Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi watched intently from behind, ready to jump in whenever necessary.
However, their worries were for naught.
Each swipe of the tiger struck nothing but air.
Each pounce of the tiger caught nothing but shadows.
Lu Zhiying faced the tiger with such ease and precision in her movements that it almost looked like she was casually dancing around it.
Strike after strike landed cleanly on the tiger's massive body, sending blood spurting into the air with each swing of her swords.
Thud-!
It did not take long before the heavy body of the tiger fell to the ground.
"I'm done!" Lu Zhiying called out excitedly while drenched in tiger blood.
Since the very start of the fight, Lu Zhiying had worn the same excited grin on her face, one that did not fade away even as the tiger's blood stained her beautiful face.
Watching this from behind, Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi could not help but feel that she could be a little scary at times.
It was not like they had not taken their fair share of lives as well.
But back when they had first taken a life, they were definitely a lot more frightened and hesitant about it than the current Lu Zhiying!
"G-Good job!" Zhao Yunxiao praised before walking over to stand above the fallen tiger.
However, he immediately frowned the moment he arrived.
"What's the matter?" Gu Qiansi asked while using a simple technique to clean the blood off of Lu Zhiying.
"Something's strange," Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation as his spiritual sense entered his spatial pouch.
This time, the Heaven's Descent Bowl was as quiet as could be, not showing the same reaction to the dead tiger as it did to the dead fox.
Did it have to do with the way it died?
"Can you lend me your swords, Junior Martial Sister Lu?" Zhao Yunxiao asked after recording his findings.
"My swords? Sure," Lu Zhiying agreed without hesitation.
"Make sure you return them," Gu Qiansi reminded. "Don't treat them as an exchange for your bamboo backpack."
"I know that!" Zhao Yunxiao snapped back.
With Lu Zhiying's swords in hand, Zhao Yunxiao personally took action when they locked in on their next target.
And he did not stop there, either.
Bit by bit, Zhao Yunxiao slowly adjusted the parameters with each subsequent hunt, all in a bid to determine the exact factors that influenced the activation of the Heaven's Descent Bowl.
After hours of continuous experimenting, the trio finally decided to rest around a fire as night fell.
As Gu Qiansi proceeded to pick out suitable parts for roasting from the huge pile of meat that they had collected over the course of their experiments, Zhao Yunxiao carefully went through the numerous records on his scroll as he tried to confirm his findings.
It would appear that the activation of the Heaven's Descent Bowl was not influenced by the type of creature or the surroundings.
However, there was one strict criteria that had to be fulfilled for it to activate – Zhao Yunxiao himself must be the one to have killed the creature.
In fact, it did not matter if someone else was responsible for bringing the creature to the brink of death. It would be fine as long as Zhao Yunxiao was the one to deal the final blow.
As for the strange invisible matter that it absorbed from these carcasses upon activation, Zhao Yunxiao still had no idea what it was.
All he could surmise was that the density and amount did correlate to the vitality of the creature.
Or at least, that was what he could deduce with the information that he had collected so far.
In other words, he still did not know what the Heaven's Descent Bowl could be used for.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a helpless sigh upon thinking about this.
Ever since he received the Heaven's Descent Bowl from Cha, he had been slowly trying to imprint his essence energy mark on it by repeatedly shrouding it with his essence energy.
Doing so should have helped him better understand the treasure as well, but he was still clueless about its uses after more than half a month.
Who knew how long it would take before he could finally unravel its mysteries?
Nevertheless, Zhao Yunxiao was not intending to give up.
Had he not observed anything special about the Heaven's Descent Bowl, Zhao Yunxiao might have suspected that Cha was just screwing with him using a random bowl.
But after witnessing how it seemed to possess its own sentience, as well as the strange phenomenon where it absorbed the unknown invisible matter from carcasses, Zhao Yunxiao was certain that there had to be more to the Heaven's Descent Bowl than met the eye.
No matter how long it took, be it a year or a hundred, he would keep trying until he eventually learnt of the secrets behind this inconspicuous looking treasure!
Clink-! Clink-!
The ringing of bells suddenly sounded in Zhao Yunxiao's head, instantly breaking his train of thought.
He quickly kept his scroll away and pulled out his halberd. This naturally caught the attention of the two young ladies.
"What's wrong?" Gu Qiansi asked with a frown.
"Did the traps activate? Is something coming?" Lu Zhiying's eyes lit up in excitement.
"That's right. Something just entered the perimeters, and is heading straight for us," Zhao Yunxiao said. "Judging from the feedback, it seems to be a rather massive creature – either a spiritual beast or a monster. It might have been drawn over by the smell of cooked meat."
Since Zhao Yunxiao was the one responsible for linking up with the network of alerts, he was the only one who had received the feedback.
"Are we fighting?" Gu Qiansi put aside the meat that she was roasting, and slowly drew her sword.
"Let's hide and observe for now," Zhao Yunxiao said. "If it is too strong, we should just leave the meat to it. Hopefully, that would be enough to satisfy it."
"And if it is manageable?" Lu Zhiying checked.
"Then we will be having a more sumptuous dinner tonight," Gu Qiansi answered with a smile.
"Hmm? Wait a minute," Zhao Yunxiao frowned. "There's not just the beast. Someone is following it!"
"What?" Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying looked at him in surprise.
"Is it a beast tamer?" Gu Qiansi asked.
"I'm not too sure, but it doesn't seem to be the case. It seems more like the person is tailing the beast," Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation. "In any case, let's hide first. They should be arriving any moment now."
"Got it."
Understanding the gravity of the situation, the trio did not joke around and quickly followed the plan. With the help of the preparations that they had made beforehand, they easily hid in a corner using a concealing array.
It did not take long before the culprit that had triggered the alerts came into view.
Crash-!
The massive beast bulldozed through the dense vegetation, crashing violently into the clearing where they had been resting.
It looked like an overgrown warthog that stood at a height of more than five metres. Its thick coat of grey fur looked imposing as it glistened under the illumination of the fire, and its eyes gave off a blood red glow.
Its two black tusks only served to make it appear even more menacing as it snarled towards the carcasses piled up by the fire.
Actually seeing the meat seemed to have a calming effect on it, as the giant warthog slowed its pace to approach the pile of carcasses in a cautious manner.
"Black death," Zhao Yunxiao recognised it immediately. "This is an extremely aggressive and territorial monster. Adult black deaths possess a level of strength that could rival that of cultivators at the Essence Physique realm."
"Do we take action?" Lu Zhiying asked.
"No, it's too risky," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head. "While we might be able to take it down, there's still a chance of injury during the process. On top of that, there is still that other person hiding in the shadows."
As though answering Zhao Yunxiao's call, a shadow suddenly leapt out from atop the trees.
The young man waved the horsetail whisk in his hand in a circle while falling, summoning a huge ball of fire that shot straight at the overgrown warthog.
By the time the black death noticed, it was already too late.
Boom-!
The fireball exploded upon striking the back of the black death, causing it to squeal in pain.
That alone was far from enough to take it down, but the young man was not intending to stop there anyway.
He landed gently on the forest ground and immediately started running circles around the black death with incredible speed and finesse, expertly dodging the monster's line of sight.
No matter how the black death turned around to try to find the aggressor, it could not even catch a glimpse of his shadows.
At the same time, the young man continued summoning fireball after fireball, shooting them at the black death with merciless tenacity.
Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!
The resulting smoke from the continuous explosions only served to block the monster's vision further, making it even easier for the young man to hide.
This was a beautiful execution of what could be regarded as a systematic and effective offence, enough to make the imposing black death look like a helpless mouse.
It took a while to wear down the tough black death, but the result had been determined from the very start.
The black death's muscular legs eventually gave way, and its charred body fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Only then did the young man finally stop in his tracks.
He was drenched in sweat by now, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. It would appear that while he had been the sole aggressor all along, the long battle had still taken a toll on him regardless.
Now that the black death had been taken down, the young man finally had time to look around him.
But the moment he did that, the young man immediately revealed a look of alarm.
Carcasses were collected in a pile... placed beside a fire that was still burning strong...
Shit, he got careless!
This was obviously a trap set up to attract beasts!
Still, the young man did not panic. Instead, he turned around and respectfully clasped his fists towards the surroundings.
"I, Lin Xiao, did not realise that I have stumbled upon a trap that someone else had set up. If I have offended you in any manner, I sincerely apologise," the young man said out loud. "But as the saying goes, the untethered do not refrain from making friends. As long as you are agreeable to it, I am willing to share the spoils of the black death."
Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying turned to look at Zhao Yunxiao, wanting to see how he would like to proceed.
This Lin Xiao had obviously realised that they were watching from somewhere nearby. The question was whether they were willing to take the risk and reveal themselves.
Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation.
Under normal circumstances, he would not have even needed a single moment to make his decision.
Even though this Lin Xiao seemed like a respectful person, Zhao Yunxiao would choose to avoid contact for safety reasons, especially considering the fact that the other party was capable of taking down an adult black death all by himself.
However, there was something this time that made him reconsider.
What Lin Xiao said earlier – the untethered does not refrain from making friends – was part of a famous quote from the ancient cultivator Jiang Taiming.
And at the moment, Zhao Yunxiao was trying to collect as much information about Jiang Taiming as possible!
If he could gain any information about Jiang Taiming from Lin Xiao, that would be immensely helpful!
From his hiding place, he closely scrutinised Lin Xiao from head to toe.
Lin Xiao did not seem to be in a rush either, choosing to stand there and wait patiently for an answer.
After a few moments, Zhao Yunxiao finally made his decision.
[Earthen Clone Technique]
"All lives are equal as long as our values are aligned," Zhao Yunxiao Two said as he walked out from the shadows to slowly approach Lin Xiao.
The untethered do not refrain from making friends, all lives are equal as long as our values are aligned – this was the full quote from the ancient cultivator Jiang Taiming.
Lin Xiao widened his eyes in surprise upon hearing Zhao Yunxiao Two's words.
"Hahaha! So it's a fellow admirer of the Untethered Sage!" Lin Xiao broke out into laughter immediately. "It must be fate that has brought us together here. My name is Lin Xiao, pleased to make your acquaintance!"
At the same time, Lin Xiao seemed to have completely let down his guard upon hearing Zhao Yunxiao's words, even keeping away the horsetail whisk that he had at the ready since earlier.
Zhao Yunxiao was speechless upon seeing this.
Wasn't this Lin Xiao a little too trusting?
Seeing this, he could not help but feel bad for have greeted Lin Xiao with an earthen clone instead!