Embark on the Road

by Tai Baiyang

  It was still the same. Unique mutually restricting elements appearing together on a mutated animal. Metal restricts fire. Yet, right in front of Zhang Mu, there was living proof that both elements were co-existing. Although the tail and the rest of the body had a different colour, it was still on the same body.

  By right, a mutated animal of this level already had the ability to become a leader. Yet, it remained a subordinate of the White Tiger. How scary was the White Tiger to have this Brown-tailed tiger bow down to it?

  He had not even settled the ten mutated tigers, why bothered thinking about what was going to happen after this? Before this, his plan was to slowly encroach the mutated tigers. Now, he realised that it would be impossible. Not including the White Tiger which had not come out yet, a normal mutated tiger was enough to defeat a mutated wolfdog.

  Thus, after discovering the Brown-tailed tiger, Zhang Mu felt that he couldn’t continue his plan anymore.

  He either never met any enemies, or he would meet so many that he couldn’t digest everything.

  This time, his first mission was not only hard to swallow, but he might end up swallowed instead!

  Chapter 77: Tough Fight With The Brown-Tailed Tiger

  The surrounding tigers charged towards him as the Bloodvine Lotus killed the last of the mutated tigers. Zhang Mu didn’t bother with looting the corpses. There was no time. He ordered the Bloodvine Lotus to unravel its cage and split into more than ten vines to fight against the mutated tigers which were attacking him from all directions. Two vines were barely enough to stop one mutated tiger. Since this wasn’t a sneak attack, he didn’t have an edge over his opponents. However, with some effort, the Bloodvine Lotus could be on par with the mutated tigers.

  Zhang Mu lifted his Obsidian Beetle claw. His eyes lit up with competitiveness as he personally went to attack the brown-tailed tiger.

  The brown-tailed tiger was halfway through his pounce. In mid-air, the energy it used to leap was diminishing, and having just reached the peak of its curve, its momentum was at its lowest. Taking advantage of this situation, Zhang Mu shifted sideways, adjusted his center of gravity and slashed towards the right front paw of the brown-tailed tiger.

  He had never thought of fighting the brown-tailed tiger head to head. Even if he had twice the power of an adult, it may not even be on par with a tiger that didn’t go through evolution. This depicted how huge the difference in power was. He was no match against the tiger.

  But, as long as he broke its balance and took the initiative, things would become much simpler.

  Just as Zhang Mu was going to carry out his plan, He suddenly heard a loud roar coming from his side. Zhang Mu squinted his eyes. One of the mutated tigers had broken free!

  Of the nine tigers, there was one that possessed greater power. The Bloodvine Lotus had no choice but to use three vines to stop its attacks. This meant one of the normal mutated tigers was being hindered by a single vine, allowing it to break free of the vine’s attack.

  Zhang Mu held the weapon in his right hand, closing in on the brown-tailed tiger. However, to his left, the freed mutated tiger had crouched and was ready to pounce on him.

  A minute ago, Zhang Mu was taking advantage of the tiger’s trajectory to attack the brown-tailed tiger. Now, he got his retribution.

  Just as Zhang Mu was getting sandwiched in between the two tigers, he hurriedly sped up the movement of the Obsidian Beetle claw and kept it close to the tiger’s paws. Then, he pushed hard and made used of the rebound to maneuver his body out of the path of attack.

  However, the rise in difficulty of facing two mutated tigers as compared to one doesn’t just lie in the number. What should he do now? He even chose the most difficult tiger, the brown-tailed tiger, to fight.

  He never imagined that this decision would cause him a huge problem. He didn’t know how powerful the brown-tailed tiger was and how finely it could control its earth-type and fire-type powers.

  Just as Zhang Mu had a headache about whether he should continue fighting or retreat, he heard a bark that caused him to become excited.

  “Woof!”

  It’s the mutated wolfdog, how can he forgot about it.

  The mutated wolfdog didn’t manage to arrive on time to resolve Zhang Mu’s crisis because the speed of the mutated tigers was too fast. However, its arrival now was at an opportune moment. It activated its earth-type energy on its head. Then, it rammed into the normal mutated tiger which was getting ready to launch a second attack on Zhang Mu. As wolfdogs were shorter than tigers, it made some adjustments and directly hit the soft part of the tiger’s stomach.

  The mutated tiger got caught off guard and was knocked over by the mutated wolfdog. However, the mutated tiger was not one to be messed around with. It shook its head and immediately pounced onto the wolfdog and started biting it. Blood and dust splattered and flew everywhere. No one knows which side would win.

  Zhang Mu was unable to focus on the wolfdog’s battle. The brown-tailed tiger in front of him had lowered its body, one of its paws embedded deep into the ground as it prepared to attack. Its purpose of coming here was to kill Zhang Mu. The fact that it needed a teammate’s help to kill a mere human caused it to boil with anger. This was the reason why it didn’t combine forces with the other mutated tiger to attack Zhang Mu. The wolfdog appeared at just the right moment. Even if it didn’t appear, it was prepared to chase the other mutated tiger away.

  Because the dignity and pride of the tiger species cannot be slandered.

  Actually, Zhang Mu was really against using his own body to fight the battle. The main body of the Bloodvine Lotus was on his left arm. He needed to multitask. On one hand, he had to be careful of the movement of the brown-tailed tiger. On the other, he needed to control the vines that were fighting with those more powerful mutated tigers. As for the normal tigers, he had already left it to the Bloodvine Lotus’s own instinct.

  Another reason was his left arm which was connected to the vines. If the brown-tailed tiger was smart enough, it would use this as a loophole to spoil his entire plan.

  However, he was not sure what it was thinking currently. Did the thought never cross its mind, or did it feel that this was not worth doing? The brown-tailed tiger’s gaze never once rested on the Bloodvine Lotus on his arm, not even for a second.

  But Zhang Mu liked this kind of upright opponent. If the brown-tailed tiger purposely targeted his left arm, he would be in a huge mess.

  This time, Zhang Mu struck first. He couldn’t wait for the brown-tailed tiger to launch its attack. He needed to be the one in control, the best case scenario was that he would kill the brown-tailed tiger before it took action.

  However, it was obvious that Zhang Mu was too hopeful. The moment he charged forward, a pillar of fire large enough to engulf Zhang Mu burst towards him, showing no mercy.

  He couldn’t believe that this fire pillar was twice as big in diameter as the ones he saw before. He miscalculated the space he had for dodging. He could never evade the fire pillar with his own strength.

  He promptly controlled the main body of the Bloodvine Lotus and hit the ground forcibly before rebounding off. Even like this, he only just managed to dodge the fire pillar.

  However, what Zhang Mu didn’t predict was that the fire pillar actually split apart by itself. At first, he thought that a flame of this magnitude could only sustain itself for a short while.

  However, Zhang Mu couldn’t smile anymore because the fire pillar didn’t fade away naturally but was cleaved apart by the brown-tailed tiger. A sharp metallic glint appeared in front of Zhang Mu’s eyes like a ghost, causing him to feel a sense of crisis.

  The claw arrived before he saw the tiger.

  This brown-tailed tiger actually managed to direct its metal-type energy into its claws. Yet, it still hid it so well. Zhang Mu felt helpless. The Bloodvine Lotus was unable to help him. Zhang Mu knew that it had reached its limit after forcibly using some its strength just now and realising that it almost co
uldn’t lock down some of the normal mutated tigers.

  He could only rely on himself. He took the initiative and charged forward with the Obsidian Beetle claw. As the two objects collided, the Obsidian Beetle claw immediately let out a grinding sound, as though it was overwhelmed by the force it met with.

  Chapter 78: The cost of assumption

  Zhang Mu felt disheartened as he looked at the Obsidian Beetle claw. Luckily, even though the brown-tailed tiger’s strike was filled with metal-type energy, the claw was able to withstand the blow due to its strong and hard material. Zhang Mu silently commended the Obsidian Beetle.

  However, this was just the start. It was only the first contact with the brown-tailed tiger and the tiger had not shown its true power yet. But, Zhang Mu was not going to let it have the chance to do so. Humans would have been annihilated by mutated animals if they just battled based on strength alone. This is a natural weakness of the human race. Taking himself as an example, he is a human that had taken strength potions and was already considered one of the strongest aside from those who were purely strength-type evolvers.

  Yet, he still didn’t dare fight head-on with these large sized animals, not even attempting to put up a bit of resistance. What he needed to do now was to use his agility and out maneuver his opponent.

  However, Zhang Mu was in an awkward position. His left hand was restricted from doing anything and could at most maintain balance. He also couldn’t borrow any power from the Bloodvine Lotus. Rather, he would be thankful if it didn’t cause him any hindrance.

  Before the brown-tailed tiger could display its true power, Zhang Mu slashed his dagger at its sharp claws, creating sparks. Zhang Mu slowly moved back as he struck. Hence, even though the brown-tailed tiger kept attacking him, its claws didn’t rake him. Its strength continued to dwindle as it attacked.

  At this moment, Zhang Mu once again evaded the brown-tailed tiger. The brown-tailed tiger and him had shuffled backwards at every strike and had covered quite a distance. Yet, the viciousness in the brown-tailed tiger’s eyes got stronger as it looked at Zhang Mu angrily but helplessly.

  Zhang Mu was like a small and agile eel. It couldn’t use its strength on him at all. The distance between them continued to remain to same. Zhang Mu seemed to be using his body as bait to catch it. This was very irritating. The brown-tailed tiger wanted to bring down Zhang Mu using one strike and hence, its power was dwindling and it was unable to continue its burst of strength. However, what was even more frustrating was that as its speed slowly decreased, Zhang Mu’s followed, keeping the distance the same.

  The brown-tailed tiger gradually slowed down. It decided to use slower strikes with more weight behind them, hopefully, it would no longer be dragged around by the nose by Zhang Mu. It would definitely control its strength this time.

  But, would Zhang Mu give it this opportunity?

  Obviously, he was not someone who would give his opponent any chances. He was not so kind and stupid.

  Just as the brown-tailed tiger was going to swipe at him, Zhang Mu sniggered and stared right at the brown-tailed tiger, speaking calmly and quickly, “Thinking about how to attack me after being played around with? You are still too young. You just evolved and yet you think that you are on par with human beings? Let’s not talk about you. Even your next few generations will never reach that state.”

  The brown-tailed tiger obviously couldn’t understand what Zhang Mu was saying, but it understood the disdain in his eyes.

  This human wants to mock me? He is just a weak human being, yet he is looking at me as though I am his prey. The simple-minded brown-tailed tiger still couldn’t understand the situation. Even if Zhang Mu had killed so many of its species, it still thought that it was just based on trickery, setting a trap which succeeded. However, it didn’t know that Zhang Mu’s capabilities were also very scary.

  In a split moment, Zhang Mu acted. He still had strength left! The Obsidian Beetle claw was put to use as it struck one more time and pierced straight into the forelimb of the brown-tailed tiger.

  Its skin was not as resilient as its claws and it was easily penetrated by Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu chose a very tricky spot. Hence, the result was Zhang Mu kept moving his dagger as he dashed, causing the dagger to move the same distance inside the brown-tailed tiger's forelimb.

  The brown-tailed tiger let out a painful roar. Zhang Mu looked at the dagger which was embedded deep inside the tiger’s body. He knew that his plan had worked! He had destroyed the muscles and tendons in the tiger’s forearm!

  At that moment, however, Zhang Mu suddenly felt a strong premonition of danger.

  A huge black shadow appeared in Zhang Mu’s line of vision. It was the tail of the brown-tailed tiger.

  How can this be? It can control its tail with such skill?

  Zhang Mu had thought about the tail before. However, his position now was quite far away from his assumption of the tail’s attacking range.

  When the huge tail smacked his body, Zhang Mu finally understood how much he had underestimated the mutated tiger.

  The length of the tail didn’t change. But, what had hit Zhang Mu was a brown glow of light which extended from the tip of its tail. It was the same colour as the tip of the tail. Only when it was nearer did he feel the minute difference.

  However, it was too late to react now. This short glow of light exceeded Zhang Mu’s prediction of the range of attack for its tail, striking Zhang Mu hard.

  Zhang Mu only had time to change the area of impact by turning around and receiving the full force of the attack. The flesh on his back was mutilated and he flew from the attack.

  This metal-type energy not only resulted in external injuries to Zhang Mu, it also prevented his wounds from healing.

  This brown-tailed tiger sacrificed its forelimb to heavily injure Zhang Mu.

  Zhang Mu supported himself with much difficulty. Without any hesitation, he took out a first-rank recovery potion from his Merchant’s Ring and gulped it down, coldly eyeing the brown-tailed tiger as it limped closer.

  Time, he needed more time!

  Chapter 79: Come And Bite Me

  Unfortunately, the brown-tailed tiger didn’t wish to give Zhang Mu this chance. Although its forelimb was crippled by Zhang Mu, causing it to stagger and lose balance, its mind a singular thought.

  It wanted to destroy Zhang Mu.

  Zhang Mu, who was knocked flying by the brown tail, tried his best to adjust his position. However, he only managed to make sure that his wound would not suffer another impact. He still flew more than 10 metres before smashing to the ground, his face filled with blood and dirt.

  One step, two steps, the brown-tailed tiger was approaching very quickly. Zhang Mu calculated the different possibilities and realised that he would not be able to last until the effects of the recovery potion restored him.

  Zhang Mu followed the steps of the tiger and slowly moved back with difficulty, trying to stall for time.

  His back was burning with pain. Although the effects of the recovery potion were noticeable, the injury inflicted by the metal-type energy was overbearing. The power of the brown-tailed tiger had not reached a high level but it was enough to delay the action of the recovery potion.

  Thankfully, as there was no more metal-type energy being inflicted on the wound, the power which was preventing the healing of the injury started to dwindle. Hence, the wound was beginning to slowly close up. However, the speed of healing was not able to catch up with the speed at which the brown-tailed tiger was approaching him.

  But, this actually wasn’t the reason why Zhang Mu was unable to stand. The full force blow from the desperate brown-tailed tiger just now landed directly on his spine. The muscles on his back were not strong enough to absorb the entire attack. His spine was hurt really badly.

  Zhang Mu arrived at a decision. He had to take a risk. This seemed to be the only chance he has.

  He shouted at the mutated wolfdog, “Stupid dog, hurry up and run away first.”

/>   The mutated wolfdog was having an intimate battle with the mutated tiger below it. When it heard Zhang Mu’s anxious command, although it couldn’t understand the reason, it took a blow from the mutated tiger and left the battlefield with much effort.

  It was still thinking of moving towards Zhang Mu. It thought that Zhang Mu got injured badly and needed it to help him earn some time.

  Contrary to its thinking, Zhang Mu glared at it and scolded, “I asked you to run away! Don’t cause trouble for me.”

  The mutated wolfdog understood Zhang Mu’s intention and immediately ran away. It wasn’t the least worried that something would happen to Zhang Mu as it recalled the time when it first met him and was captured by him.

  The brown-tailed tiger was also confused. It was ready to attack the mutated wolfdog first before tackling Zhang Mu, but the wolfdog ran away and left Zhang Mu standing by himself. The brown-tailed tiger couldn’t care much. It jogged towards Zhang Mu and opened its mouth widely to bite off Zhang Mu’s head.

  However, Zhang Mu didn’t seem the least bothered by it. He was looking at the direction of the wolfdog and silently cursed it, “Even if I asked you to run away do you have to leave so decisively? Are you that confident in me?”

  If the wolfdog heard this, it would definitely feel wronged. It did try to help but got scolded by Zhang Mu. That’s why it thought that Zhang Mu must have a way out of his predicament. Also, it was easily captured when it first met Zhang Mu, causing it to have blind faith in the abilities of Zhang Mu.

  Hearing the sound of the brown-tailed tiger approaching, Zhang Mu sneered without even turning his head, “What a joke. Do you want to take my life by yourself? Even if your boss, that white cat, was here, you’ll not be able to do it. Much less just you, the second in command forever.”

  When he said “second in command forever”, Zhang Mu suddenly turned his head and gave the Bloodvine Lotus on his left arm an order.