The Boundless Grassland was vast beyond measure, home to countless packs and herds of fierce beasts.
Naturally, it also attracted many human hunter teams.
After all, a hunter's job was to hunt, and killing fierce beasts could bring in a substantial income.
Fierce beast flesh was a rare and precious body-tempering medicine. Eating it regularly could effectively accelerate cultivation in the body tempering realm.
The various materials harvested from fierce beasts, such as teeth, blood, bones, and even their male organs, all had different uses and fetched considerable prices.
Although they meant nothing to the lofty Starry-Sky Warriors, they remained an important source of income for ordinary hunters.
To kill more valuable fierce beasts and earn greater wealth, many hunter teams made the Boundless Grassland their primary hunting ground.
The Thunderclap Squad was one of them.
As one of the finest elite hunter teams in Azure River Satellite City, the Thunderclap Squad possessed extraordinary strength. All nine members were veteran hunters who had entered the marrow cleansing stage.
Their captain, Thunderclap, possessed a full eight thousand jin of strength!
He was extremely close to the limit of the marrow cleansing realm.
Even on the Boundless Grassland, a team like theirs ranked among the best, strong enough to surround and wipe out small groups of fierce beasts.
At that moment, they had set their sights on a herd of Yellow-Flower Dire Deer and were rubbing their hands together, eager to get started.
"Although Yellow-Flower Dire Deer are herbivorous fierce beasts, they're enormous, and their strength can reach three thousand jin at their peak. They're not easy prey."
"Xiao Guang, you've broken through to the marrow cleansing stage, but you're still too young and inexperienced. Take on that juvenile deer first."
Captain Thunderclap looked at the only boy in the team, a rare trace of tenderness appearing on his rugged face as he spoke slowly.
The boy beside him held a saber. He was powerfully built, and his features closely resembled Captain Thunderclap's, though they still carried a youthful immaturity. He did not seem to have reached adulthood.
In fact, he had not.
Lei Guang was seventeen that year and had just begun his final year of high school, an age when his blood ran hot and he yearned to make a name for himself.
So he had come to the Wilderness Zone, following in his father's footsteps, ready to bloody his blade against real fierce beasts and hone his skills.
That a rookie dared venture into the Boundless Grassland, known as a paradise for fierce beasts, showed just how proud the boy was.
And he did indeed have the right to be proud.
At only seventeen, before even graduating from high school, he had already broken through to the fourth stage of the body tempering realm—marrow cleansing—and possessed a tremendous four thousand jin of strength.
Such talent was extraordinary indeed.
With a little more effort, he had a chance of passing the brutal June Joint Exam and entering a martial academy to cultivate.
Then he might even have a chance to become one of those lofty Starry-Sky Warriors!
That was why Thunderclap had brought him to the Wilderness Zone to broaden his horizons early. After all, no greenhouse could nurture a true Starry-Sky Warrior. Anyone who became a warrior needed both the resolve to face life and death and the experience of doing so.
Of course, Lei Guang was his son, the sole heir of the Lei family's unbroken line of only sons for generations, and their only genius in a century with the potential to become a Starry-Sky Warrior.
He did not dare be careless. He had chosen the outskirts of the Boundless Grassland and selected herbivorous Yellow-Flower Dire Deer as their prey. Even at their peak, they only possessed three thousand jin of strength, while juveniles had around one or two thousand jin. They posed no threat whatsoever to his squad.
But today, it seemed their squad had run into a streak of terrible luck...
"Roar!"
Just as they charged into battle against the Yellow-Flower Dire Deer, a low, terrifying tiger's roar, brimming with authority, suddenly rang out nearby.
"Whoosh!"
A powerful wind swept across the entire grassland in its wake. Wisps of savage, baleful energy seemed to lurk within the biting gale as it bore down on them, blotting out the sky.
One tiger's roar shook heaven and earth.
The Yellow-Flower Dire Deer, which had been agitated and frenzied moments earlier, now trembled all over, their former ferocity utterly gone.
Thunderclap's eyes widened as fear gripped his heart.
This was...
"A Tyrant Ferocious Tiger!"
He let out a piercing scream.
The other hunters panicked too. None had expected to encounter this terrifying harbinger of doom on the grassland's outskirts.
A Tyrant Ferocious Tiger?
The apex predator described in their textbooks, the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger known as the king of fierce beasts?
The young genius Lei Guang shuddered as well. He hurried behind his father, Thunderclap, before daring to look up.
Not far away, a terrifying fierce beast approached, riding the gale.
Its body was enormous, standing two and a half meters at the shoulder and nearly six meters long. How could that be a tiger?
It was clearly a titanic monster, a supernatural creature!
Even more frightening was its killing intent, which seemed to be an innate gift and had almost taken physical form. Its orange-yellow fur shone like gold, patterned with black stripes, lending it an air both majestic and uncanny.
The huge marking shaped like the character for "king" in the center of its forehead was a symbol of its absolute strength and status—the king of countless fierce beasts in the Wilderness Zone.
This was the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger!
An apex predator!
The nightmare of countless hunters!
"Damn it, why is there a Tyrant Ferocious Tiger here?"
The hunters could no longer spare a thought for the Yellow-Flower Dire Deer. They quickly gathered together, staring fixedly at the colossal beast slowly approaching them, sweat beading on their foreheads.
Captain Thunderclap's mouth tasted bitter.
Didn't Tyrant Ferocious Tigers only roam the heart of the Boundless Grassland?
Why had one come all the way out to these godforsaken outskirts, where even birds wouldn't shit?
Even if it was out for a stroll, wasn't this a little too far?
If he'd known, he would never have brought Xiao Guang to this damned Boundless Grassland. Why couldn't they have just stayed on the Gray Rabbit Plains?
Thunderclap was filled with regret.
The best place for beginners to practice had always been the Gray Rabbit Plains, which were known as a safe zone.
But recently, some Rabbit Slayer had appeared out of nowhere, killing or driving away the rabbits of the Gray Rabbit Plains, practically sweeping them all up in one net.
They had wandered around for ages without finding a single adult rabbit. It had been unbearably frustrating.
Besides, Lei Guang truly was different from ordinary rookies. He was, after all, a gifted youth who had just entered the marrow cleansing stage, wielding four thousand jin of tremendous strength. He had nothing to fear even from ordinary predatory fierce beasts.
That was why Thunderclap had gritted his teeth and brought him to the Boundless Grassland, the place they knew best, for training.
He had even specifically chosen a patch of the outskirts to avoid any uncontrollable risks...
And even then, they'd still managed to run into a Tyrant Ferocious Tiger?
Thunderclap felt certain the word "wretched" must have been carved into his forehead...
"Xiao Guang, I'll hold this beast off with everything I have. Don't hesitate. Just run!"
Thunderclap could worry about nothing else. He gripped his saber tightly and stared at the most terrifying opponent he had ever faced, his voice low.
"Dad!"
Lei Guang's heart trembled.
"I'm going in!"
But Thunderclap had no time for sentiment. He knew all too well how terrifying a Tyrant Ferocious Tiger was. Running meant certain death. Someone had to hold it off head-on.
He charged, taking great strides toward it.
He brought his saber down, pouring all his strength into the blow.
A saber strike backed by 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 as sharp as blades and as hard as iron.
One swipe tore through the wind.
"Clang!"
A piercing crash erupted, as though metal had struck metal.
Thunderclap's face flushed crimson. His saber was nearly knocked from his hands as a tremendous force slammed into him, driving him back more than a dozen steps and leaving his entire body trembling.
A Tyrant Ferocious Tiger at its peak possessed at least ten thousand jin of strength!
It was not remotely something he could challenge.
And even more terrifying was the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's speed—
"Whoosh!"
As the saying went, clouds followed the dragon, and winds followed the tiger.
Though the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger was enormous, it was anything but slow. It was a feline, after all, agile in every movement. With a single prowling step, it closed in on Captain Thunderclap.
As an apex predator, the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger possessed the finest hunting instincts, comparable to the mastery stage of a human warrior's techniques. When it attacked with all its might, almost no hunter could withstand it.
"Pfft..."
Sure enough, once the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger took the offensive, the shadows of its sharp claws seemed to be everywhere, tearing toward him from every direction.
Although Thunderclap possessed eight thousand jin of tremendous strength and the gap in raw power was not too great, the difference in combat instincts, speed, and agility was plain to see.
Thunderclap fought back with all he had, but lasted only a moment before those seemingly omnipresent claw shadows broke through his defenses and slammed him away. He spat blood, his face deathly pale.
"Captain!"
"Dad!"
Seeing that even their strongest member, their captain, had failed to last more than a few exchanges beneath the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger's claws, the other hunters fell into despair.
After all, they were weaker, possessing only four or five thousand jin of strength. They probably could not withstand even a single swipe from the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger and would be torn apart.
Were they going to die?
Everyone trembled in terror.
Gravely wounded, Thunderclap struggled to get up, but could not muster any strength. He could only watch helplessly as the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger slowly approached.
Grief filled his heart.
Were he and his son really going to die here together today?
Just as everyone sank into despair—
"Whoosh!"
An exceptionally sharp whistle suddenly cut through the air.
A black shadow tore through the air with an ear-piercing shriek, shooting straight toward the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger.
"Hm?"
Startled, the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger stopped.
"Boom!"
The black shadow struck the ground, driving deep into the earth and blasting out a crater.
It came to rest directly between the Tyrant Ferocious Tiger and the Thunder Hunter Team.
On closer inspection, it was actually a short metal spear?
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