Scaled Lion Tiger

Morning.

Su Luo had already packed his supplies and was ready to set out.

He planned to make another trip to the Tiger Roar Mountain Range.

With his current strength, hunting a Tier 4 Exotic Beast should not be a problem.

He would feed the Level 4 Crystal Core he obtained to the Devil Fruit Tree.

Before school started, he planned to eat another Devil Fruit.

No matter what kind of Devil Fruit grew this time, it would allow him to smoothly advance into a Mortal Transcender.

He was only eighteen years old.

A Mortal Transcender at that age.

On Azure Star, such a person appeared only once in ten thousand years.

Only then would Giant Ability University value him enough, and the Crystal Core resources he received would be greater as well.

He opened his bedroom door and entered the living room.

Hearing Su Luo open his door, the two sisters opened theirs as well, intending to see him off.

"Su Luo, be extremely careful and stay safe," Shen Huaiyue said worriedly.

"Brother Su Luo, if you don't want us to come with you, then we won't, but you absolutely have to stay safe," Shen Huaiyu added.

"I'll be back soon. Don't overthink it." Su Luo raised a hand and rubbed their heads in response.

Su Luo's sudden intimate gesture instantly soothed the sisters' worried hearts.

Leaving the city, he returned to the familiar Tiger Roar Mountain Range.

Blue flames ignited across his body, fiery wings sprouted from his back, and he flapped them as he flew toward the depths of the Tiger Roar Mountain Range.

Tier 1 Beasts no longer caught Su Luo's eye.

At the very least, they had to be Tier 2 Beasts before Su Luo would descend from the sky to hunt them.

Before he knew it, he had already flown for a long time.

When he looked back, not even the faintest trace of Tianshui City could be seen.

Looking down, he spotted a long, winding river.

Just as Su Luo was about to land and rest for a while.

Several furious roars suddenly boomed from the dense forest in the distance.

From the sound of it, Exotic Beasts seemed to be fighting.

After thinking for several seconds, he landed where he was.

Flying straight over would be too conspicuous, and the Exotic Beasts might gang up on him.

He landed steadily on the ground and ran toward the source of the sounds.

Hiding behind a large tree, he looked toward a cave in the distance.

The waves of angry roars had come from within.

He held his breath and focused, quietly waiting for the movement inside to cease.

He wanted to play the oriole waiting behind.

After waiting for a long time, the sun had already climbed overhead.

It was clearly noon.

The commotion inside the cave had stopped for roughly half an hour.

With a leap, he arrived at the cave entrance.

He roughly examined the cave.

It was around seven or eight meters high, so the creature living here should also have been around seven or eight meters tall.

He shone his flashlight inside.

Unfortunately, it was pitch-black within, and he could not make out anything at all.

He cautiously stepped inside.

As he walked, he remained vigilant of his surroundings.

Before he had gone very far, he felt something sticky beneath his feet.

He shone the flashlight downward.

Puddles of blood had suddenly appeared beneath his feet, along with a trail of something being dragged.

He crouched down, dipped a finger into the blood, and tested its temperature. It was still warm.

That meant the Exotic Beasts in the cave could not have gone far.

He immediately continued following the trail.

The farther inward he went, the hotter the cave became, accompanied by a certain fishy, rank stench.

He raised a hand and fanned it before his nose, but it did little good.

He could only hope to find his target Exotic Beast quickly and get out as soon as possible.

Suddenly, a burst of heavy panting came from somewhere nearby.

Su Luo immediately switched off his flashlight and halted.

His instincts told him that the Exotic Beast was close.

A wisp of blue flame ignited on his fingertip, providing faint illumination.

By that weak light, he looked around.

He saw two Level 3 Exotic Beasts, Scaled Lion Tigers.

They were peacefully lying on their respective piles of grass, asleep.

Beside them were several human skeletons, as well as some half-eaten Exotic Beast carcasses that were still gushing blood.

Seeing that they were Level 3 Exotic Beasts, Su Luo felt somewhat disappointed.

He had thought he could directly accomplish his goal of hunting a Tier 4 Exotic Beast. It seemed he would have to keep looking.

Still, Level 3 Exotic Beasts could not be wasted.

After all, he still needed Level 3 Crystal Cores to upgrade his Devil Fruit Tree.

He slowly approached the two Scaled Lion Tigers.

Seeing how soundly they slept, Su Luo almost felt embarrassed to disturb them.

The black fur on the Scaled Lion Tigers.

Made Su Luo think of that Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger.

A peculiar thought suddenly surfaced.

Could these two Scaled Lion Tigers be descendants of that Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger?

The Tiger Roar Mountain Range had always been home to many tiger-type Exotic Beasts.

These tiger-type Exotic Beasts were very likely all descendants of the Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger.

If he hunted these two Exotic Beasts, would the Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger hold a grudge against him?

This question of safety plunged Su Luo into distress.

Just as Su Luo was troubled, one of the Scaled Lion Tigers slowly opened its eyes.

Seeing this, Su Luo immediately made up his mind.

He clenched his right hand into a fist and viciously smashed it into that Scaled Lion Tiger's head.

The Vibration Power contained within his fist.

In a single instant, shattered the Scaled Lion Tiger's brain.

The Scaled Lion Tiger could not even make a sound before dying on the spot.

The other Scaled Lion Tiger abruptly opened its eyes upon hearing the commotion.

When it saw a human in its lair.

The Scaled Lion Tiger immediately flew into a rage.

It rose to its feet, opened its maw, and lunged straight at Su Luo, intending to bite through his neck.

Su Luo smiled disdainfully.

Ever since advancing to a Noble One, Level 3 Exotic Beasts no longer posed even the slightest threat to him.

He raised a hand and grabbed the Scaled Lion Tiger's two long fangs.

Suppressing the Scaled Lion Tiger with absolute strength, he then hurled it away.

The Scaled Lion Tiger was flung through the air and crashed into the wall with a thunderous boom.

Protected by its scales, the Scaled Lion Tiger was completely unharmed.

It promptly climbed back to its feet.

Its tiger eyes stared fixedly at Su Luo, revealing a trace of confusion.

It had actually been grabbed by the fangs and thrown aside by a human.

Why had that happened?

Weren't humans supposed to be nothing but their food?

Why was this human so strong, even able to overpower it in strength?

Of course, with its tiny brain, it could not possibly figure out those questions.

Its tiger eyes glanced to the side, toward its brother.

When it saw its brother's miserable state.

It finally learned what fear was that day.

Its brother was bleeding from all seven orifices, lying limply on the pile of grass, long dead beyond any doubt.

Its four limbs began trembling uncontrollably.

It was afraid.

It did not want to end up like that too.

When Su Luo saw the Scaled Lion Tiger's limbs actually beginning to shake.

He immediately doubled over laughing.

"Ha ha ha, who would have thought that an Exotic Beast with barely any intelligence like you."

"Would actually know fear. How rare."

When the Scaled Lion Tiger saw Su Luo actually laughing at it.

Its anger immediately overcame its fear.

Its head grew hot, and it charged at Su Luo once more.

Su Luo emerged from the cave and raised his head to look at the sky.

The sun had already begun to slowly set.

He took out his phone and checked the time.

It was already past four.

He decided to stay another two hours.

If there was still no sign of a Tier 4 Exotic Beast, he would hurry back to the city.

The Tiger Roar Mountain Range was too dangerous at night. He could not stay.