Over there, Olivia Thompson wasn’t sleeping. She was so angry at William Foster that she couldn’t fall asleep, so she sat cross-legged to meditate, focusing her mind and calming her spirit. She hadn’t been meditating for long when the sound of a tiger’s roar and a dragon’s cry faintly drifted in on the wind. Olivia Thompson’s eyes snapped open: “Heavenly Dragon’s Roar? Brother!”

She could no longer sit still. Grabbing the silver spear by her bedside, she rushed out at top speed.

Watching Olivia Thompson disappear into the night, William Foster slowly followed after her.

He had deliberately spread the long-ignored news of an immortal trace, precisely to attract new seekers of immortality to come and slay the tiger.

This tiger had already become a demon; he couldn’t defeat it. He had no choice but to learn the demon-binding formation from Alice Carter, using it to trap the beast among the scattered rocks to prevent it from harming people. But this was not a long-term solution—what if one day the binding failed? In the end, this hidden danger had to be eliminated.

Once the demon tiger was gone, he could also dig up that demon-transforming miasma. From then on, the sky would be high and the sea wide—whether he stayed here or wandered the world, he would have no more worries.

He hoped The Thompson siblings would prove reliable.

Before reaching the mountaintop, he could already see silver light flashing like lightning, dazzling as the stars. The terrifying aftershocks of energy in the air sent grass, trees, and pebbles flying in all directions. As he got closer, it felt as if the entire space was filled with sharp, piercing energy—approaching would mean being riddled with wounds.

“A formidable martial artist—he must have already passed the Muscle and Tendon Transformation stage and reached the peak of Innate Realm,” Alice Carter said. “Who would have thought that in this remote little country, someone could train mortal martial arts to such a high level?”

William Foster was a bit taken aback. He practiced martial arts himself and knew what this meant: Ethan Thompson’s martial arts level was already top-tier among mortals. Anyone stronger would be considered a peerless master. To go further, one would have to take the path of sword cultivation or achieve bodily sainthood—those were no longer considered mortal martial arts, and only a handful in the world ever had such opportunities.

That’s why people sought immortality.

Upon reaching the summit, the first thing he saw was a flash of silver from Ethan Thompson. The monstrous tiger actually spread its wings and flew away, incredibly agile. Ethan Thompson’s spear thrust missed, but he immediately swept it sideways, striking the tiger’s flank. The tiger swung its wings in response, spear and wing clashing with a thunderous “bang”—the thousand-pound beast was knocked sideways, crashing into a mountainside.

Ethan Thompson only took a slight step back, clearly holding the absolute advantage.

With a sharp cry, Olivia Thompson leveled her spear and joined the fray. The tiger, still stiff from crashing into the mountainside, was immediately met head-on by another silver spear, radiating the same cold light and unstoppable force.

At the same time, Ethan Thompson coordinated seamlessly, thrusting his spear at the tiger’s other side, cutting off its escape.

“Roar!” The monstrous tiger leapt, its tail snapping onto Olivia Thompson’s spear. Olivia Thompson grunted, but didn’t let go; instead, she pressed forward against the force, as agile as a startled dragon.

The tiger lost its chance to break through on that side and could no longer dodge Ethan Thompson’s spear, finally getting stabbed in the flank, blood gushing out.

The wounded tiger let out a furious roar and charged heavily at Olivia Thompson. She blocked with her spear, but the immense force sent her flying, her boots dragging a long mark across the ground. Ethan Thompson twisted his spear in the tiger’s side, using the leverage to slam the giant beast into the rocky cliff with a resounding “boom,” shaking the earth.

Olivia Thompson crashed into a pile of rocks on the other side, a trace of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She didn’t even bother to wipe it away, immediately throwing herself back into the fight.

“She’s pretty impressive, this girl,” William Foster thought with some admiration. The tiger was already much stronger than when he’d set up the demon-binding formation, apparently having absorbed a lot of demonic energy from the miasma here and evolved further. If it had been this strong back then, he probably wouldn’t have been able to set up the formation at all.

But Olivia Thompson, who looked like a delicate young lady, was actually so tough!

This pair of siblings really had the air of iron-blooded warriors. Although Olivia Thompson was a bit spoiled, she was by no means a hothouse flower. He wondered what kind of family could raise such siblings—perhaps a general’s household?

With just Ethan Thompson alone, the demon tiger would have been manageable; with Olivia Thompson joining forces, there was no suspense at all. The wounded tiger couldn’t withstand their combined assault and was finally stabbed to death on the ground.

A wisp of demonic energy drifted away into the air.

William Foster let out a sigh of relief. As expected, these siblings were reliable…

Alice Carter gave a cold snort. William Foster’s plan had succeeded, which meant his more sinister scheme had gone down the drain.

“Brother Foster, come out,” Ethan Thompson called out with an unchanged expression and a smile. “You’ve been watching for so long without helping—how unkind. This was your mountain’s beast, after all.”

William Foster walked out of the shadows without a hint of embarrassment, smiling. “Everyone has their own role. I had other things to do.”

Olivia Thompson leaned on her spear, panting, and looked curiously at William Foster as he walked into the pile of rocks. The siblings exchanged a glance and followed him in.

Soon, they saw William Foster crouch down, take out a small shovel, and start digging. After a moment, he said quietly, “Just as I thought.”

They saw William Foster pull out a mud-covered object from the ground. Brushing off the dirt, it looked like a small incense burner, with carvings of demons along its sides and a faint dark red smoke wafting from it.

Suddenly, Olivia Thompson realized something. “So you deliberately spread the news of an immortal trace here just to lure people up the mountain to slay the tiger, so you could take this thing!”

William Foster turned to look at her and smiled. “It’s not that I want to take it, but rather…”