183: Chapter 183 Fellow Villagers?

"Don't run!"

"What? Are you guys scared?"

"I know you can understand me, right?"

Xiang Tian's figure was like a streak of light, moving at extreme speed.

In the blink of an eye, he had swept in front of a black tiger, blocking its path.

"Can you speak?" He lowered his gaze, looking down at the black tiger.

The black tiger simply bared its teeth in silence, completely ignoring his question.

"Refusing to speak?" Xiang Tian raised an eyebrow, a chill instantly covering his eyes.

"Then don't blame me for being impolite."

He raised his hand and brought down his blade, a cold light flashing by.

Swoosh!

The black tiger's four limbs were actually sliced off all at once, and blood gushed out.

The black tiger let out a shrill howl of pain and collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

Immediately after.

Xiang Tian's figure flashed again, leaving a succession of afterimages.

The rest of the black tigers failed to escape the same fate.

In an instant, they all became limb-less, useless tigers, struggling in pain on the ground.

"I know you all have consciousness. Tell the truth quickly, what exactly is going on?" Xiang Tian shouted coldly, his gaze sweeping over the howling black tigers on the ground.

"Xiang Tian, are you alright? How could these beasts have intelligence? You must have seen wrong, right?" Xiang Liu, who had been settled aside by Xiang Tian, rolled her eyes grandly.

Xiang Tian ignored Xiang Liu, staring intently at the group of black tigers that had lost their limbs yet still refused to yield.

"Still dare to play deaf and dumb?"

Chila—

With another slash, a black tiger was instantly cut in half.

"Boy, you dare to be so presumptuous!"

A raspy human voice suddenly came from among the black tigers.

It was actually one of the black tigers speaking in human tongue.

A powerful black Qi suddenly erupted from within that black tiger, with black mist rolling about.

The bodies of the surrounding black tigers actually gradually turned into streams of black energy, continuously pouring into its body.

With the infusion of energy, the size of that black tiger surged at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The limbs that had been severed grew back, and its fur became even glossier.

The aura around it rose step by step.

"Oh? It actually broke through directly to the fifth-grade Peak?"

Xiang Tian's eyebrows twitched slightly, and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, yet he showed no fear.

"Boy, you're looking for death!" The black tiger roared.

With a move of its body, its massive claw swiped toward Xiang Tian, the wind from the claw being sharp and fierce.

It was as if it would tear the air apart!

Xiang Tian reacted extremely quickly, his body suddenly dodging to the side.

He just barely avoided this fatal blow.

Bang—!

The black tiger's claw smashed heavily onto the ground.

After a loud boom, a huge deep pit was instantly smashed into the ground.

Shattered stones flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

"You have some strength, but... I am not alone." Xiang Tian patted the dust off his clothes.

Against a black tiger of this strength, it was simply difficult for him to resist with his own power alone.

"Bai Yu, Frog Fairy, I'll leave this vile beast to you two."

As his voice fell, two figures—one green and one white—were released.

"Don't worry, Master, we guarantee to beat it to a pulp and show no mercy!"

Bai Yu's fists were tightly clenched, her eyes sharp.

Spiritual Qi surged around her, and she was full of Battle Intent.

Bai Yu's figure flashed, and her massive fox tail, carrying powerful force, swept toward the black tiger.

With a "bang," it smashed solidly against the black tiger's side.

"Look at my poison gas!" Frog Fairy was not to be outdone.

She struck out a cloud of dark green poison gas from her palm.

Wherever the poison gas passed, vegetation withered instantly as it headed straight for the black tiger.

"A Yao Race at the Peak of the Martial Emperor Realm? Or human-form spirit pets? This is somewhat interesting."

The black tiger took a hit but was not too seriously injured.

Its figure flashed suddenly, easily dodging Frog Fairy's poison gas attack.

"Frog Fairy, don't hold back, use your ultimate move directly!" Xiang Tian stood to the side, staring intently at the battle, his brow slightly furrowed.

He could faintly sense that the black tiger's aura was still getting stronger.

If this dragged on any longer, variables might arise.

Hearing Xiang Tian's command, Frog Fairy's size suddenly surged.

She transformed into a giant frog, her size comparable to that of the black tiger, her body surrounded by dense Demonic Qi;

Bai Yu was not to be outdone, her size also growing.

Her massive fox body blotted out the sun, her snow-white fur gleaming, giving off a powerful sense of pressure.

Bang—!

The green claw and white claw launched an attack simultaneously, striking the black tiger.

For a time, Spiritual Qi and black Qi collided, with loud booms occurring one after another.

The battle instantly entered a white-hot state.

Xiang Tian stood in place, not interfering in the battle.

He was currently only at the Middle Stage of the Martial Emperor Realm.

Compared to the three of them, his strength was indeed slightly weaker, and interfering rashly...

...would not only fail to help but might instead become a burden.

"Xiang Tian, your two spirit pets can't stop it from splitting." Xiang Liu looked toward the direction of the battle, her dark brows tightly furrowed.

"It's fine, no need for you to worry." Xiang Tian's tone was flat.

His gaze, however, remained locked on the battle, his expression steady.

This fierce battle lasted for a full hour.

During this time, black Qi and Spiritual Qi continuously collided.

Finally, after an earth-shaking loud boom.

Bang!

The black tiger was ultimately no match for the joint pincer attack of Bai Yu and Frog Fairy.

It was sent flying by the combined strike of the two demons, spitting out a large mouthful of black blood.

The black Qi all over its body instantly withered, and it was heavily injured.

It could no longer move and could only lie prone on the ground.

Gasping for breath heavily.

"You two worked hard." Xiang Tian stepped forward, looking at Bai Yu and Frog Fairy, who had returned to their original forms, a smile appearing on his face.

"Well done, and you even went out of your way to leave its body intact."

"Master, do you think I'm stupid?" Bai Yu gave Xiang Tian a side-eye, her tone carrying a hint of pride.

"If we had dismembered it, and it split and regenerated into even more, wouldn't we have worked for nothing?"

"Haha, you little clever girl, you certainly thought it through." Xiang Tian laughed out loud.

Without the Demon Blood Blade, Bai Yu and Frog Fairy indeed would have been unable to completely kill the black tiger.

"Master, we've achieved such a great feat, is there a reward?" Bai Yu leaned in toward Xiang Tian.

Blinking her large, spirited eyes, she looked at him with full expectation.

"Uh..." Xiang Tian froze for a moment, then smiled.

"Then I'll allow you to stay outside for a bit longer instead of always being in the storage space, how's that?"

"Tch, not a single practical reward, Master, you're too stingy!"

Bai Yu's face instantly fell, and she turned her head away in dissatisfaction.

"Master, why can this black tiger speak?"

Frog Fairy, on the side, was full of confusion, her large eyes blinking.

She couldn't help but ask, her tone full of curiosity.

"That's a question I want to figure out as well." Xiang Tian put away his smile.

"However, we can now ask this big guy."

As he spoke.

He slowly walked toward the heavily injured black tiger.

Reaching the black tiger, he directly raised his foot.

He stepped heavily on its large head, the force so great that the black tiger spat out another mouthful of black blood.

"Did you hear me? I'm asking you, why can you speak?" Xiang Tian shouted coldly, the pressure from his foot increasing a bit more.

"You... don't push people too far!" The black tiger under his foot let out an angry low growl.

Yet because it was heavily injured, it simply had no power to resist.

"Pushing people too far?" Xiang Tian couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"That's hilarious. When all is said and done, you're just a beast. Are you even worthy of telling me I'm pushing people too far? Are you even human?"

"Who says this King isn't human?!" The black tiger let out another earth-shaking roar of anger.

The black Qi around it showed signs of surging again, but in the end, it was too difficult to gather due to the severity of its injuries.

This sentence instantly caught Xiang Tian's attention.

The pressure from his foot loosened slightly, and a flash of surprise and doubt crossed his eyes: "You... you wouldn't really be human, would you?"

A person, possessing the body of a black tiger?

This...

"I advise you to release me sooner." The black tiger's tone was icy.

"When my original body wakes up, with your meager level of cultivation, don't even think about walking out of here alive!"

These words from the black tiger...

...not only failed to scare Xiang Tian but instead made him even more interested.

The doubt in his eyes grew even deeper. "Come on, hurry up and tell me your story."

As he spoke, Xiang Tian pulled a chair out of the System space and sat in front of the black tiger.

He then took out a fragrant Peking roast duck and casually stuffed it into the black tiger's mouth.

He really wanted to see what secret this black tiger was hiding.

"As long as you honestly tell your story without hiding or lying, I definitely won't treat you poorly. Not only will I release you, but I'll also give you more delicious food," Xiang Tian declared solemnly once more.

"Hiss... this taste..."

The black tiger chewed the roast duck in its mouth and instantly froze.

The anger and threat in its eyes vanished without a trace, replaced by full shock and confusion.

"So familiar... this taste, how can it be so familiar?"

It completely ignored Xiang Tian's question, its entire heart drawn in by this incredibly fragrant Peking roast duck.

Its eyes were full of daze, as if it had remembered some distant memory.

"Hmm?" Xiang Tian's eyebrow raised again.

"Have you eaten this before?"

"You... where did you get this thing?" The black tiger suddenly snapped back to its senses, looking at Xiang Tian urgently.

It even forgot that it was still being stepped on by Xiang Tian and forgot the pain all over its body.

"I'm asking you a question, you'd better answer me first!" Xiang Tian barked, the pressure from his foot increasing again.

He pulled the black tiger's attention back. "Why can you speak? Who is your original body? What secret are you hiding?"

"I... even if I said it, you wouldn't know." The black tiger's voice gradually went cold.

"This is the only bit of different memory I have left in this world, and it's my only thought of home."

Xiang Tian's eyes instantly lit up as a bold guess surfaced in his mind.

Could this black tiger be just like him...

...coming from the same place?

He tentatively spoke, "Two and a half years?"

"Little Blackie?"

As the words fell, the black tiger's entire body shuddered.

Xiang Tian also froze for a moment, then spoke excitedly: "Holy crap! You... you really come from the same place as me?!"

"You are also from Blue..." The black tiger opened its mouth.

Before it could finish its sentence, a crystalline tear slid from the corner of its eye.

"It's been a million years... a full million years..." The black tiger's voice choked up.

Its entire body couldn't help but twitch violently. "Do you know how I've lived through these million years? You simply can't imagine!"

The excitement on Xiang Tian's face instantly faded, replaced by full confusion.

He frowned and asked in confusion: "You said a million years? But if that's the case, how could you have been in the same era as me in our past lives? That's simply impossible!"

His mind was full of question marks.

This matter was truly too Xuanhuan.

Even a fairy tale wouldn't dare to be written this way.

"We can both be reborn on this continent, so what else is impossible?" The black tiger slowly shook its head.

The tears in its eyes were still continuously falling.

"According to what you're saying, wouldn't that mean you were already reborn on this continent a million years ago?" Xiang Tian was truly stunned this time.

His mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg, and the shock in his heart was difficult to describe with words.

The black tiger didn't answer, just raised its gaze to look at Xiang Tian.

It asked in return: "What about you? How long ago were you reborn here?"

"About twenty years ago!" Xiang Tian spoke slowly.

His thoughts also drifted back to twenty years ago. "At that time, due to an accident, my vision went dark and I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, I was already being held in my current mother's arms, having become a newborn baby."

Recalling the bits and pieces of his journey over these years, Xiang Tian's heart was full of bitterness.

If not for the System's help and those coincidental Opportunities...

...he probably would have died in the Haotian Sect's Secret Realm long ago;

...even if he had luckily survived, he would have most likely been sent home by the Haotian Sect.

Living a mediocre life, achieving nothing.

One could only say that along this path, he hadn't been in control of his own destiny.

Every step had been exceptionally difficult.

"You're not even twenty yet, and you've already reached the Middle Stage of the Martial Emperor Realm?" The black tiger was full of shock.

"That's way, way stronger than I was when I was reborn back then."

"Haha, I won't lie to you, I only recently awakened my Opportunity." Xiang Tian laughed out loud, a smile appearing on his face again.

"In less than a year, I soared all the way from the Qi Condensation Realm and directly broke through to the Middle Stage of the Martial Emperor Realm. The speed was so fast even I could hardly believe it."

Although his face was full of smiles and he looked high-spirited...

...the bitterness and hardships in his heart were known only to himself.

Just then, the black tiger suddenly raised its gaze, staring intently at Xiang Tian.

It directly asked: "Do you have a System?"

"You..."

These words from the black tiger were like a thunderclap, exploding in Xiang Tian's mind.

The smile on his face instantly froze, and the smugness in his eyes vanished without a trace.

It was replaced by full vigilance and wariness.

The System was his greatest secret and the foundation of his current achievements.

Even if this black tiger before him was just like him, from Blue Star and a fellow countryman...

...he absolutely could not reveal even a hint of this secret.

Once it was leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Xiang Tian steadied his mind, suppressing the waves in his heart.

His face returned to an indifferent expression.

Seeing that Xiang Tian was unwilling to say more, it gave a light chuckle.

"Heh heh, I transmigrated precisely because I read web novels in my past life."

"Back in the day, I read tens of thousands of novels on Qidian."

"On that morning a million years ago, I was rushing to work when I was suddenly hit by an out-of-control truck. I lost consciousness instantly."

"In the final moment before I died, what flashed through my mind were all those novel plot points where the protagonist gets hit by a car and then transmigrates and is reborn. I was thinking then, if only I could transmigrate once, how great that would be. I didn't expect it would actually come true."