Battle Against the Fierce Tiger King

When the Grandmaster of the Wu Kingdom emerged, you had already arrived in He'an Town. It was a relatively peaceful little town, except that a tiger had recently settled in the nearby mountains, posing a danger to passersby.

So when you entered He'an Town and, as if nothing had happened—after all, the Qing He Gang could not exactly spread its wanted notices here—ordered some local delicacies at an inn, the town mayor came to ask for your help not long afterward.

Unless they deliberately concealed themselves, Martial Artists were completely different from ordinary people in their gaze, aura, and state of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. It was like mixing a Wolf King into a pack of huskies; anyone with even a little discernment could spot the difference.

You hesitated for a moment, then, after confirming that you would not be the only Tiger Slaying Martial Artist and that the reward was quite generous, accepted this triggered quest.

Afterward, you met your five temporary teammates. All of them were Martial Artists at the Second-rate level. One ran a martial academy in town, one lived here, and the other three had been invited from nearby.

There were no First-rate Martial Artists. This was only a small town, not a major city like Qingcheng. Besides, First-rate Martial Artists were all figures of resounding fame. Unless he was willing to hemorrhage money, the town mayor would have to sell his blood and carve off his flesh to afford one.

From your teammates, you learned that the tiger was incomparably ferocious. When it crossed a mountain, winds rose in its wake; it could truly be called a Fierce Tiger King. Excluding its tail, it was over one zhang long, and its jaws could swallow half a person's body. If there had not been six of you after adding you to the group, two or three Second-rate Martial Artists alone would have been no match for it.

"One zhang... a three-point-three-meter giant tiger?" Yun Shou felt his scalp go numb. He had thought it would be an ordinary tiger, around two meters long excluding the tail. Back on Earth in his previous life, that would already have counted as rather large, weighing close to two hundred kilograms.

At two hundred kilograms, it already outweighed an ordinary person by a huge margin. Coupled with its naturally powerful muscles, marrow, and physical structure, even a Second-rate Martial Artist would not find it easy to fight. So what about one that was a zhang long?

Its weight was probably close to a ton!

An absolute land beast. If it was not a fat tiger, it might very well possess the strength to flip a small car!

You felt your scalp go numb. The town mayor had said you were fighting a tiger, and you had thought even a Northeast tiger with a body length of around 2.3 meters was already an overestimate. At most, it might be 2.6 or 2.7 meters? Those gigantic predatory beasts were over four meters long including their tails.

Against a four-meter-class tiger, you would still have been confident that you and your helpers could come through unscathed. But against a "Fierce Tiger King" with a body length of one zhang and a total length of five meters, you knew that casualties were inevitable among the six of you—perhaps even deaths.

Yet they did not care. Though you sensed the danger, you likewise did not regret it—because the current you was Yun Shou, tempered by more than ten years of grueling martial training and gang infighting, baptized in saber flashes and blood!

Not that Main Body who had picked up strength for free after two simulations, never weathered a single storm, and still had the mentality of a loafing salted fish!

Yun Shou: "Who the hell are you calling a cricket?"

"I fish every damn day—except today. The storms I've been through aren't any less than yours... less than what you went through in the simulation..."

Halfway through, he still had some shame and did not continue.

"Damn it, the simulation never said whether you visited brothels or not, so I can't even use that to attack your character."

Hahaha, but Main Body did not have it as good as you. That two-lifetime Little Chu Nan had no idea of the joy of using his kidneys.

You both won!

"Those damn ladybugs are disgusting!!!"

A person's Martial Arts were quite private. You did not know the foundational Martial Arts of your five temporary teammates—another name for Martial Arts; after the setting of "Martial Arts Assimilation Foundation" came out, this term felt more fitting—but after nearly ten days of familiarizing yourselves and sparring, you had roughly understood their circumstances.

Second-rate Martial Artists could barely be divided into three stages. The first was the birth of Internal Force, the second was Unity of Qi and Strength, and the final step was Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation.

Among your five teammates, two had yet to achieve Unity of Qi and Strength, two were currently at Unity of Qi and Strength, and one was undergoing Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation.

In terms of Martial Cultivation, all of them were inferior to you, who had already completed Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation and reached the limit of a Second-rate Martial Artist.

However, your Water Dragon Skill was only a shade above the common fare, and its depth had reached merely Minor Accomplishment. Some of the other Martial Artists had superior Foundations, along with Major Accomplishment and stronger foundational Martial Arts, so their strength was about equal to yours.

In other words, among the six of you, your strength and that of a young man named Ye Hongqi were tied for first. The other four were all somewhat weaker than the two of you.

Over more than ten days of familiarization and sparring, you had not only gained combat experience, but also strengthened your ability to cooperate. When battle came, you would not each fight on your own, but join forces.

A day and a half after entering the mountains, a bloody stench drifted over with the wind. The six-man party stood high on a mountain and looked down to see a valley filled with white bones and blood, along with great quantities of rotting flesh that had decayed into sludge.

One of your teammates nearly vomited. Though he was a Second-rate Martial Artist, he had clearly never seen such a scene of mangled flesh and blood before. At most, he had sparred with others or slit an enemy's throat with a single sword strike.

Rustle—behind you, the sound of weeds brushing and swaying was painfully sharp. Your teammate Ye Hongqi shouted a warning, and you suddenly discovered that the striped giant tiger, over five meters long in total, had appeared behind you at some unknown time, only dozens of meters away!

You gained a sliver of understanding regarding the Fierce Tiger King's appearance: the bloody scent from the valley had drifted downwind for you to smell, while your "human scent" had likewise traveled with the wind and drawn the Fierce Tiger King over!

Battle was about to erupt. The first to strike was the middle-aged head of the martial academy wielding a long spear, followed by an arrow that flew out and pierced into the Fierce Tiger King's fur.

Though its pelt was worth a fortune, you had no ability to control where you injured it.

You and Ye Hongqi rushed in right afterward. You gripped a Hundred Refinements Steel Saber, and with the Overlord Saber Technique, already honed to the realm of consummate mastery, you forcibly blocked thirty percent of the Fierce Tiger King's assault!

The other seventy percent was intercepted for you by the remaining three: the middle-aged spearman, Ye Hongqi, and another sword-wielding man. As for the last two, one provided archery support from afar, while the other attacked weak points behind the Fierce Tiger King.

With all six of you joining forces, you suppressed the Fierce Tiger King for a time. Its wounds steadily accumulated and worsened.

But suddenly, disregarding its injuries, the Fierce Tiger King took a saber strike from you that carved a one-foot-long bloody gash into its body, then violently swept its tail. Its iron-like tiger tail snapped the spine of the ambusher behind it with a crack, sending him flying. His screams gradually faded as his breath ebbed away.

The faces of the five of you remaining changed drastically. Seizing the moment, the Fierce Tiger King endured its wounds and pounced again. The sword-wielding man in his thirties had half his shoulder and neck bitten off in one bite, likewise dying on the spot.

"Don't do this. I finally made it out of the newbie village." Yun Shou clenched his fists nervously.

Please don't let leaving Qingcheng result in me living an even shorter life.

That would be far too ridiculous.