[Third Life]

"Brother, Brother, are you heading out?"

Morning.

At the entrance of the dilapidated temple.

Xiao Qing leaned against the doorframe, looking up at Chen Guan.

Sigh, sometimes she really is annoyingly clingy.

Chen Guan looked down at his younger sister and nodded.

"Mm..." Xiao Qing seemed to sense that her brother was a bit quiet, as if he didn't want to talk to her.

For a moment, no matter how reluctant she was, she nodded sensibly.

"Brother, be careful on the road, come home early..."

She knew her brother needed to eat, unlike her, who could survive just by breathing.

Thump, thump.

Chen Guan left the dilapidated temple.

His first destination was to jog to the forest clearing five miles away.

Then, he would continue to exercise his limbs and knock on the "Dinner Time" stone to attract the freeloading lackeys that often followed him.

Once those freeloaders gathered, he could begin the hunt.

If he couldn't catch any prey, he would eat the freeloaders.

Lost in thought.

Chen Guan had already jogged two miles along the mountain path, with a few freeloading lackeys following behind him.

These few were quite shrewd.

They no longer waited for the dinner bell and were already waiting for him nearby.

This was because on his way to his training spot, if he happened to kill any prey, they would be able to get an extra meal.

Naturally, they flocked to such benefits.

"I can't eat too much before exercising, so it's their gain."

Chen Guan didn't care and kept running.

However, as he ran, Chen Guan noticed a nearly transparent figure at his training spot ahead.

It did not dare to stand in the sunlight, but lingered by the side of a tree.

In its hand was a piece of tattered cloth, stained with the scent of his own blood.

Is he a ghost?

Chen Guan suddenly stopped, and his keen sense of smell caught a scent on the figure that belonged to a tiger.

He... a tiger ghost?

The Taoist manual did contain records regarding certain yin-evil arts.

Among them, "acting as a tiger's accomplice" was a type of unconventional "ghost-driving" technique.

Chen Guan was no longer a novice in cultivation, so he recognized it.

Why is he looking for me?

Chen Guan recalled everything and looked at the tiger ghost ahead again.

Although he didn't know why this tiger ghost was searching for him, the thought that there might be a tiger spirit with Taoist cultivation nearby made him realize that a "death trap" had already been set.

After all, he was at most a black bear with intelligence, but the opponent was a true "monster!"

Now, he wanted to use his "mortal beast body" to hide from a tiger monster that could command ghosts?

Chen Guan thought it over and felt he couldn't hide.

According to the records in the book, even if he ran far away or hid dozens of meters deep underground or underwater, as long as the monster wanted to find him, it could still track him down based on his scent.

Could it be... that the tiger I killed before... knew this tiger monster?

Thinking of this, Chen Guan felt that since the monster was willing to expend magic power on a "scent search," there was a high probability that there was a grudge between them.

It seemed this tribulation would be hard to avoid.

So now, before the tribulation arrived, he had to see what he could do for his next reincarnation.

It was just a pity about the talent legacy that hadn't been upgraded yet.

Lost in thought.

Chen Guan tore off the vines on his body, and at the same time, kicked the muddy ground open, throwing in the protective amulet his sister had made, the yin-yang eye liquid, the golden sore medicine, and the insect-repellent sachet.

The secret manual had already been memorized by heart, etched deep into his mind.

"Where is that sound coming from?"

As soon as Chen Guan made a noise, the ghost servant over there turned its gaze toward him.

Chen Guan dropped onto all fours, smoothed out the dirt to cover his tracks, and bolted in the opposite direction of the ruined temple.

He was too close to the temple, and that tiger spirit was capable of commanding ghost servants.

If it discovered his younger sister, then his companion in this life might suffer an unprovoked disaster.

Thump-thump.

Chen Guan gathered all his strength and sprinted in the opposite direction.

If he could escape, that would naturally be for the best.

But at this moment.

Seeing Chen Guan run, the ghost servant let out a few high-pitched wails, sounding like a gale in the dead of night or the sharp whistling of wind through a cliffside.

Upon hearing this sound, Chen Guan's head felt momentarily dazed, and the scene before his eyes began to sway.

Yet, he still pushed through the dizziness and nausea, running forward for about two miles.

But when he arrived here, Chen Guan stopped in his tracks, for the ghost servant's cry was not a spell, but a simple signal to its companions.

At this moment, fifty meters in front of Chen Guan.

A tiger over five meters long was looking at him with a hint of interest.

As it watched, it then looked toward the group of scavengers that had just followed Chen Guan.

"Interesting, interesting. These jackals are rushing to die with you."

Tiger Immortal spoke in human language, his face wearing a distinctly strange, mocking expression.

This scene caused Chen Guan's heart to sink; he knew he had encountered a "true monster."

"Woo-woo~" The scavenging beasts, seeing the tiger, did not run this time; they were so terrified by Tiger Immortal that they were frozen in place.

Chen Guan was no exception.

A sense of panic spread throughout his entire body.

"It truly has intelligence!" Seeing the human-like panic in Chen Guan, Tiger Immortal was overjoyed:

"Some creatures are born powerful.

Others, like you, possess extraordinary talent and gain intelligence in just over a decade; you are a rare monster.

Good, good, good!

This King did not come in vain this time, nor did I waste my magic power for nothing.

Rare monster, my good brother, let us trade hearts~"

As the words fell.

In the next second.

Chen Guan suddenly felt a pain in his chest, and his strength began to drain away rapidly.

Tiger Immortal had crossed dozens of meters in an instant; his massive five-meter-long body crushed Chen Guan in terms of sheer size.

"Since Brother Bear has already gained intelligence, then Brother Tiger will tell you one thing."

Tiger Immortal swiped a claw, pressing down on Chen Guan's powerful heart, and easily knocked him to the ground.

"Brother Bear, you killed my concubine, so do not blame this King for killing you.

Trading hearts.

In this world of gods and ghosts, it has always been the law of the jungle."

As Tiger Immortal finished speaking, he tore out Chen Guan's heart.

Chen Guan's consciousness gradually blurred.

"Hah! Delicious, delicious! My good brother's heart and liver are truly chewy!"

Tiger Immortal finished his meal, then looked toward the direction of his cave, preparing to head home to digest his feast.

As for the remaining corpse, it had no nutritional value left, so he left it for the jackals, insects, and leopards.

Inhale.

Tiger Immortal opened his mouth wide, drawing all the ghost servants back in, and then, transforming into a demonic gust of wind, he vanished in a flash.

It was not until six hours later.

That the scent belonging to the tiger began to fade.

"Woo-woo..."

The freeloaders cautiously took a few steps forward, cowering as they approached the former king of the forest, before suddenly swarming in all at once.

By nightfall, nothing remained but fur and scraps of flesh; there was no trace of the black bear that had been there before.

"Brother..."

Deep in the night, at the dilapidated temple.

Xiao Qing leaned against the doorframe, eyes straining as she gazed into the distance, looking from the high-hanging moon to the forest ahead.

Usually, by this time, Chen Guan would have already returned.

But today, he had not arrived.

For a time, as Xiao Qing waited and waited, she murmured in growing anxiety and unease, "It's so late already, why hasn't Brother come back yet?"

She stared out, her mind beginning to wander into wild thoughts, yet she convinced herself that perhaps Brother had simply been delayed by something.

Just like that, she stayed quietly by the door, watching from night until dawn, thinking until the sun rose.

The look of unease on her cute little face shifted from initial anticipation and anxiety to deep, profound worry.

"Brother... he shouldn't have gotten into trouble..."

Xiao Qing bit her lip tightly, trying her best to believe that Brother had simply abandoned her rather than met with some misfortune.

If something had happened to him, she wouldn't know what to do.

But when she turned back to look at the animal-hide robe behind the statue, her face lit up with a glimmer of hope.

"Xiao Qing, Xiao Qing, stop thinking such nonsense. Hurry and finish Brother's clothes so that when he returns, you can give him a surprise..."

Early morning.

The twenty-hour interval for reincarnation had passed.

Chen Guan's consciousness gradually drifted back, and he saw himself seemingly arrive in a very narrow "ancient pavilion."

On the bookshelf lay a volume—the scroll.

On the second page, a new ink painting emerged.

It depicted a giant tiger demon disemboweling the black bear, with the other beasts feasting on the remains.

Below it were several lines of text, detailing the aftermath according to the normal progression of history.

[Afterword: Seventy years later, your "younger sister Xiao Qing" found the Tiger Immortal, seeking to avenge you. Unfortunately, her cultivation was insufficient; she was taken as a ghost servant, and a hundred years later, her soul dissipated.]

[In the same year, the Tiger Immortal, with five hundred years of cultivation, transformed into human form, becoming the Demon King of Hulin Mountain and ruling over five thousand miles of forest.]

[Causality altered: You have killed three of the mountain bandits.]

[Your grandson Chen Changhong will set out on a journey in twenty years to hunt down the last bandit.]

[Your grandson's heart meridian will be slightly damaged, taking ten years to heal.]

[Note: Perfectly completing the causality within the "Afterword" can shorten the reincarnation interval.]

The scroll gradually faded away.

New text appeared within the pavilion.

[Your second life: Soul 0.6, Realm 1, Constitution 1.8]

[Average: 1.13]

[No suitable reincarnation vessel found.]

[Expanding search.]

[Next life interval: 20 days.]

As the text vanished.

This moment was twenty hours after the death of the black bear.

The next second.

Chen Guan felt as if he had reincarnated, for the surrounding environment had changed; it was no longer the scroll or the pavilion, but a blur of black and red light.

Furthermore, he suddenly felt incredibly weak.

In an instant.

Chen Guan's entire consciousness and vision became blurred and abnormally exhausted.

But before a few seconds had passed, even though his eyes were closed, a jarring, intense light flooded his vision, accompanied by various sounds he couldn't quite make out.

"It's born!"

"Congratulations, Third Madam! It's a young master!"

"Quick, quick, go report the good news to the Master!"

"Little Young Master, Little Young Master..."

The surroundings were chaotic.

Chen Guan couldn't hear clearly at all, but he could feel someone patting him and could see text within his field of vision.

[Third Life: Fifth Son of the Zhao Family]

[Constitution 0.01, Soul 1, Realm 1, Family Background 2.51]

[Average: 1.13]

[Please select a talent to inherit from your previous life]

[1: Bear's Sense of Smell]

[2: Fat Energy Storage]

[3: Primary Ursine Strength (500/1000)]

[Note 1: Once a talent from the previous life is selected, it can continue to be upgraded in this life, but the upgrade speed will be reduced if not in a bear-kin body]

[Note 2: Selecting a non-human talent will affect your facial features and physique]