At a Critical Moment, a Savior Fell from the Sky

Chapter 17: At a Critical Moment, a Savior Fell from the Sky

In that instant, silence reigned. A falling needle could have been heard.

Throughout the entire Returnless Forest, there was no sound apart from the crash of the massive tiger's body smashing through the snow and hitting the ground, along with its pained roar.

The stunned martial wanderers gaped so hard their eyes nearly split, and the brawny man in short clothes, leader of the Zhengqing Gang, was equally frozen.

For a moment, the atmosphere was exceedingly strange.

From the short-clothed man's angle, he still could not see what had happened.

But those men who had just recovered from the tiger's roar saw everything with perfect clarity!

—Just moments ago, their leader had been on the verge of being buried beneath the tiger's jaws. Helpless, they could only watch in furious despair.

But at that moment, an abrupt change occurred!

From afar, a massive tree thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around tore through the wind and snow like an arrow, shooting toward them!

It struck the silver-white tiger squarely in its soft belly, sending that mountain-sized body flying!

Wood chips scattered amid the tiger's silver-white fur, which filled the sky!

The martial wanderers had no time to wonder what had happened. They staggered over to the short-clothed man at once.

"Boss! Boss, are you all right?"

"Boss, we've been saved!"

"Boss, we'll carry you down the mountain!"

"..."

The group of martial wanderers scrambled about in a fluster.

Though they had no idea who had launched that thick tree trunk like an arrow, it had at least saved their boss's life!

The most urgent matter now was not to dig to the bottom of things like curious children, but to seize the gap while the tiger had been knocked back and flee down the mountain!

Thus, several martial wanderers hoisted up the short-clothed man and prepared to head down the mountain!

But at the moment they rose—

ROAR!!!

A terrifying roar that echoed through the mountain forest erupted behind them! It shook the martial wanderers off balance, driving them to their knees!

How could that silver-white tiger possibly let prey that had reached its mouth escape?!

Knowing full well this beast's obsession and craving for human flesh and blood, the short-clothed man spat out a mouthful of blood and said with difficulty, "Take this chance... you... hurry and go..."

He knew clearly that, in his current Innate Realm state, he had become dead weight for the entire group.

If the others insisted on taking him with them, the only outcome would be total annihilation!

The best solution was for him to serve as bait and delay the silver-white tiger while everyone else hurried down the mountain!

—Among them, his vital energy and blood were the strongest. To the silver-white tiger, which had embarked upon the path of demonization, he was the most tempting morsel!

But even so, the short-clothed man knew his brothers' temperaments. They likely would not abandon him so easily.

Yet after several breaths passed, the short-clothed man did not receive the slightest response from any of them.

It was neither obedience nor objection. It was more like... they had not heard him at all?

With effort, the short-clothed man opened his eyes, which were pasted shut with blood, and looked around.

He was indeed being supported by several martial wanderers, but the men holding him up stood stiff and motionless, like wooden stakes.

The short-clothed man frowned. He raised his head and saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

—On the pale snow ahead, a pitch-black figure was walking toward them step by step.

His entire body was concealed beneath a black robe, and his face was covered by an eerie mask that seemed both to weep and smile. He was silent and strange.

He walked across the silver-white snow without a sound. Not only were his footsteps undetectable—even his presence could not be sensed in the slightest.

—As an Innate Realm grandmaster, the short-clothed man could already sense auras. Just as when that silver-white tiger had fixed its gaze on him earlier, he had noticed it immediately.

Yet this black figure before him—if he had not seen him with his own eyes, then even if the other party had walked right up to him, he likely would not have sensed a thing!

Amid the swirling wind and snow, the black-masked man walked over the snow. The Infernal Mask looked resentful yet joyous, crying and laughing at once, like a ghost from legend.

Just as the short-clothed man was also lost in a daze—

The silver-white tiger, which had already climbed back out of the snow, could no longer endure it!

With a low tiger roar, it pounced to kill once more!

The short-clothed man could even feel the fierce wind ripping through the snow behind him, along with the silver-white tiger's distinctive reek of blood and carrion!

But in the blink of an eye—

Just as the silver-white tiger lunged in for the kill, the black figure before them suddenly moved.

He reached out and placed his hand upon an ancient tree beside him. His five fingers bit deep into it like iron pincers, then he heaved!

The ancient tree, thick enough for one person to embrace, was torn from the earth roots and all!

Then, that figure—far from burly—raised the several-zhang-long ancient tree and hurled it!

It tore through the air!

The ancient tree seemed to have been fired by some tremendous force, streaking over the heads of the martial wanderers like an arrow!

BANG!

It slammed into the charging silver-white tiger, knocking it flying again and smashing it into the snow!

AOOO!!!

The silver-white tiger's pained cry echoed through the mountain forest.

At that moment, the short-clothed man finally understood what had happened when the silver-white tiger had pinned him beneath its body earlier.

—It had been the black figure before him. Using a towering ancient tree as an arrow, he had thrown it with one hand and sent the silver-white tiger flying!

Just as he had done now!

Gulp.

The short-clothed man swallowed, his limbs turning cold.

As an Innate Realm grandmaster, he could ordinarily uproot an ancient tree himself.

But to hurl that tree like a spear was simply too horrifying to imagine!

Yet this figure before him had done it with utter ease, as casually as eating or drinking!

While the short-clothed man was still shocked, the black-masked man had already walked up to them.

His features could not be seen beneath that eerie mask.

Only those eyes, deep as ancient wells, met the short-clothed man's gaze.

In that instant, even the short-clothed man—who would not lose his nerve before a Blackwater Gang Innate Realm grandmaster—felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Though it might be somewhat rude, at this moment, the short-clothed man felt that this masked man who had saved their lives was even more like a monster than that silver-white tiger beginning to turn demonic.

But no matter what, it seemed... they had been saved?

Watching the masked man walk toward the silver-white tiger, the short-clothed man was still terrified, yet he also breathed a sigh of relief.

Likewise, what he did not know was that Yu Chen also breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

—So close. Just a little closer, and Young Master Wang's Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish would have failed.

Fortunately, he had made it in time.

An hour earlier, Yu Chen had climbed out of bed, cooked a dish, made some rice, taken a dump, then put on the Infernal Mask and rushed to Fanghua Mountain.

Who would have thought that the moment he arrived, he would see this group from the Zhengqing Gang nearly lose their lives to the tiger's jaws!

Yu Chen had panicked on the spot!

If someone died, then Young Master Wang's final wish would go straight down the drain!

—After all, that Eighth-Grade Mortal Wish was not about revenge. It was about there being no more—no more people dying beneath the tiger's jaws.

But the moment Yu Chen arrived, before he had even entered the fight, he saw the Zhengqing Gang's leader nearly have his throat bitten through by the silver-white tiger!

Who understood that feeling?!

In his urgency and anger, he had snapped off an ancient tree thick enough to embrace and hurled it over, knocking away the vicious tiger that had been about to kill the short-clothed man.

And that was how the scene the martial wanderers had first witnessed came to be.

—The black-masked man descended like the Devil Master from the heavens and ruthlessly suppressed that tiger!

(End of Chapter)