Chapter 56: The Nine Netherworld Tiger

‘Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Mountain’—the ‘Spirit’ in this damned place’s name was pure deception.

Shen Zhaoqing grumbled internally, her wrist still firmly clutched by Yuange as they stumbled through a labyrinth of gnarled ancient trees and tangled vines, each step uncertain.

Spirit energy?

It existed, but barely, and worse, it was all violently chaotic!

“Ah, ah-choo.” Shen Zhaoqing inhaled deeply, yet couldn’t suppress another sneeze.

This wretched place felt like downing a pound of industrial alcohol, burning from her nasal cavity straight to her dantian. Shen Zhaoqing feared she might spontaneously combust if this continued.

An oppressive stench—a mix of rotting leaves, wild beast musk, and thick blood—permeated the air. Unintelligible roars echoed from all directions, creating a cacophony that was pure mental torture.

“I say… Princess,” Shen Zhaoqing tripped over a protruding tree root, her tone sharp with annoyance. “Where exactly are you taking me?”

“We’ve been walking for so long, so far. Please tell me the final destination of your ‘hunting game’ isn’t the stomach of some ancient great demon?”

“When can I go back?”

Yuange, walking ahead, didn’t turn around. Nor did she respond with her usual playful retort, ‘My little prey, are you scared?’

Instead, her body was rigid, her amber-gold eyes scanning every shadow with an unprecedented vigilance. Her voice was a low, grave whisper, laced with an unfamiliar solemnity: “Shut up and stay close. Things here don’t play by rules.”

Well, well, the sun must have risen in the west.

The arrogant little princess, who always acted as if the world was hers and Shen Zhaoqing her caged bird, was actually serious for once.

Shen Zhaoqing pursed her lips, wisely falling silent.

After all, when a madwoman suddenly became normal, it usually meant something even madder was about to appear.

As it turned out, her premonitions were always accurate, especially when it came to bad luck.

No sooner had the two passed through a mushroom forest glowing with an eerie blue light than Yuange’s footsteps abruptly halted. She yanked Shen Zhaoqing back, pressing her firmly into the shadow of a giant tree, while she herself became a coiled leopard, every muscle taut.

“What is it?” Shen Zhaoqing whispered, her heart uncooperatively pounding like a drum.

An indescribable pressure, like a heavy lead block, slowly emanated from the depths of the canyon ahead.

It wasn’t merely demonic energy, but something older, more primal… more savage. It felt as though the chaos and slaughter from the dawn of creation had solidified, transforming into this suffocating domain.

All the surrounding clamorous beast roars ceased at that very instant.

Utter silence.

Even the wind seemed frozen.

Shen Zhaoqing’s scalp prickled with dread.

She saw some low-tier demonic beasts, which had previously eyed them ferociously, now trembling uncontrollably, like sieves. They didn’t even possess the courage to flee, collapsing to the ground in a puddle of their own waste.

This was fear from the deepest recesses of their bloodlines, the absolute submission of the bottom of the food chain to the apex predator.

“What the…?” Shen Zhaoqing couldn’t help but curse, lowering her voice even further. “What ‘heavyweight guest’ is this now?”

“Soul Transformation Realm…” Yuange ground out the words through gritted teeth, fine beads of cold sweat beading on her forehead. “It’s the king of these outer mountains, the Nine Netherworld Tiger.”

No sooner had she spoken than a colossal creature, moving with steady, elegant strides, slowly emerged from around the canyon’s bend.

It was a gigantic tiger, its body comparable in size to a three-story building.

Its fur was an inky black, without a single stray strand, seemingly capable of devouring light itself. Only the menacing ‘King’ character on its forehead and its four massive paws burned with a ghostly blue flame.

That flame held no warmth, yet it radiated an extreme chill capable of freezing even a divine soul.

Its eyes were a pure, unblemished ghastly white, utterly devoid of pupils.

The Nine Netherworld Tiger.

Legend spoke of it as a ferocious beast born at the convergence of the Yellow Springs and the Demonic Realm, feeding on living souls, its roar capable of shattering a cultivator’s Nascent Soul.

Shen Zhaoqing had only ever seen this creature described in an appendix of the Qingyun Sect’s disciple training manual. Could it truly exist? And at the Soul Transformation Realm, no less?!

Shen Zhaoqing, at the peak of the Qi Induction Realm, was likely no different from an after-dinner snack in its presence.

“Princess,” Shen Zhaoqing swallowed with difficulty, already calculating if her rudimentary Drunken Hidden Evasion art would even work against such a formidable opponent. “Is it too late to discuss the best surrender posture?”

“Too late,” Yuange said, her gaze fixed on the Nine Netherworld Tiger. She slowly drew a golden bone flute from her waist. “It’s smelled my blood.”

“Golden Crow blood, to it, is a tremendous tonic.”

Shen Zhaoqing fell silent.

‘Oh, so this time I’m not the snack; I’m the side dish,’ she thought.

In a mere instant, the Nine Netherworld Tiger’s ghastly white eyes locked onto them. It didn’t immediately attack, merely pacing slowly.

The Soul Transformation Realm’s oppressive might swept over them like a mountain collapsing into a tsunami.

Shen Zhaoqing felt her bones creaking, her spiritual energy in her dantian suppressed to the point of being almost unmanageable, and even breathing became incredibly difficult.

Yuange instinctively squeezed Shen Zhaoqing’s hand, then paused for a moment upon feeling the coldness of her fingertips, offering a comforting pat.

“Run!”

Yuange roared, pushing Shen Zhaoqing forcefully backward!

At the same moment, she surged forward instead of retreating, her figure a red-gold flash of lightning, actively confronting the terrifying beast!

“Hundred Birds Soaring Wind!”

The young woman let out a clear cry. Her scarlet feather cloak billowed without a breeze, and countless golden flame-infused feather blades materialized out of thin air, shooting towards the Nine Netherworld Tiger’s face like a torrential storm!

Clang, clang, clang.

A series of metallic clashes rang out.

Those feather blades, capable of piercing refined iron, struck the Nine Netherworld Tiger’s black fur but failed to leave even the slightest mark. Instead, they were completely frozen and shattered by the ghostly blue flames.

“Roar—!”

As if enraged by this tiny insect’s provocation, the Nine Netherworld Tiger let out a deafening roar.

The sound waves transformed into a tangible shockwave, instantly shattering the myriad feather blades.

Yuange grunted, a trickle of blood escaping her lips, clearly having suffered from the sonic impact.

Yet, there was no hint of retreat in her eyes; instead, her battle intent intensified.

“Blazing Sun Pupil!”

She abruptly looked up, and a tiny golden sun suddenly blazed within her left amber-gold eye!

A golden beam of light, condensed to its absolute limit, tore through the air like a spear of divine punishment. It carried a terrifying, all-consuming heat, shooting directly towards the Nine Netherworld Tiger’s ghastly white eyes.

This was a bloodline divine ability of the Golden Crow royal family, one of her ultimate, hidden techniques.

However, the chasm of cultivation realms was an insurmountable barrier.

Facing an attack capable of melting mountains, the Nine Netherworld Tiger merely raised its right paw with disdain.

Its colossal paw, burning with ghostly blue flames, swiped lightly.

Swoosh—

The space seemed to rip apart.

The golden beam of light, three feet from its eyes, was blocked by an invisible barrier, then rapidly annihilated by the extreme cold of the ghostly flames, failing to even stir a ripple.

“Damn it!” Yuange’s heart sank.

The next second, that enormous tiger paw, imbued with the power to tear apart the sky, slammed down towards her.

It was too fast.

Too fast for even the thought of evasion to arise.

Yuange could only muster the strength to hold her bone flute horizontally before her chest, pouring all her demonic energy into it.

Boom—!!!

A tremendous crash, as if a mountain had collapsed.Yuange’s body was sent flying like a broken kite, crashing through seven or eight ancient trees as thick as a man’s embrace before finally slamming heavily into a mountain cliff, sending shards of rock flying in all directions.

“Pfft—!”

A mouthful of fresh blood stained the red-gold feather robe on her chest. The bone flute in her hand had snapped into two pieces.

“Cough… cough, cough…” Yuange struggled to crawl out of the rubble, only to find that at least half of her bones were broken, and her internal organs felt as if they had been struck by a giant hammer, burning with pain.

“Ha.” Yuange carelessly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes fixed on the approaching Nine Netherworld Tiger with defiance. “That’s all you’ve got.”

The Nine Netherworld Tiger advanced towards her with elegant strides, its ghastly white eyes filled with mockery and cruelty.

It lowered its massive head and opened its cavernous maw, large enough to swallow an elephant.

A foul, blood-reeking blast of wind, mixed with sickening bloody qi, assaulted her face.