Boom!
With a sharp explosion of energy, a white, icy aura shot out from the boy's mouth, completely enveloping the massive body of the demon tiger.
In an instant, the warm maple forest transformed into a frozen winter landscape. A vast area surrounding the tiger demon was frozen, and the demon itself stood motionless, as though it had turned into a statue.
"To think even a demon beast's body can be frozen… What a powerful spell!" Liu Zijing, not far off, was dumbfounded.
However, the boy didn't stop. He leaped once more onto the back of the demon tiger, drawing the long blade at his waist. He infused his entire body's true energy into the blade and swung it toward the demon tiger's head.
Boom!
The demon tiger's neck was cleaved deeply, a gash about half an inch deep, blood gushing out rapidly. Despite the pain in its eyes, the tiger demon couldn't move, its body frozen in place, leaving it defenseless as the boy continued to strike.
One couldn't help but admire the tiger demon's body—it was as tough as iron. Even after several strikes, the boy hadn't been able to sever its head completely.
Boom!
Just as the boy was about to sever the demon tiger's cervical spine, the demon suddenly sprayed a jet of blood from its mouth, followed by waves of heat and blood mist erupting from its body.
The boy, already sensing something was off, jumped off the tiger's back.
"Roar!"
The once-frozen demon tiger suddenly jolted its body, shaking off the boy. It then exhaled a wild wind enveloped in blood mist.
"Damn you! You've forced me to burn my life's blood!" the tiger demon roared, still angry and cursing.
But it didn't continue attacking the boy. Instead, while cursing and glaring at its nearly severed head, it turned and fled, sprinting deep into the mountains.
"Kid, I know who you are now. Wait for it! I'll come back to exact my revenge, make you wish you could live but couldn't die!"
With that furious roar, the tiger demon's figure disappeared into the woods.
It hadn't even had time to take the Shuo Feng Pearl.
"Could you tell me your name, young hero?" Liu Zijing asked as the boy picked up the Shuo Feng Pearl from the ground and was about to pursue the fleeing tiger demon.
Hearing the voice, the boy seemed to recall something and stopped. He turned to Liu Zijing and said, "Who I am isn't important. This thing... you…"
Before he could finish, a voice suddenly interrupted from the nearby woods.
"Be careful with your senior brother, Lu Chen. He's not a good person!"
The boy glanced towards the woods behind Liu Zijing and then back at the direction the tiger demon had fled. With those words, he turned and sprinted after the demon.
"Be careful... Senior Brother Lu Chen?" Liu Zijing stood frozen, puzzled by the boy's sudden warning. She also felt that the boy's voice seemed oddly familiar.
Meanwhile, Lin Buyu, hearing the boy's voice clearly and catching a glimpse of his half-covered face and his beautiful eyes, suddenly recalled a face in her mind—Xu Taiping.
Though it had been half a year since she last saw him, she hadn't forgotten the resolute young man who, after being tested for spiritual bones, remained steadfast despite his unremarkable talent.
"It seems he has his own destiny now," Lin Buyu thought, a faint smile appearing on her usually cold face as she looked at the boy's receding figure.
"Can you tell where this boy comes from?" Liu Zijing asked Lin Buyu, now a little anxious.
"I don't know," Lin Buyu replied lightly, her face once again returning to its usual indifferent expression.
"Zijing, Buyu, are you two alright?" At this moment, Lu Chen, along with a group of Lie Feng Hall disciples, arrived in a hurry.
"We're fine. A strange young man appeared out of nowhere and saved us," Liu Zijing took a few steps back and eyed Lu Chen warily, her gaze tinged with suspicion.
Clearly, Xu Taiping's last words had left an impression on her. But more than that, it was Lu Chen's earlier abandonment of her that made her despise him.
"Buyu, how about you?" Lu Chen smiled at Lin Buyu when he noticed Liu Zijing's coldness towards him.
"You fled from the battlefield, abandoning your own sect mates. I will report this to our master," Lin Buyu shot him a cold glance, showing no mercy.
Her words made Lu Chen's expression turn murderous. However, when he remembered that Lin Buyu was highly favored by the sect, he quickly reined in his hostility.
"Buyu!"
At that moment, two figures like lightning flew into the maple forest. Upon closer inspection, it was Ziyan Fairy and Senior Brother Mo Jun, who had been trapped by the Shuo Feng Pearl earlier.
"Senior Brother Mo!"
"Senior Sister Ziyan!"
Liu Zijing and Lin Buyu rushed to meet them.
"Buyu, you weren't hurt, right?" Ziyan Fairy asked, her voice full of concern as she approached Lin Buyu.
Lin Buyu was a rare talent with a thunder spirit bone. If anything happened to her, it would be a loss not just for the Six Peaks but for the entire Qing Xuan Sect.
"I'm fine," Lin Buyu nodded.
Ziyan Fairy breathed a sigh of relief.
"What about the tiger demon? That treasure capable of summoning demon winds is likely the Shuo Feng Pearl. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to trap me and Ziyan," Mo Jun said angrily.
Hearing this, Liu Zijing hurriedly explained how Xu Taiping had descended from the sky and struck down the tiger demon to save them.
"We really owe it to that young man," Ziyan said, holding Lin Buyu's hand with lingering fear.
"We don't even know who he is," Liu Zijing remarked. Though she had told them about Xu Taiping's final words, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
"Perhaps he's a disciple from the Seventh Peak out on a journey. Let's set that aside for now. The most important thing is to find a way to kill that demon tiger and seize the Shuo Feng Pearl," Mo Jun said, shaking his head.
He then looked at Ziyan and asked, "Ziyan, would you join me in tracking that demon tiger?"
"Not now. I must escort Buyu back first," Ziyan shook her head.
Her top priority was ensuring Lin Buyu's safety.
"Senior Brother, as the saying goes, a cornered enemy is a dangerous one. If that demon tiger goes mad and fights back desperately, we would be throwing away our lives," Lu Chen spoke up, also opposing the idea.
He wasn't willing to take such a big risk to chase after a beast on the verge of going berserk, especially when they were in the outer disciples' domain and the inner disciples rarely entered.
"Alright, we'll report this to the sect first," Mo Jun finally conceded, giving up on the pursuit.
Lin Buyu, who had been silently observing, cast a cold glance at Mo Jun and Lu Chen. She then recalled Xu Taiping's unwavering decision to charge after the tiger demon and muttered softly to herself, "No one compares to Xu Taiping."