Lanke Chess Edge-Chapter 342: Legend of the Tiger Spirit

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
“Roar…”
The tiger’s roar mingled with the sound of thunder, echoing from the depths of Niu Kui Mountain. By the time it reached the outskirts, its volume had significantly diminished, once again drowned out by a new peal of thunder.
The group of hunters, laden with their game and mountain goods, hurried along the path. If a torrential downpour were to start at this crucial moment, the mountain would become wet, slippery, and cold, making the journey exceedingly difficult. They might even be forced to spend the night in the mountains.
“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
A peculiar echo reverberated. The leader halted, looking back towards the depths of Niu Kui Mountain. In the distance, on the furthest peak his vision could discern, numerous trees and bamboo swayed violently, as if gusts of ominous wind were sweeping out from the depths of the mountains.
“Awooo… roar…”
Another faint sound drifted over, making the leader fall into a strange, hazy hallucination. In his eyes, he seemed to see, far beyond the mountain, a swirl of grey-black mist rising into the sky, forming a massive beast’s head beneath the dark clouds, roaring incessantly at the thunderclouds above.
“Hiss…!”
The scene made the man instinctively gasp, his legs feeling heavy, as though they had been filled with lead, unable to move.
A hunter suddenly noticed their leader wasn’t following them. He turned around, only to find him standing, staring into the depths of the mountains, and quickly asked:
“Boss, what are you looking at? More game? ”
The question startled the man, making him shiver involuntarily. He glanced at the distant sky again, but there was no sign of anything; it was as if it had all been an illusion. He recovered his senses and glanced at the hunter beside him.
“Nothing, nothing! Let’s go, quickly! Even if there was game, we can’t stop. We absolutely cannot spend the night in the mountains! ”
The leader urged them on, and they quickly hurried forward again.
“Who’d want to spend the night here in this cold? ”
“But we hunted so much this time, the goods are heavy! ”
“Run, run! ”
The group of men, laden with game, continuously trekked through the mountains. Fortunately, though the dark clouds grew larger and the thunder became frightfully frequent, the rain ultimately did not immediately begin to fall, allowing the hunters to successfully reach the foot of the mountain.
At the village entrance, a crowd of villagers had already been waiting. Seeing the hunters return, they all enthusiastically cheered.
“Look! They’re back, with so much big game! ”
“Let’s go help. ”
“Look, look! They’re carrying a big tiger in the front! ”
“Oh my goodness, a big tiger? ”
“No, no, don’t speak nonsense, that’s a big leopard! ”
“Jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards – they’re all pretty much the same.”
“Right, right! They’re all top-grade pelts! ”
The hunters’ families and the curious villagers who had come to watch all streamed out, helping the hunters carry the game. The heavy wild boars and brightly colored beasts looked, in the eyes of those who knew their trade, like succulent meats and furs that could be exchanged for a lot of silver.
“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
Thunder roared once more, followed by a “drip, drip, drip…” as the torrential downpour finally began. The hunters, their families, and the villagers quickly rushed back to their homes.
The mountain village itself wasn’t particularly large. That very evening, the two wild boars were cooked. The original plan was for every household in the village to receive a portion of the wild boar meat, allowing them to enjoy a feast of fresh wild game at the start of spring.
However, the leader of the hunters had been feeling uneasy ever since their return, so he decided to take some goods and his wife to her parents’ home.
Carrying a rack of pork ribs and a wild boar foreleg, accompanied by his wife and child, the hunter arrived at the home of the old village chief, who was also his father-in-law.
His mother-in-law and his wife brought out steaming wild boar ribs and meat. Before cooking, they had rubbed the meat with spicy wild ginger and wild pepper from the mountains, which largely removing the gamey smell. One foreleg, however, was stewed separately until it was incredibly tender, and placed in a large, ornate bowl.
“Come on, Dad, eat quickly while it’s hot! This foreleg meat is your favorite! ”
“That’s right, Dad, we specifically set this aside for you, stewed until it’s tender.”
His daughter and son-in-law urged him with smiles on their faces.
“Haha, how filial!”
The old village chief chuckled, lifted up his chopsticks, and picked a piece of the boar foreleg, offering it to his young grandson by his side.
“Ah~”
The latter opened his mouth wide and ate the pork in one bite, puffing out his cheeks as he chewed vigorously.
“Sit down, everyone! Let’s eat! ”
The family gathered around and sat down together to being eating. Aside from a pot of radish stew, there were primarily two pots of pork, plus a jar of rice win. This kind of meal would make even those in Ning’an County green with envy.
“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
Thunder rumbled once again, but the people inside the house had already grown accustomed to it. They ate the meat and vegetables on the table by the light of an oil lamp.
After eating for a while, the man, under the pretext of pouring wine for his father-in-law, quietly asked the old man.
“Dad, I have a question for you. I remember when I was a child, Niu Kui Mountain seemed to have been plagued by demons for a while? ”
“Oh, why are you bringing that up! ”
The mother-in-law shot her son-in-law a glare, but the child, on the other hand, grew excited.
“Demons? Do we have demons around here? What about gods and immortals? ”
“The gods are all in the temples! Eat your food. ”
The child’s mother answered with a smile, picking up a piece of radish and stuffing it into the child’s mouth. Otherwise, this little one would only eat meat.
“Dad, I faintly remember something like that happening when I was little. Back then, the authorities seemed…”
“That’s right! Something similar did happen back then. ”
The old village chief had been the village chief in this mountain village for nearly forty years. Every he had a good relationship with every village head in the two surrounding villages, and remembered some important past events.
“Counting how many years have passed, it’s been almost twenty now!”
The old village chief said with a sigh, then drank the rice wine from his small cup.
“Grandpa, Grandpa, tell me about it! ”
The young grandson swallowed the turnip and meat in his mouth, pushed away his mother’s chopsticks, and pleaded. The hunter, his father, quickly and eagerly refilled the old man’s wine and picked up another piece of pork knuckle, with skin and meat.
“Alright, I’ll tell you about it then! ”
The old village chief took a sip of rice wine, put the knuckle into his mouth, and chewed, his eyes squinting as if he had returned to that time of fear and turmoil.
“I can’t recall exactly how long it has been, but I suppose it’s probably been almost twenty years. Back then, your father wasn’t much older than you are now. ”
The old village chief said with a laugh, pointing at his young grandson.
“I remember those years. Niu Kui Mountain was plagued by tigers. For a time, the authorities conscripted and organized us hunters to go into the mountains to eliminate the tigers…”
It hadn’t just been this region of Ning’an County, bordering Niu Kui Mountain and Desheng Prefecture, that had gone through these events. Similar situations occurred in the other two prefectures adjacent to Niu Kui Mountain. However, the situation here in Ning’an County was more severe. The old village chief, however, didn’t have access to news from prefectures so far away.
“Back then, I was still in good shape, and I went into the mountains twice with that group. We even found a tiger’s lair and personally hunted one. However, we didn’t find any human bones in the vicinity. But then…”
The old village chief showed a hint of lingering fear.
“There’s an old saying: ‘the wind follows the tiger, clouds follow the dragon.’ Everyone has heard of it, but no one has ever seen it. But that time, we saw it! ”
“That night, about thirty of our experienced hunters and those of the neighboring villages were waiting together on a remote mountain ridge where we were had determined a fierce tiger had roamed… Originally, the wind was gentle and the moon bright, but suddenly, a fierce gale began to rage, dust and rocks obscured our vision, and the roar of the fierce tiger echoed in the air. That howling sound made our hearts tremble with fear; even the bravest hunters would be scared stiff.”
The young grandson had unconsciously moved closer to his mother, not even chewing the meat in his mouth anymore.
“But we were all hunters; no matter what, we had to remain calm. No one dared to make a sound. But that great tiger seemed to know exactly where we were. With a casual pounce, it snatched away a hunter from the neighboring village. His screams echoed all along as we chased after it, but it disappeared without a trace. What was even more odd was…”
The old village chief deliberately leaned closer to his young grandson.
“The wind had also stopped! ”
“Hey, old man, why are you scaring the child? You old rascal!”
“Hahaha… Doesn’t that child love hearing about this, though?”
“His little face has turned pale from fright! ”
The hunter quickly refilled his father-in-law’s wine.
“Dad, please continue. ”
“Well, when we came back, we were quite disheartened and thoroughly scared. But as long as the man-eating tiger wasn’t eliminated, no one could rest easy. The government’s reward was substantial, and they even dispatched officers proficient in martial arts to join the effort. Furthermore, some of us hunters were unwilling to give up, so we went again. ”
At this point, the old village chief sighed.
“Sigh… my brother also died that time. That fierce tiger was truly monstrous; it playfully snatched away two men and even killed seven hunting dogs. It came and went enveloped in mountain winds, and its roars made anyone who heard them weak in the knees. After that, I and some of the old hunters understood clearly that we were no match at all. From then on, no matter how much the authorities tried to persuade us, we refused to enter the mountains again…”
The old village chief took a sip of wine to calm his nerves.
“The story of the mountain tiger becoming a spirit also began to spread after that incident. But our villages here kept it a closely guarded secret; no one spoke carelessly, afraid of attracting its attention.”
“Later, I heard that the government posted official notices and even went to Desheng Prefecture to seek aid and spread the word. Afterwards, some formidable martial artists arrived. As expected of martial arts experts, they were indeed superior; they actually managed to kill the fierce tiger, and it was a rare white tiger at that! Its hide was displayed at the county government office entrance for many days. Many people from our village went to see it! ”
The hunter frowned, gripped his chopsticks, and drained the rice wine in his cup in one gulp. Then asked a question.
“Dad, are you sure that fierce tiger really died? ”
“Of course! That white tiger was absolutely a ferocious creature, two ordinary tigers couldn’t even compare! And since then, Niu Kui Mountain has been peaceful. Forget man-eating tigers, we’ve hardly even seen any common tigers! ”
The hunter hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and asked again in a hushed tone.
“Dad, is there any possibility that that tiger spirit isn’t dead yet? ”
The old village chief’s scalp tingled instinctively. He turned his head and stared fixedly at his son-in-law.
“What nonsense are you spouting? Did you… did you see it? ”
“No, no, I didn’t. It’s just that this time when we were going down the mountain, the thunder sounded like the roar of a fierce beast, and the dark clouds in the sky were terrifying. All the wild animals were running out of the depths of the mountains, and my heart, well… I was just really unnerved…”
Both the old village chief and the hunter looked out through the window. The deep mountains were obscured, so they couldn’t see too far. They could only look up at the sky.
At this moment.
“Crack… boom…”
A deafening clap of thunder, a thick bolt of lightning, like a speak with three prongs, struck directly into the depths of the mountain.
Everyone in the entire mountain village shivered at the same moment.
T/n: LSJ the Drama Queen strikes again