Lu Ye thought he had encountered a formidable beast, but after actually interacting with it, he realized that this large tiger might not be as powerful as he had imagined.
For one, it stood at the entrance of the cave, not daring to go deeper. If its strength was truly much greater than Lu Ye's, why would it waste so many words?
Secondly, when it failed to get the spirit elixir from Lu Ye, it settled for spirit stones, and when that didn't work, it demanded healing pills, showing a clear intent not to leave empty-handed.
From this, Lu Ye concluded that although the large tiger appeared formidable, it was likely just a paper tiger.
Lu Ye took out the healing pill and placed it at his feet as a final test.
Sure enough, the large tiger refused to get close to Lu Ye and only asked him to throw the healing pill over.
Now that he was certain the large tiger wasn't as powerful as he had imagined, Lu Ye felt relieved. His task was simple: kill the tiger and eat its meat.
There was no denying that this was a cultivated beast. If he could kill and eat it, it would certainly be more beneficial than eating many ordinary wild animals. Perhaps the opening of his nine orifices would depend on this large tiger.
Lu Ye had never been a person to play it safe. Otherwise, he wouldn't have lured Manager Yang into the mine filled with yuan magnetic fields.
He would prepare for potential dangers and seize any opportunities that came his way.
The Fire Snake Talisman was activated, and flames swirled, rushing toward the large tiger. At the same time, Lu Ye charged forward with his sword.
However, as soon as he moved, he felt a heavy weight on his shoulder, as if something was pressing down on him, making him almost kneel on the ground.
At the same time, a sharp scream echoed in his ears. Instantly, he felt as if someone had hit him hard on the head with a hammer, making him dizzy and seeing stars.
He supported himself with one hand on his sword, struggling to stay upright, and simultaneously activated the spiritual energy from his eight orifices to protect his body. Instantly, a layer of fire seemed to burn on his skin, with a hint of gold in the flames.
His elemental affinity was primarily fire and secondary gold, so his spiritual energy would exhibit these two attributes.
A piercing scream echoed, and the heavy weight on his shoulder immediately disappeared. Although his head was still a bit dizzy, he had recovered significantly.
What left him incredulous was that he had been ambushed!
The attacker was not the large tiger but someone else!
He had been at the bottom of the cave, with the large tiger blocking the entrance. Throughout the entire time, he had been communicating with the large tiger, and there had been no sign of anyone else.
So he never expected to be ambushed from behind. Fortunately, the attacker's strength seemed weak, and he only needed to activate his protective spiritual energy to repel the attacker.
As the piercing scream echoed, Lu Ye suddenly turned his head and caught a glimpse of something mysterious disappearing into the rock wall.
There was no time to investigate the identity of the attacker, as a wave of blood and wind enveloped him, and the large tiger pounced.
The Fire Snake Talisman had not killed the tiger but only burned its fur, indicating that the tiger indeed had cultivation.
At this moment, it was too late to activate another talisman. Lu Ye missed the best opportunity to strike and could only swing his sword with all his might, simultaneously activating his spiritual energy and the sharpness-enhancing spiritual patterns on the sword!
During this time, he had killed many fierce beasts with Manager Yang's sword, but unfortunately, he had not learned any sword techniques, so he mainly relied on slashing and chopping.
The sharpness-enhanced sword was incredibly sharp. When he fought Zhou Cheng, he had severed the opponent's sword of equal quality with one strike.
However, the large tiger's bones seemed even harder than Zhou Cheng's sword. When Lu Ye's sword struck the tiger's shoulder, it failed to completely sever the tiger's body, and he was knocked off balance by the force of the impact.
Lu Ye took a few steps back, withdrew his sword, and tiger blood splattered.
Before he could make another move, a numbness hit his chest, and he was scratched by the tiger's claw, losing a layer of flesh.
The pain did not affect Lu Ye; instead, it made him more alert. In this narrow space, the fight between man and tiger was extremely dangerous, and either could die at any moment.
However, after this exchange, Lu Ye felt more confident because his judgment was correct.
The large tiger's cultivation was indeed not as profound as he had imagined. This was not an enemy he could not defeat. With proper tactics, killing the tiger and eating its meat was within reach!
The large tiger roared and pounced at Lu Ye again. At the same time, a cacophony of ghostly howls echoed in the cave, distracting Lu Ye.
This was a trick used by the hidden enemy.
Lu Ye ignored the hidden enemy and focused on the large tiger's movements. As the tiger leaped, he crouched down, stepped forward, and slid under the tiger.
As their figures crossed, Lu Ye's sword thrust upward, piercing the tiger's soft abdomen. He thought this strike would gut the tiger, but a pale golden light suddenly appeared on the tiger's abdomen. Even with the sharpness enhancement, the sword only broke through the layer of light and failed to seriously injure the tiger.
When they stood up, their positions had switched.
Originally, Lu Ye was deep in the cave, and the large tiger blocked the entrance. Now, the situation was reversed.
Moreover, this exchange revealed that the large tiger's strength, while not high, was not low either, and it was slightly stronger than Lu Ye.
However, he had a powerful weapon that could be enhanced with spiritual patterns, giving him a slight advantage.
But if this continued, it would inevitably end in a mutual defeat.
With this thought, Lu Ye reached into his storage bag and took out a talisman.
Lacking strength, he would make up for it with talismans. The thirty talismans given to him by the sect leader were not just for show, and Lu Ye had no intention of conserving them. If not now, when?
However, before he could activate the talisman, a crisp voice urgently rang out: "Surrender, spare my life!"
Lu Ye's brows furrowed. Hearing such words at a critical moment was undoubtedly demoralizing. The spiritual energy in his hand surged, and he shouted, "Come out!"
From the depths of the cave, a figure slowly emerged from the rock wall beside the large tiger. The figure was not solid but seemed to be a concentration of spiritual energy.
As it stepped out, the figure gradually became more solid, eventually appearing as a normal person.
It was a slender, beautiful girl with long black hair that fell to her waist, wearing a white dress. A mole below her left eye added a touch of allure, and she appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen years old.
The girl stood beside the large tiger, looking at Lu Ye timidly, with a guilty expression.