Two Tigers Fight, the Sixth Reaps the Benefits

"I'm exhausted..."

Chen Yumo panted lightly, leaning against a tree with his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

This was already his third day in Meteor Forest. He had searched all the nearby peaks and ventured nearly ten kilometers deeper into the forest, yet he had not encountered a suitable Spirit Beast.

For his second Spirit Ring, he needed a pure metal-element White Tiger Spirit Beast between thirteen hundred and fifteen hundred years old.

He had encountered quite a few other tiger-type Spirit Beasts, including several around thirteen or fourteen hundred years old, but none possessed the attribute he wanted.

Tigers also happened to be territorial. There was generally only one tiger on each mountain, and if there were two, they were a male and a female. Their territories were simply too vast, making Chen Yumo's search extremely difficult.

Finding a tiger that was out hunting on an entire mountain with any precision was hardly an easy task.

Those Spirit Beasts that lived in groups were much easier to deal with. Their numbers meant obvious traces of activity. As long as he found the group, he could search among them for one that suited him.

"Forget it. Tigers are already kings of the forest, with absurd combat power. If they traveled in packs too, then running would probably be my only option." Chen Yumo sighed.

What else could he do?

Keep looking...

He continued crossing mountains and valleys, specifically seeking environments with small streams.

Where there were streams and water sources, there would be prey—and hunters.

As it happened, Chen Yumo was one of the hunters in the forest. His prey was other hunters.

Then another half month passed...

Chen Yumo was numb.

Searching alone was simply too inefficient. His advance was limited, and whenever he encountered danger, he had to avoid it, slowing his search even further.

As a result, eighteen days had passed, yet he still had not found the metal-element White Tiger he wanted.

Just as he was wondering whether to lower his standards, an imposing tiger's roar erupted from a distant ridge.

The instant he heard it, a powerful premonition suddenly arose in Chen Yumo's heart.

"It's here!"

He abruptly turned and looked toward the source of the roar.

Across a stream, another tiger's roar came from a cliff three or four hundred meters away. Despite the distance, Chen Yumo felt as though it had roared right beside his ear.

It was definitely a powerful beast.

With a flicker of excitement, Chen Yumo activated both Spiritual Detection and his Simulation Spirit Skill, concealing himself with all his might as he crept toward the cliff ahead.

At that moment, two enormous tigers of different colors were fighting bloodily in front of him.

One of them was entirely azure-blue, over five meters long, with a nimble body and a long, flexible tail. Whenever its paws struck the ground, violent winds swirled around it, as though the wind itself were lifting it along.

Clouds followed dragons; wind followed tigers. Those six words found their most perfect embodiment in it.

A Wind Tiger, one of Meteor Forest's most classic tiger-type Spirit Beasts.

Chen Yumo had encountered quite a few Wind Tigers before, but this one was unquestionably the largest he had ever seen.

With its wind attribute, it excelled at speed more than other tiger-type Spirit Beasts, so its body naturally tended to be smaller to facilitate swift movement.

A body length of five meters was already considered enormous among Wind Tigers. Its cultivation was likely above seven thousand years.

Its opponent was even slightly smaller than the naturally more compact Wind Tiger, yet it was immensely sturdy. Beneath its white fur streaked with black markings were bulging slabs of hard muscle like granite. A single glance was enough to feel its tyrannical strength.

Though it looked more cumbersome than the Wind Tiger, it was not much slower in motion. It lacked its opponent's agility, but whenever the Wind Tiger attacked, it could respond after moving later yet arrive first.

When Chen Yumo arrived, he happened to see the black-and-white giant tiger leap into the air, execute a nimble flip midair, and whip its thick tail like a steel lash into the Wind Tiger's waist.

Tigers were felines, but in some traits, they somewhat resembled canines.

Bronze head, iron bones, tofu waist.

With a crack, the black-and-white giant tiger's tail struck the Wind Tiger's waist and directly shattered its spine. The sound of splintering bone clearly reached Chen Yumo's ears.

Chen Yumo: QAQ!!!

When you discovered that two tigers were fighting, and one of them could predict the other's movements and whip its tail hard enough to break the other tiger's spine despite being slower, you had to admit that tiger was basically Superman.

But the Wind Tiger truly lived up to its name. It was downright mad.

Knowing it was doomed, it decisively unleashed a killing blow, sending a wind blade from an extremely sinister and tricky angle toward the black-and-white tiger's...

Uh, Xiao Lingdang...

As two round objects left the black-and-white tiger's body and fell to the ground with a smack, Chen Yumo, hiding in the shadows, sucked in a sharp breath.

There was a kind of pain that hurt just to watch.

The black-and-white tiger, which had nearly struck a victorious pose, froze briefly before releasing an incomparably agonized, despairing shriek.

"Meoww—"

The Wind Tiger died in peace.

The black-and-white tiger curled up and rolled across the ground, miserable whimpers constantly escaping its throat.

But in Chen Yumo's view, the pain in its cries might have come less from its body than from its heart...

Chen Yumo naturally did not miss such a perfect opportunity. His eyes watched the show, but his hands were no slower, pulling out his Fixed Soul Guidance Device with the ease of someone who had rehearsed it countless times.

Three consecutive shots from fifth-grade high-explosive Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs.

The three cannonballs exploded in a triangular formation, sealing off every avenue of escape for both tigers. A deafening boom rang through the valley.

After the explosions subsided, Chen Yumo waited a while longer. Once the smoke and dust dispersed, only two mangled corpses remained, along with two purple Spirit Rings floating in the air.

One of them was noticeably deeper in color and even glimmered with faint black light. It belonged to the Wind Tiger.

The other Spirit Ring was bright in color, with a cultivation of just over a thousand years.

This was Chen Yumo's target for this Spirit Beast hunt.

A thousand-year White Tiger. Its cultivation exceeded Chen Yumo's expectations somewhat, likely around seventeen hundred years. But after searching for half a month, this was the only White Tiger he had found that met his requirements. Even though it was roughly two hundred years beyond his intended limit, he had no choice but to take action.

The Portable Space could freeze Spirit Rings anyway. If he could not absorb it now, then at worst, he would waste a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber to improve his physical condition.

The path of evolution allowed no accidents.