Chapter 62

A bitter cold wind swept through the house, dispersing the warmth that the heated bed had brought, leaving the room icy and frigid. Inside, drops of water were almost frozen solid. The blood and bits of flesh scattered on the floor had turned to ice shards, reflecting a dim, cold light.

Lin Du squinted and extended her divine sense throughout the room, sensing the remnants of demonic energy.

The lingering spiritual energy wasn’t very strong. It seemed that the person who had lived here was an ordinary human, not yet on the path of cultivation, so it didn’t take much demonic power to harm them. However, villagers living in these mountain villages usually pasted protective talismans bought from the city on their doors to repel demons that came down the mountains in the winter. Normally, there should have been significant traces of demonic energy left on the doors and windows.

Yet, the demonic energy was only present inside the house.

Something was off.

Lin Du frowned and glanced at Yan Qing, who had followed her inside, shaking her head slightly.

Yan Qing thought for a moment before saying, “Shattered like this, there’s definitely no chance of saving them.”

Lin Du: …

She took a deep breath. “I mean, something’s not right at the scene. There’s a mystery here.”

As disciples of the Supreme Sect, aside from daily cultivation, martial arts, and meditative practices to increase their strength, they were also taught various survival skills for the cultivation world.

For instance, detecting demonic energy and identifying characteristics of demonic power and various beasts.

“…This demon didn’t shed any fur.” Lin Du said, circling the room.

In the northern region, beasts were accustomed to the cold, and those without fur should have been hibernating by now.

Yan Qing tentatively asked, “Junior Master, are you suggesting that this demon might have come from elsewhere?”

Lin Du shook her head. Holding a compass, she walked toward the open window. “I don’t know.”

“It seems this household didn’t put up any talismans to repel demons.”

Yan Qing looked around for a while. “But that doesn’t make sense. Every winter, the Supreme Sect distributes talismans with the pressure of high-level cultivators to the nearby mountain villagers for free as a deterrent.”

Normally, with such talismans, demons wouldn’t dare enter houses—they’d only dare attack the cattle and sheep outside.

Outside the window, there were faint traces of what seemed like demon footprints, but they were lightly covered by snow.

Lin Du tapped the rough window frame, and suddenly, the compass in her hand began to spin.

“Yan Qing!”

Only a living demon could make the compass needle float so high.

The young man in the gray robe pressed a hand against the windowsill and leapt out, followed closely by the tall youth carrying a heavy black iron blade.

Both of them skimmed swiftly over the snow. As he ran, Yan Qing reached behind him and drew his large blade.

The needle of Lin Du’s compass pointed sharply in the direction of the northwest.

The northwest was the edge of the village, near the mountains.

The demonic energy had likely lingered for less than half an hour—it may have been just after they received the sect’s summons.

Lin Du’s mind raced as her disciple token glowed with white light. She quickly removed it from her waist. “Speak.”

“Junior Master, the one that ate the cow is most likely a Golden Tiger at the seventh level of the Enlightenment Stage,” Mo Lin’s steady voice came through.

The power of the seventh stage of the Kai Zhi period is roughly equivalent to the Great Perfection stage of the Qin Heart realm of human cultivators, which is also Lin Du’s level. However, demonic beasts have stronger attack power, and the Junior Master is not skilled in combat.

“If you find any trace of the demonic beast, Junior Master, do not act recklessly. I suspect that the beast hunted that bull, which weighs at least 300 kilograms, because it has cubs to feed.”

A single Golden Tiger usually wouldn’t devour such a heavy spirit bull, leaving only its bones behind.

Angering a Golden Tiger with cubs would definitely be a tricky situation.

“Too late,” Lin Du raised his eyes.

Amid the howling wind, Mo Lin heard a short phrase but wasn’t sure what Lin Du had said. He asked again, “Junior Master? What did you say?”

“I said, too late.”

The compass in Lin Du’s hand was trembling, indicating that the creature was already close. Lin Du casually tucked the disciple’s token into his robe, summoned the Floating Life Fan with one hand, and channeled his spiritual power. With a single swing, he unleashed a gust.

A sharp whistling sound cut through the wind as a blade of ice, formed by the white spiritual light, grazed a thick tree trunk, scattering snowflakes in the air.

At this moment, both of them saw what the snow-covered object under the tree truly was.

It was a massive Golden Tiger, its eyes gleaming with ferocious intensity. It let out a roar, shaking the snow from the trees and causing the surrounding leaves to tremble.

Lin Du quickly sealed his hearing with spiritual energy. The roar of the demonic Golden Tiger carried a spiritual attack that affected one’s soul. Although the beast’s cultivation level wasn’t high, the impact was still significant.

Yan Qing was a step too late. His head buzzed from the shock, and his hand was slow to draw his blade.

He shouted, “Junior Master! Leave this to me!!”

The tiger had already leaped, its muscles taut as it charged straight at Lin Du.

“What are you going to do?!” Lin Du swung his fan again, barely slowing the tiger mid-air by freezing it with frost.

But it only delayed the beast for a few moments before it continued its dive, now covered in frost.

Lin Du squinted her eyes—demonic beasts really did have tough hides.

She quickly realized something was wrong. “Yan Qing! Call for reinforcements! This tiger is berserk!!!”

She had tested the Floating Life Fan with Yan Ye earlier, and it should have been able to freeze anything of the same level without fail.

The demonic power erupted from the tiger’s body, and tiny ice crystals shattered into the air, reflecting dazzling light in the snow. The frost couldn’t hold the tiger, and it was breaking free rapidly. There was only one explanation.

The tiger had gone berserk.

Suddenly, a fierce burst of sword energy slashed in front of Lin Du. A massive dark green blade followed, slicing upward, forcing the berserk tiger to retreat a few steps.

Lin Du cursed, forgetting that both of them had sealed their hearing. She swiftly retreated, pulling out the disciple’s token.

Among the four new disciples, Lin Du had the highest cultivation, while Yan Qing was only at the mid-stage of the Qin Heart realm.

She quickly called for reinforcements and then leaped to the side, transmitting a message to Yan Qing through divine sense, “Hold it off for a while. Stall as long as you can, and retreat if you can’t.”

The once-confident Yan Qing was now forced to retreat under the repeated assaults of the berserk tiger’s vicious dives and bites.

Hearing the message, Yan Qing’s usually calm and scholarly face grew serious. Yet, he continued speaking to the tiger, reasoning, “Tiger brother, why resort to violence upon meeting? Can’t we sit down and talk things over?”

“If you have something you want, just say it. Why use force?”

“We cultivators are mostly skin and bones, not good to eat, Tiger brother.”

“They say the tiger is the king of all beasts. What could have upset you so much, Tiger brother?”

While talking, his sword was constantly parrying the fierce attacks of the tiger’s claws.

The sharp demonic energy scraped against his heavy blade, sending sparks flying. The tiger’s claws, which gleamed like steel, scratched against the sword, producing an ear-piercing screech.

Yan Qing held his ground firmly, his wide sleeves slightly billowing as he steadily held the wide blade against the tiger’s onslaught.

“Junior Master! I can only hold on for another seven breaths!!!”

Man and beast stood locked in place, one holding a blade upright, the other with its forelegs raised, their eyes locked, separated only by the dark green blade.

The tiger’s eyes burned with murderous intent, but the normally mild scholar stood unwavering, showing no signs of backing down.

“Tiger brother, if you want to talk this way, we can do that.”

Meanwhile, Lin Du quickly completed setting up a formation. She dropped the last spirit stone and forcefully stabbed the ground with her folded fan. Spiritual power surged into the formation, and a complex pattern of spiritual light emerged faintly in the snow.

She looked up at the blue-robed boy, whose legs were trembling from the strain.

A calm, steady voice entered Yan Qing’s mind through divine sense, “It’s done. Retreat now.”

Yan Qing loosened his grip and used the force of the tiger’s pounce to retreat quickly, his feet dragging deep trenches in the snow.

White spiritual energy shot up from the snow-covered ground, swirling and forming a cage of spiritual power, its outer edge stopping just at Yan Qing’s toes.

The tiger crashed into the spiritual barrier, only to be violently repelled by the formation’s power. With a pained howl, it was flung back and slammed into the ground.

Yan Qing collapsed to the ground, glancing sideways at his still-dignified Junior Master.

“I told you, scholars shouldn’t be wielding blades. A fan suits them much better.”