I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 94 tempering
"Ouch!"

With its claws pierced and one eye gouged out, the tiger demon, though still capable of fighting, was severely injured. It let out a roar, its voice tinged with pain.

Enraged, it continued to pounce forward, attacking Wu Ming. However, Wu Ming was fighting and retreating at the same time. After a few moves, he had already retreated outside the cave. The tiger demon was in excruciating pain and lost its mind in its rage. It rushed out of the cave and pounced on Wu Ming.

Swish!
With a sweep and a flick of his spear, Wu Ming left another wound on the tiger demon's body.

At this moment, Zhou Ruoyun finally intervened, raising her sword and moving forward. Taking advantage of the tiger demon's fierce pounce, she slid in and slashed a deep wound in its abdomen with her long sword, almost revealing its internal organs.

Struck by this heavy blow, the tiger demon's roar turned into a wail.

"Roar!!"

It was at this moment that the male tiger, which was curled up in the cave and undergoing a transformation, finally struggled to get up and let out an extremely angry roar.

Swish.

The male tiger suddenly pounced out of the cave, its movements as swift as lightning. With a terrifying force, it charged directly at Wu Ming, its massive claws tearing through the air, intent on ripping him apart.

Wu Ming flicked his spear and thrust it forward, clashing head-on with Xiong Hu.

Ding.

The tiger used its outstretched claws to forcefully block Wu Ming's spear. At the same time, a terrifying force erupted, sending Wu Ming flying and gliding for more than ten feet in mid-air.

Since they were no longer inside the cave and the terrain was open, Wu Ming used his soft strength to neutralize the tiger demon's force. Although he flew more than ten feet away and landed on the canopy of an ancient tree, he was not injured.

"Is the transformation over? No, it seems to have been forcibly interrupted."

Wu Ming stood on the treetop, holding a long spear, looking at the tiger demon, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

In that brief confrontation, he sensed that the power unleashed by the awakened male tiger was at least twice as strong as that of the female tiger, almost exceeding the limits of a 'second transformation' demon.

However, it falls short of achieving the "three transformations." It feels as if it was in the process of metamorphosis but was forcibly interrupted, resulting in only completing a partial transformation and not truly entering the realm of the "three transformations."

"Roar!"

After the male tiger swung Wu Ming away, it turned to look at Zhou Ruoyun, who was fighting with the heavily injured female tiger. It suddenly opened its blood-red maw and let out a terrifying tiger roar that shook the mountains and forests.

This tiger's roar was terrifying, containing a strong pressure and intimidating power. It was like a thunderclap, instantly throwing Zhou Ruoyun, who was fighting the female tiger with her sword, into a state of confusion and freezing her body in place.

Swish.

The tigress's last remaining demonic eye stared intently at Zhou Ruoyun. With an angry roar, she pounced, taking advantage of Zhou Ruoyun's momentary lapse in concentration to devour and chew her whole.

But at that moment, Wu Ming leaped down from the treetop, his spear slamming down with a powerful thrust.

puff.

He crouched down, concentrating all his strength on his spear, and struck the tigress squarely in the head, forcefully piercing through her steel-like skull and embedding half of the spear tip into her skull!
Struck by this blow, the tigress, which was opening its mouth to try to bite Zhou Ruoyun, suddenly froze. Its open jaws were forcibly pressed down by Wu Ming's spear force, and it let out a mournful cry.

"Roar."

The tiger was furious and pounced on Wu Ming.

Swish.

Wu Ming drew his spear, the tip of which revealed a few specks of white brain matter. With a flick and a push, he blocked the tiger's claws. Although he could not withstand the terrifying force, the flick and a tremor of the spear shaft dissipated most of the force. He simply bounced in the air and landed steadily several feet away.

Zhou Ruoyun, after being interrupted by Wu Ming, finally snapped out of her shock. She naturally realized the danger she had just faced and broke out in a cold sweat, her entire back soaked with sweat. She understood that she had just escaped death, and if Wu Ming hadn't come to her rescue in time, she would have been devoured by the tiger demon.

"A three-transformation tiger demon? No, it shouldn't have reached the third transformation yet, otherwise Wu Ming probably wouldn't have been able to withstand it..."

Zhou Ruoyun watched the male tiger, enraged and furious, relentlessly chasing after Wu Ming. Sensing its terrifying power, she was momentarily terrified. She could still handle the female tiger, but the male tiger's strength and speed were clearly beyond her capabilities. Fortunately, she wasn't alone in dealing with the tiger demon; Wu Ming was also there. Although he seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the partially transformed male tiger, constantly deflecting and parrying, he showed no signs of exhaustion.

Zhou Ruoyun forced herself to remain calm and assessed the situation. She immediately realized that she needed to deal with the severely injured female tiger as soon as possible before going to support Wu Ming and join forces with him to fight the male tiger.

Swish.

Zhou Ruoyun immediately raised her longsword and attacked the tigress in front of her once again.

The tigress was wounded in the abdomen, one of her demonic eyes was gouged out, and her head was pierced by Wu Ming's spear. Although she was still alive thanks to her strong vitality, she had fallen into a frenzy and pounced on Zhou Ruoyun like a madwoman. It looked terrifying, but her movements were not as agile as before and full of flaws.

At this moment, Zhou Ruoyun calmed her mind, gripped her long sword and focused on dealing with the situation. While dodging, she continuously left sword marks on the tiger demon's body, reaping its last remaining life force.

the other side.

Wu Ming, wielding a long spear, confronts the tiger.

After undergoing a partial transformation, this male tiger was far superior to the female tiger in both speed and strength. Although Wu Ming used his agile moves to constantly look for opportunities, his spear could never pierce the tiger's vital points. It was always blocked by the tiger's claws, which were as sharp as refined steel. Even with the sharpness of the Crimson Python Spear, the collision with the claws only resulted in sparks flying.

"That felt great, that felt great!"

Although the huge difference in strength and speed put Wu Ming at a disadvantage, forcing him to rely on both hard and soft power to constantly deflect the force, the battle became increasingly exhilarating for him, giving him a feeling of boiling blood.

Since he began practicing martial arts, he has never encountered a worthy opponent. His opponents are either too weak or too strong, making it impossible for him to deal with them using martial arts methods. He has had to resort to Taoist techniques to resolve the situation.

The tiger in front of him had undergone a partial transformation, and its strength was just within a certain limit, allowing him to deal with it using martial arts. After a fierce battle, he felt his blood surging, intense and vigorous.

"No wonder it is said that in martial arts cultivation, talent and aptitude are only one aspect. The more you want to reach a higher level, the more you need to undergo trials and tribulations, and walk between life and death... Indeed, such battles can stimulate the blood and qi in your body."

Wu Ming was fighting the tiger. Every claw of the tiger, if it landed, would be enough to break bones and kill him in an instant. But he parried and neutralized each attack with his exquisite marksmanship.

Every exchange of blows feels like a life-or-death struggle, a feeling that naturally invigorates the blood and awakens the deepest potential within the human body. Even those martial artists lacking in talent and aptitude can overcome obstacles and advance on the path of martial arts if they continuously undergo such training.

Actually,
With the power of the Daoist arts that Wu Ming had mastered, he could easily defeat this tiger demon with a single flying sword strike. Even if he used the "Lin" technique to unleash a shock and briefly interfere, he could still take its life in an instant. But at this moment, the battle was exhilarating and enjoyable.

While Wu Ming was battling the male tiger, Zhou Ruoyun had already fought the female tiger for dozens of moves, leaving more than a dozen sword marks on her body. Demon blood was flowing everywhere on the ground, and the female tiger's aura was growing weaker and weaker.

at last.

Another sword thrust out, piercing the tigress's right abdomen once more. The tigress let out a mournful cry, her massive body swaying and struggling for a moment before finally collapsing to the ground, unable to support herself any longer.

Just as the tigress was about to die, the male tiger, who had been locked in a protracted and fruitless battle with Wu Ming, finally let out another awe-inspiring roar. This roar was one of its innate supernatural abilities and could not be used frequently. Now, as the tigress was on the verge of death, the male tiger finally unleashed it once again, concentrating its terrifying power on Wu Ming.

It tried to intimidate Wu Ming, and then tore him apart.

however,
The tiger's roar caused Zhou Ruoyun, who was trying to come to her aid, to freeze again, but it had no effect on Wu Ming. Wu Ming gripped his spear, creating a series of afterimages as he continuously clashed with the tiger's giant claws.

In an instant, Wu Ming gained a deeper understanding of the interplay of strength and softness in the techniques.

Freehand fighting, unification, unity, transcendence, ultimate intent!
Among the five realms of skill, from unity to perfection, it is the process of understanding the strength of hardness and softness. Being able to use the strength of hardness and softness to the extreme, achieving the ability of water dripping through stone, using the opponent's force against them, and integrating offense and defense, is considered to have reached the perfection of skill!
In the art of skill, the realm of unity is common, but the realm of perfection is rare. Not to mention three times of blood coagulation, even martial arts masters with four or five times of blood coagulation rarely manage to cultivate their skills to the realm of perfection.

Wu Ming is still far from reaching the Transcendent Realm, but at this moment, fighting against the tiger demon and constantly enduring immense force, he has no choice but to use the strongest soft force to resolve it. Under this pressure, his understanding of the interplay of hard and soft forces is naturally deepening little by little.

"The true essence of martial arts says that when one's skills reach the pinnacle, one can use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds... Perhaps this is an exaggeration, but it does mean that one can use the power of force to its fullest potential. I am still far from that level."

During the battle, Wu Ming was able to perceive subtle changes in himself.

At first, when facing this tiger demon, he could only use his soft strength to forcefully deflect and neutralize its terrifying power. Even so, each collision sent him flying several meters away.

But now, as his understanding of the interplay of hardness and softness deepens, he can clearly deflect more force. In each collision, he no longer has to fly several feet to deflect the force as before, but only needs to retreat one or two feet to deflect it.

(End of this chapter)