```
Tang Lin was hiding in a rather dense forest, where some trees had grown as tall as his calves. With the forest being so large, there were naturally many wild animals, and Tang Lin might have accidentally stepped on quite a few as he walked in.
At this moment, a roar echoed through the forest; it sounded like a tiger to Tang Lin. But given his massive size, surely no unintelligent beast would dare trouble him, right? With his current attire, even tigers or lions wouldn't be able to tear through his pants.
Moreover, animals have an instinct to avoid danger. Predatory beasts that had never encountered humans rarely attack them, let alone one as colossal as Tang Lin, who could easily scare them away.
However, Tang Lin's seemingly reasonable assumptions were quickly shattered by reality.
As the first roar sounded, it seemed to be echoed by others, with roars from various directions. At first, Tang Lin didn't pay much attention. But just as he set a few tree branches alight with his lighter, he felt something crawling up his pant leg.
Looking down, it turned out to be a tiger. This tiger was much bigger than a fingernail, about the size of a finger. Compared to Nie Renwang, this tiger would definitely be over five meters long. Considering that "The Storm Riders" was a near-fantasy world, it was remarkable for a tiger to grow this large.
The tiger showed no fear of Tang Lin's giant form, clawing at his pants and climbing upward, with a fierce expression as if it wanted to devour Tang Lin.
Tang Lin reached down and pinched this giant tiger off his pants like he was picking a burdock burr, making a tearing sound as his sweatpants ended with a few threads pulled out by the tiger's claws. But it didn't matter—these were cheap clothes, and Tang Lin felt no pain.
The giant tiger struggled frantically in Tang Lin's grip but was no match for Tang Lin's strength and couldn't break free.
Tang Lin glanced at the fire he'd started, considering adding some meat to his instant noodles, but worried about the cleanliness of the tiger. This wasn't a Fire Qilin, after all. A Fire Qilin could burn off any parasites or bacteria, but an undressed wild tiger would be quite dirty.
Though Tang Lin wasn't afraid of stomach pain, the thought of what might be inside the tiger's belly disgusted him, and adding it would just ruin his instant noodles.
"Humph, if it weren't for the fact that you're a protected animal!"
With that, Tang Lin released the giant tiger back to the ground, stroked its head with his finger, and let it go.
Yet, as soon as the tiger was freed from Tang Lin's grasp, it didn't run away; instead, it roared at Tang Lin again.
"Hey, now you're being unreasonable!" Tang Lin was about to flick the ungrateful tiger away when he heard a noise as a wild boar, not much smaller than the tiger, charged at him from another direction, snorting as it hurtled into his rubber-soled shoes.
With a crash, the tusks broke, and the wild boar fell with a thud.
"What's going on? Have I become the stump in guard-the-tree-while-waiting-for-rabbits?" While Tang Lin was distracted, the tiger began climbing his pants again. Tang Lin grabbed the tiger once more and said to it, "Fat Tiger, what's wrong with you? Didn't you see the dead wild boar by the side? Why must you compete with me?!"
As soon as the wild boar died and the tiger didn't go for it, a black bear appeared next, roaring and charging at Tang Lin as well. By this point, Tang Lin realized something was odd; the wild animals seemed to be drawn to something and suppressed their instinctual fear to attack him, the giant.
"Could it be... because I ate the Fire Qilin?"
In mythological stories, the Divine Dragon was the leader of all scaled creatures, the Phoenix was the king of birds, and the Qilin was the lord of all beasts. Was he now resented by these beasts for eating the Qilin?
Tang Lin set aside the half-finished setup, reached into his backpack, and pulled out a metal pot and a bottle of mineral water. First, he poured the mineral water into the pot, then placed the tiger and bear into the mineral water bottle.
The giant beasts clawed at the transparent plastic, but could only leave scratch marks. Although the beasts in this world were massive, without the Fire Qilin's supernatural powers, they couldn't break through even this plastic bottle.
Tang Lin then resumed kindling his fire, unconcerned with whether he'd been cursed with a beast aggro buff. These creatures could merely offer some extra meals; Tang Lin was curious to see if the entire forest would rush over, making it convenient to scoop them all into one pot.
Oro glanced at the two beasts, feeling a pang of sympathy. If she hadn't agreed to cooperate with Tang Lin, she might've found herself bottled up. Or rather, she originally was bottled up... in a cup.
She realized her earlier attitude toward Tang Lin might not have been entirely friendly, and she'd have to watch herself in the future.
Tang Lin genuinely didn't want to kill the beasts for the sake of it. If they weren't edible, there was no point in killing them; pointless slaughter wasn't his style.
After burning the fire for a while, though the branches caught fire, there was a lot of smoke. People usually gathered dry branches to start a fire, but Tang Lin had to uproot entire trees, making dry branches impossible to collect.
"Cough, cough, I'd better bring some solid fuel next time."
Though Tang Lin found himself a bit sooty, he managed to get the fire going, added a small iron pot, and began boiling water. After ten minutes, the water hadn't boiled yet, but more beasts had appeared in the mineral water bottle. There were wolves, leopards, and other similar but unnamable beasts, nearly covering the bottom of the bottle.
Just as Tang Lin was about to put the instant noodles in, a creature emerged from the forest that he couldn't, or just wouldn't, harm.
A round, black-and-white adorable creature.
"Oh wow, even a panda." Tang Lin was amazed. Was Wushuang City in Sichuan?
It was hard to say, because the movies were all in Cantonese, and no one spoke Sichuan dialect.
Although this adorable creature was in a state of anger, charging at Tang Lin, he still found the panda's furious demeanor endearing rather than threatening.
As a national treasure, the panda deserved special treatment. Tang Lin didn't place this panda into the mineral water bottle. Instead, he picked up the pudgy, adorable creature and placed it on his palm.
The cuteness-overloaded little fellow tried to pounce on Tang Lin, only to have its head gently held down, unable to move.
"I've always dreamed of petting a panda, and I never thought this dream would come true so quickly."
Tang Lin felt his happiness soaring, and thought that if the panda were just a bit bigger, he'd have no regrets in life. He rubbed the adorable creature till it was dizzy, so much that the black-and-white bear, flailing moments ago, now lay on its back with its belly exposed, seemingly resigned to its fate.
Tang Lin then picked out a Blood Bodhi and placed it in front of the panda.
"Be good, eat this fruit, and stop fighting with me. Go back to eating bamboo." Tang Lin gently encouraged the panda.
The panda sniffed the fruit, seemingly understanding its value, and swallowed the Blood Bodhi in one bite. Within seconds, the panda's body emitted a large burst of red light, like a game special effect. Once the red light dissipated, Tang Lin noticed the panda seemed slightly less chubby, with a much sharper gaze.
After eating the Blood Bodhi, the panda also had a change in attitude toward Tang Lin. Instead of roaring violently, it lowered its head and rubbed against Tang Lin's palm.
"Haha, success in petting the panda!" Tang Lin declared with pride.
However, just as he felt triumphant, he caught a whiff of something burnt and looked down. "Damn it, my noodles are burnt!"
Caught between the bliss of petting the panda and the disappointment of burnt instant noodles, Tang Lin was preoccupied. Meanwhile, Nie Renwang had led Nie Feng into the City Lord Mansion of Wushuang City. He had a slight acquaintance with City Lord Dugu Yifang, though their relationship might not have been very close.
Dugu Yifang valued Nie Renwang's martial arts and reputation. Upon hearing of Nie Renwang's visit, he didn't neglect his duties and promptly invited him in.
When he heard Nie Renwang was there to deal with Xiong Ba, Dugu Yifang nodded slightly, having his own reservations about the rapidly expanding World Association. Two tigers must not share one mountain; if the World Association continued its expansion, it would inevitably threaten the standing of Wushuang City.
"The only thing is, Xiong Ba possesses extremely high martial arts; even if you and I joined forces, we might not be guaranteed victory." Dugu Yifang expressed to Nie Renwang.
"Don't worry, City Lord Dugu. Besides us, there's another expert who will help. Once Xiong Ba sees them, he'll have to flee in disgrace. We just need to keep him in check." Nie Renwang assured.
"An expert? You, Nie Renwang, are already a top-tier martial artist. Who could possibly be higher?" Dugu Yifang asked curiously.
Nie Renwang thought for a moment and then said to Dugu Yifang, "Indeed, someone taller, by several hundred floors at least."
Dugu Yifang: …
Seeing Dugu Yifang's apparent hesitation, Nie Renwang produced a Blood Bodhi and presented it to Dugu Yifang, saying, "If City Lord Dugu is willing to assist, this Blood Bodhi serves as a token of gratitude."
"Blood Bodhi?!"
Dugu Yifang had naturally heard of such a miraculous item but had never seen one himself. However, Nie Renwang wouldn't joke about such things. This fruit, emitting a dark red glow, looked extraordinary.
Despite his interest, Dugu Yifang maintained an impassive face and said calmly, "Since Brother Nie has traveled from afar, you should rest first. I will consider the matter carefully, and I'll get back to you."
Nie Renwang wasn't suspicious. Dealing with Xiong Ba certainly required careful consideration. But he didn't know that after seeing him off, Dugu Yifang immediately gave orders: "Go to Lingyun Cave and find out what's going on there. I must know how Nie Renwang obtained the Blood Bodhi and how many he has!"
```