Lin Dong and the others also looked at him questioningly.
"I have my own plan." Lin Xuan smiled faintly, offering no explanation.
In the original course of events, Lin Dong and Wu Yun had indeed worked together to humiliate Lei Li and Xie Yingying.
But this time, Lin Xuan knew something more. The hunt would yield three Fire Python Tiger cubs. He had no intention of sharing them.
He wanted all three. Perhaps even four.
The ceremony soon began.
Lei Bao stood to give a long speech, explained the rules, and distributed identification tokens.
With his declaration, the hunt commenced.
One by one, participants leapt from the platform into the vast forest.
"I'll go ahead!" Lin Xuan called back to Lin Xia and the others, then darted forward.
Once the trees swallowed his figure, he immediately unleashed his perfected Flowing Wind Step.
His body blurred like a streak of light, overtaking everyone with impossible speed.
By now, Lin Xuan's movement skill had reached near perfection.
Even among Earth Yuan cultivators, few could match his pace.
Within moments, he was gone, vanishing into the depths of the forest.
His spiritual sense spread outward in a radius of five hundred meters.
He detected countless beasts lurking among the trees, but ignored them all.
His target was only the Fire Python Tiger.
After some time, he reached a rocky clearing. Beneath the rocks, he sensed four beastly auras.
One was strong, three were weak. The faint ones were almost imperceptible ..... only his powerful spirit could pick them out.
It was unmistakably a Fire Python Tiger family.
An adult Fire Python Tiger possessed strength comparable to a Heaven Yuan expert.
But Lin Xuan knew the story. The mother was gravely wounded and had just given birth. In her weakened state, she could not unleash her full power.
Carefully, he approached the cavern.
"ROAR!"
A thunderous roar split the air as a blazing figure lunged out.
A massive beast, its fur burning like fire, its head a savage tiger's, its tail coiled like a serpent that spat flames.
The Fire Python Tiger.
But instead of its usual majesty, it was weak, bleeding profusely, staining the ground beneath its feet. Its body trembled as it shielded the cubs behind it.
At that moment, Lin Xuan's system rang out in his mind:
[Mission: Rescue and adopt the Fire Python Tiger family. Reward: One bottle of Fifth-Grade Rejuvenation Pills, Spirit-level Spiritual Technique "Beast Taming Art".]
A slow smile spread across Lin Xuan's face.
The hunt had just begun.
The moment the system confirmed the mission's success, Lin Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Even more exciting was the reward: a bottle of Fifth-Grade Rejuvenation Pills.
Rejuvenation Pills were prized for their healing and restorative powers.
A fifth-grade pill carried a potency far beyond the common varieties — exactly what was needed now.
The Fire Python Tiger before him was gravely wounded. Blood poured from its body, its strength sapped both by childbirth and a previous battle.
Ordinary medicine could never save it. But with a Fifth-Grade Rejuvenation Pill… there was hope.
Of course, before healing, he needed to subdue it.
At the cave's mouth, the Fire Python Tiger crouched low, its blazing eyes locked on him, filled with hostility and vigilance.
It didn't lunge again, as though wary of something, but its guttural roars were meant to drive Lin Xuan away.
"Come, then!" Lin Xuan taunted, shifting into an offensive stance.
Time was short. Other participants in the Beast Hunt could arrive at any moment.
He had to secure the Fire Python Tiger now.
Though his true goal was to save the beast and its cubs, explaining that to a freshly delivered mother tiger was impossible. Words were useless.
He could only "convince" it with strength.
"ROAR!"
The Fire Python Tiger's body tensed, and then it pounced.
Its belly bore gruesome claw marks, clearly left by some powerful monster.
Fresh blood gushed from the gashes as it launched forward, its massive form blotting out the sun.
Its jaws gaped wide, rows of razor-sharp fangs glinting with deadly light.
Its claws extended like cold daggers, poised to tear him apart.
A terrifying strike ... but to Lin Xuan, who had refined his Flowing Wind Step to near perfection, it was full of flaws.
If he wished to kill, he could have simply slid beneath its leap, driving his palm into its wounded abdomen.
The fresh injury would worsen, blood loss accelerating its death.
But killing was not his intent.
He needed to restrain, not destroy.
With a sharp breath, Lin Xuan's body blurred. Flowing Wind Step, paired with Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada, propelled him sideways at incredible speed.
He dodged the beast's strike, kicked off the rocky wall, and vaulted high.
In midair, his hands latched onto the tiger's thick neck. Using his momentum, he flipped, landing squarely on its back.
"ROAR!"
The Fire Python Tiger bucked violently, rolling and thrashing.
Its massive claws swiped at him, but Lin Xuan clung on like a nimble monkey, shifting constantly to evade its strikes.
Each time its head whipped around, Lin Xuan's palm struck ... his Eight Desolation Palm smacking its skull again and again.
Then, with a hiss, its tail moved.
Unlike an ordinary tiger, its tail was a burning python.
Flames licked its scaly body, and its serpent's jaws snapped open.
Hiss!
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