The Terrifying Tyrant Ferocious Tiger!

The Boundless Grassland was vast beyond measure, home to countless packs of dire beasts.

Naturally, it also drew many human Hunter teams here to hunt.

After all, a Hunter's job was hunting. Killing dire beasts could bring in considerable income.

Dire beast flesh and blood were rare body-tempering medicines. Long-term consumption could effectively accelerate cultivation in the Body Tempering Realm.

The various materials found on dire beasts—such as fangs, blood, bones, and even beast whips—all possessed different effects and were extremely valuable.

Though they were hardly worth mentioning to the lofty Starry-Sky Warriors, they remained an important source of income for the vast number of ordinary Hunters.

To hunt more high-value dire beasts and earn greater wealth, the Boundless Grassland had become a key hunting ground for many Hunter teams.

The Thunderclap Squad was one of them.

As one of Azure River Satellite City's foremost elite Hunter teams, the Thunderclap Squad was formidable. It had nine members, every one of them an experienced Hunter who had entered the Marrow Cleansing Stage.

Its captain, Thunderclap, possessed a strength of eight thousand jin!

He was extremely close to the limit of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Even on the Boundless Grassland, a team like this could be considered top-tier, more than capable of surrounding and killing small packs of dire beasts.

At that moment, they had set their sights on a herd of Yellow-Flower Dire Deer and were rubbing their fists, ready to make their move.

"Although Yellow-Flower Dire Deer are herbivorous dire beasts, they are enormous. At their peak, they possess three thousand jin of strength, so they are not easy to provoke."

"Xiao Guang, although you have also broken through to the Marrow Cleansing Stage, you are still too young and lack experience. Deal with that underage fawn first."

Captain Thunderclap looked at the only youth in the team. A rare trace of warmth appeared on his rugged face as he spoke slowly.

The youth beside him held a battle saber. He was powerfully built, and his features resembled Captain Thunderclap's closely, though they still carried a hint of youthful immaturity. He seemed not yet to have come of age.

In truth, he had not.

Lei Guang was seventeen this year and had just entered his final year of high school. It was the age when hot blood boiled in one's veins and one longed to achieve great deeds.

That was why he had come to the Wilderness Zone, following in his father's footsteps. He intended to see real dire beasts shed blood and test his skills.

For a novice to dare enter the Boundless Grassland, known as a paradise for dire beasts, showed just how proud the youth was.

And he truly had the right to be proud.

At only seventeen, before even graduating from high school, he had already broken through the fourth stage of the Body Tempering Realm—Marrow Cleansing—and possessed four thousand jin of immense strength.

Such talent was indeed extraordinary.

With a little more effort, he had a chance to pass the brutal "June Joint Exam" and enter a martial arts school for cultivation.

At that point, he might even have the chance to become one of the lofty Starry-Sky Warriors!

That was why Thunderclap had brought him to the Wilderness Zone to broaden his horizons in advance. After all, a greenhouse could not raise a true Starry-Sky Warrior. Anyone who could become a warrior needed the resolve and experience to face life and death.

Of course, Lei Guang was still his son—the only bloodline of the Lei family for several generations, and the sole genius in a hundred years with the aptitude to become a Starry-Sky Warrior.

Thunderclap did not dare be careless. He had chosen the edge of the Boundless Grassland, and even their prey was a herbivorous dire beast like the Yellow-Flower Dire Deer. At their peak, they only possessed three thousand jin of strength, while underage fawns had merely one or two thousand jin. They posed no threat at all to his team.

But today, his team seemed to be having a year of bad luck...

"Roar—"

Just as they clashed with the Yellow-Flower Dire Deer, a low, terrifying tiger roar filled with majesty suddenly sounded from nearby.

"Whoosh—"

A fierce gale swept across the entire grassland. Within its biting winds seemed to lurk strands of savage Killing Intent, rolling in like the sky collapsing and the earth caving in.

One tiger roar shook the heavens and earth.

The Yellow-Flower Dire Deer, which had been agitated and wildly violent moments ago, trembled all over at that instant, losing every scrap of their earlier ferocity.

Thunderclap's eyes widened as fear rose in his heart.

This was...

"The Tyrant Ferocious Tiger!"

He let out a shrill howl.

The other Hunters also turned pale with alarm. None of them had expected to encounter this terrifying baleful star at the edge of the grassland.

The Tyrant Ferocious Tiger?

The apex predator recorded in textbooks, the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger known as the king of dire beasts?

Even the genius youth Lei Guang shuddered. He hurriedly retreated behind his father, Thunderclap, before daring to raise his eyes and look.

Not far away, a terrifying dire beast came wrapped in a gale.

It was gigantic, standing two and a half meters at the shoulder and nearly six meters long. How was that a tiger?

It was clearly a Titan beast, an extraordinary creature!

Even more terrifying was the Killing Intent surrounding it. It seemed like an innate talent, almost condensing into substance. Its fur was orange-gold, decorated with black stripes, making it look both majestic and uncanny.

The enormous character for "king" in the center of its forehead was an even clearer symbol of its absolute power and status—the ruler of countless dire beasts in the Wilderness Zone.

This was the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger!

The most elite of predators!

The nightmare of countless Hunters!

"Damn it, why is there a Tyrant Ferocious Tiger here?"

The Hunters no longer had any mind to care about the Yellow-Flower Dire Deer. They quickly gathered together, staring fixedly at the colossal creature slowly approaching them, sweat beading across their foreheads.

Captain Thunderclap's mouth was filled with bitterness.

Didn't Tyrant Ferocious Tigers only appear in the core region of the Boundless Grassland?

Why had it come all the way to this godforsaken edge of nowhere?

Even if it was taking a stroll, wasn't this stroll a little too far?

If he had known, he would never have brought Xiao Guang to this damned Boundless Grassland. Wouldn't it have been better to obediently go to Gray Rabbit Plains?

Thunderclap regretted it beyond measure.

Originally, the best place for newcomers to train was Gray Rabbit Plains, hailed as a safe zone.

But recently, some so-called Rabbit Slayer had appeared from who knew where, killing some of the rabbits and driving off the rest, nearly wiping out the entire place in one sweep.

They had wandered around for ages without finding a single adult rabbit, leaving them utterly stifled.

Moreover, Lei Guang truly differed from ordinary newcomers. He was, after all, a genius youth who had just entered the Marrow Cleansing Stage, wielding four thousand jin of strength. He would not fear even ordinary predatory dire beasts in the slightest.

That was why Thunderclap had gritted his teeth and brought him to the Boundless Grassland they knew best for training.

He had even specifically chosen an edge region to prevent any uncontrollable risks from appearing...

And yet they had still run into a Tyrant Ferocious Tiger?

Thunderclap felt certain that the word "miserable" had been carved onto his forehead...

"Xiao Guang, in a moment, I'll stop this beast with everything I have. Don't hesitate—run!"

Thunderclap could no longer concern himself with anything else. Gripping the saber in his hand tightly, he stared at the most terrifying opponent before him, his voice low.

"Dad!"

Lei Guang's heart trembled.

"I'm going!"

But Thunderclap had no time for sentimentality. He understood the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's terror all too well. Running was certain death; someone had to face it head-on.

He charged forward in great strides.

He slashed out with his saber, pouring all his strength into the strike.

A slash carrying eight thousand jin of strength could cleave even a boulder in two!

But...

"Roar..."

The Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's eyes were cold. It merely raised a paw, its claws sharp as blades and hard as iron.

One claw tore through the wind.

Clang—

Like metal striking iron, a piercing boom erupted.

Thunderclap's face flushed red. The saber in his hand was nearly knocked away, and the enormous force sent him stumbling back more than ten steps, his entire body trembling.

A peak Tyrant Ferocious Tiger possessed at least ten thousand jin of strength!

It was simply not something he could afford to challenge.

And even more terrifying was the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's speed—

Whoosh!

As the saying went, clouds followed dragons, and wind followed tigers.

Although the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger was huge, it was not slow in the slightest. As a feline, it was nimble and agile. With only one tiger-step, it closed in on Captain Thunderclap.

As an apex predator, the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger possessed the most exceptional hunting talent, comparable to the human martial arts skill of the "Mastery Stage." When it pounced with all its strength, almost no Hunter could withstand it.

"Pfft..."

Sure enough, once the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger took the initiative, its sharp claw shadows seemed to be everywhere, tearing down like an overwhelming sky.

Though Thunderclap possessed eight thousand jin of immense strength and the difference in power was not too great, the gap in combat talent, speed, and movement technique was plain for all to see.

Thunderclap fought with all his might, but he only lasted a moment before his defenses were torn apart by the nearly omnipresent claw shadows. He was sent flying by a heavy blow, blood spilling from his mouth as his face turned deathly pale.

"Captain!"

"Dad!"

Seeing that even their strongest captain could not last more than a few exchanges beneath the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's claws, the other Hunters fell into despair.

Their strength was even lower, only four or five thousand jin. They likely could not withstand even one claw from the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger and would be torn apart.

Were they going to die?

Everyone trembled in terror.

Thunderclap had suffered grievous injuries. He struggled to get up, but he could not muster any strength at all. He could only watch helplessly as the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger slowly approached.

Sorrow filled his heart.

Could it be that father and son would both die here today?

Just as everyone fell into despair—

Whoosh!

A suddenly sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

A black shadow pierced through the void, carrying an incomparably shrill roar as it shot toward the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger.

"Hm?"

The Tyrant Ferocious Tiger was startled and stopped in its tracks.

Boom!

The black shadow struck the ground and drove fiercely into the earth, blasting out a deep crater.

It came to a stop directly between the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger and the Thunder Hunter Team.

Looking closely, it was actually a metal short spear?