Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

After helping Zhuang Xing urinate, she held him and lay him down on the rocking chair.

She always did this, making sure Zhuang Xing fell asleep before going back to bed.

Zhuang Xing quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He was used to this kind of life, but he still wanted to grow up quickly, at least to the point where he could go to the toilet by himself. To be honest, it was a little embarrassing to always be carried to the toilet.

I really want to go outside and see the world, and run around on the road.

What kind of world is this?

Lately, he's been finding it increasingly difficult to suppress his inner desire to explore; he's really looking forward to growing up.

Are you asleep?

His mother poked Zhuang Xing's cheek, but Zhuang Xing naturally didn't react. He had finished his work and it was time for his mother to get a good night's sleep.

Mother sat up and left the rocking chair. Just then, Zhuang Xing suddenly heard heavy footsteps in the snow.

Those were very heavy footsteps. Normal people would only make a soft pattering sound when they step on snow, but Zhuang Xing heard a muffled "thump-thump" sound, like the beating of a drum. He could tell at a glance that the guy walking was very big and overweight.

Not only could you hear footsteps, but also heavy breathing and a cracking sound like stones breaking.

Zhuang Xing was startled. The aura was not human; it was more like that of some kind of ferocious beast. He had almost forgotten that he lived in an extremely primitive era where not only humans lived, but also wild animals.

Could it be a hungry bear or tiger? Or was it attracted by my cries?

Zhuang Xing held his breath. He habitually thought that large wild animals like bears and tigers only appeared in zoos and on television screens. This was ancient times with no safety guarantees. Tigers and bears were neither protected animals nor were there any forest rangers to specifically look after them.

Calm down, calm down! The beast has already been attracted; there's no use in regretting it now.

Most importantly, I reminded my mother that if it really was a bear or a tiger, she must never confront it head-on.

Zhuang Xing squinted and saw that his mother was hugging him tightly and crawling under the bed.

The thing outside is making quite a commotion; Mother must have noticed it. That's good, then I won't have to bother reminding her. She knows this house better than I do; she definitely knows where the best place to hide is.

Zhuang Xing dared not relax until he was sure the thing had left, but all he could do was pretend to be asleep and hold his breath.

The mother and son managed to hide safely under the bed. The mother's hands were trembling; she seemed somewhat frightened.

That's for sure. She was only three months pregnant with Zhuang Xing's child. If you take away her identity as his mother, she's just a young woman.

Let alone a woman, even an adult man would most likely wet his pants if he encountered a bear.

But her mother's hands only trembled a few times before she steadied them. She hugged Zhuang Xing tightly, as if that would give her courage.

God help me, if I can get through today safely, I'm willing to wet the bed for the rest of my life!

Zhuang Xing prayed silently.

With a tearing sound, he heard the sound of paper being torn apart. Something exploded, and wooden beads of all sizes fell to the ground, making a crisp sound. A few rolled under the bed. Zhuang Xing squinted and saw that it was the lucky charm beaded string that his mother had hung on the wall. How could the string of beads have broken for no reason?

Before Zhuang Xing could think any further, he heard another loud bang, which startled both him and his mother.

Could the wall have been cracked...? Was that really a wild beast?

What kind of beast has such strength?

Zhuang Xing swallowed nervously. The footsteps grew closer, and the unknown beast entered the house.

It knocked over the stove, and Zhuang Xing saw the faint sparks from the colliding charcoal.

Amidst the smell of burning, he also detected a strong, pungent stench of blood mixed with the scent of rain and snow...

This was the first time he had ever felt a knife hanging over his neck.

A profound fear welled up within him. Eating and being eaten is the most direct and primal relationship in nature. Anyone who is locked in a cage with a ferocious beast like a tiger or a brown bear would experience this fear.

If he were a special forces soldier fighting in a biohazard battlefield, with a Fire Kirin and a Golden Hand Axe, he wouldn't be flustered at all right now and would go out and fight that thing to the death. But he is nothing and has nothing.

Under the bed was his and his mother's only refuge; all they could do was pray that the thing would find nothing after searching everywhere.

The footsteps of that thing suddenly stopped, and the room became quiet, with the cold wind howling.

Zhuang Xing had a bad feeling; they had been discovered.

It was a creepy, rubbing sound that sent chills down your spine. It probably had sharp claws, thick fur, and teeth that could easily crush flesh and bone.

Zhuang Xing nestled tightly in his mother's arms, barely daring to breathe.

But his mother let him go and kissed his forehead, as if saying goodnight to him before bed.

She put Zhuang Xing down and faced the outside of the bed alone.

Zhuang Xing's back touched the cold ground, and he shivered. He suddenly realized what his mother was planning to do. It seemed she... intended to hide her son here and run out alone to attract the thing's attention.

No...don't be silly, you can't handle this!

It's good to hide here. We might not have been discovered yet. Aren't you going out to deliver takeout?

Maybe it will leave on its own if we wait a little longer. My goodness, don't scare me, my heart can't take it.

Zhuang Xing stretched out his little hand, trying to grab his mother's finger.

But he found himself filled with fear... and within that fear, a sliver of relief...

The essence of human nature is to seek advantage and avoid harm, and this applies to him as well. He couldn't help but think that if his mother had lured that thing away, would he have survived...?

He is three months old and can already crawl on all fours. He can crawl out and cry to call for help.

Is there anything more important than one's own life in this world? Mother must also want him to live. Wasn't it for her son's sake that she mustered up the courage to face that terrible thing outside alone?

Zhuang Xing tried hard to banish these thoughts from his mind. He tried several times, but found that he couldn't bring himself to hold his mother's fingers and keep her there.

Because the thing bent down, it got closer and closer to the bed, its breathing was clearly audible, and the heavy smell of blood entered Zhuang Xing's nose, the smell of death.

Damn it, Zhuang Xing, are you really such a rotten person?!

But he seems to be such a rotten person, what's the use of him being so ruthless? He's just a three-month-old baby. A common man can splatter blood five steps away when he's angry, but a baby can only be angry for a moment.

He was trembling and unable to move. No matter how he thought about it, he should continue to pretend to be asleep here.

Even though he was thinking this... he was surprised to find that he instinctively grabbed his mother's hand as she slowly moved away.

He did it without thinking; it was just a conditioned reflex.

So that's how it is. He felt a little comforted; at least he wasn't a completely rotten person.

The next second, he was hugged by his mother. She must have covered his mouth tightly with her hand because she was afraid he would cry loudly.

Before I could even process what was happening, the bed was suddenly lifted off the bed by a burly arm, accompanied by creaking and scraping sounds.

Zhuang Xing finally saw the thing in its entirety, and by turning down the flames from the stove, he saw its terrifying appearance.

His worldview was shattered. What appeared before him was a tiger standing up, or rather, a tiger spirit.

This is like a story that only happens in folk tales and novels, where a tiger that has become a spirit runs into a house and tries to eat the disobedient child.

I don't know how many people it has eaten to grow to its current size. Its muscles are sharply defined, like something hard carved from stone. It is at least two or three meters tall, and this wooden house seems very narrow to it.

It resembled a human, with a pair of trousers tied around its waist, but other than that, it had no clothing to cover its body, and its fur and the white mist it exhaled when it breathed were clearly visible.

Most striking is the extremely long wound on its chest, which runs from its shoulder all the way to its abdomen.

But the bloody smell that Zhuang Xing smelled did not come from the wound, which had already scabbed over. The bloody smell came from its food.

There were scarlet bloodstains around its mouth, and in one of its hands it was holding a "leg". It was tearing strips of meat off the bloody human leg as if it were eating a chicken leg, and spitting two mouthfuls of saliva on the ground.

The saliva contained blood, which had not yet congealed and was still warm, emitting white steam.

Compared to the tiger demon's enormous size, the wooden bed, which was about two meters long, seemed light and flimsy. In its eyes, the bed was probably just a large oyster. It pried open the "oyster shell" with one hand and found the "oyster meat" hiding under the "shell".

"Women and babies, what bad luck."

The tiger spirit spoke, and it sounded like it was saying, "These oysters are really small."

It tilted its head back and stuffed the human leg into its mouth, the sound of bones cracking and breaking could be heard.

The foul, fishy stench hit Zhuang Xing's face, instantly turning him deathly pale. This wasn't a wild beast; it was a monster... a man-eating monster...

No wonder people put up paper cutouts to ward off evil spirits on windows and doors, and no wonder fathers send home blessed beaded strings—it's all to prevent trouble before it happens.

Instead of returning to ancient times to start an extraordinary life, did he end up in "Journey to the West" and become food for monsters?

Zhuang Xing's heart collapsed. The difference between a human and a tiger was already huge, let alone a tiger that had become a spirit. Heaven knows how powerful this tiger spirit was.

He didn't know how to resist, but his mother hadn't given up. She grabbed Zhuang Xing and scrambled out of the house.

The tiger demon reached out to grab his mother's throat when suddenly a loud woman's shout came from outside.

"stop!"

In the hazy light, Zhuang Xing saw a figure wielding a sword in the wind and snow. The wind and snow were cut open along the sword's marks, creating a vacuum.

The next instant, the wall that had been cracked by the tiger demon slid down with a whoosh, and the sword wind separated the mother and the tiger demon.

Chapter 3 Heroine

"cut..."

The tiger spirit clicked its tongue, grabbed at its mother's hand, and then grabbed at Zhuang Xing instead. Zhuang Xing felt a tug, and then the blanket wrapped around him was torn open. When he came to his senses, the world in his eyes was upside down.

His head was upside down, and the tiger demon held him up to his neck.

The mother, who had fallen to the ground, cried out in the firelight.

This was the first time Zhuang Xing had heard her cry so heartbreakingly. In the past, it was always him who cried, and when he cried, his mother would come to help him go to the toilet or breastfeed him.

She always manages to stop herself from crying, but when she does cry, there's nothing she can do.

But it's alright, at least Mother should be saved.

In the blink of an eye, the figure who had just wielded the sword stood in front of his mother.

She was a female knight-errant. Although the snow-covered raincoat concealed her figure, her tied ponytail could still be seen fluttering in the wind.

She was facing the tiger spirit and Zhuang Xing. Her sharp eyes were filled with barely suppressed anger. Although she was much smaller than the tiger spirit, the tiger spirit was at a disadvantage in terms of aura.

The tiger spirit quickly distanced itself from the female warrior, shielding Zhuang Xing in front of it like a shield.

"Yan Huai'an, don't come near me, or you know what will happen," the tiger spirit said, baring its teeth.

Yan Huai'an? Is that the name of this female knight-errant?

So that's how it is. Zhuang Xing quickly understood the current situation; the tiger demon was taking him hostage.

A small baby is clearly a better choice as a hostage than a woman who is inconvenient to carry.