South Mountain... Tiger?
A figure floated out of the statue and landed on the ground. The surrounding Tiger Ghost, seeing the statue glowing, all knelt down. They were not kneeling for the floating figure, but for the phenomenon of the statue glowing.
The figure stood beneath the statue, looking dazed. Several deep wounds were slashed across his chest by claws. He looked up at the glowing statue, and a sense of understanding dawned on him. A strong will to survive compelled him to kneel down.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes as he looked at the figure. He recognized the man; it was one of the guards who had accompanied Zhou Chu and Lu Li into the mountains at the Zhou Clan. The guard looked bewildered as he stared at the glowing tiger statue. He suddenly went limp and was about to kneel down when Lu Li saw this and quickly went over to help him up.
Grabbing the guard by the collar, Lu Li patted his cheek to bring him to his senses. Ignoring the angry glares from the surrounding Tiger Ghost, Lu Li asked the guard, "Do you still recognize me?"
"You are... Young Master Lu, are you dead too?" The guard's eyes were glazed over, and his speech was somewhat incoherent, but he still recognized Lu Li and answered in a daze.
"Ziyin and South Mountain Tiger have clashed? What was the situation like over there before you came?"
Lu Li's question left the guard bewildered for a while before he finally replied, "Young Master has already clashed with the South Mountain... That King is immortal, he can't die no matter what. I was killed by the King with a single swipe of his claw... The King... The King."
Lu Li released the murmuring guard, his body went limp, and he knelt prostrate beneath the tiger statue. His expression gradually became numb, becoming exactly like those Tiger Ghost —not in appearance, but inwardly, a thousand faces as one.
Having lost interest in continuing his exploration, Lu Li, guarded by the Tiger Ghost), returned to the Tiger King Cave. Almost as soon as he returned, a Tiger Ghost emerged from the cave, spoke a few words to the Tiger Ghost guarding Lu Li, and then approached Lu Li, saying, "The King has summoned foreign dignitaries; please come with me, young master."
"Where is your Red Fox Prime Minister?" Lu Li asked, somewhat puzzled, as he hadn't seen the Red Fox.
"The Prime Minister has to deal with state affairs and doesn't have that much time," the Tiger Ghost said, leading Lu Li into the Tiger King Cave.
These Tiger Ghost weren't very bright, and since Lu Li now had the title of a foreign dignitary, he managed to glean quite a bit of information from them through Tiger Ghost questioning. Although this Tiger Kingdom of South Mountain seemed legitimate, it was actually just a small town.
The Tiger Kingdom has more than 500 members, most of whom are Tiger Ghost a type of ghost or spirit). These Tiger Ghost are people who died under the bites of the South Mountain Tiger in recent years. Apart from these Tiger Ghost, there are only a few other members. Among them, the Prime Minister Red Fox is a civil official who leads a few Tiger Ghost with relatively good minds to handle the political affairs of the Tiger Kingdom of South Mountain.
In reality, Red Fox didn't have much to do. Most of its 500-plus members were Tiger Ghost didn't need to eat, drink, or relieve themselves. The only things it had to do were maintain and expand its territory.
On the other side was a military officer led by a White-Haired Monkey. This White-Haired Monkey and his monkey offspring were the military force of the Tiger Kingdom of South Mountain, usually dealing with rebellions. Lu Li had also inquired about the rebellion and roughly understood what the Five Squirrels were all about.
Some of the Tiger Ghost would gradually gravitate towards the tiger and acquire some tiger-related abilities. For example, the Five Squirrels, when combined, could become a tiger. They believed they had mastered the tiger's power. The ministers of the Tiger Kingdom could not allow monkeys and Fox to do so, so they launched a rebellion to purge the court of corrupt officials and protect the people.
In reality, those rebels didn't rebel against South Mountain Tiger, but rather against Red Fox and his group. Such rebellions occurred occasionally, but never succeeded. Tiger King never expressed his opinion, leaving everything to Red Fox and White Monkey.
As Lu Li followed the Tiger Ghost into the Tiger King Cave, he was somewhat surprised to find that the walls and floor of the Tiger King Cave were paved with polished stones, looking clean and tidy. There were torches and Tiger Ghost guarding the passage at intervals. After passing through this section, the view suddenly opened up.
The size of the cave suddenly increased dozens of times. The ground was paved with high-quality stone slabs, and the surrounding walls were covered with green vines that reached the top of the cave and led out of the mountain. Even more amazingly, these vines grew fruits that emitted a faint light.
The vines covering the cave, along with hundreds of glowing fruits, made the cave as bright as day. Dozens of Tiger Ghost stood around the walls, and in the middle of the cave was a palace. This palace seemed to be built from a single piece of stone, with a front hall, a main hall, a side hall, and a rear hall.
Although it was made of stone, the palace was exquisitely crafted. In front of the main hall, there was a huge tiger statue that exuded a strong tiger's might. Upon seeing Lu Li's arrival, Tiger Ghost stopped him and sent someone inside to report.
A moment later, a sharp cry came from inside, "Summon, distinguished foreign guest to an audience."
Lu Li smiled. This was quite convincing. He followed the Tiger Ghost into the palace. On both sides of the front hall stood Tiger Ghost guards in armor. After passing through the gate of the front hall, he saw the minister of the Tiger Kingdom of South Mountain and, most importantly, the South Mountain Tiger King.
Inside the main hall, on one side stood some Tiger Ghost dressed as civil officials, but the Red Fox was nowhere to be seen. On the other side stood military officers led by a White Monkey wearing scale armor. The White Monkey was baring its teeth and looking at Lu Li. And on the throne high above, exuding a strong tiger's might, sat a large white tiger dressed in black tiger clothing.
Beside the white tiger were two eunuch-dressed Tiger Ghost, and behind them were two female Tiger Ghost themselves. Seeing Lu Li enter, one of the eunuch Tiger Ghost, in a shrill voice, shouted, "Human, why do you not kneel before my king?"
The large white tiger stared at Lu Li with its eyes half-open, as if waiting to see what Lu Li say. Meanwhile, the White-Haired Monkey bared its teeth and stared intently at Lu Li, as if it would draw its weapon and charge at him if Lu Li the wrong answer.
Aside from the occasional rebellion caused by some Tiger Ghost possessing tiger supernatural powers, the White-Haired Monkey military officers in the Tiger Kingdom of South Mountain have no real use for their skills. Therefore, they usually have no say here and are completely controlled by the Red Fox. Now, they are eagerly waiting for Lu Li to cause trouble.
This so-called human guest was invited by the Red Fox. If he causes trouble, it will undermine the Red Fox's authority. If the red fox defeats this human, captures him, and hands him over to the king, wouldn't that be a great achievement?
Lu Li looked at the South Mountain Tiger King, who was reclining in a chair, draped in a black tiger-patterned robe that concealed his body, exuding an aura of majesty. He smiled and uttered a sentence:
"Your Majesty, your tail is showing!"