Chapter 279: Old Acquaintance

The fight in the room was still ongoing.

The fat cultivator hadn't yet considered leaving, nor had he thought about calling for help. The tiger demon had been hungry for a long time and had lost a lot of blood, significantly weakening its strength. He originally intended to rely on his own cultivation to subdue the tiger demon first. The fat cultivator had just arrived, and if word got out that he had made a mistake and allowed the tiger demon to break free from its chains, he would certainly be held responsible and inevitably be subjected to a reprimand. Therefore, subduing the tiger demon without alarming others was the best approach.

However, as the fight continued, the fat cultivator realized that if he kept fighting, not to mention subduing the tiger demon, it would be good enough if he didn't end up in the tiger's mouth. This tiger demon's strength was much greater than he had anticipated. Doubts arose in the fat cultivator's heart. This tiger demon had been hungry for so long, why was its blood energy still so strong? And after several rounds of fighting, not only did the tiger demon show no signs of fatigue, but it became fiercer and fiercer. The fat cultivator suddenly realized: "Something's not right!"

"Someone fed the tiger demon!" The fat cultivator's heart trembled. Who exactly had fed the tiger demon right under his nose? After thinking for a moment, the fat cultivator felt a surge of chill. He remembered the missing pastries from the kitchen and the missing dried meat. Someone had stolen the pastries, fed the tiger demon, and even unlocked the chains. And this person was invisible to him! Was it a high-level concealment technique? The fat cultivator glanced out of the corner of his eye at the demon-binding chains, his heart pounding wildly. When he entered the room, he had glanced at the chains, and they were still intact then. But in just a moment, they had actually been unlocked. And he was completely unaware. This proved that this invisible cultivator had extremely profound cultivation, immeasurably deep divine sense, and unfathomable methods. Moreover, at this very moment, this terrifying cultivator was in this room! Perhaps right now, with a mocking expression, they were watching him fight the tiger demon. The fat cultivator's cold sweat flowed instantly. He had to run! If he didn't run, he would surely die!

The fat cultivator made up his mind, dodged one of the tiger demon's claws, retreated, and ran madly towards the door. But it was already too late. The ink painting in the corner of the wall had already extended a wicked small hand and gently grasped towards him. Spiritual power instantly gathered, condensing into several chains, binding him layer upon layer, completely trapping him in his original spot! The fat cultivator suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his face deathly pale. What kind of spell was this?! What in the hell kind of spell was this?! Before he could think further, the tiger demon had already pounced, biting his shoulder. The fat cultivator struggled with all his might, still wanting to continue running towards the door. But a second Water Prison technique locked him again, rendering him completely immobile. The tiger demon opened its mouth again, biting directly through his neck.

The fat cultivator knew he was bound to die. A powerful enemy was lurking in the shadows, a fierce tiger was fighting in the open, and at this moment, he had already entered the tiger's mouth. His entire life had been spent scheming against others, and it was the first time he had been schemed against. But after being schemed against just this once, his life was gone. He stiffly turned his neck, looking towards the corner of the room, wanting to know who had schemed against him. But the corner was empty, not a single person's shadow. He clearly knew that person was just there, but he just couldn't see. The fat cultivator spat out a mouthful of blood, dying with his eyes wide open. Until death, he didn't know whose hands he had fallen into, nor did he know what the person who had pitted him to his death looked like.

The tiger demon killed the fat cultivator, then bit him several more times, confirming that the fat cultivator was thoroughly dead, before throwing him to one side, its expression seemingly somewhat disdainful. This tiger demon not only didn't eat the fat cultivator's meat, but even spat out the fat cultivator's blood from its mouth. The ink painting watched, feeling it was novel. This big tiger actually didn't eat people? Did it disdain this fat cultivator as unpalatable, or disdain him for having a bad heart, so even his meat wasn't clean? The ink painting thought for a bit, couldn't figure it out, simply didn't bother, more important matters still remained. He concealed his figure, walked to the front of the fat cultivator, flipped open his storage bag, and took out the jade pendant that Kong Sheng had given him. Other things, to avoid being discovered, the ink painting did not take. But only Kong Sheng and the fat cultivator knew about this jade pendant, so even if the ink painting took it, no one would know.

The ink painting put the jade pendant into his storage bag. This jade pendant was not cheap; according to Kong Sheng, it was worth more than five hundred spirit stones. But the ink painting didn't plan to exchange it for spirit stones. This jade pendant was personally carried by Kong Sheng and had a "Kong" character on it, indicating it was a direct line item of the Kong family. The ink painting planned to keep it, as it might have other uses in the future.

After putting away the jade pendant, the ink painting just noticed that the tiger demon was looking at him. Perhaps not exactly looking. The tiger demon also couldn't see through the ink painting's concealment technique, it just sensed the ink painting's aura, so it was staring in his direction. And from its gaze, there was no malice. The ink painting felt somewhat strange. Could it be that it knew I gave it things to eat, so it's grateful to me? This doesn't seem like something a demon beast would do, does it? According to the old generation of demon hunters, demon beasts are inherently hostile to humans, and even if they don't eat people, they will still try to kill them.

The ink painting stared at the demon beast's gaze again for a moment, then suddenly was stunned. "This appearance of its, it seems to recognize me?" The ink painting released his divine sense, saw that there was no one around, and then temporarily revealed a bit of his figure. When the tiger demon saw him, its gaze brightened, and it roared in a low voice. This roar sounded both like a "roar" and like a "meow," like a tiger and like a cat. The ink painting was stunned, and sized up this tiger demon again, feeling more and more familiar, then suddenly realized: "Could it be that little cat demon..." Uncle Chu had once used a trap to catch a young cat demon. The ink painting had fed it dried fish, used it to practice body techniques, and finally released it back to Dahei Mountain, even instructing it to "not eat people." Yet he hadn't expected that the cat demon from that time was actually a tiger demon? And had actually grown so big, it already looked like a large tiger. He just didn't know what breed of tiger demon it was; its appearance was strange, like a tiger and a cat. The ink painting had never seen one like it in Dahei Mountain before.

The ink painting wanted to chat about old times, but suddenly remembered that this was a demon beast, and probably couldn't understand what he was saying. Moreover, demon beasts' nature was difficult to tame. It looked docile now, but who knew when its temper would flare up, and it would bite and eat him. The ink painting sighed, thought for a moment, took out several pieces of dried meat from his storage bag, and threw them to the tiger demon, as a "meeting gift." The tiger demon held the dried meat, puffing and panting as it ate. Demon beasts probably didn't understand human words. Now it wasn't eating human meat. He didn't know if it remembered the ink painting's "instruction," or if it had a special habit and was originally like this.

The ink painting was still about to say something when his expression suddenly changed, detecting that someone was coming. The fat cultivator had died, but the fight with the tiger demon before his death had made a noise that seemed to attract the attention of the evil cultivators. Several evil cultivators were rushing towards here. The ink painting quickly cast his concealment technique, walked along the wall, took several steps up, and then quietly lay on the roof beam. That tiger demon also detected the movement, swallowed the dried meat in three or five bites, stepped back to its original place, and even put its claws back into the chains. Afterwards, it lowered its head and lay on the ground, looking listless. The ink painting watched, shocked. This tiger had become a spirit! How could it be so clever? More so than him in acting?

Not long after, two evil cultivators, one tall and one short, walked in. One of them entered the door and saw the bloodstains on the ground and the fat cultivator's corpse beside them. The short evil cultivator said: "Nothing, just a dead person." The tall evil cultivator walked forward, kicked the fat cultivator's corpse, and doubted: "This could be bitten to death by a tiger?" "Newly arrived, probably careless." "Really a waste." The tall evil cultivator looked around, doubted: "Not right, this tiger demon is chained and cannot move, how did this fat one die so far away?" "Probably was bitten to death while feeding, then crawled outwards, making blood all over the ground." "Damn it, even dying not properly, made so much blood, we still need to clean it." The tall evil cultivator cursed, then asked again: "What to do now? Kill this demon beast?" The short evil cultivator sneered: "You dare to kill it?" "Why? This demon beast can't be killed?" The tall evil cultivator was somewhat surprised. The short evil cultivator glanced at him and said flatly: "This demon beast has a special bloodline. The fourth boss is raising it to drink blood. If you dare to kill it, the fourth boss can kill you."