Weapon Master

The three enraged tiger demons paid no attention to Yue Wen's attempt to frame someone else. All they wanted was to tear him to pieces and avenge their brother. Nothing else mattered.

But they would soon learn the meaning of regret.

"Haaah!"

Enveloped in a sky-filling blaze of martial spirit red light, Zhao Xing'er raised a blade over two meters long in her left hand, a green dragon coiling around its shaft and a red crescent adorning its edge. In her right, she held a spear over three meters long, its cold gleam flowing like water, its keen tip whirling like a dragon or serpent.

Blade in her left hand, spear in her right, she sprang toward them like a whirlwind, her overwhelming might sending a sudden chill down all three tiger demons' backs!

"The Green Dragon Crescent Blade! The Dragon Gallbladder Silver Spear?!"

Facing her head-on, Yue Wen saw everything even more clearly. With a mere flick of her hands, those divine weapons had appeared in Zhao Xing'er's grasp, drawing a startled cry from him.

This was getting more ridiculous by the second!

"I'll handle her!" the suited tiger roared, wheeling around to meet her.

The Headphone Tiger and Black Tiger kept chasing Yue Wen. With the pressure on him drastically reduced, he and his sword maneuvered separately. Not only did he hold his own, he even found an opening to stab the Headphone Tiger again.

Since the fight began, Yue Wen had wounded the Headphone Tiger multiple times. Blood drenched its hide. None of the wounds were fatal, but the constant blood loss was leaving it weaker and weaker.

The black tiger, which had yet to assume human form, had ferocity but no technique. It fought no differently from a wild beast and could not so much as touch the hem of Yue Wen's clothes.

Without the Suit Tiger's overwhelming pressure, these two tiger demons alone posed no threat to him at all.

Meanwhile, the Suit Tiger's fight against Zhao Xing'er was not going well either.

The two weapons Zhao Xing'er had produced were more than merely sharp. Each came with its own matching Martial Arts Technique.

Her left hand unleashed an imperious blade technique, swinging the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in sweeping arcs of moonlight. Broad, forceful strokes-one touch meant death! Her right hand delivered swift, devious spear thrusts, silver light cascading down like a rainstorm. One stab meant doom!

Precisely because the Suit Tiger knew something about martial arts, it understood how terrifying it was to wield two Martial Arts Techniques simultaneously like this.

This young-looking woman's understanding of those disciplines rivaled that of renowned martial grandmasters!

Terrifying.

And the red light suffusing her body held such tremendous power that even the tiger demon dared not pit its immense strength against it directly. It suspected this was the legendary martial spirit red light, brimming with vast martial Dao true essence.

The greatest strength of martial spirit red light was not the power boost it provided, but its ability to continually absorb experience from combat, making its wielder stronger and stronger.

Zhao Xing'er fought with ever-growing vigor, while the tiger demon grew more frightened with every exchange.

Compared with before, she had only added one weapon, yet her fighting strength had at least tripled!

How come she had a second phase?

We were the ugly demons waiting in our lair, and they were the good-looking humans storming in. No matter how you looked at it, shouldn't I be the boss?

If anyone got a transformation, shouldn't it be me?!

Zhao Xing'er cared nothing for its complaints. The Dragon Gallbladder Silver Spear abruptly sealed off one side of its body, while the Green Dragon Crescent Blade twisted and swept in diagonally, tracing a full moon without leaving a single opening. The Suit Tiger could only duck and dart behind her, leaving them back-to-back.

Zhao Xing'er suddenly put away the blade in her left hand, gripped the spear with both hands, and spun into a backward thrust without even looking!

Returning Horse Spear Thrust!

The fierce thrust came fast and hard, its rushing wind howling like a dragon. She had anticipated where the tiger demon would land and stabbed before it arrived. Clearly, all her earlier changes of technique had been part of Zhao Xing'er's plan.

The lethal trap she had so casually laid in battle showed the seasoned cunning of someone with a hundred years of martial experience. Considering her age, the tiger demon wondered whether this girl had emerged from the womb with fists already callused from training!

"Die!"

The Suit Tiger was driven into a corner by that attack and had nowhere left to dodge. In desperation, it raised its long tail and lashed it around the spear shaft.

Zhao Xing'er turned the thrust into an upward sweep, then looped the spear higher. With a ripping sound, she severed the remarkably tough tiger tail!

That looping motion was calculated, too. The tail had originally been nearly two meters long; even losing a meter or more would have left it usable. But her twist almost cut it off at the root, leaving the Suit Tiger with less than twenty centimeters.

It would not be enough for anything anymore.

Blood sprayed. The Suit Tiger leaped forward and fled without daring to look back. Only after bounding four or five meters away did it turn to face her again.

The base of its backside burned fiercely, but at least it had saved its life.

It had learned that trick from its relative, the gecko: shed your tail to escape. A tiger could only use it once in its lifetime, but it had certainly worked when it mattered.

Across from it, Zhao Xing'er's brows knitted tightly, as though she was deeply displeased that it had escaped. She settled into a spear stance at a distance, her presence growing ever more seamless. Behind her, the martial spirit red light faintly took the shape of a long-haired general clad in full armor, divine might reaching to the heavens.

Fuck.

How the hell was I supposed to fight that?

The longer we fought, the fewer brothers I had, while she just kept getting stronger. She was about to manifest a Martial Way True Body!

Was she seriously farming me for levels like some boss?

Just as the thought of retreat began to take root, a mournful howl came from the black tiger!

"Awooo-!"

Meanwhile, the Black Tiger and the Headphone Tiger had been pursuing Yue Wen. He had simply kept his flying sword in front of him, parrying from side to side and counterattacking when he could, without achieving much.

But the Headphone Tiger felt itself growing weaker from its relentless bleeding and wanted to end the fight quickly.

So, just as Yue Wen used the flying sword to force it back, it suddenly lunged forward and clamped the blade between its paws, catching the weapon bare-handed!

"Little Black, attack!"

While pinning down the struggling flying sword with all its might, the Headphone Tiger shouted, trying to give its companion a chance to win.

The black tiger bravely pounced at Yue Wen.

Yet Yue Wen showed no fear. As the enormous black shadow hurtled toward him, he charged straight at it, then dropped into a slide!

The slide carried him beneath the Black Tiger's pounce, swapping their positions while also bringing him closer to the Headphone Tiger and strengthening his control over the flying sword. With a thought, Yue Wen sent the sword spinning in midair, slicing through the flesh of its paws.

The Headphone Tiger let go in pain, and the flying sword pierced its throat in an instant!

-Shhk!

Another stream of golden energy entered Yue Wen's body, and he collected another piece of Evil-Suppressing Money.

Having missed its pounce, the black tiger turned around only to see another older brother die horribly. It let out a mournful howl and prepared to charge Yue Wen again in a fight to the death.

But the Suit Tiger suddenly appeared behind it, grabbed its scruff, and shouted, "Little Black, we're leaving!"

"Grrr!" The black tiger seemed unwilling to leave, its eyes blazing with rage.

"We're no match for them. We'll avenge our brothers another day!" Suit Tiger was the calmest of them. Despite its own grief and fury, it still made the most rational choice.

They wanted to leave, but Zhao Xing'er had no intention of letting them.

"Cowards who shrink from battle, leave your heads behind!"

Like a truly fearless warrior, she flicked that cold, gleaming spear tip, filling the air with writhing silver serpents as she charged savagely toward them.

The sight alone frightened Suit Tiger. It immediately tugged the black tiger's scruff. "Go!"

The black tiger roared in defiance, then turned and leaped away, racing on all fours toward the depths of the basement and slamming into a wall like a black whirlwind.

Crash!

The inner wall shattered, revealing a passage beyond. Apparently, the tiger demons had prepared an escape route for themselves.

Unable to catch them, Zhao Xing'er glared furiously at the Tiger Demons about to vanish from sight. She put away the Dragon Gallbladder Silver Spear with a flick of her hand, then raised her arm again. A rocket launcher was already resting on her shoulder, aimed at them.

Fire!

Yue Wen pursued with his Sword-Controlling Technique, but Suit Tiger blocked the attack, leaving no time for a second strike. He was withdrawing his sword with some regret when he saw what Zhao Xing'er was doing, and his eyes went wide.

Huh?

Huh!

Huh-

What the heck was that?

"An RPG-107, of course!"

In this day and age, it certainly could not compare in value to the Three-Pointed, Double-Edged Blade, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, or the Dragon Gallbladder Silver Spear, all forged from immortal-grade materials. After all, those were divine weapons cultivators could wield.

But wasn't whipping it out like that a little too sudden?

Did she normally leave the house with munitions stuffed in her pockets?

Zhao Xing'er, the walking arsenal, pulled the trigger. With a whoosh, a rocket streaked after them, trailing a long tail of flame.

A hit from a firearm was not necessarily stronger than their magical techniques, but it was certainly no weak attack either. In particular, within the lower three realms, the casting range of supernatural abilities and mystical arts clearly fell short of a rocket launcher's range. This was especially relevant for a martial-focused fighter like Zhao Xing'er, who could easily find herself unable to hit an enemy once they gained enough distance.

Cold steel up close, RPG at range. Thinking about it seriously, it really was a sensible tactic.

-Whoosh!

Boom!

An explosion thundered from the end of the passage. With nowhere to dodge in that straight tunnel, the tiger demons should have taken a direct hit. However, the massive blast also collapsed and buried the entrance, making it impossible to check for kills right away.

Yue Wen gave Zhao Xing'er a nervous look. At this point, even if she suddenly pulled out a tank and drove it over them, he would not have been all that surprised.

Who could have imagined this?

He had thought he was just hiring an assistant, but he had ended up with a weapon master!