Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 15: The Difference Between Mortals and Monsters

Ji Yuan noticed that these people were not preparing to eat, so perhaps they had already eaten before arriving at the temple. In the meantime, Ji Yuan drank some water.

It had gotten completely dark outside, and the group’s coats were almost completely dry, before they got dressed again and prepared to leave.

It seemed that, in addition to resting to restore their physical strength, their dry clothes would greatly improve their combat effectiveness. It was a similar effect to how Ji Yuan moved closer to the screen when he played video games to improve the accuracy of his dodging.

The two large men picked up the sacks containing the pig and the sheep once more. One of them was Lu Chengfeng, who commented earlier about wanting to see the monster.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Yan Fei was still full of energy and led the way.

Lu Chengfeng hoisted the sack and turned to shout at Ji Yuan.

“Beggar, wait for our good news. When we come back, we’ll take you down the mountain!”

Hey, hey, brother, don’t raise a flag!

Ji Yuan panicked a bit when he heard his words. He hesitated for a moment, and called out to Lu Chengfeng as the last of the group stepped through the temple gate.

“Lu Shaoxia,¹ if you are ever in dire straits, shout that you know Mr. Ji! Remember that!”

Lu Chengfeng had already stepped out of the temple gate, but he looked back when he heard the voice. Despite the faint light of the fire, it was still too dark to make out the beggar’s face.

Lu Chengfeng was a little confused as to what this sentence could mean, but he didn’t think much about it, and quickly caught up with his companions down the road.

. . .

Niu Kui boasted dozens of peaks of varying sizes, with the mountain temple located in a smaller hill on the periphery.

Although the nine young warriors lacked some combat experience and were rather naive, their foundation was solid, and they could walk along the rugged mountain road with ease.

That meant that they were able to cross three peaks in about an hour, and finally arrived in the deeper part of the old forest in Niu Kui Mountain.

By now, the 9 people were beginning to sweat a little.

Yan Fei at the front looked into the shadows and the darkness all around him, and took a deep breath.

“Let’s do it here. The man-eating Beast King will definitely not hide too deep in the mountains. Put down the pig and the sheep, and make the preparations!”

“Okay!”

“It’s about Xu time² now. The tiger will come out soon. Let’s go!”

Lu Chengfeng and the man with the iron-tipped pole put down their sacks, opened them, and drew out an ewe and a small pig.

The two animals were visibly dizzy from being carried on the long journey, and didn’t make much sound.

“Tie their leads to these two trees. Also, cut their legs!”

“I’ll do it!”

A young man with a knife walked up next to the pig and the sheep, and gently flicked the knife with his wrist. Two wounds immediately appeared on the animals’ hind legs.

“Oink! Oink!”

“Baaah…”

In pain, the two domesticated animals immediately struggled to escape, but they were prevented from doing so by the lead ropes.

Lu Chengfeng and the man with the stick each tied the ropes of the livestock to the tree trunks on the side. In the process, the others looked around.

“Good, let’s hide in the trees and wait!”

Everyone nodded silently. They were already growing excited. Some jumped lightly with Qinggong,³ while other quickly climbed up, and they hid themselves in the surrounding four or five large trees.

For a while, the mountain was quiet, save for the sound of the injured pig and sheep howling and yanking their bodies from side to side. Otherwise, the only sounds were the occasional chirping of some nocturnal birds.

Their wait lasted an hour.

. . .

“Gu… gu gu… gu…”

The birdsong made the night feel even more quiet.

Lu Chengfeng, the swordsman Du Heng, and the woman Luo Ningshuang hid in the same tree that they had tied the goat to, keeping watch through the canopy and leaves.

The goats and pigs were growing tired. Initially, they rushed restlessly from side to side, but now they lay on the ground to rest.

“It’s been so long, is the tiger still coming?”

Luo Ningshuang whispered to the two others.

“I don’t know. Logically, such easy prey should already have attracted wild beasts.”

“Shh!”

Lu Chengfeng motioned them to be quiet.

“Whooo…Whooo…”

The wind in the mountains and forests suddenly picked up, making the surrounding branches sway.

“Baaaa…”

The sheep cried, and both animals immediately stood up, looking around frantically.

“Baaa…Baaaaa…”

“Oink…Oink…”

The two injured livestock rushed out impatiently, but their necks were caught by the rope. The sudden change invigorated the spirits of the nine people waiting in ambush.

“Whooo…Whooo…”

The cold wind brought a chill and made the hairs stand up on the backs of their necks.

They weren’t sure why, but this strange wind made many people a little uneasy. No one except the sheep and the pig noticed that all the birdsong in the forest had disappeared.

In the distance, an enormous tiger stood on a rock in the depths of the forest, gazing in the direction of the pig and the goat through the greenery. In the dark night, his eerily human eyes showed a trace of contempt.

The tiger did not bother to avoid the obvious trap, and walked slowly but steadily over to the trapped livestock.

The pig and the sheep had already lost their previous frantic energy and lay on the ground, paralyzed, not daring to move.

‘What a large tiger!’

The tiger that came was bigger than they had expected, far larger than what the people who had spotted the tiger had described.

The hairs of all the people in the trees were on end, and their scalps were numb. Although they intended to kill the tiger, when they really got a good luck at just how large it was, they were terrified and their hearts beat at an alarming pace.

The tiger stopped beside the two livestock, its fur fluttering in the wind.

‘Why won’t this tiger eat them? ’

Everyone’s doubts grew as they became more and more nervous. They had agreed beforehand that, barring an accident, they would all jump out and besiege the tiger as soon as it began eating.

Beads of sweat collected on Yan Fei’s face, and his right hand hovered over the hilt of his sword. If the tiger showed signs of escaping, he would immediately notify everyone to attack.

Only now, he realized that the tiger suddenly looked up at the big tree where he was hiding, and a hoarse, rough voice came from the tiger’s mouth.

“Interesting! Mortal warriors? Since they themselves came to court death, killing them shouldn’t be in violation of Mr. Ji’s teachings!”

Everyone, including Yan Fei, felt the hair at the back of their necks stand up, their scalps numbed, and goosebumps erupted all over their bodies.

There was only one thought in their minds: ‘It has become a spirit!’

“Let’s play a little first! ROOOAAAR!!”

Right as the tiger roared, he had already rushed towards the canopy of the tree in front of him. The people in the tree were so frightened that their limbs went stiff, and they couldn’t react in time.

Yan Fei bit his tongue to shake himself out of it and let out a roar.

“Attack!”

“Bang!”

He unsheathed the tasseled longsword and slashed towards the tiger, trying to force it away.

Unexpectedly, the tiger didn’t dodge at all, and thrust one of its claws to parry the sword. In Yan Fei’s eyes, the tiger’s paw was larger than his thigh, and with its sharp claws extended grew to be bigger than his head.

“Shiiiing…”

“Pah…”

In barely an instant, Yan Fei’s long sword went flying, and the man himself was slapped into the tree by a large paw. Blood ran down from his chest, and he collapsed into the bushes.

“You bastard!”

The man with the iron-tipped pole, Zhao Long, grabbed his weapon and charged at the tiger spirit, but before his move had been fully completed, a blurry yellow and black shadow had already arrived in front of him.

“Bang-crack!”

“Bang!”

The tiger’s tail whipped toward him, strong as steel, and the stick that could withstand an axe chop turned brittle and snapped. Zhao Long was hit by the tiger’s tail, vomited blood, and fell down from the tree, following in Yan Fei’s footsteps.

“Save them!”

“Come on!”

Everyone else jumped out of their hiding places and attacked the tiger together.

Lu Shan Jun’s momentum continued unabated, and he landed lightly on the trunk of the tree where Yan Fei had been hiding. He grabbed hold of the tree trunk with his claws, shifted his hind legs, and sprung, catlike, pushing away from the tree and the swords and landing several feet away.

“Whooo…”

The wind whooshed as the tiger blew by, and several people watched as the tiger launched himself through the air and out of their encirclement before they could land a single move.

Du Heng, with his sword drawn, and Luo Ningshuang, who immediately unsheathed her sword as well, reacted the fastest. They kicked off of the tree and spun in the air, slashing and stabbing at the tiger to catch him before he landed.

But the tiger actually stepped once more in the air, as if it had caught a solid point against the wind, and the enormous body suddenly shifted to one side, landing on the ground. The tiger stared at the Du Heng and Luo Ningshuang with vibrant, cold green eyes.

“ROOOOOAAAR-“

A roar made everyone go numb, and their movements stiffened.

With a swipe, the tiger’s body seemed to blur, and it pounced once more.

“Be careful!”

The shouts of others seemed to be coming from a long ways away. The tiger appeared before Luo Ningshuang and Du Heng’s terrified eyes, and the cold light glinted off of its claws like gold and iron.

“Bang!”

“Pfft… bang!”

With one swipe of his claw, he slapped Du Heng and Luo Ningshuang.

Lou Ningshuang and Du Heng hit the ground before their companions could even finish their shouts, spraying blood in the air, but at the same time Du Heng’s sword-hand twisted outwards.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Paf…”

Luo Ningshuang and Du Heng crashed into the ground in the distance as the tiger landed.

In this brief moment of combat, four people were already teetering on the line between life and death…

The tiger spirit had landed close by to the five remaining people. It stretched its limbs like a big cat, then glanced at them teasingly with its terrifying eyes.

“Whoosh…ta-ta-ta-ta-ta…”

A ghost-head saber that had been bent 90 degrees in half arced through the air, forming a parabola and landing at the feet of the remaining warriors. Not only had the blade bent in half, but the contact point in the center of the fold had also been completely flattened.

Lu Chengfeng and the group’s hands and feet were cold and numb, and they couldn’t breathe. Their knuckles turned white.

1. “Young Master Lu” ↩︎
2. Around 19h00, or 7:00PM. Here’s a link if you’re curious. Apparently it gets dark really early in the mountains! ↩︎
3. Martial arts training technique for jumping off vertical surfaces. ↩︎