Chapter 28: Turning the Tables and Backhanding

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“It’s fine. Ao Qing said that I can absorb nutrients from plants just as easily as I can absorb nutrients from animals. My floating roots can grow anywhere, too.”

“If Ao Qing says it’s fine, then it must be fine.” Ao Qing was an old monster who had lived for who knew how many years. If even he saw no problem, then there probably really was no problem.

Besides, Little Golden Silk ate steamed buns the same way. Since she had always picked them up to eat them, it had seemed perfectly natural. But when it came to using something else, she somehow could not make the connection. Thinking about it was rather amusing.

“Little Golden Silk, you’re amazing! From now on, your master will have to rely entirely on you.”

“No problem.” Little Golden Silk did not think there was anything wrong with that at all.

Of course, Wen Yue had only been joking. Seeing how powerful Little Golden Silk was, however, Wen Yue instantly felt a tremendous sense of crisis. If Little Golden Silk surpassed her, she would be too embarrassed to face anyone!

“Let’s walk a little farther and see if there’s any prey we can hunt,” Wen Yue said.

“Sure!” Little Golden Silk felt that she had not yet displayed all her strength and intended to show off a little more.

They had not gone far when Wen Yue heard a disturbance. “Sounds like there’s something over there?”

“Where?” Little Golden Silk was eager to try her skills.

“Behind that broad-leaved plant.” Wen Yue pointed toward the plant ahead, which resembled a banana tree.

“I’ll do it. I’ll be more careful this time and won’t suck it dry again. If I don’t use my floating roots, I won’t absorb anything.”

“All right. Even if you use them, it doesn’t matter. We’ve already taken down one animal anyway.” Wen Yue was unconcerned. As long as Little Golden Silk did not use the same method again, it would be fine.

This time, Little Golden Silk repeated her previous maneuver. She cautiously extended several slender stems and immediately constricted the porcupine’s neck. By the time the porcupine realized what was happening, it was already too late. In the end, it lost its life.

“Not bad! That was fast.” Wen Yue praised Little Golden Silk as she went to collect the prey.

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Before Wen Yue could reach the carcass, she heard a roar.

“Roar! Roar!”

She looked up and saw a tiger. Judging by its aura, it seemed slightly stronger than she was.

The porcupine was probably the tiger’s prey. Wen Yue had taken it first, and the tiger was displeased, which was why it had begun roaring.

Perhaps because of the instincts left over from her previous life, Wen Yue instinctively wanted to yield the moment she saw the tiger. She decided to retreat, thinking that doing so would resolve the matter.

Unfortunately, she had overestimated her luck. The tiger had no intention of letting her go and pounced straight at her.

In a panic, Wen Yue activated Cloudstep and barely dodged the tiger’s swipe. Once she evaded the attack, she immediately fired two golden needles toward the tiger’s eyes. Sensing the danger, the tiger leaped to the side, only to run straight into the two needles Wen Yue had sent after the first pair. By sheer luck, one of them struck its eye.

The tiger had never suffered such a setback before and flew into a rage. It charged furiously at Wen Yue.

Wen Yue naturally had no intention of fighting it head-on. The tiger was at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, slightly stronger than she was. Since she wanted to use the battle to hone herself, she did not let Little Golden Silk intervene. She merely had her observe from the sidelines and rescue her if she encountered any danger.

Although the tiger had become enraged, Wen Yue grew calmer instead. She circulated Cloudstep and darted back and forth through the woods, refusing to clash directly with it. Her evasiveness drove the hot-tempered tiger nearly mad.

Now that Wen Yue had regained her composure, she waited for an opening and occasionally threw stones at the tiger.

Seeing how violently the tiger was raging, Wen Yue decided to lure it toward an area filled with rocks. She had no particularly powerful offensive spells at the moment and could only rely on the stones.

The tiger was, after all, a spirit beast. A few stones would probably feel no more painful than an itch. Wen Yue continued weaving through the forest while studying the terrain. Without some external advantage, she had no chance of defeating this berserk tiger.

After more than ten minutes, she finally found a place with an abundance of stones. There were fewer trees here, however, so she could no longer use them to evade the tiger. She needed to think of another plan. She could not put herself in danger.

Fortunately, Wen Yue came up with an idea. One of the tiger’s eyes had been struck by her golden needle and was now injured and useless. What if she blinded its other eye as well? Once it was blind, whether the battlefield was open or enclosed would no longer matter.

Once she had an idea, Wen Yue acted immediately. The tiger probably would not fall for another golden-needle attack, so she decided to use something else.

Wen Yue took a paper-wrapped object from her storage pouch and used telekinesis to send it in front of the tiger. As expected, the tiger smacked the packet with one paw. The contents scattered instantly, and because the attack was so swift, most of the powder flew directly into its eyes.

The tiger was driven into a frenzy and let out furious howls.

When an enemy was already injured, Wen Yue showed no mercy. She sent boulder-sized stones hurtling toward the wounded tiger one after another. In an instant, the unprepared tiger was buried beneath them.

The tiger was probably not dead yet. After all, it was a spirit beast; it could not possibly die so easily. But now that its movements had been restricted, things became much simpler.

In her previous life, Wen Yue had heard that a tiger’s nose was especially vulnerable. She had no idea whether that was true, but she condensed a golden blade and hacked at the tiger’s nose.

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Taking advantage of its inability to resist, she struck it again and again. Only after confirming that it was dead did Wen Yue begin clearing away the stones, revealing the tiger’s intact corpse.

Wen Yue was delighted. She decided that once she returned, she would skin it carefully and try to preserve the hide in one piece. In her previous life, possessing a pelt like this would probably have landed her in prison. Now, however, she could own one openly and lawfully.

She was still basking in her good mood when she heard someone approaching.

Wen Yue had been on the mountain for more than half a day without encountering a single person. Now that she had made a substantial kill, someone had suddenly appeared. Even someone thinking with their toes could tell that something was wrong.

Since the newcomer had already arrived, Wen Yue did not bother covering the tiger’s corpse. She simply raised her head to see what shameless person had come looking for trouble.

The newcomer was a young woman in her twenties, apparently at the fourth or fifth level of Qi Refinement.

Before she had even steadied herself, she angrily shouted at Wen Yue, “You killed my spirit pet! You owe me spirit stones!”

Wen Yue had already expected the woman not to speak reasonably and suspected that she had come for the prey. She simply had not expected her to be so shameless as to reverse right and wrong so blatantly.

As for the claim that the tiger was her spirit pet, that was obviously impossible. If it had truly been her spirit pet, she would have appeared during the ten or twenty minutes Wen Yue had spent struggling with the tiger. Judging from her appearance, the woman had not experienced any battle at all. What kind of owner would only show up after her spirit pet had been killed?

“You came at just the right time. It ate one of my prey animals earlier. I was willing to let it have that one, but who would have thought it would still be dissatisfied and try to attack me? You should at least compensate me for the shock—and you owe me for my prey as well!” Wen Yue made up the story without hesitation. Anyone could do that.

“You shameless brat! I told you to compensate me for my spirit pet, and you’re demanding compensation from me instead? Are you looking for a beating?”

Seeing that she could not gain the upper hand with words, the woman immediately attacked.

“Master, do you need help? I’m coming!” Little Golden Silk had also noticed that the woman was somewhat stronger and began to panic.

“You coming won’t help much. We’re far weaker than she is. It looks like we can’t win through ordinary means. We’ll have to rely on a surprise attack. Don’t come out yet—wait for my command.” Wen Yue fled while transmitting her instructions to Little Golden Silk.