It only had been a few minutes after the sunset. Deep in the forests, all animals were running around frantically, trying to get away as fast as possible. They knew it had woken up and it would be soon on the prowl.

  Two foolish monkeys stayed and looked at the cave in curiosity. The sky was getting dark but it had still not shown himself. It mostly sleeps during the day and only comes out at night. Although the monkeys could sense its terrifying presence from their natural instincts, the cave was still too quiet.

  They went closer to peek inside but -ROAR- the booming loud noise shook the entire forest. So afraid were they that the monkeys tripped while escaping but before they could get back on their feet, they were turned into blood splatter on the floor.

  With its paws covered in blood, the tiger didn't give a second glance to them and continued forward. It disdained consuming the flesh of common animals. After all, it had grown a preference for humans.

  The tiger hadn't gotten to eat for three days but tonight it will finally fill its hungry stomach. It reached at the outskirts of village and give another huge roar, a signal that it has arrived to kill him.

  Tonight blood will be shed.

  ***

  "The man eating tiger has arrived. Ring the bells!" Master Wu shouted loudly, giving the command. All the villagers started barricading their doors hearing the noise.

  "Are you ready?"

  He looked at Ling Yun who was still meditating. Other than these two, three other villagers were present and would join them in killing the tiger. They were all in their twenties equipped with spears and torches.

  "Got him. It is in the northwest corner."

  His ocean blue eyes flashed open. Ling Yun had pinpointed the tiger using his Third Eye. Now the tiger could never hide from him. All five of them rushed towards the place where tiger was.

  "You don't have any weapons?"

  One of the villagers curiously asked. All of them were holding one, even Master Wu had unsheathed his sword.

  "Don't worry about him, an alchemist doesn't need one." Master Wu answered for him. It was true, most alchemists usually practiced some kind of fire martial arts for fighting.

  While running, Ling Yun took a sideways glance at Master Wu's sword. It looked old and was chipped in some places. But the peculiar thing was that it was stained with blood, though not fresh.

  They all reached the outskirts of the village and felt the dangerous presence awaiting them. The tiger was behaving strangely. It hadn't rushed in the village and just stayed outside.

  From some distance, Ling Yun finally observed the tiger. It looked so similar to a normal tiger with its orange fur and black stripes. Contrary to his assumptions, the tiger didn't look old or injured. It was staring at them from distance with hunger evident in his eyes.

  "Tonight you are going to die, you evil beast!"

  Master Wu declared loudly, raising his sword high in the air, rousing the spirits of everyone present. The tiger growled but didn't take a step forward. His eyes flashed towards Ling Yun and turned red.

  Ling Yun stepped forward to open the attack but the tiger turned tail and started running away surprising them all. He looked at the tiger's back and saw a strange pattern tattooed on it.

  "Trying to run away!" Master Wu started chasing it with the three villagers following him. Ling Yun also started running with them. The tiger didn't run back to the forest, instead it led them towards the main road.

  It kept on running for a few minutes before it came to a halt. The place was near the pond, the same place where he and Chen Yinying met little Hong. The tiger turned around then and silently stared at them. Its yellow eyes glinted from the light of the torches as it observed each man. Again its eyes turned red and it roared again, signalling it was time for the showdown.

  All of them froze for a moment against its intimidation. The first to react was surprisingly little Bai. The snake had quietly stayed around his neck all this time but when faced with killing intent, it cowardly dove back inside the spatial bracelet. Ling Yun felt a little embarassment at his spiritual pet abandoning him shamelessly infront of everyone. He lightly shook his head and gave a sigh, his body now ready for the battle.

  The three villagers were shaking in their boots from the bloodlust in the air but they were determined to see this through the end. They had faith in Master Wu will surely kill it this time.

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  All three of them have lost their loved ones to this man eating tiger and they sure as hell would make it pay. Their grips tightened on the weapons ready for Master Wu's command when Ling Yun started speaking.

  "You three, go back to the village. I've got a bad feeling about this."

  "What are you saying? I'm not backing down as this critical moment."

  "Yeah right! Do you think we are weak and will get in your way?"

  All three argued and expressed their dissatisfaction but Master Wu gave them the final command. "Ling Yun is right. The tiger is acting too strange. If it somehow escapes and rushed back to the village, it would be catastrophic. I'm counting on you three to protect the village."

  The three reluctantly left them after giving shouts of encouragement to Master Wu. The tiger didn't make a move all this time, its red eyes were fixed on Ling Yun.

  "Ling Yun get behind me. I will lead from the front. Attack from any openings you find and most of all don't let it escape."

  Ling Yun gave him a blank look and simply nodded. Master Wu took a few steps, his muscles tense and ready to attack and then he suddenly turned around and slashed at where Ling Yun was. Gone was his heroic demeanor, replaced by the crazy smile on his face which morphed into confusion when his sword only met thin air.

  But before he could even try to understand, his instincts warned him of danger and he jumped sideways dodging the black arrow flying past him. In his panic, he retreated back towards the tiger and hid behind it. Surprisingly the man eating tiger didn't attack him. Instead it stepped forward as if trying to guard him.

  "I hoped I was wrong but you really turned out be a scum. You are a beast tamer, aren't you?"

  Zhen Wu peeked from behind the tiger and found Ling Yun a few meters away from them. Clearly he was already wary of Zhen Wu so was easily able to defend against his sneak attack. His eyes didn't contain a hint of anger or surprise, Ling Yun only looked at him with disappointment.

  "So you knew. When did you figure it out?"

  "From your sword."

  "My sword?" Zhen Wu looked at it but didn't find anything wrong. "I was once a young master of a clan so I know a thing or two about sword cultivators. Look at your sword, there are old blood stains present on it. Any competent swordsman regularly maintains his sword. It was clear that you have lied about being a swordsman.

  "It only raised my suspicion. The other thing was that tiger. It behaviour was too abnormal for a simple beast. Also the tattoo on his back. When it led us to the pond, it was all but confirmed. Either it was an intelligent spiritual beast or it was being commanded by someone. Simple villagers can't do it so who else it could be other than the liar in our midst."

  "Hahaha!" Zhen Wu let out an unrestrained laughter. "To think I would be given away by a single sword. Since you are such a clever brat, why are you explaining everything to me instead of running away?"

  "Because I want to know why are you doing this. I answered your questions so can you answer one of mine. You were a cultivator once so what do you gain in fooling these poor villagers?"

  This is what Ling Yun wanted when Zhen Wu revealed his true self. He really wanted to understand the circumstances behind it. The village wasn't wealthy and didn't have anything special and Zhen Wu wasn't practicing demonic arts that required sacrificing the lives of villagers.

  "You are an alchemist apprentice so you must have a great future infront of you. I was like that once although not as great as you. I had accidentally discovered a beast taming inheritance. Using it I joined a mercenary group and my future was set. But you never know when misfortune can strike."

  He looked at his missing right hand. "I lost in arm in battle against a sword cultivator. He was eventually eaten by my beast horde but he managed to sever it. Everything changed after that. My cultivation fell and now I can only control this single tiger. I was even demoted."

  Zhen Wu laughed again. This time it was hollow just how his life turned out.

  "Everyone looked at me with pity. Me, the vice captain of the group! How can I let myself be disrespected? So-"

  "So you came to a mortal village and started this farce just because you wanted to be respected and revered as a hero?"

  "Yeah, you must believe it's pretty pathetic. A cultivator deceiving some mortals because he wanted to feel good." Zhen Wu had a depreciative smile on his face. He looked at Ling Yun and was shocked to see waves of fury coming from him.

  He had expected Ling Yun to look down on him in arrogance and mock pity but instead Ling Yun was enraged. His wrathful eyes glared down at him causing him to shiver.

  "You killed so many people for this farce and all you think about is yourself? Don't you feel any remorse?"

  "Remorse? For what? It was just some poor villagers." Zhen Wu was genuinely confused, he didn't think Ling Yun would care that much about some mortals.

  "Just shut up! Every word coming from your mouth disgusts me. Forget about being pathetic, I have never a lowlier scum than you who plays with human lives simply for his amusement."

  "Oh I see! Looks like you also want to play hero. But unfortunately there can be only one is this village. And it's not you."

  The tiger's eye again changed to red and it growled at Ling Yun. Zhen Wu was furious. He had never been disrespected like this in his entire life, that too by a young brat of seventeen.

  "You let your cleverness get the better of you, you brat. You shouldn't have followed me here. Near this pond, your fire arts are useless. Get ready to be devoured."

  He gave the command and tiger leaped forward and rushed at Ling Yun. He had taken every precaution. If Ling Yun sets the tiger on fire, it could simply jump inside the pond. Zhen Wu smirked confidently, eagerly waiting for his tiger to tear him to shreds but what he saw made his jaw nearly fall to the floor.

  "Feel pain."

  His ferocious tiger sprinting towards Ling Yun suddenly stumbled and fell down crashing on the ground. But instead of getting up, it curled around itself and started whimpering in pain. If any of the villagers were present, they would be shocked to see the man eating tiger behaving like a cat which had been kicked hard.

  Ling Yun turned to him, his blue eyes like frozen lakes chilling him to his bones.

  "You sure about that?"

  Zhen Wu gulped nervously and involuntary took a step back. His confident smirk was gone and for the first time, fear of death started creeping inside his heart.

  This wouldn't be as easy as it seemed