The roar had just subsided when a huge yellow tiger burst out of the forest, even bigger than Dabai, clearly a male.
Damn it! Yang Ruxin rolled her eyes in exasperation. There’s not enough room for two tigers on one mountain, and this guy comes bullying a mother and her cub, shameless, huh?
But, even though she was angry, Yang Ruxin knew that now was not the time to show off. Dabai had lost too much blood and had to rest, and its other wounds needed to be bandaged too. Xiaobai had also lost its fighting ability, and she was no Wa Song; she simply couldn’t fight a tiger. Therefore, the best plan was to beat a hasty retreat. She quickly picked up Xiaobai, grabbed Xiaolun, and then wrapped her arms around Dabai’s neck, and with a thought, they entered into a spatial sanctuary.
Dabai had already clashed with the intruder before, and honestly, if it hadn’t been for protecting its son, it wouldn’t have been ambushed. But to tell the truth, it was injured and really unable to fight now.
Fortunately, Xiaolun had brought this woman to help.
The invasive large tiger had his original territory taken by another and had no choice but to find a new one. Discovering that this area was inhabited by just a mother and her cub, it thought it might be easy to bully them. So, it decided to put in all its effort to drive Dabai out of Xiaocang Mountain, but little did it know that the tigress was quite formidable. Despite fighting for several days, it couldn’t gain the upper hand.
Originally, it had planned an ambush and managed to wound the white tiger. However, at the crucial moment, a group of small snakes interfered and messed up its plan, watching helplessly as the mother and son escaped. Now, finally having dispersed the snake group and caught up, it blinked, and they were gone?
After searching around for a long time and not finding Dabai, it saw only a barrel...
Inside the sanctuary, Yang Ruxin continued to tend to Dabai’s wounds, noticing not only the belly but also both its hind paws had bones showing: "If we had been any later, the blood loss would have done you in." After applying medicine to the paws and wrapping them up with a bow tie, she advised, "Next time, if you can’t win, just run. There’s no shame in that..."
Dabai gave Yang Ruxin a look. It was the king of this forest; how could it possibly run away?
"Alright, I know you’re the Mountain King, but until your injuries are healed, you can’t go head-to-head with that one again," Yang Ruxin tapped Dabai’s head. "Otherwise, how tragic would it be for your son to lose his mother?"
Xiaobai nuzzled Dabai with its head.
Dabai licked Xiaobai’s head in response.
"Why don’t you two stay here to recover? There’s plenty of game in this place, you won’t starve," Yang Ruxin said to the two patients. "Once you’re better, I’ll let you out."
Dabai whimpered in agreement to Yang Ruxin’s suggestion. However, it felt that its son might as well go home with her. It sensed that it was getting older, while its son had a long journey ahead, destined to unite the forest and inherit its rightful territory. For that to happen, danger was inevitable, and this woman could help them.
Of course, they had accepted this woman as a friend.
Xiaobai then vigorously rubbed its little head against its mother’s neck, then looked up and whimpered twice towards Yang Ruxin.
Yang Ruxin smiled, reached out to pet its head, and seemed to understand what they wanted: "Don’t worry, it will also become a member of my family from now on, and I’ll take good care of it."
Xiaobai made two proud huffs and strutted into the forest, as if it were saying who would take care of whom.