The Black Tiger
Bi Fan stayed in Xi Guan for two days and three nights, during the days he would go out and try to understand the conditions inside the devil’s territory, and after sunset, he would practice his martial arts, in an attempt to prepare himself better for the adventure ahead.
Bi Fan had already started practicing the teachings of the jade book to refine his body strength, and the effect was quite significant. Even though he had only been practicing the first method, he could already feel an increase in strength, which was a pleasant surprise.
In the three nights that he had been in Xi Guan, he had taken out time to practice this new method to the point where he felt that he was ready to start the second method that the book spoke off.
Even though the name of the method was unknown due to incomplete state of the book, Bi Fan had guessed that these methods were similar to those of ‘blood devil’, but slightly more advanced.
The only problem he faced was that the condition of the book made it very difficult to understand it clearly.
On the break of the third day, after having his breakfast, Bi Fan made his way to the registrations office to enlist his name.
The devil’s territory was divided into several levels based on strength, and martial artists would be transferred to the appropriate sector accordingly. The transfers were random, and ensured that two martial artists who were at the same level would be sent to the same level but different regions.
Bi Fan bought a jade tablet, breaking which would indicate that he wishes to be transferred out of the devil’s territory, cutting short his originally intended one month stay. This was a sort of a safety net.
Most people entered the devil’s territory to make money, hunting wild animals and creatures inside the region, and almost always took these Jade tablets with them. These Jade tablets were only available for a price and weren’t cheap either.
But surviving in the devil’s territory without any backup options was a very difficult task.
On top of that, it was extremely difficult to identify directions inside the region, which made it very difficult to find an exit when needed.
Bi Fan stepped onto the delivery chamber while the inside of the brains were revising everything he knew about the region. Then suddenly, he was transferred out into the devil’s territory.
He felt dizzy for a couple of seconds, but an instant later found himself in the middle of a dense forest.
He opened his eyes to inspect his surroundings, but the tall and towering trees that seemed to be everywhere, made it very difficult for him to look very far. The morning sun’s light was trickling through the canopy, but the light wasn’t enough, and visibility was low.
The devil’s territory was somewhat gloomy and damp, no wonder all kinds of toxins were able to flourish in such an environment.
For the sake of safety, Bi Fan ingested a Sunset Jade purifier Dan pellet, so he could roam around for the majority of the day’s length without worrying about being poisoned.
Bi Fan had bought so many purifiers for this purpose only, he was well aware that if his body was being supported by a purifier, than the probability of being poisoned would be greatly reduced.
Bi Fan knew that without such measures, a pract.i.tioner with his experience and skill would require a good amount of luck to make it out of here alive, so it was money well spent.
Bi Fan, along with Greedy started walking through the thickets of the forest, eyes and ears alerted in every direction, searching for wild creatures.
He hadn’t gone very far, when he spotted some Panacea and herbs growing in the bushes nearby, but these were rather common and not very valuable either, so he didn’t bothering picking them up.
He would only collect items that were of value.
Bi Fan knew that it was a novice mistake to collect everything in sight, and it would only slow him down.
Greedy was stationed atop Bi Fan’s shoulder, and kept his eyes shut for some reason, mostly. These ordinary herbs weren’t good enough to attract his attention either, he would probably not even consider eating them if he had been hungry for a decade.
As he had just entered the devil’s territory, Bi Fan was being extra cautious, and was going very slowly.
Some time had pa.s.sed by now, and Bi Fan hadn’t spotted a single creature of any value to him, all he had come across was some small animals that were of little or no value at all.
Small animals were good for barbecuing and keeping oneself fed, but otherwise had no financial value.
It was vital to save one’s strength in the devil’s territory. Squandering energy on things that didn’t matter could prove out to be very costly if met with a fierce creature.
The devil’s territory had several goblins and other vicious creatures inside it, but the areas where they flourished where designated to ‘emerging from the womb’ martial artists. If such a creature b.u.mped into someone in Bi Fan’s layer, it would probably kill the person.
As Bi Fan continued to walk along, sometime later, he heard the sound of a tiger’s hiss. Bi Fan slowly and cautiously started walking towards the direction of the sound.
Since the main idea behind Bi Fan trip to the devil’s territory was to gain experience, his natural instinct was to go and find out if the wild animal was challenge enough. Also, he was certain that there wouldn’t be too many other martial artists in the region that he would need to be careful about, so he could afford to take the risk of getting into a tiresome battle.
As he crept closer, Bi Fan was finally able to see the head of the beast. It was a black tiger, a strong and formidable opponent. From the looks of it, Bi Fan could identify that the tiger’s strength must be in the ‘inner organs’ layer, which meant that the tiger was almost as strong as Bi Fan.
“A black tiger!” Bi Fan exclaimed in an undertone.
An adult black tiger’s strength usually lingered around the ‘inner organs’ layer and apart from being strong, they were well known for the strong fighting capabilities.
Black tigers were fast, strong in both attack and in defense, which made them, very difficult opponents to deal with.
Bi Fan was about to enter in this first combat inside the devil’s region, and that too against such a powerful enemy, he knew he would have to be extremely careful. The long Diao, as smart as always, knew that his safety, was in staying as far away from the fight as possible.
With the light-ray sword in his hand, Bi Fan stood up, announcing his arrival to the tiger. He gathered his strength, but for some reason, felt vaguely different.
The tiger upon seeing Bi Fan, growled and then swooped himself off the ground.
There was very little light that lit the area, as the dense canopy obstructed the sun, and Bi Fan’s vision was dark.
‘Fufeng double-edged sword!’
Bi Fan cast out his attack and directed the blade of his sword towards the thick skinned belly of the tiger. The tiger, realizing Bi Fan intention, didn’t dare charge back at him and tried to dodge his attack.
The tiger, Bi Fan realized would be a much more difficult to deal with as compared to his initial estimate, as the tiger lunged, turned and twisted his body in mid-air and managed to sidestep Bi Fan’s attack, and smoothly landed on his side.
Bi Fan turned to face the tiger again, and with his light-ray sword in his hand, made another straight dash at the tiger.
The tiger again, somehow managed to dodge Bi Fan’s ferocious attack. A few hairs from tiger’s skin fell to the ground, as Bi Fan only managed to give the tiger a shave with his sword in this attack.
The sword pa.s.sed so close to his body but still missed, there was almost no contact and the sword didn’t even change directions.
“Strong and powerful!” Bi Fan couldn’t help but admire his opponent.
Upon realizing that the tiger’s strength was equivalent to the ‘inner organs’ layer, same as him, and physical strength superior to his, Bi Fan decided that he needs to change his tactic.
Going with brute strength was going to make the cut here; if he wished to defeat this beast, Bi Fan would have to employ some of the more sophisticated techniques that he had mastered over time.
Bi Fan put all his skills to test against the tiger, using him as a target for his practice.
Back in Xi Guan, Jiang Sheng had circulated Bi Fan’s poster in the hope of finding someone who would be willing to kill Bi Fan.
Since Bi Fan had taken all the money that Jiang Sheng had, only ‘rising sun’ disciples were willing to trust Jiang Sheng’s word and were willing to try for the bounty on his head.
Jiang Sheng had promised that the person who manages to kill Bi Fan will get two thousand spars as a reward upon Jiang Sheng’s return to the ‘rising sun’ school.
So much so that, Jiang Sheng had even exaggerated the value of the items that Bi Fan had in his possession, in an attempt to the temp the people who were going into the devil’s territory, to kill Bi Fan. Some of the students had been scared off by the skill and power of Bi Fan, but those who hadn’t, were very willing to find and kill Bi Fan, for both the bounty on his head and the rewards that they would get from Bi Fan’s corpse.
Bi Fan hadn’t realized that Jiang Sheng and his friends were going to prove out to be such a menace in the future, or else, he would have extinguished their existence from the world there and then.
“Roar!!!!” The black tiger uttered a terrible roar. His body was bruised and battered from top to bottom, his skin defiled in more than dozen places.
Bi Fan was taking full advantage of his marvelous footwork and had been attacking the tiger nonstop at an amazing speed, literally making a sport out of the poor animal, giving him no room to breathe. In fact, Bi Fan was so quick, that the tiger seemed well aware that any attempt to flee Bi Fan would prove out to be null and void.
The black tiger had sustained some serious injuries and even though he had put up a fierce fight, he was clearly no match for Bi Fan’s skill, and was now torn up, from top to bottom.
“Thank you black tiger! You gave me an opportunity to practice my skills on you, so I’ll make this easy on you now.” Bi Fan smiled.
‘Rainy-fly sword!’
Bi Fan focused everything he had in this attack, and countless strikes befell the black tiger.
“OW!!” The black tiger uttered a terrible scream, as he fell to the ground. He twitched a few times, barely able to breathe anymore.
The black tiger’s body had sustained at least a dozen cuts and wounds on the places where Bi Fan’s sword had met his body.
The tiger’s skin was quite battered and damaged, but even then, his meat and bones would still fetch a pretty high price.
Bi Fan quickly incorporated the tiger’s body directly into the Tian Yuan ring and then left.
A lot of people in Xi Guan had told Bi Fan that sounds of intense fighting and the smell of blood often provoked other demons in the vicinity.
At present, Bi Fan had used up almost half of his strength to kill the black tiger, so he needed to rest, and wouldn’t be able to continue fighting for long.
Inside the devil’s territory, crisis could arise at any moment, and preserving one’s energy was critical. Roaming around injured could be very hazardous, especially if trouble found its way to someone in that condition.
Not long after Bi Fan’s departure from the scene of the fight, he started hearing sounds of various beasts coming from that direction. He could hear their roars again and again.
“It’s fortunate that I knew the circ.u.mstances here before coming in and left the scene in time, had I stayed behind to peel off the tiger’s skin there, I would have gotten into some serious trouble.” Bi Fan thought to himself.
Bi Fan found a tree he could climb, and then atop one of the tree’s branches, he started practicing to revive his body strength.
Time was pa.s.sing quietly, but then suddenly, the Long Diao made a ‘creaking’ sound, as he tried to issue a warning.
Bi Fan had been restoring his strength at a leisurely pace, and had managed to restore almost ninety percent of his strength by now, as soon as he heard the warning, he quickened things up.
He opened his eyes and saw that the Long Diao was standing between him and almost a dozen snakes. Greedy seemed quite excited as poisonous foods were his favorite.
There were at least ten snakes in front of the lone Long Diao, who was ready for a battle of his own, considering himself in charge of Bi Fan’s protection in this case.
As he saw Bi Fan stand up, the Long Diao got even more excited and quickly shot out at an electric pace at the snakes and quickly returned to his spot, with a snake between his teeth.
Most of the snakes were afraid of the Long Diao and seemed to be shaking their heads.
Bi Fan on other hand, had no intention of attacking the snakes himself, and stood there on guard against any sneak attacks the snakes might attempt to catch him off guard.
Greedy quickly gobbled up the snake’s head and gut, and tossed the rest of his corpse aside.
He against shot out at the snakes, and returned to his place quickly, catching another snake this time as well.
Long Diao’s are the bane of poisonous creatures like vipers, in addition to that, Greedy’s astonishing speed was too much for the these ordinary snakes to match up to.
Realizing that most of them were about to become a happy meal for their opponent, the snakes decided to withdraw from the tree, fearing for their lives. The tree leaves rustled as the snakes panicked and made a run for it, so much so that, some of them literally fell off the tree, and onto the ground below.
Anxiously, the Long Diao dropped the snake’s dead body and decided to pursue the other snakes before they got away.
Bi Fan knew that Greedy likes snakes for his meals, and decided to help out.
With the help of the ‘immortal finger’, Bi Fan was successfully able to kill a few on his own.
Soon, the ground was b.l.o.o.d.y with the dead bodies of several snakes, as Bi Fan and Greedy had each managed to kill a few, while some of the more fortunate snakes had managed to get away.
“Greedy, I’ll help you collect your food, but then, we need to leave this place as soon as possible.” Bi Fan expressed his desire to leave in a worried tone.
“Creek.” The Long Diao creaked in approval, meanwhile holding another snake in his mouth.
His main interest was in the snake’s head and their poisonous bile, which was stored in their gut. The rest of the snake’s body was useless to the Long Diao.
Bi Fan quickly incorporated all the remaining carca.s.ses in the Yin Yang pouch and along with the Long Diao, quickly departed from the scene.
Originally, he had only restored his strength to about a ninety percent, and now, after the energy that he had just consumed, he felt that he must be around eighty percent of his total energy.
Bi Fan found another tree after travelling some distance, and climbed up again, this time cautious of any venomous presence in the vicinity.
Soon, he had restored his strength, and decided to look for more demons and decided that it was time to venture a little deeper into the devil’s territory.
On the way ahead, Bi Fan plucked a good amount of Panacea, but hadn’t come across any rare minerals or ores as of yet. Like veins of Spar ores (Crystal ores), or other kind of rare metallic ores. These ores were probably located somewhere a little deeper into this abyss, but Bi Fan’s current vicinity seemed devoid of these fortunes.
Bi Fan had travelled some distance but hadn’t come across a second beast till now.
“Well, if there are so many beasts everywhere inside the devil’s territory, why can’t I find some?” Bi Fan thought, a little depressed over his fortune.
After a while, Bi Fan heard the burst of howling, which appeared to be made by wolves.
“Finally, it appears we have found ourselves a pack of wolves.” Bi Fan forced a smile.
Most wolves inside the devil’s territory were only as strong as ‘martial strength’ layer, and even a pack full of such wolves wasn’t exactly a good bounty.
Only the wolves that were as strong as ‘inner breath’ were of good value for the outside world. Bi Fan was unaware of the fact, that most of the wolves in this pack were as strong as the ‘inner breath’, and their sheer numbers making them a dangerous opposition.
Bi Fan had initially decided to give this opportunity a pa.s.s, but as soon as he heard the sounds of close combat fighting coming from that direction, he decided to reverse his decision.
It didn’t matter much to him, as it didn’t seem like this was any danger to him, but if he could extend a helping hand to someone in need, he wouldn’t mind helping. He was many a things, but stingy, wasn’t one of them.
Bi Fan decided to stealthily examine the situation once before deciding on the course of his action.
There were at least a hundred wolves in the pack, and the strongest few of them seemed to around the ‘inner organs’ layer.
This pack was engaged in a fierce battle with a group of five people, who all seemed to be in the ‘inner organs’ layer.
Although the human segment involved in the battle was stronger than their counterparts, they all seemed to have sustained a good amount of wounds so far from the fight.
These five people were using a very strange kind of martial arts; their skills were unknown to Bi Fan. He had never seen such martial arts, and had no idea which school these five belonged to.
Bi Fan didn’t rushing to their aide straight away, and decided to hide in the trees nearby and began memorizing their style of fighting.
These five didn’t seem in any immediate danger for the time being, and on top of that, Bi Fan was a little uncertain as to whether they deserved his help or not, so he decided to wait a while and inspect the situation a little further.
Bi Fan would wait till these five had consumed most of their energy, just in case they turned hostile and decided to turn on Bi Fan later.