The Tiger's Curse

Just as with the Five Animal Frolics, once Ling Qing had a clear understanding of a skill, he could add it to his general skills panel.

He had already tested this when learning staff techniques, and had even gone out of his way to look up cultivation methods online for reference.

Most of them were incomplete, and the traits they did possess largely overlapped with those of the Five Animal Frolics.

So Ling Qing hadn't made a point of frantically collecting skills. After all, learning one skill with a given trait was enough.

That was also why he had gone to so much trouble to help the Land God organize the Divine Script.

Though it could be said he was taking something without asking, how could he not be tempted by a divine art like this?

Unfortunately, the original Divine Script couldn't be memorized or recorded. It was also unclear whether the Ancient Scroll had no name because it was incomplete, or because its true meaning had yet to be understood.

"Please, sir." Ling Qing handed the neatly organized pages, along with the Ancient Animal Skin Scroll, to the Land God, who had been watching eagerly from the side.

"Thank you, sir." The Land God was overjoyed and took them at once.

His excitement was such that even the way he addressed Ling Qing had changed.

He casually set the Ancient Animal Skin Scroll aside, then picked up the loose pages Ling Qing had organized and began to read them carefully.

Ling Qing glanced at the Ancient Scroll and said nothing, sitting quietly nearby as he waited.

After carefully turning through the pages, the Land God looked up.

Unlike the Beast Skin Scroll he had casually set aside, he placed the pages carefully on the stone table.

Then he stood, straightened his already immaculate divine robes, stepped back, and bowed to Ling Qing.

"Sorry for the wait, sir."

"Not at all. You're too kind." Seeing this, Ling Qing hurried to his feet and dodged aside, reaching out as if to help him up.

He didn't know whether he could actually touch the Land God. What if he tried to help, only for his hand to pass right through? That would be awkward.

"Your knowledge is extraordinary, sir. Your annotations are clear and easy to understand, and they've opened my eyes.

"But I have one more favor to ask. I hope you won't begrudge me your guidance."

The Land God looked at Ling Qing with an embarrassed expression, then continued, "It's not that this old man is greedy. I'm simply slow-witted and can't read many characters.

"I can understand the passages you annotated, but there are still many unfamiliar characters throughout the text, and I have many questions about the meaning of the scripture as a whole.

"I hope you'll be kind enough to explain it to me."

"All right." Looking at the Land God's hopeful expression, Ling Qing had no choice but to agree.

It seemed he wouldn't be getting any rest tonight. But then, he had benefited from the other man's help, too.

So be it. He'd call it repayment.

Ling Qing picked up the pages the Land God had left on the stone table and began to read and explain them, character by character and sentence by sentence. Whenever he came across a difficult passage, he patiently went over it again and again.

When he reached something he didn't understand himself, he didn't make wild guesses. He simply said so.

Yet when they encountered such passages, the Land God, as a deity with firsthand experience, often understood them better and could clear up Ling Qing's doubts.

In this way, though no prompts appeared, once Ling Qing grasped the true meaning, he could connect it to the surrounding text and correct the annotations he had gotten wrong.

Instead, he gained a much deeper understanding of the Divine Script as a whole.

It was a chance to review what he had learned and discover something new, and he came away with a modest gain.

The man and the god explained and discussed the text as time slipped by unnoticed.

When a faint light appeared in the east, Ling Qing, absorbed in their discussion, suddenly came to his senses, his spirits lifting.

"Daybreak."

"Yes, daybreak." Watching the sun slowly rise in the east, the Land God sighed. "I thought this would be the last sunrise I'd ever see.

"But thanks to your help tonight, I now have a chance of winning."

"What do you mean by that?" Ling Qing asked in confusion.

"I hope you'll forgive me. Because of me, you've missed out on your rest."

The Land God turned to Ling Qing and said, "To be honest, Locust Tree Village is now empty. I persuaded everyone in the village to leave and seek refuge elsewhere."

"Is it because of the tiger menace?" Ling Qing asked, voicing the suspicion he already had.

"Exactly. I should have urged you to turn back and get away when we met yesterday, but my own selfish motives made me keep you here for another night."

The Land God bowed apologetically, then took three Mud Pellets from his sleeve. He picked up the Beast Skin Scroll and handed them all to Ling Qing.

"I obtained this scripture nearly a hundred years ago. Though I didn't know what it meant, I gained a few wondrous abilities by practicing it blindly.

"These Mud Pellets have the power of Earth Escape. Crush one, and it can let you travel underground for more than ten li.

"These three should be enough to carry you thirty or forty li away from Miao Mountain.

"I'm giving you this Ancient Scroll as well. Please don't refuse."

Ling Qing was very tempted by the two things. After making a token attempt to refuse, he put them away, afraid that if he protested too much, the Land God might change his mind.

Compared with the Land God's great righteousness, it seemed Ling Qing was still too attached to worldly concerns.

But there was nothing wrong with that. After all, he was only a mortal.

"Thank you, sir. What did you mean when you said you might not see tomorrow's sunrise?"

"I'm the Land God of this village. Without an edict, I can't leave my jurisdiction.

"If I tried to leave by force, I wouldn't just lose my divine office; I'd likely be punished by the City God as well.

"I thought that once I sent the villagers away and hid in the Spirit Realm, I'd be safe enough.

"The Tiger Demon has devoured quite a few people, but I've never heard of it destroying any village's Land God shrine.

"But the trouble is, the Tiger Demon and I have a grudge. I'm afraid it won't spare me once it sees me."

After the Land God explained the situation, Ling Qing understood.

It all had to do with the Ancient Animal Skin Scroll.

A hundred years ago, the Land God, whose allotted lifespan had not yet run out, had spent half his life struggling out in the world. He returned to the Locust Tree Village where he'd grown up, carrying the savings he'd amassed over the years.

The reason was that he had obtained a cultivation method said to let one become an immortal and a god: the Beast Skin Scroll.

He had found the Ancient Scroll in a cave. There had been two scrolls at the time.

After reading through them, he was so delighted that he began to put them away. Then he suddenly heard a tiger roar, drawing closer and closer.

In his panic, he hurriedly hid. A moment later, he heard a tiger walk into the cave.

"Roar!"

As soon as the tiger entered, it let out a furious, mournful roar and rushed out like a gust of wind. It dug up an Ancient Scroll where he had been standing.

In his haste to hide, he had accidentally left one of the scrolls behind.

The tiger then clamped the scroll in its jaws and, even more enraged, chased after him along the route he had taken.

He had no idea why the tiger hadn't noticed him, though it had been right beside him.

But once he saw that the tiger had gone, he hurried out and crept down the mountain, hiding all the while.

After that, he didn't dare take the same route back. Instead, he hid for several days in a town in the opposite direction before he dared return to Changyang Town.

He heard that the tiger had rampaged for a while before being driven back into the mountains. To keep it from finding him, he packed up and returned to his home village.

From then on, he studied the scripture while using the savings from his years of toil to improve life in the village.

That earned him plenty of support, and as he grew older, he gradually became a respected elder in the village.

But at the time, he couldn't read much, either, and could only guess at the scripture's meaning.

Fortunately, this divine art had no harmful effects at the entry level, so he was spared any danger.

If he'd gotten his hands on some heretical method, practicing it blindly as he had could have left weeds three feet high on his grave—or driven him mad and sent him into cultivation deviation.