The Gravely Wounded Tiger-Taming

Almost the instant the weapon was gripped tightly, the wind around them seemed to fall still.

The weapon's silver gleamed coldly, its blades crossing on either side.

His heavenly eye opened slightly, and the vital signs and magical power surrounding Tiger-Taming in the distance, even the very essence of his Golden-Bodied Arhat form, all came into Yang Jian's sight.

The next second, Yang Jian's body flashed, and he appeared dozens of miles away. He took another step, and when he appeared again, he was already in the air beside Tiger-Taming, bringing the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Halberd in his hand crashing down toward Tiger-Taming's head.

Tiger-Taming, meanwhile, had not given it much thought. The Soul-Fixing Jade was lost, and he was still wondering how to explain it to Joyful Buddha.

Joyful Boy had also been killed right in front of him. The blame for failing to protect him would surely be laid at his feet.

An Arhat!

At the end of the day, he was merely a comparatively strong guardian.

He was just a bodyguard for bodhisattvas and buddhas. He had failed to protect Joyful Boy, so he would surely be punished when he returned to Spirit Mountain.

Unless his strength improved.

The Buddhist attainment was merely a foundation, not a limit.

The attainment of Arhat guaranteed that one's strength would at least reach the Golden Immortal level, but that did not mean one would remain a Golden Immortal for life.

Dragon-Subduing, for instance, had the strength of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal. If he had not quarreled with the Exalted One, perhaps he could have taken another step forward with the fortune and incense offerings he gained through reincarnation.

Dragon-Subduing was still being punished, which was why this mission had fallen to Tiger-Taming.

Tiger-Taming had been considering how to find the mortal cultivator named Jiang Zhe when a bone-chilling sensation suddenly came over him.

Even his Arhat body could not suppress the feeling of his hairs standing on end.

Almost instinctively, Tiger-Taming's body let out a tiger's roar, and his golden skin erupted with dazzling golden light.

A colossal Arhat manifestation appeared, roaring as it enveloped Tiger-Taming's body like a massive bronze bell.

The next second, the enormous Three-Pointed Double-Edged Halberd crashed into the golden spectral manifestation.

The phantom, nearly a hundred meters tall, was as fragile as thin paper at that moment.

A flash of silver light vanished, leaving a silver crack in the enormous golden figure.

Golden light flowed from the silver fissure like blood.

With a spluttering sound, Tiger-Taming abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.

It fell onto the wilderness below, making the flowers, grass, and trees grow and strengthen rapidly. It probably would not be long before a medicinal field sprang up here.

After all, it had been watered with an Arhat's blood.

"Who is it?! This humble monk is from Spirit Mountain! How dare you attack me!" Tiger-Taming roared furiously and looked in the direction the attack had come from.

What he saw made his pupils contract. There was no one there, only an unusual weapon.

It resembled a long spear, but had crescent-shaped blades on either side.

Only one person in the Three Realms wielded such a distinctive weapon.

Qingyuan Miaodao Erlang Xiansheng True Lord!

Yang Jian!

"Bald donkey, what are you going to Mount Hua for?" Yang Jian's figure appeared, and he grabbed the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Halberd. Immediately afterward, he thrust its three points toward Tiger-Taming's forehead.

Before Tiger-Taming could even react, he felt a slight pain in his forehead, and golden blood was already running down the side of his nose.

Tiger-Taming's heart trembled. What exactly were Joyful Buddha and the others going to do to Yang Chan?

And what did it have to do with him?

"This humble monk came only to seek a treasure." The thought flashed through his mind, and without any hesitation, Tiger-Taming honestly stated the purpose of his visit.

There was no point in lying before Yang Jian, who was stronger than he was and had long been renowned.

Besides, his main purpose in coming really was to seek the opportunity that the human had obtained in Water Filth Cave.

As for the matter involving Joyful Buddha and Joyful Boy, though it was important too, in Tiger-Taming's heart it no longer mattered as much as that opportunity.

Hearing this, Yang Jian could not help frowning.

By observing him closely with his heavenly eye, he could see every change in Tiger-Taming's emotions.

He could be certain that Tiger-Taming was not lying; he really was seeking that so-called opportunity.

"Leave Mount Hua! The gods and buddhas of the heavens are forbidden from appearing here," Yang Jian said in a low voice.

"True Lord Erlang! What heavenly law has this humble monk broken now?!"

"There is an opportunity for this humble monk on Mount Hua. The treasures of the world belong to the virtuous, and I have an affinity with this one. This humble monk will not give it up." At Yang Jian's words, Tiger-Taming immediately grew agitated.

"You broke the heavenly law I established." With that, Yang Jian suddenly kicked out, striking Tiger-Taming hard.

The violent impact sent Tiger-Taming crashing toward the wilderness below like a streak of golden light.

The instant he landed, he smashed a deep, enormous crater into the ground like a meteorite.

With that single kick, Yang Jian had gravely injured Tiger-Taming Arhat, foremost of the Eighteen Arhats.

Golden blood flowed from the corner of Tiger-Taming's mouth as he gazed resentfully at the silver-white figure in the sky.

There was anger and resentment in his heart, but he dared not show them.

Yang Jian answered military summons but ignored court summons; even the Jade Emperor, ruler of the Three Realms, could do nothing about him. If Tiger-Taming truly angered him and was killed by Yang Jian, the effort he had put into refining his Arhat body would have been for nothing.

Tiger-Taming could only suppress the anger in his heart, get up, and wipe the corner of his mouth.

His expression turned indifferent. No matter what, he would not give up those two opportunities.

The armor imbued with Samadhi True Fire, and the resources from that lightning being, of which only a trace of its presence remains yet which still makes my heart race-neither is something I can resist!

Even Yang Jian cannot stop me. At the end of the day, I did this for Joyful Buddha. Even if I die in an accident and lose my Arhat body,

I can take the opportunity to reincarnate and undergo tempering.

I can snatch Dragon-Subduing's opportunity. After all, when Dragon-Subduing quarreled with the Exalted One, the fortune and incense offerings had yet to return to their proper place.

At that thought, even as waves of pain passed through his body, Tiger-Taming could not keep a smile from rising to his lips.

If I really die here, at worst I'll give up this Arhat attainment and enter the cycle of reincarnation again. Then the Venerable One might even be able to use the circumstances of this matter to argue with the Heavenly Court.

Either way, I stand to gain.

He struggled to his feet and, like an ascetic monk, walked step by step toward Mount Hua Town.

Yang Jian could not remain here forever. Tiger-Taming would walk there step by step, recovering from his injuries along the way. He would reach Mount Hua Town in about seven days, and then he would contact Joyful Buddha and explain what had happened before looking to see whether the human cultivator was still on Mount Hua.

In any case, the last thing his clone had seen was that the man was in Mount Hua Town.

He also wondered how Joyful Boy was doing.