Longevity Candle

Chapter 8 The Extraordinary Person's Teachings
The hunters came together early the next morning to persuade them.

The father and daughter agreed, wanting to know what Bai Qiuyun was up to and whether he had come to find Jiang Zhu.

Bai Qiuyun was overjoyed and immediately led his men into Baiyun Mountain.

He carried a painting scroll on his back, without asking for help or hiring anyone to carry him in a sedan chair, and walked with the hunters.

The ailing body seemed to possess boundless power, even moving faster than Gu Qianshan.

Ayan carried the green lantern on her back and frowned. For some reason, Bai Qiuyun gave her an uncomfortable feeling. Being around him was too cold, like the dead of winter.

The blue lantern on its back seemed to tremble slightly.

This wasn't the case before. Could it be that painting?
Unfortunately, the painting was rolled up, so she couldn't see what it depicted or what was special about it.

She pondered for a moment, keeping an eye on things, and then gave Gu Qianshan a wink.

The father and daughter had a tacit understanding, and he was more cautious. He also felt uncomfortable about that painting.

The back of Baiyun Mountain.

The ancient trees are towering and lush, but they are shrouded in darkness and dampness.

Ayan disliked this environment, so she leaped to the top of a tree so that the green lamp could shine into the sunlight, and at the same time, she could explore the dense forest from above.

Zhang Wanren entered the woods first, wandered around for a while, took a deep breath, and then retreated.

His nose is very sensitive; he can smell many scents that cannot be detected by other smells.

It was this nose that made him the top hunter in Xiahe Town.

Wang Shi is very skilled in external martial arts, and ordinary weapons are hard to hurt him. He once fought a tiger and only suffered minor injuries.

The group walked through the woods and before they knew it, it was noon.

They took the opportunity to rest, and further ahead lay the Tiger King's territory.

The group sat around, eating dry rations.

Ayan didn't come down; she ate the pancakes while still in the tree.

The hunters ate and chatted; they were all skilled hunters and didn't take the tiger king too seriously.

Both Zhang Wanren and Wang Shi had experience hunting tigers, but had never fought a tiger king. They didn't know how strong the tiger king was, but they figured it couldn't be much stronger, so they were very confident.

If it weren't for Beaujohn's insistence, they would have all wanted to go it alone.

The two men didn't pay any attention as they watched the hunters chatting and relaxing.

Gu Qianshan frowned and kindly reminded him, "We're already close to Tiger King's territory, so we should be careful."

"Brother Gu, it's just a big worm." Wang Shi said nonchalantly, "It's even better if it dares to come, just kill it."

Gu Qianshan stopped trying to persuade him and only gave instructions to the hunters around him.

He had been injured in the mountains and nearly became lame. He valued his life more than anyone else and was very cautious.

The hunters of Baiyun Town obeyed him in everything, became wary, and stopped talking.

"You guys are just too cautious..."

As soon as a hunter from Xiahe Town spoke, Zhang Wanren's expression suddenly changed: "No, they're here!"

Wow
The weeds swayed, the trees and shrubs moved, and a gentle breeze blew by.

“It’s the wind,” Wang Shi said.

“It’s not the wind. I’ve smelled the Tiger King’s scent. He’s here,” Zhang Wanren said solemnly.

"We're one short," the hunter from Xiahe Town exclaimed in alarm.

Bai Qiuyun quickly got up and pressed himself against the tree where Ayan was.

At that moment, the hunters' hearts sank; they had witnessed the tiger king's eeriness and ferocity.

"Southeast direction, moving very fast."

"Ayan, who was in the tree, exclaimed in surprise."

Everyone looked over and saw a ferocious tiger had arrived, its gaping maw swallowing the hunter's head whole.

Blood gushed out, and everyone could clearly see the character "王" (king) between the tiger's eyebrows.

Tiger King!

He drew his bow and nocked an arrow, then shot it at the Tiger King.

Unexpectedly, the tiger king abandoned the hunter's carcass and slid away, disappearing into the dense weeds. "It's too fast. Let's leave this place and find an open area."

Ayan flew down and came to Gu Qianshan's side: "There is an open space three hundred meters to the north."

The king of the forest, concealed by vegetation, is terrifying.

It is incomparable to an ordinary tiger.

“Let’s go.” Bai Qiuyun immediately agreed. He was there to hunt tigers, not to die. He had already taken the scroll behind him.

The hunters no longer dared to be arrogant and rushed towards the place Ayan had mentioned.

A piercing scream rang out, and arrows were fired continuously, but the tiger king was too fast; before the arrows even arrived, it had already vanished.

"You guys go first, I'll cover the rear."

Wang Shi roared, his skin gleaming with a bronze glow, and charged to the back, shouting, "You beast, come at me if you dare..."

puff
A dark shadow flashed by, and sharp claws pierced through the chest, shattering the heart.

Blood gushed from Wang Shi's mouth in disbelief; his external martial arts training couldn't even withstand a single claw from the Tiger King.

The hunters watched in horror, and despair welled up in their hearts.

Ayan's expression was very solemn; the Tiger King was stronger than her.

All she could do was lead them to an open area so that the Tiger King could no longer hide in the forest.

The Tiger King still retreated after a single strike, never lingering in battle.

Zhang Wanren fled in terror, filled with an unprecedented fear. He made up his mind that if he could return alive, he would never go back into the mountains again.

Bai Qiuyun was equally shocked, but remained relatively calm.

The hunters fled frantically, wishing they had two more legs.

The piercing screams continued to ring out, like a death knell, terrifying them to death.

Some hunters completely lost their minds and were gripped by fear, constantly shooting arrows into the forest.

They didn't know where the Tiger King was, and they were venting their fear in the hopes of scaring him away so he wouldn't come after them.

"Everyone, don't panic, save the arrows!" Gu Qianshan hurriedly shouted.

But no one listened to him; they were completely deaf to reason. Only a few hunters from Baiyun Town managed to suppress their fear for the time being.

The tiger returned, its claws shattering the arrows, and this time it took both men with it.

"We're almost there," Ayan's voice rang out.

Three hundred meters felt like thirty thousand miles.

They rushed out of the dense forest and came to a wide open area.

The weeds here are short and the trees have been cut down and have not yet grown back, so there is nowhere to hide.

The tiger king indeed did not dare to chase after them.

As the sunlight shone down, Ayan dared not relax. He stood behind his father, back to back, gazing at the forest.

"Old Zhou, count the number of people and the number of arrows," Gu Qianshan said calmly.

Old Zhou quickly got busy and reported with a gloomy face: "Thirty-one people, sixteen people are left: seven from Baiyun Town, three from Xiaohe Town, and five from Qingshui Town. Each person has less than five arrows."

Thirty hunters, plus thirty-one Bai Qiuyun, were wiped out in a short time!
"We'll return the money to you, and we won't be able to kill the Tiger King." Zhang Wanren was terrified; he had lost all his previous arrogance.

Bai Qiuyun's expression changed slightly: "Is it a matter of leaving whenever we want now? We've all been targeted by the Tiger King. Where can we possibly go? I didn't know the Tiger King was so powerful."

Gu Qianshan said in a deep voice, "Old Zhang, calm down. That beast is watching us in the woods. We need your nose to pinpoint its location."

What Bai Qiuyun said was true. The Tiger King had not left yet. If he separated from the team, he would only be defeated one by one.

Zhang Wanren, the foremost hunter and a burly man, was now crying out in desperation: "I can't calm down! I can't calm down! I can't smell his location!"

"Even if you can't calm down, you have to," Bai Qiuyun said in a deep voice. "Once it gets dark, the night will give it the best disguise."

He reached out and pressed down on Zhang Wanren's shoulder. The biting cold made Zhang Wanren shiver, but it also calmed him down.

“Even if we can smell its location, we can’t kill it; it’s too fast.” A hunter’s face was ashen, filled with deep despair.

Bai Qiuyun remained calm, picked up a tree branch, and wrote on the ground: "I was once taught by a strange man and have a miraculous technique that can freeze that beast for a moment. We only have this one chance. If we succeed, we will kill the tiger; if we fail, we will all perish. Be prepared."

(End of this chapter)