Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 106: Phantom of the Forest
In fact, there was no need for Menghu to warn him, Qiu Chuji had already discovered it.

There is something big under the water.

In the last bit of light from the setting sun, a huge black shadow could be vaguely seen flashing under the ice.

It is normal for exotic beasts to appear in places with abundant spiritual energy.

I just don’t know whether this strange beast is as easy to communicate with as the red viper in the Qinling Mountains.

If communication is difficult, then I can only kill with my sword.

With one leap, the tiger jumped onto the shore. Standing on the land, it felt more at ease. Its stomach no longer made a rumbling sound, but it still looked at the ice surface vigilantly.

Boom!
The dark shadow hit the thick ice heavily.

The entire surface of the water seemed to vibrate.

This thing has amazing brute force!
Wow!

Large pieces of ice shattered, and a huge strange fish with long fins, a single horn on its head, and about five or six meters long jumped out from the bottom of the water. It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and bit towards Qiu Chuji, but Qiu Chuji hit it on the forehead with his mace, and it flew heavily and slid on the ice.

Although Qiu Chuji did not use true Qi when he swung his mace, the force was still amazing. The skull of the strange fish caved in, but the fish was not dead. It twitched and struggled on the ice, making roars similar to those of a wild beast.

"Wow! What a big fish! If I were a fishing enthusiast, I would have to carry this fish around the streets for three days." Qiu Chuji said with a smile, but his alert expression did not dissipate.

This fish doesn't seem to have a brain. It's not as smart as the tiger next to it.

This means that although this thing is very ferocious, it is a "quick-made" product and has not experienced time to grow wisdom.

Since it was achieved quickly, he is not the real 'master' here.

The snake-skin rope in his hand flew out, tied the tail of the strange fish, and then dragged it to the shore.

"Cat! Let's eat fish tonight!" Qiu Chuji said to the tiger.

Menghu tilted his head, not understanding what Qiu Chuji meant.

However, looking at the ferocious yet huge strange fish, the tiger opened his mouth wide and curled his tongue.

Cats love fish!

This is not a stereotype.

The snow was piled up and the trees in the forest were very wet, but Qiu Chuji used the power of fire to evaporate the moisture on the dead trees.

Soon the blazing bonfire lit up the dark night sky, and in the distant sky, the aurora changed from blue to green, and from green to red. Under the magnificent aurora, the mountains and forests in the snowy night were so beautiful that they seemed beyond the human world.

The strange fish was cleaned of its internal organs, scales and gills, cut into pieces and roasted on the campfire. Soon it began to emit an enticing aroma of fish meat.

The tiger kept walking around Qiu Chuji, occasionally sweeping his shoulder with its tail.

"Wait a little longer! Wait a little longer! It has to be at least seven-tenths rare to allow the Maillard reaction to occur, while also retaining the fresh and sweet taste of the fish itself." Qiu Chuji was chatting with the big cat, who was already a little impatient.

In this sparsely populated... or even forbidden land that no one has ever set foot on, even Qiu Chuji felt a little lonely, so it was a very pleasant thing to have a big cat to chat with.

At least, he could speak to it without hesitation using words that did not exist in this world.

The sound of water was splashing, and the ice surface that was broken by the strange fish had not yet frozen.

That would require another heavy enough snowfall.

When the fish was roasted until both sides were slightly charred, Qiu Chuji handed a piece to Menghu, picked up a piece himself, smelled it, and then put it in his mouth.

It was not dry at all when I took a bite, it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with rich fish juice and no fishy smell.

In modern society, many people are not used to eating freshwater fish. They think it tastes bad and has a fishy smell. That’s because they have never eaten real good fish.

The big wild fish that grow in the big rivers and lakes have no strange smell as long as they are fresh enough. Instead, they are firmer than marine fish.

The tiger ate very quickly. Even though the fish was a little hot, it finished the fish that Qiu Chuji gave it in just a few bites. Then it looked at Qiu Chuji eagerly, waiting for more feeding.

"You eat so fast, aren't you afraid of fish bones?" Qiu Chuji smiled and threw another piece to it.

In fact, the bigger the fish, the bigger the fishbone is, and it is less likely to get stuck in the throat.

This big cat can also eat. It can lick the meat off the fish bones and fish spines clean with just a roll of its tongue.

Across the river, in the deep forest, a giant fox that looked like a human being stood up, gazing deeply at the leaping flames on the other side of the river.

It has fiery red fur, and when it stands up it's as tall as a person. It has sharp teeth in its mouth, and its eyes are red. Looking directly into its eyes, one can sense a lot of emotions, like an old man who has experienced a lot in the world.

······
The next morning, the sky continued to clear up, and it seemed that in this mountain forest close to the far north, the weather was actually smiling.

On the river bank, only the bones of the strange fish that was caught yesterday were left.

Qiu Chuji lay on the tiger's body and rested peacefully for a night. Now he seemed to be waking up slowly.

Roar!
The tiger turned its head and barked at Qiu Chuji, but no one knew what it wanted to express.

"Yesterday's fish was good, so let's eat fish today."

"Although this thing is quick-made, it tastes really good and is very nutritious!" Qiu Chuji smiled and rubbed the tiger's head.

I have to say that petting a cat is a very healing thing, and this healing effect will be magnified as the cat's head gets bigger.

Who doesn’t like the Northeast Golden Shaded Cat?
As for how the man and the tiger managed to eat a strange fish that was more than five meters long.

In fact, after scraping off the fish bones, scales, and fish bones, there was not much edible meat left, not to mention that the tiger's digestion ability was obviously excellent, and Qiu Chuji was now refining essence into qi, so no matter how much food entered his stomach, he could quickly refine it and transform it into pure true qi. Ordinary food was not as good as Qiu Chuji's daily meditation and qi refining.

However, after eating this strange fish, his true Qi increased slightly, and his skill increased by the equivalent of Qiu Chuji's three months' effort, which is quite rare.

If given to ordinary warriors to eat, their internal strength and physical fitness would increase immediately.

"Come on! Little cat, go dance on the ice!" Qiu Chuji pointed at the ice and motioned the tiger to stand on it as bait.

The big cat tilted its head and looked at Qiu Chuji in confusion.

"Don't play dumb!" Qiu Chuji patted the tiger's butt.

Then a burst of momentum was released.

The tiger was so excited by this momentum that its fur stood up. It leaped onto the ice with a big leap, then crawled on the ground and bared its teeth at Qiu Chuji.

But it was just pretending and didn't dare to really pounce on it and bite it.

Beneath the ice, there is another huge black shadow.

This time the tiger was not frightened and immediately jumped ashore. Instead, it moved closer to the water on the ice and slapped the water with its claws, as if in provocation.

It had eaten the big fish yesterday and remembered its delicious taste.

So the greed for food overcame the fear of the unknown.

Swish!
A strange fish about four meters long rushed out of the water and bit the tiger.

But it did not succeed.

Cats are the Creator's favorite predators. They have extremely developed motor nerves, muscle strength, and reaction speed.

When a cat and a dog of the same size fight, the dog will definitely lose.

Some smarter and more ferocious old cats can even challenge opponents that are much larger than them.

The Northeast Golden Tabby is naturally the best among the cat family.

So even though its size has become much smaller, it is not afraid of this strange fish as long as it does not fall into the water.

The strange fish missed the tiger's bite and fell into the water again with a splash, splashing a lot of cold water.

The tiger stretched out its tail, gradually seeming to dive into the water.

Suddenly, it turned around and the big fish jumped up again, but this time it couldn't return to the water, but hit the ice instead.

As the big fish landed on the ice, the tiger jumped and landed behind the strange fish. It clapped its palms, peeled off the scales of the strange fish, and bit the middle of the strange fish. No matter how the strange fish struggled, the tiger just held it and rolled it around, but was careful not to get close to the water.

About half an hour later, the strange fish stopped struggling, and the tiger began to tear the meat off its body. After eating a few bites, it recovered its strength and stopped eating, obviously wanting to save more meat for Qiu Chuji to roast and eat.

"awesome!"

"Seeing what you did just now, I thought of a set of tiger claw techniques. I will teach you later." Qiu Chuji said to the big cat with a smile.

Humans imitate animals and have various animal-shaped boxing techniques.

But that is to learn from the strengths of animals, not to really take a certain animal as a master.

If a tiger learns tiger boxing, or even masters the corresponding breathing method, then another different kind of "cultivator" will be born.

Like the eagle of Dugu Qiubai and the red viper in the Qinling Mountains.

Of course, Menghu didn't know at this moment that a great opportunity had fallen upon him. He just looked at Qiu Chuji stupidly, waiting for him to make a fire and grill meat.

However, Qiu Chuji inadvertently glanced at the mountains and forests on the other side with a smile on his face.

The guy he was waiting for was about to show up.

Another day passed like this, and the snow, which had stopped for a day and a night, began to fall again.

Qiu Chuji cut some branches and trees and built a temporary shelter by the river. He didn't need to prepare any cork or pine needles to make the bed. He slept with the big tiger in his arms at night. Apart from some fishy smell, it was not cold at all.

In the middle of the night, a shadow floated across the river, holding a scimitar in its hand, and chopped off Qiu Chuji's head.

clang!
The scimitar landed on Qiu Chuji's neck, but did not even scratch the skin.

Instead, Qiu Chuji stretched out his hand and grabbed the shadow's neck.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the one holding the knife and killing people was not a wild man in the mountains, but a huge red fox as tall as a man.

It was wearing human clothes, holding a scimitar in its claws, and its eyes revealed fear and malice.

"What a big fox!"

"I've long known that in Liaodong, there is witchcraft that is used to worship and communicate with the spirits of heaven and earth, especially foxes."

"A big fox like you must have been trained by wizards for many years and has long understood human nature. You have also been hanging around in this spiritual land for many years and have caught some big fish. Even the top players in the martial arts world cannot take advantage of you when they come here."

Qiu Chuji grabbed the big fox's neck and slowly lifted it up.

There was a faint light in his eyes.

"Take me to your nest!" This time, Qiu Chuji did not need to use true Qi to convey the message. He directly made the request. He believed that the fox would understand.

(End of this chapter)