31: Chapter 31 Crimson-Eyed Blood Tiger, Brewing Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup

Jiang Hanzhou left the Black Miao siblings, and following the refining method in his memory, he intended to find a hidden place to refine the Thousand Tribulations Nirvana Gu first.

The night wind passed through the gaps in the forest, bringing the scent of damp earth and rotting leaves.

His footsteps were light, as if walking on waves, yet his mind was as calm as an ancient well, silently deducing every detail of the "Spirit Fusing Pattern" and verifying it against the scattered records in the "secret record of blood gu".

Suddenly, another tiger roar!

This time, it was much closer!

Dull, violent, and carrying a kind of almost playful cruelty, as if a giant beast was toying with the prey under its claws, the roar pierced through layers of trees, reaching his eardrums and shaking the night dew on the nearby branches until it rolled down with a rustle.

Jiang Hanzhou stopped abruptly, suddenly looking up in the direction the roar came from.

It was the deep mountain hinterland he had been tracking by claw prints earlier, and it seemed... even closer!

"Didn't go far? Or... was it drawn back by the bloody scent of the previous fight?"

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and without hesitation, he immediately changed direction, unleashing his movement technique at full speed, like an arrow tearing through the night, rushing toward the location of the tiger roar.

The extraordinary perception brought by his fourth-rank fate, combined with the swift movement technique resulting from the Fusion of "Spirit Cat Steps" and "Wave-Treading Step", allowed him to move across the rugged mountain forest as if on flat ground.

Within a few breaths, he had crossed a dense thicket, and a hidden valley backed by a steep cliff suddenly appeared before his eyes.

In the center of the valley, rocks were jagged, and the moonlight barely penetrated the gaps in the tall canopy, casting mottled light and shadow.

At the base of the cliff, between the large amount of hanging withered vines and dense moss, a pitch-black cave entrance was vaguely visible, about a zhang high and several feet wide, deep and unfathomable.

At this moment, on the open ground in front of the cave, a behemoth was pacing slowly.

It was nearly six feet tall at the shoulder, over a zhang long, and its entire coat displayed a dark red, almost black, oily luster under the moonlight, with muscle lines bulging and undulating, full of explosive power.

Most striking were its eyes, which flashed with an eerie crimson light in the darkness, like two dancing ghost fires, locking onto the newly appeared Jiang Hanzhou.

In that gaze, there was no manic hunger typical of ordinary beasts seeing prey, but rather a kind of condescending, cruel scrutiny, as if it were considering which part to bite first so that the prey would die the slowest and wail the longest.

Jiang Hanzhou's heart tightened, and the records of tiger-type Vicious Beasts in the "record of exotic beasts and spirit fish" instantly surfaced in his mind.

"Red-Eyed Blood Tiger... possesses infinite strength, claws and teeth as sharp as fine steel, and is cruel and cunning by nature, fond of torturing prey to death, taking pleasure in the fear and pain of the prey before death. Its bones have dark gold patterns, and the bone marrow contains abundant blood essence; it is one of the top-tier precious Materials for tempering muscles and bones and strengthening Qi and blood..."

The few words of description in the book perfectly matched the giant beast with soaring Evil Qi before him.

"Roar —!"

The Red-Eyed Blood Tiger was clearly displeased with the direct gaze of this "uninvited guest", Jiang Hanzhou. It let out a low roar, the sound waves causing the dust on the ground to float.

Without probing, without circling, the Vicious Beast kicked the ground hard with its hind limbs, its massive body displaying astonishing speed inconsistent with its size, like a blood-colored lightning bolt, carrying a fishy wind, and pounced directly!

The giant claw swiped out, the tips gleaming with metallic cold light in the moonlight, tearing through the air and making a sharp explosion, aiming directly at Jiang Hanzhou's head!

If this swipe landed, even a head made of iron would shatter on the spot.

Jiang Hanzhou's eyes were as calm as water, and in the face of this thunderous pounce, he did not dodge or evade.

Just as the tiger claw was about to reach his head, his footsteps shifted, his figure like willow catkins in the wind, drifting half a step to the left by a hair's breadth, while the Qi and blood in his body surged violently!

The "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill" was unleashed at full power!

His pale golden bones faintly revealed a jade-like luster, the great tendons all over his body were taut like bowstrings, and his Qi and blood surged like a bursting river. He didn't use any fancy Martial Skill, just simply twisting his waist, thrusting his shoulder, and throwing a punch!

This punch was archaic, heavy, and fierce beyond compare!

Where the fist edge pointed, the air seemed to be compressed into an invisible wall, emitting a dull roar.

Fist and claw collided!

"Bang —!!!"

A muffled sound like a heavy hammer striking a giant drum exploded!

The air wave burst outward in a ring centered on the point of impact, kicking up fallen leaves and gravel to fly in all directions.

The momentum of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger's pounce was actually stopped dead by this punch!

It let out a roar mixed with pain and shock, its right front claw visibly trembling, and the tip of the claw even cracked a small piece!

And Jiang Hanzhou only swayed slightly, his feet sinking half an inch into the bluestone ground with a "crack" sound.

The superiority was immediately apparent!

A trace of unbelievable violence flashed in the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger's crimson pupils. It roared wildly, no longer holding back, with blood-colored mist rising from its dark red fur, its ferocity increasing by another three points. It opened its bloody maw, revealing dagger-like fangs, and pounced again with its whole body!

This time, the pouncing, biting, and claw sweeping were like a violent storm, completely shrouding Jiang Hanzhou.

A cold light flashed in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes.

"A beast is still a beast."

His figure suddenly blurred, as if turning into three or four afterimages, weaving and moving through the storm of death interwoven with tiger claws and sharp teeth.

The Perfection-level "Tidal Shadow Thousand Hands" combined with the terrifying insight and reaction brought by his fourth-rank fate allowed him to always avoid the most fatal attacks at the last possible moment.

But he did not just dodge blindly.

Every time he brushed past, his fists, palms, fingers, and elbows would strike the joints, ribs, and waist of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger like the most precise iron hammers.

"Crack!" "Puff!" "Thud!"

The muffled sounds of bones dislocating, muscles collapsing, and Qi and blood vibrating followed one after another.

The roar of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger gradually turned into painful wails; its strength, speed, and defense, which it was proud of, were restricted everywhere in front of this seemingly small human, as if it were being played in the palm of his hand!

Its pounces became increasingly sluggish, its claw winds became scattered, and fear began to emerge in its crimson pupils.

"It should end now."

Jiang Hanzhou saw an opening. In the moment the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger paused due to the intense pain in its forelimbs, his figure cut into its chest like a ghost. His right hand's five fingers were together like a blade, pale golden Qi and blood condensed at his fingertips, turning into a highly concentrated golden light, lightning-fast piercing into a special bone gap three inches below its throat and above its heart!

The killing move of the "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill" — Tiger Subduing Heart-Piercing Awl!

"Swish!"

The golden light pierced through the body, accurately piercing the outer membrane of the heart and shattering the heart meridian!

The massive body of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger suddenly stiffened, its crimson pupils instantly dimming, filled with extreme pain and confusion.

It opened its mouth, but only let out a hoarse, wheezing whimper, and then its four limbs went soft, falling to the ground with a boom, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Fresh blood gushed out from the wounds in its mouth, nose, and throat, quickly dyeing a patch of ground red.

Jiang Hanzhou slowly exhaled a turbid breath carrying the smell of blood and retracted his palm. The tiger blood stained on his fingertips was scalding, carrying rich life essence.

He glanced at the behemoth on the ground whose vitality was rapidly dissipating, his eyes calm and waveless, as if he had just done a trivial thing.

Turning his head, his gaze fell on the cave covered by vines.

Dragging the heavy corpse of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger, he pushed aside the hanging withered vines and walked into the cave.

The inside of the cave was wider and drier than imagined, with good air circulation, and there was not much of the fishy smell of a beast's lair; instead, there was a strange faint scent of minerals and plants mixed together.

There were obvious claw marks on the cave wall; it seemed this Red-Eyed Blood Tiger had occupied this place for some time.

He dragged the tiger corpse to a relatively flat place inside the cave and did not deal with it immediately. Instead, he quickly set up a few simple small mechanisms at the cave entrance to provide early warnings and cover his tracks, and carefully sensed the depths of the cave again to confirm there were no other dangers lurking before he felt relieved.

Returning to the tiger corpse, Jiang Hanzhou sat cross-legged and adjusted his breath slightly to recover the Qi and blood consumed in the battle just now.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and took out a small package tightly wrapped in oilcloth from his bosom. He unfolded it, and inside were several thin-bladed knives of various sizes, shapes, and curvatures. They were gleaming with cold light, clearly forged from fine steel and maintained extremely well.

These were specially made by a craftsman for him to facilitate the processing of medicinal Materials and occasional dissection research after he was promoted to a Third-Rank Apothecary.

A few days ago, he had gone to several large Slaughterhouses in Flying Fish City to "observe" a few times under the pretext of studying the bone and muscle structure of exotic beasts.

Relying on the extraordinary Comprehension Ability of his fourth-rank fate, he mastered all the techniques of those old butcher masters—sharpening knives, cutting, separating tendons, deboning, and skinning—after watching them just once. He could even innovate, combining his knowledge of human and animal structures to make his techniques more precise and efficient, almost like a master butcher, handling it with ease.

"Just right to test my skills."

Jiang Hanzhou chose a curved skinning knife and picked up a narrow-bladed deboning knife, his eyes focused on the corpse of the Red-Eyed Blood Tiger.

He worked extremely fast, yet as steady as a rock.

The blade edge gently slid along the thin membrane connecting the fur and muscles, making a very slight "hissing" sound, and the fur was peeled off completely as if lifted by an invisible hand, with almost no excess meat attached.

Next was separating the meat and deboning.

The blade light moved over the tiger corpse, precisely avoiding major blood vessels and tendons, cutting in along the natural gaps between bones and muscles.

The fascia was severed, large pieces of lean meat were neatly separated, revealing the thick bones with dark golden patterns underneath.

In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the entire huge Red-Eyed Blood Tiger was separated into bones, meat, tendons, and skin, classified and neatly stacked.

The tiger bones were thick and heavy, presenting a deep dark gold color, with full bone marrow; one could feel the majestic blood essence contained within even through the bones.

The tiger meat had clear textures, a bright red color, and faint luster flowing, clearly containing rich Qi and blood.

The tiger tendons were crystal clear and exceptionally tough.

The tiger skin was intact, dark red and oily, an excellent material for making inner armor.

Jiang Hanzhou collected the most valuable complete set of tiger bones, tiger heart, tiger gallbladder, and other items separately, and properly wrapped the remaining tiger meat and tiger tendons.

As a Third-Rank Apothecary of the Medicinal Cuisine Hall, he only needed to complete the quota of medicinal cuisine tasks every month.

Long before he went out, he had already prepared enough portions of Qi and blood soup and other common medicinal agents in advance, so he had plenty of time now.

After cleaning the ground, Jiang Hanzhou took out a portable folding small copper furnace and a thick-walled pottery jar from his bag.

These were utensils he always kept as an apothecary.

Then, he took out several oil-paper packages and jade boxes; these were the eighteen auxiliary herbs needed to refine the "dragon tiger bone tempering soup": Dragon Blood Grass, Vajra Flower, Jade Marrow Ganoderma, Earth Vein Polygonatum, Warm Jade Poria... The medicinal Materials were complete and of high quality, some of which he purchased in Flying Fish City, some he collected in his daily life, and a small amount was obtained from the "gift" of He Yunqi.

"The main Materials and auxiliary Materials are all ready, the time and place are right... Just perfect."

A trace of anticipation flashed in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes.

He first cleaned his hands with clear water, lit the special charcoal blocks under the copper furnace, and when the fire was stable, he placed the pottery jar on the furnace and poured in clear mountain spring water.

Immediately, he began to operate meticulously according to the refining steps of the "dragon tiger bone tempering soup" in the Legacy of the "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill".

This brewing process took seven days and seven nights.