The three human masters giving chase were incredibly fast and were closing in on him fast. The vine ball in his mouth, Xiao Bai was silvered, almost a blur as he tore across the countryside, jumping over streams and rocks and crashing straight through small trees and bushes.
The silvered Yin Manshu was one or two kilometers behind Xiao Bai, silver light flashing under her feet with every step. Her long hair danced in the wind, leaving numerous ice crystals sprinkled behind her.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao were running side by side a couple hundred meters further back.
"Yin Manshu picked her timing well! We dealt with the military while she took off..." Chi Xiao licked the lips with his scarlet tongue, then coldly said, "The scheming vixen! She's been saving her strength and biding her time from the moment those two big bastards showed up!"
Bai Long frowned and nodded, "I know! Let's deal with Yin Manshu together and discuss who should get the fruit once we catch the tiger."
"All right!" Chi Xiao watched Xiao Bai with a strange expression. "Is it just me, or that tiger much faster than a normal three-ringed monster? It's quite clever too, to snatch away the fruit like that!"
Bai Long didn't answer, lost in thought.
It had to be Jiang Shaoliu's tamed tiger, but the question was, how could it acquire two new life rings in such a short time? Could it be because it ate a lot of rare fruits?
The wind whistled in Xiao Bai's ears as he shot through the dense forests of Sector 2. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Yin Manshu, a round stone in her hand, standing less than two hundred meters away and preparing to throw.
Wide-eyed, Xiao Bai accelerated, zigzagging amidst the thick tree. His heavy tail whipped against the base of the small tree, causing a shower of leaves and branches to block Yin Manshu's line of sight.
"Clever beast..." Yin Manshu snarled and threw the stone away into the sky, smashing through the high bough of the trees above.
Yin Manshu didn't slow down, rushing through the screen of shredded branches and leaves after Xiao Bai.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao leaped over the broken branches, hot on her heels.
Xiao Bai continued leaving obstacles behind him as he tore through the woodland. Eventually, he broke out of the forest and emerged before a deep, winding river.
Panting roughly, Xiao Bai followed the river downstream, occasionally glancing at the far bank.
Two plump parrots came hopping and skipping in the opposite direction, their clumsy bodies wobbling and their wings raised protectively over their heads, as if they were fleeing from something dangerous.
The white tiger and the two fat birds brushed past each other on the riverbank. The birds barely glanced at the great cat.
Glancing at Yin Manshu, who was closing in fast, Xiao Bai accelerated even further towards the gorge up ahead, leaving a trail of green air behind his paws.
…
The golden tiger was sleeping in the parrot's nest, its drool, sparkling in the sun, slowly seeping into the cattail reeds.
Its eyelids trembled and opened slowly. It shook its large head and rose up to look towards the mouth of the gorge.
Four very weak things were fast approaching.
The golden tiger yawned, licked up the drool at the corner of its mouth, and lay back down.
…
Xiao Bai stormed into the gorge, looking all around apprehensively.
There were steep cliffs on three sides, dotted by tall waterfalls feeding into a central pool. There was no way out except to turn back.
Uh-oh…
He reached the edge of the pool and stopped. Looked into the water pool and stretched out a paw to test the water, he decided not to jump in, as the water seemed too deep.
Yin Manshu stopped behind Xiao Bai and glared at him irately. Thin crystal threads whirled around her as she flicked her wrist. "So, are you going to escape again?"
Xiao Bai quickly sized up Yin Manshu and tensed his enormous muscles, preparing to pounce.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao arrived together on her left and right, blocking the way out of the gorge completely.
Xiao Bai blinked. After a few seconds of stillness, the giant tiger plopped on the ground and waved his tail nonthreateningly, putting on his best impression of a friendly face.
"Yin Manshu," Chi Xiao turned to her with ice in his voice, "the white tiger is trapped now. I've made an alliance with Bai Long, so you can leave now."
Bai Long flourished his longsword threateningly and said in a low voice, "You are not Lion Warrior, you can't beat us both. If you've any sense, leave now, or we'll be forced to be… cruel."
"Is that so?" Yin Manshu looked left and right, crystal wires dangling from her left hand and the long chain from the other as a cold mist rose up around them and a layer of thick white frost appeared on her skin and hair. "It's true that I cannot defeat you both," she sneered icily, "but letting the tiger escape… now that's another matter entirely. If I can't have the fruit, neither can you!"
"You…" Chi Xiao gnashed his teeth, glancing at Bai Long.
Bai Long frowned and gripped his sword tightly.
"I get the fruit, and you can have whatever you want from me as compensation," said Yin Manshu slowly and clearly. "The Gangxing Group shall be generous."
Chi Xiao kept silent and slowly licked his lips. The look in his eye grew colder. Bai Long scowled fiercely.
Realizing they weren't meaning to back down, Yin Manshu sidled over to Xiao Bai, the shimmering silver light surrounding her growing ever brighter.
Xiao Bai watched them in complete confusion, with no clue of what was going on.
Suddenly, his eyes opened wide and ears flattened tightly against his skull in alarm, swiveling his flexible neck to look across the pool.
Another, gargantuan tiger was standing inside an enormous bird's nest nestled amidst an outcrop of rocks, stretching itself. Its head slowly turned to fixate upon Xiao Bai.
Yin Manshu noticed the second tiger too.
She immediately froze, her heart beating wildly. The frost began to quickly melt off her face as her strength seemed to seep away.
Bai Long and Chi Xiao reacted much the same way.
The gigantic tiger was more than thirty meters from heavy tail to bone-crunching jaws. It opened its maw and revealed fangs like scythes, the bright 'king' character gleaming on its head as if stamped on in liquid gold. The tiger raised its head proudly, showing the ferocious lines of its musculature.
"Achoo!"
It suddenly sneezed like a cannon, blasting a hole in the wall of the nest, then shook its head and climbed out, its body metalizing in glorious gold.
Surrounded by a golden glow, it seemed as if the humongous beast wasn't even touching the earth, as its steps made no sound at all.
Xiao Bai pressed himself into the ground with his forelegs covering his head and his tail between his legs, doing his best impression of an inconspicuous hillock.
Yin Manshu bit her tongue to force herself to stop trembling, Bai Long bit the mouth and the silver light almost faded on him, he wanted to escape but couldn't move.
Chi Xiao clenched his fists so hard his nails pierced the skin of his palms until blood started dripping on the ground.
The tiger briefly examined the three humans around Xiao Bai and seemed unsatisfied. Then it opened its crimson mouth and roared.
The force of the soundwave was not one bit less than Lin Yuetao's lion roar, echoing back and forth between the cliffs surrounding the gorge and pushing tall waves across the surface of the pool. Trees as far as half a kilometer away were shaken to their roots, showering the gorge with twigs and leaves.
"RUN!!!"
Yin Manshu screamed and three streaks of bright silver shot towards the mouth of the gorge like greased lightning.
The roar continued for more than a minute before stopping. The tiger watched the three humans sprinting away from the gorge in distain, then blinked and squinted its enormous eyes at a fourth figure.
The white tiger, its head low and its tail between its legs, was sneakily trotting away in their footsteps.
Clever beast.