"If I'd known there was a big tiger nearby, I wouldn't have come to this cursed place even if you beat me to death..."
Xu Dongyue's tears streamed down her face as countless chaotic thoughts flashed through her mind.
She was only seventeen this year. Just a few days ago, Xu Erniang at the village entrance had said she wanted to match her with her nephew from her maternal family.
Xu Dongyue had secretly taken a look at him. He was rather handsome, and she had heard that he was an apprentice at a distillery in town, highly valued by the owner for his brewing skills.
Xu Erniang had even waggled her brows and said, "Dongyue, once you get married, you'll understand that wonderful feeling... tsk tsk."
I haven't even gotten married yet... I haven't experienced the kind of joy Xu Erniang talked about... Dying like this would be such a loss...
Xu Dongyue squeezed her eyes shut, her entire body trembling like a leaf in the wind as she waited in despair for fate to descend.
Just as she prepared to meet death, a furious roar exploded like thunder!
"Hey, you demon tiger! Let that girl go!"
The rolling sound waves shook the leaves and branches in the forest until they rustled wildly.
Xu Dongyue's eyes flew open. She saw a tall, burly figure charge out from the side, reaching the tree in just a few leaps!
The tiger seemed enraged. It let out an earth-shaking roar, kicked off the ground with its hind legs, and launched its thousand-pound body forward!
A reeking wind rushed at him as its gaping bloody maw bit straight for the man's head!
The man was none other than Wang Lang.
His expression remained calm. He neither dodged nor retreated. Only when the tiger's foul-smelling claw was about to strike his face did he raise his right palm and press forward!
A muffled boom like rolling thunder rang out!
Airwaves billowed as dust scattered in every direction.
From the tree, Xu Dongyue saw clearly that the burly man had used just one bare hand
to forcibly stop the tiger's full-force pounce by its head!
The tiger's claws gouged two deep furrows into the earth, yet its massive body could no longer advance even an inch!
Wang Lang had now reached the Bedrock Realm. The strength of one arm exceeded ten thousand pounds. If he unleashed his full strength, the tiger's head would have burst like a watermelon long ago.
He deliberately held back, merely pressing the tiger's head firmly into the dirt. No matter how the beast struggled and roared, it was like an ant trying to shake a tree.
At close range, this tiger truly had become a demon beast. The ferocious light in its eyes even carried a trace of human-like shock and fury.
It wildly shook its head and clawed blindly, yet it could not even touch the corner of Wang Lang's clothes.
"Behave yourself."
Wang Lang frowned. He switched hands, pressing down the tiger's head with his left hand while freeing his right to grab the fur at the back of its neck.
He lifted it like a kitten and gave it two loud slaps across the face.
The blows left the tiger demon seeing stars, stunned in place for a moment.
The tiger demon shook its head. Seemingly humiliated, it let out an enraged roar and tried to bite again.
Wang Lang shook his head and threw another plain, unadorned straight punch at its nose bridge.
"Whimper..." The tiger demon let out a mournful cry as visions filled its eyes.
It seemed to see its long-dead tiger mother beckoning to it from the clouds,
with several tiger elders it had never met standing beside her, their auras strangely familiar...
"Su Yao, can you tell whether it has eaten people?" Wang Lang asked.
The Little White Fox's voice came from inside his collar:
"Langzi, the human blood scent in this tiger demon's Killing Intent is strong. At least three lives, and they should all have been within the past half year."
Wang Lang's gaze immediately turned cold.
He did not doubt Su Yao's words. The Snow Shadow Spirit Fox clan was innately blessed with keen spiritual senses.
Their perception of Killing Intent and blood aura was extraordinary.
If she said this tiger demon had taken lives, then it had taken lives.
He showed no further mercy. Drawing his right fist back to his waist, his muscles and bones crackled like a fully drawn bowstring. Then he threw a punch straight into the tiger demon's forehead!
A dull crack of shattering skull rang out.
The tiger demon's entire body convulsed violently. The ferocious light in its eyes rapidly faded, and its massive body collapsed limply to the ground, never to make another sound.
Up in the tree, Xu Dongyue's cherry lips parted, and for a long while she could not close them.
She had seen the village hunters fight tigers before. They needed traps, nooses, and groups of people surrounding the beast, often suffering casualties in the process.
Never had she seen such a sight... such a sight as a burly man beating up a kitten?
Only when Wang Lang looked up and called to her, "Miss, it's all right now. Come down,"
did Xu Dongyue snap back to her senses and hurriedly climb down.
Her hands and feet had gone weak, and she nearly slipped several times. Wang Lang supported her from below with a gentle force, helping her land safely.
"Th-thank you, hero, for saving my life!"
Xu Dongyue dropped to her knees with a thud and repeatedly kowtowed.
"This humble girl is Xu Dongyue, from Xu Family Village. I went up the mountain to gather herbs today and encountered the tiger. Had the hero not saved me, I surely would have died!"
Wang Lang made a motion to help her up. "It was nothing more than a small effort. There's no need for this. This tiger had become a demon and eaten several people. Its execution today was only right."
Xu Dongyue secretly studied her benefactor.
The man was tall and powerfully built. When he subdued the tiger just now, he had seemed like a heavenly god descending to earth. Yet as he stood there speaking,
his bearing was steady and his words gentle, carrying a hint of the refined elegance Xu Erniang often spoke of in scholars.
Though she had never seen any scholar who could kill a tiger with one punch.
After speaking for a while, Wang Lang learned that Xu Dongyue was indeed a nearby villager. She lived alone and made a living gathering herbs.
She insisted on giving him the herbs in her bamboo basket, but Wang Lang politely refused.
Those herbs were considered decent medicinal materials for ordinary people, but they were of little use to someone of his cultivation.
Wang Lang had also wanted to leave the tiger for her. After all, over a thousand pounds of tiger meat and tiger bones would be enough to support the girl for years.
But Xu Dongyue refused no matter what, saying that his kindness was already too great and that she did not dare accept anything more.
After some back-and-forth, Wang Lang simply stopped being polite.
A four-meter tiger pelt would make an excellent cloak after tanning, or a soft mat for a bed.
Tiger bones could be soaked in wine, and tiger meat... Hmm, the little fox in his arms seemed to have swallowed a mouthful of drool.
"I'll take you back to the village." Seeing that Xu Dongyue was still shaken, Wang Lang spoke up.
"N-no need to trouble yourself, hero!" Xu Dongyue hurriedly waved her hands.
"The village is only five or six li from here. It's already light out, and I know the way."
Wang Lang did not insist. He nodded and said, "Then be careful."
Xu Dongyue bowed once more. Hoisting her bamboo basket, she hurried away. After taking more than a dozen steps, she suddenly turned back and asked with a blush,
"I still haven't asked the hero's esteemed name?"
"Wang Lang."
"Hero Wang... If you ever pass through Xu Family Village, you must come to my home for a bowl of tea!"
After saying that, Xu Dongyue's face reddened even more. She turned and hurried away.
Only after her figure vanished at the end of the mountain path did Wang Lang turn to deal with the tiger's corpse.
He lifted the thousand-pound tiger corpse with one hand and slung it over his right shoulder as easily as if it were a bundle of dry grass.
"Let's go. Back to the manor."
Su Yao poked her head out from his collar, glanced at the tiger corpse, and her eyes lit up. "Langzi, can I have the tiger whip?"
Wang Lang stumbled, nearly throwing the tiger corpse away.
"You're a fox. What do you need that thing for?"
Su Yao answered with complete confidence, "You can't use it anyway. You barely looked twice at that girl just now. I'm afraid cultivation has made you so pure-hearted that you've cast away all desire."
"So I'm going to soak it in wine. My mother said soaking this thing in wine is a great tonic!!"
Wang Lang could not be bothered with her. He strode toward Listening Waves Mountain Manor.
Yet a faint, indescribable sense of wrongness lingered in Wang Lang's heart.
This tiger demon was only at the First Order Initial Stage, yet it had killed three people within half a year. The commotion could not have been small.
As far as he knew, the area around Xu Family Village was also under Black Stone City's jurisdiction.
With a demon beast eating people, the nearby villages and towns could not possibly have remained unaware, much less failed to ask Black Stone City for aid.
If Black Stone City had truly received the report, why had it shown no response at all?
Had it never received the news, or... had it received it and simply ignored it?
He shook his head and temporarily pushed those distracting thoughts aside.
No matter what, he had saved a person and slain a menace today. That was always a good thing.
If the old man had not yet reincarnated in the underworld, he ought to be pleased to hear of it.
Before you continue