"Unfortunately, my parents weren't proficient in explosives and traps, so they set too many bombs in the mountains to ensure they killed my treacherous uncles. As a result, the explosion triggered a landslide that was too intense, causing their deaths as well. My poor parents! Ah—! Ah—!" Little Tiger said, letting out a mournful howl, seemingly mourning his deceased parents.
After a bout of wailing, Little Tiger, having vented his grief, continued, "Hmph! That despicable second uncle, I never imagined he could survive that landslide! Fortunately, I entered the tent beforehand, which allowed me to discover my second uncle lying there barely alive and send him on his way early, so he could reveal some unnecessary information to you."
"Then, what about the landslide we encountered when we went up the mountain later? Was that also your doing?" Dao Lao, seeing that Little Tiger seemed willing to reveal the truth, asked again, seeking to continue buying time for their trio to escape Little Tiger's clutches or find a chance to defeat him.
"Yes, that was my trap. My goal was to constantly lure the search and rescue personnel from Yinxin Village here and bury them, so they could accompany my parents in death! Ahoo—!" Little Tiger admitted bluntly.
Now, Hao Yun and his companions understood that Little Tiger's previous appearance of weakness was all an act. He had already planned how to deal with the village chief of Yinxin Village and his followers before leaving the Flashing Forest. So, Dream Jia asked, "Since those search and rescue personnel are all dead, and no one in the village knows about your situation anymore, why don't you just escape now?"
Little Tiger wriggled his long tongue and said, "Escape? Where to? Little Tiger doesn't want to be a fugitive for life. Yinxin is Little Tiger's hometown. As long as Little Tiger kills all the bad people helping the village chief and holds on until the village chief dies, Little Tiger can return to Yinxin Village peacefully and live a happy life! Ahoo—!"
"Or, we'll accompany you back to settle the score with that village chief? Since we have no connection to Yinxin Village, why not let us do the right thing and help you resolve this grudge?" Hao Yun suggested whimsically.
Little Tiger looked at Hao Yun with a puzzled and suspicious tone. "But—you're also enemies of Little Tiger. You, you just want to use me to get that ticket! Ahoo—! Alright, let me ask you. Although no chosen one has ever really gotten a ticket, and actually boarded the ferry to the Paradise Island. But, if the village chief's ticket can really take you to the Paradise Island, and let you receive the blessings of the gods while going to another even more beautiful Paradise World, would you still be willing to continue helping me?"
Upon hearing Little Tiger's words, Hao Yun and his companions were suddenly stunned. Then, after looking at each other, they were at a loss whether to deceive Little Tiger against their conscience or to speak out their true thoughts based on Little Tiger's assumption. Little Tiger immediately burst into laughter, "Hahaha! Just as I expected, you only want to use Little Tiger. You never had the sincere intention of helping Little Tiger! You were never my friends; you are all enemies of Little Tiger! So, you must die!"
With that, Little Tiger's gaze suddenly became chilling. The sharp teeth in his mouth grated together, and his long tongue, like a cobra, straightened out again, aiming at Hao Yun and his companions.
Seeing Little Tiger adopt such a highly aggressive posture, Dao Lao knew he hadn't given Little Tiger a satisfactory answer in time, causing Little Tiger to categorize their trio as enemies who would pose a threat to him. Thus, Dao Lao said in the system channel, "Bad! Prepare to fight! Dream Jia, you and I will attract Little Tiger's attention. Hao Yun, as soon as you see an opportunity, attack him with the poison ball!"
Just as Dao Lao finished speaking, Little Tiger dashed towards them at high speed. Although Little Tiger didn't know many combat techniques and relied solely on brute force to attack Hao Yun and his companions, Hao Yun's trio, whose strength was severely limited, couldn't gain the upper hand against Little Tiger's sharp giant claws, his long thorn-covered tongue, and his tail, which constantly swept towards them.
Due to the suppression of their own strength, Hao Yun and his companions dared not engage in direct confrontation with the transformed Little Tiger. Instead, they had to rely on their more experienced combat techniques to continuously defend and evade Little Tiger's attacks while seeking opportunities to pry open Little Tiger's tightly closed mouth so that Hao Yun could have a chance to insert the poison ball into it.
However, after a few rounds, Hao Yun's trio found that although they could still engage in a back-and-forth battle with Little Tiger based on their greater combat experience, Little Tiger, this somewhat clumsy rookie, seemed to be rapidly improving his combat experience and perfecting his combat skills through the battle with Hao Yun's trio. This led to Hao Yun's trio gradually falling into a passive state due to Little Tiger's swift improvement in combat strength.
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"This won't work! We need to find a way to pry open his mouth faster!" Dream Jia anxiously shouted after successfully evading a fierce attack from Little Tiger by continuously jumping skillfully and taking advantage of the dense trees in the forest.
"Damn it! His mouth is closed too tightly! I haven't had a chance to make a move at all!" Hao Yun also said, while preparing to throw the baseball again, as he had distanced himself from Little Tiger once more.
"Although Little Tiger's combat ability is rapidly growing, his attack moves have not evolved yet; they're still the same old routine. So, until he evolves into more diverse attack methods and experiences a qualitative improvement in combat ability, we still have a chance to deal with him! Hao Yun, I'll try to attract another round of firepower! You concentrate, ready to attack at any time!" After quickly analyzing the current situation, Dao Lao once again said to Hao Yun.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"With a few loud noises, Little Tiger, relying on his incomparable brute force, directly split the trunk of the tree where Dream Jia was hiding into two. Fortunately, Dream Jia reacted quickly enough, allowing her to flip onto the top of another large tree before the fallen tree trunk could hit the ground. Without wasting any time, she swiftly maneuvered through the canopy of the trees once again. Meanwhile, Little Tiger seemed to have locked onto Dream Jia's location by scent. No matter how Dream Jia jumped and fled among the treetops, he closely followed below, either chopping with his hand or punching, cutting each passing tree in half to prevent Dream Jia from using them as escape routes.
What made it even more terrifying was that as Little Tiger evolved during the pursuit, he no longer needed to chop down trees with his hands or fists. By now, he had developed a layer of sturdy scales on his shoulders. This allowed him to simply charge through the forest, smashing all the trees in his path into two pieces.
"Damn! I'm just a delicate girl! Are you really playing for keeps with me?! I've always been so nice to you, you heartless brat!" Dream Jia cursed while desperately dodging and running among the treetops, occasionally looking back to taunt Little Tiger relentlessly.
"Hmph! You don't really want to be nice to Little Tiger! You're just deceiving Little Tiger's feelings, trying to make Little Tiger drop his guard against you, and then seize the opportunity to kill Little Tiger! Sister Rabbit is a cunning and vicious villain! Little Tiger will kill you!" Little Tiger roared fiercely as he chased Dream Jia, his anger fueling his pursuit.
As Dream Jia used her agile movements to evade Little Tiger, and taunted him while escaping, they were actually implementing a tactical plan. Their strategy was for Dream Jia to lead Little Tiger in circles through the forest and then lure him into an ambush prepared by Dao Lao and Daddy Cat, where they could launch a deadly surprise attack.
After circling around for a while, Dream Jia finally led Little Tiger back to the forest illuminated by the shimmering blue-green light. Little Tiger, consumed by anger, temporarily abandoned his attacks on Haoyun and Dao Lao and focused solely on relentlessly pursuing Dream Jia. Unbeknownst to him, Dream Jia's taunts were part of their team's temporary strategy. The plan was for her to lead Little Tiger in circles until they reached the ambush site set up by Haoyun and Dao Lao.
As they approached, Dao Lao suddenly shouted and leaped out of the bushes next to Little Tiger, wielding a stout broken branch and thrusting it towards Little Tiger's abdomen.
However, Dao Lao's shout gave Little Tiger enough time to react. He quickly realized Dao Lao was approaching and immediately retaliated by swinging his long tongue at Dao Lao. Because Little Tiger's tongue was longer than the branch in Dao Lao's hand, Dao Lao was forced to continue advancing, intending to thrust the branch into Little Tiger's mouth.
Seeing Dao Lao approaching, Daddy Cat seized the opportunity. He grabbed the moment when Little Tiger exposed his neck and swiftly threw the Speed and Passion Blade with all his might. Although Daddy Cat and the blade's power were severely suppressed, the Speed and Passion Blade was still a divine artifact from the Spirit God Realm. Therefore, it was able to penetrate the scale armor on Little Tiger's neck and accurately pierce his throat.
With the blade back in his possession, Haoyun once again established a spiritual connection with the Speed and Passion Blade. Although the connection was still very weak, Haoyun could feel the toughness of Little Tiger's neck scales as the blade failed to fully penetrate his throat. Nevertheless, the Speed and Passion Blade's unique material and exceptionally sharp edge allowed it to partially pierce Little Tiger's neck, causing him to stagger backward. The sudden blow, coupled with the dagger lodged in his throat, forced Little Tiger to recoil. Simultaneously, the impact caused him to subconsciously open his massive jaws, emitting a painful howl.
"Now's the time!"
Seeing Little Tiger open his mouth, Haoyun immediately focused and, before Dao Lao's verbal reminder, seized the moment to throw the poison ball he had been clutching for some time. The poison ball flew into Little Tiger's mouth and, upon contact with his sharp teeth, ruptured, releasing the toxin into his system.
"We did it!"
Watching Little Tiger, who was now coughing and clutching his throat, Haoyun and the others breathed a sigh of relief, tinged with anticipation. Now, all they had to do was wait for the poison to take effect, giving them enough time to consider how to deal with this tricky task next.