Chapter 49: Tiger King, Spare My Life

In an instant, an ice spike appeared before the pale-faced man. Under the dappled sunlight, it refracted colorful light.

Lu Ye immediately sensed trouble.

Just now, he had focused spiritual energy into his eyes, clearly discerning the spiritual aura around the attacker. He had determined that his opponent was a Spirit Stream Tier cultivator, above the third level but not yet the fourth.

The opponent's cultivation was higher than his, and judging by how he had inexplicably taken a blow moments ago, his combat experience also surpassed Lu Ye's.

Lu Ye's cultivation journey was still short. He hadn't undergone any rigorous training, nor had any master guided him. Wielding his longsword, he could only manage the simplest chops, slashes, thrusts, and sweeps; there were no elaborate moves or techniques to speak of.

His cultivation was inferior, his technique was inferior, and the opponent even knew spells... the situation was dire.

Just as the ice spike formed in his opponent's hand, Lu Ye stomped his foot on the ground and used the recoil to charge forward.

Lu Ye's reaction startled the pale-faced cultivator. He had expected his opponent to flee immediately, but to his surprise, this opponent advanced instead of retreating.

The cultivator drifted backward again, simultaneously launching the ice spike with extreme speed.

The sharp ice spike struck Lu Ye, blocked by the golden light emanating from his body. Though it didn't wound him, the recoil caused a suffocating tightness in his chest, significantly slowing his forward momentum, and dimming the golden light on his body slightly.

After launching one ice spike, spiritual light gathered in the pale-faced man's hand again, clearly intending to conjure a second. Lu Ye's eyelids twitched; in a fight between low-level cultivators, the one who knew spells clearly had a huge advantage.

"How many hits can you block?" the pale-faced man taunted, maintaining a safe distance from Lu Ye. One pursued, one retreated. In just a short while, Lu Ye had taken three ice spikes; the golden light on his body was almost extinguished, yet he couldn't even touch the corner of his opponent's clothes.

This kind of battle made him feel stifled; he longed to pull out a Fire Serpent Talisman and teach his opponent a lesson.

However, he suppressed this impulse. He wasn't sure if a single Fire Serpent Talisman could kill his opponent; this was a cultivator, not one of the wolves he had killed when he first arrived on the battlefield. Also, he lacked the advantageous terrain he had when fighting the Great Tiger.

He already had a vague plan in mind, but whether it could be successfully implemented would depend on luck.

A short while later, when Lu Ye was struck by another ice spike, the golden light on his body finally vanished. Constantly hit by the ice spikes, he had already suffered internal injuries, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Enveloped by the chilling cold, he couldn't help but shiver.

He glared resentfully at the pale-faced man, a look of unwillingness on his face, and spoke his first words since the fight began: "What grudge do we have?"

The pale-faced man chuckled. "No grudge, no animosity."

Lu Ye remained silent, quietly awaiting what came next.

As expected, the pale-faced man said, "However, if you can tell me where you found so many spirit ores, I can spare your life!"

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Ye's eyes. He pinpointed the problem: this encounter wasn't by chance; they had come specifically for him! The cause was the spirit ores he had sold.

To be honest, Lu Ye had always been very cautious. On his three trips to the Heavenly Mechanism Alliance, he had traded with different people each time, and he only took a small portion of ores to sell, not daring to sell too much. This was precisely because he feared attracting the attention of malicious individuals. He even took several detours on his way back to ensure no one was following him.

But facts proved that someone indeed had malicious intentions. His caution was useless unless he stopped selling things at the Heavenly Mechanism Alliance.

However, he needed spirit pills for cultivation; if not at the Heavenly Mechanism Alliance, where else could he go?

What could be confirmed now was that this matter wasn't instigated by the alliance itself. A large alliance operating under the banner of honesty and fair dealings with all had no reason to target a small cultivator like him.

So, this was most likely the private machinations of some individuals within the alliance. Lu Ye recalled the three alliance cultivators he had traded with, but he truly couldn't figure out which one had targeted him.

All three transactions had been very ordinary. If there was anything unusual, it was only the hint from the woman named Liu Ruyin during the first transaction, but even that didn't prove anything.

Judging by the pale-faced man's words, the opponent suspected that he had found a mineral vein containing various ores and thus wanted to inquire about its location.

The man had no idea that Lu Ye didn't have any mineral vein at all; his ores were all brought out from the Evil Moon Valley.

Seeing that Lu Ye didn't speak, the pale-faced man's expression darkened slightly. "You won't accept a toast, so you'll drink a forfeit!" He made up his mind to beat Lu Ye half to death and then force him to reveal the mineral vein's location.

As he spoke, he charged towards Lu Ye, blade in hand.

He didn't use the ice spike spell again, mainly because it was quite energy-consuming. Now that Lu Ye's Golden Body Talisman was broken, he was confident he could easily overpower Lu Ye.

However, Lu Ye, who had just been so resolute, suddenly turned and ran at a very fast speed.

The pale-faced man was amused, almost laughing from anger. Looking at Lu Ye's retreating figure, he leisurely said, "Do you think you can escape?"

He calmly gave chase, while also taking out a spirit stone from his storage bag and holding it in his palm, slowly recovering his energy.

He could tell Lu Ye was terrified. Such desperate fleeing would only accelerate the consumption of his spiritual energy. Once low-level cultivators ran out of spiritual energy, they were not much different from mortals; Steward Yang, whom Lu Ye had cunningly killed, was a prime example.

So, he only needed to make sure he didn't lose track of Lu Ye.

The two, one pursuing and one fleeing, passed through a forest of chaotic rocks and crossed a small river. When they reached an open space, the pale-faced man found Lu Ye standing there, panting heavily, his face as pale as paper, and motionless.

"Ran out of spiritual energy so quickly?" The pale-faced man scoffed, slowly advancing, his long blade twirling artfully in his hand. "Why aren't you running anymore?"

He stood about ten zhang in front of Lu Ye, a mocking expression on his face.

However, he soon realized something was wrong, because Lu Ye's expression was utterly terrified, staring in one direction, his sword-holding hand trembling violently.

A foul stench swept through the air, and a low growl emanated. From behind a large tree, a stout, snow-white great tiger slowly emerged, walking with a leisurely pace.

Its amber pupils looked towards the pale-faced man, startling him. He suddenly recalled a rumor he had heard in the market two days prior.

"It can't be this unlucky, can it?" he wailed internally.

However, what made him despair happened: the great tiger opened its maw and spoke in human tongue, "You dare to disturb this Great King's peaceful sleep? I see you don't want to live!"

The pale-faced man's forehead instantly became covered in fine beads of sweat. He finally understood why Lu Ye was so terrified.

The source of that terror wasn't him, but this great tiger!

Just as he was at a loss, he heard Lu Ye say, "Great King Tiger, spare our lives! We didn't know this was your territory; we'll leave at once!"

Upon hearing this, the pale-faced man nodded his head like a chick pecking rice.

The great tiger roared, angrily saying, "You come when you want, and leave when you want? What do you think this place is?"