The spirit beast's golden eyes locked onto Chen Yu, and every instinct in his body screamed at him to run.
His legs moved before his mind caught up. Chen Yu spun and sprinted deeper into the forest, his enhanced speed sending him crashing through undergrowth and vaulting over fallen logs that blocked his path. Branches whipped at his face and left stinging cuts. His wounded ribs screamed in protest with every jarring step. None of it mattered.
Behind him, he heard the tiger's roar, not the sound of a normal animal but something deeper that resonated with spiritual power and made his bones vibrate. The sound alone nearly made his legs buckle.
Chen Yu pushed harder, drawing on every ounce of his 4th layer cultivation to force more speed from his body. Trees blurred past on either side. His lungs burned with the effort of maintaining this pace. The distance between him and the spirit beast should have been increasing, he was faster than any normal tiger.
But the crashing sounds behind him were getting louder.
Chen Yu risked a glance over his shoulder and felt ice flood his veins. The tiger was twenty meters back. Then fifteen. Then ten. It moved through the forest like water flowing downhill, its spiritually enhanced body making a mockery of obstacles that slowed Chen Yu down.
His heart hammered against his ribs hard enough to hurt. Five meters. The beast's paws thundered against the earth with each bound, sending tremors he could feel through his boots.
Three meters.
Chen Yu's foot caught on a root.
Time seemed to slow as he pitched forward, his arms windmilling uselessly trying to regain balance. He hit the ground hard and the impact drove the air from his lungs. Pain exploded through his already injured ribs.
He rolled onto his back just as the spirit beast gathered itself to pounce, its muscles coiling like springs ready to release, golden light flaring around its fangs—
A shadow dropped from the canopy above.
The impact sounded like a thunderclap. The spirit beast was smashed sideways, its pounce interrupted mid-leap. It crashed into a tree trunk hard enough to splinter bark and send wood chips flying, yowling in surprise and pain.
Chen Yu scrambled backward on his elbows, gasping for air, trying to process what had just happened.
A young man stood between him and the tiger. Broad shoulders strained against simple cloth robes that looked ready to tear. Muscles corded his arms like steel cables wrapped in skin. He couldn't have been more than eighteen or nineteen, but he held a heavy dao sword in one hand as if it weighed nothing at all.
On his chest, embroidered in silver thread, was the Xie family crest.
The spirit beast recovered with supernatural speed that should have been impossible, shaking off the impact that would have killed a normal animal instantly. It circled the young man warily now, recognizing a real threat when it saw one. Golden light pulsed stronger around its body, and the small horn on its forehead began to glow with building power.
The young man didn't wait for it to finish whatever technique it was preparing.
He charged forward with explosive speed, his dao sword sweeping in a wide arc that whistled through the air. The spirit beast dodged backward, but not far enough, the blade caught its shoulder and drew a line of blood that hissed and steamed when it hit the air.
Chen Yu forced himself to his feet and stumbled away from the fight, giving them space to move. His hands shook as adrenaline continued flooding his system in waves. He wanted to help, but he knew the truth with painful clarity: against a spirit beast, he would only be a liability.
The young man pressed his advantage without hesitation. His sword work was straightforward, no fancy flourishes or complex forms that wasted time, just overwhelming power and speed behind every strike. Each blow came with enough force to shatter stone. When the spirit beast tried to circle around him, he simply pivoted and attacked again, never giving it an opening to exploit.
The tiger lunged with desperate aggression, its spiritually enhanced claws extended and glowing with golden light. The young man met it head-on without flinching, his dao sword clashing against those claws with a sound like metal on metal. Sparks flew where they connected. Neither gave ground.
Then the young man's free hand shot out and grabbed the tiger's face, his fingers digging into the beast's skull with crushing force. The tiger thrashed violently, but he held firm, his muscles bulging with effort. With a roar of exertion, he slammed the beast's head into the ground.
The earth cratered from the impact.
Before the dazed tiger could recover its senses, the young man's sword came down in a brutal overhead chop that cleaved through its skull and ended the fight.
Silence fell over the forest. The only sounds were the young man's heavy breathing and the settling of disturbed leaves drifting down from above.
Chen Yu approached slowly, his legs still unsteady beneath him. The young man turned to face him, and Chen Yu got his first good look at his savior. Simple features, an honest face, and a slightly awkward expression as he tried to catch his breath.
"Thank you," Chen Yu managed, bowing deeply despite the sharp pain that lanced through his ribs. "You saved my life. I'm Chen Yu."
The young man rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish gesture that seemed completely at odds with the violence he'd just displayed. "Ah, it's not... I mean, anyone would have..." He trailed off, then seemed to gather himself. "Xie Jun. I'm the young master of the Xie clan."
Chen Yu straightened carefully, wincing at the movement. Of course he was, he should have guessed from the crest alone. The Xie family controlled most of the inns in this region and had significant influence despite being the weakest of the four major families. Their young master being strong enough to kill a spirit beast made perfect sense, they could afford the best resources, the best training, the best pills to accelerate cultivation.
Xie Jun knelt beside the spirit beast's corpse, producing a knife from his belt. He worked with practiced efficiency, making precise cuts around the creature's skull. Chen Yu watched with curiosity despite his exhaustion.
After a few moments, Xie Jun extracted something from the tiger's head, a small crystalline sphere about the size of a marble that pulsed with faint golden light.
"Beast core," Xie Jun explained, noticing Chen Yu's interest. He held it up to the light, examining it carefully from different angles. "Early stage. Still valuable though." He didn't seem to mind Chen Yu observing, his movements unhurried and methodical as he continued harvesting useful materials from the corpse.
Chen Yu filed away the information for later reference. He'd read about beast cores in cultivation manuals but had never seen one in person before now. They were condensed spiritual energy in physical form, useful for alchemy and array crafting. Even a small one like this could sell for dozens of spirit stones.
Xie Jun finished his work and stood, wiping his knife clean on some leaves before tucking it back into his belt. He glanced at Chen Yu's bloodied state, taking in the claw marks on his armor, the way he held his ribs protectively, the exhaustion written in every line of his body.
"Too dangerous here," Xie Jun said simply. "Come back to town with me."
It wasn't phrased as a question, but the tone was more concerned than commanding. Chen Yu nodded gratefully without hesitation. His pride might have balked at needing rescue, but his practical side knew he was in no condition to travel alone right now. Another spirit beast encounter would be the end of him.
"I'd appreciate that," Chen Yu said.
Xie Jun gathered his belongings and started walking, his pace measured to accommodate Chen Yu's injuries. They moved through the forest in companionable silence, the young master naturally taking the lead, his eyes scanning their surroundings with the ease of someone who'd done this many times before.
Chen Yu followed a few steps behind, his mind already working despite his exhaustion. He'd just made contact with the Xie family's young master under circumstances that created a debt of gratitude. That could be useful in the future. More than useful, it could be invaluable for his plans.
But more importantly, he'd learned a critical lesson today: he wasn't nearly as strong as he'd thought he was. A 4th layer Body Refinement cultivator was nothing compared to a spirit beast. And Xie Jun, who'd killed that beast with relative ease, was probably only a few years older than him.
The gap between where he was and where he needed to be suddenly felt vast.
As they walked back toward town together, the afternoon sun filtering through the canopy above and painting everything in golden light, Chen Yu's resolve hardened. He needed more power. More resources. More time spent in acceleration.
Today, he'd survived by luck and the intervention of someone stronger.
Tomorrow, he needed to be the one doing the saving.