Chapter 312 - 217: The Final Main Ingredient, the Ambush Target (Part 2)
Chapter 312: Chapter 217: The Final Main Ingredient, the Ambush Target (Part 2)
A cascade of white plunged down from the sheer cliff face, a dazzling, inverted river of stars.
Water splashed in all directions, raising a mist that filled the air. Below the falls lay a deep pool.
The pool’s waters were profoundly deep and pitch-black, like a giant maw madly devouring everything that fell into it. It churned with foam and thunderous roars, its depths seeming to lead straight to the Nine Netherworld.
The edge of the pool was lined with jagged rocks, polished as smooth as mirrors by the current.
"We’re here. This is the place!"
Mo Zhaoli glanced around, comparing the scene to her memory and confirming their location.
Lin Changheng nodded slightly. He extended his Divine Sense and, after a distant scan, also confirmed traces of Demon Beast activity nearby.
The claw prints to the side, in particular, had clearly been left by a tiger-like Demon Beast.
A few scattered strands of cyan fur were also matted into the mud.
’A Cyan-striped Tiger!’
This meant they were in the right place.
But Lin Changheng and Mo Zhaoli had no intention of acting rashly. They exchanged a look and immediately split up, concealing themselves among the trees in the forest behind them using hand seals and Talismans.
They began to observe from the shadows.
After all these years, they had no idea how the situation had changed. What was the Cyan-striped Tiger’s strength and numbers? Was there a male? Had the female, who was suspected to be pregnant back then, given birth? And if so, how strong were the cubs?
They also had to consider other potential changes and how they might affect their Demon Hunting mission.
They needed a clear picture of all these factors to act effectively and achieve the best outcome.
...
「Half a month passed quickly.」
The two of them, who had been taking turns hiding in the treetops to monitor the situation, met up again.
They pooled their information and began to formulate a plan.
On the first day, they had watched together, but even after a long wait, the Cyan-striped Tiger never appeared.
They realized this could turn into a prolonged waiting game, which wasn’t ideal. So, they created a new cave dwelling in the distance and decided to take turns.
One would stand watch while the other recovered their strength.
Two days later, it was Lin Changheng’s turn to stand watch.
Suddenly, an unusual ripple appeared in the middle of the massive, falling Water Curtain.
"Hm?"
Lin Changheng was instantly alert. He subconsciously activated his Concealing Breath Demon Technique at full power, merging his aura completely with the surrounding forest.
His gaze, sharp as a torch flame, locked onto the thundering waterfall.
The next moment, a cyan shadow shot out from within it like a bolt of lightning!
It didn’t leap from the pool below but shot straight through the Water Curtain, as if the heavy torrent were nothing more than a thin veil.
It emerged without a single drop of water on its fur, completely dry.
It was none other than the Cyan-striped Tiger they had been waiting for.
Lin Changheng’s eyes narrowed.
He saw a beast more lithe and slender than any ordinary tiger. It was a full twenty feet long, its body covered in thick, long cyan fur, the tips of which glinted with a cold, bronze-like light.
Most striking was the slightly protruding Horn on its forehead, dark in color and wreathed by faint, swirling vortexes of wind.
It landed lightly on a huge, impossibly slick boulder at the pool’s edge as if it were solid ground.
It then raised its head, nostrils flaring as it cautiously scented the air. Its amber eyes glinted with a wild, Spiritual light.
It clearly possessed considerable Spiritual Wisdom.
But it didn’t detect the distant eyes that had long been watching it, nor did it sense any unusual auras.
Finding nothing amiss, the Cyan-striped Tiger turned. With a push from its pillar-like limbs that kicked up small whirlwinds, its agile form plunged into the dense forest and vanished without a sound.
’It’s actually at the Tier Two Middle Stage, and not just barely!’
Lin Changheng had a faint sense of it, but he used his Perfection Level Spirit Detecting Skill to be certain, receiving a more precise answer. ’Just as I thought. Its growth rate is astonishingly fast.’
In other words, in less than thirty years—closer to twenty, perhaps—the Cyan-striped Tiger had advanced from the initial stage of Tier Two to the Middle Stage, and had even made some progress beyond that.
Lin Changheng was surprised, but not alarmed.
He continued to watch and wait with a cool gaze.
About an hour later, there was movement in the forest again. The Cyan-striped Tiger returned, carrying the massive corpse of a Wild Bull Demon Beast in its bloody maw.
After another brief patrol to confirm there were no spying eyes or threats, it passed through the water and back into its cave.
...
Having witnessed the entire sequence, Lin Changheng fell into deep thought.
’The Cyan-striped Tiger’s caution is borderline abnormal. And the fact that it brought back prey without taking a single bite only strengthens that conclusion.’
’Could it be... that it just recently gave birth?’
The thought sprang to Lin Changheng’s mind.
’That’s the only way any of this makes sense.’
When Mo Zhaoli arrived the next day to take over the watch...
Lin Changheng specifically used a voice transmission to relay these observed details, warning her to be careful.
"Understood."
Mo Zhaoli felt a chill and became fully alert.
...
Another twelve days passed like this.
Lin and Mo had now been there for a full half a month.
They had basically figured out the situation.
First, the female tiger had, in all likelihood, just given birth. She left her den to hunt every three days.
Each hunting trip lasted for more than an hour.
She seemed to deliberately hunt far from her den, leaving the nearby Demon Beasts untouched.
Mo Zhaoli guessed she was leaving them as a natural barrier.
They would prevent Human Race Cultivators from sneaking close. If a conflict broke out, she would be alerted and could react accordingly.
...
Second, there was indeed a Cyan-striped Male Tiger, and its strength was at the Tier Two Late Stage or even higher.