Zanxing (Retranslated)

Tan Tianxin muttered, “Jinhua

¹ Tiger… How could there be a Jinhua Tiger here?”

A Jinhua Tiger?

A thought flashed through Zanxing’s mind. In order to determine Mimi’s identity as the Silver Moon Lion, she had flipped through all the records of rare spiritual beasts. Vaguely, she remembered reading about the Jinhua Tiger. Belonging to the fire element, it often lived in extremely hot areas. As the name suggested, this tiger had a beautiful golden tail, with a dazzling flower at the tip emitting a faint golden light. The Jinhua Tiger usually hid in the shadows, only revealing its tail to attract other cultivators or spiritual beasts for food. Once the prey approached, it would pounce and kill them.

In a way, it was not much different from that worm tail-snake.

Zanxing had been pondering whether Mimi’s lineage as a Silver Moon Lion could intimidate the Jinhua Tiger into retreat with a roar, but to her surprise, the chubby cat was terrified and immediately darted into her Qiankun bag, refusing to come out no matter what.

The Jinhua Tiger roared as it charged towards Tan Tianxin.

With the sword still in his hand, Tan Tianxin couldn’t care about anything else and immediately stepped forward to confront it. However, this spiritual beast was no ordinary monster. With a single swipe of its paw, the Jinhua Tiger knocked Tan Tianxin’s sword off course. Tan Tianxin quickly retreated, but the Jinhua Tiger pressed closer. In a split-second decision, he threw Men Dong, who was desperately climbing back, towards the Jinhua Tiger.

“Men Dong—” Zanxing’s face paled.

Although Men Dong possessed a spiritual root, his cultivation level was undeniably average, to say the least. After all, he was just a child of eight or nine years old, far from being powerful. He usually followed Zhao Mayi and Gu Baiying without any opportunities to demonstrate his abilities. Who would have thought that today he would encounter the shameless Tan Tianxin from the Chihua Sect.

Seeing the Jinhua Tiger’s jaws about to close on Men Dong, Zanxing panicked. She swung her staff fiercely, striking the Jinhua Tiger’s hindquarters before it could reach Men Dong. The beast emitted a ferocious growl.

Zanxing rushed over and grabbed Men Dong, who was nearly on the verge of collapsing. “You can’t touch a tiger’s butt, why did you hit it?” Men Dong exclaimed in panic.

“I did it to save you, didn’t I?” Zanxing replied. “Now, let’s run!”

Before she could finish her sentence, the Jinhua Tiger’s gaze locked onto Zanxing. It sharpened its claws and pounced toward her.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Men Dong’s face turned pale with fear. “It’s targeting you now, it definitely hates you!”

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Zanxing said as she pushed him toward the dense canopy of the Dragon Tooth Tree. “I’ll distract it, you go get Gu Baiying and the others!”

Men Dong was suddenly pushed away and landed on the dense branches of the Dragon Tooth Tree several meters away. Without hesitation, he took out a bunch of amplification talismans from his bag and shouted, “Help! Senior brothers and sisters, Yang Zanxing is about to be eaten by a tiger, help!”

Despite the urgency of the situation, Men Dong’s use of the talismans seemed like he didn’t care about the cost. In an instant, the panicked cries for help echoed throughout the entire Mount Wudong.

Zanxing couldn’t help but suspect Men Dong’s intentions behind his choice of words.

Meanwhile, Mimi was already scared and had retreated into the Qiankun Bag, refusing to come out. On the other hand, the Jinhua Tiger continued to chase after Zanxing relentlessly. As they got closer, Zanxing could see clearly that the tiger was more than twice the size of an ordinary tiger, with fur that gleamed and emitted heat. As it approached, waves of scorching heat washed over her. This tiger was ferocious indeed, leaving several deep claw marks in the stone walls wherever it passed, a sight that was truly terrifying.

The tiger footprints she saw on the way up the mountain were most likely left by this Jinhua Tiger.

Being chased all over the mountains by a mere beast was somewhat embarrassing for disciples of the sect. Zanxing wanted to fight back, but the Jinhua Tiger was too close behind. She feared that any moment of hesitation would result in the tiger pouncing on her from behind and biting off her head.

As she cursed inwardly at Tan Tianxin, who had fled at the critical moment, a gust of foul-smelling wind suddenly swept behind her. Zanxing quickly dodged to the right, but with a rip, a sleeve was torn off. The massive head of the Jinhua Tiger was already close at hand, its fierce mouth emitting a stench mixed with the smell of blood.

The tiger’s fangs were about to sink into the woman—

Bang!

From afar, Men Dong screamed, “Yang Zanxing!”

Large beads of sweat dripped from Zanxing’s forehead, soaking her back.

Half of her body was almost engulfed by the tiger’s mouth, and the Panhua staff in her hand was barely holding the tiger’s mouth open, preventing it from biting down. However, the Panhua staff was not a high-grade spiritual weapon, and at this rate, it would eventually be bitten in two, along with herself.

Was she going to meet her end here, devoured by the tiger? In an instant, Zanxing felt a sense of despair.

Stalemate broken, a sharp whistle pierced through the air, and in the next moment, a silver spear pierced through the mountain wind, rushing towards the head of the Jinhua Tiger.

It was Xiu Gu.

Zanxing exclaimed with joy, “Senior Uncle!”

The head of the Jinhua Tiger was knocked askew by the Xiu Gu spear, but it didn’t let go. Instead, it turned to another direction and let out a low growl. Gu Baiying flew over from the side of the Dragon Tooth Tree, followed by Meng Ying and others. With Men Dong’s shouting through the amplification charm, all the participants in the trial of the secret realm were aware of the situation. These cultivators rushed over, whether out of camaraderie or to gain some benefits, knowing that the inner core of the Jinhua Tiger would greatly aid their cultivation.

Tian Fangfang wielded his axe as he ran forward, “Junior Sister, don’t be afraid, we’re here to rescue you!”

Zanxing felt somewhat relieved. Although the Jinhua Tiger was formidable, it was still an unenlightened beast and had not yet become a demon. With so many people here, nothing serious should happen.

That’s what she thought, but she didn’t expect the Jinhua Tiger, having lived in the secret realm for so long, to become somewhat cunning. Seeing so many cultivators rushing over, it didn’t want to fight anymore. With a flick of its golden flower tail, it shook the branches of the Dragon Tooth Tree, causing them to break. Then, with a roar, it refused to let go of Zanxing in its mouth, leaping up to a cave on the cliffside.

“The Tiger’s den?” Meng Ying exclaimed.

The Jinhua Tiger lived in the tiger’s den, but this den was covered by dense wild grass and the canopy of dragon tooth trees on the cliff, so no one had seen it.

Gu Baiying’s face darkened. “Chase it!”

Zanxing was carried into the tiger’s den, feeling extremely bitter. The Panhua Staff supported the tiger’s mouth, and she couldn’t pull it out, or else the Jinhua Tiger would crush it with one bite. She couldn’t let go either, because if she did, without the support of her qi, the Panhua Staff would immediately break into two pieces. She was afraid that before she could roll out of the Jinhua tiger’s mouth, she would be chewed into pieces by it.

Either way, it was death, just a matter of whether she would die in two pieces or be chewed into several pieces.

At this moment, Zanxing deeply regretted having chosen a staff as her spiritual weapon.

Footnotes

1. 
   
   

   Jin Hua means Golden Flower.