Running

Running at the speed of light, Bai Shuixian did not turn her back nor look back at all. In fear that the tiger would be catching up to her, she tried her best to not pay attention to the roaring tiger. All she could hear while speeding through the forest was her footsteps that hit the ground every second and the tiger with heavy sounding steps that followed her.

As the sound of the tiger sprinting became closer to her, she started trying to race off even faster. At this moment, she had already exhausted all her energy and could barely run anymore. Her legs shaking as she darted across rocks, tangling weeds, and trees that served to be obstacles in her path.

Despite running as fast as she could, the tiger seemed to have an inexhaustible amount of vitality. The tiger that seemed to be a few ten meters away from her now sounded like it was just a couple of meters now. She could even hear the sound of the tiger's excited pants.

Of course, this could just be her interpretation as fear seeped into her bones. The blood rush that she was feeling at the same time was disturbing her normal or instinctual thoughts. It was not the usual anxiety or heart-wrenching pounding that she felt, but a pleasurable throb of excitement.

However, no matter how confused she was at her body, she still ran. Except, when she could feel the tiger's paws on her shoulder that had already been slashed, her blood ran cold and she waited for death. It was as though time froze on her and she could already predict the bloody scene that would occur the next second.

In the next moment though, the death scene that she forecasted did not happen. Instead, a feeling of someone controlling her body took cover. She could see and feel, but she could not move.

She knew she could not move, yet her body was moving. Bai Shuixian was naturally glad and relieved of this movement, but she was clouded and her expression was full of confusion as her brows furrowed. Even when her emotions displayed on her face, her body had a different reaction.

As though the person controlling her body was toying with the tiger, it continuously let the tiger allow its claws to touch the body, but miss the vital points. Every time, she could feel her heartbeat increase as the tiger came close to touching her face. In the end though, her body would dodge the tiger.

This situation was exploited until the tiger eventually ran out of energy and both individuals laid on the floor, tired. With no clarity on the actions that just occurred, she almost wanted to speak to the tiger. Naturally she knew that the tiger would not understand human language, but her mind was increasingly tired.

This time, her intrigue could not be suppressed and despite knowing that the tiger could not answer, she voiced out, "Hey, white tiger, why do I keep dodging you?"

The tiger was exhausted and injured, so it did not feel like reacting to her question. Bai Shuixian saw the conclusion, so she just proved her thought that the tiger did not understand her. In actuality, the tiger understood her well enough.

It was even complaining on the inside, "Stupid human! How would I know? I just wanted to eat you!"

Once a few minutes passed, the tiger depressingly got up and started to walk away from Bai Shuixian. It was not happy at all and planned that it would get stronger. In its head, it was planning to eat her once it was more skillful and smarter.

Bai Shuixian did not know at all and only looked at the tiger happily. She was happy to know that she would not end up in a tiger's stomach. At the same time, she was a little resentful for being chased by the tiger for so long.

The tiger was not out of her sight yet and she was complaining aloud, "If only these stupid trees were not white, you stupid tiger would not have been able to attack me."

"If I was not so hungry, I would have known that you were trying to eat me," she continued.

"You stupid tiger… Why did you have to chase me for so long? I would not be tired right now if you didn't make me run for miles," she grumbled.

Hearing the multiple accusations made against him with his sensitive ears, the tiger turned back and roared loudly to demonstrate its anger. As though complaining, it continued growling until Bai Shuixian yelled at it.

"Stupid tiger! Stop shouting! It hurts my ears!" Bai Shuixian shouted.

Being called stupid again by the same human, the tiger walked back to Bai Shuixian. With a low, deep growl, it stated, "Vwxslg kxpdq, brx dfw dv wkrxjk L kdyh qr frpsodlqwv djdlqvw brx."

(A/N: Hahaha… Don't hate me… It's a letter shift cipher… Uh… Search it up. *runs away*)

Glaring at the tiger that made her tired, Bai Shuixian yelled, "I can't understand you, stupid tiger! Speak human or run away!"

It was not that she was not afraid of the tiger. It was that she had to be bold for the tiger was the one that walked off first and she was dead tired. Her limbs could barely move and she could feel her feet were bleeding and so were her hands.

"Brxu odqjxdjh lv vr vwxslg! Zkb zrxog L vshdn lw!? Brx vkrxog ohduq pb odqjxdjh lqvwhdg!" the tiger roared.

Angry at the communication occurring, Bai Shuixian stated, "Shoo! Stop staying here! I'll talk to you another day!"

As she said that, she made an effort to get up and pray that there was a stream somewhere nearby for her to rinse her feet and hands. She was not the only injured individual though. The tiger was also looking for a water source to clean its bloodied paws.

The stickiness of blood that made its fur stick to each other and tangle… It hated that feeling. At the same time, the tiger also gave up growling at her knowing that she would probably never understand a single word.

"Honestly, humans act as though their language is the universal language," the tiger grumbled.

Hearing those words come out from the tiger's mouth, Bai Shuixian's jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide in shock.

"What? You've never seen a talking tiger before?" the tiger criticized with angry eyes.

She was too shocked to even respond. Her body had frozen from the shock. Even her standing motion was stable because she had put her hands on the tree next to her.

'Where in the world did this talking tiger come from?'