The clouds departed, leaving behind a clear, full moon hovering in the sky, lighting up an entire forest as well as sharpening the figure of the beast.

Binh An knelt on the ground in the moonlight, gazing up at the big, ferocious beast in front of him.

The vertical stripes on this tiger's body glow red against a clean white underside. The claws gleamed up with sharpness; the eyes were intimidating crescent-shaped; the mouth opened wide showcasing its vicious bare teeth and the growls coming out of its throat. It set its posture to launch an attack at any given point.

Its two sharp, penetrating, overwhelming pupils fixed at Binh An and the little fatty, the desire to devour the two prey was clearly visible on its face.

The Nightmare Tiger was sometimes worshiped as a god guarded the deep mountains and forests, who was known for its majestic appearance as well as its understanding and serenity beyond its own kind. There were many famous folklore throughout its historic range and continued to be depicted in modern literature about this very kind of yao Tiger.

The most famous one was a story of the origin ceremony for the Nightmare Tiger.

In the ancient times, there was an amateur mage who went up the mountain in search of a missing child after a poor family reported it to the authorities. In the middle of the search, the mage accidentally came across a Nightmare Tiger, and a very hungry one at that. The Tiger's power surpassed the mage's and he could had been a perfect meal for the tiger at that moment. However, the mage showed his respect and pleaded for its help to find the child, promising to pay tribute to the Tiger every year in return, and build a shrine for it after it passed away.

The Tiger listened attentively, then left without a word, and only to return a small unconscious child three days later at the step of the family's door, right when the family had run out of hope. Both the mage and the child came out of the forest alive and healthy. So as to show their gratitude, they held a special ceremony to honor the Tiger as the god of the forest every year and pray for its protection. This story demonstrated the understanding, connection, harmony and respect between humans and yaos. It also showed the high intelligence and comprehensiveness of the Nightmare Tiger, with the lessons of avoiding violence when you can negotiate and communicate with words.

The folklore was actually a real story; it was written when the mage has grown old and passed down to his descendant, who later on set up the very first sect to nurture potential mages and taught them the lessons of wondrous nature. Binh An also hoped that he could make something out of this story and use negotiation to confront it.

He then Immediately signaled Chi Kien not to make any sudden movements, while he was still maintaining eye to eye with the giant beast. His heart was racing faster than ever as any second passed by, still, his demeanor remained calm, unaffected, and fearless.

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Binh An gently pulled out the talisman from his shirt while remaining cautious of the beast's every move and paying close attention to its every facial expression. After seeing that it still hadn't made a move, he held up two talismans which then separate to two sides of the air, later the yellow pieces of paper underneath vanished, leaving just the shining golden character floating in space, acting as a barrier, blocking between the two sides of people and yao.

Binh An cautiously spoke up.

"I came to negotiate."

The Nightmare Tiger let out a very scary growl, Chi Kien the little fatty behind Binh An couldn't help but to sweat profusely, he never imagined the beast could be so gigantic.

Previously, he had only been assigned to deal with a few problems, mostly involving people. Even his sword had never been used in combat, instead dangling on one side of his hip just to show-off. Now when he was up against such an overwhelming opponent, the hand holding the blade was so slick with sweat that he couldn't hold it properly. His entire body couldn't stop shaking like a tractor.

Binh An did not seem to be intimidated by it, his face remained unwavering without a single ripple, his eyebrows were sharp, and a flash of light lit up from his eyes, he made himself very clear.

“I want you to withdraw from this place and not to attack anymore humans, restore peace to the forest and mend the harmonious coexistence between humans and yaos. Or else you will have to suffer the consequences under the hand of a mage!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Nightmare Tiger started to move. It stepped closer and closer to Binh An, but Binh An did not intend to be humble, his feet remaining firmly rooted in the ground, with all the seriousness in his eyes, Binh An went on.

"If you agree to the terms, heaven and earth will bear witness, I will drop all of your previous crimes conviction and let you leave in peace. If you accept the terms, these characters will serve as an amulet, keeping you safe from the clutches of other mages, and you will be able to live freely in whatever places as you wish."

That Nightmare Tiger was hanging its face low, again shrouded by the shadow of the big tree nearby, Binh An could not see its attitude clearly, but a moment later, it suddenly raised its face, exposing a very horrifying smile of mocking, causing the little fatty to quiver and panic. It finally revealed its real beast form, which it had been cultivating for hundreds of years.

Binh An recognized the danger, turned to Chi Kien and shouted.

"Go now!"

Chi Kien did not hesitate for one second, immediately retreated into the bushes.

The monster raced up, growling like a rabid animal, and bit through the golden lettering floating in the air like a chain, breaking them all off as a declaration of war and rejection. Its attachment to human flesh was so great that it had taken over its own self-restraint.

The Nightmare Tiger was no ignorant. It knew a very major secret, that the world of mages had once been destroyed and now left with weakened left-overs. There was absolutely no one who could stop it from doing what it wanted, otherwise, after it killing dozens of people, why was there still no powerful mage in sight? And now that they had to result to these two young pathetic stags to deal with it.

It's smug, today, it’s going to have another filling meal.