Chen Yang held his breath and stayed perfectly still, hidden behind a tree.
The two inner disciples lingered beside the tiger's corpse for a long while, but finding no clues, they eventually rode their sword light away.
Only after the sword light had completely vanished into the horizon did Chen Yang step out from his hiding place.
The spot on his chest where the tiger's tail had struck still throbbed with pain. Suppressing his injuries, he quickly stripped the Blazing Flame Tiger of its valuable materials.
He had no intention of returning to the medicine garden today.
For one thing, his injuries were not light; for another, the Blazing Flame Tiger's demon core in his hand made him eager to break through.
He asked Steward Wang for three days off, claiming there was an urgent matter back home — a perfect excuse to go into seclusion and attempt a breakthrough.
Chen Yang ventured deep into the back mountains and found a secluded cave.
Its entrance was concealed by hanging vines, and the interior was dry and spacious — seemingly an abandoned den of some wild beast.
He scattered Beast-Repelling Powder at the cave entrance, then used a large boulder to partially block it before settling in with peace of mind.
Taking out the clay bowl, Chen Yang began to duplicate the demon core.
This Blazing Flame Tiger had a cultivation comparable to a cultivator at the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm. The spiritual energy contained within its demon core far surpassed that of the Shadow Wolf's demon core, and duplicating it required far more spirit liquid.
He continuously poured clear water into the bowl, watching as faint spirit light rose and faded, as one crimson demon core after another condensed at the bottom.
Through an entire sleepless night, Chen Yang finally duplicated ten Blazing Flame Tiger demon cores.
Together with the original, eleven crimson demon cores now glowed with a warm radiance inside the cave.
"That should be enough." Chen Yang calculated. Based on his earlier experience consuming Shadow Wolf demon cores, two Blazing Flame Tiger demon cores ought to be sufficient to push him to the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
He took out one demon core and swallowed it.
The demon core dissolved the moment it entered his stomach, and a scorching wave of spiritual energy instantly swept through his entire body.
This spiritual energy was several times more domineering than the Shadow Wolf's demon core — it was as though flames were burning through his meridians.
Chen Yang hurriedly circulated his cultivation technique, guiding the force to assault the barrier.
After three Circulation Cycles, the spiritual energy gradually subsided, but the barrier of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm remained unyielding.
Chen Yang stayed calm and swallowed another demon core.
This time the spiritual energy was even more violent, sending searing pain through his meridians.
The barrier began to waver, yet still did not break.
"Strange." Chen Yang frowned.
By all reasoning, two demon cores should have been enough.
He hesitated for a short while, then took out a third demon core.
Just as he was about to swallow it, a deafening tiger's roar suddenly erupted from outside the cave!
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The roar was far more ferocious than the Blazing Flame Tiger he had killed before, laden with boundless fury.
Chen Yang's heart lurched. Before he could even react, the boulder blocking the cave entrance was violently smashed aside!
A crimson shadow shot into the cave like lightning, carrying with it a thick, bloody stench.
In the darkness, Chen Yang could only make out two points of scarlet light and feel a suffocating Spirit Pressure bearing down on him.
He instinctively rolled to the side. He heard a sharp rip, and the fabric at his shoulder was torn open by sharp fangs, leaving several bloody gashes.
By the moonlight filtering in through the cave entrance, Chen Yang finally saw his attacker clearly — it was an even more imposing Blazing Flame Tiger! This tiger was a full size larger than the previous one, its coat a deep crimson like blood, with a white marking between its brows that resembled a third eye.
Most terrifying of all, the aura it radiated was comparable to a cultivator at the sixth level of the Qi Refinement Realm!
Chen Yang drew a sharp breath.
He immediately understood — this was likely the mate of the female tiger he had killed before. It had come for revenge!
The male tiger's first strike missed. It wheeled around and lunged again.
Its speed far exceeded Chen Yang's expectations.
He hurriedly activated the Wind-Riding Technique to dodge, while simultaneously hurling his last Vajra Talisman.
Golden light flickered, forming a protective shield.
But the male tiger's claws came crashing down, and the shield shattered instantly!
Chen Yang was sent flying by the shockwave and slammed hard into the cave wall, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
The demon beast before him was far more powerful than he had imagined!
The male tiger seemed to catch the female tiger's scent on Chen Yang and grew even more enraged.
It opened its massive jaws, and a torrent of crimson flames erupted forth, filling the entire cave in an instant.
Chen Yang rolled desperately across the ground to dodge, but the flames still grazed his back.
Searing agony washed over him, and he caught the smell of his own flesh burning.
If this continued, death was certain!
Panic surging in his chest, Chen Yang could no longer afford to hesitate. He grabbed a Blazing Flame Tiger demon core and swallowed it.
The demon core entered his stomach and spiritual energy erupted — but his mind was in turmoil, and he could not calm himself enough to absorb it properly.
The spiritual energy rampaged through his body unchecked, worsening his injuries instead.
The male tiger seemed to sense that he had swallowed a demon core and grew even more furious.
It had recognized that as its mate's demon core!
Another claw came sweeping down. Chen Yang barely managed to raise his sword to block.
The refined iron shortsword snapped with a crack, and he was sent flying once more, with no telling how many ribs had broken.
The shadow of death closed in around him.
A fierce, burning indignation surged within Chen Yang's heart.
He could not die here — he had not yet settled his score with those three people!
Driven by desperation, he swallowed another demon core.
Combined with the two he had taken before, four demon cores' worth of demonic spiritual energy now raged inside him, threatening to tear his meridians apart.
The barrier of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm teetered on the verge of collapse, yet still fell just short of breaking.
The male tiger advanced step by step, a cruel gleam flickering in its eyes.
It seemed in no hurry to kill its enemy — it wanted to make him suffer slowly.
A look of absolute resolve flashed across Chen Yang's eyes.
He suddenly snatched up all the remaining demon cores in one fist — seven Blazing Flame Tiger demon cores in total — and shoved every last one into his mouth!
"If I can't break through, then let's destroy everything together!" he roared.
Seven demon cores entered his stomach at once, as though a volcano had been detonated inside him!
The savage spiritual energy instantly obliterated the barrier of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm and continued surging upward!
But at the same time, countless frenzied consciousnesses flooded into Chen Yang's mind.
They were the Blazing Flame Tiger's residual savagery, its lust for slaughter, its longing for its mate, its rage toward its enemy...
"Ahhh——!"
Chen Yang let out a howl of agony.
His body began to undergo terrifying changes: his eyes turned scarlet as blood, his pupils narrowing to vertical slits like a feline's; his fingernails grew long and sharp, like tiger claws; his teeth sharpened and jutted out past his lips; the muscles across his body swelled and bulged, shredding his clothes; and crimson markings surfaced across his skin, like tiger stripes.
Most terrifying of all, a towering Baleful Ferocity Aura erupted from his body, mingling with the Spirit Pressure of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm, causing the entire cave to tremble.
The male tiger was so startled by this sudden transformation that it took a step back. Its animal instincts told it that the enemy before it had become extremely dangerous.
Chen Yang slowly raised his head. Those scarlet eyes held not a trace of humanity — only the most primal savagery and bloodlust.
He dropped to all fours, a low rumble rising from his throat, a sound that no longer resembled a human voice but was more like...
A world-shaking tiger's roar exploded from within the cave, reverberating through the entire forest!
That roar carried within it boundless fury, agony, and wild ferocity, startling countless birds and beasts into flight.
In the moonlight, Chen Yang's silhouette was half-human, half-tiger, radiating a heart-chilling Baleful Ferocity Aura.