Chapter 81: A Scholar among Tigers
A hint of gladness surfaced in Di Baijun’s eyes. She said, “He’s here for the sake of the tigers.”
w.a.n.g Hu was mildly alarmed. Even he himself wondered whether he had misheard her or if what she meant wasn’t the same as what he thought.
“For the sake of the tigers?”
“That’s right. He personally told me that he had come precisely for the sake of the tigers.
“He thinks that it’s only when the tigers are united that we can survive in today’s world. Thus, he has come.” Di Baijun sounded fairly happy. This was because she also knew very well that there was no concept of unity and community among mortal tigers that had developed human intelligence.
Now that one saw strengthening the tiger species as their own responsibility like him had suddenly emerged, she was naturally elated.
w.a.n.g Hu, on the other hand, frowned. Anything abnormal made him suspicious, and that tiger’s behavior was obviously abnormal.
He had also met that tiger quite a few times. After all, he was the one that had imparted the cultivation technique to that tiger, as well as the one that had groomed that tiger into what he was today.
w.a.n.g Hu really hadn’t expected that he would go beyond developing human intelligence to even awaken his bloodline after he had broken through to the Transformation Realm. On top of that, he was even showing such a high level of maturity and vision.
To be honest, w.a.n.g Hu actually didn’t want to be suspicious of anything, but it was necessary for him to do so until he could be sure.
“Are you sure, Baijun? No matter what, this behavior is not normal,” said w.a.n.g Hu cautiously as a reminder.
Di Baijun raised an eyebrow and said, “Different things can take place during one’s bloodline awakening, including inheriting wisdom and history related to one’s species even. It’s not hard to understand that a situation like this can also occur.”
Then, she paused momentarily before she added with an overflowing sense of might and arrogance, “Besides, regardless of whether he’s normal or not, what can he do?”
The sight made w.a.n.g Hu smile. That was indeed true. No matter what kind of motives that tiger harbored—with w.a.n.g Hu and Silly Girl around, there was no way he could create any real trouble.
However, he naturally still needed to be suspicious of things that he ought to be suspicious of. Such matters could just be left to him, however. Silly Girl needn’t overly concern herself with it.
He didn’t say much about other things after that. After a couple of seconds of silence, the atmosphere suddenly turned a little awkward.
A somewhat awkward look flashed across Di Baijun’s countenance. She looked away and said coldly and haughtily, “If there’s nothing else, then I’m going off to cultivate.”
w.a.n.g Hu nodded and replied, “Alright, go ahead.”
Slightly taken aback, a hint of discomfort welled up in Di Baijun. She glanced at the jerk, let out an icy snort, and walked off.
w.a.n.g Hu didn’t mind her behavior. He was going to rest a little first.
He hadn’t had a good sleep at all during these recent two months outside, let alone when there were even so many things to take care of. Even with his current level of abilities, he still felt mentally fatigued.
After the short adrenaline rush from returning home, he had lost even most urge to tease Silly Girl. He would think about it again after he had a good sleep.
Deep and slow breathing could be heard coming from him a short while later.
Nearby, something suddenly hit Di Baijun who had been watching him out of the corner of her eye: that jerk was tired!
Her mild discomfort slowly faded away. It was only after she watched him for a while more with a frown that she was able to start focusing on cultivating.
By this point, w.a.n.g Shan had already returned to his own home to rest a long time ago.
Big Treasure and Little Treasure continued to sleep.
There was also someone else who had been watching w.a.n.g Hu for a long while, only to realize that it seemed like the demon lord hadn’t taken any notice of her at all. She couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed and secretly dissatisfied.
The demon lord was too much. He didn’t even take a single look at her after his return.
How un-tiger[1] of him. All he knew was exploiting her.
Hmph!
…
It was already evening by the time w.a.n.g Hu woke up. All his fatigue had been swept clean, and a sense of vigor and power—as though he had seemingly endless strength—welled up in him, making him wish he could let out a long, heroic roar.
His emotions and his mind became active once more.
He walked out of his resting area and spotted the tool-fox right away.
He secretly nodded to himself. Not bad, her shoulder height had increased by nearly 30 centimeters since the last time he saw her about two months ago. She had improved very quickly.
As his family’s fox-servant, it was very likely that she would rise up to become their real housekeeper in the future. Thus, it was necessary that she had a fast improvement rate.
Otherwise, should he and Silly Girl pull ahead of her too much, leading to her becoming unable to catch up to them; she would be eliminated sooner or later.
However, it seemed like the cowardly tool-fox did indeed possess a great talent for now so he didn’t need to worry about that.
He thought for a moment. Now that he had been away for nearly two months, it was time that he went to the cowardly fox for information.
Without looking at her again or paying her any attention, he walked toward Silly Girl who was in the midst of cultivating.
His cultivation had been delayed for nearly two months. Although he had also taken some time out to cultivate during this period, it was naturally nothing compared to Silly Girl who had stayed at home the whole time.
Thus, Silly Girl had already fully caught up to him in terms of size and was more or less the same size—a shoulder height of 9.3 meters and a body length of 16.3 meters—as he was now.
However, w.a.n.g Hu was no longer feeling the sense of urgency he had in the very beginning with regard to this.
This was because he was confident in his own special abilities, as well as in his current relations.h.i.+p with Silly Girl.
Silly Girl likely wouldn’t try to kill him anymore.
On the contrary, he was looking forward to Silly Girl attaining the Divine Body Realm and transforming into the Dao form more—in other words, the form more or less similar to a human’s appearance.
How beautiful must she be!
A great sense of excitement and antic.i.p.ation came over him whenever he thought about this. He hoped that the day would come as soon as possible.
“Baijun, you’ve really become even prettier than before!”
w.a.n.g Hu readily paid Silly Girl a compliment without any hesitation or embarra.s.sment whatsoever. There was no sign of him being out of practice with it just because he hadn’t been able to say such things during the last couple of months or so.
Di Baijun paused in her cultivation and glared at him.
It was only in the depths of her heart that she heaved a barely-discernible sigh of relief. The jerk was still the same old jerk. He hadn’t changed.
As expected, he had just been tired in the morning.
What followed was the usual ‘sweet and heartwarming’ spicing up of their daily lives.
…
The next day, after Su Ling and w.a.n.g Shan successively returned from hunting, w.a.n.g Hu gathered them once more. He also officially met the abnormal tiger again.
The abnormal tiger stood at a shoulder height of approximately 4.1 meters, which matched very well what one should look like shortly after their breakthrough.
The first impression he gave w.a.n.g Hu during their meeting this time was one of sternness.
To think w.a.n.g Hu would actually find a tiger stern. This was clearly not normal.
Yet, the feeling was indeed one of sternness. His whole demeanor, including the way he stood and every movement of his, exuded the word ‘sternness’.
It affected even Old Third and Su Ling who were standing beside him, causing them to involuntarily become rather inhibited.
w.a.n.g Hu offhandedly told Su Ling and Old Third to go to the side and continue with their education and lessons, and then his serene and imposing gaze focused on the tiger in front of him.
At once, the air around them seemed to turn into a quagmire little by little. The pressure in the air became heavier and heavier as though there really was a mountain weighing down further and further on them.
There was no change in the tiger’s expression. He remained as stern as ever and exuded a sense of solemnity and propriety. He quietly resisted the mighty pressure and showed neither fear nor worry as he looked straight into w.a.n.g Hu’s eyes.
A dozen or so seconds later, a hint of admiration and approval surfaced in w.a.n.g Hu. There weren’t many among the Transformation Realm that could face his mighty demeanor in such a calm and composed manner, let alone one that had only just broken through to the Transformation Realm.
His temperament and will were not to be underestimated.
However, at the same time, this also reflected how abnormal this particular tiger was even more strongly.
After a moment’s thought, w.a.n.g Hu slowly retracted his momentum and spoke calmly with a slight hint of approval in his voice.
Roar~!
“Not bad. You’re the first person that can look me straight in the eye even when they’ve only just broken through to the Transformation Realm.”
The tiger’s expression didn’t change. It slowly lowered its head as a show of respect and replied in a calm and dispa.s.sionate voice as though he was merely talking about something barely worth mentioning.
Roar~!
“Thank you for the compliment, my lord.”
w.a.n.g Hu arched an eyebrow slightly. His eyes narrowed a little, and he spoke straightforwardly.
Roar~!
“You don’t lack cultivation methods. Tell me, why have you come to this king to become a subject instead?”
As though he had long been prepared for this, the tiger gave w.a.n.g Hu a calm and serious answer.
Roar~!
“My lord, I’m here, firstly, to repay your kindness of imparting the cultivation method to me and grooming me.
“Secondly, it is for the sake of the whole tiger species, as well as for myself.”
w.a.n.g Hu kept quiet and watched him silently.
Aware of what it meant, the tiger continued to speak.
Roar~!
“There’s naturally no need to explain much about the first reason. I am immensely grateful to my lord. Without my lord, I may not necessarily be what I am today. Even if I were to be, who knows how long that would take?
“As for the second reason, the Chinese have also approached me on the tenth day after my breakthrough. Through them, I have gained an understanding of the world.
“The situation in today’s world is becoming more and more complicated. If we, the tigers—as well as I myself, wish to survive better; then we must discard our old habits and unite with one another. As of now, my lord is the only one that can get the tigers to do this and is already in the process of doing so.
“Due to these various reasons, of course, I have to make my way here.”
He continued to look at w.a.n.g Hu calmly after he spoke.
w.a.n.g Hu stayed silent. He merely watched the other tiger quietly as his mind worked at a high speed.
This abnormal tiger was really giving w.a.n.g Hu the feeling that he was a scholar among tigers.
Compared to him, Old Third was a country b.u.mpkin that couldn’t be any more of a country b.u.mpkin.
However, the impression w.a.n.g Hu had formed of tigers over time honestly made him feel rather awkward when he faced the tiger.
Was this guy really a tiger?
Moreover, one that had even just broken through and developed human intelligence?
Were bloodline legacies really that miraculous?
Alarmed and doubtful, his sense of distrust remained as strong as ever.
After a few seconds of silence, w.a.n.g Hu spoke coldly and distantly.
Roar~!
“Do you know that the feeling you’re giving me is not like that of a normal tiger? A lot of things about you make me feel awkward, and I have grown instinctively distrustful of you.”
His incredibly blunt and direct words caused the tiger to break into a light frown. The tiger was rather puzzled, and yet he also somewhat understood the reason why. Then, he spoke calmly and unhurriedly.
Roar~!
[1] The author changed the Chinese character for ‘human’ in ‘inhuman’ into ‘tiger’ in the original text