While Yun Kai was exploring the attributes of his new skills in the morning, a roar echoed from the nearby forest. A deep and unmistakably dangerous roar from a demonic beast.
Soon came the screams of villagers.
Yun Kai's head snapped toward the sound, his sensory bubble expanding as far as it could reach. The commotion was coming from the area close to Spiritbone Mountain forest. That region had many demonic beasts, though mostly Mortal Rank. But they hadn't appeared near the village in the last two days.
Yun Kai bolted from his room, taking the stairs two at a time. His bare feet hit the ground floor and he burst through the village hall doors into the morning light.
The scene that greeted him was chaos.
Villagers scattered in every direction, shouting warnings to each other. Women grabbed children and ran. Men without weapons backed away slowly, eyes wide with fear.
And in the center of it all stood the beast.
An Ironfang Tiger.
It was massive, easily two meters long from nose to tail. Sleek muscles rippled beneath orange and black striped fur. But what drew the eye were the fangs. Two massive iron-gray canines that jutted from its upper jaw, each as long as a man's forearm and gleaming like polished metal.
The tiger's amber eyes scanned the fleeing villagers with predatory glee.
Yun Kai's sensory bubble painted the scene in sharp detail. Almost all the able-bodied fighters were absent. Léi Shén was training soldiers on the other side of the mountain. The hunters were out in the forest. Only civilians remained here, defenseless.
After thinking for only a moment, Yun Kai made his decision. As the head of the village, now was the time for him to step up.
Among all the people present, he was the strongest. But fighting an Ironfang Tiger with bare hands would still be difficult. Very difficult.
He took a deep breath and ran toward the beast, ignoring the shocked gasps from the villagers around him.
At that moment, the tiger had already knocked down one villager. An older man who'd been too slow to flee. The villager lay on his back, arms raised defensively, terror written across his face.
The Ironfang Tiger loomed over him with one of its massive paw raised. Those iron claws glinted in the sunlight. If that paw came down, the villager's skull would be crushed like an egg.
Just as the villager closed his eyes in despair, a strong gust of wind rushed past his ears.
He opened his eyes again and found Village Head Yun Kai standing between him and the tiger. The young lord's back was to him, body tense, ready to fight.
The villager couldn't believe it. Every leader he'd ever served under had treated human lives as expendable. But Village Head Yun Kai was willing to fight this monster for him? A mere refugee?
"Get out of here," Yun Kai said, voice calm but firm.
The Ironfang Tiger wasn't something that could be subdued by numbers alone. If they really tried to swarm it, the loss would be more than a dozen villagers at minimum. And that was the best-case scenario.
The villager stared at Yun Kai's back, then glanced at the tiger. His heart struggled with conflicting impulses. Stay and help? Run and live?
Finally, survival instinct won. He scrambled to his feet and fled.
Yun Kai faced the Ironfang Tiger alone.
The beast was powerful. As a peak Mortal Rank creature, it was comparable to peak Blood Condensation Realm cultivators in strength. Meanwhile, Yun Kai was only early Blood Condensation. And he had no weapon in his hand.
Worse, he hadn't learned the battle techniques from the Heaven-Sundering Sword Scripture or the Star-Stride Blink yet. Just the Spiritual Ocean Sutra cultivation method.
The odds weren't good.
The Ironfang Tiger saw its meal escaping and snarled in frustration. It turned its full attention to Yun Kai, the one who'd kicked it away from its prey. The snarl deepened into a roar that shook the air.
"What are you yelling at?" Yun Kai muttered, dropping into a fighting stance.
Without further warning, the tiger charged.
It moved like lightning. The white iron fangs were exposed in its gaping maw, and the claws caught the sunlight, shining with metallic gleam. Each claw was like a small dagger.
Its speed was extreme. After all, it was a peak Mortal Rank demonic beast. According to Yun Kai's rough estimate, its Force value had reached about thirty. Meanwhile, his own Force value was only twenty after breaking through to early Blood Condensation Realm and mastering the first layer of Spiritual Ocean Sutra.
The gap was significant.
Yun Kai threw himself into a tactical roll, barely avoiding the lunge. The tiger's jaws snapped shut on empty air inches from where his head had been. But he didn't escape unscathed. The sharp claws grazed his left shoulder, tearing through cloth and skin.
Pain flared hot and immediate. Blood welled up from three parallel scratches.
But the tiger didn't stop. It spun with terrifying agility, its tail whipping around like an iron club. The muscular appendage caught Yun Kai in the abdomen before he could dodge.
The impact drove the air from his lungs. He flew backward, crashing into the dirt and rolling several times before coming to a stop. His protective clothing had torn, and he could feel warmth spreading across his stomach. He was bleeding.
A sense of burning pain spread through his body. His abdomen felt like it was on fire. Even through his reinforced robes, damage had gotten through.
The Ironfang Tiger prowled forward slowly now, confident in killing the puny human. Its prey was wounded and weakened. This was just a matter of time.
Yun Kai pushed himself up on shaking arms, spitting blood. His sensory bubble tracked the beast's movements, but his body was too slow to react properly. The gap in power was too large.
'Damn it. Am I going to die here?'
The tiger crouched, muscles coiling like springs as it prepared for the final pounce.
Suddenly, from not far away, came the thunderous sound of hooves and a man's roar that shook the very air.
"Evil beast! Don't you dare hurt my lord!"
Just seconds later, Léi Shén arrived on horseback, moving so fast he seemed to blur. He leaped from the saddle while still in motion, landing beside Yun Kai with the spiritually-formed Stormbreaker hammer materializing in his hands.
The weapon crackled with blue lightning, casting sharp shadows across the ground.
Without breaking stride, Léi Shén swung the hammer in a devastating arc.
The blow connected with the Ironfang Tiger's body with a sound like thunder. The beast, which had seemed so powerful and unstoppable moments ago, was sent flying sideways. It crashed into a tree twenty meters away with bone-breaking force.
The trunk splintered on impact.
The tiger slumped to the ground, blood pouring from its mouth and nose. Its health bar, visible only to Yun Kai, had emptied instantaneously. It was critically gone. Why wouldn't it? Léi Shén was a full five realms stronger than it after all.
Of course, its intact state was also under Léi Shén's deliberate control. Otherwise, if he'd used his full strength, the tiger's bones would have been pulverized to dust on the first hit.
"My lord, are you alright? I apologize for arriving late." Léi Shén dropped to one knee, his face twisted with guilt. "I should have been here to protect you."
Yun Kai slowly climbed up from the ground, checking his injuries. Nothing was broken, at least. Just a few bruises, bleeding wounds, and sore. He'd need the Apprentice Alchemist to look at the wounds and make sure it wasn't worse than it looked.
He waved dismissively at Léi Shén. "It's not your fault. You were doing your duty training the troops."
Then he turned his attention to the tiger. It was still barely breathing. Dying, but not quite dead yet.
Yun Kai walked over slowly, each step sending pain through his abdomen. He stood over the beast, looking down at it through his sensory bubble.
The Ironfang Tiger's amber eyes met his. There was no intelligence in them anymore. Just pain and fading life.
"You picked the wrong village," Yun Kai said quietly.
Then he stomped down hard on the tiger's skull. Once. Twice. Three times.
On the third stomp, something cracked. The light faded from the beast's eyes. Its body went limp. A dark bob of light visible to him alone entered his body.
A notification appeared in Yun Kai's mind.
[Ding! You have killed Peak Mortal Rank Ironfang Tiger.]
[Reward: 50 gold coins, Peak Mortal-Grade Ironfang Sword, +2 Force, +1 Intelligence]
Yun Kai blinked in surprise. Attribute points? He hadn't expected that.
According to the system knowledge, killing beasts personally granted attribute rewards in addition to items and currency. But if summons did the killing, you only received the material rewards.
So because he'd delivered the final blow himself, he'd gained permanent stat increases.
His Force rose from twenty to twenty-two. His Intelligence rose from eighteen to nineteen.
The difference was small but noticeable. His body already felt slightly stronger, the pain in his wounds slightly more bearable.
More importantly, a weapon had appeared in his inventory. The Ironfang Sword.
Yun Kai pulled it out, and it materialized in his hand. The blade was roughly eighty centimeters long, slightly curved, with a wicked edge. The metal had a gray tint to it, reminiscent of the tiger's iron fangs. The grip was wrapped in dark leather, comfortable despite the weapon's weight.
He gave it a few experimental swings. The balance was excellent. This was a proper weapon, not some crude iron blade.
"A fine weapon, my lord," Léi Shén observed, rising to his feet. "Suitable for your current cultivation level."
Yun Kai nodded, sheathing the sword at his hip. It felt good to finally be armed.
Around them, villagers were slowly emerging from their hiding places. They stared at Yun Kai with a mixture of awe and gratitude. Whispers spread through the crowd.
"The village head fought the tiger himself..."
"He saved Lao Zhang's life..."
"He's not like other nobles..."
"Maybe we really can build something here..."
Yun Kai sensed the change in their emotions even without seeing their faces. The loyalty and popular support numbers in his village interface ticked upward slightly.
Small gains, but meaningful ones.
Jiang Lao appeared from the village hall, moving as quickly as his older body allowed. "Village Head! Are you injured? Let me fetch the alchemist immediately!"
"I'm fine, Butler Jiang," Yun Kai said, though his bloodstained clothes told a different story. "But yes, have the alchemist check these wounds. And organize a team to butcher this tiger. The meat will feed the village for days, and the hide can be used for leather."
"At once!" Jiang Lao bowed and hurried off, shouting orders to nearby villagers.
Léi Shén placed a hand on Yun Kai's shoulder, gentle despite his immense strength. "You fought well, my lord. But next time, please wait for me to arrive before engaging such dangerous opponents."
Yun Kai smiled beneath his blindfold. "I'll try. But sometimes there isn't time to wait."
"Then I will ensure I'm always close enough that there is time," Léi Shén replied firmly.