Chapter Seventy-Five: The Mountain Cave
This coming and going, the spotted fierce tiger was exhausted, but Lü Bu, this tiger king, was far from satisfied.
Just as the tiger was about to die at Lü Bu's hands, the spotted tiger suddenly jumped up, seemingly unhurt, with a full-throated roar, and forcibly broke free from Lü Bu's grasp.
"Huh?!" Lü Bu furrowed his brow and was about to add force, but immediately relaxed.
"Roar!" The spotted tiger looked at Lü Bu deeply and then jumped into the bushes to leave.
"Go after him!" Gao Shun said, the things on the tiger's body were very useful, especially for Liu Mang now. The tiger bones could be boiled into a medicinal liquid to strengthen one's physique, which was a great help for martial artists.
"Yes!" Cheng Yu also retrieved his own weapon and was about to charge in on horseback.
"Stop!" Lü Bu waved his arm to stop the crowd.
"Master?!" Gao Shun asked in confusion, he didn't believe that Lü Bu wouldn't know the value of a tiger, this was something that could take Liu Mang's martial arts to the next level. Moreover, other parts of the tiger were extremely valuable, such as its skin and meat. If it was a male tiger, there was also the tiger whip.
"Don't go now!" Lü Bu continued, putting on his half-body armor as he explained, "This big bug has already turned around! If you chase after it now, that bug will definitely fight to the death. Who knows, when the time comes, this beast might put up a desperate struggle and you'll be in danger!"
Lü Bu didn't know what reason made this big bug, even if he knew he wouldn't live long, still want to return to the light and hide in the grass. The current tiger doesn't recognize anything, it just wants to leave. Once someone stops him, he will fight to the death. Anyway, it's dead, and at that time attacking other people and getting injured would be even worse.
Lü Bu put on his armor, stretched his body and said "Let's go! We can go now!" Lü Bu walked in front, the bloodstains left by the big worm on the ground gave everyone a clue, following the map, they followed step by step.
On the edge of Lv Bu's side was Liu Mang, followed by Cheng Yu. Gao Shun walked on one side without speaking. The two white-clothed women also followed out of curiosity and fear, leaving the two women alone in the wilderness.
"Good hunting luck!" Lü Bu spoke up, the two brothers-in-law had walked a long way without saying a word, finally breaking the silence.
"Good luck?!" Liu Mang's mouth twitched, it was good luck, unexpectedly able to beat out a tiger, although the environment of the Three Kingdoms is not bad, but tigers, the king of the forest, are still rare. Good luck to the point of almost playing himself to death, this tiger wasn't even brought out by himself, Liu Mang couldn't help but cast his gaze towards the two white-clothed women behind him.
Lü Bu followed Liu Mang's gaze and also looked at the two women in white, their long sleeves fluttering behind them. Although their clothes were dirty and disheveled from running, it couldn't hide their natural beauty. Even Lü Bu, who had seen the number one beauty of the Three Kingdoms every day, took a second glance.
"Who are they?!" Lü Bu asked.
"Wan Cheng He's sisters, came to Shu City to visit old friends, and this tiger is what they brought with them!" Liu Mang replied in a serious tone, looking very much like his father questioning him.
"Are these two women from the Wu City He family? Are they here to visit old friends? Just these two women?" Lu Bu asked the same question as Gao Shun. The two women were beautiful, even if it wasn't a chaotic world, they would still be sought after by many people, now in this chaotic world with war and chaos everywhere, how could two beautiful women dare to come out alone?
"There were also a few servants who were bitten to death by the tiger!" Liu Mang said casually.
"Are there only a few servants?!" Lü Bu took a deep look at the two women in white clothes. Two such beautiful women, and they only have a few servants?! Without the protection of guards, it's difficult for them to travel. Only Liu Mang would believe this kind of nonsense! Lü Bu's first impression was that these two women were absolutely not the He sisters. As for their surname, Lü Bu couldn't guess either. However, even if the two women were hiding something, they wouldn't pose much harm to Lü Bu's army, so he let it go!
They walked a bit further and the bloodstains became more frequent, it should be the tiger's lair. Before entering the lair, Lü Bu rarely nodded at Liu Mang "Not bad today!"
"Huh?" Liu Mang was taken aback, did Lü Bu just praise himself? Lü Bu actually praised himself? He didn't do anything today, went hunting and encountered a tiger, almost got killed by the tiger, this is considered doing well?!
Actually, Liu Mang didn't know that generally when people encounter tigers, they basically become tiger food. Even fully armed soldiers need a whole squad to capture a tiger, and it's impossible for a hundred-man team to kill one. The fact that Liu Mang could hold on in the tiger's mouth for so long can be said that his martial arts skills have improved greatly recently.
Even if it's smooth sailing from now on, it'll still be like this.
Martial artists only have three realms: refining the body, tempering the bones, and refining the spirit. Refining the body is just the first realm of martial arts, ordinary people need ten years, even those with high innate talent need five years to lay the foundation. But Lü Bu saw that Liu Mang's body was changing day by day, like the injuries he received from fighting the fierce tiger earlier, even a general would need to rest for several days, but now Liu Mang can't feel the pain anymore, this is the quality of his physique.
Tempering Bone stage is when martial arts training has reached a certain level, at this stage joining the army would be a vanguard general, and in the wild would be a wandering knight-errant. For example, Cheng Yu is a military commander who has just entered the Tempering Bone stage, Gao Shun is higher than Cheng Yu, and has already touched the threshold of Refining Spirit.
Cultivating one's spirit is the dividing line between a first-rate warrior and a second-rate one.
Zhang Liao is a character in the Refining Spirit Initial Stage, and his martial arts are top-notch, with Lu Bu being one of them. He has already reached the peak of Refining Spirit and can be said to be a super-first-class warrior. Only Lu Bu can reach this level. Below Lu Bu, there are Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Ding Wei, Xu Chu, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, and others. These people are only slightly weaker than the peak of Refining Spirit and belong to the high-level Refining Spirit, also reaching the pinnacle of first-class warriors.
Lü Bu saw Liu Mang's efforts and knew that at the foundation-building stage of refining his body, he needed medicinal materials. This old tiger would have appeared today anyway, but Lü Bu had already planned to find a fierce tiger for its bones to make medicine for Liu Mang.
"You stay here, I'll go in first!" This was a cave, the entrance of which was just wide enough for two people to walk abreast. Inside it was dark and gloomy, with no light penetrating, making it seem like a bottomless pit. Lü Bu's bravery and boldness allowed him to enter, but others were not so brave.
Before everyone could respond, Lü Bu had already entered the cave.
In the cave, there was a strong and unpleasant smell of blood. Lü Bu furrowed his brow for a moment before recovering, having experienced worse environments than this in Wuyuan before.
"Roar!" The tiger in the cave seemed to have sensed the approach of humans and wanted to roar, but it could only let out a weak growl. It had really exhausted all its physical strength.
The entire scene inside the cave suddenly appeared before Lü Bu, and upon seeing what was in front of him, he suddenly froze, staring straight ahead.
Time passed like the burning of three incense sticks, two incense sticks, and then another incense stick. Lü Bu entered the cave as if he had fallen into a bottomless pit and was gone without a trace.
"General Gao Shun, is he his father-in-law?!" Lü Bu had been silent for a long time, making Liu Mang and others outside anxious. Inside the cave, there was no sound at all, neither roars nor killing sounds, what was going on?!
If there is a killing sound, it would make people feel more at ease; this kind of silence is what makes people most uneasy.
"Wait a bit longer!" Gao Shun, usually calm and composed, showed a hint of impatience, but still maintained his military demeanor.
Time has passed again with several sticks of incense.
"No way, I'll go take a look!" Liu Mang was getting worried and walked towards the entrance of the cave, Cheng Yu followed behind him, and Gao Shun didn't stop them, watching as they entered, he also followed inside.
"Sister, are we going in too?" The white-clothed sister said with a bit of fear as she looked at the dark cave entrance.
The dark cave entrance seemed to be selectively devouring people, and it was terrifying. How could they get out of there? This forest gave the two sisters a very bad impression. What if they encountered other ferocious beasts outside? The two weak women had no power to protect themselves.
"We're going in too!" Although the entrance was frightening, with Liu Mang and his group inside, even if there's danger, they would be protected. Outside the cave, only the sisters were left, no one could help them, so the white-clothed sister gritted her teeth and followed them in.