Chapter 556
Chapter 556: White Foxes
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Arrows ready! Arrows ready!"
Dozens of archers drew their bows in the formation and loosed their arrows in unison .
"Swish! Swish!"
The arrows moved along a curved path in the air gracefully, much like the shape of Death's scythe, and flew towards the white tiger steadily .
"Roar! Roar!"
The white tiger gave a ferocious roar as it jumped several yards away .
The rain of arrows covered a large area . Even though there was much friendly fire, many of the arrows landed on the white tiger's body .
"Ding! Ding! Dang! Dang!"
Metallic rings reverberated through the air as the arrows impacted the white light surrounding the white tiger's body and fell to the ground .
Even so, the white light flickered and looked as if it was fading .
Beasts could prey on humans but humans could kill beasts too!
Numerous soldiers sprang forth as the army officers called for a charge .
"Roar! Roar!"
The white tiger was a murderous creature and pounced on a chariot which shattered under its weight . It swept its tail, harder than any whip in the world, and let it crash into a Shang soldier .
The ferociousness displayed by the white tiger stunned the Shang soldiers, who were previously fearless fighters .
The white tiger sensed their vulnerability and pounced on a foot soldier . With its prey firmly in its grasp, the white tiger began to feed .
The screams of the Shang soldier filled the air . Meng Kuo's eyes widened as he witnessed the ghastly sight .
"Demonic beast! I must kill you!"
In a flash, Meng Kuo was in command of a chariot and drove it towards the frontlines .
"It's just a little demon which might not even have achieved full spiritual awareness…"
Fang Yuan shook his head . A spiritually intelligent creature would have run away by now . On the contrary, this white tiger was becoming more aggressive even though the protective white light around its body was dimming . It obviously had a death wish .
"Watch my arrows!"
Meng Kuo roared as his arrows assailed the white light surrounding the tiger .
He had discharged three arrows from his bow in one shot .
"Ding!"
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The first and second arrows broke upon contact with the white light . The third arrow, however, was the straw that broke the camel's back . The white light offered no resistance as the arrow popped the eye of the tiger .
Poof!
There was a burst of blood .
The white tiger roared in pain and ran towards Meng Kuo in a fit of madness . Its remaining eye was filled with a crazed rage .
"Hei Zhong . . . the white tiger is yours to handle!"
Fang Yuan waved the sword in his hand and gave an order to Hei Zhong .
"Yes, master!"
Hei Zhong gave a battle cry and rushed over on foot with his trusty battleaxe .
He was just in time, for Meng Kuo had been knocked off his chariot by the white tiger and was about to get torn apart .
"Hey! Don't even think about hurting him, beast!"
Hei Zhong swung his axe up into the air and brought it down onto the tiger .
"Roar! Roar!"
The axe managed to cut into the front paws of the white tiger and blood was spilt . The tiger shrank away in pain and Hei Zhong took the opportunity to pull Meng Kuo to safety .
"Hmph!"
As Hei Zhong retreated, he exhaled a cloud of white mist . The white mist enveloped the white tiger and distracted it from Hei Zhong's ensuing attack .
Even though the large tiger was a demonic beast, it was at a loss as to what to do in the face of this seemingly divine technique .
"Loose the arrows!"
A severe voice rang out from behind and triggered a torrential hail of arrows .
A dark gleam joined the trajectory of the arrows and shot towards the white tiger . Whether it was by chance or not, Hei Zhong was in its path too!
"A flying sword!"
Hei Zhong turned around and was startled to see a smiling youth . It was the recovered Gentleman Jiu!
Gentleman Jiu had been humiliated by Hei Zhong and was saved by good fortune . Now, he was ready to avenge his honour by killing Hei Zhong . He was prepared to disguise the murder as collateral damage sustained in killing the white tiger!
"Swish!"
Another dark gleam flew overhead .
This was another flying sword and it was actually able to knock Gentleman Jiu's flying sword to the ground despite having been launched later .
This other flying sword's path of flight remained unchanged and approached Gentleman Jiu at an alarming speed .
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"How do you also know the flying sword technique?"
Gentleman Jiu was stunned . The person who had launched the other flying sword was more skilful than he was . He could only fall backwards in a clumsy attempt to escape it .
The sword sank into the ground less than a foot away from Gentleman Jiu . It would have killed him if he had not taken one more step backwards .
"It's that Jie!"
He shot an uncertain look over at Fang Yuan and felt a seething hatred .
'Hmph! He doesn't know what is good for him!'
Fang Yuan could not be bothered to say anything .
He knew that his move would cause Gentleman Jiu to hate him but he would never take it lying down if a subordinate of his was being attacked .
No matter what Hei Zhong had done previously, he was Fang Yuan's slave now . How could Fang Yuan let anyone kill him?
Fang Yuan was perfectly fine with Gentleman Jiu hating him .
If Gentleman Jiu wanted to cross Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan would kill him without regard to his status .
Fang Yuan would kill even the Shang King if he made things difficult for Fang Yuan .
"Roar! Roar!"
The commotion with the flying swords happened in a flash and many of the soldiers were not aware of it .
Most of them kept their attention on the white tiger .
"Swish! Swish!"
The white tiger had lost the protection of the white light and was struggling with the arrow wounds on its body . One of its paws had been maimed and it was finally going away .
"Attack!"
Meng Kuo did not intend to let the beast escape . On his orders, a dozen Shang spearmen closed in on the tiger .
"Haha . . . I shall take your life!"
Hei Zhong let out a coarse laugh and brought his axe down onto the white tiger's neck!
"Poof!"
The tiger's head had been cut halfway off its neck . Blood spouted out of the large gash in streams .
"Roar! Roar!"
The gigantic tiger put up a terminal struggle where it broke a few spears and mauled a few soldiers to death . Finally, it collapsed to the ground and stopped moving .
Even in death, the tiger looked menacing .
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Its ferocious aura was keeping the soldiers away from its body .
"Orders from Senior Fang: Our army has encountered a white tiger, which is a good omen . Skin it and present its fur to the King!"
A soldier moved up to the front of the procession and read out Senior Fang's decree .
A military order was not to be defied . A few soldiers approached the tiger gingerly until they were sure that the tiger was truly dead .
At last, someone cheered, and the others echoed their jubilation .
Fang Yuan observed the proceedings with a glint in his eye .
That night, the army set up camp and tiger meat was distributed to the men . It was a happy affair .
Fang Yuan walked alone out of the camp with an iron sword hanging at his waist .
The golden gleam in Fang Yuan's eyes helped him to see the shimmering white marks on the ground that formed a path in the dark .
"Indeed, there are two of these little fellows!"
Fang Yuan retracted his spiritual aura, dimmed the light in his eyes and turned off his spiritual tracer . After walking on for a while, Fang Yuan arrived at a small valley .
He could hear small chattering sounds coming from ahead .
Fang Yuan quickly hid behind a tree and extended the tendrils of his spiritual sense .
Although Fang Yuan had not recovered the entirety of his cultivation, he possessed a high level of magical energy that allowed him to scan his surroundings thoroughly within a radius of a few yards .
The silent glow of the moon, the gentle mountain breeze and leaves whirling close to the ground all contributed to the beauty of the night .
In the clearing ahead, two white foxes were bowing to the moon .
The foxes had tiny bodies and large bushy tails . They did not have the stench of common animals and had a strange fragrance on their bodies . Their eyes darted about animatedly and their movements were intelligent . They were surely elves of the mountain .
'In terms of raw strength, even ten foxes would not be able to match the white tiger . However, not even a hundred white tigers will be able to match the foxes' intelligence . . . is this what it means by a trade-off?'
Fang Yuan watched the foxes silently .
They had been snooping around the camp and were now bowing to the moon . The moonlight that had fallen on their bodies looked especially dense . They were obviously in the middle of a cultivation ritual .
Moments later .
The two white foxes had completed their cultivation and began to play with each other . They chittered away without a care in the world while Fang Yuan watched on in the distance .
He could not understand the language of animals .
"Forget it, it's just two little demons!"
Fang Yuan took a big step forward .
"Hey!"
"Swoosh!"
The white foxes had not expected anyone to appear from behind the trees and were startled . They immediately sped off like two white arrows .
"Swish! Swish!"
Fang Yuan flicked two stones towards the foxes .
The white foxes were hit and fell to the ground, their eyes glassy .
"These little creatures have been bad!"
Fang Yuan hoisted both foxes up by the scruff of their necks . Their fur was extremely smooth to the touch, which aroused in Fang Yuan a passing impulse to make a fur coat out of them . However, upon closer inspection, the two foxes barely had enough fur between them to make a pair of gloves .
He released them and let them drop to the ground . Light returned to the foxes' eyes but they did not move and pretended to be dead .
"Enough of this . . . if you carry on with this act, I'll kill and skin you two!"
Fang Yuan intimidated them by baring his teeth .
"Nng! Nng!"
The two white foxes clasped their paws together and pleaded for mercy .
"Enough, take on your human forms!"
Fang Yuan pursed his lips .
The two foxes shared a look and decided to accept their fate . They hung their heads in resignation .
The foxes seemingly absorbed the essence of the moon and transformed into two white-robed servant girls .
They hugged each other and looked at Fang Yuan fearfully as if he was a predatory beast .
"Oh? Your cultivation has reached such a high level?"
Fang Yuan was surprised .
"This isn't the conventional path of the demon race . This is more similar to the celestial dao!"
"What . . . what do you want?"
The two fox girls were bright-eyed and had white teeth . They were around 13 or 14 years of age and were nearly identical to each other . One of them had gathered enough courage to speak up but looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment .
"Nothing . I just wanted to know who was spying on the army camp!"
Fang Yuan rubbed his nose . He was feeling somewhat guilty about bullying these kids .
Nevertheless, Fang Yuan was thick-skinned and let the feeling pass .
"Tell me honestly, what are your intentions?"
"Boohoo . . . we only wanted to steal the fur of the White Mountain Lady . . . boohoo . . . we don't mean any harm!"
The two fox girls were terrified and Fang Yuan could not help but find it funny .