"Your Highness, please..."
Before Chen Hu could finish saying "make a decision," he saw the corners of Dai Mobai's mouth lift.
Following Dai Mobai's gaze, he too spotted the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's rear.
"Gasp—"
Chen Hu sucked in a sharp breath.
Why was His Highness smiling at a tiger's rear?!
His heart surged like a storm-tossed sea, but he didn't dare say a word. He quietly looked away, pretending he hadn't seen anything.
Dai Mobai noticed Chen Hu's gaze, but paid it no mind. All his attention was fixed on a spot on the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's back, near its tail.
Compared with the dozen or so wounds on the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, this one was inconspicuous, not even serious. It looked like little more than a scrape, and didn't even expose bone.
But the reason it caught Dai Mobai's attention wasn't how badly it was hurt. It was where the wound was.
There was no way a head-on clash could have left a wound in that spot.
The only possibility was that the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger had been facing away from its opponent when the wound was inflicted.
It had been fleeing.
Tiger-type Soul Beasts were solitary by nature. Once they reached adulthood, they would claim a territory of their own and wouldn't leave unless necessary.
The White Tiger Guard had chosen their encampment only after careful consideration. They would never recklessly enter a Soul Beast's territory.
So there was only one reason this Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger had appeared here while gravely wounded—
An outsider had trespassed into its territory, and that outsider was stronger than it. At one point, they had even nearly killed it.
Tiger-type Soul Beasts were already stronger than other kinds of Soul Beasts. The one that had wounded the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger so badly was most likely another tiger-type Soul Beast, and its cultivation age definitely exceeded five thousand years.
By now, Dai Mobai had made up his mind.
"Take it down."
His gaze turned sharp, passing judgment on the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's fate.
"Move."
At Dai Mobai's command, Chen Hu swept his hand forward.
The five White Tiger Guard members who had been surrounding the tiger without attacking sprang into action.
All five were three-ring Soul Elders, and their Soul Ring Configurations weren't the best, either.
Yet even against the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, whose strength was equivalent to that of a human Soul Ancestor, it took them less than three minutes to subdue it.
The tiger's injuries certainly helped, but Dai Mobai had also seen how seamlessly the five worked together.
If Dai Mobai had ordered them to kill it, they might have acted even faster.
"Your Highness, it's subdued."
After glancing at the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, now under the White Tiger Guard's control, Chen Hu turned to Dai Mobai.
"The White Tiger Guard truly lives up to its reputation. You've all worked hard."
Dai Mobai smiled and nodded, generous with his praise.
Praise from the crown prince was a tremendous honor for soldiers like them.
Dai Mobai clearly saw the barely restrained excitement on the White Tiger Guard's faces. They gripped their long halberds more tightly, and even stood straighter.
"You blockheads, are you just going to stand there? Thank His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Seeing his soldiers too excited to respond, Chen Hu scolded them in exasperation.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Only then did the White Tiger Guard react, shouting in unison.
Dai Mobai waved a hand and walked up to the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger.
Sensing Dai Mobai's presence, the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger grew restless. Its enormous body began to struggle, clawing up the hard-packed earth and raising a cloud of dust.
No matter how violently it thrashed, the five long halberds in the White Tiger Guard's hands seemed rooted to its body. They didn't budge an inch.
"Roar—"
Seeing that it couldn't break free, the threatened Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger opened its jaws and let out a roar.
A tangible sound wave burst from its open jaws and swept in every direction. Branches and leaves shuddered in its wake as birds and beasts fled.
The White Tiger Guard restraining the tiger were affected, too, their bodies swaying a few times against their will.
Even Chen Hu, a Soul Emperor, was dazed for an instant.
But when they looked at Dai Mobai, who had taken the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's roar head-on, they saw an expression of utter disbelief on faces that had never flinched even in the face of death.
Dai Mobai's face showed no trace of emotion. He hadn't even paused his stride.
If they hadn't felt the roar for themselves, they might have thought it wasn't a tiger's roar that shook the forest at all, but a gentle morning breeze brushing past them.
The White Tiger Guard weren't the only ones stunned. The ferocity in the roaring tiger's eyes faltered, too.
Clearly, it hadn't expected this seemingly frail youth, whom it could kill with a single swipe of its paw, to ignore its roar.
Unwilling to believe it, the tiger opened its mouth to roar again. But before it could open its jaws halfway, Dai Mobai's long-fingered hand closed around its half-open mouth.
"Quiet."
Dai Mobai tightened his grip. His pupils, now blood-red, stared into the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's startled eyes.
The Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger wasn't the only one startled. Chen Hu and the White Tiger Guard were dumbstruck as well.
Doubting his own eyes, Chen Hu even rubbed them hard, but the scene didn't change at all.
After a brief moment of shock, Chen Hu came to his senses, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes.
His Highness was brave and mighty, but he was still young. Tiger-type Soul Beasts were often proud and would rather die than suffer humiliation. Acting this way would surely provoke the tiger into a desperate counterattack.
Thinking this, Chen Hu stirred the Soul Power in his body, instinctively preparing to protect Dai Mobai.
But what happened next overturned his understanding all over again.
The Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, its mouth held by Dai Mobai, did move—but not to launch a desperate counterattack. Like a domesticated dog, it lowered its head to Dai Mobai, a low whine rumbling in its throat.
At the same time, its iron-bar-like tail lifted. A stream of dark yellow liquid shot out with a "psst," carrying a foul stench.
It had peed itself. The Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger had actually been... scared pissless!
The White Tiger Guard exchanged looks. If the moment had been more appropriate, a resounding "Holy shit!" would already have escaped their lips.
The Soul Power in Chen Hu's body abruptly stalled. Half a breath later, he smiled bitterly and reined it in.
He didn't know how Dai Mobai had done it, but he was certain he couldn't scare a five-thousand-year Soul Beast into wetting itself.
A Soul Beast scared out of its wits no longer posed a threat.
Looking at the now-quiet Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, some of the sharpness faded from Dai Mobai's blood-red eyes.
He took his hand from the tiger's mouth and placed it on its forehead instead.
A force of suction took hold. The blood flowing from the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's wounds was drawn out, splitting into wisps of blood energy that sank into Dai Mobai's palm.
Even though it could clearly feel its life ebbing away, the Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger didn't dare make a move. It simply trembled and waited in silence for death to come.
A moment later, Dai Mobai drew back his hand, looking satisfied.
The Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger's breath was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind, but it was still alive.
"Your Highness, you..."
Chen Hu glanced at the still-living Void-Splitting Magic Sound Tiger, then at Dai Mobai's impassive face. He hesitated, unsure what to say.