Chapter 8: The First Dragon Mark!

  In the gray sky, a few scattered snowflakes floated down. On the edge of a steep cliff, Tang Lin stood quietly. Since leaving "Pi", he had been training in the mountains for seven days. After this period of hunting and fighting with fierce beasts and monsters, his body grew rapidly, and on the surface, he looked like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy.

  "It's snowing again." Tang Lin looked up at the sky, "After New Year's, I'll be thirteen years old, and in eleven months, I'll get to see my mother."

  "Mother, what do you look like?" Tang Lin thought in his heart, yearning.

  Just at this time ——

  Clang! Clang!

  At the foot of the mountain, in a clearing, came the sound of clashing weapons. Only six or seven people were seen, surrounding a massive lion with purple mane all over its body. The lion had three eyes, shining with a purple glow, like an eerie diamond.

  "It's a Zi Huang Lion." Xiao Hui climbed out of the bundle and onto Tang Lin's shoulder, looked at the battle scene below, shook his head and said: "These few people are likely to be in danger. This Zi Huang Lion is a demon, just look at the luster of its fur, it has at least 600 years of cultivation. Ordinary warriors can't defeat it, let alone that it's a special kind of demon that can swallow external light and transform it into scorching purple flames, with terrifying killing power."

  Tang Lin furrowed his brow.

  With a glance, he saw that the six or seven people were only martial artists, among whom three stronger ones were high-level martial artists. At this moment, in front of the purple-maned lion, they could barely hold their ground. Looking at the purple-maned lion's appearance, it had not exerted its true strength. Otherwise, it would only need to transform into mist and immediately swallow these few people.

  Tang Lin looked at the purple-maned lion and asked, "Compared to 'Pi', which one is stronger?"

  "It's hard to say, they both have their own special places." Xiao Hui shook his head and said: "Pi's speed is extremely fast, its senses are sharp, but this purple-maned lion is incredibly powerful. If we really had to compare, the purple-maned lion would be a bit stronger. The purple flames it unleashes have an astonishingly strong killing power."

  "Uh-huh." Tang Lin nodded slightly, "Then it's settled."

  ……

  "Damn it." Wu Ren gritted his teeth, swinging the weapon in his hand to resist the purple-maned lion's claws, and felt that this claw was like a great mountain, almost crushing the weapon.

  "Run quickly." Wu Ren yelled at several people behind him.

  "Brother, what about you?" A beautiful girl with a clear and lovely face looked anxious.

  "Mind your own business, go quickly, go!"

  "Xing'er, let's go first, your brother will be fine." A young man next to her glanced at the purple-maned lion and hastily pulled this girl away.

  "No, I want to go with brother." Xing'er pushed away his palm and rushed towards Wu Ren.

  The rest of them saw this situation and looked at the ferocious purple-maned lion again. Finally, they glanced at each other and could only quickly turn around and leave.

  The purple-maned lion glanced in the direction those people were walking, its eerie pupils flashing with disdain as it gazed down at Wu Ren, opening its bloody maw wide, ready to end the delay and swallow this lowly human whole.

  Whoosh!

  A strong gust of wind suddenly came from beside.

  The purple-maned lion reacted quickly, retreating its body, only to discover that what was thrown at it was just a stone. It turned its head to look over and saw a youth wearing coarse leather, holding a black battle knife, slowly walking out of the thicket.

  Wu Ren, with a desperate look in his eyes, saw the young man and was taken aback for a moment. He hastily shouted loudly: "You quickly leave, this is a monster, don't come over, run away!"

  Tang Lin didn't say much, his body flashed quickly and appeared in front of the purple-maned lion. A layer of white light emerged from his body, and his clear pupils shone with a white glow. He turned his head back to Wu Ren's siblings and said, "You two keep your distance, don't interfere with me."

  Wu Ren's face was filled with anxiety, but when he saw a white glow appearing on Tang Lin's body, his mouth immediately opened wide in astonishment.

  Warrior!

  The young man in front of him was actually a legendary martial artist!

  His heart reignited, his expression agitated, knowing he was just a burden here, he hastily and quickly pulled up the sister beside him, retreating towards the trees behind, shouting loudly: "Wu Zhe Daren, this demon is difficult to deal with, you must be careful!"

  Tang Lin slowly drew out his war knife and gazed at the purple-maned lion with indifference.

  "Despicable human, looking for death!" The purple-maned lion gazed at its prey that Tang Lin had let go, and a fierce light flashed in its eyes. It bellowed, and a thick purple mist erupted from its body. Its originally majestic purple mane suddenly stood on end, as if electrified.

  "Die!" It roared with its mouth open and spat out.

  Wow!

  Purple flames shot out of its mouth like a meteor, rapidly scorching the ground around it. Even the withered trees nearby that hadn't been touched by the flames yet self-ignited in the high temperatures.

  Tang Lin only felt like he was standing in a furnace, his entire body's skin almost burning up, but the black-toothed war knife in his hand remained icy cold as iron.

  "Die!"

  Tang Lin's eyes gleamed fiercely, his body flashed by in an instant, and the war knife in his hand swiftly slashed towards the purple-maned lion's forehead and eyes.

  Before coming, Xiao Hui had told him that the weakness of this purple-maned lion was on its forehead, and as long as this third eye was destroyed, the purple-maned lion would lose eighty percent of its combat strength.

  A fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the purple-maned lion, and its body quickly transformed into a purple mist that enveloped Tang Lin, making it impossible for him to discern its shape.

  "Hmm!" Tang Lin's internal energy surged into the war knife, and the black war knife burst out with dazzling white light, crazily slashing towards the purple mist.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The war knife chopped through the purple mist, as if cutting through metal. The purple mist was chopped and rolled, finally transforming back into the original form of the Purple Lion.

  Although youkai are skilled in the art of transformation, their combat strength is greatly reduced after changing shape and they cannot move as freely as when controlling their true form.

  Whoosh!

  Tang Lin's war knife flew out of his hand and shot straight at the forehead of the purple-maned lion.

  The purple-maned lion was greatly shocked, not expecting Tang Lin to take the risk of letting go of his own weapon. Its body leapt up, avoiding this unforeseen attack, and at the same time turned its head to look at Tang Lin who had lost his weapon, with a fierce and sinister glint in its eyes.

  "Die!" It bellowed and charged forward.

  ……

  In the distance, Wu Ren, a sturdy man, pulled his sister and hid behind a leafy tree, peeking through the gap at the battlefield. Seeing Tang Lin's sword fly out of his hand, his heart racing, his face slightly changed.

  "How can this samurai lord be so reckless, dropping his own weapon like that? Without a weapon, his fighting power will be greatly reduced and he's sure to get hurt. If things go badly, he might even fall!" Wu Ren thought anxiously.

  His sister crouched beside him, looking at the black-haired youth with a flicker of shock in her eyes. She had been practicing martial arts since she was young and was now an intermediate martial artist, but she never thought that this youth who looked about the same age as herself would already be a warrior!

  What a monstrous talent!

  "Brother, should we go help him?" The girl asked worriedly.

  "Wu Ren gritted his teeth and said, 'You wait here, I'll go help. He's risking his life to save us after all. Master has always said that one must repay kindness."

  "I'm going too." The girl said hastily.

  "No way!" Wu Ren said sternly: "You're too weak, when things go wrong, you can't even run away, you can't go."

  "Brother..."

  "It's no use saying it!"

  "No, brother, look quickly, that young man, he..." The girl excitedly pulled at Wu Ren's sleeve, pointing towards the empty space.

  Wu Ren looked puzzled and walked away.

  "How is this possible!" He stared with wide eyes in shock.

  ……

  The purple-maned lion pounced at Tang Lin, Tang Lin's eyes flashed, his body took a swift step forward, and his fist heavily struck the purple-maned lion's abdomen.

  This purple-maned lion didn't take it to heart, believing in the toughness of its own skin membrane. Let alone a fist made of flesh and blood, even if it were slashed with swords and knives, it would be hard to cut open its outer skin.

  It ferociously slapped down its paw——

  Time seems to have stopped at this moment.

  The body of the purple-maned lion suddenly stiffened, its eyes filled with incredulity, it opened its mouth, but before it could say anything, the third eye on its forehead suddenly exploded, taking half of its skull with it.

  Flesh and blood splattered everywhere, staining Tang Lin's leather armor.

  The purple-maned lion's body was pressed down, and Tang Lin's palm lifted it up, throwing its huge body to the side of the empty space. He then patted his palm and picked up the war knife not far away.

  "The skin is really thick, if it weren't for the 'Qiang Long Jing' fist method ignoring the epidermis, I would really have no way to deal with you." Tang Lin walked up to the Zi Zong Shi's side and used his Hei Ya war knife to cut off its front limb claws first.

  "Huh?" Tang Lin turned his head towards the woods, "Who?"

  In the rustling sound, two people walked out of the forest, who were Wu Ren siblings. Wu Ren was walking in front, looking at the dead Zi Fa Lion on the ground, and he couldn't believe it. Hearing Tang Lin's question, he woke up and hurriedly went forward to salute: "Greetings, Master Wu Zhe."

  "Hmm." Tang Lin nodded slightly, "Why haven't you left yet?"

  Wu Ren scratched his head and said: "I'm afraid you can't handle it, so I want to help."

  "That's not helping, it's sending me to my death." Tang Lin said calmly.

  Wu Ren didn't expect him to be so direct, his face turned red and he scratched his head, saying: "I know I can't beat this monster, but stalling for a bit of time shouldn't be a problem."

  "You can't delay it." Tang Lin shook his head and said, "If it really wants to kill you, it only needs one second."

  Wu Ren's face was filled with shock and he let out a bitter laugh, knowing that Tang Lin would never lie. He was deeply hurt and felt somewhat disheartened.

  "There's nothing much here, you all should leave first, the aura of evil spirits is thick here, there should be quite a few evil creatures nearby." Tang Lin said casually.

  "Uh-huh." Wu Ren hastily nodded and looked around nervously, saying no more. He pulled his sister away and they took their leave immediately.

  After they left, Tang Lin carried the giant body of the purple-maned lion, his body agile, and after a few jumps in the mountains, he arrived at a secluded and safe area.

  Tang Lin used the Black Tooth Battle Knife to split open the mountain rocks, digging out a cave. He then pasted a sensing talisman ten zhang away from the entrance and stuck ten basic defense talismans and three first-level defense talismans on the outside of the cave, as well as three first-level attack talismans.

  If a monster breaks in, it will trigger these talismans and suffer a fierce attack.

  To know that a first-class attack talisman is equivalent to a warrior's strongest blow, the lethality is not to be underestimated.

  With everything ready, Tang Lin took off his upper garment and bared his upper body. Following the first layer of dragon markings in the "Dragon Blood Classic", he began to cultivate.

  "With the essence of a demon's blood as a guide, it is injected into the body's meridians and refined into dragon markings." Tang Lin stretched out his palm, with dense energy enveloping his entire hand.

  Pfft!

  The sword sliced through, cutting open the body of the purple-maned lion.

  Tang Lin stretched out his hand and reached inside.

  "Feeling the pulse, using his breath to pull in the essence of the blood energy, absorbing it into his body through the meridians, refining...". Tang Lin closed his eyes and began to slowly feel.

  ……

  Tomorrow at 4:00 AM, asking for Zhang's recommendation votes!!!!!!!!!!

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