Chapter 18

The golden mini light tiger drilled into Hua Xiajiu's head, causing him to jump in fright.

In the next moment, Hua Xiajiu felt a remarkably divine light tiger suddenly appear in his mind, its massive size filling his entire brain.

After this light tiger appeared, it quickly surveyed its surroundings, and the originally fierce and venomous expression turned bewildered.

"Roar—Why does this damned human have no soul? This—what is this place, why—ah—" A set of information suddenly appeared in Hua Xiajiu's mind, but before this information could fully display, several dozen folders suddenly appeared in Hua Xiajiu's mind.

In the next moment, a powerful suction force emanated from these folders, and dense light spots immediately appeared on the light tiger, drifting towards the dozens of folders. The light spots faintly flickered with countless scenes similar to movies.

There was a cute little tiger lying in the embrace of an adult tigress, crying and drinking milk.

Scenes of the little tiger growing into a three to four-meter-long striped tiger hunting.

The striped tiger was surrounded and killed by a group of cheetahs, accidentally falling into a deep ravine, severely injured, with no animals in the ravine to serve as food for the tiger. On the brink of death, it discovered a human corpse on a square boulder in the ravine. Driven by hunger, it tried to eat the human corpse, but the corpse was as hard as iron. It took a whole day of tearing and biting to finally break off the person's wrist and eat one of the human's hands. After digesting the hand, not only did its severe injuries heal, but its body also grew to seven to eight meters, and it gained intelligence, possessing wisdom that beasts did not have.

In a vast stalactite cave, a small, thin monkey spoke human language, teaching the striped tiger the cultivation methods of the demon race.

In a forest, thunder descended, and lightning struck the striped tiger. The striped tiger roared continuously, golden spikes crisscrossed, and a golden halo emerged to resist the lightning. In the end, half of the striped tiger's body was almost charred, but the lightning finally ended. A golden sphere emerged from its mouth, hovering above its head, absorbing mysterious energy from the sky and earth. The charred skin and flesh on the striped tiger's body fell off, and its body instantly healed and grew to over ten meters long. The golden sphere was swallowed by the tiger, and in a flash of golden light, it transformed into a nearly three-meter-tall, iron tower-like giant.

...

The scenes were categorized and entered into the folders, and Hua Xiajiu watched them as if watching a TV series.

The striped tiger's memory spanned several hundred years, and the information was vast. It took Hua Xiajiu over an hour to sort and categorize it all.

At this point, no more light spots appeared on the light tiger in Hua Xiajiu's mind, and the light tiger had lost its vitality, with a blank expression, motionless.

In the next moment, a burst of colorful light suddenly surged in his mind, enveloping the light tiger and slowly seeping into it. The light tiger began to twist and deform, transforming into a human form, sitting cross-legged in his mind. The face gradually resembled the iron tower-like giant the striped tiger had transformed into, but as the colorful light continued to seep in, the giant's figure shrank by a third, and the face began to change strangely.

After a short while, the human form's face stabilized and no longer changed. If someone were to observe, they would find that the face was one-third like the iron tower-like giant and two-thirds like Hua Xiajiu's current face. Compared to Hua Xiajiu's current perfect, almost unreal appearance, the human form had a few more rugged and masculine features.

At the moment the human form stabilized, the hundreds of golden threads originally connected to the colorful light sphere suddenly broke through the sphere and directly connected to the human form.

At the same time, in the town of Hedaba, hundreds of residents of Tang Village, including Tang Guanshu, all suddenly felt a jolt in their bodies, and a human form enveloped in colorful light appeared in their minds. This human form was deeply imprinted in their minds.

"Great Dark God, our devotion has finally passed your test, and your devoted followers have finally been accepted by you!" Without any reason, everyone believed that the human form in their minds was the Dark God they worshipped, and they fell to their knees, beginning to pray devoutly. At this moment, their devotion deepened, and they were not far from becoming fanatical believers.

In an instant, the hundreds of invisible golden threads connecting the believers to the human form in Hua Xiajiu's mind thickened, and the faith power gathered for Hua Xiajiu increased by more than double.

As the faith power surged, the colorful light suddenly contracted, transforming into countless colorful threads. One end connected to the human form, and the other end penetrated the colorful light sphere, spreading to various parts of Hua Xiajiu's body.

Soon, from head to toe, from inside to outside, from the bio-muscle skin to the mechanical parts, Hua Xiajiu's entire body was enveloped in a faint, almost invisible layer of colorful light, and began to undergo extremely slow changes.

...

Most of the Steel Fang Corps had already withdrawn from the city wall, returning to the barracks within the city to rest. The war that had lasted for half a day had resulted in few human casualties, with less than a thousand deaths and about three hundred injuries, but almost everyone was exhausted and had consumed a great deal of energy.

Xu Jianhong stood on the city wall, his face extremely grim, his eyes fixed on Hua Xiajiu, who stood motionless at the entrance of the stone building.

Behind Hua Xiajiu, eight young cultivators held various magical weapons such as swords and long knives, their various light auras faintly visible, and they watched Hua Xiajiu with caution.

"Xu Jianhong! Are you sure this person is from a hidden sect?" Two middle-aged cultivators who had previously killed the striped tiger demon king stood beside Xu Jianhong. The middle-aged man in white asked with a serious expression.

Xu Jianhong did not dare to be careless, took a deep breath, and said slightly respectfully, "Two Immortal Elders! Whether Brother Hua is from a hidden sect, I cannot be certain. This is just my personal speculation. However, I will tell you all the information I know about Brother Hua, and with your extensive knowledge, you can make a more accurate judgment."

The middle-aged man in white's eyes lit up, and he said, "Good, tell us, the more detailed, the better."

The middle-aged man in black also nodded slightly in agreement.

Xu Jianhong organized his thoughts and then said with a complex expression, "Brother Hua first appeared in the Tang Village, which is under the control of the demon race, in the Cangnan Prefecture. At that time, my Cangnan Cavalry was ordered to... " Xu Jianhong had good eloquence and clearly narrated all the information about Hua Xiajiu, as well as his speculations.

After a while, the two middle-aged cultivators stared at Hua Xiajiu, deep in thought.

"From Cangnan Prefecture to Tang Village, Hedaba is a must-pass route. This person is so handsome; if he had appeared in the human-controlled area and passed through Hedaba to reach Tang Village, he would have been noticed by humans. Therefore, it is almost certain that this person likely appeared from the Cangman Mountains. If this is true, combined with his many extraordinary performances, he might indeed have come from there." The middle-aged man in white glanced at the middle-aged man in black, stared at Hua Xiajiu, and said with great seriousness.

Xu Jianhong and other secular people did not know, but they knew that in the cultivation world, it was long rumored that there was an ancient hidden Buddhist sect in the Cangman Mountains, which had a lineage of over ten thousand years. It was said that one of the three demon emperors of the demon race, the Great Ape Emperor, was originally the guardian spirit beast of this hidden sect. He was expelled from the sect for stealing medicinal herbs and later became one of the three demon emperors through a series of coincidences. His lair was deep in the Cangman Mountains, ruling over all the demon races in the mountains.

The middle-aged man in black sneered and said, "Hmph! I know these things without you telling me, but how do you explain the lack of any spiritual energy fluctuations in this person?"

The middle-aged man in white was not bothered by the middle-aged man in black's sneer and said, "Perhaps this person was also expelled from the sect, and his cultivation was revoked."

The middle-aged man in black did not say anything this time, but his gaze focused on Hua Xiajiu, examining him continuously.

After a while, he coldly snorted and said, "After such a long time, this person has not moved, so it seems the tiger demon king's soul did not devour him. When he wakes up, we can ask him directly."

The middle-aged man in white nodded and said, "That's the only way."

After a cup of tea's time, Hua Xiajiu slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Xu Jianhong and the two middle-aged men and the other ten cultivators staring at him intently, he was taken aback. He realized that he had been unconscious for nearly two hours.

"Brother Hua! You're awake, are you okay?" Xu Jianhong spoke first, probing.

Hua Xiajiu's gaze swept over everyone, noticing the caution and curiosity in their eyes, and felt a bit puzzled. He looked at Xu Jianhong and said, "General Xu, I'm fine now."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, and the caution in their eyes instantly vanished.

The middle-aged man in white stepped forward, nodded slightly, and said, "Brother Hua! I am Yu Mingfu, the third-generation grandmaster of the Tianyi Sect. The four people in white behind you are my disciples. Yes! The person beside me is Ma Zhikuo of the Bingxue Sect, and the four young people in black behind you are his disciples. We—"

"Hmph! Brother Hua! We have a few questions, and we hope you can answer them truthfully." Before Yu Mingfu could finish speaking, Ma Zhikuo coldly interrupted and asked directly.

Hua Xiajiu was startled, thinking that his non-human identity might have been suspected. But then he thought, if they really suspected him, they probably wouldn't treat him so politely given their strength.

The thought flashed through his mind, and Hua Xiajiu said, "Ask away!"

"Brother Hua! Are you from the three southwestern prefectures?" Yu Mingfu asked first.

"No!" Hua Xiajiu answered without hesitation.

As soon as Hua Xiajiu finished speaking, Yu Mingfu quickly asked another question, "Brother Hua, did you first appear in Cangnan Prefecture in Tang Village?"

"That's correct!" Hua Xiajiu knew this was a fact, and with their strength, they could easily investigate, so he admitted it frankly.

"Brother Hua, apart from the Cangman Mountains or Cangnan Prefecture, have you been anywhere else?" Yu Mingfu was clearly well-prepared, and his questions were linked together. Although he did not ask directly, this method was more likely to elicit the truth.

"Never!" Hua Xiajiu had never lied since he gained consciousness and had not yet learned how to lie. As for being mistaken for the messenger of the Dark God by Tang Guanshu and others, it was a coincidence, and Hua Xiajiu had never claimed or admitted to being the messenger of the Dark God, although it seemed there was some connection.

"Brother Hua! Are you from a very secret—um! A very mysterious place?" Yu Mingfu's questions continued without pause.

"Sort of!" Hua Xiajiu hesitated slightly before answering.

"Last question, Brother Hua! Can you still return to where you came from?" Yu Mingfu stared intently at Hua Xiajiu, hoping to catch something from his expression.

Hua Xiajiu was startled, thinking that perhaps they had somehow discovered that he was not from this world but from Earth.

At this thought, Hua Xiajiu felt a panic and tension he had never experienced before. He stared at Yu Mingfu for a long time and said, "How—how did you know? I can't go back now."

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