Hundreds of white tigers, humanoid and beast, converged on Sue Ming's position, but none of them made any rash moves. Their beastly instincts told them that the pink-haired human was dangerous.
The hairs on their backs stood up, and they growled at Sue Ming, warning her that even if she were strong, they wouldn't hesitate to attack if she made any suspicious movements.
Sue Ming raised an eyebrow at this but sneered inwardly, 'Hmph! The only one who could threaten me is your leader, not you, little kittens.'
A few moments later, all the tigers sensed the arrival of their Clan's Head, made way for him, and kneeled.
Sue Ming raised her head and saw a tall, humanoid tiger that stood well over 2 meters tall. It had shoulder-length white hair with black stripes, two lion ears protruding from its head, black tattoos along its face and muscular body, large lion paws for hands and feet, and a long white and black striped tail!
He wore a thin silk robe that did nothing to cover his chest and abs. Each step he took caused the ground to quake as if it was excited to welcome its king.
The man was the embodiment of a wild, untamed strength that would be hard to find in any human power.
"Human," A low growl came from the man's throat, causing the air to fluctuate, "Why have you invaded my territory?" He stepped forward, towering over Sue Ming. Although he knew she was strong, maybe even stronger than him, it was not like he was weak.
Not intimidated by his colossal appearance and ferocious aura, Sue Ming smiled lightly and said, "Invaded? I did no such thing! Instead, I'm here to give you some information you might want to know."
The tiger's eyes glinted and a frown formed on his face as his claws extended, "Human," He growled once again, but in a much more threatening manner, "I do not like playing games. State your business."
Sue Ming's smile gradually receded from her face, not liking the tiger's tone. However, since she didn't come here to start conflict, she took a deep breath and told herself, 'I'm not here looking for a fight.'
Putting a smile back on her face, Sue Ming said, "I have information about a lone 9-tailed fox."
"..."
The tiger glowered at Sue Ming's face, trying to discern if she was lying. However, after not seeing anything, he brought his face closer to hers and sniffed a few times, but he still couldn't sense anything wrong.
Both his eyebrows shot up, and his opinion of Sue Ming raised from 'hostile' to 'potential enemy'.
"If what you say is true, Human. Why bring this to me?" The tiger asked, still not fully believing Sue Ming.
A hint of annoyance shone in Sue Ming's eyes at how distrusting this beast was, but she reigned it in. Instead, she extended her hand and said, "My name is Sue Ming."
The Tiger saw her hand and thought for a moment before grasping it, "My people call me Ryker Khan."
They both put enough strength to crush a mountain in their handshake, but neither backed down. Each was just as surprised as the other that they were even in a contest of physical might.
"I see you're name is well deserved, King of strength, Ryker Khan." Sue Ming said. Although that was a loose translation of his name, it roughly meant 'one whose strength reigns supreme'.
Ryker's expression eased, and he nodded as he removed his hand from her grasp, "You're strong too, human Sue Ming."
Sue Ming's eyes twitched, "Just Sue Ming is fine. There's no need to add the human part."
Ryker nodded, "Very well, Sue Ming."
After greeting her, he glanced around and looked at his subjects. Realizing that this wasn't a great place to talk, he motioned for Sue Ming, "Why don't we take this conversation somewhere a bit more comfortable?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" Sue Ming's mood brightened a bit.
Ryker nodded and waded through the sea of tigers, with Sue Ming following behind him. A few minutes later, they stood in front of a giant cave with all kinds of animal bones lining the sides.
Sue Ming's eyes twitched again, but she could only sigh as this was mostly her fault, 'I should've remembered that beasts still have the tendencies of a beast until they reach the Immortal Realm.'
"Make yourself comfortable," Ryker said as he walked in and sat on a large pile of feathers.
Sue Ming sighed once again but followed his lead and sat down on some feathers opposite of him, but raised her eyebrows, surprised by its softness!
'These are from a Rank 10 beast!'
"So, you have information about a 9-tailed fox? Where is she?" Ryker's voice brought her out of her surprise.
Sue Ming looked up into Ryker's expectant eyes and smirked, "First, why don't you give me a piece of information? What is the White Tiger Clan doing in this Mortal Realm?"
Suddenly, Ryker's calm demeanor shifted in an instant. The dominant and oppressive aura of a Rank 10 White Tiger shot out of him and crashed into Sue Ming! The latter tried to brush it off like nothing but frowned deeply when she realized that the beast in front of her was much stronger than she initially thought.
"Who are you, human?" Ryker deep, threatening growl came from his throat. His hair lengthened, and Sue Ming could tell that if she didn't give a satisfactory answer, he would transform into his tiger form and attack!
Annoyed that such a simple question caused such a large reaction, she raised her hands as a sign of peace and explained, "I can't tell you much, but all you need to know is that I'm not of this world."
She thought that would be enough to calm him down, but she couldn't be more wrong as he grew a few centimeters in height, getting ready to transform.
Sighing once again, pushing down her annoyance, she explained, "I know of the White Tiger Clan in the Immortal Realm, and from what I know, they left the Mortal Realm entirely millions of years ago. Your bloodline should be more than talented enough to breeze through the Mortal Cultivation Realms and enter the ranks of Immortals. I'm just curious what your bloodline is doing here and why it's so weak."
Hearing the sincerity in her voice, Ryker's aura subsided, and his body shrunk back to its previous appearance. However, he was still distrustful of Sue Ming, his opinion dropping down to 'hostile'.
"My Clan is doing just fine without a 9-tailed fox," Ryker said, crossing his arms.
Although his words were short, Sue Ming understood the underlying meaning. He was saying that information about a 9-tailed fox isn't worth shit compared to what she wants to know and that even with the benefits that having a beast with an Immortal-Grade bloodline could bring, it wasn't worth it.
'Does that mean the secrets he holds are worth more than the future of his clan? No, if used Mira properly, she's worth so much more than just a glorified breeding machine. Hell, this whole Clan might be able to ascend to the Immortal Realm! What's so important that he would deny that opportunity?'
Now, Sue Ming's curiosity was piqued. If before she thought of this job as burdensome, now she genuinely wanted to stay here and unearth this world's mysteries.
'If only I knew more history about the Mortal and Immortal Realms, the Ancient beasts and their progenitors, and why they were born in the Mortal Realm, I might be able to glean some answers out of this guy.' Sue Ming thought but soon pushed all this to the back of her head.
'I'll look into it later. For now, I just need to complete my mission and visit more Divine Beast Clans.'
Sue Ming cleared her throat and stopped pursuing this matter, "Well, let's just leave it at that."
Ryker nodded and was about to get up and lead her out of his cave when she said, "Before you run me off, I'll provide you the information about the lone 9-tailed fox. Think of it as a gift and an apology for offending you."
Sue Ming said, trying to ease the tension between the two.
"She's in the Ancient Beast Mountain Range right now. In fact, she's not too far away from here! While I don't know her exact location, as long as you travel south, you'll eventually find her. I've also heard she's traveling with a golden-winged wolf. You can't miss her!" With that said, Sue Ming left the cave and disappeared from the White Tiger Clan entirely.
Ryker sat in his cave, pondering on her words, but what caught his attention was the last part, the part about a golden-winged wolf.
"A golden winged wolf? Could it be…? No! Impossible! From what I know, they've gone extinct! How could one appear in this Mortal Realm?"
