Chapter 5 - Nine Lashes of the Whip
At the foot of Qiyun Mountain laid a small tent, within it sat the head steward of the Wang family, Wang Zhongquan, a worried expression on his face.
Although the others had walked away believing that the demon tiger had some sort of connection with the Wang family, Wang Zhongquan knew better. He had never seen such a beast before in his life, but as long as it did not pose any harm to the young master than he would gladly accept any reason.
The morning after they had discovered that Wang Xiong was still alive, Wang Zhongquan's first move was to kneel once more before Zhou Tianyin's tent. "Miss Zhou, may I trouble you to summon the Heavenly Eye again so I may check on my master's condition?"
Under any other circumstance, Zhou Tianyin would have rejected him, however, she, along with the Fourth Prince and the rest of the higher ranking members of the camp were curious as well.
Exiting her tent, Zhou Tianyin closed her eyes as she breathed in deeply.
Zhou Tianyin looked at the sky and repeated the same chant she did the day before as dark clouds formed and opened to reveal an eye as it shot towards the mountain.
"Swoosh!"
The screen of energy appeared once more before everyone else.
The first image that appeared depicted the now empty valley before zooming out into a birds-eye view of the mountain.
"Ah, there! The lake where those wolves are!" Zhou Chi said as he pointed at the screen.
Zhou Tianyin re-positioned the eye, the screen enlarging into a closed image of the lake.
Seeing what was occurring there, Wang Zhongquan's face fell.
Depicted on the screen was a terrible scene. In it, the demon tiger and the wolf pack had suddenly begun growling as they poised in attack towards Wang Xiong's direction.
The demon tiger seemed to give an order to the wolves as they suddenly leaped towards Wang Xiong, claws extended.
"Finished, Wang Xiong is truly finished! Now that his luck has run out the tiger and wolves have turned against him!" Zhou Chi exclaimed.
Wang Zhouquan's eyes widened in horror as he turned from the screen to Zhou Tianyin. "Miss Zhou, please save my young master! Please save him!"
The Fourth Prince smiled.
This Wang Xiong would be dead by the end of this afternoon!
Zhou Tianyin studied the picture as she frowned, confused. "That Wang Xiong, he seems to be a little too calm..."
"He's probably frozen in fear. Sister, with those wolves surrounding him, never mind the tiger, his fate is already seal-!" Zhou Chi froze mid sentence as his eyes widened.
Currently on the lake, the talisman in Wang Xiong's hand flashed with a bright light before becoming a long rope.
With a flick of his wrist, the rope shot out into the pack of wolves.
"Pah!"
The wolves at the front of the group were hit by the rope and were flung across the lake.
As more wolves approached, Wang Xiong lashed out again. Although it seemed to be a single stroke, it was actually nine moving at extremely fast speed, each one lashing out from a different angle.
"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa............!"
One by one, the wolves fell to Wang Xiong's rope.
Everyone was stunned. "This technique? Is Wang Xiong someone who trains with a whip? To be able to achieve nine lashes within the blink of an eye...!"
The eyes of everyone present were extremely wide.
Wang Xiong's whip technique was something they had never seen before. The most basic whip method shot the whip out straight forward. However, Wang Xiong's whip twisted and curved as if it was alive. With one flick of his wrist, the whip was shot out in multiple directions, each lash equivalent to the power of three normal whips.
For each additional lash, the number of strikes doubled. However, the more lashes there were, the harder it was to control. By now, Wang Xiong was up to nine.
Nine lashes.
Although there were not many whip users within the Great Qin Kingdom, there were still some. However all of those present had never seen anyone who could perform nine consecutive lashes.
Yet, in front of their very eyes, Wang Xiong had accomplished it.
The whip in his hands seemed to be alive, an illusion of a snake following each lash.
"Pa! Pa! Pa!"
Although no one could hear the sound, the horrid appearance of the wolves made everyone flinch.
Unlike a sword of a spear, the whip was not meant to draw massive amounts of blood. A whips main power rested in its ability to inflict incomparable pain.
Within a few breaths time, Wang Xiong had lashed his way through the wolf pack. On his body there was not a single wound. With his whip, the wolves could not even hope of drawing close.
Behind him laid the remains of the wold pack. Although none of them were dead, they were all whimpering on the ground. Covered in blood, none of them had the ability to stand up.
Too painful, simply too much pain.
In front of the wolf pack, Wang Xiong had seemed like an ant. However within a blink of an eye, the positions were swapped.
Those watching from the screen were dumbfounded.
Within Zhou Tianyin's heard rested a tinge of regret as she scowled at Zhou Chi. If Zhou Chi had not given her false information...
"Steward Wang, since when did that trash Wang Xiong become so proficient with the whip?" Zhou Chi could barely believe his own eyes.
Wang Zhongquan's heart was shaken as well. He understood as much as the next person which was the equivalent to knowing nearly nothing. The young master had been extremely terrible when it came to handling weapons, yet now he was wielding one of the most complex weapons with devastating accuracy.
Lost in his own thoughts, Wang Zhongquan did not hear Zhou Chi's questioning, instead he kept his eyes on the screen.
The Fourth Prince sighed as he began to speak. "That rope seems to be a magical weapon that came from the talisman. Although it is powerful and can dispatch a few wolves, it does not seem like it will be able to harm the tiger. After all, it is a beast that has reached the Martial Lord realm!"
Wang Xiong was currently standing on the shore of the lake, speaking words to the tiger that the viewers could not hear.
Strangely enough, there was no fear present in his eyes.
"Roar!"
The tiger roared, causing the ground to shake violently.
Wang Xiong however, was not fazed in the slightest as he charged forward, whip in hand.
This caused many in the camp to sigh as they watched the young man seemingly rush to his death.
The someone in the first level of the Spiritual Sea realm was actually going up against someone in the Martial Lord realm.
The difference in cultivation was not something that a mere rope could bridge.
The tiger leaped forward to meet Wang Xiong, a sharp blade of qi covering his claws as it lashed out, forming a barrage of sharp winds that slashed in Wang Xiong's direction.
Although the wind blades consisted of terrifying power, Wang Xiong's expression remained unchanged. Wang Xiong had also been a demon tiger in his past life, and in his youth he had mastered this form of attack as well.
Although Wang Xiong was currently in a weaker state, his understanding of the attack was far greater than the demon tiger Ju Que's. In his eyes, the wind slashes moved as slower than snails. With a flick of his wrist, the rope lashed out.
A whip's success all depended in the ability of the holder. As long as one was able to predict the right place to strike accurately, then their whip would be able to obtain extreme power.
The wind blades hurdled forward swiftly as the whip moved to meet it.
"Ha! What a slow whip. Before long you will be torn to sheds!" Ju Que laughed, his canines peaking out of his mouth.
The blades approached swiftly, but were intercepted by the rope. The whip curved to form eight lashes, each one colliding with a wind blade and pulling up dust. Within a few breaths time, the dust cleared to reveal that the wind blades had all been intercepted by Wang Xiong who was currently unharmed.
"What!" Ju Que was stunned.
"Pah!" Before Ju Que recovered, Wang Xiong lashed out again, striking the demon tiger across the nose.
Although it unknown to most of the world, the nose is one of the most sensitive points on a tiger's body.
The pain shot straight into Da Que's mind, a flash of white piercing his eyesight.
"Ah~~~~~!"
Pain! Incomparable pain! Unknown to Da Que, the rope had been purposely frayed in order to inflict more pain. Blinded by his pain, the tiger did not notice Wang Xiong lashing out his whip once more.
As if it was a snake, the rope lashed out and struck Da Que in both his eyes. The nose may be weak, but the eyes are weaker. Upon being struck, the tiger retreated in pain.
"You want to escape?"
"Pa!"
The whip in Wang Xiong's hands shot out again and again. The demon tiger, who could no longer see nor hear was struck by the whip in every direction.
"Bastard!" Da Que roared. "With your power, all you can do is resort to trickery! How dare you harm my face!"
"Why would I not dare?" Wang Xiong replied coldly.
"Pa!"
The whip landed on the tigers claws and nearly removed one of its nails.
"Tss~!" The tiger grit his teeth.
"Pa!"
The whip struck the tiger's stomach.
"Pa!"
"Gah!"
"Pa! Pa!"
The rope landed again and again.
Legs, spine, ears, ribs.
Each lash was followed by another.
A tiger's body, especially one of the Martial Lord realm was extremely durable and tough. However, the rope that struck it was not any normal rope. It was also a God-binding talisman, capable of going through the cycle of reincarnation. [1]
Da Que had previously believed that on his body, there were near to no weaknesses. However, under the lashes of the whip, his body was brought to the ground.
All of his weaknesses were clear to Wang Xiong because he was a tiger as well.
"Ah! It hurts!"
"Stop! Please, spare me!
"Elder, I have failed to tell right from wrong! Please stop!"
.
.
Within a few moments, the tiger was in a position in which he was better dead than alive, its once mighty body now covered in wounds and bruises. Seeing this, the wolves who had began to regain the strength to stand began looking at Wang Xiong in horror.
The whip in his hands seemed to be the source of all the pain in the world. All of the beasts present were frozen in either pain or fear.
The Wolf king in particular looked at Wang Xiong with fear. Of the beasts present, none of them dared to move forward.
Those watching from outside were stunned as well. They had all thought that Wang Xiong had reached his limit after knocking out the wold pack. They all believed without a doubt that he would die and be consumed by the demon tiger, but instead, Wang Xiong had defied all odds, coming out of the battle as a demon.
"Wang Xiong..."
Although no one could hear any sound, every time the whip was brought down, the audiences muscles would twitch.
"That tiger, is it really at the Martial Lord realm?" The Fourth Prince said frowning.
"The tiger we saw before must have been a different one!" Zhou Chi said, also unable to accept the facts.
[1] I did not really understand why the rope did so much damage until I thought about this deeper because it was not stated outright by the author in the raws. However I came to this conclusion and put it into the translation, but feel free to ignore it.