Chapter 107: Tiger-Crane Dual Form, Miao Shouren

That night, on the western side of Haizhou City, stood a vast estate.

Beneath the estate lay a spacious underground chamber packed with all manner of martial training equipment, turning the whole basement into a great practice hall.

At the very center of that chamber stood a gigantic iron cage more than ten feet tall.

Inside it at that moment stood a broad-shouldered middle-aged man with a long queue, and before him was a massively built, well-fed tiger.

That man was none other than the master of the Red Hero Society, Miao Shouren.

“Haaah!”

The tiger let out a deep, heavy breath, its ferocious eyes fixed viciously on Miao Shouren, full of hostility.

Battling tigers was one of the unusual ways Miao Shouren trained his martial arts, something made plain by the cruel scars crossing his arms, back, and chest.

Since first entering the path of martial cultivation, he had beaten more than twenty tigers to death with his fists.

The tiger before him had only just been transported in from beyond the border, and had gone hungry for three days on the road. At this moment, it was at its most savage and violent.

Its eyes were bloodshot as it stared at Miao Shouren, filled with boundless greed and ferocity.

Outside the cage stood more than a dozen large men in black, all of them Miao Shouren’s subordinates.

Seeing the tiger’s state, they could not help drawing sharp breaths, their scalps prickling.

“You want to eat me? Come on then. Let me see whether you have the ability!”

With a cold smile, Miao Shouren stared straight at the tiger and taunted it.

“Roar!”

The tiger bellowed, the sound deafening and so terrifying that those outside the cage trembled involuntarily. Yet Miao Shouren showed no fear at all; instead, a trace of crazed excitement appeared on his face.

“Roar!”

Miao Shouren also let out a roar, and his voice was astonishingly similar to the tiger’s.

He practiced Hung Fist, taught to him by his father, Miao Qianren.

Miao Qianren, in turn, had learned Hung Fist from a master of the Red Gate. It could be said that all of Miao Shouren’s Hung Fist skill came from the orthodox lineage.

However, being naturally fierce, Miao Shouren had chosen this extreme method of training in order to raise his martial arts cultivation more quickly.

Within Hung Fist were the Character-G Tiger-Subduing Fist, the Iron Wire Fist, and the Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist.

The style Miao Shouren had mastered most deeply was precisely the Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist.

Now, seeing the tiger charge, Miao Shouren himself burst forward like a tiger descending from the mountain, rushing straight at it.

Just as the two were about to clash, the tiger opened its blood盆 maw and raised its sharp iron claws, pouncing toward Miao Shouren.

In the same instant, Miao Shouren, who had been charging like a tiger a moment before, lightly tapped the ground, leaped high, and in a flash transformed into a flying crane, vaulting cleanly over the tiger’s head.

The Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist moved as tiger and crane, now tiger, now crane, both tiger and crane, and neither tiger nor crane; Miao Shouren rendered it to perfection.

As he flew past the tiger’s back, his form changed once more. His outstretched hands instantly reshaped into tiger claws, his expression tightening as, without the slightest hesitation, he raked downward at the tiger’s back.

With a ripping sound, Miao Shouren’s claws tore through the flesh, leaving several deep bloody gashes across the tiger’s back.

The tiger howled in pain.

Outside the cage, Miao Shouren’s men were likewise astonished by his skill.

In old stage tales, it was said that Song Jiang, drunk as he crossed Jingyang Ridge, killed a mountain tiger with a white forehead and staring eyes, and the story was told as though it were some miracle. Yet compared with their boss Miao, Song Jiang was simply far too far behind.

Inside the cage, after taking Miao Shouren’s strike, the tiger became even more savage, its eyes blazing red as a monstrous killing intent radiated from its whole body.

“Good, that’s how it should be! Come on then! Eat me!”

Seeing the tiger go berserk, Miao Shouren seemed to be stimulated as well, growing even more excited, ecstatic, almost deranged.

That earlier claw strike had been meant to enrage the tiger.

Only hunger and fury could fully unleash the potential of the king of beasts.

“Ahrooo!”

The tiger let out an even more thunderous roar.

That cry was packed with rage and killing intent, so chilling that it made one’s heart quail. Fortunately, the people outside the cage were not seeing such a sight for the first time, or they would likely have been frightened out of their wits.

With that furious roar, the tiger’s massive body smashed toward Miao Shouren like a giant, rampaging war chariot, intent on crushing him to pieces.

“Come!”

Miao Shouren roared back, his figure flashing as he met it head-on.

This time, he did not evade in the slightest. Instead, with both hands formed into tiger claws, he charged straight toward the beast.

The two of them were like two tigers fighting for the throne, locked in a frenzied death struggle.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Miao Shouren raised his sandbag-sized fists and smashed them violently down upon the tiger’s head.

His force was astonishing. The blows nearly knocked the tiger senseless.

The tiger shook its head, clearing itself, then swiped at Miao Shouren’s chest.

With a sharp tearing sound, a shallow, narrow bloody line was left across Miao Shouren’s chest. Had he been half a step slower, the tiger might have ripped his heart out then and there.

The onlookers’ hearts nearly leaped into their throats.

After dodging that claw, Miao Shouren pressed the attack and leaped directly onto the tiger’s back.

The tiger twisted frantically, but no matter how violently it struggled, it could not shake him loose.

Hung Fist footwork emphasized solid steps and powerful stances, while its waistwork prized the supple sway of willows in the wind. Miao Shouren had trained both to the utmost.

“Ah!”

With a sudden shout, Miao Shouren raised his fist and smashed it hard down upon the tiger’s crown.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

One blow after another rained down, each carrying boundless savagery and intent to kill.

After several strikes, the tiger’s skull had been beaten open by Miao Shouren, blood pouring everywhere.

At last the beast could bear it no longer. With a heavy thud, it collapsed to the ground and lay there, unable to rise again.

“Hmph, useless trash!”

Miao Shouren cursed loudly, only then dismounting from the tiger’s back and stepping out of the iron cage.

“Boss, your Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist has improved again, and your martial cultivation has advanced as well. It seems breaking through to the peak of the Inner Power Great Accomplishment stage is just around the corner!”

One subordinate hurriedly offered praise.

“How is the search going for the person Lord Rong asked for?”

Miao Shouren paid no mind to the flattery and asked directly.

“We’ve found some clues. We have already confirmed that back then, after Xu Tianqiang’s wife fled back into the country, she was indeed hiding somewhere in the East Sea region, and it is highly likely she was in Haizhou!”

“I thought Lord Rong’s guess was right. That woman really did come back to Xu Tianqiang’s hometown.”

Miao Shouren nodded.

“What Lord Rong wants is Xu Tianqiang’s child with that woman. By calculation, the child should be seventeen this year, just the age for high school…”

As he spoke, Miao Shouren seemed to be thinking about something.

“Haizhou isn’t big, and there are only so many high schools. Finding him shouldn’t be difficult. As for the rest, I shouldn’t need to teach you how to handle it, should I?”

Miao Shouren said indifferently.

“Yes, Boss. We know what to do.”

The subordinate hurriedly nodded.

“Only… there’s one thing I don’t quite understand. Didn’t Xu Tianqiang already die? Why would Lord Rong be looking for his child…”

Before he could finish, Miao Shouren slapped him across the face.

“Damn it. How many times have I told you? Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask!”

Miao Shouren said viciously.

“Yes, yes, yes, it was my mistake!”

The subordinate turned deathly pale with fright and replied hurriedly.

Miao Shouren shot him a cold, hard look before withdrawing his gaze.

How could he not be curious himself? With Lord Rong and the others’ current standing, there was no need for them to make trouble for the descendant of some former Red Gate boss. So why would they still refuse to let it go?