Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

Saber-toothed tiger?

Fragments of memories flashed through Li Yuan's mind. He was a young hunter in the Snake Tribe. This morning, he went out hunting with the tribe's hunting team and unexpectedly encountered a huge saber-toothed tiger.

The beast was exceptionally ferocious, swatting two of its members away with a single paw. He rushed forward to try and distract it, but was struck in the chest by its tail and slammed into a tree, losing consciousness.

"Come on!" Mang pulled him up, shoving the stone spear into his hand. "Everyone's waiting for you. We must kill that beast today!"

Holding the stone spear, Li Yuan followed Mang into the depths of the forest. At this moment, he seemed to have completely forgotten his identity, instinctively following Mang's steps as they traversed the dense forest.

He didn't know where he came from, or who he was; he only knew that he was the originator of the snake tribe, a young hunter. And today's mission was to hunt down a saber-toothed tiger.

"Awooo!"

Deep in the jungle, a deafening tiger's roar echoed through the valley.

"Over there!" the lead hunter, Mu, said in a low voice, pointing to a thicket of bushes ahead. "You guys go around from this side."

The group of about twenty people split into two teams, slowed their pace, spread out in a fan shape, and cautiously moved towards the bushes.

Yuan followed behind Mang, his heart beating a little faster, but his hand holding the spear was very steady.

In my memory, he started helping to hunt rabbits and pheasants when he was eight or nine years old, and now he is one of the strongest hunters in the tribe.

From within the bushes, a pair of amber-colored vertical pupils were coldly staring at them.

The next moment, a huge yellow and black figure suddenly pounced out from inside.

"Be careful!"

Before Mu's warning had even faded, the saber-toothed tiger pounced on the hunter on the far left, its sharp fangs biting his shoulder. With a sudden jerk, it sent him flying, crashing into a tree.

"Snap!"

A dull thud of bones breaking echoed.

"Stone!" someone cried out in grief and indignation.

But the saber-toothed tiger gave them no time to grieve. It landed on all fours, turned sharply, and swept its whip-like tail across, knocking two approaching hunters to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, it opened its blood-red maw and bit one of the men's calves, pulling hard and causing blood to splatter everywhere, with screams echoing through the jungle.

"Attack together!"

With bloodshot eyes, the wooden figure roared and thrust its spear towards the saber-toothed tiger's throat.

The saber-toothed tiger lowered its head and took Amu's spear head-on with its hard forehead.

With a "crack," the spear tip broke off, leaving a white mark on the tiger skin. The saber-toothed tiger, in pain, let out an angry roar and slapped at Mu's chest with its claw.

The wooden object was sent flying backward, its chest caved in, and it coughed up blood. It fell to the ground and died.

Li Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

In just a few breaths, the hunting party had suffered three dead and two wounded, while the saber-toothed tiger was almost unharmed.

This was the law of survival in ancient times. Humans were merely a link in the food chain. Faced with ferocious beasts with sharp teeth and claws, they could only fight with their flesh and blood and risk their lives.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

Someone shouted in terror.

The hunting party began to retreat.

But Li Yuan did not retreat. He gripped the stone spear tightly, staring intently at the saber-toothed tiger, his eyes burning with an indomitable flame.

He knew that if he couldn't kill the saber-toothed tiger today, it would continue to attack the tribe, and more people would die under its sharp claws and teeth.

He charged forward, meeting the cold, tiger-like eyes.

"Awooo!"

Seeing that this tiny human dared to charge at it, the saber-toothed tiger let out a disdainful growl, raised its huge claws, and slammed them down towards Li Yuan's head.

Just as the tiger's claws were about to strike, Li Yuan suddenly rolled away, avoiding the fatal blow. At the same time, seizing the opportunity, he thrust out the stone spear in his hand, plunging it fiercely into the saber-toothed tiger's left eye.

"roar--!"

The saber-toothed tiger let out a agonizing roar, frantically shaking its head. Li Yuan was thrown away by the immense force and crashed heavily to the ground. The stone spear slipped from his hand and remained in the saber-toothed tiger's eye socket.

Blood gushed from the saber-toothed tiger's left eye. The excruciating pain drove it into a frenzy. It pounced on Yuan, opened its blood-red maw, and bit down hard on his neck.

Li Yuan closed his eyes; he no longer had the strength to dodge.

"brute!"

"Die!"

At the critical moment, two stone spears flew in one after the other, piercing the saber-toothed tiger's soft belly. The saber-toothed tiger was in pain and its movements faltered slightly. The remaining hunters took the opportunity to rush up and plunge their stone spears into the saber-toothed tiger's body.

Mang quickly reached out and pulled Li Yuan out, then turned around and joined the hunt.

The saber-toothed tiger rolled wildly on the ground, causing the trees to shake violently. Several more hunters fell injured, but the rest fought back fiercely, swinging their stone spears and stabbing the tiger again and again.

Finally, the saber-toothed tiger stopped roaring and collapsed with a thud, its foul-smelling blood pooling on the ground.

Li Yuan lay on the ground, panting heavily. His body was covered in blood, some of his own and some of that of the saber-toothed tiger.

Seeing that enormous creature finally fall, I felt no joy, only deep sorrow.

A hunting party of over twenty people went out, and four died and eight were injured, all for the sake of hunting a saber-toothed tiger.

Such sacrifices happen every day in the jungle.

The group collected the remains of their companion, dragged the huge tiger carcass, and returned to the tribe, where the tribespeople held a simple funeral for the deceased.

There were no cries, no mourning. In the tribe, death was commonplace. No one had time to grieve, because tomorrow they had to continue hunting and living.

That evening, the tribe held a sacrificial ceremony.

The campfire illuminated the devout faces of the tribespeople. The old shaman placed the fattest pieces of meat on the altar, knelt on the ground, and chanted incantations before a stone-carved snake god statue on the altar.

"Great Serpent God, you are the guardian of our tribe, the most powerful deity in the world. Please grant us strength, bless our hunters to catch more prey, and protect our women and children from wild beasts..."

Li Yuan knelt in the crowd, looking at the cold stone snake on the altar, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welled up inside him.

The best parts of the food they hunted with their lives were to be offered to the serpent god, and they prayed for power from him, but the serpent god never truly gave them anything.

They are so weak, struggling on the brink of life and death every day, exchanging the sacrifice of their companions for meager prey.

On what grounds?

A surge of resentment welled up within him. Why were those ferocious beasts born with sharp teeth and claws, while humans could only rely on stones and wooden sticks as weapons?

Why are those demonic beasts able to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and possess the power to overturn rivers and seas, while humans can only rely on their flesh and blood to fight against them?

He was not reconciled.

After the sacrificial ceremony, Li Yuan found the oldest man in the tribe and asked him his question.

"Grandpa, why does the Serpent God possess such immense power, while we humans are so weak? Why can't we wield the power of heaven and earth like those demonic beasts?"

The old man remained silent for a long time, then sighed and said slowly in a tone that seemed to have seen through the vicissitudes of life: "Because gods and demons are beings favored by heaven and earth, they are born able to sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and can use those powers."