Chapter 26: A Monster Brings Harm—The Fiery-Tailed Star?

Wang Hong and his companions split into two groups, heading in opposite directions, following the sounds in the rainy night to search for the brother and father the young woman spoke of.

After nearly half an hour—

“Here, my brother’s voice came from here. He must be sheltering from the rain inside. Gentlemen, come in with me,” the young woman said, stepping forward and pointing at a cave.

Just as Wang Hong and the others were about to enter, they heard the voices of their other party. Though they had gone in different directions, they’d ended up in the same place. Wang Hong couldn’t help but furrow his brow, sensing something odd. But at that moment, the woman’s figure had already slipped into the pitch-dark cave.

Two of the younger men in the group exchanged glances and immediately chased after her. Wang Hong could only say in a low voice, “Don’t get too separated once we’re inside—stay close.”

The group filed in one by one. No sooner had they entered than a chill seeped into their bones, and the air was thick with a foul stench.

Wang Hong’s unease deepened. He motioned for his companions to take out their fire sticks, lighting them to illuminate the way.

Flames sprang up, casting light around the cave, revealing each other’s faces and bringing a sense of reassurance.

By the glow, they looked ahead—and Wang Hong’s pupils contracted sharply, as if he had seen something beyond belief. He shuddered, goosebumps rising beneath his sleeves.

The young woman’s clothes were completely dry. After such a journey, even with umbrellas and rain cloaks, how could she have remained untouched by the rain?

Wang Hong, a seasoned merchant, had heard tales of the supernatural. He recalled the warnings from villagers not to linger in these mountains. A chill ran through his heart—could this girl before them be…

“Big brother, why have you suddenly stopped?”

Her lovely face appeared ghost-like before Wang Hong—no longer gentle, but icy and lifeless.

“Ah!” Wang Hong cried out, nearly dropping his fire stick.

“N-nothing. It’s just… why aren’t you wet at all?” Wang Hong bit his tongue, stammering.

“Maybe I was just very careful along the way.”

“Then why aren’t there any muddy footprints where you stand?”

“Perhaps I’m light-footed and don’t pick up dirt.”

“Then why are you drawing closer and closer to me?”

“Because I want to see clearly what you all look like before you die.”

Wang Hong barely reacted to the first part of her sentence, but when the last words fell, it was as though an icy current shot through his entire body.

Terror seized his heart, his pupils dilating unconsciously.

The woman’s beautiful visage melted away, replaced by a ghastly form: blood streaming from every orifice, her neck twisted at an unnatural angle behind her, her eyes brimming with hatred.

“Run!”

Wang Hong screamed, gripped by terror. Yet the specter only laughed coldly. She was merely a vengeful ghost, unable to interact directly with the living—but her task was complete.

There was no escape for these people; they were fated to become the Lord’s feast.

The other merchants, seeing her true face, were thrown into panic, scrambling to flee the way they’d come.

A roar thundered from deep within the cave, so dreadful it seemed to shatter their courage. The would-be escapees collapsed, limbs limp and powerless.

The roar swept out in a raging wind.

Suddenly, there came the thud of something dropping—white, grinning skulls.

A merchant, sprawled on the ground, felt something clammy pressed to his face. He clawed it off, only to find it was human skin and hair.

“Spare me, please! I don’t want to die!” wailed a young merchant, sobbing in despair and cursing his own credulity for following the woman here.

Footsteps echoed from the cave’s depths—each one stamping terror into their hearts.

“Help! Save us!”

A colossal, striped tiger appeared, eyes crimson and body wreathed in murderous energy.

“Perfect. Nine of you—enough to fill my belly.”

The beast stalked toward them, jaws yawning ever wider, eyes gleaming with malice. He delighted in the terror that bloomed in humans before his maw.

Wang Hong squeezed his eyes shut, inwardly lamenting, “My life is over.”

But suddenly, the tiger demon’s fur bristled as a sense of danger prickled over him. With a gust of demonic wind, he darted half a yard to the side.

From afar, a flash of golden light streaked through the darkness, illuminating everything in its path. It plunged into the cave’s depths, colliding with a thunderous crash that shook the mountain itself.

“No! My formation!” The tiger demon recalled the cave’s mountain spirit, and his face twisted with rage.

“Who dares disturb me? Come out! I’ll flay you alive and tear your tendons, make you die in agony!”

“Gladly.” A calm voice replied.

The tiger demon’s vision was suddenly filled with radiance. A man wreathed in golden light charged at him with unimaginable speed—one moment he was a distant glow, the next he stood before him.

They clashed at once. The tiger demon, riding the demonic wind, moved with terrifying swiftness. His paws struck with a bloody, baleful aura.

This aura, born of years of cannibalism and honed with fiendish arts, could sap courage and corrupt a victim’s strength. It tainted spiritual power, making it a fearsome weapon.

But in this exchange, the tiger demon soon realized his usually unstoppable aura was being suppressed by the man’s golden radiance—as though encountering its natural enemy, its might was subtly diminished.

Fist met paw again and again, the cave echoing with thunderous blows. To the merchants’ astonishment, the tiger demon was being driven steadily backward!

Cao Kong’s entire body shone with golden light, his footwork exquisite—traversing the Bagua’s thunder position only to strike from the wind, moving as though shifting shapes, his innate Daoist energy dividing into yin and yang within.

Thus, wind and thunder clashed! Lightning and thunder roared!

With a deafening boom, the tiger demon failed to evade and took a direct punch to his torso from Cao Kong. He howled in agony, his body hurled into the cave wall with a crash, sweet blood bubbling in his throat.

He forced it down, summoned his demonic power, and faced off against Cao Kong across several yards of cave.

“It’s the man from the ruined temple!” one merchant cried, recognizing him by the golden glow. Faces flickered with shock, confusion, relief—and shame.

Shame burned hottest in the two young merchants, who recalled mocking Cao Kong earlier for not helping them, only to be saved by him now from a monster.

Their hearts churned with emotion, their faces flushing scarlet with embarrassment.

“Who are you to oppose me? I am the heir of the Tail-Fire Tiger, one of the Twenty-Eight Constellations! Leave now if you know what’s good for you!”

The tiger demon, wary, revealed his lineage in hopes of frightening Cao Kong away.