I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Jiang Zuo knew that even if he told them he didn’t have the Cultivation Jade Stone, the two men wouldn’t let him go.

They would use every trick in the book to confirm it one way or another.

So he didn’t waste his breath or time.

"Really? Take out the Cultivation Jade Stone and give it to us!"

"Just hand it over, and we’ll never bother you again. We can even give you some benefits you won’t find in the Mortal Territory!"

Zhu Laoqi said, unable to hide his impatience.

Zhu Shaoqing was also staring intently at Jiang Zuo.

No one could resist the temptation of a key to a Secret Realm!

As if to put the two at ease, Jiang Zuo reached into his pocket and pulled out the Life Essence Returning Skill Jade Stone, which was shaped like a Peace Pendant.

"That’s it!"

The two could tell at a glance that this Jade Stone was extraordinary—it was exactly what they were looking for.

In an instant, both of them grew excited.

They reached for it, but Jiang Zuo abruptly took a step back.

"Zhao Li, what’s the meaning of this? Are you forcing our hand? My patience is limited. If you don’t hand it over within three breaths, don’t blame me for what happens next!"

"When that time comes, you and that couple behind you will all die!"

Zhu Laoqi’s expression turned grim.

Zhu Shaoqing’s face also showed extreme impatience.

"Don’t worry, I’ll give you the Jade Stone. I don’t want anything in return. Your things are useless to me."

"I just want to know what you want this Jade Stone for. Isn’t it just something used to practice the Life Essence Returning Skill?"

"This Jade Stone is useless to me anyway. Just satisfy my curiosity, and I’ll hand it over."

Jiang Zuo said with a wave of his hand, his voice perfectly calm.

"This Jade Stone is rumored to be a key that can open a certain Secret Realm. As for which one, we don’t know either."

"There, I told you. Now hurry up and give us the Jade Stone!"

Since Jiang Zuo was just a mortal, Zhu Laoqi wasn’t afraid of him knowing. He mustered his last bit of patience and told Jiang Zuo what he knew before reaching out to grab the Jade Stone.

Blood God Skill!

But in that instant, Jiang Zuo activated the Blood God Skill with his full power.

The Red Fox Bracelet immediately lost its effect, revealing Jiang Zuo’s true form.

In the dark of night, Jiang Zuo’s entire body was cloaked in an incredibly dense, blood-colored aura. An invisible, intense pressure suddenly radiated outward.

Even Zhu Laoqi and Zhu Shaoqing, two Cultivators at the Perfection stage of Qi Cultivation, felt an immense pressure at that moment.

"Well now, you’re asking to die!"

Realizing he’d been tricked, Zhu Laoqi flew into a rage.

"You mortal ant! No matter how strong you are, you just have brute force! Even if you’re tough, you’re still going to die!"

"Wind Blade!"

Zhu Laoqi was utterly infuriated by Jiang Zuo.

For a mere mortal to dare and deceive a high and mighty Immortal—it was a complete insult!

To that end, Zhu Laoqi didn’t even bother to expend his own Spiritual Power to cast a Magic. Instead, he directly used a complete first-tier Wind Blade Talisman.

Even a Cultivator in the late stage of Qi Cultivation would have to avoid the brunt of a complete first-tier Wind Blade.

As for a mortal, a single touch meant death.

Zhu Shaoqing watched from the side, his face grim.

He didn’t join the attack.

Although the Blood Qi that erupted from Jiang Zuo was startling.

But no matter how strong a Martial Artist was, he was still just a mortal. No amount of strength could break through their Body Protection Technique.

Zhu Laoqi’s Wind Blade was enough to kill this mortal several times over.

The Wind Blade Talisman activated, and a gale of blades materialized from thin air, covering a radius of over ten meters. It swept toward Jiang Zuo with such speed that he had no way to dodge.

But Jiang Zuo didn’t dodge. Instead, he took a fierce step forward!

Ten Thousand Beasts Armor!

Just as the Wind Blade was about to strike, the black Ten Thousand Beasts Armor flashed into existence around Jiang Zuo’s body.

In the space of a single breath, the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor blocked the Wind Blade’s attack, instantly depleted its energy, and dissipated.

But for Jiang Zuo, that was enough. He had already broken through the attack and arrived right in front of Zhu Laoqi.

"Zhu Laoqi, watch out!"

Zhu Shaoqing yelled. He hadn’t expected Jiang Zuo to have a way of blocking the Wind Blade.

Although he doubted Jiang Zuo’s fists could harm Zhu Laoqi, Jiang Zuo’s use of a Cultivator-like technique gave him a sinking feeling.

’This man is clearly a mortal. How can he have the methods of an Immortal?’

With no time for further thought, Zhu Shaoqing decided to trust his gut. He would rather waste a Talisman than let this guy live.

But he had just taken out the Talisman and hadn’t yet activated it.

Then he saw Jiang Zuo pull a black stone tablet out of nowhere and hurl it at him.

The black stone tablet shot toward him.

At such a close distance, Zhu Shaoqing had no time to dodge.

’Is he trying to interrupt my Talisman with that thing? A mortal is just a mortal. I have a Body Protection Technique, so what if it hits me? Just die!’

The thought flashed through Zhu Shaoqing’s mind.

Instead of defending against the flying tablet, Zhu Shaoqing chose to continue activating his Talisman.

BANG!

But in the next instant, Zhu Shaoqing felt the black stone tablet pass through his Body Protection Technique as if it weren’t even there.

Then, a peerlessly powerful force slammed viciously into his body.

If it had been any other weapon from the Mortal Territory, even without his Body Protection Technique, Zhu Shaoqing was still a Cultivator who had reached the Perfection stage of Qi Cultivation.

Even though he hadn’t specifically practiced a Body Cultivation Technique, his body was not weak. A blow like that should have resulted in a minor injury at most.

But this black stone tablet was no ordinary object.

Zhu Shaoqing’s Qi-Cultivated body couldn’t hinder the black stone tablet in the slightest.

The black stone tablet smashed straight through Zhu Shaoqing’s torso, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in his chest.

’What the hell is this thing...?’

Excruciating pain shot through him. The thought barely had time to flash through his mind before his vision went black and he lost consciousness completely.

"Zhu Shaoqing!"

Zhu Laoqi witnessed the scene with his own eyes, his heart filled with horror.

Jiang Zuo, who was now lunging at him, was still a mortal, but Zhu Laoqi no longer dared to treat him as one.

Zhu Laoqi decided to escape and regroup. As long as this inhuman monster in front of him couldn’t produce a second item like that black stone tablet, he could trade a couple of blows and get away.

In terms of speed, his opponent couldn’t catch him.

Zhu Laoqi had made up his mind. And it was true—there was only one black stone tablet. Jiang Zuo couldn’t produce another.

However, Zhu Laoqi had severely miscalculated.

Jiang Zuo rushed forward, but instead of punching Zhu Laoqi, he wrapped him in a crushing bear hug.

His arms constricted like iron bands, pinning Zhu Laoqi and preventing him from moving.

"You! What are you trying to do?!"

Feeling the immense, ever-tightening pressure from Jiang Zuo’s arms, Zhu Laoqi began to panic.

He struggled with all his might, trying to break free.

But even back when Jiang Zuo was at the Perfection stage of Meridian Passage, fully channeling the Blood God Skill already gave his body the might of a being that had unleashed 80% of its total muscle mass.

Now, with his Inner Breath nearing Perfection and his attributes at the mortal limit, the muscles covering his body when he exerted his full strength were even more terrifying than that same being having unleashed 100% of its muscle mass.

His muscles, crisscrossing like steel rebar, radiated with endless power.

It was no exaggeration to call the current Jiang Zuo a Humanoid Fierce Beast.

"Come on! Let’s see which is stronger, your Body Protection Technique or my raw strength!"

Jiang Zuo’s thunderous voice boomed above Zhu Laoqi’s head.

Compared to Jiang Zuo’s terrifying physique, Zhu Laoqi seemed as frail as a little girl.

Tonight was the first time Jiang Zuo had ever fought a Cultivator, but it wasn’t his first encounter with one.

Decades ago, he had been out in the wilderness and witnessed firsthand as Ding the Sixth was killed by a pair of passing Cultivators.

Those two Cultivators hadn’t seemed particularly powerful to him.

Later, he learned from Subai about the fundamental difference between Spiritual Qi and Mortal Power.

Mortal Power couldn’t harm a Cultivator because it couldn’t break through the defense formed by Spiritual Qi.

During his decade of seclusion by the lake, as his power grew, Jiang Zuo gradually began to wonder how he would stack up against a Qi Cultivation Cultivator.

Conveniently, he had the Spirit Beast, Xiaoqing, by his side, so he conducted a few experiments on it.

Even a creature with defenses as strong as Xiaoqing’s would eventually protest under the constant barrage of his fists, indicating that it couldn’t take much more and would be injured if he continued.

As for the black stone tablet, Jiang Zuo had long considered using it as a weapon.

After all, the thing was absurdly durable.

And after decades of refining it, Jiang Zuo could finally draw upon a sliver of the tablet’s power.

Jiang Zuo had wanted to test the tablet by hitting Xiaoqing with it, but the Spirit Beast had refused without a moment’s hesitation.

That’s how Jiang Zuo knew the tablet could absolutely be used as a weapon.

Faced with two Qi Cultivation Cultivators tonight, Jiang Zuo felt no fear.

Even without the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, Jiang Zuo could have used the black stone tablet to block the Wind Blade attack.

The only issue was that doing so would have made it difficult to use the black stone tablet for a surprise attack.

Jiang Zuo could see that Zhu Laoqi wanted to escape, and he had no intention of letting him.

So, Jiang Zuo decided to use Zhu Laoqi to test the effectiveness of his deadly embrace.

"I... I surrender! D-Don’t kill me!"

As Jiang Zuo’s arms tightened, Zhu Laoqi found it increasingly difficult to breathe, let alone speak.

More terrifyingly, he could feel his Body Protection Technique faltering, on the verge of shattering.

Once his Body Protection Technique was gone, there was no way he could survive such terrifying strength.

"Do I look like a three-year-old? Just die quietly!"

Jiang Zuo was unmoved.

If it weren’t for this move, killing Zhu Laoqi would have been difficult. He probably would have had to rely on Xiaoqing as his final trump card.

Letting go of Zhu Laoqi would be suicide.

Despair washed over Zhu Laoqi.

He was an old man at the Perfection stage of Qi Cultivation with no hope of breaking through to the Dao Foundation. One could say his life had been unremarkable, but he had never imagined he would die at the hands of a mortal.

As his will gave out, Zhu Laoqi’s Body Protection Technique shattered. He then felt an immense force crushing him from all sides.

CRUNCH... CRACK...

A series of sickening crunches echoed out. In the blink of an eye, Zhu Laoqi’s body was crushed to a pulp, as dead as one could be.

Jiang Zuo released his arms, and what was left of Zhu Laoqi fell to the ground like a pile of soft mud.

Phew.

’Finally took care of that.’

Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Though he had been confident before the fight, it was still his first time fighting a Cultivator.

If his opponents had been a bit more cautious and hadn’t treated him like a mere mortal, winning wouldn’t have been so easy.

But regardless, a win was a win.

Jiang Zuo happily began to loot the corpses.