Knight-Errant

"Whoo~"

In the far eastern woods.

An old man and a young boy were trapped in the narrow gap between two enormous rocks.

Outside the gap stood a black-and-white striped tiger, fully three meters long.

Its sword-sharp teeth snapped open and shut as its thick paws clawed into the crevice.

Rrrip—

As it pawed at them, its razor-sharp claws scraped and gouged at the rock faces on either side.

The gap was slowly widening.

The two rocks had once been one. They had split apart years ago, then been worn down by rain, leaving them frail.

"Help..."

Now,

the sweet, metallic scent of blood drifted through the crevice.

A gash had been torn into the old man's thigh, and blood soaked through his patched, faded gray shirt.

He had been cut by the sharp rocks inside the gap while trying to flee.

"Grandpa..." Behind the old man stood an eight-year-old boy.

His eyes brimmed with tears.

He could hear his grandfather's cries growing weaker and weaker.

"Someone, please save my grandpa..."

Terrified, the boy instinctively clutched the old man's withered hand in the cramped crevice.

"Roaaar!"

Hearing their feeble voices and catching the sweet smell of blood, the tiger widened the gap even faster.

But just then,

"ROAR!"

The ground nearby seemed to tremble faintly.

Rumble—

From the side of the rocky crevice,

a huge black bear barreled toward the tiger outside, like a towering carriage thundering down the road!

"Roar!"

Seeing such an enormous black bear, the tiger recoiled on instinct.

It abandoned the two people in the crevice, then sprang backward, trying to evade Chen Guan's charge.

Chen Guan saw it leap back and pressed his advantage, following up in one breath.

When he was a meter away, he used the momentum of his charge to leap. Before the tiger could regain its balance, he brought a bear paw crashing down on its body!

Wham!

A muffled thud rang out.

The enormous paw came down, and even the White-Browed Tiger, more than three meters long, had its spine snapped in an instant.

Hiss—

Feline agility was truly something else.

As its spine broke, its sharp claws raked deep gouges into Chen Guan's left arm, tearing through skin and flesh.

"Fuck your mother!"

Though Chen Guan didn't feel the pain right away, he felt his arm wounded. His eyes bulged, and his beastly instincts surged to life.

The next moment,

after snapping its spine, Chen Guan grabbed the nearly six-hundred-pound tiger with his unharmed paw. With his beastly instincts aroused, he lifted it effortlessly and slammed it hard against the rocky ground!

Thud!

A strange sound rang out, the crunch of bones mingling with flesh crushed to pulp.

The tiger, which might otherwise have struggled for a long while, had its head and body mangled by the tremendous force. Its breath went still at once.

Blood sprayed from its head.

"ROAR!"

After killing the tiger,

Chen Guan's breathing finally eased. He turned his gaze toward the old man and the boy.

They were now staring at the huge black bear in even greater terror.

Chen Guan paid their fear no mind. With his unharmed paw, he struck the rocks several times, completely opening the gap that the tiger had already widened considerably.

"Run..." The old man had lost too much blood and could no longer move.

With the last of his strength, he urged his grandson to run.

Chen Guan had no time to say much, nor to worry about the boy refusing to leave. Instead, he reached a bear paw toward the vines around his waist.

A small bottle hung on his left side, filled with herbal powder for treating wounds and stopping bleeding.

It was loot from a Taoist priest.

Click—

With difficulty, he used a fingertip to pry off the stopper.

Chen Guan sprinkled some powder over the old man's wound, then easily tore off a corner of his shirt and struggled a little to tie it around the injury.

"Bear..."

The boy had watched Chen Guan warily and fearfully, but now he saw that the huge black bear seemed to be saving his grandfather. He didn't know what to say.

Everything was just too miraculous, too strange.

"Roar."

After bandaging the old man's wound, Chen Guan saw that his own injury wasn't serious and decided to leave it untreated.

Then,

when he saw that the old man had fallen into what seemed like unconscious sleep, Chen Guan pointed at the bottle, then at the vines around his waist, asking the boy to tie it back on for him.

The vines were Chen Guan's "Storage Waist Belt" now.

Besides the wound medicine, he had an "Insect-Repelling Sachet" tied to them, as well as a little protective cloth charm his younger sister had made for him.

It was just a few pretty pieces of cloth sewn together.

But just then,

rustle, rustle—

Footsteps came from the woods nearby.

There was also an angry shout!

"Black Bear Spirit! Let that child go!"

As the shout rang out,

Constable Yan and a group of martial artists appeared one after another, holding fully drawn bows.

At that moment,

seeing them draw their bows as if they meant to attack the black bear, the boy panicked. He took a few stumbling steps and fell in front of Chen Guan.

But he quickly scrambled up again, stood straight, and spread his arms to shield Chen Guan.

"You..."

The boy's action made everyone pause mid-attack. They looked at him in confusion, unsure what was going on.

But at that moment,

the boy looked incredibly small in front of Chen Guan's huge body, yet he summoned all his strength and shouted:

"Uncles, please, don't hurt the big bear..."

The boy's voice was choked with tears, his face pleading.

"What?"

"Don't hurt the Black Bear Spirit?"

"He..."

"This child..."

Constable Yan and the others grew even more confused. Their bowstrings dipped unconsciously.

But their gazes never left Chen Guan.

For a moment,

Chen Guan watched the constables and the others.

The constables and the others watched Chen Guan warily, too.

Truthfully, Chen Guan was still terrified with so many experts aiming arrows at him.

In open ground like this, he wasn't confident he'd make it out alive.

"Is this going to be my next life?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Guan glanced at the Dilapidated Temple in the distance, then at his vines. He hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye to his younger sister.

If he didn't return tonight, she'd probably be heartbroken.

She'd think he didn't want her anymore, or that something had happened to him.

At the same time,

Constable Yan and the others were just as frightened as they faced the Black Bear Spirit and the mangled tiger lying on the ground in the distance.

If they hadn't feared that a volley of arrows might hit the child standing in front of Chen Guan,

and feared that a few arrows might not kill the black bear, only rousing its beastly nature,

they would have loosed their arrows from the start.

But now, more than anything, they were bewildered.

Especially Constable Yan.

He looked at the tiger, then at the wound on Chen Guan's arm.

Then he looked at the boy shielding Chen Guan, the unconscious old man with his wound bandaged, and the medicine Chen Guan had yet to tie back onto himself.

The medicine was now in Chen Guan's paw.

His paw also held scraps of cloth and was stained with blood.

"Could it be..." Constable Yan was, after all, an experienced investigator. He quickly sorted out the clues and pieced things together, even if the answer and reasoning seemed unbelievable.

But this was plainly a case of "standing up for justice!"

A bear—a Black Bear Spirit who might be a demon—was standing up for justice!

Constable Yan felt that perhaps he had been wrong to pursue Chen Guan earlier.

The bandits might have been killing people when the black bear came across them, and only then had it struck them down.

Chen Guan kept an eye on everyone as he thought of a way to retreat—or to fight to the death.

He couldn't die today.

There were still so many things he hadn't done.

While Chen Guan searched for a way out,

Constable Yan calmed himself somewhat. Amid the others' puzzled looks, he cupped his fists toward Chen Guan and said:

"Black... bear... I... I, Yan, misunderstood. I'm here... I'm here..."

As he spoke, he had no idea whether the bear could understand him.

But the next moment, his right hand, which held his saber, turned aside, and he slashed a large gash into his left arm.

Bright-red blood quickly soaked through the torn sleeve.

"Constable Yan!"

"Brother Yan!"

The martial heroes were baffled. They wanted to step forward, both to bandage Constable Yan and to prevent the bear from suddenly attacking.

"Everyone, no need..."

The right side of Constable Yan's face twitched with pain, but he endured it. Holding his treasured saber pointed down in both hands, he cupped his fists to Chen Guan again and said:

"Some days ago, I pursued... Senior Bear... It was this junior's mistake...

"Today... after seeing Senior Bear's righteous deed, I regret it deeply. I, Yan... was blinded by a petty, prejudiced heart..."

With that,

Constable Yan bowed in apology. It was a grand gesture, second only to kneeling before Heaven, Earth, one's sovereign, parents, and teachers.

"This is..."

Chen Guan looked at him, then at the tense martial heroes.

But the situation seemed different from what he'd expected?

This time, it seemed there'd be no calamity.

All thanks to this little boy.

"Roar."

The next moment, amid everyone's astonished cries, Chen Guan nodded in a humanlike way, as if forgiving Constable Yan.

He also stretched out a bear paw, making a gesture like he was helping him rise.

Since the man had admitted his mistake, and Chen Guan wasn't sure he could take them all on,

the world of the martial heroes wasn't all fighting and killing. It was also about human relationships and worldly wisdom.

Yet Chen Guan's almost humanlike gesture sent waves crashing through everyone's hearts.

"My heavens! H-he really understands human speech?!"

"I thought Brother Yan was exaggerating. I thought it was just a big black bear... but... but it really is a demon?!"

Everyone was so shocked their scalps prickled. They never imagined this was truly a great demon bear!

Crash—

At the same time, one of the martial artists trembled so badly that the treasured blade in his hand slipped and hit the ground.

Only the child kept standing in front of Chen Guan, convinced that the big bear was good.

"Roar!"

Seeing everyone stunned out of their wits, Chen Guan worried someone might accidentally loose an arrow—arrows had no eyes—so he eased up considerably and nudged the child aside.

Only after the child who had helped him avert disaster was safely out of harm's way

did Chen Guan turn back to the martial artists, who were still staring blankly.

"Do you have any manuals?"

Since it seemed they had managed to turn hostility into friendship,

there was no point in apologizing. He might as well ask for something useful.

Perhaps because he had traveled through time and been reincarnated, Chen Guan had learned to keep a cool head in a crisis. Once the danger had passed, his thoughts moved quickly.

The next moment,

Chen Guan cheerfully picked up a branch and wrote down his request for manuals, along with a few questions about cultivation.

He wanted to see if they knew the answers.

"This..."

"Manuals?"

"Can a demon cultivate human martial arts?"

"He not only understands human speech, but can write human characters..."

Yet this was truly the first time any of them had ever seen a demon.

And one as extraordinary as this, who understood human speech and could recognize people!

Now, as they watched Chen Guan writing and making requests, their feelings could no longer be described as mere shock and fear.

It was as if they were witnessing strange wonders from folk legends, unfolding vividly before their eyes.