"Do you have a way?" Advisor Li looked at Chen Luo in surprise. He knew Chen Luo was the son of an old friend of Magistrate Cai, so he had looked after him along the way, but he had never expected Chen Luo to be able to help him with anything.
Chen Luo called softly, "Zhong Kui!"
Zhong Kui slowly materialized behind Chen Luo. Advisor Li was truly someone who had weathered great storms, and he showed no surprise at Zhong Kui's ferocious face. Like Cai Tongchen, however, a flash of azure light passed through his eyes before he asked, "Is this the Book Spirit?"
Zhong Kui gave Advisor Li a scholar's salute. "I am Zhong Kui. Greetings, fellow man of letters. There is no time to explain in detail. I shall employ my methods first. If we delay any longer, the soul's spiritual light will be extinguished, and some matters will remain forever unknown."
Advisor Li hurriedly returned the salute. "Please, fellow man of letters, do whatever you must."
Zhong Kui nodded and floated above the Tiger Demon's corpse. Suddenly, he flicked his sleeve, and an iron chain shot out from the Scholar's Robe and plunged into the corpse. At that moment, the Tiger Demon's corpse seemed like a black hole. The iron chain kept burrowing deeper, yet vanished into the corpse.
Zhong Kui closed his eyes slightly as he sensed things. Then he suddenly opened them, turned to Chen Luo, and said, "My lord, this demon's soul is an Unusual Soul. Its spiritual light is still fairly complete, but I must trouble you to inspect it yourself."
Chen Luo nodded slightly. Advisor Li looked somewhat worried and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhong, is there any danger in this Soul Merging? Could I do it in his place?"
Zhong Kui shook his head slightly. "I am my lord's Book Spirit. Only with our souls linked can the transfer be carried out, but I cannot move it into Fellow Daoist Li's soul. Besides, with me protecting him, my lord will be safe."
Hearing this, Advisor Li could only nod. The intelligence behind a Sinful Demon could be of great or little importance, but having a way was better than having none.
The iron chain in Zhong Kui's hand kept retracting. In the end, it drew out a golden light the size of a fist. Quick as a striking snake, Zhong Kui slapped it directly into the space between Chen Luo's brows. Chen Luo's brain seemed to be struck by lightning. His vision went black, and he suddenly toppled toward the ground. Fortunately, Chen Ping had been standing beside him the entire time and caught him in one motion.
"What happened?" Seeing Chen Luo unconscious, Chen Ping had no time to be afraid and demanded an answer from Zhong Kui.
Zhong Kui stepped forward and pressed a finger to Chen Luo's forehead. After sensing for a moment, he said, "It is nothing. My lord is inspecting the Tiger Demon's memories. He will wake soon!"
Setting aside what was happening outside, when Chen Luo opened his eyes again, he found himself in a stretch of mountain forest. Yet at that moment, he seemed not to belong to this world. No living creature could detect his presence.
Before long, Chen Luo saw his target: a little tiger that had only just been born. Unlike its kind, this little tiger had awakened its intelligence from the moment it was born. It could understand hunters' traps and properly store food, ensuring it would never suffer hunger.
Time flew. In the blink of an eye, the little tiger had grown up. All the tigers its age entered their mating season, but it alone actually developed the concept of love. It liked a younger sister who shared its mother but not its father. It called her A Tiao. Unfortunately, unlike it, A Tiao had not gained intelligence. Like the other tigers, she was filled with bestial instinct.
It cared for A Tiao as though raising a pet. It tried every possible way to make A Tiao as clever as itself, but nothing worked.
A Tiao entered her mating season as well and kept circling around it. It struggled to restrain itself, but it never expected A Tiao to mate with another tiger. Enraged beyond measure, it went looking for trouble with that tiger. But intelligence and strength were two different things. It could not beat the other tiger.
A Tiao still felt sorry for it and returned to its side. In the end, it lost control of itself and mated with A Tiao...
Later, it met a man.
Strictly speaking, that was not a man. A white tiger tail hung behind him.
"I never thought a wild tiger would be born with half of the Geng Metal Bloodline awakened. Little one, my name is Feng Liancheng. I am the young master of the Winged Tiger lineage of the Myriad Demon Kingdom. Are you willing to come with me?"
It agreed without the slightest hesitation. Instinct alone told it that the other party was immensely powerful. If it followed him, it would grow powerful as well, right? Once that happened, it could take A Tiao as its private possession openly and legitimately.
Soon, Feng Liancheng brought it back to the Myriad Demon Kingdom and bestowed the Feng surname upon it. That was a surname only those with the Winged Tiger lineage's superior bloodline could possess.
It cultivated at astonishing speed: its blood was purified in one year, made pure in two. After only two years and six months, it had already reached the Blood Refining Level and transformed its innate demonic art, "Wind Control," into a Blood Pattern Supernatural Power.
As a cultivation prodigy and Feng Liancheng's trusted subordinate, it became one of the rare outstanding talents of the Winged Tiger lineage. Countless tiger women offered themselves to its bed, while clansmen seeking marriage nearly trampled down the threshold of its home. Yet in its heart, it still worried about that wild tiger, A Tiao.
Feng Liancheng had once warned it that after gaining intelligence, it would have no further connection with beasts. Beasts were meat on the table, their lives as worthless as grass. Demons, however, were Heavenly Dao Beings standing alongside humans and barbarians. The two must never be confused.
But it did not care. So what if A Tiao was a beast? The resources it possessed now were enough to nurture A Tiao until she gained intelligence and became a demon.
It had always been waiting for an opportunity—the chance to return to Great Xuan and bring A Tiao back to the Winged Tiger lineage.
At last, that opportunity came.
The Winged Tiger lineage needed to retrieve an Exotic Treasure from Great Xuan and required one of its clansmen to travel to Great Xuan and provide support. Because its cultivation was low and it had been born in Great Xuan, it could enter Great Xuan's territory by taking certain measures to Cross the Sea Under Camouflage, so it was chosen.
It had already obtained the Exotic Treasure. Its mission was complete, and it should have returned to the Winged Tiger lineage of the Myriad Demon Kingdom. But at the time, it had been too close to West Xiu Mountain.
Only five hundred li away!
In the end, it risked returning to West Xiu Mountain, only to learn that not long after it had left, A Tiao had been hunted down and killed by people sent by Chen Manor in the county town at the foot of the mountain!
It wanted revenge, but it had cultivated for less than three years and possessed only cultivation at the initial stage of the Blood Refining Level—nowhere near enough to overturn an entire city. It wanted to assassinate them, but because it had been in contact with the Exotic Treasure for too long, it carried a trace of the Power of Heavenly Condemnation. The moment it entered the county town, the humans would discover it. Thus, it chose to create Tamed ghosts, and the person it chose was Zhou Yong, the hunter who had led the hunt that killed A Tiao...
Chen Luo drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Chen Ping's old face staring at him in panic.
"Young master, you finally woke up... You frightened this old servant to death..."
Chen Luo comforted Chen Ping, then stood and cupped his fists toward Advisor Li. "Sorry for the wait, Advisor. I now understand everything about this Tiger Demon."
"Oh? Then please, Patriarch Chen, tell me everything..." Advisor Li was overjoyed and hurriedly urged him on.
Chen Luo looked calmly at the already shriveled Tiger Demon's corpse on the ground and said, "This demon belonged to the Winged Tiger lineage of the tiger clan in the Myriad Demon Kingdom. It entered Great Xuan by Crossing the Sea Under Camouflage in order to retrieve a treasure from my Great Xuan."
"It came to Great Xuan to retrieve a treasure?" Advisor Li was startled. "Please, tell me more!"
Chen Luo shook his head. "The Tiger Demon itself did not know exactly what the treasure was, but it hid the Exotic Treasure it obtained in West Xiu Mountain. I know the precise location. Please come with me, Advisor Li. You will know the moment we see it."
Advisor Li nodded. "That would be excellent. Please—"
Chen Luo did not stand on ceremony. He strode toward the mountains, while Advisor Li activated the Official Seal and stored the Tiger Demon's corpse inside it, then hurried after Chen Luo's footsteps...
A single ticket across ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains—recommendations and collections are all welcome.
Before you continue