to control.

He still needed time to adapt.

He would have to be especially careful while moving around during this period... particularly when splashing water on his face.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard an urgent question from outside. "Brother Chu, what happened to you?"

Yun Chaoxian was outside the door.

"Hm?" Chu Liang went to open it. "Brother Yun, what is it?"

"I just heard you seem to have been roaring, so I came to ask..." Yun Chaoxian saw him open the door and was about to say something, but halfway through, he saw Chu Liang's appearance.

He had heard Chu Liang's low roar from next door and come over to check on him.

But when he saw Chu Liang drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, looking exhausted, with a large patch of unexplained water stains on his trousers...

He understood.

Yun Chaoxian's expression immediately became awkward. "Sorry, Brother Chu. I disturbed you!"

After apologizing, he turned and hurried away.

"Hey..." Chu Liang hastily tried to stop him.

This genius, what exactly had he disturbed?

The moment he raised his hand, he suddenly felt something in his pocket tremble.

Chu Liang's thoughts stirred.

The Soul-Seizing Token had a message!