Perils at Every Turn

Yuan Ming's newly settled heart immediately leapt back into his throat. He hurriedly scrambled up and looked down.

The black bear was charging in from afar on all fours, swift as the wind. Its enormous body rushed close, then suddenly turned and slammed its incomparably thick back into the banyan tree.

Boom!

The old banyan shuddered violently, and a crack immediately split open in its already somewhat withered trunk.

Having spotted it early, Yuan Ming had clung desperately to the trunk and avoided being knocked from the tree. But when he saw the fissure in the trunk, his heart filled with worry.

After that blow, the black bear ran back to open the distance again, then launched another charge at the old banyan.

Crack.

Before it even crashed into the tree, the crack in the trunk widened again.

It can't hold up anymore.

Yuan Ming frowned tightly. Just as the black bear was about to charge into the tree again, he spun around, took two quick steps along a horizontal branch of the old tree, and launched himself with all his strength toward an ancient tree seven or eight zhang away.

Yuan Ming could never have crossed such a distance from the ground, but now he had the added force of the branch springing him upward. His body seemed to take flight through the air as he leapt toward the opposite side.

Amid the sound of the old banyan collapsing behind him, his body reached its highest point and began to fall, yet he was still some distance from the other tree.

Yuan Ming stretched out his arm and truly reached forward like an ape plucking peaches.

At the very instant before he fell, his palm caught a horizontal branch extending from the ancient tree. He swung through the air, rose into flight once more, and headed toward the trunk.

Just as he was about to land against the trunk, Yuan Ming did not allow himself to fall directly onto it. Instead, he extended his other arm, caught another branch, swung out again, and leapt another seven or eight zhang away.

Only then did Yuan Ming feel that he had truly gained control of this body.

He swung from branch to branch, one motion after another, until his arms swelled with soreness and he had no strength left. Only then did he stop in a tree.

When he looked back, the black bear had long since vanished.

Yuan Ming slowly let out a breath. Feeling somewhat drained, he leaned against the trunk and sat down.

His entire body had already been soaked through with sweat. The sensation was exceedingly strange, as though the ape hide covering him had truly grown from his own flesh and blood, allowing even sweat to seep through its fur.

As his emotions gradually calmed, Yuan Ming closed his eyes. His fingers silently traced shapes through the air before him as he began reconstructing in his memories the route he had taken while fleeing.

Though he had been frantic earlier, he had not forgotten to leave marks wherever he changed direction. Soon, a map of the route he had fled along took shape in his mind.

Yuan Ming slowly opened his eyes, just as his stomach let out a growl.

Ever since arriving at Jade Luo Cave, he had not eaten anything. After the fierce chase and escape just now, the intense hunger he had been suppressing could no longer be contained.

Yuan Ming glanced at the sun, which had begun to sink westward. He knew that once night fell, this primeval forest would only become more dangerous. If he failed to find food and shelter before dark, he might not live to see tomorrow.

At that thought, Yuan Ming could only pull himself together and rise to his feet.

He turned sideways and gazed into the distance, carefully observing his surroundings. The mountain forest appeared silent, yet countless subtle movements stirred within his sight.

He saw an earth-gray python slowly writhing around a grayish-brown old tree. The patterns on its skin were almost identical to the scars on the trunk, making for nearly flawless camouflage.

Beneath a mound on the other side, a small beast clad in crocodile-like armor poked its head out of a burrow and looked around. Startled by a large bird flying overhead, it immediately shrank back into the hole.

Not far from it, a clump of wild grass trembled, and a plump gray-furred rabbit sprang out. It darted away into the distance in a blur.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming immediately leapt toward the rabbit.

In midair, one of his arms caught an old vine. He lowered his body, while his other arm reached out in a motion like scooping the moon from the sea, grabbing for the gray rabbit.

Yuan Ming's palm had already brushed the soft fur of the rabbit's tail when a fierce gust, carrying flying sand and stones, smashed into his hand.

The rabbit's body sprang up like an arrow loosed from a bow, leaping three or four zhang away. The instant it landed, it changed direction and dove into the grass, disappearing without a trace.

Yuan Ming remained suspended in midair, his movements somewhat stiff, his heart full of bitterness.

He discovered that not a single beast in this forest was normal.

He slowly dropped to the ground. Just as he was about to seek another target, a faint sound came from behind him.

Yuan Ming instinctively wanted to turn and look, but from the corner of his eye, near the edge of his blind spot to the left, he suddenly caught sight of a blue-green shadow shooting out.

He immediately stopped himself from turning his head and threw himself flat toward the front.

At almost the same moment, a blue-green wolf nearly eight chi long pounced over his back. Had he not dodged in time, he would likely have been knocked down the instant he turned around and bitten through the throat.

Yuan Ming had no time for lingering fear. He ran forward on all fours, and the sound of rushing wind immediately rose behind him.

Suddenly, his forward rush came to a halt. He sharply twisted around, swung his long arm back, and drove a straight punch toward the rear. His posture resembled one holding a long spear and unleashing a thrust from a horse turning back.

The sound of air tearing rose from his fist as well. It snapped sharply, then smashed into the mouth of a blue-green wolf lunging at him with jaws wide open.

Bang!

A sharp pain shot through Yuan Ming's fist. The massive blue-green wolf was sent flying backward by the blow, crashing directly into a thick old tree before falling down.

The wolf rolled over and sprang back up. The corner of its mouth was a bloody mess, and one of its fangs had been broken. It let out a low, whimpering growl. Its ferocity had not diminished in the slightest, but it did not immediately pounce again.

Yuan Ming was also greatly shocked. Vague memories surfaced in his mind, and he suddenly saw himself in an open square, wielding spears and staffs as he practiced martial arts.

Accompanying those images was a persistent heaviness clouding his mind.

Yuan Ming knew this was not the time to dwell on such matters. He quickly shook his head, forcing those thoughts down, and focused ahead.

Beside that blue-green wolf, another, even larger blue-green wolf had somehow caught up.

The two creatures split to the left and right, closing in on Yuan Ming from the flanks.

That earlier punch had indeed caught them off guard. The power it unleashed had been twice what Yuan Ming believed himself capable of, yet even such force had failed to seriously injure the wolf.

I can't beat them. I can only run.

Yuan Ming made his decision at once.

At that moment, the two blue-green wolves suddenly accelerated together and charged at him from both sides.

Yuan Ming hurriedly ran forward and glanced swiftly to either side, only to find that the two wolves maintained exactly the same speed. Neither lagged behind the other. Clearly, they intended to attack him simultaneously, leaving him unable to attend to both ends.

He was already slower than the wolves, and both routes had been blocked. Even if he wanted to climb a tree again, it was already too late.

Then, the wind suddenly howled beside both of Yuan Ming's ears as the two blue-green wolves attacked at once.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stopped abruptly again. His waist twisted hard to the right, and he made as though to swing his fist at the injured wolf.

Out of fear, the wolf instinctively shrank back.

That momentary delay gave Yuan Ming his chance. His twisted body turned back again, and the fist originally aimed at the injured wolf changed into an elbow strike, smashing viciously at the wolf on his left.

Bang! The blue-green wolf was struck hard by Yuan Ming's elbow and sent tumbling away.

But almost at the same time, the wolf on the right bit into Yuan Ming's shoulder.

Sharp wolf fangs pierced flesh, and the intense pain made Yuan Ming suck in a cold breath. He grabbed a fistful of fur along the wolf's back and threw it forward with all his strength.

With one fang broken, the wolf could not bite down with its full strength. Yuan Ming hurled it from his shoulder in an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming it hard into the ground.

Seizing the opening, Yuan Ming raced toward a towering ancient tree. Using both hands and feet, he climbed up it in just a few swift movements.

The blue-green wolf he had struck with his elbow pursued close behind, but it bit only empty air and failed to stop Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming climbed all the way to a horizontal branch near the treetop before stopping. Looking down, he saw both blue-green wolves gathered beneath the tree.

The wolf whose tooth he had broken and then thrown was bleeding from the corner of its mouth and looked somewhat bedraggled. The one that had taken his elbow strike, however, was completely uninjured, its reddish eyes fixed on him with deadly intensity.

Seeing that the two wolves had not mutated to the point of being able to climb trees, Yuan Ming finally relaxed somewhat. He took the chance to look at his shoulder and found three bloody holes there, blood gushing from them in streams.

He moved his shoulder muscles slightly, and the pain immediately made him bare his teeth in a grimace.

The blue-green wolf below stared while circling the tree for quite some time. Then it suddenly raised its head and let out a drawn-out wolf howl.

The sound echoed through the mountain forest and traveled into the distance.

Yuan Ming immediately realized that it was calling for reinforcements. It seemed that even in the strange forest of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, wolves still retained their pack-dwelling habits.

I can't stay here. Once the wolf pack surrounds me, I'll have even less chance of escaping.

With that thought, Yuan Ming tore a vine from a nearby branch, roughly wound it twice around his shoulder, and once again used the skill of swinging through the open sky on his arms, leaping between the ancient trees.

The two blue-green wolves followed relentlessly beneath him.

Unlike the cumbersome black bear, blue-green wolves possessed greater patience and endurance. Naturally, they would not allow Yuan Ming, this meat already at their mouths, to escape.

No matter how Yuan Ming leapt and fled, they followed steadily below, occasionally howling to report his location to their companions.

Yuan Ming did not dare stop. He could already see shadows flickering throughout the forest, but the injury bleeding him dry and his prolonged lack of food had pushed this body close to its limit.

His vision began to blur. Even the pain in his shoulder could no longer keep him awake.

The shade ahead began to darken. His arms throbbed unbearably, and whenever he caught hold of a vine, he could not stop himself from sliding downward. Perhaps on his next leap, he would fall.