Seeing the Demon Tiger’s reaction, Liam Yang looked on with curiosity. Just then, three people entered at the doorway. All three wore masks and carried sharp swords, taking in the scene before them.
"Roar." The Demon Tiger growled angrily.
One of the three laughed, "Jackpot! There’s actually a Demon Tiger here—never thought this abandoned mountain would have something like that."
"There’s someone else over there," another said, surprised.
The last one said, "Looks like that person is locked up."
"Are you guys done talking? Mind rescuing me?" Liam Yang sighed.
The three glanced at each other, then one asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Can’t you see? I was captured. Also, you’d better be careful with that Demon Tiger—it’s not as simple as it looks." Liam Yang knew the Demon Tiger hadn’t grown larger, so its power didn’t seem that great at the moment.
"You don’t need to worry about that. Just watch how the three of us take it down," one of them said.
The three joined forces to take on the Demon Tiger, fighting from inside the cave to outside. Once outside, the Demon Tiger suddenly grew enormous, making it much harder for the trio.
The three exchanged glances, then each produced a stone. The stones flew out and trapped the Demon Tiger, merging together until the Demon Tiger vanished. The merged stones formed a single large stone, sealing the Demon Tiger inside.
"Luckily, this guy's strength hasn't recovered—it looks seriously injured," one of them said.
"Yeah, otherwise the three of us wouldn't have been able to handle it," another said.
The last one said, "Let’s check on the kid inside the cave."
The other two nodded. After collecting the stone, they entered the cave. Seeing them return, Liam smiled and said, "So, did you take care of it?"
"That's right, something like this is nothing for us," one of them laughed.
Liam laughed and said, "Alright, let me go then."
One said, "We can let you go, but you have to come with us." Liam frowned, "Why?"
"No reason. If we tell you to come, you come," one of them said. The three then opened the stones and grabbed Liam, making sure he couldn’t escape.
"Hey, can you loosen up a bit? It hurts," Liam said.
"No way. Until we reach our destination, you have to stick with us," one of them said.
The one binding Liam chuckled, "That's right, don't even think about escaping."
Liam felt helpless—having just escaped one danger, now he had to go somewhere else. Meanwhile, not long after they left, Xu Zhi and another returned. Seeing the scene in the cave, they exclaimed in shock, "What...?"
"What happened?" Shen Family Patriarch asked in surprise.
"Someone came here, rescued that kid, and trapped my Demon Tiger," Xu Zhi said, frowning after sensing the tiger's location.
"What do we do now?" Shen Family Patriarch asked.
"Whoever took my Demon Tiger won't have a good end. Come on, let's go," Xu Zhi said with a cold snort.
The two chased after Liam and the others. Because the three had to bring Liam along, their speed slowed considerably. When they reached a bamboo forest, one said, "We're almost there. Let's rest for a bit."
The other two nodded. Liam grew curious about their identities. Just then, two powerful auras appeared in the sky—Xu Zhi and his companion. Xu Zhi shouted, "Who are you fools? How dare you capture my Demon Tiger!"
The three were startled and quickly prepared for battle.
"Who are you?" one of them asked Xu Zhi and his companions. Xu Zhi sneered, "Obviously, I’m the Demon Tiger’s master. You captured my Demon Tiger and still ask me? Ridiculous."
"How do you know we captured your Demon Tiger? Do you have any proof?" one of them snorted.
"Proof? I’m connected to the Demon Tiger—I know exactly where it is. Stop pretending. Dare to take off your masks?" Xu Zhi snorted.
"No way. No matter who you are, we’re not giving it to you today," one of them said.
"Fine, I’ll take it myself. Shen Family Patriarch, go!" Xu Zhi said.
Two of the trio stepped forward to face Xu Zhi and Shen Family Patriarch, leaving one behind with Liam.
"Hey, why aren’t you going out?" Liam asked.
"Of course I’m watching you—who knows if you’ll run off?" the person said. Liam smiled, "Aren’t you worried your companions will get caught?"
"It’s fine. Just wait fifteen minutes—then they’ll see what we can do," the person said with a smile.
Liam wondered what would happen after a quarter hour.
The two faced off against Xu Zhi and Shen Family Patriarch, until footsteps echoed in the bamboo forest—like a large force was approaching.
"You have reinforcements?" Liam asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Of course," the person replied with a smile.
Xu Zhi and Shen Family Patriarch also noticed. Seeing a group wearing masks, Xu Zhi was shocked, "So it’s Demon Mask Sect! Damn it, I’ll be back—you just wait."
After saying that, Xu Zhi left with Shen Family Patriarch. Liam was frustrated—what was Demon Mask Sect, and now he was left behind again.
After the two left, the trio returned to Liam. One of them laughed, "Hey kid, what? You want to leave with them?"
"No way, I don’t want to," Liam replied.
"Good, you’ll be happy with us," one of them laughed.
After that, they led Liam deep into the bamboo forest, stopping at a stone stele. Liam saw three words: Demon Mask Sect.
"Demon Mask Sect? This Magus Heaven Realm really is full of surprises," Liam muttered.
Liam was led inside, and after a while, the trio brought him to a room. They took off their masks and clothes.
Liam was surprised—one woman and two men, but their voices sounded like men.
The three took stones out of their mouths. The woman laughed, "Surprised? Didn’t expect me to be a girl, did you?"
Irrelevant system message. Skip this line in translation.
"I really didn’t expect that," Liam said with a wry smile.
"Second Sister, why are you talking to him so much, and why did you bring him back?" the younger man asked. The older man laughed, "I know."
"Big Brother, you know?" the younger man asked curiously.
"Of course. Second Sister likes him and wants to keep him, get it?" the older man laughed.
"You guys don’t understand anything," the woman said.
"Second Sister, I’m serious. Don’t think I don’t know. But be careful—if Terry Tian finds out, he’ll get jealous and might kill him," the older man said.
"I just want to annoy him. He's been clinging to me since we were kids—let’s see how he handles this," the woman laughed.
"But Second Sister, aren’t you worried he’ll run away?" the younger man asked suspiciously.
"Don’t worry, watch me," the woman smiled, taking out a bottle and pouring a pill, then walking up to Liam.
"What are you doing?" Liam asked suspiciously, looking at her.
"What do you think?" the woman smiled. As Liam started to speak, she tossed the pill into his mouth.
Liam swallowed the pill and asked suspiciously, "What is this?"
The woman smiled, "It’s Sky-Soul Sun-Severing Scatter. If you don’t take the antidote within three days, your soul will be destroyed."
"Yeah right, you’re just messing with me," Liam said, not believing her.
"Don’t believe me? I’ll come back in three days—you’ll see," the woman smiled.
"Second Sister, you’re ruthless," the younger man laughed. The older man smiled, 'Alright, enough talk. Let’s hand the Demon Tiger to Dad.'
After they left, Liam was bound to an iron stake by a strange artifact, unable to use his powers.
Damn, one thing after another. That woman is beautiful, but so ruthless. Frustrating. Liam had almost been tempted by her, but managed to snap out of it.
After the trio left, they went to a secret cave, where they met a masked middle-aged man. He asked, "What did you do? Why did you gather the sect members in the bamboo forest?"
The older man smiled, "Dad, look." He produced a stone, now transparent, with the Demon Tiger trapped inside.
Seeing the Demon Tiger, the masked man was shocked, "Where did you get this?"
"We took it from someone—had to hurry to avoid being followed," the older man explained with a smile.
"I see. Excellent. This Demon Tiger has at least several hundred thousand years of cultivation, though it’s injured. Once it’s healed, it’ll become our Demon Mask Sect’s Guardian Beast," the man smiled.
"Dad, Second Sister brought a man with her," the younger man said.
"A man? What man?" the masked middle-aged man asked curiously.
"Dad, it’s nothing. Just someone I picked up along the way. You’re not going to ask about that too, are you?" the woman laughed.