[Author’s Note: A shout-out to Eunuch Jing, hoping he returns soon! Also, please spare some recommendation votes for this novel; we’re not even on the charts! To those with monthly votes, please send them to Xiaodao. I promise to keep the updates coming!]

’He can tear a Tier Five Magical Beast apart with his bare hands?’ Ling Xiao felt a chill. That level of strength was truly astonishing. A Tier Five Magical Beast was comparable to a human Demon Sword Master, and most were even stronger than their human counterparts! ’In that case, is this bald giant named Tiger roughly as strong as a High-tier Sword Sect expert?’

A thought suddenly struck Ling Xiao. He recalled the High Priest’s confident demeanor and thought, ’Is her confidence coming from these powerful Beastmen?’ He noticed that although the few bald Beastmen behind Tiger weren’t as strong as him, they didn’t seem much weaker either. ’If that’s the case... if they have a hundred experts like this, then the High Priest’s talk of revenge is definitely not just empty words!’

’A hundred experts at the Sword Sect level?’ Ling Xiao suddenly felt his heart beat a little faster. But then he immediately reconsidered. ’That’s impossible. If they really had that kind of power, the High Priest would have gotten her revenge long ago. I doubt any sect or noble family could withstand a single wave of attacks from over a hundred Sword Sect experts! Still, for a small Beastman Tribe to have even five or six experts at or above the Sword Sect level is already shocking enough.’

Tiger stared at the human youth with icy eyes and said disdainfully, "What? Scared now? You... so-called... ’expert’... from the Human Race?" His words dripped with mockery and contempt. The silent, bald giants behind him also looked at Ling Xiao with gazes full of disdain... and pity.

Just then, a woman’s faint voice suddenly sounded from above them. "Tiger, he is my guest!"

Tiger froze for a moment, then turned to leave. As he turned, he muttered under his breath, "You’re lucky, human coward!"

"Stop right there!"

Ling Xiao said calmly, his eyes fixed on Tiger’s back.

Tiger’s massive body froze abruptly. He twisted his head back and sneered, "What, you only dare to act tough because the High Priest is backing you up? Save it, you pathetic human boy. I’m... no longer interested in you!" Although he claimed to have lost interest, his face, still turned away from Ling Xiao, was twitching violently.

From Tiger’s taut posture, Ling Xiao could sense the Beastman Grand Commander’s intense hatred for him. He felt a strong urge to teach the man a lesson. Being looked down on by a Beastman was a new experience for Ling Xiao, so it wasn’t so much anger he felt, but a simple desire to put him in his place.

"Let’s find another place. I’ll fight you!"

A blazing fighting spirit suddenly erupted from Ling Xiao, sweeping out in all directions. The massive trees nearby let out a trembling groan as leaves showered down. Birds nesting in the branches shrieked in alarm, frantically flapping their wings as they fled.

Caught off guard, Tiger, his fellow Beastmen, and Lam, the Clan Leader of the Leopardman Race, were all stunned by this aura and stumbled back several steps. When Tiger looked at Ling Xiao again, his previous contempt was gone, replaced by suspicion. He sized Ling Xiao up once more, as if wondering, ’How could such a powerful aura possibly come from the body of this small human?’

Up in the tree, the High Priest said nothing more. Although she didn’t know Ling Xiao well, she knew one thing for certain: this young man was no fool.

She let out a soft sigh and turned back toward her small hut. She knew perfectly well why Tiger was looking for trouble with Ling Xiao, and she didn’t necessarily think it was a bad thing. However, the young man could not be allowed to die at Tiger’s hands. So, as she walked away, the High Priest added faintly, "No killing."

Tiger wrinkled his nose, bared his teeth, and grunted in dissatisfaction. Ling Xiao’s sudden burst of power had already sparked a strong killing intent within him. Hearing the High Priest’s words, which were clearly meant to protect the human boy, only made Tiger more displeased. He thought, ’The High Priest said no killing. Fine, I’ll just leave you with one breath left in your body!’

As the Grand Commander of the Penzes Swamp Beastman Tribe, Tiger was also the number one expert in the entire tribe.

It was precisely because of Tiger’s presence that the powerful Magical Beasts of the swamp were unwilling to venture into this part of the forest. Whenever they caught his scent, most would give him a wide berth. Of course, a few stubborn High-Tier Magical Beasts had challenged this, and every single one of them had died at Tiger’s hands.

He had indeed once torn a Tier Five Magical Beast apart with his bare hands. It was a Tier Five Swamp Demon, a giant crocodile over three meters long, that had hidden in a mud pit, attempting to ambush Tiger as he passed by. To the Swamp Demon, Tiger’s large, powerful body looked like a sumptuous dinner.

The Swamp Demon’s ability to conceal itself in the mud was formidable. Not even an expert like Tiger was able to detect it beforehand. So, when the Swamp Demon attacked, its massive jaws snapped open in an instant and lunged viciously for Tiger’s waist.

The Swamp Demon was also an intelligent and cunning Magical Beast. It knew that a Beastman’s waist connected their upper and lower body, making it their most vulnerable point. If it could just land one bite, even if it didn’t tear the Beastman in two, it could at least maul him half to death. And then, the Beastman... would be its delicious meal!

In the nick of time, Tiger threw his brawny arms across his waist, blocking the Swamp Demon’s jaws with his bare hands. The creature’s sharp teeth pierced straight through Tiger’s palms. The taste of fresh blood drove the Swamp Demon into an even greater frenzy. Its long jaws clamped down with immense force, trying to drag the quick-witted Beastman into the swamp to drown.

At the same time, the excruciating pain sent Tiger, one of the Tiger-headed People, into a berserk rage. Ignoring his impaled hands, he flew into a frenzy, pried open the Swamp Demon’s jaws, and not only broke free but kept pulling, actually ripping the creature’s long snout in two!

He then balled his profusely bleeding hands into fists and rained brutal blows upon the half-dead Swamp Demon. He beat the powerful Tier Five Magical Beast so relentlessly that it never even had a chance to use its elemental attacks before he bludgeoned it to death.

And at that time, Tiger’s strength was even less than it was today.

As they walked, Lam, the Clan Leader of the Leopardman Race, whispered to Ling Xiao from behind, "Powerful human, do you see that Teeth Necklace around Grand Commander Tiger’s neck? It was made from the teeth of that very Swamp Demon!"

Ling Xiao gave a faint smile and nodded. "Clan Leader Lam, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Thank you."

Clan Leader Lam bowed deeply to Ling Xiao. "Respected human expert, you are a good man! Without you, the Leopardman Race would have suffered grievous losses this time. You are our benefactor! Of course I don’t want anything to happen to you!"

Ling Xiao grunted in acknowledgment and followed Tiger to a large clearing, an open space several hundred meters across. It was completely surrounded by towering trees, making it impossible to see what was happening here unless one was high up in the sky.

Amazingly, the perimeter of the clearing was lined with more than a dozen Crystal Core Crystal Lamps!

They illuminated the entire area, making it as bright as day.

Only then did Ling Xiao notice that the bald giant, Tiger, had strange patterns on his head and arms. At first, they looked like tattoos, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be natural markings. Ling Xiao thought for a moment before it hit him: the patterns were almost identical to the stripes on a tiger’s pelt.

The other bald giants beside Tiger also had similar patterns on their bodies and heads. Ling Xiao found this rather strange.

The clearing, which had been deserted just moments ago, suddenly filled with a large number of Beastmen. Only now did Ling Xiao get a good look at what the Tiger-headed People looked like. Their faces were covered in light yellow fur, their ears were fuzzy, and their heads were topped with soft down. They looked vastly different from Tiger and his companions.

’If I saw Tiger and his men in the human world,’ Ling Xiao thought, ’I’d just assume they were exceptionally tall humans. I would never guess they were actually Beastmen!’

The Beastmen were very respectful toward Tiger, all lowering their heads in salute. Their gazes toward Ling Xiao, however, were brazen and unrestrained. Most of them didn’t understand why their Grand Commander would bring a human to such a place. ’Since when,’ they seemed to wonder, ’does a feeble human have the right to fight our Grand Commander?’

In just a few moments, a huge crowd of Beastmen had gathered around the clearing. News that the Grand Commander was personally going to teach a human boy a lesson had spread like wildfire, and nearly every Beastman wanted to come watch the spectacle.

Ling Xiao also saw Mad Leopard in the crowd, his eyes filled with worry, along with a group of timid Leopard People children who were watching the center of the clearing fearfully. Ling Xiao shot Mad Leopard a reassuring smile, completely ignoring the intimidating roars directed at him by the spectating Beastmen.

Tiger suddenly raised a brawny arm high, and the crowd immediately fell silent. A satisfied smile spread across his face, and he announced proudly, "This human is a respectable expert. And he... is a guest of the High Priest!"

"OOH!"

The onlooking Beastmen let out a collective gasp. Although most of them couldn’t speak the human tongue, they could understand it.

To them, the High Priest’s prestige was even greater than the Grand Commander’s. Ever since her arrival, their quality of life had improved by leaps and bounds. So, upon hearing that this human was the High Priest’s guest, the gazes many of the Beastmen directed at Ling Xiao softened considerably.

"However... this human expert is unconvinced of my might!"

Tiger shouted, "Therefore, I am going to fight this human expert... right here! We will see who is stronger, the Beast Race or the Human Race!"

"ROAR!"

The Beastmen below erupted in a tidal wave of furious roars. Even if this human was the High Priest’s honored guest, being unconvinced of Grand Commander Tiger’s might was the same as looking down on the entire Beast Race!

Such a thing could not be tolerated!

The simple-minded Beastmen had an astonishingly simple way of telling friend from foe.

"AWOO... ROAR!"

The bald giant, Tiger, suddenly let out a few mighty roars, the sound carrying far into the night sky, seemingly shattering the very air with its vibrations.

"ROAR!"

"ROAR!"

The beastly blood of the onlooking Beastmen began to boil as they roared and clamored in a frenzy. (To be continued...)