On his way back his ears twitched and he suddenly stopped, as if hearing movement ahead. He transformed back into tiger form, used the dense forest as cover, and slowly moved toward his cave.
"Hurry, catch it! This is an ancient green snake. And that green jade is clearly a treasure. We must seize it."
A young man stood in front of Wang Hu's cave, excitedly commanding a group fighting against Xiaoqing inside.
Wang Hu's eyes narrowed. The young man was at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but had not fully controlled his spiritual power. He had likely just broken through recently. But what drew his attention more was the old man beside the young man. The old man had white hair and a deeply wrinkled face, looking extremely aged, as if about to decay, yet he emitted a strong spiritual pressure. Wang Hu immediately recognized him as a late Foundation Establishment human cultivator.
Another thing he noticed was several Qi Refining cultivators holding a glowing net. That was what was restraining Xiaoqing. Otherwise, with her speed, those Qi Refining cultivators would not be a match at all.
A late Foundation Establishment elder as a bodyguard, and a young man who had just broken through to Foundation Establishment. His identity was definitely not simple.
But when he saw Xiaoqing inside the cave covered in blood, Wang Hu's eyes turned cold for the first time. If others do not offend me, I will act with harmony. If they offend me, don't blame me for being ruthless. This was his principle.
His body slowly lowered, creeping forward toward the old man with unwavering eyes. Although it was his first hunt, his instincts told him to strike for a one-hit kill.
"Young master, let this old servant handle it. We must finish quickly. We are near the Luofang mountain range. If the demon race discovers this spirit snake, it will cause trouble." The old man frowned, looking at Xiaoqing trapped inside.
"All right, but do not kill it," the young man hesitated before nodding.
The old man respectfully saluted, and just as he took a step forward into the cave, a heaven-shaking tiger roar suddenly erupted.
A violent wind howled, and everyone felt as if a ferocious tiger were roaring directly beside their ears. Several Qi Refining cultivators immediately spat blood from nose and mouth and collapsed weakly. Even the old man paused mid-step, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.
Roar!
In the next moment, within the storm of wind, Wang Hu's massive body lunged straight at the old man, biting toward his neck. The young man was shocked and threw a small blue flying sword toward Wang Hu's neck.
Crack.
Wang Hu did not dodge, and bit through the old man's neck. He did not dare delay. If the late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator escaped the tiger roar, it would be extremely dangerous.
At the same time the flying sword left a three-inch-deep wound on his neck. Wang Hu roared in pain and swung his tiger tail toward the young man. The young man quickly dodged, and not daring to continue fighting, he took out a green talisman and his body turned into wind, disappearing in an instant.
Wang Hu stopped chasing and lowered his head to look at his deep bleeding wound. At that moment urgent bells rang from Guanyin Temple, and he immediately understood they were related to his tiger roar earlier.
"Xiaoqing, are you all right?" Wang Hu quickly rushed into the cave.
Xiaoqing, although covered in blood, was not fatally injured. The demon race's recovery ability was extremely strong, and the wounds were already beginning to scab. On the ground lay a pile of corpses. They had first been mentally injured by Wang Hu's tiger roar, then killed by Xiaoqing's desperate counterattack.
Xiaoqing happily rushed onto Wang Hu, then hissed worriedly when she saw the wound on his neck.
"It's fine. Just a minor external wound. It will heal soon," Wang Hu replied calmly. At the same time he used his claws to retrieve the green jade. He also looked at the glowing net that had been used to capture Xiaoqing, and took it as well.
Wang Hu quickly searched the corpses of those people, but found nothing valuable, and had no choice but to give up. However, among the old cultivator's belongings he did find a jade seal. On it were carved an eagle and endless mountain ranges stretching far into the distance. At a glance it was clearly no ordinary object. Wang Hu immediately became happy again.
From afar the bell of Guanyin Temple grew more and more urgent. He looked up, and his pupils shrank. He saw two figures several li away riding on escaping light, rushing toward him at extreme speed. Those who could ride escaping light were at least at the Golden Core stage, if not refining spirit and returning to the void.
Wang Hu was naturally not their opponent, so he had no choice but to use the best of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: retreat. He revealed his true tiger form and ran like a storm on all four legs, charging straight into the Luofang mountain range. That was the territory of demon beasts. Once inside, the two pursuing Golden Core cultivators would not dare to rush in casually.
At that moment a shout came from behind. "Not good. The demon tiger is trying to escape into Luofang Mountain. Elder Zhang! Elder Lin! Stop it quickly!"
Wang Hu looked back and saw the young man who had escaped earlier, now riding a small war chariot and chasing after him. He was furious. But at the same time he also noticed that the chariot looked like a good treasure.
However, his expression soon changed. The two escaping lights in the sky suddenly accelerated several times and in an instant closed in behind him.
"Demon tiger, die!" An old man with a face full of wrinkles shouted loudly, forming hand seals, and a white sword light shot toward Wang Hu's back.
Instantly a layer of golden light burst around him, and a dragon phantom roared as it collided with the sword light. Ding. Both exploded. The sword light shattered. His protective golden light also collapsed and the dragon phantom vanished. Wang Hu was sent flying, rolling several times on the ground before barely getting up, his head dizzy.
That was the effect of the Nine Dragon Jade Pendant helping him block a strike. But the huge gap in strength made him frown even more. He knew he was almost out of escape routes.
After thinking for a moment, he turned back to look at the three people in the air and decisively stopped. "I surrender. What do you want?" He squatted down, his tiger tail swaying.
The young man threw down a beast-taming jade ring and coldly told him to put it on and serve as his mount.
Wang Hu widened his eyes, killing intent flickering as he considered how to escape. At this moment the black-robed old cultivator shouted that the young man was a prince of a nation with the potential to ascend to immortality, and told him not to be ungrateful.
Wang Hu sneered and swung his claw. A streak of golden light shot out. The old cultivator was about to dodge when the golden light suddenly transformed into a giant radiant staff covering the sky and the earth.
"Take my staff!" An arrogant roar echoed.
The ground trembled, and heaven and earth seemed to collapse.
When everything settled, Wang Hu stood up and looked around, and was immediately stunned. The three people were completely gone. Within a radius of three to four li, only broken trees and collapsed mountains remained, like the end of the world. This destructive power was explosive beyond words.
Wang Hu could only silently thank Monkey Brother in his heart. At first he was dazed for a moment, but soon he felt heartache and muttered, "This time I really lost big. If I had known, I would have asked for a few more monkey hairs."
Now he had wasted a life-saving hair without gaining anything. Such a huge loss.
Sighing, Wang Hu prepared to leave. He could not stay here long. Such a huge commotion would definitely alert the entire area. If he was targeted by more Golden Core experts and had to use another monkey hair, he would probably vomit blood. After all, his journey had just begun.
At that moment, he suddenly paused.