STNS: Chapter 557 (Patreon)

The Heavenly White Tiger Clan lived in the west, far from the various dragon clans. Their territory was called the West Fang Wastes--a massive stretch of thick forests, deep canyons, and battle-scarred plains. This harsh terrain was full of predators. As they traveled across what seemed like the sight of long-forgotten battles, they saw craters and the skeletal remains of magical beasts. Some of them still had qi wafting from them, even though they must have been hundreds of years old.

Unlike the dragon clans, which were made of several different dragon types, the Heavenly White Tiger Clan consisted of only white tigers. They were dominated by a single bloodline and had kicked everyone else out, regardless of whether they were also part of the feline magical beast variety. Wu Jian supposed they didn’t want to deal with the same issues that the dragon clans did.

Wu Jian grimaced as he and his companions found themselves standing before a sheer cliff. They had been traveling through a dense forest just a few seconds ago, only to nearly fall down this cliff, which had a several dozen li drop. Flying was an option, of course, but flying often invoked unprovoked attacks from bird-type and other flying magical beasts. They had already been attacked several times when they tried to fly. None of them were strong enough to bother his party, but it was annoying being attacked so frequently.

“This place is a land of extremes,” Hou Jingshu said.

“The terrain is unpredictable,” Zhou Lihua agreed. “I wonder why. The dragon clans’ territories weren’t like this.”

“This land was shaped by centuries of constant conflict and territorial disputes,” Wu Meiying answered them. She had closed her eyes, hand extended as though sensing something. Her eyes fluttered behind closed lids as though she was still seeing something. 

“What do you see?” asked Wu Jian.

“Conflict. A lot of it.” Wu Meiying opened her eyes. “The area we are standing on now once belonged to the Ghost Tiger Tribe. The Heavenly Tigers sliced the forest in half. You see here? The ground shifted after the forest was cut. The part below us fell away, while the tectonic plates made the area we are standing on rise. It was done to split the Ghost Tiger Tribe’s army in half. This made them easier to annihilate.”

“This white tiger tribe sounds powerful… but troublesome,” Wu Jian said after a moment.

Wu Meiying nodded. “They are an extremely powerful and also extremely xenophobic tribe. We might be able to parley with them because you have the blood of their ancestor, but I suspect we’re going to need to subjugate them if we want them to listen to us.”

They continued on, flying down the cliff and landing on the ground below. Several magical beasts attacked them on their way down. Wu Jian dealt with them. The area below was dense with towering, ironwood-like trees with bark so hard trying to slice into it with a sword would dull the blade. The canopy was thick. Mottled shafts of sunlight created an ever-shifting play of light and shadow. According to Wu Meiying, this place was called the Fangclaw Forest.”

“The Snow Tiger and Ghost Tiger tribes used to live here,” she had informed them. “But they were wiped out by the Heavenly White Tiger Tribe over a decade ago. The Ghost Tribe was destroyed first. The Heavenly White Tiger Clan feared their ability to phase into and out of existence like ghosts. They were excellent assassins and had killed many white tigers before being erased from this earth.”

“Are the Ghost Tigers really gone?” Wu Jian asked.

“Yes,” Wu Meiying nodded. “They don’t exist anymore.” She paused, then added. “At least, not on this small sealed world.”

“Ah. And what are they like in the Nine Heavens?”

“They aren’t a dominant clan, but they are decently powered. I don’t know what happened in this world to make the Heavenly White Tiger Clan so vicious and hateful toward the other tiger clans, but in the Nine Heavens, all the tiger tribes have allied with each other and live on a small planet ruled exclusively by them.”

Wu Meiying could have found out why the white tigers had become the way they were now, but she hadn’t, which meant she didn’t think the information was worth knowing.

“I don’t think I like this tribe,” Youmei said after a moment. “They sound excessively violent. I met a few members of other tiger tribes when I was enslaved, and they all held intense hatred for the Heavenly White Tigers. A few of them had even sworn vengeance on the clan for wiping out their people.”

Wu Meiying smiled and patted the girl on the head. Youmei leaned into Wu Meiying’s touch.

A large root stood in their path, jutting from the ground like a megalith. They traveled underneath it to find glowing moss and mushrooms. Youmei asked if she could eat one, but Wu Meiying informed them all that these were poisonous. The young tiger magical beast stopped paying attention to them after that. Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua, however, continued to stare at the glowing flora, enchanted by them.

“I’ve also done a little research into the Heavenly White Tiger Clan,” Hou Jingshu said after they emerged from underneath the roots. “Their philosophy is firmly rooted in the idea of survival of the fittest. The strong deserve to rule. Glory through battle. Submission is shameful. They are warriors through and through.”

Zhou Lihua furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. “Are we sure trying to make them our ally is a good idea?”

They all looked at Wu Meiying, who smiled and nodded. “Yes. We can do it.”

Nobody asked her for more details. They all knew. If she said they could do it, then she had seen a vision of the Heavenly White Tiger Clan allying with them. Wu Jian did have one question, however.

“How many futures exist in which they agree to ally with us?”

“Just one.”

“Out how many?”

Wu Meiying’s silence told him everything he needed to know.

***

Wu Jian didn’t know how far they traveled. The Da Continent was massive, so even smaller sections owned by a single tribe or clan like these wastes was several magnitudes bigger than the Xia Dynasty. He would have said this area was about the size of the Xaio Continent, but he didn’t know for sure.

After leaving the wasteland, they journeyed across a vast grassland where the waist-high grasses were tinged with red. He thought the swaying was because of the wind. Wu Jian soon realized that wasn’t the case when his senses warned him of impending danger. There was a strong smell of blood on the wind and an almost carnal rage.

“Move!!!”

As he shouted, his party moved. Wings burst from Shuchang’s back as he took to the skies, Hou Jingshu backpedaled as she summoned her spear, white flames burst on Zhou Lihua’s hands as she backflipped away, and Youmei went into Wu Jian’s shadow. Meanwhile, Wu Meiying stepped forward as something burst from within the red grass. The figure was little more than a blur, but as it flew toward her, the young woman gracefully ducked, grabbed whatever it was, and used its own momentum to slam it into the ground.

Craters formed around the figure and the grass was uprooted. What appeared before them was a white tiger cub--a very large white tiger cub. To be honest, the only reason Wu Jian knew it was a cub was due to the general cherubicness of its face. It did not yet have the lean face shape of an adult tiger.

It was at the Human Limit Realm.

“Hmmmm. A child?” wondered Wu Meiying, eyes flickering. The young tiger cub used that moment to leap on all fours and bound away. Wu Meiying stood up, looking around, and sighed. “I see. We’re in their hunting ground.”

At that moment, nearly a dozen white tiger cubs burst from the red grass. Wu Jian and the others responded.

As one leapt at him, Wu Jian spun around and launched a kick that made it sail across the skies. It slammed into the ground and disappeared into the grass. He made sure the attack hurt, but he was also careful not to kill it. Whatever the case might have been, these tigers were still cubs, children, and he made it a point to never kill kids, regardless of race. Another one tried to attack with qi-infused claws. He didn’t know what the technique they used was called, but it created ethereal blades of powerful qi that both extended the attack range and increased its power.

He blocked those by locking the cat in space, then sent them flying with a punch to the face.

The others were also doing their part, fighting against these magical beasts, and just like him, none of them fought to kill. Shuchang avoided using his flames and fought using aerial strafing runs. Wu Meiying was sliding through the felines as though she knew how they would attack and was fighting back with quick strikes that hit pressure points. Hou Jingshu was something of a wild animal. She roared and attacked like a dragon, but while all of her attacks were insanely strong, none of them were strong enough to kill. On his left, shadows erupted from his shadow and entangled a white tiger, dragging it down and pinning it to the ground. The tiger struggled but was eventually rendered unconscious from lack of air.

Their goal was to incapacitate. It was even more imperative to avoid killing because these were members of the Heavenly White Tiger Clan. He could not see them approving of his group killing their young, regardless of their beliefs on strength. He’d yet to meet a clan who wasn’t “rules for thee but not for me.”

It didn’t take more than five minutes to incapacitate every single white tiger cub. Wu Jian used Severance to cut all the red grass around them until it was just knee high, revealing all the white tiger cubs, lying around them, unconscious. None of them had serious injuries. That was good, but now what should they do? As he was thinking that, Wu Meiying drew close.

“It looks like we’re still surrounded,” she said.

“What?”

Wu Jian blinked, and that was when they attacked. Several white bullets flew into the sky, curved around, and slammed into Shuchang, knocking him to the ground. He was fine, but the attack had startled him. Hou Jingshu was forced back as several humanoid figures launched themselves at her. One of them defended against her spear, while the other slammed into her gut with a powerful attack that nearly sent her crashing into Wu Jian. None of them were injured. However, the surprise attack had caught them offguard.

As they turned their backs to each other and closed ranks to avoid being surprised, several humanoids emerged from the remaining grasslands. There was an odd assortment of characters. Some looked more human than animal, with their fluffy white ears and swishing tail the only sign of their origins, while others looked more tiger than human. They were covered in pure white fur, and even the shape of their face was that of a tiger. He was glad they all wore clothes at least. But even that consisted of little more than a loin cloth covering their groin. It was like they had stepped into the home of a barbarian tribe from one of the stories he used to read as a child.

One of the figures stepped forward. He was bigger than most. His muscles bulged like they were trying to tear his skin apart. Wu Jian had never seen someone with muscles that big. He was also one of the people who looked more animal than human. His fur-covered face was set in a snarling muscle of razor sharp teeth and glaring yellow eyes.

“You dare trespass on our home, humans? You are courting death, and this Töri Qiang will see your wish granted.”