Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 263: Outsmarting Yourself

A rough, echoing howl swept through the misty mountains. It sort of sounded like a tiger, but also a bit like a lone wolf howling at the moon. You couldn't tell what it actually was. Figuring out where it came from was just as hard. One moment it seemed miles away, the next it felt like it was right in front of you. The sound alone was enough to make your heart race.Whatever kind of spirit beast it was, Liu Xiaolou didn’t need to think twice to know he had no chance against it. But he had no idea which way to run, so escaping wasn’t really an option either. With no better choice, Liu Xiaolou forced himself to be brave, climbed up the big banyan tree in front of him, and hid in the branches while peeking around in every direction.

Under the moonlight, suddenly a swarm of dark shapes shot up from the east, streaking across the night sky. Squinting, he realized it was a huge flock of startled birds, all flying straight toward him.

Looking back toward where the birds had taken off, the trees of all shapes and sizes started shaking. And even more birds swooped over his head, fleeing in a panicked rush toward the west.

That was when he finally put it together. The roar echoing through the mountains was coming from that shaking stretch of forest. And those treetops... those branches whipping and rolling as if they were alive... were sweeping rapidly toward his direction.

That was all he needed to see. Liu Xiaolou kicked off from the treetop and dropped down, running like crazy in the same direction the panicked birds were flying.

Trees and bushes blurred past him. Mounds of earth and deep gullies flashed under his feet as he tore through the forest, running for his life.

After a while, Liu Xiaolou sensed something off. He turned his head. And nearly stumbled. A sleek, powerful figure had somehow caught up from behind and was now racing right alongside him. It was a panther. The black blur kept pace with him, and when it glanced his way, its eyes shimmered with an eerie blue glow.

The sight jolted him. This panther was huge. Easily half again as big as the ones he’d seen in the Wuling Mountains. Its long tail whipped from side to side, crackling with arcs of lightning. No doubt about it: this was a spirit leopard.

Even a normal spirit leopard from the Wuling Mountains was tough to handle. And Liu Xiaolou knew he wouldn’t be confident facing one even at the late-stage Qi Refinement. But this one was bigger, stronger, faster... and that lightning-laced tail was enough to make his scalp go numb.

Cold sweat broke out all over Liu Xiaolou. His steps faltered for just a moment, and that massive spirit leopard bounded past him, vanishing into the thick forest ahead.

He barely had time to feel relieved when the roar boomed again behind him, even louder than before. The breath he’d just let out snapped right back into his chest. He gathered his true qi and sprinted with everything he had.

But the trees and vines ahead were getting even thicker, constantly whipping against him and tearing his black clothes to shreds. In no time, he was in tatters. The torn clothes didn’t bother him as much as the fact that they were slowing him down.

He had no idea how long he’d been running when a huge, striped tiger suddenly burst out on his left. It didn’t even glance at him. Just shot past and kept fleeing straight ahead.

Right after that came a herd of wild boars, crashing through the underbrush as they barreled past him…

Then a few giant snakes whipped by, coiling up tree trunks and slingshotting themselves forward…

Next was a pack of strange mountain deer he couldn’t even name, springing right over his head as they bounded away…

Liu Xiaolou started to panic. Everything was running for its life. This wasn’t just a chase. It was a race against death itself. If he slowed down, he’d end up as someone else’s shield, and the consequences of that… he didn’t dare imagine.

So he dug the Three-Mystery Sword out of his Qiankun Pouch. A three-foot sword-light shot out from the tip, then split into three streams that he whipped into a spinning whirl of sword-flowers. With that blazing cluster clearing the way, the thorns, vines, and bushes ahead were shredded instantly. Nothing blocked his path anymore, and his speed picked up again.

The roaring behind him never stopped. At its closest, it felt like whatever it was stood right at his back. Strange spirit beasts kept overtaking him, and even some ordinary animals sprinted past, leaving him behind in this desperate race for survival.

At the most dangerous moment, he could even feel the ground shaking beneath his feet. Like a giant, gaping maw was right behind him, ready to snap shut and swallow him whole.

He stumbled and fled like that until dawn, no idea how far he’d run. Only then did the roaring behind him finally fade away. Liu Xiaolou’s true qi was nearly drained, and he slowly eased his pace, pulling back the Three-Mystery’s sword-light.

Spotting a cliff nearby, he leapt up onto it. From the top, he looked back the way he’d come. The forest behind him was completely still. Even now, he had no idea what kind of spirit beast had been chasing him. He hadn’t caught so much as a glimpse of it the entire night.

After such a terrifying ordeal, exhaustion washed over him. He picked a tall tree, climbed up, and settled cross-legged beneath its thick canopy to recover.

It took more than two hours of focused breathing before his true qi finally recovered to about sixty percent.

He was planning to meditate for another couple of hours when a sudden chill crawled up his spine. Someone, or something, was watching him.

He snapped his eyes open. Somehow, without making a sound, the same massive spirit leopard from last night... the one with lightning coiling around its tail... was crouched on a branch opposite him. It was inching toward him like a stalking cat, and was now barely ten feet away.

He had just escaped one deadly threat, and now this creature had set its sights on him again. Was it really treating him like prey?

A flare of anger surged through Liu Xiaolou. Enough was enough. He summoned the Three-Mystery Sword from his Qiankun Pouch; its sword-light stretched out in the wind, splitting into three flexible, whip-like streams that waved and twisted in front of the spirit leopard.

The leopard flinched back, slipped two steps away, then leapt sideways onto another tree, trying to circle around and strike Liu Xiaolou from a new angle. Liu Xiaolou half-turned with it, keeping the Three-Mystery Sword trained on the beast.

For a heartbeat, both man and leopard froze. Then they moved at the same time. The leopard lunged, its sharp fangs suddenly extending a good three inches as it snapped down toward him. At the same moment, its tail swept across, slamming into the Three-Mystery Sword.

Steel and tail clashed first. Sparks crackling and hissing. A numbing jolt shot through Liu Xiaolou’s whole body, and the Three-Mystery Sword nearly flew from his hand.

In a rush, he kicked himself backward, pulling the Three-Mystery Sword away as he hurled the formation disk forward. The moment it left his hand, he activated the Abyssal Blackstone Formation, hoping... at the very least... to slow the beast down.

But once the formation activated, the result was… far from what he expected.

The spirit leopard didn’t even seem to notice it. It simply barreled straight out of the formation. In the end, the Abyssal Blackstone Formation was just an illusion formation, and illusions relied heavily on the target’s own mind. Spirit beasts, however, had almost no inner world to speak of. No imagination, no complex thoughts, just a blank sheet. Naturally, illusions had no hold on them.

The spirit leopard lunged, both front paws arcing toward Liu Xiaolou’s head. Sharp blades extended from its claws, each over two inches long, glinting with sparks. One look at those things and you knew they meant trouble.

In the middle of the chaos, Liu Xiaolou whipped out the Glass Shield he’d taken from Lu Xiansheng. Ribbons of shimmering light poured down its surface like a waterfall, just managing to block the leopard’s strike.

No wonder Foundation-Establishment cultivators used gear like this. It really was the good stuff.

Seizing the moment, Liu Xiaolou flicked out the Bewildering Fragrance Tendon. And pushed his true qi into it, igniting the scent. As the leopard clawed at the shield with a sizzling sound, the drifting smoke spread out and slipped straight into its nostrils.

Liu Xiaolou counted under his breath, “One… two… three…”

By the time he reached ten, the spirit leopard showed no sign of passing out. Instead, its eyes glowed an even deeper blue, and it stared at Liu Xiaolou, panting heavily.

A cold prickle ran down Liu Xiaolou’s spine. This was bad, really bad.

The spirit leopard suddenly reared up, and its deadly weapon between its legs shot forward like a red-hot iron rod, aiming straight at Liu Xiaolou.

The Glass Shield caught the stab. But it couldn’t stop the crazed force behind it. Liu Xiaolou felt as if a massive wave had slammed into him. He couldn’t resist it at all and was sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut.

Crap, that backfired!

Liu Xiaolou completely revised his opinion of the spirit leopard. This thing could go head-to-head with a Foundation-Establishment cultivator. He was absolutely its match.

Using the momentum of being flung back, Liu Xiaolou spun around and bolted.