Chapter 77: Over the Edge

"How is this possible?! How can this be happening?!"

Cang Mu was cursing under his breath as he and his gang ran through the forest. He glanced nervously in the direction where Xia Xing Yue and the other Ten Thousand Swords Academy students were. He held his head and grimaced.

"Damn it! That was not supposed to happen!"

Even though Xia Xing Yue was running as best as she could, it was clear that she had been badly wounded. A few of the female Ten Thousand Swords Academy students were supporting her, helping her up as they sprinted. The lightning bolts from the winged demonic tiger from earlier had a pronounced effect on her, and coupled with the grazes and bruises she suffered when the tiger had first attacked, she was in bad shape.

She wouldn't die, of course. Xia Xing Yue was strong. The strongest out of everyone currently present in Starry Forest. But even she was no match for the winged demonic tiger. If that trash hadn't saved her, she would have…

"It wasn't supposed to happen!" Cang Mu shouted again, punching a tree as he ran past it. "Weren't they fighting the dark pumas? I led the winged demonic tiger to the right flank, where that trash was supposed to be! He should have died first!"

He banged his fist against another tree that he sprinted past.

"How were they able to defeat the dark pumas so quickly?! Why were all of them clustered so closely together? Why was Xia Xing Yue so close to that trash?!"

"Uh, boss…why do you insist on calling Shu Cong trash?" One of his lackeys asked, utterly confused. "He's clearly not trash. He's pretty strong. Hasn't he already demonstrated his strength several times?"

"Oh, shut up! Idiot!"

Cang Mu was not in the mood to listen to facts. He wanted to indulge in his delusions, where all the people he hated were trash and he was the overpowered protagonist of a cultivation story, thus having the right to act arrogantly because he was the strongest.

"I see. So you were the one who led the winged demonic tiger to our position."

Cang Mu jolted up when he heard the familiar voice. He stumbled back, stunned to see Xia Xing Yue and her two female friends suddenly next to him. Glancing about, he caught sight of Jian Hu and the other Ten Thousand Sword Academy students surrounding his gang.

"You really did a great thing, Cang Mu." Jian Hu was cracking his knuckles menacingly.

"Putting your vendetta against Shu Cong aside, your stunt endangered the lives of everyone here." Xia Xing Yue was still leaning against her friends but she was able to glower intimidatingly at Cang Mu. "You can be sure I'll report this to Director Shen Jian and the academy. You won't be getting away with this."

"Hah!" Cang Mu hoped he sounded braver than he was feeling. "You don't have any evidence! You can't prove that I was the one who lured the winged demonic tiger to your position! And you can't pin the blame of that trash's death on me! It's the winged demonic tiger who killed him! No matter what, you can't deny that fact!"

"Fact?" Si Nan broke in, joining the Ten Thousand Swords Academy students to glare at Cang Mu. "What makes you think Shu Cong will be killed?"

"Don't be absurd! There's no way that trash will survive against a commander-ranked winged demonic tiger!"

"You keep calling him trash." Si Nan studied him with a scowl. "I don't think you know what that word actually means."

"Oh, shut up! If I say he's trash, he's trash!"

"What excellent logic! So if I say you're a moron, you're a moron."

"He's a murderer, that's what he is," Xia Xing Yue interrupted Si Nan. She continued to glare at Cang Mu. "And he'll be punished for it."

"Hah! Like I said, you don't have any evidence…"

"You don't seem to understand your predicament, do you?" Si Nan asked, shaking his head. "Don't you realize that the same applies to you? That if you were to somehow die here, there won't be any evidence that we are the ones who killed you?"

Cang Mu turned pale. "You…you wouldn't dare!"

"Huh?" Si Nan raised both hands. "Wouldn't dare what? I never said we would kill you. But you were the one who said it loudly to Shu Cong, didn't you? That accidents happen."

"That's right," Jian Hu agreed coldly. "After what you did, you can't blame us for moving separately. There's no way any of us will trust you enough to travel with you in this forest. Not after you almost got all of us killed with your stunt regarding the winged demonic tiger. You and your gang can move independently."

"And we won't be responsible if you end up being outnumbered and attacked by spirit beasts," another Ten Thousand Sword Academy student said.

"We haven't forgotten how you ditched us right before the fight against the dark pumas!" One of the female Ten Thousand Sword Academy students who was supporting Xia Xing Yue added angrily. The other students nodded.

"Since you can't be bothered to help us, we won't help you too."

"So don't follow us."

"You can leave the forest on your own."

With those parting words, the alliance of university students departed, leaving Cang Mu and his gang behind.

"Boss, what do we do now?" One of the cronies asked. Cang Mu scoffed.

"They are just making empty threats. What can they do? If they report us to the instructors, we'll just deny everything. They have no evidence, after all. And we can leave the forest on our own. We don't need their help."

Cang Mu was confident of his strength, if nothing else. He was at least level one of the Heaven realm. Most warrior-class spirit beasts shouldn't be a problem. Or so he thought.

"Besides, we achieved our goal. Shu Cong is dead. We killed him! Ha ha ha! He deserves it!"

"I don't get it. So you and your grandfather tried to murder me simply because I stopped you from raping a girl?"

"What?!" Cang Mu sand his gang spun around, only to catch sight of me appearing in their midst. "When did you…?!"

"Just only," I replied with a shrug. "I sensed your qi, so I decided to drop by and ask you a few questions."

"You…!" Cang Mu spluttered. Then he narrowed his eyes. "Of course! All those who stand in my way of getting the women I want must die!"

He then lunged at me, drawing his sword to cut me into two.

"If that stupid winged demonic tiger wasn't able to kill you, then I'll do the job myself!"

"Oh, speaking of the winged demonic tiger…" I grinned as I disappeared from his sight, allowing his blade to sail through thin air. "I brought you guys an old friend."

"Huh?!"

Cang Mu and his gang weren't able to react when the wounded winged demonic tiger bounded into the clearing. In a single swipe, it obliterated Cang Mu's body, allowing the remains of his corpse to rain down in a splatter of blood and torn meat.

Within the next few seconds, it electrocuted and tore apart the rest of his gang, despite their best attempts to scatter and flee. None of them escaped, their bodies pulverized instantly by the ferocity of its attack. With its macabre task done, the winged demonic tiger roared and lunged after me, continuing its relentless pursuit.

"Damn it…I was hoping those idiots would at least buy me some time…but they couldn't even last five seconds."

Cursing under my breath, I pushed myself to my limits with my footwork techniques, disappearing and reappearing again and again. Jumping to the top of trees, landing on branches and leaping from tree to tree, I desperately tried to shake the damned winged demonic tiger off, but to no avail. Even when injured, it was still too fast.

Hell, I was fortunate that my magic carp's lightning attack had injured it earlier, or it would have caught up with me much earlier. Fortunately, its wounds were hindering its speed and mobility, which was the only reason why I could maintain the current distance between us.

Briefly, I considered using my enhanced sixth sense again. Then I rejected the idea. My Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths warned me that I wasn't going to be able to match its speed and reflexes. That if I tried to attack the winged demonic tiger, even from a surprise angle, it would simply obliterate me with a single swing of its paw.

And such was its speed and power that I wouldn't be able to cut through the qi lines like I did with the shadow leopard.

That same Heavenly and Earthly Paths also warned me that Xia Xing Yue, Si Nan and my allies were all nearby. Somehow they appeared to have come in contact with Cang Mu before I led the winged demonic tiger to his position.

Hah! He and his gang deserved what they got. The idiots tried to kill us all by leading the winged demonic tiger to our position. Thanks to them, Xia Xing Yue was badly hurt. They deserved to get punished.

"Yikes!"

I flipped myself away from the branch that served at my temporary perch and landed on the ground. A millisecond later, lightning struck the branch, scorching the bark and destroying a good portion of the poor tree.

"How persistent!"

I continued to run. Good thing that Kai Li Si had stipulated that I run 10km everyday as part of my daily training, otherwise I wouldn't have the stamina to escape from this annoying spirit beast. Tumbling through the treacherous terrain, I weaved through a dense cluster of trees while hurdling over outstretched roots and bounding over thick shrubs. Behind me, the winged demonic tiger uprooted the trees while knocking them over in its haste to catch me.

"Huff…"

Despite my training, I was exhausted from the continuous running. The winged demonic tiger slashed at me and I felt blood spurt from my back. Despite the distance, it was still somehow able to graze me with such a ferocious attack. Stumbling, I tried to toss myself to the side but a lightning bolt struck me. Despite blocking it with my sword, I felt my arms go numb and my flesh cooked from the intense heat.

"Ugh!"

Coughing, I rolled away, only for blood to spray the ground as another distant slash cut deeply into my arms and midriff. If the winged demonic tiger had been just a meter closer, I would have been disemboweled, my guts spilling out of my eviscerated stomach.

Tripping over a root, I used my momentum to hurl myself back, using Tui to retreat as far back as I could. The winged demonic tiger landed on the spot where I had been a second ago, crushing wood into splinters. Snarling, it launched a lightning bolt at me. I parried it with my sword again, but the force of the elemental attack sent me sprawling a few meters away. Coughing out blood, I scrambled to my feet.

Kicking off the ground, I propelled myself to the side. Instinctively, I skidded to a stop over a cliff.

"This place…"

I realized I was at the border between Starry Forest and Astral Forest. This was the edge of Xing Hao Island, a cliff that led to a sheer drop several kilometers into the sea below.

Oh, right. This was a floating island. I had almost forgotten about that.

Not that it wasn't going to help me. I realized how screwed I was. This was literally a case of trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. Either I was mauled to death by the winged demonic tiger or I fell to my death below. Even if I was a cultivator, I hadn't learned how to fly – apparently only cultivators of Silver Moon realm or Astral Stars realm and above could fly (or control a flying sword).

If this was the case, then I might as well fight to the bitter end. First, I removed my glasses and then I held my dragon sword in both hands. With my enhanced sixth sense, I was able to visualize the qi lines and origin points present on the formidable foe in front of me.

Taking a deep breath, I charged, aiming for the closest qi line. Especially since my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths already informed me that the winged demonic tiger was going to swat me aside.

It would be an attack powerful enough to pulverize me if it landed. However, I tilted my sword at an angle and tried to slice through the fragile qi line snaking across the paw…

…and failed to trace the qi line and cut through it. No, I wasn't even able to cut through it. The attack was too fast, too brutal. I was forced to alter the trajectory of my sword and parry the claws or get torn apart.

Blood spurted from my mouth and new wounds as I was sent hurtling across the cliff…

…and I fell over the edge, plummeting toward the deep blue sea several kilometers below…