There was no time to hesitate. Wang Yanfeng understood that. He clutched the borage plant and knew flight was their best option. Hastily, he slapped several Light-Body Talismans onto himself and bolted.
The Demon Tiger roared in fury and launched a volley of wind–blades at Wang Yanfeng. Wang Hao drew his Cutting Wind Sword to intercept them and shouted,
"Kitty, don't get distracted—your opponent is me!"
He hurled a fireball, but the beast was too nimble, leaping clear of the blast and eyeing Wang Hao with disdain, as if mocking his clumsiness. It held its ground, daring him: "Show me what you can do!"
Wang Hao grinned—so long as the tiger didn't attack him, Uncle could gain more distance.
After a tense standoff, the tiger grew impatient. Suddenly it lunged. Wang Hao activated Light-Body and danced around it, firing fireballs in rapid succession.
A rain of fire surrounded the demon beast. Though most went wide, the explosions scorched its fur.
Enraged, the tiger charged full bore. Even with his Light-Body Mastery, its claws tore shallow gashes in Wang Hao after a few clashes.
Yet the tiger held no clear advantage. Wang Hao parried and scored a solid slash across its foreleg with his sword.
After a dozen exchanges, Wang Hao had only wounded it three times—and those were minor cuts. Meanwhile, his spirit energy, already low, drained faster. The tiger, a Second-Level demon beast, depended on raw stamina, needing no spirit energy to fight. With its monstrous physique, it could battle on for days. Wang Hao would collapse long before.
They were deep within the Broken Mountains, surrounded by other Second-Level beasts. Wang Hao needed an escape plan—fast.
He downed a bottle of Energy-Restoring Pills, swallowing them without a second's thought. At last, his battered body felt revived.
But the tiger was no fool. Spotting Wang Hao take pills, it pounced again. Wang Hao dodged but only partly—his protective shield flickered, and he was sent flying.
He landed painfully, coughing up blood.
"No choice—I must use this," Wang Hao muttered, pulling out a Second-Order Golden Sword Talisman he'd won in competition.
"Go!" he threw the talisman at the beast and bolted with Light-Body.
The tiger longed to pursue, but the talisman had locked onto it. Sensing imminent danger, the beast braced itself defensively.
Wang Hao's gambit paid off. From the distance, furious roars rose as rival demon beasts converged. No alliances bound them—where they met, they fought one another. That chaos bought Wang Hao time.
Indeed, after he and Wang Yanfeng slipped away, the sounds of savage combat echoed. Wang Hao checked his map: the three skull icons clustered together. He chuckled,
"Beasts are really beasts!"
Thanks to his superior escape skills, he soon rejoined Wang Yanfeng some fifty li ahead. Wang Yanfeng looked surprised:
"Hao'er—where's the White Tiger?"
Damn! Didn't you care about my safety first?!
"Don't know—it must be battling others. I dared not stay," Wang Hao said, scanning the dense forest."Where are we, anyway?"
"Not sure—but head east and we'll exit the Broken Mountains!" Wang Yanfeng replied.
As if that were any kind of revelation! Wang Hao rolled his eyes. The east was teeming with demon beasts. Did they really intend to charge in?
Amid the thicket, Wang Hao felt helpless. "Only venturing out shows how limited our resources are. If only we had a spirit animal or spirit insect for reconnaissance!"
His map was always deceptive: only areas he'd uncovered, and only the smallest demon beasts marked. Yet the forest teemed with snakes and poisonous insects—low-level, but numerous. Without immediate treatment, their bites could kill even cultivators!
Wang Hao planted himself cross-legged to recover spirit energy:
"We can't go any deeper. Who knows what's ahead? Better wait here."
"Wait?" Wang Yanfeng frowned."If we wait for those demon beasts to finish, what then?"
Wang Hao smirked:
"They're fighting each other. Even if they don't die, they'll emerge gravely wounded—ripe for scavenging. Eighth Uncle, Second-Level demon–beast materials fetch high prices!"
A single Second-Order demon core was worth at least 500 spirit stones. Claws, fangs, tendons made excellent refining materials; hides served in talisman crafting; blood yielded spirit-ink. Even the meat—though cheap, at two catties per spirit stone—would net 400 stones from a 1,500–catty beast. All told, a carcass could yield 2,000–3,000 spirit stones in value.
Wang Yanfeng's eyes lit up. After years in the market, he'd only amassed a few hundred stones. Hunting a Second-Level beast would be a windfall. He nodded resolutely:
"Very well—I'll follow your plan. But we can't linger here. Let's dig an underground hideout, lie low, and check once the sounds subside!"
Wang Hao agreed. In matters of wilderness survival, Uncle really lacked experience.
Soon they dug a temporary cavern—about thirty meters deep, a hundred square meters large—and sat cross-legged, alert to the outside din.
Wang Hao remembered something:
"Ah—we should inspect our loot," he said, finally thinking of the storage rings from Jiang Chao and his accomplices.
He withdrew three bags and, easily dispelling their seals, poured out the contents.
"What trash!" he scoffed. Most were everyday tools, worthless. Wandering cultivators carried everything with them.
He sorted the goods, keeping only valuables. Wang Yanfeng peered and gasped:
"Over 800 spirit stones—700 of which I personally gave him!"
Damn! Want your 700 stones back? Wang Hao countered:
"Eighth Uncle, we found the borage for the family—these stones belong to Jiang Chao now that he's dead. Let's split them evenly."
Wang Yanfeng hesitated. He was no philanthropist—cultivation was a resource war. Why give up 400 stones? And they had retrieved the borage without harming the clan's interests. Finally, he relented:
"Fine. The rest are yours—after all, you were the one who slew them!"