After coming down from the mountain, Tigerhead Dragon didn't get far before he suddenly stopped. Then, careful not to make a sound, he crept back to the spot where they'd parted ways. From a distance, he caught a faint glimpse of Tan Bajhang and Liu Xiaolou each taking different mountain paths. Without hesitation, he decided to follow Liu Xiaolou, keeping about thirty zhang behind, quietly tailing him. Thanks to his high level of cultivation and the distance between them, Liu Xiaolou didn't suspect a thing; and never noticed he was being followed.
Although the Qingyu Sect had taken control of Wulong Mountain, they had clearly pulled their forces back to a single area, leaving the surrounding peaks mostly empty. That was exactly why the Zhanglong Sect had sent Liu Xiaolou and the others to scout the place. With no one around, Liu Xiaolou moved quickly, which made it tough for Tigerhead Dragon to keep up.
They twisted and turned along the mountain paths until Tigerhead Dragon had completely lost his sense of direction. Eventually, a forest appeared up ahead. It felt remote. Utterly quiet.
A perfect place to kill someone.
Tigerhead Dragon began channeling his true qi. Thick veins bulged along his arms, and both limbs grew as hard as forged iron. He was just about to lunge forward and strike from behind—
When Liu Xiaolou suddenly stopped. Slowly, he turned in a circle, scanning the area in every direction.
Startled, and feeling a guilty conscience, Tigerhead Dragon quickly ducked down, hiding beneath the bushes behind a nearby tree. Peeking through a gap in the leaves, he watched closely. Liu Xiaolou looked around for a moment, then all at once leapt into a nearby big tree, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Tigerhead Dragon blinked, thinking he must've seen wrong. But Liu Xiaolou really was gone, just like that. No trace of him. It was downright strange.
He crouched in the bushes for a little while longer, but eventually stood up and made his way to the tree Liu Xiaolou had jumped into. He leapt onto one of the branches and started feeling around. Suddenly, he grinned. He'd found a hidden mechanism inside a hollow in the trunk.
The hole was narrow, and Tigerhead Dragon was a big guy, but that didn't slow him down at all. Body refinement cultivators like him could expand and contract their muscles at will. It was a skill he was particularly proud of; especially popular back when he visited brothels.
With a series of sharp cracking sounds, like beans popping in a pan, his entire frame shrank, until he was even smaller than Liu Xiaolou. Then he slipped through the tree hollow and dropped inside.
Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a tunnel stretching out ahead. He followed it for quite a while before arriving at a stone chamber. But that was it. The path stopped there.
Stunned, Tigerhead Dragon stood frozen for a moment. He struck a firestarter to light up the room. The glow lit the place nicely, but no matter how much he looked or felt around, he couldn't find any hidden passage leading out.
After thinking it over, his gaze landed on a pool of water nearby. He tested the depth; he couldn't reach the bottom. There had to be an underground river below.
He dove in. About three zhang down, he found a cluster of holes—thirteen in total, large and small. For a moment, he didn't know what to do. Gritting his teeth, he swam into the largest opening and kept going for a long stretch. But there was no sign of an exit, and his breath was running out fast. He had no choice but to turn around and surface, gasping for air.
Next, he picked another hole; this one with water flowing into it. He figured that if he followed the current, it had to lead to an exit. But it turned out to be a dead end. The water could pass through, but a person couldn't. On his way back, he nearly drowned when his true qi ran low and he couldn't hold his breath any longer.
Being trapped in such a narrow, sealed space underground filled him with dread and despair. He didn't dare go back into the water. Stumbling and gasping, he retraced his path and crawled back out through the tree hollow.
The moment sunlight hit his face, he was almost moved to tears. This was his first time exploring a cave, and the suffocating, closed-in feeling of it was something he never wanted to experience again.
He dropped to his knees on the leaf-covered ground, breathing hard, drawing in huge gulps of fresh air. Birds chirped sweetly in the trees, and all he could feel was the vastness of the sky, the beauty of the world, and the sheer joy of still being alive.
Then, all at once, everything went quiet. Tigerhead Dragon looked up. And at some point, a golden-armored warrior had appeared across from him. He stood over ten feet tall, wearing a shining helmet and holding a gleaming golden spear. His eyes were cold and expressionless.
It was the Qingyu Sect's Mountain God manifestation technique.
"Who are you? State your name and purpose!" the Mountain God demanded, his voice icy cold and unnatural, unlike any human's.
Tigerhead Dragon's breath caught in his throat. Forcing himself to stay calm, he replied, "I am Tigerhead Dragon, a rogue cultivator from Yuezhou. I came to Jingxiang to visit a friend, but lost my way. Senior, may I ask... what immortal land is this mountain?"
The golden-armored figure was silent for a moment. "Creeping around like this, clearly up to no good. Come with me."
With that, he reached out to grab him.
With a loud roar, Tigerhead Dragon surged his true qi, veins bulging fiercely as his arms suddenly extended nearly three feet, and he swung both them in a powerful arc toward the golden-armored godly warrior.
The Mountain God Manifestation was a secret technique of the Qingyu Sect, one that could only be performed after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. When properly summoned, the figure would stand nearly thirty feet tall and radiate overwhelming aura that was impossible to withstand. But the one standing before him now was barely ten feet high. It was clearly a weaker version. Tigerhead Dragon suspected this wasn't a true inner disciple of Qingyu Sect. The manifestation might've been summoned using some kind of external item.
As long as this guy wasn't at the Foundation Establishment stage, he still had a chance. After all, body refinement cultivators were known for punching above their weight. He was only at the sixth layer of Qi Refinement, but he could hold his own against cultivators from other sects who were at the sixth or even seventh layer.
The golden-armored Mountain God didn't react at all. With a single palm strike to each side, he countered Tigerhead Dragon's twin-arm sweep effortlessly, brushing it off like it was nothing.
As a junior disciple of a prestigious sect, Tigerhead Drago had a wealth of combat experience. One exchange was all it took for him to judge his opponent's strength. Just as he'd guessed, the other guy hadn't reached Foundation Establishment; probably at the ninth or tenth layer of Qi Refinement.
But even that was too much for him to take head-on.
In a flash, he pushed off the ground with all his strength. Sparks exploded from under his foot as he launched himself away, using the force of the recoil to shoot off in the opposite direction.
He was making a run for it.
A flicker of violet light appeared in the Mountain God's eyes. The long golden spear in his hand shot out like a meteor, trailing a glowing arc of starlight straight toward the middle of Tigerhead Dragon's back.
There was no hesitation in that strike. It was meant to kill.
Tigerhead Dragon's control over his body was far beyond that of ordinary cultivators. In an instant, almost impossibly, he twisted midair, changing direction as if his torso and legs had come unhinged. It looked like his body had broken apart, but he just barely dodged the spear.
The golden spear smashed through several large trees in its path, cutting a strange arc through the air before slamming into the ground. The shaft vibrated violently, so fast it created a wall of afterimages, completely blocking Tigerhead Dragon 's escape route.
Just as he suspected; the enemy hadn't reached Foundation Establishment. If he had, he'd be able to control the spear freely even after letting go.
Tigerhead Dragon felt a surge of relief. Sparks burst from his feet again as he changed direction to flee. But suddenly, he felt a sharp tug at the back of his collar. Somehow, the golden-armored Mountain God had already closed the distance, and with one long arm, he grabbed Tigerhead Dragon by the back of his robes and hoisted him clean off the ground.
So this is the limit of fighting across realms… I really can't bridge more than three layers…
That thought had barely formed when Tigerhead Dragon suddenly shouted, "Wait, wait. Hold on!"
....
Meanwhile, Liu Xiaolou had already made his way up to the North View Rock. On the way, he'd only encountered one Qingyu Sect scout hiding in the treetop of a hill, and had carefully avoided being spotted.
By now, he should've been deep in the heart of Wulong Mountain; so why hadn't he seen any sign of the main Qingyu Sect force?
Troubled by this strange silence, Liu Xiaolou finally reached the peak of Jade Maiden Summit. There, waiting for him, was Tan Bajhang, who had arrived ahead of him.
Tan Bajhang pointed toward the northwest, his face tense. "Xiaolou, look!"