The tigers stood panting, watching them intently. The horses were restless with fear. Shen Xihe remained composed while Xiao Huayong’s jaw tightened. Their eyes met briefly – Shen Xihe’s gaze telling Xiao Huayong: I’ll take the one behind.

Xiao Huayong glanced in the direction she indicated, then at the three tigers ready to pounce, and gave her an imperceptible nod.

At that moment, the two tigers flanking Xiao Huayong lunged at him from both sides. Xiao Huayong slapped his horse’s back, using the force to leap upward as his horse bolted. In mid-air, he twisted his body, landing with one foot on the back of a tiger that had missed its strike. His toes barely touched before he sprang far away.

Shen Xihe took the initiative, throwing one of her sachet pouches. Having anticipated encounters with such beasts in the deep mountains, she always carried incense that these predators disliked and would naturally avoid. As she threw the sachet, her tiger nimbly dodged it. Shen Xihe had planned to use this moment to trigger her mechanism and shoot a needle at the tiger.

However, having never faced a tiger before, she had underestimated its speed. Before she could pull the trigger, the tiger was already upon her. Just then, a shadow flashed by, knocking her horse aside while leaving deep bloody gashes on the tiger’s head, forcefully pushing it back.

As Shen Xihe’s horse galloped uncontrollably forward, she looked back to see the pursuing tiger now entangled with the returning gyrfalcon. Xiao Huayong had leaped to the treetops and drawn his bow at one tiger. She noticed blood on his arm – he must have been clawed by one of the beasts.

As kings of the forest, the tigers’ strength, speed, and agility exceeded human imagination and calculation.

Shen Xihe reined in her horse but didn’t return to the battle zone – getting too close would only burden Xiao Huayong. She watched the situation carefully, ready to act when needed. Since the gyrfalcon had arrived, Tianyuan must have been on his way.

Shen Xihe knew well how precise and fierce Xiao Huayong’s archery was from their past two months together, but seeing a tiger dodge his arrow made her heart race.

One particularly agitated tiger furiously rammed the base of the tree where Xiao Huayong had landed, shaking it violently. Shen Xihe’s heart leaped as she watched Xiao Huayong stumble, nearly falling.

What terrified her most was that after dodging Xiao Huayong’s fierce arrow, and with him unable to draw his bow again due to the shaking tree, the tiger climbed up the trunk. It roared at Xiao Huayong, making powerful, swift leaps.

The swaying branches didn’t affect the climbing tiger but left Xiao Huayong trapped. With another tiger guarding below, even if he jumped down, he couldn’t escape its attack.

Shen Xihe quickly surveyed the surroundings and spotted Xiao Huayong’s horse. She rode toward it – her horse was inadequate, having nearly collapsed from fear earlier, but Xiao Huayong’s was a fine steed.

Leaping from her horse, Shen Xihe mounted Xiao Huayong’s. Perhaps because Xiao Huayong had taken her riding on it several times, the horse didn’t reject her. Once mounted, she whipped it toward Xiao Huayong’s direction.

Xiao Huayong, gripping a branch with one hand to steady himself, watched the approaching tiger that dared not pounce due to the thinning branches. He heard branches cracking and felt himself sinking, while the tiger continued roaring and trying to get closer.

“Xiao Beichen—” a clear voice suddenly rang out.

Without thinking or looking back, Xiao Huayong released the branch.

As Shen Xihe charged forward, she alerted the tiger ramming the tree’s base. She and Xiao Huayong’s fearless horse rode straight ahead as the tiger crouched, its deep eyes fixed on her.

Shen Xihe aimed at the attacking tiger with one hand, pulling the trigger twice. The fine needles entered the tiger’s body, but as expected, the poison didn’t take effect immediately. The hits only slowed its reactions momentarily. Shen Xihe leaned to one side, but the tiger’s massive paw still grazed her thigh, leaving a burning pain.

Xiao Huayong landed precisely behind Shen Xihe, their backs pressed together. To avoid being thrown off by the jolting ride, he had to lean back, forcing Shen Xihe to bend forward. The poisoned tiger landed with a low growl, struggled to stand twice, then finally collapsed.

As Xiao Huayong landed, the tree tiger quickly jumped down and pursued them. How could a horse outrun a tiger? It caught up within a few bounds. Xiao Huayong had anticipated this and shot three arrows at different angles toward the tiger.

The tiger dodged two, but one struck its foreleg, slowing it down. Yet stimulated by the incense and now injured, it showed no sign of giving up. The gyrfalcon remained entangled with the other tiger, and Xiao Huayong’s quiver was empty.

Though she couldn’t see behind them, Shen Xihe guessed the situation. She called out to Xiao Huayong: “Switch positions!”

Watching the injured tiger, its speed greatly reduced but still closing the distance, determined to tear them apart, Xiao Huayong reached around her waist: “Reins!”

Shen Xihe trustingly handed him the reins. Xiao Huayong gripped them tightly, one arm securing Shen Xihe’s waist as she positioned her finger on her bracelet’s mechanism.

Through some manipulation of force she didn’t quite understand, Shen Xihe felt herself lifted and quickly rotated half a circle in mid-air, switching positions with Xiao Huayong. He now faced forward while she faced backward toward the lunging tiger. She immediately pulled the trigger, sending a poison needle into the tiger’s neck. It faltered and fell short of reaching her.

Perhaps one poison needle wasn’t enough – unlike the previous tiger that had stumbled and fallen after two needles, this one only paused momentarily before pushing off the ground with all four legs and lunging at Shen Xihe again.

With all three poison needles spent, Shen Xihe’s pupils contracted. Just then, Xiao Huayong steered the horse in a sharp turn, making the tiger miss again. As it prepared another lunge, Xiao Huayong pulled out the hidden sword hairpin from Shen Xihe’s hair and leaped down, knocking the tiger aside.