The Red Tiger and Aotian circled each other in the middle of the forest, while the other beasts kept their distance, watching from the shadows.
None of the beasts or animals had noticed Bao Wuji and Rihai in the sky, since Bao Wuji had not only concealed their auras with spiritual energy, but also blurred their presence from perception.
That's why, even with many flying beasts around, none had attacked them so far.
Aotian had only been discovered because he had chosen to train... and release a bit of his anger.
The tiger stared at him with cold eyes and slightly opened jaws, revealing its massive fangs.
"Human, I rember you. I didn't think that, after my rcy last ti, you'd still dare to return." The beast spoke without moving its lips, yet its words rang out clearly.
It wasn't speaking human language. The tiger was simply externalizing its thoughts using spiritual energy, allowing them to reverberate through the surrounding area.
Since it was a transmission based on intent, language barriers were broken, and understanding beca universal.
Every cultivator could do this, though Qi Refiners had more difficulty due to their lower control.
This was also the thod used in thought transmission, with the difference that instead of broadcasting it into the area, a stream of thoughts and intentions was projected directly into soone else. The problem was, this could easily be intercepted by anyone of the sa or higher realm.
The sa principle was used to store information in jade slips.
Receiving the tiger's words, Aotian looked at him with mockery.
Using the sa communication thod as the tiger, in case it didn't understand human words, Aotian replied:
"You let go? I think you were just too afraid of stepping out and disrupting the natural formation here." He transmitted with a smile on his lips, but his eyes were cold.
"Ohh, human, so you know. But don't worry. Just as I cannot leave, neither will you. Because today… you'll be buried here." The tiger watched him, mildly surprised, but unfazed, and at the end of its words, attacked.
Aotian was ready.
His hundreds of minds began working at once. Everything slowed down. But his body, too, moved slowly in that state, and even though he saw the tiger rushing at him in slow motion, there was no way to physically react in ti.
Still, Aotian remained calm.
Spiritual energy surged through his roots in a far more complex pattern than before. He was no longer playing with synthesized Qi Refiner-tier spells. Now, he was using a true Founder-tier spell for the first ti.
The difference between these spells was imnse. One was like drawing stick figures with energy; the other was like an artist sketching a real human, with proper structure instead of simple lines for limbs.
Fortunately, what was incredibly difficult for low-level cultivators was trivial for Aotian, with his many minds from higher realms.
In the slowed-down world, the spiritual energy in Aotian's veins was faster than the Red Tiger's charge.
So when the spell was ready, the tiger hadn't even gotten close yet.
Outside that slowed world, Rihai watched everything, stunned.
The tiger suddenly pounced on Aotian, who still wore a carefree expression.
A wave of energy burst from Aotian's body, and thick roots sprouted rapidly from the ground, aiming to impale the tiger, which was stunned by the speed of the counterattack.
With no way to dodge mid-leap, the beast didn't hesitate. It slamd its paw into the air, unleashing a wave of energy that shattered several roots while propelling its body to avoid the rest.
Even so, so roots struck it, leaving wounds on its body.
The tiger quickly retreated, staring alert and wary at Aotian.
Rihai, also shaken, continued watching. But her surprise wasn't over yet.
Aotian, breathing heavily and nearly out of energy, slapped his storage pouch and pulled out a high-grade spirit stone Bao Wuji had given him earlier.
Holding the stone in one hand, he began refining it right there. In the other hand, he gripped his sword tightly, staring down the tiger.
'What is he doing?! Refining a stone in the middle of battle?! Wait! The illuminated mind allows that, but if he uses it to refine spiritual energy and sustain himself, he'll lose half the focus he could use to face the tiger.' Rihai began to panic, unsure if his choice was wise, even preparing to intervene.
At that mont, she wasn't willing to entrust Aotian's life to the ancestor Bao she had just t. If needed, she would act herself.
What Rihai didn't know was that Aotian didn't have just one illuminated mind, as would be normal at his level — he had hundreds.
The tiger, seeing its exhausted foe, didn't hesitate to exploit the weakness.
It charged at him again.
Aotian prepared as well.
This was a battle where he couldn't be hit — otherwise, he'd die. He wasn't even wearing the protective robes of the sect, so any strike at this level would be fatal.
Even so, he wasn't worried. Bao Wuji would have ti to protect him, even if the tiger's claws were inches from his skull. And even if everything spiraled out of control and he died, he'd just revive in an external elder's body — no big deal.
So, without thinking of anything unnecessary, Aotian placed all his focus on the fight... and simply enjoyed it, enriching his combat experience.
His legs burst into flas with the use of a Founder-tier fire movent technique and, leaving a trail of light, he dashed forward, his speed comparable to the Red Tiger's.
Even though it was a Founder-tier technique, being synthesized, it wasn't much different in power from a Golden Core-tier technique. That's why Aotian reached such a terrifying speed.
The tiger was stunned, but then its instincts scread as the opponent closed in.
With a leap, Aotian crossed the final ters between them, and the sword in his hand — radiating a terrifying edge — showed no rcy.
The tiger's heart pounded, but it was too late.
The sword slashed down violently, cutting through the air like a teor tearing across the sky.
"Cosmic Sword: Falling Star!" Aotian murmured the na of the technique he had compiled from the Founder-tier sword manuals he acquired from the Bamboo Sword Sect.
Combined with the prototype of sword intent, the blade seed to glow red as it descended — unstoppable.
The tiger, panicked and without ti to retreat, revealed its claws and defended itself.
SKRING!
Everything froze at that exact mont. Aotian and the Red Tiger remained motionless, facing each other. Their height difference was staggering: one human-sized, the other the size of a house.
But ti wasn't truly frozen, and the proof was the massive black claws that fell to the ground, soon followed by a huge wound opening across the crimson chest of the Red Tiger.
The tiger lowered its raised paws—now clawless—and placed one over its chest, which quickly beca soaked with blood.
Aotian, still gripping the sword pointed downward and touching the grass, lost all his strength as his body dropped to its knees.
"Haah… Haah… Haah…" He exhaled, exhausted and trembling.
Boom!
A loud thud sounded as the Red Tiger collapsed to the ground, so of its internal organs beginning to spill from the terrible gash.
Blood also began to pour from its mouth, yet its eyes remained cold, staring at the human who had defeated it, even while a realm below.
Aotian t its gaze, eyes equally cold, showing no rcy for this enemy, while still refining the energy of the spirit stone in his hand and struggling to refill his completely empty Dantian.
The final strike had consud him far too much. He didn't even have much energy to begin with, and his veins had worked overti converting the high-purity spirit stone's energy to make that attack possible.
Even so, he hadn't co close to the power that attack would hold in the hands of a cultivator of the corresponding realm.
"Human… you've won. This vein is yours…" The tiger said. There was no hatred in its eyes, only cold acceptance.
This was the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed.
He had won many tis before, and had always known the day would co when he would lose. He just hadn't expected it to be so soon.
"I didn't kill you for the vein. I killed you for the humans of the city you ordered the beasts of this forest to destroy." Aotian responded, using so of the spiritual energy he had recovered, though his face remained cold.
Defeating the beast wouldn't bring those people back, but at least it brought so peace to their souls.
But Aotian's words made the tiger's eyes chill, no longer so indifferent.
"I see… you ca here because I killed the people who ca to my forest to kill , my family, and the other beasts, correct." It responded, its voice laced with mockery.
Aotian stared at him, undisturbed.
"The ones who climbed the mountain were killed by you at the start. Those down below weren't responsible." He said, the image of children's bones still lingering in his mind.
"Heeh… funny. So I should have let them grow, recover, and call reinforcents to try again? Well, the truth is, I was rciful once before, but they're like cockroaches and rats. Give it a little ti, and they always return in numbers. And it never changes. They always co shouting vengeance, but the truth is they're just masking the greed in their hearts. But last ti, they brought cultivators—I couldn't allow it to continue." The tiger scoffed, still lying in a growing pool of blood, but seemingly unconcerned.
Aotian stayed silent. He didn't think the tiger was wrong. It was just a matter of perspective and choosing sides—and he, as a human, had chosen his.
"Hehe… human, you're not so different from . Those beasts you killed… most of them weren't part of the city's destruction. To avoid destabilizing the formation, I only sent the weaker ones. You just killed my elite soldiers." The tiger looked at him maliciously, amused by the growing complexity in the eyes of the enemy he couldn't beat physically, but wasn't doing so poorly against in spirit.
Aotian was taken aback and couldn't help but feel stunned. He had co here thinking only of revenge, never truly questioning whether the beasts he had slain were innocent. But now, hearing the tiger’s words, he realized… he wasn’t so different from the tiger after all.
To the tiger, he had rely killed troubleso humans who had slain its kind. There wasn't much consideration for human life.
Aotian remained silent.
As a human, he wasn't wrong to kill the tiger. Nor was the tiger wrong to kill humans.
The coldness in Aotian's eyes slowly faded, and the hatred he'd held for the dying tiger began to dissipate.
"That was a good fight." Aotian said suddenly.
"Ugh, kind of boring—only two attacks before I lost. I prefer the ones I win." The tiger replied, unconcerned.
"Everyone does." Aotian couldn't help but laugh.
"True enough."
"You're still not dead? You've made a whole lake of blood already."
"I've got a lot of blood, but it won't be long now. You cut through my internal organs."
"You sound pretty casual for soone at death's door."
"I still have spiritual energy. It's easy to talk, even if my body's a ss."
"Fair enough... so, what do you..."
"Never really thought about it, but maybe…"
As strange as it seed, in the Red Tiger's final monts, he and Aotian shared an unexpectedly pleasant and peaceful conversation.
Aotian didn't regret sending the tiger to the afterlife. Nor did the tiger resent him.
In those last few monts, it wasn't worth clinging to grudges, and the tiger was open-minded enough to accept death like the king he had always been.
It was simply the natural way of things.
No friendship. No hatred. Just acceptance.
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