Chapter 28: Tiger Cubs Are Like Sons (Part 1)

  The next morning, Xiao Ziyang arrived at the stream with his hunting gear. The internal organs and frozen meat were gone without a trace. He was delighted and followed the plum blossom-shaped footprints.

  After chasing for a while, he found bloodstains beside the footprints of Mei Hua. Judging from the relative position of these bloodstains and the footprints on the ground, it was most likely that the leopard had spat them out from its mouth!

  He chased for another seven or eight miles and found that the bloodstains were becoming more frequent. Under a tree, he also discovered the traces of a leopard's body being pressed down.

  Continuing to track, the traces of the leopard lying down to rest became more and more frequent. After chasing for another four or five miles, he found that on the snowy ground, a trail of about ten centimeters wide appeared, which was the trace left by the leopard when it had no strength to stand up and crawled!

  It's over! thought Xiao Ziyang, but what surprised him was that after chasing for another three or four miles, he still hadn't seen the leopard's corpse!

  At last, after advancing three or four more miles and crossing a mountain ridge, he finally saw the target of this pursuit, which turned out to be a snow-white old tiger!

  It's Snow Tiger! No wonder it has such a strong vitality, even with severe internal injuries, it can still struggle for so long.

  Snow tiger is the totem of many grassland tribes outside the Golden State, it is a very ferocious predator, smaller than ordinary tigers, but with great strength and speed, can prey on black bears, tigers and other larger beasts!

  What was strange to him was that, generally speaking, a severely injured beast would lie quietly in one place and wait for death after losing its strength, but it would never drag its heavily injured body to crawl for so long. What made this snow tiger do so?

  When he came to the snow tiger's side and turned its body over, he finally understood the reason and couldn't help but feel extremely regretful. It was a mother tiger with six swollen teats on its belly, clearly still nursing, and it was the cubs in the den that had supported it as it crawled through the snowy ground for over ten miles!

  Few animals give birth in winter, but snow tigers are one of them, because for snow tigers, snowy land is their best hunting ground.

  However, I've heard that snow tigers mostly live in the northern grasslands and in the snowy mountains where the snow never melts. I've never heard of any snow tigers living in Taifu Mountain.

  Xiao Ziyang shook his head and began to search the surrounding area. He was not familiar with the habits of the Snow Tiger, nor did he know where it would build its nest. He could only hope to find the footprints left behind by the Snow Tiger when it departed.

  If he were to take this snow tiger away now, the cubs in its nest would surely die.

  Hard work pays off for those who are diligent. Xia Zi Yang finally found a trail of plum blossom-shaped footprints about a few feet away from Xue Hu's corpse.

  Following the footprints, he soon arrived at the foot of a cliff. This was a sheer precipice with a small cave about 70 or 80 feet above the ground.

  Xiao Ziyang retreated a few steps back, carefully examined several footholds, and then began to climb up the cliff.

  Although the cliff was steep, it couldn't stump a martial artist. He may not have been skilled in lightness kung fu, but he had immense strength, making climbing easier for him than an ordinary person by several times.

  But in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xiao Ziyang climbed up onto the cave on the cliff.

  The cave was not deep, less than two zhang, at the bottom of the cave, there was a warm and soft little nest made of withered grass, in which two small snow tigers with their whole body covered in white downy hair, eyes still unopened, were huddled together shivering. Looking at these two young tigers, Xiao Ziyang sighed, they were too small, not even opening their eyes yet, looking like they were born only five or six days ago, without the milk of their mother, it was extremely difficult for them to survive!

  Although he knew there was little hope, Xiao Ziyang couldn't bear to abandon them. He walked forward and gently picked up the two small snow tigers.

  The two little ones still didn't know how to distinguish their mother, they felt the warmth of Xiao Ziyang's big hands and couldn't help but softly cry out, as if begging for milk.

  Xiao Ziyang opened his collar and stuffed the two small ones, only about seven or eight inches long, into his chest. He turned around and left the cave, carefully climbing down with a light hand, afraid of using too much force and squeezing the two little guys.

  Down from the mountain, he walked towards where the mother tiger had fallen, and the two little snow tigers fell fast asleep in his warm arms.

  Arriving at the mother tiger's side, Xiao Ziyang hesitated for a moment before dragging it towards the rocky mountain where he had settled.

  Back in the cave, Xiao Ziyang first used branches to encircle a small circle in one corner of the cave, so that when he was not paying attention, the two little guys would not run around and get burned by the bonfire. Then he used animal hides to surround a small nest, which he placed inside the circle.

  Xiao Ziyang pulled out the two little guys from his bosom, they were extremely reluctant to leave this warm place, their paws grasped tightly on his clothes, he had a hard time getting them off.

  Fortunately, they were also very satisfied with the little nest that Xiao Ziyang had made for them. When he put the two small snow tigers with their teeth and claws exposed into the fur-lined nest, they immediately calmed down.

  After settling the two little snow tigers, Xiao Ziyang started to busy himself again. He brought over firewood and lit a roaring fire, hanging the pot from the iron hook under the tripod and reheating the remaining half pot of medicinal stew.

  He cut off another section of tree trunk from the outside and brought it into the cave, starting to carve it up. Half a time later, the meat soup in the pot started to boil, and the tree trunk in his hand had become a very ugly square-shaped food trough, which was prepared for the two little snow tigers.

  Xiao Ziyang ladled half a bowl of medicinal broth, then scooped up several pieces of extremely tender braised meat from the bottom of the pot and put them in the bowl.

  He came to the outside of the leopard enclosure, somewhat nervously placing the food trough at the entrance, and then reluctantly picked up the two leopards from their den.

  Under Xiao Ziyang's worried gaze, the two little ones sniffed at the food trough for a moment before rushing forward to eat voraciously. Perhaps they were too hungry, but the unpalatable medicine was surprisingly delicious to them.

  He watched the two little leopards eat their fill, and then put them back in their cozy little den. Although the two little ones had eaten all the meat soup and meat pieces in the feeding trough, it couldn't reassure him. The meat soup was no substitute for mother's milk, and they were too small to digest those meat soups.

  Xiao Ziyang cultivated twice and finished eating the remaining half pot of medicine, the sky had already darkened.

  Tonight is a fine night, with a crescent moon hanging in the sky, under the shade of the snow-covered mountains, illuminating the earth very brightly.

  Xiao Ziyang took advantage of the moonlight, carrying a bundle wrapped around the deadly wooden stick and frozen meat, sneaking towards the mountain slope opposite, where the bear's lair was located.

  The temperature has been dropping for two days, and he's worried that the bear might have already started hibernating, but he still plans to go over and try.

  He crept to within thirty yards of the bear's den, threw two pieces of frozen meat on a large rock, and then turned away, not holding out much hope.