Chapter 115: Spirit Tigers
Both of them caught up and returned to the team, moreover, Chu Li no longer acted like a sick patient. Instead, he became the coachman.
Xiao Qi rode her horse and moved beside Chu Li.
Chu Li swung the whip as he gently asked, “Lady Xiao, have you seen a Spirit Tiger before?”
“Spirit Tiger…” Xiao Qi muttered. “You want to see a Spirit Tiger?”
She had guessed what was in Chu Li’s mind immediately.
He was cultivating the Art of White Tiger, and he wanted to see the postures and patterns of a real Spirit Tiger. It would have been beneficial to his cultivation. Chu Li had seen a few master’s drawing of fierce tigers, leading him to believe that he would also have learned something from it, which was why he had this thought.
Chu Li smiled. “It’d be great if I had the chance to see one.”
“I’ll bet you know that the Spirit Tiger is very powerful,” Xiao Qi calmly said. “If you really saw a Spirit Tiger with your recent cultivation level, you’d definitely die.”
“Have you seen one before, Lady Xiao?”
“Wouldn’t be here if I did.”
“Is a Spirit Tiger really that powerful?”
“You should know through the cultivation of the Art of White Tiger,” Xiao Qi calmly said. “They’re the God’s favorites. Born clairvoyant and with a powerful body, their blood inherits the ability to cultivate. If they had not isolated themselves in Hundred-Thousand Hills due to their dislike of the world, I’m afraid humans would’ve already become extinct.”
The sheer terror of a Spirit Tiger was limitless, unable to be imagined. Xiao Qi only knew of them through the Royal House secret records, and if a Spirit Tiger had roamed out of its mountain, it would typically slaughter a whole town. In front of a Spirit Tiger, everyone was like an ant unless they had already reached the Enlightened Master’s Boundary. Only then would they have a chance of escaping.
The Hundred-Thousand Hills’s spiritual force was extremely dense. The spiritual force of the towns and villages close to it were like smelly sewers, intolerably filthy compared to the mountain. The Spirit Tigers were unable to stand it, and they did not even want to stay for even a second. This dislike gave the humans nearby the chance to stay alive.
Chu Li sighed. “Hundred-Thousand Hills…”
The more books he read, the more he understood the world. And the more Chu Li did, he realized that in this world, humans were not the kings of all creation. The spirit creatures in the Hundred-Thousand Hills were the real rulers. They saw humans as ants.
It did not matter how prosperous their martial arts was, they were still weak in the face of the spirit creatures. Even the swords of legends were unable to pierce through a spirit creature’s fur. Using martial arts on them would be akin to tickling them.
Chu Li even knew that the greatness of martial arts originated from spirit creatures. Commonly practiced martial arts like the Art of White Tiger, the present palm technique, and fist techniques were all derived from the spirit creatures. Humans were copying them. Performing martial arts in front of these creatures would have been a joke to them.
The Hundred-Thousand Hills was the spirit creatures’ playground, a restricted area for humans. If one went in, they would surely not come out alive.
“Even Enlightened Masters struggle stay alive if they go anywhere near Hundred-Thousand Hills,” said Xiao Qi.
“How’d they make the drawings of the tiger, then?”
“Maybe it was spread out by the ones from the Enlightened Mastery’s Boundary, or it was inherited through the generations.” Xiao Qi furrowed her brows as she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter how alike the drawing looked. It’s one ten-thousandth of the real thing.”
“Don’t tell me there’s someone actually raring one of them?” Chu Li muttered.
Xiao Qi stared at him. She was curious as to why Chu Li asked such a stupid question.
“Who in the world dares to rare that tiger? It’s sentencing ourselves to death!”
Without even mentioning how a Spirit Tiger’s cub was obtained. If luck was on one’s side, they might see a cub, but raring it was suicide. Spirit Tigers had telepathy. They would have found the culprit in no time and killed their whole family, claiming its cub in the process.
Chu Li sighed. “I really want to see a Spirit Tiger.”
“You might have a chance if you reached the Enlightened Mastery’s Boundary.” Xiao Qi shook her head. “If you’re anything below that, the mountain is a restricted area.”
Chu Li helplessly nodded.
“But Grand Secretary Kang has a few drawings of the tiger. I can ask second eldest sister to let you have a look,” Xiao Qi continued.
Chu Li’s eyes began to shine.
He realized that the Art of White Tiger was very mysterious, its method of cultivation was far different from the usual process, and he felt that the Art of White Tiger had more power even when compared to the Sentient Menace.
The Sentient Menace used the energy of the body, but the Art of White Tiger absorbed a shapeless force from the void.
If one wanted to improve the Art of White Tiger, the posture of the white tiger was very important. Chu Li’s cultivation improved a lot after witnessing a few drawings of the tigers. If he saw a real Spirit Tiger, he bet that it would help him grow even more powerful. Unfortunately, it was hard to stumble upon a white tiger. The only method left to him was to look at the tiger drawings.
Chu Li had seen tigers in his previous incarnation. It may not match the Spirit Tigers of this world, but at least there were similarities. The people of this world, however, had only heard of myths of the Spirit Tiger and had never actually laid their eyes on one. The people only had their imaginations to fuel the stories.
This sped up the process of his cultivation, with this fact allowing him to surpass many others. Chu Li truly wanted to complete its cultivation, but he was afraid that he needed to encounter a real Spirit Tiger to finish it properly.
“Lady Xiao, I want to venture out for a bit,” said Chu Li.
Xiao Qi stared at him.
“I’ll come back as soon as possible,” Chu Li assured.
Xiao Qi furrowed her brows. She knew that Chu Li did not confess to her the real reason so she did not pry. “Don’t stay out for too long!”
“If anything happens, I’ll shoot the signal.” Chu Li patted the arrow on his chest as he smiled. “I have the ability to run away if there’s danger.”
“Go then!” Xiao Qi waved her delicate hand.
Chu Li fist saluted and disappeared from the carriage in a flash.
Mulin gently walked over. “Third Lady, where’s Young Chu?”
“He went to deal with some personal matters.”
“This fellow really makes people worry!” Muin shook his head as he said.
Xiao Qi calmly looked at him.
She could not believe that Mulin cared about Chu Li. Mulin had commendable medical skills, but his temper was dreadful. Other than the Second Lady, he did not take a liking to many people, instead choosing to actively scorn and insulted everyone else. However, Chu Li was the first exception.
“If it weren’t for Chu Li, the Second Lady and I would’ve been doomed.” Mulin sighed. “This fellow is cruel to himself!”
“He’s still considered loyal,” replied Xiao Qi.
“Congratulations Third Lady, I feel that the Second Lady was very touched. She may have even wanted to take Chu Li for herself,” Mulin said.
Xiao Qi pursed her lips and laughed gently.
Mulin shook his head. “This kind of witty and loyal fellow is hard to find. You’re gonna need to give him an important position to lock him down!”
“I believe he likes medical skills too. I hope that Elder Guo could teach him a thing or two,” said Xiao Qi.
“I’ve thought of passing my medical skills on to him,” Mulin said. “Now that everyone’s busy cultivating, no one wants to learn medicine. If this goes on, no one can save the idiots when they get hurt!”
Xiao Qi gently nodded.
This was indeed a big problem. People focused on the martial arts more than they did their studies. Doctors, normally, were unable to cultivate, so they instead helplessly chose to learn medicine. They did not, in actuality, enjoy medicine, so the number of doctors had been steadily decreasing due to this phenomenon. The exquisite ancestral medical skills were going to be slowly phased out!
Deep in the woods, Chu Li suddenly appeared behind a monk and swung his hand, shooting out a cold light.
The monk was dressed in a grey robe. He took one step to the front and pointed to his back.
“Chi!””Chi!”
Two sounds split through the air, ringing at almost the same time. Chu Li tilted his body and avoided the energy coming from the monk’s fingers. He could clearly see the ethereal energy coming from its tip.
The monk also avoided all the cold lights. He tilted his body and sent another fist in return.
“Whoosh” The power of the fist was as hard as stone.
Chu Li stretched out his palm and pressed it.
“Bam!” The monk was pushed backward, stumbling three steps along the way. He steadied his stance, then began using his fists. His palm was being cut by a knife, and currents of force were still surging in his arms. Such pure inner energy. Chu Li sighed to himself.
But he was no longer afraid of the monk’s inner energy.
Chu Li used a skill of Narrowed World that purified inner energy. He combined the Infinite Azure Sea and Narrowed World, releasing a thread of the purest inner energy to defeat the monk’s own inner energy.
If this were in the past, his meridians would have already been unable to withstand these two types of pure inner energies’ resistance, but he was not afraid of it now.
The skill was very complex and complicated, however. One needed to cultivate two complicated heart techniques, especially the purification skill of Narrowed World. It was not typically used to defeat an enemy.
It could at least be used in emergencies for only a brief moment. Or, it could also be used as a scare tactic.
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