Li Bai Wakes Up

Chen Erniu was terrified, seeing a massive striped Fierce Tiger just two feet away from him.

The ferocious tiger's head pressed close to his, its mouth gaping wide as it roared, fangs long and sharp, its tiger eyes fixed intently on him.

He had never heard of a tiger this big!

It must be a tiger spirit with cultivation from the mountains.

Thinking of what he had been discussing just moments ago, Chen Erniu's face turned deathly pale.

The Fierce Tiger had come for him!

The two of them trembled, prostrating on the ground, endlessly pleading for forgiveness. They saw the enormous, terrifying tiger spirit let out a long roar that shook the woods and pavilions. The yellow dog, startled, lay flat on the ground, barking wildly.

The Fierce Tiger laughed, its roar scattering in the wind.

"Considering you spoke no ill words, I will spare you for now."

With that, it stepped past them, walking away one pace at a time, gradually becoming a retreating silhouette.

A lingering voice remained.

"Since I began cultivating the Dao,"

"I have never tasted blood or defiled myself with flesh."

"Do you remember?"

Chen Erniu heard the voice grow fainter and fainter, until finally it was carried away entirely by the wind. He looked up and saw that the Fierce Tiger had indeed left.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

As his mind relaxed, his body went limp and collapsed to the ground, unable to lift even a finger. He lay there for a while, his heart pounding wildly, filled with lingering fear.

He had escaped death once more.

The county magistrate's servant came to his senses.

He exclaimed in shock, "It was a tiger that could speak!"

"There are tiger demons that have become spirits on the mountain?!"

To be honest, when he came to Chen Family Village to find Chen Erniu and ask about the immortal encounter, he was only following orders—the county magistrate wanted to hear these tales. He himself didn't believe a word of it.

Nonsense about meeting immortals, and talk of a blue-robed immortal subduing a tiger—he thought it was all made up by Chen Erniu to swindle money. Could such a thing really happen under the magistrate's rule?

But now, he had truly encountered a tiger.

Chen Erniu, still shaken, said, "That roar—it's exactly the same as the one I heard that day. This tiger didn't die."

"Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

Thank goodness his courage wasn't too great, and he hadn't been arrogant enough to fabricate tales of ghosts and immortals. He had only added a few details, not spouting nonsense about the Fierce Tiger and demonic spirits.

In just half an hour, a cold sweat had broken out all over him.

The servant felt a bit better. He looked at Chen Erniu, feeling a shared experience—they had suffered together. Still gripped by lingering fear, he needed someone to calm his nerves.

He said, "Thank goodness that tiger knew how to judge people. I almost thought we were going to be eaten... Hah, truly terrifying."

At a tea stall in the city.

Four scholars were drinking tea to escape the heat.

Many people sat in the tea shed. Some were laborers who had worked hard all day, resting their feet and drinking cheap tea at one coin a bowl to fill their stomachs. Others were traveling merchants, dusty and well-off, who were invited upstairs for better tea while their horses were looked after by the attendants. Most were local Xiangyang residents, chatting in groups of three or four, gossiping about strange events from the past few days.

A crowd had gathered around the scholars.

Dai Xiu held a tea cup in one hand, recounting how terrifying the Fierce Tiger was.

"That tiger on the mountain was fierce indeed—not only did it demand a human meal every month..."

The listeners were spellbound, holding their breath, feeling as if the terrifying tiger was right beside them, their expressions shifting with Dai Xiu's words.

A full half-hour later, Dai Xiu finished, drinking the fine tea the shopkeeper had gifted him to moisten his throat, and said:

"That's all for today."

He brushed his sleeves lightly, casually pocketing the spare coins from the table.

Slipping into an alley, Dai Xiu split the earnings with the other three.

Wang Zishen counted each one carefully before tucking them into his own pocket, saying, "I never thought we could make money from this. It's a good gig."

"We're just borrowing the light of those beasts on the mountain."

Another man took his share.

He frowned, thought for a moment, and asked hesitantly, "Is that Fierce Tiger really dead? If it's still alive, it won't be easy to mess with."

Dai Xiu laughed. "What are you afraid of? Didn't they say a master subdued the tiger?"

Wang Zishen also chimed in.

"Even if it's still alive, can a beast understand human speech?"

The four of them split the money in the alley, each stowing their share away, ready to leave.

"ROOOAR——"

Suddenly, a massive tiger's roar rang in their ears.

It rattled their hearing numb.

A colossal Fierce Tiger appeared outside the alley, its eyes cold and sharp, fixed tightly on the four within.

"Found you!"

"Have you heard? Those scholars who used to tell stories have gone missing—no one knows where. Those tales were creepy, but after a few days without them, you kind of miss them."

"I heard they got spooked on the mountain, came down with a bad illness, and are recovering now."

"Huh? Why'd they suddenly go up the mountain?"

"How would I know? Telling stories like that day in and day out—some Spirit Demon on the mountain might've taken offense and given them a lesson. Not out of the question."

"Wasn't there supposed to be an immortal too? Where'd that immortal go?"

Jiang She set down his tea cup and waved over the waiter.

"Check, please."

"This young sir looks unfamiliar." The waiter quickly scanned the table, tallying the tea and snacks, and soon counted out the cost. "Sixteen coppers total."

Jiang She placed the money on the table.

"Much obliged."

"You're too kind, young sir. Take care, and come again."

After whiling away the afternoon outside, Jiang She returned to the courtyard, exchanged a few greetings with Yuan Danqiu, and opened that handbook.

The snippets he'd overheard at the tea stall earlier had sparked some thoughts.

The last time this handbook revealed text, it was recounting the hunter's experience in the mountains. And a few days later, those scholars got spooked by a mountain beast—was that recorded too?

He flipped the book open.

Sure enough, several new lines had appeared.

"Not long after, tales of meeting the immortal spread throughout the city. Rumors also arose that a tiger spirit dwelled in the mountains, fierce and given to devouring men.

"The mountain tiger heard these words and descended. Seeing the hunter spoke true, it released him. As for the group of scholars, many had fabricated tales of tiger violence. Mindful of the immortal's face, it did not take their lives. The ringleader lost an arm; the rest, terrified, lay ill for ten-odd days."

So this was the aftermath of the hunter's encounter with the immortal.

Jiang She stared at the handbook, reading the words on the page.

"It really is like a historian's brush at work."

In some intangible way, it felt like seeing a legendary storybook. He wondered if, once this ordeal was over, the handbook would be filled with tales.

The sky gradually grew overcast. Wind pushed the clouds in, pressing heavily across half the horizon—likely a heavy rain would fall by nightfall.

On the wall, that litter of kittens had crawled out from the neighbor's again to play. They were a bit bigger than before, round-headed and lively, scrambling up a tree. They were greedy too, even reaching out to grab the leaves above their heads and take a few bites.

Jiang She had some free time.

He sat at the table and watched for a while.

He reached out a hand. The cat seemed to just notice there was a person sitting there, a figure so much larger than itself. Its fur bristled, back arched, round eyes fixed on him without letting up.

It had a bit of the Mountain Lord's bearing.

Jiang She went to the kitchen, fetched some cut meat, rinsed the salt off with water, and held it out.

The cat startled.

It sniffed hard a few times, eyes locked on.

"Eat."

The cat stole glances at him while creeping forward a few steps, until it couldn't resist the meat's aroma anymore. Forgetting its fear, it swallowed in small bites, not daring to chew.

A soft purr rumbled.

Jiang She couldn't help but smile.

"Creak——"

The door behind him slid open, followed by a clatter of footsteps. Someone spotted Jiang She playing with the cat here.

"Jiang Lang... Jiang Xiansheng."

"What day is it now?"

Li Bai emerged from the inner room, hastily throwing on a white robe, his hair a bit messy, his face glowing with vitality.

When he woke, he thought he was still at the feast of gods and ghosts—the sound of laughing and chatting with demons still ringing in his ears. It wasn't until he saw the familiar rafters that he came to his senses: he was already home.

After several days of heavy drinking, Li Bai had finally sobered up.