A Moment Between Life and Death

As they walked, Lu Xuanji suddenly felt a trace of panic and fear.

A sound came from ahead.

"Not good."

As if sensing something, Lu Xuanji slapped a talisman onto his leg, grabbed Ye Feixue, and ran. His speed rivaled that of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

At that moment, the grass and trees behind them shook, and the wind whistled. A cultivator was running through the brush at incredible speed. As he ran, he shouted, "Little friend, save me!"

He ran straight toward Lu Xuanji and Ye Feixue.

"Old bastard, what a piece of work."

Sensing the aura behind him drawing ever closer, anger flashed through Lu Xuanji's eyes.

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator was asking a Qi Refining stage cultivator for help. Did that make any sense?

It made no sense at all.

He was trying to divert disaster eastward!

Many times, you did not need to run faster than the enemy. You only needed to run faster than your companions.

Roar, roar.

Just then, accompanied by a roar, a White Tiger demon beast appeared. Its body was five meters long and one meter tall, its tail behind it like a steel whip. Its feet trod the air as it relentlessly pursued the Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The wind howled.

The Wind Escape Technique he had painstakingly cultivated for thirty years accelerated, his speed continuously rising.

Yet the Foundation Establishment Cultivator behind him ran even faster, and the distance between them steadily closed.

Three thousand meters, two thousand meters, one thousand meters, three hundred meters.

In less than five seconds, the distance had shrunk from three thousand meters to three hundred.

It's over! I'm going to die!

Despair flashed through Lu Xuanji.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator behind him was less than a hundred meters away. In the blink of an eye, he had overtaken him.

Thud!

At that moment, with a heavy crash, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator was pounced on.

"Save me!"

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator struggled and cried out. The flying sword in his hand turned into a spark of starlight, like fiery sparks in June bursting into flames. Carrying scorching heat and burning force, it became a destructive blaze that stabbed toward the White Tiger demon beast's eyes.

The White Tiger demon beast looked on disdainfully, mockery glinting in its eyes, and swiped down with its right claw.

A faint white light clung to its claw, like transformed Geng Metal, carrying a sharp aura as it collided with the flying sword. Sparks flew everywhere.

The flying sword trembled, nearly bent at a ninety-degree angle.

Crack.

With a sharp sound, the flying sword snapped.

A Shadow Figure pounced down and bit directly into the Foundation Establishment Cultivator's head.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivator's head was swallowed whole by the White Tiger demon beast.

Crunch.

Crunch.

It was as if it were savoring a delicacy, the taste exceedingly sweet.

The flavor seemed excellent. The White Tiger demon beast closed its eyes in enjoyment.

Then it opened its eyes again and continued eating, making quick work of the meal.

Hoo!

Perhaps he had run too fast and failed to watch where he stepped. Lu Xuanji was tripped on the spot and fell to the ground.

At the same moment, Ye Feixue also fell to the ground.

Hoo hoo hoo!

Lu Xuanji panted heavily. During that frantic sprint just now, the true qi within his body had been completely drained. He now circulated his cultivation technique, and his acupoints immediately absorbed the spiritual qi of the outside world to replenish his losses, but he no longer had the strength to keep running.

Crunch.

Crunch.

At that moment, he saw the White Tiger demon beast gnawing on the Foundation Establishment Cultivator. The sight was exceptionally bloody.

Watching that brutal scene, Ye Feixue's hands and feet turned icy cold.

"Brother, we're going to die here," Ye Feixue said, a trace of I am not reconciled flashing through her eyes.

"What a pity. You should not have come. If you had not entered the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, before long you would have become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, a Purple Mansion cultivator, a Golden Core cultivator, perhaps even a Nascent Soul True Lord," Lu Xuanji said regretfully.

"I have no regrets. If not for Brother finding me and bringing me into the Lu Clan, I might already have been married, already reduced to a village woman," Ye Feixue said calmly. "It is not so bad to die with Brother. I am only afraid of being eaten by a tiger."

Looking at the White Tiger demon beast feeding, Ye Feixue trembled. "Why don't we kill ourselves? Being eaten by the White Tiger demon beast would be too miserable."

Lu Xuanji said, "White Tiger demon beasts are felines. Even after reaching Foundation Establishment, they retain animal instincts, and their innate weaknesses still exist. This White Tiger's IQ is only equivalent to that of a seven-year-old child. Its mind is not particularly sharp. White Tiger demon beasts emphasize explosive speed. When they sprint ten thousand meters, they are extremely fast, but they lack endurance. If they fail to catch their prey after sprinting ten thousand meters, they will choose to give up. White Tiger demon beasts are usually very lazy. They only move when hunting; ordinarily, they mostly sleep in their territory."

"White Tiger demon beasts have tremendous explosive power but poor endurance. Their main moves are rolling, pouncing, and tearing with their bites. As long as one can withstand ten moves without falling, one can seize the momentum and kill it..."

As Lu Xuanji spoke, he recalled the descriptions of demon beasts in the illustrated manual.

Demon beast bloodlines reigned supreme. They lived off their bloodlines; as long as they breathed in the essence of the sun and moon, they could rapidly raise their cultivation.

Many demon beasts grew very slowly, but certain demon beasts with powerful bloodlines were exceptions.

In their early stages, demon beasts possessed weak intelligence, merely equivalent to newborn infants or children three or four years old. Even after entering Foundation Establishment, they were only comparable to children seven or eight years old. Only upon stepping into the Purple Mansion Realm could they possess wisdom not inferior to that of humans.

This White Tiger demon beast had the IQ of a seven-year-old child. Its IQ was its weak point.

But no matter how low the White Tiger demon beast's IQ was, it was not something he could defeat with schemes.

If IQ were useful, what was the point of bitter cultivation?

He kept thinking, reviewing every scrap of information, yet still could not find a way to defeat the White Tiger demon beast.

Just then, the White Tiger had finished eating the Foundation Establishment Cultivator. It looked at Lu Xuanji and Ye Feixue and slowly walked toward them, intending to have a little snack.

"I have it."

In that flash of lightning and stone-spark, Lu Xuanji seemed to think of something. He took out Nethergrass, crushed it into powder, and smeared it over his body; he also smeared it onto Ye Feixue. Soon, both of them were covered in the scent of Nethergrass.

The White Tiger demon beast, which had been about to step forward for a little snack, stopped less than ten meters away from them.

It sniffed the aura on their bodies, smelled their scent, then turned around and left, disgust in its eyes.

After several flashes, the White Tiger demon beast vanished from sight.