This mountain-like Tiger Demon had a beast’s head atop a human’s body. Its muscles were gnarled like the tangled roots of an old tree, and a broken Bronze chain was wrapped around its rotting tail.

The Corpse-Rot Tiger Demon’s spine arched like an inverted moon as it burst from the earth. A few tattered pieces of Armor hung from its protruding vertebrae.

As its gnarled foreclaws tore through the rock, chunks of dark-red, rotting flesh sloughed off, revealing the green-tinged sinew and the Bronze chains wrapped around it.

The broken end of the chain whipped wildly through the air, striking showers of sparks from the cliff face as if it were a blade.

"Retreat!"

The Lamp Master, his face a mask of shock, let out a thunderous roar as he brought his Yanling Saber up before him.

He caught the distinct, foul stench of Blood Qi surging from the Tiger Demon’s throat. In an instant, his head grew dizzy. It was a lethal miasma, a toxic mix of rotting flesh and beast blood.

The Lamp Master hastily pulled an Antitoxic Pill from his pouch and swallowed it. A cooling sensation seeped into his mind, and he finally felt much better.

In that moment, he was finally certain: this Demon Fiend before them was an enemy they could not possibly defeat.

The clang of metal on earth sounded from behind him. ’One of the Bei Mang Mountain men must have been paralyzed by fear.’

Xu Yunfan was deeply shaken. He knew from the texts in the Celestial Craft Cave’s Scripture Pavilion and from what Zhan Yan had told him that the world’s Primordial Spirits were stirring and that Demon Fiends would indeed reawaken.

’But I never thought one would appear so close.’

The moment the tiger’s claw slammed into the ground, Xu Yunfan’s pupils contracted sharply.

The shockwave from its massive body shattered the frozen earth in a spiderweb of cracks, and the resulting blast sent three Bei Mang Mountain disciples who failed to dodge in time flying.

Then the beast’s rotting tail swept out. A pine tree as thick as a bowl exploded on impact, and flying splinters stung Xu Yunfan’s cheek with sharp snaps.

A roar like the rush of air from a Bellows rumbled in the Tiger Demon’s throat, echoing through the forest like a series of thunderclaps. The concussive force made many of the Bei Mang Mountain disciples see stars. They stumbled, unable to even stand steady, their Blood Qi thrown into chaos, leaving them powerless to lift their weapons.

Xu Yunfan, however, seemed unaffected. ’From its every move,’ he judged, ’its power isn’t completely overwhelming. It’s far weaker than the woman in white from my dream, at least. I might be able to fight it, but the result would likely be mutual destruction, only to the benefit of a third party.’

’Besides, it’s a reawakened Demon Fiend. Who knows what kind of Magic or Divine Techniques it might possess.’

"It’s the Guanshan Tiger from the Ancestral Master’s records!"

The Lamp Master suddenly shrieked, his voice raw, crushing the Bronze Bell in his hand until it deformed.

"It’s him! Two thousand years ago, he was the man-eating tiger who slaughtered one hundred thousand laborers! A Great Demon Fiend! Go! Run! That doll is its Chong Ghost!"

Before he could finish, a battle cry like rolling thunder erupted from the Tiger Demon’s rotting chest, the sound waves shaking dust and pebbles from the cliffs. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’Now!’

Gripping his Thunderfire Qilin Hammer, Xu Yunfan slammed it into the ground. He used the recoil to slide twenty feet, staying low.

As the Armor-Piercing Awl on the end of his hammer’s handle severed three red strings soaked in Red Nitrate, the Bronze cage holding the Ginseng Doll rolled right to his feet.

He hooked the cage’s ring with the toe of his boot and flung it into the air behind him. The entire sequence of movements was as if practiced a thousand times—decisive, sharp, and without the slightest hesitation.

"You insolent whelp!"

The Lamp Master’s eyes blazed with fury. They had expended so much effort for that Ginseng Doll! Even if it was the Chong Ghost for a Tiger Demon that had slaughtered a hundred thousand people, its value was still immeasurable. He had barely swung his saber halfway before the tiger’s tail smashed it into a spray of iron fragments.

The Demon Fiend was fixated on the Bronze cage. Its rotting claws crushed two Bei Mang disciples, and a foul gust carrying shreds of flesh shot straight for Xu Yunfan’s back.

’Chong Ghost?’

Xu Yunfan glanced at the Ginseng Doll in the Bronze cage. ’This cherubic, rosy-lipped, pearly-toothed thing is supposed to be a Chong Ghost?’

Seeing Xu Yunfan look over, the doll’s little face twisted into a vicious snarl, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Xu Yunfan kicked hard off the cliff face, his body arching backward in midair.

As the tiger’s claws grazed his spine, he clearly saw half a Lance jammed between them. It was of an ancient design, flecked with rust.

’So it underwent Soldier Resolution, just as I thought.’

He sneered, and using his downward momentum, brought the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer crashing down on the Tiger Demon’s Celestial Spirit.

Fueled by his Blood Qi, the hammer head erupted in a burst of Thunder Fire, instantly searing away a large patch of the Tiger Demon’s rotten flesh.

The force was so utterly ferocious, enough to shatter a small hill, that it brought the Tiger Demon to a dead stop.

While the Tiger Demon staggered in pain, Xu Yunfan performed a nimble flip that carried him fifty feet away.

The Lamp Master’s crazed roar came from behind: "That beast has devoured the flesh of ten thousand men! You can’t escape! I know how to deal with it! Bei Mang Mountain has records! Work with me! The Bronze chain on its joints is the Dragon-Suppressing Nail..."

His voice cut off abruptly, replaced by a deafening crash, as if the mountainside itself were collapsing.

Without looking back, Xu Yunfan knew the Tiger Demon must have destroyed the mountain path with the chain on its tail.

He sprinted, cage in his left hand and hammer in his right. The iron spikes on his boots struck sparks from the rocky soil. As he ran, the wind whistled past his ears, and the dying screams of the Bei Mang disciples faded into silence.

The path ended at a cliff’s edge. Without a moment’s hesitation, Xu Yunfan stomped down hard. The rock beneath his feet shattered as he launched himself over the edge like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The Tiger Demon’s lunge, wreathed in a foul wind, barely grazed the top of his head.

Mid-fall, he swung his hammer in a backhand arc. The Thunderfire Qilin Hammer extended into its Chain Hammer form and smashed heavily into the Tiger Demon’s jaw, knocking the massive creature to the ground.

With a flick of his wrist, the Chain Hammer snapped back, giving the Tiger Demon no opening to retaliate.

The Tiger Demon scrambled back to its feet, seemingly unaffected by the blow. It looked down at Xu Yunfan, now a tiny speck below, and let out an earth-shattering roar.

A tiger’s roar echoed through the forest.

A visible shockwave rolled out from its emaciated throat, snapping trees and flattening the surrounding vegetation.

Its gaze was filled with bloodlust and fury. After staring intently at Xu Yunfan, it dropped to all fours and began sprinting along the cliff’s edge.

Even in midair, the foul wind from the Tiger Demon’s roar made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

But Xu Yunfan’s expression remained unchanged. He twisted at his core, the tendons in his forearm tightening like steel cables as he gripped the hammer. With a whistle of displaced air, three feet of chain shot out from the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer.

The Armor-Piercing Awl on the end of the swinging handle scraped against the cliff face, striking bluish-purple sparks.

With a light flick of his wrist, Xu Yunfan sent a rippling force down the chain to the Armor-Piercing Awl, driving it deep into the sheer cliff face.

The moment the awl bit into the rock, Xu Yunfan snapped his body into an arc. His fall was brought to a jarring halt with the sharp CRACK of the iron chain pulling taut.

The Thunder Pattern Steel Chain scraped through his palm, sending up a shower of sparks, but it held him steady seventy feet below the clifftop.

Shards of rock rained down.

Xu Yunfan kicked off a rocky outcropping to propel himself sideways, coiling the iron chain around his left arm three times like a nimble snake.

He looked up to see the Tiger Demon’s rotting torso hanging over the cliff’s edge. Its Bronze chain clanked as it wrapped around the roots of a pine tree on the cliff face. The beast was using the ancient Dragon-Suppressing chain to hang upside down and chase after him!

Debris dislodged by its claws scraped past his face.

With a sharp flick of his right wrist, Xu Yunfan jerked the Chain Hammer free from the rock crevice.

*(Eight thousand words today, my wrist hurts too much. I’ll shoot for ten thousand tomorrow! Thanks, everyone!)*