novelraw Chapter 75: True Five Tigers Pound the Gate
Chapter 75: True Five Tigers Pound the Gate
Si Wenguang’s voice dropped to a feral growl. “So. No mercy, then.”
Trapped, cornered, he bared his fangs like a wounded beast. Beard bristling, eyes bloodshot. “Wei Tong, you walking corpse—why me? Take my mountain, fine. How many years do you even have left to enjoy it? Come on, old monster. Fight me. Right here. Right now.”
Wei Ancestor’s laugh cracked like thunder. “Try me.”
He leapt forward, robes snapping in the wind.
Two Golden Cores on a collision course. The lesser cultivators below leaned in, hearts racing. A clash of titans—once in a lifetime.
A young man shot out from the ranks, bowing low. “Ancestor Wei needs no such effort against rabble. Allow this junior, Huo Hu, to crush the cur.”
Foundation Establishment late stage. Built like a war ox—muscles corded, traditional Imperial Beast Sect tiger-skirt cinched at the waist. Behind him prowled a second-tier flame-wreathed tiger, eyes burning coals. Man and beast stood atop the clouds, raw ferocity rolling off them in waves that made the air itself shiver.
Si Wenguang threw his head back and laughed—wild, furious. “A Foundation Establishment pup dares bark at me? Perfect. You’ll be the first to die.”
Wei Ancestor’s lips curled in cold amusement. “Nephew Huo will handle this. I’ll merely watch.”
He looked at Si Wenguang the way a butcher eyes a hog already strung up.
“They say Mountain Gate boasts five Foundation Establishment ‘tigers,’” Huo Hu rumbled, voice thick with contempt. “All bluster. Today I kill you, then skin the rest. We’ll see who the real tiger is.”
No more words.
He slapped his beast’s flank and charged—close quarters, fists and fangs.
Si Wenguang’s eyes narrowed. Imperial Beast Sect arts were strange, deadly in tandem with their beasts. No room for arrogance.
A shimmering curtain of solid light snapped into existence around him. Then he roared. His natal phantom blossomed—a blinding white ring treasure, pulsing with apocalyptic spiritual pressure. Light exploded outward in every direction, crushing the sky like an invisible avalanche.
Beasts in the formation whimpered and recoiled, ignoring frantic commands. Even inside the hall’s protective arrays, Qi Xiu felt soul-deep terror claw at his mind.
Outside, weaker cultivators dropped like wheat before the scythe—blood trickling from ears and noses. Huang He and Pan Rong bled from every orifice, faces pale as paper.
Huo Hu took the full brunt.
Man and tiger drenched in crimson, swaying on the edge of collapse.
Then he bellowed, voice shaking the heavens.
“Five Tigers Pound the Gate!”
His own natal phantom erupted—a colossal flaming tiger of pure intent. Left hand flicked a high-grade talisman. Right hand hurled a tiger-headed halberd treasure.
Man fused with tiger spirit.
Talisman birthed another roaring beast of fire.
Halberd morphed mid-flight into a third.
Five blazing tigers—real, phantom, talisman, weapon, and the living beast at his side—launched as one.
Speed beyond sight.
They carved through Si Wenguang’s light and shield like hot knives through silk. Five meteoric impacts slammed home at once.
BOOM.
A crimson mushroom cloud bloomed, shockwaves hurling beasts and cultivators alike into tumbling chaos.
When the fire cleared…
The scarred rogue cultivator’s face twisted. “Si Wenguang? I can’t sense him anymore!”
Nothing remained of the Golden Core tyrant. Not ash. Not bone. Only a few twisted scraps of treasure clattering to the earth far below.
Huo Hu stood soaked in his own blood, laughing like a mad god. His spirit tiger lay dead at his feet, life extinguished in the backlash.
Silence swallowed the sky.
Thousands of cultivators and beasts—frozen.
Then the scarred rogue whispered, hoarse with awe. “Five Tigers Pound the Gate… a Golden Core couldn’t block one strike?”
Qi Xiu’s [Clarity of Self] snapped him free of the shock first. Gu Ji’s miracle had been a spark. This? A bonfire that scorched heaven itself.
“Master—vengeance!”
Five Foundation Establishment cultivators burst from the crumbling mountain array, tears of rage streaming, charging Huo Hu in blind fury.
Si Wentai among them.
Wei Ancestor flicked a sleeve. An invisible hand yanked Huo Hu safely back.
With their Golden Core gone, Mountain Gate was meat on the block.
The five “tigers” retreated behind their failing shield, snarling like cornered animals.
Wei Ancestor raised one hand. Every eye locked on him.
“Begin the assault. Break the array. Everything inside is yours to claim.”
Greed shattered the stunned hush.
Thousands of spells and artifacts lit the sky—rainbows of destruction hammering the protective dome. Cracks spider-webbed across it within heartbeats.
Qi Xiu stepped outside, joining Zhang Shishi and the others along the ray’s edge. Blackwind Banner howled. He Yu’s ice lances flashed. They added their meager fire to the storm.
“No need to hold back!” Zhao Liangde called, glancing sharply at the scarred rogue—who was lobbing lazy strikes, clearly conserving strength for the looting to come.
The rogue gave a sheepish grin and picked up the pace. Marginally.
Others followed suit. Why exhaust themselves now?
Law of numbers. Zhao Liangde seethed but let it slide. Thousands attacked; a few slackers changed nothing.
Mountain Gate’s array lacked depth—weaker than Chu-Qin’s old Ten Directions Wind-Fire Return Array. It buckled under the onslaught. The five “tigers” poured high-grade spirit stones into the core like water, faces gray with strain.
Half an incense stick.
Then the dome flickered, fractured, and died with a final, mournful wail.
Cultivators surged forward like a breaking dam.
A messenger beast swooped to their ray.
“Wei Ancestor commands: Zhao Liangde’s forces redeploy to the southeast perimeter. Block any escapees.”
The scarred rogue exploded. “Kicking us aside at the finish line? What bullshit is this?”
The messenger didn’t even glance down. “Take it up with the Ancestor yourself.”
Golden Core words were law. The rogue swallowed his rage.
Zhao Liangde’s face darkened, but he obeyed. The silver-backed ray banked away.
As Mount Shandu slipped from view, the array shattered behind them.
The feast began.
Screams rose on the wind—blood and fire painting the sky red.