The instant the incense smoke touched the Land God, the three sticks of incense Ling Qing had planted in the ground began to burn fiercely. In the blink of an eye, they were reduced to ash.
"Hss~"
The Land God pursed his lips and drew in a breath. The curling smoke streamed into his mouth.
"Phew~"
As he exhaled a breath of stale air, the winds and clouds around Locust Tree Village stirred. Energies from the sky and earth converged on the Land God from every direction.
Incense offerings were best burned slowly, so the Land God could absorb and make the most of them.
But as I'd said, this was a moment of crisis!
The Land God had made the incense burn faster, drawing in all the smoke at once. In an instant, he gained a powerful blessing from heaven and earth.
As the energy gathered, earthen-yellow light began to flare from his body.
At the same time, the Land God chanted a divine spell and formed hand seals. The earth surged toward him as if it were alive.
The light grew brighter, the earth piled higher, and the Land God's aura grew stronger.
"Roar~~~"
Seeing this, the Tiger Demon turned restlessly in a circle. Its roar shook heaven and earth, churning the wind and clouds.
It sprang into the air and pounced on the Land God.
"Roar~~"
"Roar~~"
"Roar~~"
Seeing it charge, the fierce tigers behind it skirted around the Tiger Demon and rushed forward with furious roars.
The Tiger Demon's roar made Ling Qing's vision go black. When he came to, he saw the pack launching a surprise attack.
He immediately forgot about the Land God and the Tiger Demon and grabbed the staff beside him, charging to meet the tigers.
After a few strides, he leaped onto a Greenstone and surveyed the area.
The Tiger Demon had charged straight through, collapsing every pitfall along its path. The traps inside them had all been rendered useless.
Those traps really couldn't stop the Tiger Demon.
The pack following close behind hadn't jumped down into the pits. Instead, they spread out and circled around from both sides.
But Ling Qing and the Land God had already filled the surrounding area with traps. People could walk over them unharmed, and ordinary tigers could run across them too—the only exception was the Tiger Demon.
But...
Once every tiger had entered the trap zone, Ling Qing tapped the floating Book of Nature beside him and began chanting.
A flash of magic swept over the ground in front of the pack.
The two tigers in the lead suddenly felt the soil give way beneath their paws as they landed.
The ground, softened by Ling Qing's Soft Stone Technique, couldn't bear the weight of the beasts. It sank beneath them like mud.
The two tigers vanished in the blink of an eye.
Before the others could react, Ling Qing raised a feather and chanted the spell for Sky Mastery. He kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
He chanted rapidly, casting Soft Stone Technique again and again. One after another, the other tigers fell into the pits.
Even if they tried to flee, as long as they couldn't dodge Ling Qing's spells and escape the traps' reach, they couldn't get away.
Once all the tigers had fallen into the pits, he cast Sky Mastery on himself again to keep from falling out of the air.
Then he began to deal with the beasts at his leisure.
First, he used Earth Binding to suppress the tigers, using its anti-flight effect to keep them from leaping out.
Then he used spells like Mountain Stride and Binding Wind to restrict their movement.
Next, he weakened them with spells like Blinding Spittle and Thin Air.
Finally, while they were helpless and weakened, he used Thorns, along with the poison smeared on them, to bind the tigers tightly.
After that barrage of spells, the entire pack was trapped in the pits, unable to move, and all they could do was roar furiously.
Ling Qing let out a small sigh of relief, then immediately got moving again.
He had the pack under control now, but spells didn't last forever.
Once their effects wore off, it would be much harder to subdue the tigers again. The fight wouldn't be over until he killed them while he had the chance.
He cast Sky Mastery on himself again, then added Wings of Atmosphere and Cloud Wing Technique to improve his aerial mobility.
He flew to the first tigers he'd trapped, raised the Iron Birch Wood Staff imbued with Shillelagh, and watched as a gleaming spike sprouted from it and shot toward a tiger's head like lightning.
After Ling Qing had raised Five Animal Frolics to the expert level, it had not only brought his overall attributes up to 12 points, but had also given him complete control over his body.
He couldn't contort himself at will like a yoga practitioner, but his body obeyed him with pinpoint precision, and he could summon his strength and direct his force with ease.
Ling Qing didn't dare face the tigers' iron-whip tails, so he focused on their heads.
The tigers' frontal attacks were far more dangerous than a sweep of their iron tails. But first, the trapped tigers couldn't move freely, and Ling Qing could dodge their attacks with his footwork.
Second, attacking from a distance let him target their heads, which had more fatal weak points, making it far more effective.
Sure enough, though the tiger did its best to dodge and bared its teeth as if to bite him, it had already been weakened and its movements restricted. Unable to dodge in time, it was pierced in the eye by the wooden spike, which drove into its brain.
"Roar~~~"
The tiger let out a bloodcurdling scream, then collapsed in the bottom of the pit, completely motionless.
Ling Qing repeated the process. Amid a chorus of screams, he killed every trapped tiger before any of them could break free.
He even had time to aim for their eyes and pierce their brains, all to avoid damaging their pelts as much as possible.
Only after the battle here was over could he spare a glance at the fight between the Land God and the Tiger Demon.
However...
"Ah~~~~"
As soon as he turned his head, he heard countless shrieks, like the cries of ghosts blended together.
A jumble of evil thoughts flooded his mind, leaving him unable to focus on anything else.
Fortunately, he'd already purged the Tiger Demon's evil thoughts once before. He immediately recited the Incantation of Mind Purification and the Golden Light Mantra to protect his mind and body.
As the incantations took hold, a clear light swept through his mind, driving away the distracting thoughts, while golden light flowed across his skin to shield him.
Once the thoughts had been swept away and he'd come to his senses, he saw countless pitiful-looking Chang Ghosts pouring out of the Tiger Demon, surging toward the Land God like a tidal wave.
Before Ling Qing could worry about the Land God, he saw him raise a command token and hold it before himself, as if he'd expected this.
The Chang Ghosts vanished as soon as they reached the token.
Like a clay ox disappearing into the sea, they were gone without a ripple.
"Ha!"
While the Tiger Demon stood stunned, the Land God suddenly straightened up. He brought down a wooden staff as thick as a roof beam, smashing it onto the Tiger Demon's head.
A metallic clang rang out.
"Gaoo~"
Caught off guard, the Tiger Demon took the blow squarely. Sparks flew as it staggered, dazed and seeing stars.
Only then did Ling Qing get a clear look at the Land God.
His hair and beard were still white as snow, and aside from the added solemnity in his face, his appearance had barely changed.
But his hunched body had grown to three zhang tall. Tree roots as thick as steel bars formed his sinews, binding the bulging muscles of yellow earth and gray stone that made up his body.
His once simple, slender walking stick had become a massive staff of gnarled old roots, as thick as a roof beam.
Sharp stones protruded from it, their tips glinting coldly. They covered it like the spikes of a mace.
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