Chapter 78: Panther King
Amidst the lush, verdant, and boundless montane forests; they had only advanced for over an hour, but it was already enough for w.a.n.g Hu to notice the significant increase in animal activity there.
Compared to the forests in the past, this place had seen great changes in a short few years.
The mountains had generally become over 100 meters taller and were even more majestic—stretching on for even longer now. The various types of vegetation there had become lusher by infinite folds, and as far as one could see, towering trees that were dozens of meters tall were everywhere.
Mother Nature’s breath of life!
This was the only phrase that w.a.n.g Hu could use to describe the current montane forests.
It was also exactly such montane forests that had attracted so many animals.
Although all of them were running about in a panic and fleeing due to the tigers’ descent, it nevertheless couldn’t get past w.a.n.g Hu’s sight and hearing.
There really is enough food now! w.a.n.g Hu thought fairly elatedly to himself.
He believed that as long as there was enough food, his tigers would definitely become stronger at a rate that was faster than any other species on land—with the exception of humans, of course.
There were too many humans, and they even owned cheats. One mustn’t compare oneself with them.
Apart from them would be the ocean. He wasn’t very confident about that.
After all, the ocean was too mysterious. n.o.body knew what kind of animal species there were in the ocean or how vast their numbers might be.
After all was said and done, the tigers were a species with superbly strong apt.i.tude among individuals. No other terrestrial animal of the same weight or below could originally surpa.s.s it.
Insects didn’t count, however. Comparing them at the same weight to tigers wasn’t fair at all. Neither was it practical.
This was a cultivation world now. At the same cultivation realm, the tigers’ average combat strength was definitely still top-cla.s.s on Earth. No other species could surpa.s.s it.
This was exactly what species apt.i.tude was. It was just like his current condition: despite still being some ways off from attaining peak-level Transformation Realm, if he were to encounter that peak-level Transformation Realm Hui from back then again, in a fight to the death where neither party attempted to flee; he had 99% confidence that he could achieve victory even if he didn’t use his two major special abilities.
The last 1% was an expression of humility.
This was exactly what species apt.i.tude was. It wasn’t something that other species could be envious of.
However, with such superbly strong apt.i.tude also came a problem that firmly restricted the tigers’ strength—there were too few of them. Their numbers were too pitifully low to w.a.n.g Hu.
How many tigers were there in total on Earth, including the ones being reared by humans?
30,000? Or 40,000?
It might seem like quite a lot, but compared to many other animal species, they were but just a drop in the bucket. On top of that, the vast majority of them were even half-useless.
Food was also one of the most important reasons that restricted the tigers.
He could already see it—in a few years, the number of tigers under his rule would swiftly exceed 1,000, 2,000…
These tigers he was talking about weren’t the useless tigers that the humans reared. Rather, they were real tigers that truly possessed superbly strong species apt.i.tude. On top of that, they were even Siberian Tigers, the kings among tigers.
He collected his thoughts and continued to make plans.
The borders were over 1,500 kilometers long and 300 kilometers wide.
It was likely that this would be the living s.p.a.ce and territory where he would rule over the tigers for a very long time after this.
The area was rather sizable. Coupled with how more and more animals were migrating over, it was enough for several hundred tigers to live a good life.
It was just that the s.p.a.ce allocation and planning were giving him a headache.
Since when had he, w.a.n.g Hu, ever put in so much thought for anyone apart from Silly Girl, Big Treasure, and Little Treasure over the last dozens of years? He was practically slaving away for them.
There was no other way around it, though. What was he to do since he was the one that wanted to be king himself? Since he had already made his choice, he could only continue to shoulder the responsibility no matter how tough or tiring it was.
After walking for a while more, w.a.n.g Hu began to leave behind tigers to map out their territory.
w.a.n.g Hu left behind tiger after tiger to take over the territory.
However, because they had yet to develop human intelligence, they still needed w.a.n.g Hu to worry about and look after them, nonetheless. He couldn’t let them map out overly large expanses of territory. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough to go around.
There were innumerable troublesome issues, but fortunately, the tigers were obedient; no one dared to defy his orders. He also had Old Third and w.a.n.g Ming and the other two running around and helping out so w.a.n.g Hu only needed to be in charge of making decisions and giving directions.
w.a.n.g Hu didn’t stand on ceremony with w.a.n.g Ming and the other two at all. To be honest, he hadn’t intended on directing them about, but he had no choice. There were simply too many things to do. w.a.n.g Hu could only trouble them after he took a look around.
w.a.n.g Ming and the other two also did as they were told uncomplainingly and faithfully, and they worked tirelessly without any complaints.
Even so, w.a.n.g Hu nevertheless felt his temper becoming worse and worse as each day went by.
These tigers that hadn’t yet developed human intelligence were simply too stupid, rendering him both speechless and resigned.
If it weren’t because he wanted to maintain a cold and distant demeanor in front of w.a.n.g Ming and the other two humans, he really wished he could personally get in there and give that whole bunch of stupid tigers a good thras.h.i.+ng, including Old Third.
As a result, that icy-cold, imposing air around him intensified further and further with each pa.s.sing day; causing Old Third, w.a.n.g Ming, and the other two humans—as well as the other tigers—to not even dare to let out an extra pant.
As day after day went by, the number of tigers around w.a.n.g Hu also became fewer and fewer.
Those tigers, together with the tigers that were originally already there, were just like nails driven into this expanse of land. They formed a line-less net that devoured the animals constantly migrating into the area.
This was exactly China’s animal invasion resistance plan.
As long as the tigers and animals led by the other animal kings ate them fast enough to deplete their numbers, thereby creating a larger living s.p.a.ce; the animals wouldn’t affect China’s citizens.
A limited number of unusual situations wouldn’t amount to any big trouble either. Besides, they had already informed the animal kings in advance that they would directly exterminate the animals in those cases.
In the blink of an eye, the larger half of a month had gone by.
w.a.n.g Hu’s temper improved a little during the last few days. Silly Girl had called him to say that another tiger had broken through to the Transformation Realm and gone over to their home to look for him.
This particular tiger was the one whose cultivation speed had been roughly the same as Old Third’s back then.
Evidently, he had also taken advantage of the spiritual energy nourishment to break through. After developing human intelligence and getting used to it, he had immediately gone over to look for w.a.n.g Hu.
Now that he had one more Transformation Realm-level real subordinate, he was naturally overjoyed… so his irritation also went down a little.
He told Silly Girl to ignore the tiger for now and just let it look for a place to live nearby. He would attend to the matter upon his return.
On this day, w.a.n.g Hu came to a forest with the remaining 30-odd tigers.
Roar~!
“So, this is where that Panther King lives, w.a.n.g Ming?” asked w.a.n.g Hu aloofly.
w.a.n.g Ming didn’t find anything wrong with his tone at all. He immediately nodded and replied, “That’s right, Your Excellency.”
Roar~!
“Lead the way,” said w.a.n.g Hu.
w.a.n.g Ming responded and led the way in front.
w.a.n.g Ming hadn’t advanced much when he thought for a moment and nevertheless said rather worriedly, “Your Excellency…”
w.a.n.g Hu cast a dispa.s.sionate glance at him. The mere glance was enough to make w.a.n.g Ming stiffen all over.
Although they had interacted with each other for more than half a month, that sense of inhibition and reverence he had didn’t decrease in the least. On the contrary, it had deepened and intensified over time.
Roar~!
“What is it? Go ahead and say it,” said w.a.n.g Hu calmly.
w.a.n.g Ming breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, “Your Excellency, we, China, have stipulated that we will not interfere with any conflicts among the animals in Mother Nature. Even so, no matter what, we ultimately still have an agreement with the Panther King. Moreover, I’m even leading Your Excellency here now. Thus, even though this may be somewhat disrespectful, I hope Your Excellency can refrain from hurting the Panther King.”
Of course, there would be animal kings that had already broken through to the Transformation Realm in a region that spanned over 1,500-kilometers-long and 300-kilometers-deep.
There were a few among the tigers, Su Ling, as well as ten others.
Three of these animal kings had agreed to China’s proposition and had already migrated away from their territory.
After all, this whole region had been allocated to w.a.n.g Hu. Those animal kings had also heard of the Northern Tiger King’s great name so they naturally didn’t dare to say much.
However, some animal kings—which hadn’t gathered any clansmen—didn’t agree to the proposition and had continued to stay where they were.
The Panther King was one of them.
w.a.n.g Hu would never ignore the presence of these animal kings after being informed of these matters, of course, because they were a threat to the tigers and might harm them.
Thus, he had suggested meeting the animal kings and having some friendly interaction with them.
With regard to this, w.a.n.g Ming had agreed after seeking permission from his superiors.
This was because w.a.n.g Hu’s concerns weren’t unfounded. Together with their trust in him, they had agreed to the not-so-good request.
However, they also added a condition: since they were the ones that would be bringing w.a.n.g Hu to meet the animal kings, w.a.n.g Hu was not allowed to hurt the animal kings.
Otherwise, wouldn’t they become accomplices?
w.a.n.g Hu had agreed to the condition. w.a.n.g Ming, who was under pressure, was obviously still fairly worried at this point so he was giving the Tiger King a tactful reminder.
w.a.n.g Hu raised an eyebrow and gave an aloof reply.
Roar~!
“I will keep my word, of course.”
Upon picking up the hints of displeasure in his voice, w.a.n.g Ming nodded and gave him an apologetic look. After all, his words just now had reeked of slight distrust toward the Tiger King. However, there was simply too much pressure on him.
Should w.a.n.g Hu really hurt the Panther King, he would hold immense responsibility for the incident. What was he to do? He was involved after all. Moreover, it was very likely that it would affect China’s credibility.
Thus, after thinking about it repeatedly, he had nevertheless chosen to say it.
Soon, under w.a.n.g Ming’s lead, w.a.n.g Hu and the rest of the tigers arrived at an area nearby a cave.
A few seconds later, a fairly beautiful snowy-white figure with some black spots on its body came running out at extremely high speed.
w.a.n.g Hu looked over closely at it. Standing at a shoulder height of roughly 4.3 meters, its gaze was cold and sharp like a world of snow. It watched them—or rather, him—coldly and extremely warily.
It was none other than the Panther King he was looking for.
The atmosphere stayed quiet for a couple of seconds. Then, w.a.n.g Ming stepped forward and said amicably with a smile, “Your Excellency, the Panther King, good day to you. We’ve met again.”
w.a.n.g Ming and the other two were from the Multi-Species Department, and w.a.n.g Ming himself was exactly the point of contact with the Panther King.
The Panther King gave him a cold look and let out a low emotionless roar.
Roar~!
“Human, why have you brought them here?”
The extreme wariness and suspicion in its voice were exhibited to their fullest.
w.a.n.g Ming felt rather resigned. That bit of friendly relations from back then had probably all disappeared just like that. He hastily related the matter to the Panther King.
In the end, he said sincerely, “Your Excellency, the Panther King… His Excellency, the Tiger King holds no malice in his visit. We, China, don’t hold any malice either. His Excellency, the Tiger King is just here to discuss something with you. He hopes that you will refrain from hurting the tigers here.”