Chapter Fifty-One: Cataclysm of the Ferocious Beasts

In the central district of the City of the White Tiger stood a towering, majestic sacred mountain, shrouded in endless divine golden light and reaching ten thousand feet into the sky. This was the renowned White Tiger Mountain.

Upon its slopes sprawled magnificent, vast, and unceasing palatial halls fashioned from jade and crystal, the dwelling places reserved for the fiercest warriors of the Tiger Clan, lending an air of unparalleled prosperity.

At the summit of White Tiger Mountain was a solemn, grand, ethereal golden palace, upon which three mysterious characters proclaimed its name: the Hall of the White Tiger.

The Hall of the White Tiger perched high atop the mountain, gazing down upon the entire City of the White Tiger, commanding the world with regal disdain.

If White Tiger Mountain was the pillar of the city, then the Hall of the White Tiger was its heart—the lifeblood of both the mountain and the city.

Now, this supreme palace, the Hall of the White Tiger, stood at the edge of turmoil.

On the eve of this era of great contention, the Tiger Clan, once the dominant sovereign of their region in the primordial wilderness, was on the verge of becoming the first sacrificial victim.

Within the Hall of the White Tiger, nine pillars of carved white jade upheld the vast chamber, each etched with sculptures of white tigers in myriad stances, imparting a solemnity to the hall.

Rows of golden tiger thrones formed two columns, each throne adorned with a varying number of white tigers, signifying the seats of the elders.

Above them, the nine thrones of the Tiger Kings, symbols of ultimate authority, looked down upon the elders’ seats.

All the elders of the Tiger Clan, save those engaged in battle beyond the borders, had gathered here to convene a meeting that would decide the fate of their people.

At the highest throne sat the Tiger Clan’s Chief, Tiger Sha Tian, eyes half closed, face inscrutable.

Below, the elders sat in two rows upon their golden seats, their gazes fixed intently upon the center of the hall.

At the center, a golden screen spanning a hundred miles revealed the ferocious tide of beasts sweeping beneath a blood-red sky.

The beast tide, formed by an army fifty million strong, exuded such savage intent that all lands it touched became domains of crimson slaughter.

Even separated by the screen, the elders could feel the bone-chilling murderous aura emanating from the beast tide.

“How can there be fifty million beasts in this tide?!”

“Are we doomed to annihilation?”

“Hurry, seek aid from the Four Great Powers—Spring and Autumn Palace, Desert City, the Whale Clan, and the Sky Eagle Clan!”

The elders, usually lofty and impassive, now set aside their pride before the overwhelming tide, bewildered and helpless like novices.

Their anxious discussions grew louder, threatening to shatter the golden dome of the Hall of the White Tiger.

“Silence!”

A thunderous, commanding roar, sharp as a tiger’s cry, abruptly ended the elders’ clamor, leaving their ears ringing.

Yet, at this moment, the elders paid no heed to their battered ears; they hurriedly rose from their seats, heads bowed, to beg forgiveness from their chief, Tiger Sha Tian.

Indeed, it was Tiger Sha Tian who had unleashed that deafening, reverberating roar.

“Forgive us, Your Majesty!”

Regardless of their inner thoughts, all elders showed respectful faces, bowing to Tiger Sha Tian.

Such was the authority of Tiger Sha Tian, Chief of the Tiger Clan! No elder dared challenge or ignore it.

Those who had dared to defy him were long since reduced to dust, their souls scattered to oblivion.

“Remember your place. Do not present yourselves in chaos and disorder. Have some dignity!”

Tiger Sha Tian’s golden tiger eyes swept coldly over the elders, his face expressionless.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The elders raised their hands in salute, bowing reverently.

“Sit. Tiger Yue, report the situation.”

Tiger Sha Tian glanced at the second elder on the left side and spoke lightly.

The elders returned to their seats, their eyes turned toward Tiger Yue, impatience and urgency written across their faces.

Tiger Yue, born of the White Tiger Clan, was the third elder, entrusted with responsibility over intelligence and reconnaissance.

Though he held great authority, Tiger Yue appeared as an ordinary middle-aged man with silver hair, utterly unremarkable.

Should he be placed among a group of tigers, the elders would likely fail to identify him.

Yet this was Tiger Yue’s strength, and the reason he was fit to oversee intelligence and reconnaissance.

The other elders were fierce and imposing, unable to conceal their presence.

Only Tiger Yue could perfectly mask his aura as a powerful being.

In espionage, the most crucial aspect is to remain undetected by other creatures.

Tiger Yue stood calmly, moving to the center of the hall in an instant. Pointing to the beast tide on the screen, he surveyed the elders and declared with earth-shattering audacity, “This is not a beast tide, but a beast army!”

Thunder rumbled.

Countless scarlet bolts of lightning raced across the heavens, flashing and striking the golden shield above the City of the White Tiger.

Overhead, the beast army gathered an endless blood cloud, sending torrents of lightning thick as barrels crashing down upon the city, bearing fiercely against its fortune and destiny.

Roar!

Above the City of the White Tiger, stretching ten thousand miles, the clan’s golden destiny suddenly manifested as a three-eyed, two-winged golden tiger, nine thousand feet tall.

The three-eyed, two-winged golden tiger roared skyward, and all the scarlet lightning was obliterated.

Roar!

The soul of the White Tiger Army, forged from five million elite warriors, gave a thunderous roar and transformed into a beam of golden light, entering the body of the three-eyed, two-winged golden tiger.

With the army’s soul now united, the golden tiger stood unrivaled.

An immense power restored to the three-eyed, two-winged golden tiger its boundless majesty as king of all beasts, no longer fearing the six-winged, six-eyed Blood God before it.

Roar!

Both the Blood God and the golden tiger roared in unison, unleashing endless blood and golden light as they charged at each other.

The Blood God raised its blood-red divine fist, unleashing a beam of bloodlight at the golden tiger.

The golden tiger roared, emanating a wave of golden sound that surged forth to meet the bloodlight.

Boom!

Bloodlight and golden sound collided, neutralizing each other.

The Blood God roared furiously and launched into a titanic battle with the golden tiger, shaking heaven and earth, darkening sun and moon, collapsing mountains and rivers...

Within the Hall of the White Tiger.

Since Elder Tiger Yue’s earth-shattering declaration, the hall had fallen utterly silent, as if death had descended.

Beast army? Beast tide?

One was an army, the other a tide—seemingly similar, but in truth worlds apart.

A beast tide meant mindless beasts, rampaging like wild animals.

A beast army meant beasts possessed intelligence—a true army!

How could this be?!

How could savage beasts possess intelligence? How could they be worthy of it?

It wasn’t that the elders doubted the possibility; rather, neither they nor the myriad beings of the wilderness wished for beasts to awaken intelligence.

Beasts without wisdom, yet endless in number, already constituted the wilderness’s greatest force!

Only their reliance on instinct allowed the myriad clans to survive and thrive.

If the beasts gained intelligence and formed armies, it would herald an unprecedented catastrophe for all living things.