“General…”

The soldier’s call interrupted Qin Fang’s thoughts. “What is it?”

The soldier said, “General, come quickly! There’s something in this house.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Fang jumped out of the window and came to the room where the soldier was. “What is it?”

He approached and looked at the several baskets of white stones and yellow stones. “I’ve seen these white stones before; in my hometown, some old houses have these at the corners of their walls. They look extremely similar, but what are these? Why would this abandoned Taoist temple, which has been ignored for twenty years, have these things?”

Naturally, the soldier didn’t understand Qin Fang’s words.

Qin Fang sniffed; he couldn’t detect any scent from the white stones, but the yellow stones had a somewhat unpleasant odor—a bit stinky. “Let’s not worry about that for now. You go tell Tao Shan to bring Doctor Li here and also bring up a wild boar leg. Then you stay outside and keep watch, taking over for Tao Shan.”

The soldier replied, “Understood.”

After the soldier left, Qin Fang went to the room of the chained man.

The old tiger was lying there; upon seeing Qin Fang, it raised its eyelids and glanced at him before remaining still.

Qin Fang was truly astonished by this tiger.

The idea of a tiger being domesticated was unheard of and utterly inconceivable.

If what stood before him were a dog, he could still believe his own eyes, but this was a tiger.

Tigers are fierce beasts; they obey their nature.

Like cats, even if you are their owner, when they are in heat or in a hurry, if you disturb them, their claws will still reach for you.

That is the nature of beasts.

The nature of a tiger is several times, or even dozens of times, more intense.

So, could this tiger really be the one raising the chained man?

But looking at the chained man’s condition, there was nothing to eat here apart from a piece of meat.

If the tiger wasn’t the one raising him, then who was?

In Qin Fang’s subconscious as well as in his rational mind, he believed that the tiger was raising the chained man.

However, he also wanted to dismiss this idea because it was too incredible for a tiger to raise a human.

Qin Fang watched as the chained man frantically searched for something, completely forgetting that he and the tiger were nearby.

This chained man was truly insane.

Not to mention that he wasn’t afraid of this stranger, didn’t he fear the tiger attacking him?

The chained man muttered to himself, “Where’s the medicine… where’s the medicine…”

Qin Fang thought for a moment and decided to approach the chained man.

However, as he got closer, the tiger stood up, watching him warily and letting out a growl.

When the tiger growled, the soldiers outside anxiously came to the window. “General, are you alright?”

Qin Fang replied, “I’m fine.”

It seemed that the tiger allowed him to be here but didn’t permit him to get close to the chained man.

Unexpectedly, the chained man suddenly began to roar at the tiger as well. “Roar…”

This roar…

The soldier exclaimed, “General, this chained man can roar like a tiger!”

Qin Fang was also taken aback.

The chained man’s roar sounded exactly like that of a tiger.

Even the most skilled performer probably couldn’t imitate such a sound.

Seeing this, the tiger also let out several roars in response to the chained man.

Next came a call-and-response between the chained man and the tiger.

After quite a while, the tiger finally left the drafty room.

Inside the room, only the chained man and Qin Fang remained.

The soldier asked, “General, what’s going on here?”

Qin Fang replied, “I don’t know; perhaps they are communicating.”

Qin Fang was aware that some skilled performers could use animal sounds to communicate with animals.

He had once seen a performer juggling with monkeys and using their calls to communicate with them.

But this was the first time he had seen something like this between a chained man and a tiger.

This chained man was no ordinary person.

Seeing that the tiger had left, the chained man began to rummage around the room.

He searched to the east and to the west in a place that was all too clear, yet he really didn’t know what he was looking for.

Seeing this, Qin Fang couldn’t help but ask, “Are you looking for something, sir?”

The chained man didn’t respond.

If Qin Fang hadn’t known he could hear and speak, he would have thought he was a ghost.

Qin Fang took a few steps forward, getting closer to the chained man. “Do you need help looking for something?”

Qin Fang walked up to the chained man, who lifted his head to look at him, then began mumbling crazily, “Looking for medicine to refine elixirs… looking for medicine to refine elixirs… elixirs for immortality… elixirs for immortality…”

Qin Fang asked, “What do you need? What medicine? I can help you find it.”

The chained man replied, “What medicine… what medicine… ah… what medicine…”

As he spoke, he suddenly lay down on the ground and began rolling around, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Seeing this, Qin Fang had no choice but to give up.

He couldn’t get any information from this chained man and hoped that Doctor Li would arrive soon to treat him.

The only clue he had was that the chained man had been ordered by King Liang to refine elixirs for immortality, yet King Liang had died twenty years ago.

The chained man had been locked up here all that time and had gone mad.

Qin Fang took out some dry food from his pocket—cakes and biscuits—and found a stool in the room to sit down and eat.

Outside, the soldiers also began to eat their rations.

Suddenly, the chained man, who had been rolling on the ground, stopped and crawled closer to Qin Fang.

His nose twitched, and then he sat up in front of Qin Fang, watching him eat the cakes and biscuits while drooling.

Seeing him like this, Qin Fang had no choice but to break off a piece of cake and give it to him.

The chained man immediately took it and stuffed it into his mouth.

His eyes lit up as if he had never tasted anything so delicious before.

As he chewed on the cake, he got up from the ground, looked around for a while, then ran toward a piece of raw meat.

He picked it up and brought it back to Qin Fang.

Qin Fang’s appetite suddenly vanished when he saw the bloody meat, and he couldn’t eat the cake anymore.

He said, “You can’t eat this meat.” However, it was indeed fresh.

Tigers like fresh meat; they hunt at night and sleep during the day.

So this meat must have been brought back by the tiger last night or early this morning. Otherwise, after two days, it would have developed an odor.

Qin Fang gave his cake to the chained man but didn’t take the meat.

Seeing this, the chained man threw the meat away and started eating the cake.

However, Qin Fang also ate quickly, fearing that if he was slow, the chained man would eat it all and try to exchange the meat for more food.

The cake was somewhat dry, and eating it too quickly could lead to choking.

Since it was the first time the chained man had tasted something so delicious, he ate quickly and ended up choking.

He ran to the corner of the room, where water dripped from above during rain, and there was a basin of water on the floor.

The chained man lay down and began drinking from the basin.

Seeing this, Qin Fang couldn’t help but frown.

Given the condition of the chained man, he clearly wasn’t someone who would pay attention to hygiene.

If this basin had been there for twenty years, how dirty would it be?

So he hurried over, willing to give him the water pouch he carried.

However, when Qin Fang looked closely at the water in the basin, he was quite surprised.

The water wasn’t as dirty as he had imagined, and the basin didn’t look like it hadn’t been cleaned in twenty years.

But there was only the chained man here; could it be that he would wash the basin?

If he could, shouldn’t he have cleaned himself first?

Looking at the sour smell all over him, Qin Fang believed he hadn’t bathed in twenty years.

The chained man drank several mouthfuls of water and then looked up to see Qin Fang.

Noticing that Qin Fang had no more cake or biscuits, he licked his lips, wanting more food.

He then went to look for that piece of meat, and upon finding it, began gnawing on it.

Seeing this, Qin Fang quickly avoided the meat, saying, “You can’t eat this.”

He threw it outside.

He had many questions he wanted to ask the chained man, so he worried about what would happen if the chained man ate the meat and it caused problems.

The chained man showed no reaction to losing the meat and sat down on the ground, falling asleep.

With the chained man’s eyes closed, Qin Fang just sat there.

It wasn’t long before there was some noise outside.

Tao Shan, accompanied by Doctor Li and Lieutenant Lü, arrived.

“General, Tao Shan is here.”

With more people arriving outside, the noise grew louder, prompting the chained man to kick them out.

The tiger, which had found a place to sleep, reappeared, its body tense, ready for battle.

Captain Lu was taken aback. “God, how is there such a big tiger here?”

Qin Fang replied, “Don’t attack it; it won’t attack people first.”

Seeing Tao Shan holding a wild boar leg, he took out some knockout medicine and mixed it with tranquilizers, sprinkled it on the wild boar leg, and offered it to the tiger. “Here, eat.” For now, he didn’t want to kill the tiger, so he could only try to keep it calm.

The tiger glanced at him, then at the wild boar leg, but didn’t eat it.

Instead, it stood guard.

Qin Fang ignored the tiger and warned everyone, “Don’t attack it. Doctor Li, come with me inside. The rest of you wait outside on standby,” to avoid startling the tiger.

Doctor Li replied, “Yes.”

Upon entering the room and seeing the situation, Doctor Li was momentarily stunned. “This…?”

Qin Fang said, “This man is acting crazy; you should take a look at his condition.”

As a doctor, Doctor Li naturally wouldn’t turn away a patient, but as he approached Qin Fang, the chained man, who had been sitting there with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes were murky yet pure, making them difficult to describe.

However, from his eyes, Doctor Li could discern something.

He furrowed his brows and said, “Extend your hand; let me see.”

The chained man looked at Doctor Li but didn’t respond.

Qin Fang stepped forward, extending his hand. “Give me your hand.”

The chained man looked at his hand and then extended his own.

It was dirty, even dirtier than the tiger’s paws.

After taking the pulse, Doctor Li shook his head. “His condition is not good. The pulse is chaotic, and there are signs of poisoning. I estimate he won’t live for more than two years.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Fang wasn’t surprised. “In this environment, it’s already impressive that he can survive. Is there any way to help him recover?”