As Ou Yangming and his companions watched in fear, a strange creature slowly walked out from the dark.

It was a big multicolored tiger with striking fur, making it out of tune with its surroundings. The tiger had such an incredibly strong presence that it became the center of attraction as soon as it appeared.

Having fur like that would only make it difficult for the big multicolored tiger to survive in the dense forest, which had a unique environment. It would do nothing but harm for the tiger when it hunted, and the tiger would likely draw the attention of creatures that were more powerful than it. Even then, the big tiger appeared in those furs.

The tiger was extremely arrogant, and a look of disdain could be seen through its bright eyes.

It was as though the three humans in front of it were clowns that could be easily killed if it made an attack.

Ou Yangming and the others scanned the big tiger's body and quickly fixed their gaze on its tail.

Before they came, Ni Jingshen had stressed several times how mighty the unusual beast was. In particular, its tail was its only reliance.

Just as Ou Yangming and the rest focused on the big tiger's tail, the tail slowly bent up as if it was alerted.

It was not a tiger's tail—it was a venomous snake.

The tiger's tail was covered in thick scales, and the end of it was a hideous triangle snakehead.

At that moment, the venomous snake was staring at Ou Yangming and his partners, but it looked a little confused like it found it strange that the three of them could identify it at one glance.

The snake was incredibly intelligent, which was why its eyes looked as lively as a person's.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming and the others did not find it strange because formidable half-spirit beasts had long surpassed wild beasts in terms of their traits.

It would be clear if they thought about Big Yellow from the Ni family.

That said, it was not good news for Ou Yangming and his allies.

The big multicolored tiger opened its large mouth, which was the size of a sacrificial bowl, and yawned. Judging from its sleepy eyes, it had not awakened yet. The big tiger acted as though it had just seen three bold little insects entering its territory, which was a completely different attitude shown by the venomous snake that had a cold look.

He Liangce held his folding fan tightly when he sensed the beast's threatening aura, and he ordered softly, "Take her away!"

"No!" Ni Yinghong responded stubbornly.

"Okay." Nevertheless, Ou Yangming agreed resolutely unlike before. He uttered, "Stall it for now—I'll come back!"

Ni Yinghong was stunned, but before she could refute, Ou Yangming had already reached out his hand to confine her body in a flash, then he exerted force through his feet to soar into the air. Once they were in mid-air, Ou Yangming turned around and stepped on a branch before he dashed away like he was flying.

After struggling for a while, Ni Yinghong realized that he could not resist the powerful Ou Yangming at all.

Although some of her pieces of equipment were layered with Power attributes, the equipment set was smithed by Ou Yangming. Since he could attach Unique Attributes to her equipment, he would not treat himself badly.

Therefore, Ou Yangming was superior to her, be it his power or his agility.

He Liangce moved his lips and had a strange look on his face. If someone could lipread, that person could definitely tell that he was cursing softly, "Come back? Are you coming back to court your death?"

Soon enough, the big multicolored tiger looked more awake. It opened its mouth and let out an earth-shattering roar.

"Roar…"

Its roar was accompanied by an intense sound wave that impacted the area in front of it.

Ou Yangming paused; it was obvious he was affected by the sound wave's impact.

The sound seemed to carry an unconventional power that could directly hit one's spiritual world. Despite that, due to Ou Yangming's great mental power, he only paused for a split second before he recovered his normal state. Moreover, he escaped faster than before.

On the other hand, the big multicolored tiger was finally enraged. After all, any powerhouse would be displeased to see intruders escape.

The tiger crouched a little and charged out like a cannonball. It wanted to catch up to the two little insects to crush them into pieces.

However, just as its body left the ground, an enormous power came straight at it from the side.

Both parties clashed hard like Mars crashing into Earth.

Even though the big multicolored tiger had a huge body and vast energy, it was in mid-air at that moment, hence it could not borrow force. Most importantly, it did not expect the remaining little insect to have the guts to challenge its dignity. A booming sound was heard as the big tiger was crushed down.

The Tiger-tail Snake's1 head shook all of a sudden and widened its frightening mouth to bite He Liangce.

In spite of that, He Liangce was well-prepared, so he blocked the snake's mouth perfectly with his folding fan. The creature's mouth was extremely sharp, but not even a white mark was left on the fan.

He Liangce flashed and stood still, but he was appalled.

While the tiger's roar could affect one's mind, he had taken precautions in advance and had brought a treasure that could resist it. As such, the beast's roar could not impact him.

Hence, He Liangce's crash into the big multicolored tiger just now was absolutely unintentional. Even then, the outcome was he only managed to obstruct the tiger and caused it to roll on the ground. He did not cause any real damage.

The impact, which was a result of him gathering all his power, could not destroy the big multicolored tiger's defense at all.

He Liangce smiled bitterly because he knew he could not fight the battle.

The young master could only stall for as much time as he could at the moment, then he would wait for an opportunity to escape. That being said, He Liangce was not confident he could safely escape from the fearsome half-spirit beast.

Later on, the big multicolored tiger roared furiously. Its attention was drawn by the two little insects that escaped just now, but its anger was fully vented out on He Liangce.

Besides the big tiger, the snakehead looked up and glared at He Liangce sinisterly as if it had strong hatred toward him.

He Liangce smiled calmly without joy or sorrow in his eyes. He expressed fearlessly, "Come at me. If I can't even stall you, how will I be qualified to go against it…"

The big multicolored tiger seemed to have sensed He Liangce scorning it, thus it became more infuriated. Consequently, it stomped its foot and charged at its enemy at the speed of light.

He Liangce flashed and dodged the tiger nimbly. By moving as fast as lightning and performing a magnificent step technique, he could evade the beast wonderfully. At the same time, He Liangce wielded his folding fan to hit the big tiger's eyes, throat, and other parts of its body.

If Ou Yangming was present, he could immediately tell that He Liangce had become one with nature and entered the integration of Heaven and man.

Nevertheless, He Liangce never showed it before this.

The exchanges of blows between both sides were swift. Though He Liangce always had the upper hand, the multicolored beast's strength was a lot greater, after all. As such, the pressure from the strong wind, which stirred when the big tiger pounced on He Liangce, gave him chills.

Before He Liangce knew it, he was already at a disadvantage, and he was struggling to prolong his life under the big tiger's oppression.

※※※※

Ou Yangming traveled rapidly. He had certainly set the fastest record in running in the dense forest.

Ni Yinghong kept quiet in his arms. She was disappointed, but she hid it in the depths of her eyes.

Ou Yangming stopped abruptly after he ran for half an hour, then he let go of Ni Yinghong.

"Elder Sister Ying…"

As soon as Ou Yangming spoke, Ni Yinghong covered his mouth with her hand.

"Lil' Ming, I know you're worried about me." Ni Yinghong twitched her mouth, and the discontent in her eyes disappeared. She looked gently at the young fellow. "Thank you."

Ou Yangming sighed a breath of relief because he was worried Ni Yinghong would insist on going back no matter what. He was delighted that she understood his intention.

"Lil' Ming, we've acquired the strange bamboo, so let's return as soon as we can," Ni Yinghong added softly.

"No, that fella's still inside!" Ou Yangming was startled.

"You're underestimating the He family—they're a top-notch clan that's superior to the Ni family. Hehe, even the imperial family dare not neglect the He family from Linlang County." Ni Yinghong chuckled and assured him after a pause. "Don't worry, he'll surely manage to escape."

Ou Yangming looked at Ni Yinghong in shock.

The smile on Ni Yinghong's face began to look like it was forced, and she gently pushed Ou Yangming. "What's wrong with you?"

"Elder Sister Ying, I just think you're acting quite unnatural. You look like you're lying to me…" Ou Yangming scratched his head.

Ni Yinghong widened her hazel eyes and rebuked, "Why would I lie to you?"

Ou Yangming hesitated for a while before he asked with a bitter smile, "You don't want me to go back, am I right?"

"Yes, I don't want you to go back. I can feel that that creature is dangerous—very dangerous." Ni Yinghong's face froze for a brief moment before she finally relaxed. She started to breathe rapidly. "Even if Great-grandfather encounters it now, he might not be able to escape."

Ou Yangming reached out for her soft hands.

Her hands were tender, clean, and flawless. They were as pure as an incredibly beautiful piece of art, but they were ice-cold at that moment.

Ou Yangming clenched her hands tightly like he wanted to transfer his heat to her.

He later flashed a bright smile at her while he looked deeply into her eyes. "Don't worry, wait for me!"

However, just as Ou Yangming wanted to withdraw his hands, Ni Yinghong suddenly grabbed his hands with force.

She looked afraid as she shook her head.

"Elder Sister Ying, I must go."

"It's too late for you to go back now. Perhaps… Perhaps he has already escaped, so aren't you treading dangerous ground by going back?" Ni Yinghong said eagerly.

There was also another possibility—He Liangce had already sacrificed himself—but she could not bring herself to say it.

Ou Yangming chuckled. "Elder Sister Ying, you said the He family has a profound foundation, so he won't die so easily."

Ni Yinghong was dumbfounded because she did not think she would shoot herself in the foot.

She stomped angrily and questioned, "Y-you fool! Are you choosing him or me?"

Ou Yangming pulled her into his arms and answered without any hesitation, "Of course I choose you!"

"If you choose me, y-you…" Ni Yinghong opened her arms to hug him tightly, and she exerted so much force as if she wanted to knead him into her body.

"Elder Sister Ying, are you going to be happy in the future if I don't go back now? How will I become next time?"

Ni Yinghong moved her lips, and she slowly let go of Ou Yangming.

Eventually, the warm hug was gone, and only a solemn promise echoed beside her ear. "Wait for me! I'll come back for sure!"

In the end, the tears that were accumulated in Ni Yinghong's eyes rolled down uncontrollably. The young lady mumbled, "You fool! Didn't you want to kill him? Why are you going back now… Idiot, you must come back, and when you come back… When you come back… I'll ignore you forever!"

Note that this is the name of the 'snake' that's also the big multicolored tiger's 'tail'