Well Water Does Not Interfere with River Water

It?

The traveling merchants were startled at first, then their faces instantly drained white. They all realized what "it" referred to.

Ji Yuan was terrified too. In fact, he was even more frightened than these traveling merchants, his breathing trembling faintly. Yet at least on the surface, he remained composed, looking far better than they did.

The sounds of four paws and two feet walking across the ground were distinctly different. Ji Yuan closed his already dry, aching eyes and focused more intently on his hearing.

The sound was light, yet it carried a heavy weight, like fleshy paw pads pressing into mud and withered branches and fallen leaves. Its four limbs alternated as they landed, as though it were strolling through a courtyard.

Ji Yuan did not know whether it had been his imagination just now, but the wind and the rustling of grass and trees around them had grown louder. The night birds in the forest had all fallen silent, as though too frightened to make a sound.

Could it be a tiger? Or rather, a tiger spirit?

Ji Yuan's ragged clothes had already been soaked through with sweat. As the pawsteps drew nearer, he increasingly doubted whether the handful of people inside the temple could accomplish anything.

The others in the Mountain God Temple did not even dare breathe loudly. Clutching their weapons tightly, they huddled behind the fire and stared toward the outside of the temple.

Though they did not possess Ji Yuan's sharp hearing, they could sense the changes in the wind. The surrounding flowers, grass, trees, and branches swayed wildly in every direction.

The oppressive atmosphere was suffocating. Every traveling merchant's face was covered in fine beads of sweat.

"Roarrrr~~~~~~~"

A fierce tiger's roar rang out from beyond the temple. In an instant, the forest erupted as startled birds took flight, countless night birds shrieking and flapping away.

Naturally, the people inside the temple were even more frightened. Many felt their legs turn to jelly.

By this point, no one still harbored the lucky hope that Old Jin and the others were alive.

Ji Yuan's heart was in utter turmoil. Whether it was the Ghost Servant from before or this overwhelming presence now, both proved that what stood outside was absolutely no ordinary tiger.

These spineless weaklings beside him, plus himself—a useless half-blind man scared half to death—would be finished even against an ordinary tiger, let alone a Fierce Tiger that had become a spirit.

But before Ji Yuan could launch into a round of cursing heaven and earth in his heart, his thoughts were interrupted.

"Between you and me, well water does not interfere with river water. Nor have I stepped into the Mountain God Temple. Why did you help them?"

A deep, powerful voice mingled with the low growl of a Fierce Tiger came from outside.

Ji Yuan's heart clenched. It really was a damned tiger spirit!

But Ji Yuan immediately came to understand. The information in those words made his thoughts race like lightning. At a speed he had never experienced before, his mind spun through countless possibilities in just a few breaths.

After their fright, the traveling merchants also instinctively looked at the beggar beside them.

Damn it, coming to a ghostly place like this means death either way. Might as well gamble!

Gritting his teeth, Ji Yuan cast aside his earlier fear and servility, his voice full of vigor.

"Precisely because well water does not interfere with river water, I paid no attention when that Scholar Chang Ghost Servant came before me. But Zhang Shilin is kind-hearted. I drank a bowl of his hot water and accepted his small kindness. I will not simply watch him die like this."

After saying all that in one breath, Ji Yuan's heart pounded like a machine gun with its trigger held down, rattling away so fiercely he could not suppress it.

Outside fell silent for a while. Ji Yuan felt that if it went on any longer, his heart would leap right out of his throat.

As though it had pondered some question for a long time, the heavy voice outside rang out again, carrying a beastly snarl. Yet what it said had nothing to do with whether it would eat people.

"Though I have never met you face-to-face, I knew that during the month you came here, your aura of death grew heavier by the day. Why, then, are you now brimming with vitality?"

Ji Yuan quietly exhaled. At least it had not charged in without another word.

His thoughts raced as he desperately squeezed every bit of intelligence he had to consider the Tiger Spirit's question.

Putting its earlier words together, Ji Yuan first confirmed that he truly had transmigrated into another soul's body. In other words, he had occupied someone else's body, and the Tiger Spirit's question revealed at least three crucial points.

First, the Fierce Tiger lived deep in the mountains while this beggar resided in the Mountain God Temple, so the two had never met.

Second, this beggar might originally have been no ordinary person, which was why the Tiger Spirit had not touched him. Of course, perhaps it simply disdained eating disabled people or had a cleanliness obsession.

Third, and the root of the Tiger Spirit's confusion, this beggar should originally have been close to death. Yet because of Ji Yuan's transmigration, the beggar had become overflowing with vitality in the Tiger Spirit's eyes.

Ji Yuan wanted only one outcome now: to bluff this Tiger Spirit and ensure everyone's safety—most importantly, his own.

Quite some time had already passed. If the thing outside grew impatient, that would be bad. Ji Yuan threw caution to the wind. Stories he had once read and all manner of adolescent fantasies flashed through his mind. On the surface, it merely seemed that the beggar had remained silent for a moment before speaking.

He deliberately slowed his pace of speech.

"There is nothing that cannot be said. It is laughable, really. Back then, I knew my days were numbered and merely waited here for death. Who would have thought that I would gain another insight and be born from death?"

Outside the temple, the Fierce Tiger widened its eyes. Its claws dug excitedly into the earth. Born from death! Born from death! Easy to say, yet even the Tiger Spirit knew how terrifying the meaning contained within those words was.

Two days ago, it had seen lightning descend from a clear sky. Its aura had been terrifying, the heavenly might unfathomable—nothing like ordinary thunderstorm lightning. At the time, the Tiger Spirit had even collapsed helplessly in its cave.

Today, the Tiger Spirit suddenly understood. The source of that lightning was here!

It was a beast that had gained spirit and cultivated. How arduous and bitter was cultivation!

And the person inside the temple, whom it had previously thought to be an ordinary beggar, had not only transformed into a butterfly and been reborn at death's door, but must also possess an extraordinarily profound cultivation realm.

Truthfully, this was also the first cultivator the Tiger Spirit had ever encountered. Yet even though he was the only one it had met, it understood that this person was absolutely beyond comparison with ordinary cultivators.

At this moment, though it knew full well that it was an alien demon creature in the eyes of humankind, and knew that remaining here might be dangerous, the Fierce Tiger could not help asking with anxiety and apprehension.

"Sir, how does Sir view my cultivation?"

Then, perhaps realizing that this was too abrupt, it immediately added another sentence.

"I have cultivated upon Niu Kui Mountain for over a hundred years, without law or support. Now I have exhausted every method and cannot advance further. Would Sir—would Sir be willing to enlighten me a little? Lord Lu would be endlessly grateful!"

It had even used an honorific. Clearly, both its form of address and its tone had changed greatly. Matters concerning the foundation of cultivation were greater than the heavens themselves; the Tiger Spirit could not afford to be careless. Its cultivation had been trapped at this bottleneck for a long time.

Of course, even the Tiger Spirit understood that asking about cultivation methods was taboo. Demon beasts, flying creatures, and the like painstakingly comprehended and cultivated on their own through the years. Even the slightest achievement could bring joy for a long time, and they would never readily tell others. Thus, when it asked the unfathomable beggar inside the temple, it did so with extreme caution, seeking only the faintest bit of enlightenment.

Since there was no irreconcilable enmity between them, it naturally had to seize this opportunity to seek guidance.

It also had Scholar Lu, the Ghost Servant, to thank for teaching it some of the customs and observations of worldly etiquette. It considered itself fairly polite.

Yet its apprehension and unease made the Fierce Tiger pace nervously from side to side after speaking. It gazed expectantly inside the temple while preparing itself as well. Should the Temple Person suddenly attack, it would counterattack or flee at the fastest possible speed.

Ji Yuan had originally thought this Tiger Spirit would be far more aggressive. He had not expected it to become somewhat bookish instead. He did not even dare imagine a huge tiger outside speaking in such a pedantic, flowery manner.

Casting aside those absurd thoughts, Ji Yuan calmed his panicked emotions and spoke again, this time much more slowly.

"May I ask Lord Lu, how many people have you eaten throughout your cultivation?"

Ji Yuan understood clearly that in a situation like this, the more panicked he was, the less he could show it. Instead, he had to be suitably forceful according to the circumstances.

Hearing the question from inside the temple, the Fierce Tiger outside actually felt a surge of panic. Its claws anxiously raked the dirt without its noticing. Then it suddenly thought of something and flared its nostrils.

Huff—

A stream of Illusion Mist Energy flowed out, taking the form of a human figure before it, who was none other than Scholar Lu.

The Fierce Tiger looked toward the firelit Mountain God Temple and spoke quietly to Scholar Chang Ghost.

"You heard everything just now, didn't you? How should I answer so that I do not miss this wondrous good opportunity? If you can help me this time, I promise to let your soul return to your homeland!"

Yet Lord Lu had never imagined that Ji Yuan heard every word of that low murmur. It also made Ji Yuan understand even more clearly just how much this Tiger Spirit cared about the mysteries of cultivation.

Scholar Lu gave Lord Lu a slight bow, then looked toward the Mountain God Temple.

"Previously, when I went to the temple to draw people out, he paid no attention and continued sleeping. This time, however, he intervened for Zhang Shilin. This man acts according to his heart. Such people loathe falsehood most of all, let alone a Master. Lord Lu should answer everything truthfully. Do not deliberately deceive him to achieve your purpose."

Hearing this, the enormous hanging-eyed Fierce Tiger actually knitted its brow, its expression somewhat conflicted and struggling. Then it shook its tiger head before speaking toward the temple.

"I would not dare deceive you, Sir. Lord Lu has cultivated for a long time without progress. Left with no choice, I used humans as nourishment. I have eaten... fifty-three people. But I eat humans as humans eat birds and beasts; I have no desire to kill wantonly. Once full, I do not eat. I do not eat those who do not provoke me in daylight. I eat only young, strong adults, never the elderly, children, sick, or disabled!"

My mother! It had eaten fifty-three people!

Ji Yuan had only casually asked a pointed question to draw out what came next, but upon hearing the answer, even his legs grew weak. The traveling merchants beside him were in an even worse state, several trembling so hard that sounds escaped them.