Qingxuan acted as if he had not even noticed the tiger and continued whatever he was doing, but reality was far different from what he portrayed.
His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. The tiger was massive, almost as big as a full grown bear from his previous world. This was a genuine demonic beast. He had read multiple cultivation novels before, so he knew.
Qingxuan's God eyes saw through its level instantly. This was genuine grade 2 demonic beast, one that could go toe to toe and even overpower a 5th Layer Body Tempered Realmer.
He was no match. He saw the beast sneak closer and closer until it finally pounced on him with a loud roar. Its huge jaws widened revealing rows of jagged canines that would probably bite into solid metal, along with iron like claws that could probably tear him apart with one strike.
The world slowed to a crawl, as Qingxuan's eyes slowly fluttered open. His perception sped by many times and then he moved. The Sky Trace Phantom Steps revealed incredible ability. He backflipped on one hand into a corkscrew that sent him spinning over the huge tiger.
It landed where Qingxuan should've been and the ground beneath its feet exploded, a testament of its strength.
Qingxuan took the opportunity and fled. Mobilizing all the energy within his body, he turned into a literal gust of wind and zoomed off. The demonic beast, the Scarlet eyed demonic tiger's eyes shone with little intelligence and then it chased.
One youth and one tiger. Qingxuan was fast, no doubt. The Sky Trace Phantom steps made him a literal ghost, but how could his speed compare with a Grade 2 demonic beast, the overlord of this mountain range.
He saw the tiger's massive paws coming from a mile away. The huge paw was even magnified greatly in his perception, yet he could not outrun it and could only cross his arms in front of his head.
BANG!
It's claws ripped into the flesh on his arms, drew large wounds on his chest and hurled him like a ragdoll, sending him crashing into a huge tree.
Qingxuan coughed out blood, feeling his innards churn and his blood run rampant within his body. The scarlet eyed tiger pounced onto him once more, leaping with its bloody jaws wide opened.
"I can't die here.. No!! Think! Think!" As Qingxuan's perception sped up, he steeled his nerves, gathering the strength he needed, he windmilled into a beautiful handstand and pushed himself into an aerial corkscrew, effectively dodging the pounce from the scarlet eyed tiger and then fled once again.
The Sky Trace Phantom Steps didn't just focus on linear speed. It combined superhuman agility with incredible footwork to produce acrobatic bursts of speed that could catch opponents off guard.
That was precisely why Qingxuan chose it.
GROWL!
The Scarlet eyed tiger growled angrily and chased after Qingxuan. Despite putting his all into speed, the tiger caught up almost instantly. His heart skipped a beat when the peripheral vision of his God eyes caught the tiger raising its claw to tear him apart once more.
He grit his teeth, pushed himself and then stepped onto a tree trunk with his barefoot. Contrary to what anyone would've expected, Qingxuan didn't backflip over the tiger, or use the footing to hurl himself away. Instead, he concentrated the energy on the soles of his feet and simply run up the tree like a human monkey.
BANG!
The tiger's massive claws struck and shredded a portion of the tree's trunk, but the tree stood still, unshaken.
The tiger roared once more. Its eyes filled with uncontrollable rage as if it was mad at how a tiny human was constantly escaping its grasp. Qingxuan was like a humanoid insect who could never be caught no matter how hard it tried.
Seeing him run atop the trees, the Scarlet eyed tiger chased after from below, its red eyes continuously gauging his position. The trees in the forest were not infinite, and since Qingxuan could not fly, he would obviously not be able to stay up indefinitely and would come down. And it would be ready to tear him limb from limb.
Qingxuan himself knew that. Vaulting over a vine, he continued his run on that tree and then jumped onto another.
He had almost run out of options. The Scarlet Eyed Tiger was the overlord of this range. It'd take more than this to escape from its grasp and he knew it.
He grabbed another tree branch, swung once and spun in the air onto another tree, where he leaned against the trunk to catch his breath.
He could hear the Scarlet Eyed Tiger's roar from behind. It would soon catch up. He crouched low and ran a hand through his hair. 'Trying to use the trees to camouflage my escape route isn't going to work in the long term.. Hiding isn't going to work either. I need to think of something..'
His mind raced, trying to come up with a solution out of this predicament. He would soon run out of trees, and the Scarlet Eyed Tiger had terrifying instincts. It would definitely find him if he tried to hide. He opened his god eyes for a moment, looking for clues and as if God was on his side, he found one.
Almost 500m away from where he currently was, in the open clearing, a group of men had set camp. They looked like guards. Qingxuan recognised the main clan emblem on their robes instantly. Their cultivation levels were not bad and were definitely even higher than his. The weakest amongst them was as the fourth level of Body Tempering.
His eyes narrowed even further into the carriage they accompanied.
There were three powerful auras within, that made his heart palpitate just from peeking at them, and they were calmly seated within the carriage, unbothered by the fact that they were camped in the middle of this terrifying mountain range.
"Just what existence within the clan could casually bring out guards in the middle of this dangerous mountain range.." Qingxuan's left eye squinted, wanting to make out the identities of the people within the carriage, but before he could, the tree began to shake vigorously.
"Fucking tiger .." He nearly lost his balance, but he quickly manoeuvred, made his way to a branch and flipped onto another tree and then took off.
Meanwhile, within the carriage, three figures, were calmly seated. A fat old man, with a round face, a huge belly, dressed in golden black dragon robes who was happily munching on some dumplings and some tea.
The second figure was a beautiful young maiden, in a blue warriors attire. Her face was the epitome of beauty, as if sculpted by angels. A long sword was calmly placed on her laps, and her finger thrummed the sheath from time to time.
The third, was a handsome young master, with long dark hair, dressed in a red robe, an holding onto a small fan, and delightedly drinking from a small tea cup.
"Junior sister Lingshan, I heard the clan elders want us to attend the branch family's warrior selection." The young master suddenly opened a conversation, and then turned towards the young maiden for a response with a small smile.
The young maiden's eyes were continuously focused on her sword, but she replied nonetheless. "It was father's idea. He still believes that the Heavens are never wrong and that a Supreme Talent has been born somewhere in the clan.."
She spoke, her voice announced itself with a little chill.
The young man tried to hide the sneer on his face. "If a Supreme Talent has truly been born, how would it appear on a shadow? The Heavens are not blind.." He scoffed lightly. The young maiden said nothing in response.
"Hmmm?" The old man opened his mouth and was about to speak when his brows furrowed instantly.
The young girl raised her head and turned towards him. "Master?." A hint of concern flitted past her eyes.
"It's nothing little Shan. It's just for a moment, I felt a gaze peeking through.." The old man placed the dumplings to the side. For a moment he felt a gaze lock onto his soul and peer through his being, without hesitation.
"Is it the guards? Could any of them be peeking through? Could they be spies?" The young master arose in a rage, but the fat man calmed him down.
"Calm down brat. It's not them.." Afterwards, he closed his eyes and expanded a serene invisible power. His Yuan power sense, sending it sweeping across a 100m radius.
"Nothing?" He frowned. The gaze had disappeared faster than it had appeared. "What is it master?" The girl furrowed her brows and asked.
"It's probably nothing. Just the ramblings of an old man.. You should probably start hunting for the Scarlet Eyed Tiger. I'll join you shortly.." He kicked them both out of the carriage instantly and then sat down cross legged, drew an ancient tetragram on the ground with Yuan power and then closed his eyes.
For more than 5 minutes, he remained still, until his eyes finally snapped open, glowing with incredible power.
"A unique Eye?" His grunted, as his face turned red with blood. He took in deep breaths to stabilise himself. Before his expression changed from shock to fear. He had just made the best discovery of his entire existence.
A/N: Enjoy