Chapter 343: Tiger Demon Legend

“Rumble…” “Roar…”

Tiger roars, mixed with the sound of thunder, echoed from deep within Niu Kui Mountain. By the time they reached the outer areas, the sound had significantly weakened and was once again covered by a new round of thunder.

The group of hunters, carrying their game and mountain produce, hurried along. If a heavy downpour started at this critical moment, the mountain paths would become very difficult to navigate—wet, slippery, and cold—and they might even have to spend the night in the mountains.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”

A unique echo reverberated, causing the leading hunter to stop and look back towards the depths of Niu Kui Mountain. Far in the distance, on the furthest peak visible, many trees and bamboo groves were swaying violently, as if gusts of dark wind were sweeping out from the deep mountains.

“Aoo-roo…”

Another sound faintly reached him, giving the leading hunter a strange, hazy hallucination. In his mind's eye, he seemed to see a swirling grey-black mist rising into the sky far beyond the mountains, forming the head of a massive beast beneath the dark storm clouds, roaring incessantly at the thundering sky.

“Hiss….!”

This scene made the man instinctively gasp, his legs feeling as heavy as lead, unable to move.

One of the hunters suddenly noticed their leader hadn't followed. He turned to find him standing there, staring at the deep mountains, and quickly asked,

“What are you looking at, Chief? More game?”

The question made the man shiver suddenly. He looked again at the distant sky, where there was no longer any such sight; it seemed to have been a complete illusion. He collected himself and looked at the nearby hunter.

“Nothing, nothing at all. Let’s go quickly! Even if there’s game, we can’t stop. We can’t spend the night in the mountains!”

The leading man urged them on, quickly picking up his pace again.

“Who’d want to spend the night out here in this cold?”

“But we hunted a lot this time, and our loads are heavy!” “Keep running, keep running.”

The group of men continued to move through the mountains, carrying their game. Fortunately, although the dark clouds grew larger and the thunder was frequent and frightening, the rain held off, allowing the hunters to reach the foot of the mountain safely.

A crowd of villagers had already been waiting at the village entrance. Seeing the hunters return, they all cheered excitedly.

“Look! They’re back, with so much big game!” “Go help them.”

“Look, look! They’re carrying a great beast at the front!”

“Oh my, a great beast?” “No, no, don’t talk nonsense! That’s a big leopard!”

“Wolves, jackals, tigers, and leopards... a leopard is not much different from a great beast.”

“Right, right! All top-grade pelts!”

The hunters’ families and curious villagers all rushed out to help carry the game. The heavy wild boars and bright-furred beasts, to those who knew their worth, meant rich meat and furs that could be sold for silver.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”

Thunder roared again, and then, with a “whoosh-whoosh-whoosh,” the torrential rain finally began to fall. The hunters and their families and fellow villagers quickly rushed home.

The mountain village itself wasn’t very large. That evening, two wild boars were prepared, and the plan was for every household in the village to receive a portion of wild boar meat, allowing them to enjoy a fresh taste of wild game at the beginning of spring.

However, the leading hunter had been feeling uneasy since his return, so he decided to take some of the meat and go with his wife to her parents’ house.

Carrying a slab of pork ribs and a wild boar’s front leg, the hunter, along with his wife and child, arrived at the home of the old village chief, his father-in-law.

His mother-in-law and wife brought out steaming wild boar ribs and wild boar meat. Before cooking, they had rubbed it with spicy wild ginger and wild peppers from the mountains, largely removing the gamey smell. However, one of the front trotters was cooked separately until very tender and placed in a large, decorated bowl.

“Here, Dad, eat it while it’s hot! This front trotter meat is your favorite!” “That’s right, Dad, we specifically saved it for you and cooked it until it’s falling apart.”

The daughter and son-in-law urged him with smiles.

“Heh heh heh, you truly are dutiful children!”

The old village chief said cheerfully, then picked up a piece of the trotter’s skin with his chopsticks and offered it to his little grandson sitting beside him.

“Ah!”

The grandson opened his mouth wide, took the pork skin in one bite, and chewed it vigorously with puffed cheeks.

“Everyone sit, everyone eat!”

The family sat around the table and began to eat. Besides a stewed radish dish, the meal mainly consisted of two platters of pork, accompanied by a pot of rice wine. This kind of meal would make even the people in Ning’an County envious.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”

The thunder rumbled again, but those inside the house were already used to it. They continued to eat the meat and vegetables on the table by the light of an oil lamp.

After eating for a while, the hunter, while pouring wine for his father-in-law, quietly asked the old man,

“Dad, let me ask you something. I remember when I was a child, Niu Kui Mountain seemed to have been troubled by monsters for a while?”

“Oh, why bring that up?”

His mother-in-law, sitting nearby, glared at her son-in-law, but the child, on the other hand, became excited.

“Monsters? Do we have monsters here? What about deities and immortals?”

“Aren’t all the gods in the temple? Eat your food.”

The child’s mother replied with a smile, picking up a piece of radish and putting it into the child’s mouth, otherwise, the little one would only eat meat.

“Dad, I vaguely remember this happening when I was a child. The government back then seemed to…”

“That’s right! There was indeed something like that back then.”

The old village chief had been the village chief in this mountain village for nearly forty years. Every village head in the two surrounding villages had a good relationship with him, and he remembered some important past events clearly.

“Counting the years, it’s been nearly twenty years now!”

The old village chief said with a sigh, then drank the rice wine from his small cup.

“Grandpa, grandpa, please tell me about it!”

The little grandson swallowed the radish and meat in his mouth, pushed away his mother’s chopsticks, and pleaded. The hunter, too, quickly and attentively refilled his father-in-law’s cup and picked up a piece of elbow meat with skin for him.

“Alright, I’ll tell you!”

The old village chief took a sip of rice wine, put the elbow meat in his mouth, chewed, and narrowed his eyes, as if transported back to those unsettling times.

“I can’t recall the exact year right now, but it’s probably been nearly twenty years. Your father wasn’t much older than you are now back then.”

The old village chief pointed at his little grandson and chuckled.

“I remember in those years, Niu Kui Mountain was plagued by tigers. For a while, the government conscripted and organized us, the hunters from the mountain’s edge, to go into the mountains to eliminate the tigers…”

Eighteen years ago, it wasn’t just Ning’an County on the border of Desheng Prefecture near Niu Kui Mountain that experienced this; similar situations occurred in other two prefectures adjacent to Niu Kui Mountain. However, the situation in Ning’an County was more severe, and the old village chief didn’t have access to news from distant prefectures.

“Back then, I was still robust and went into the mountains twice with them. We even found a great beast’s lair and personally hunted and killed one, but we didn’t find any human bones around it. But later…”

The old village chief showed a trace of lingering fear.

“The old saying goes, ‘Wind follows the tiger, clouds follow the dragon.’ Everyone has heard it, but no one has ever seen it. But that time, we witnessed it!”

“That night, thirty-some experienced hunters from our village and a neighboring village were together, guarding a deep mountain ridge where we had determined a fierce tiger had appeared... Originally, the wind was gentle and the moon was bright, but suddenly, violent winds arose, kicking up sand and stones that stung our eyes. Tiger roars echoed simultaneously. The howling was so terrifying it made one’s heart pound; even the bravest hunters were chilled to the bone!”

The little grandson instinctively moved closer to his mother, not even chewing the meat in his mouth.

“But we were all hunters, so no matter what, we had to stay calm, and no one dared to make a sound. However, that great beast seemed to know exactly where we were. With a single pounce, it snatched a hunter from the neighboring village. His screams echoed all the way as we chased after it, but we couldn’t see a trace. What was even stranger was…”

The old village chief intentionally leaned closer to his little grandson.

“The wind also stopped!”

“Oh, old man, why are you scaring the child? You’re being improper!”

“Heh heh heh... Isn’t the child enjoying this?”

“His little face has turned pale with fright!”

The hunter quickly refilled his father-in-law’s cup.

“Dad, please continue.”

“Hmm, after we came back that time, we were quite disheartened and thoroughly scared. But as long as the man-eating tiger wasn’t eliminated, no one could rest easy. The government’s reward was also substantial, and they even dispatched martial arts-trained constables to work with us. Some of us hunters were also unwilling to give up, so we went again.”

At this point, the old village chief sighed.

“Alas... my brother also died that time. That fierce tiger was truly demonic; it playfully carried off two people and killed seven hunting dogs. It was accompanied by mountain winds whenever it came or went, and its roars made listeners’ legs turn to jelly. After that incident, I and some other old hunters understood clearly that we hunters were absolutely no match. From then on, no matter how much the government persuaded us, we refused to enter the mountains again…”

The old village chief took a sip of wine to calm his nerves.

“The rumor of the mountain tiger becoming a spirit also started circulating after that incident. But the villages around here kept it a secret; no one spoke carelessly, fearing it might attract trouble.”

“Later, I heard that the government posted notices, and even went to Desheng Prefecture to request assistance and post rewards there. Then, some formidable martial arts masters arrived. As expected of martial artists, they really did kill the fierce tiger, and it was a rare great white tiger! Its pelt was displayed at the county yamen entrance for many days, and many people from our village went to see it!”

The hunter, frowning, gripped his chopsticks, drained the rice wine in his cup, and asked,

“Dad, are you sure that fierce tiger is really dead?”

“How could it be fake? That great white tiger was an absolute beast; two ordinary tigers couldn’t compare to it. And ever since then, Niu Kui Mountain has been peaceful. Forget man-eating tigers, even ordinary tigers are rarely seen anymore!”

The hunter hesitated for a moment, then leaned in closer and asked again in a hushed voice,

“Dad, is it possible that the tiger spirit isn’t dead yet?”

The old village chief’s scalp tingled instinctively. He turned and stared fixedly at his son-in-law.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Did you see it?”

“No, no. It’s just that when we came down the mountain this time, the thunder sounded like a beast roaring, and the dark clouds in the sky were unnerving. Wild animals were running out of the deep mountains, and I just feel a chill in my heart…”

Both the old village chief and the hunter looked out the window. The deep mountains were obscured, so they couldn’t see too far, only the sky.

At that moment,

“Crack… Boom…”

The thunderclap was deafening. A thick bolt of lightning, like a spear with three prongs, plunged directly into the mountains.

Everyone in the entire mountain village shivered at the same instant.