The Hunter and the Prey

In the dim, damp cave, two greenish lights kept flickering.

The hair-raising sounds of chewing and dripping blood rang especially clearly in the silent night.

Suddenly, the chewing stopped. The green lights whipped around and stared toward the cave entrance.

Before long, the dim cave was illuminated by firelight, and the sound of two sets of footsteps rang out.

The light from the torch in their hand revealed the entire cave.

A wolf demon with a wolf's head and a human body, its entire form covered in dense fur, was glaring viciously at them.

"Humans... martial artists..."

The wolf demon spoke in a low voice and slowly straightened up.

He was tall and imposing. His dense fur could not conceal his sharply defined muscles, and his pair of curved wolf legs were thick and powerful.

He certainly did not look injured.

Sun Zhi's expression turned ugly, and he could not help feeling somewhat tense.

The sense of intimidation this wolf demon gave him was something he had never experienced before.

"I thought those fellows had come knocking. I never expected..." The wolf demon stuck out his long tongue and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. The displeasure of having his meal interrupted faded, replaced by excitement as he said, "I never expected food to come right to my door."

"Monster! Sun Zhi of Qiulin County is here! If you surrender obediently, we can still grant you a quick death. Otherwise..."

Sun Zhi forced himself to rally his spirits. Remembering that Shen Lin, whose saber skills were superb, was beside him, much of his fear dissipated. He held his saber and shouted sternly.

"Sun Zhi? Never heard of him! What if I don't listen to you?" Amusement flickered in the wolf demon's eyes as he said softly, "Are you planning to make a ruckus in my stomach?"

As his words fell, his thick wolf legs suddenly bulged, and his enormous black shadow shot forward.

"Wa—"

The wolf demon was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he crossed more than a dozen steps and appeared in front of Sun Zhi.

Before he could finish shouting a warning, he saw a pitch-black wolf claw reaching toward him and could only swiftly draw his saber to defend himself.

His horizontal slash landed on the other party's wolf claw, yet was instantly deflected. The wolf claw's momentum did not diminish as it shot straight toward Sun Zhi's heart.

Fortunately, Sun Zhi had experienced many life-and-death battles. He reacted instantly and dodged to the side.

But before he had time to breathe a sigh of relief, a black shadow suddenly whistled through the air and slammed squarely into his chest.

Bang!

With a muffled boom, Sun Zhi's body flew backward and crashed heavily into the stone wall.

"Urgh!"

He spat out a mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned pale, and he cried out in disbelief, "You weren't injured... This is... the Meridian Opening Realm?!"

The speed with which the wolf demon had erupted had made him sense that something was wrong.

And that strike, which had sent him flying and left him gravely wounded, confirmed his guess.

If the wolf demon were only at the martial artist level, he absolutely could not have done this.

With Sun Zhi's physical strength, he could still withstand an ordinary martial artist's attack head-on.

"Somebody's information didn't match up, did it?"

Cunning swirled in the wolf demon's eyes as he gloated, "Did you really think I didn't know about the business that Old Fox was conducting in secret? Guess why, despite having so many choices, I just had to go to his territory to buy medicine?"

He had been tricked!

Sun Zhi's heart sank as he realized that this time, the positions of hunter and prey had already been reversed.

This fellow had used himself as bait precisely to lure in martial artists like Sun Zhi.

He moved with astonishing agility. There was no sign of injury anywhere on him.

The only question was whether that Old Fox from the Bai Family had seen through it...

But even if he had, it probably no longer mattered to him.

Just as Sun Zhi mocked himself inwardly and prepared to accept his fate, a voice suddenly rang out of nowhere.

"Hey, big black dog! You're not the only one in this cave dwelling, are you?"

The wolf demon had exchanged one move with Sun Zhi, but Shen Lin had not reacted at all. Instead, he had squatted to one side and studied the ground for a while before suddenly speaking.

"What?"

The wolf demon froze. He seemed not to have understood Shen Lin's insulting form of address.

Then he flew into a rage, abandoned Sun Zhi before him, and charged fiercely at Shen Lin.

Seeing this, Sun Zhi opened and closed his mouth, yet could not bring himself to shout anything.

He could not use himself as bait to make Shen Lin hurry and escape.

Instead, seeing Shen Lin court death on his own had given him some time to catch his breath, and he was overjoyed.

As for the possibility that Shen Lin could win, he had never even considered it.

After all, that was a Meridian Opening Realm demon. The abundant Demon Power within its body was simply not something an ordinary martial artist could...

Before his thoughts could finish, the scene that followed made him instinctively widen his eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

"Roar!"

The wolf demon roared and slammed a claw down, seemingly intent on smashing Shen Lin's head to pieces.

But in the next moment, Shen Lin did not even draw his saber. He merely extended a hand slowly and seized the wolf demon's claw.

His slender, fair arm firmly gripped the wolf claw, which was twice as thick as his own, like an iron clamp. The wolf demon could not move at all.

"I said..." Shen Lin spoke with some impatience. "You should have accomplices, shouldn't you?"

The wolf demon did not reply. He was staring blankly at his own claw, his face bewildered.

Seeing this, Shen Lin stopped wasting words and kicked out viciously.

Bang!

With a muffled boom, the powerful impact sent the wolf demon's body into the air. But because Shen Lin was gripping his claw, he could not fly away.

That kick left his body limp at once.

"Urrgh..."

The savage wolf jaws hung open, saliva dripping incessantly. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and even his consciousness seemed to have fallen into a daze.

Seeing this, Shen Lin muttered unhappily, "What a nuisance!"

Then, gripping the other party's wolf claw, he swung his arm and hurled him away.

Boom!

Stones flew in all directions as the massive wolf body slammed heavily into the stone wall. The intense pain called his consciousness back, making him howl incessantly.

Shen Lin walked over slowly, stepped on his wolf claw, and said softly, "I'm asking you a question!"

Crack!

With a crisp snap, Shen Lin crushed the wolf claw beneath his foot. Pale shards of bone pierced through the dense fur.

"Roar!!!"

The wolf demon roared furiously and struggled with all his might.

But even after using every ounce of his strength, he still could not break free.

Shen Lin's seemingly frail body was firmly suppressing him.

Crack!

Shen Lin's sheathed saber came down lightly, smashing the wolf demon's knee. Piercing pain surged through him once more.

"I'm... asking... you... a question!!!"

Shen Lin spoke slowly. With every word he said, he broke a bone somewhere on the other party's body.

"Ahhh, that's... that's my brother. He was already... already killed by those people...!"

The wolf demon understood. If he did not answer, this torment would continue.

Thus, despite the unbearable pain wracking his body, he still forced himself to focus and answered Shen Lin.

"Who are those people?"

"The demons of Black Wind Stronghold! Their leader is Black Wind Stronghold's Fifth Master, Xiong Ze!!!"

"Do you know where they are?"

"They... they usually stay at Black Wind Stronghold... Black Wind Stronghold is..."

Under the torment of pain, the wolf demon answered nearly every question.

After questioning him for a while, Shen Lin learned all the clues he needed.

"Kill me! Kill me!"

When the wolf demon realized that Shen Lin had stopped questioning him, he wailed incessantly.

Shen Lin simply turned and walked away without any response.

With such severe injuries, he would soon bleed to death. There was no need to dirty his saber again.