Fifty li north of Pingyang City lay Wolf Head Mountain.
Heavy snow had frozen everything solid, leaving only one road into the mountain.
The Martial Saint Temple halfway up the mountain guarded this only pass.
On the altar stood a statue of a red-faced, long-bearded general in green robes. He held a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, his war robe billowing with an intimidating presence.
Emperor Guan the Holy was widely worshiped among the common people. At the beginning of Emperor Yousheng's reign, he had been posthumously granted the title of Great Emperor Who Subdues Demons of the Three Realms, Loyal and Righteous.
The firewood crackled loudly. The clay pot of porridge was almost being licked by sparks from the flames.
The three large buildings with green-tiled roofs were spacious enough. Five or six fires had been lit, around which more than forty men sat.
They wore tattered cotton-padded jackets, and many had frostbite on their hands and feet. They huddled before the fires.
Only three people sat beside the fire closest to the Martial Saint statue. They were clearly the leaders of the group.
In the middle sat a tall woman, fully six feet one inch in height. Her muscles had beautifully defined lines, without a trace of excess flesh. Thick, long hair draped over her shoulders. She had long brows, deep-set eyes, and a face as round as a silver plate.
She wore a gray-white wolf-fur cloak. The two towering peaks beneath the animal hide revealed even more of her wild beauty.
The women in brothels swayed three times with every step, frail and unable to withstand the wind, using that to arouse ordinary men's pity.
The woman sitting with her back against the Martial Saint statue could clearly heft a long saber or great axe at any moment and fight a bloody battle. In truth, she was even more capable of stirring a man's urge to conquer.
"The Wild Wolf Gang once had more than three hundred brothers, but now... only these people remain!"
The middle-aged burly man sitting on the right was in his forties. Short and stocky, he was a head shorter than the woman. Seeing his brothers poorly clothed and starving, he lowered his head and sighed dejectedly.
His name was Liu Dachui, ranked sixth among the Wild Wolf Gang's Seven Fiends. His martial-world nickname was Iron Head Wolf.
The woman asked, "Twenty years ago, when my father and Uncle Liu swore brotherhood in this Martial Saint Temple, how many people were there?"
"Young Gang Leader, you know the answer. Seven old brothers—neither one more nor one less."
Yet during the ambush a month ago, all six masters, including Gang Leader Zhao Laodao, had died in battle. He had been accompanying the Young Gang Leader outside, leading this group to seize illicit salt, and had luckily escaped disaster.
The woman asked again, "How long did it take you to walk from this ruined temple to Pingyang City?"
Liu Dachui recalled, "Ten years. The old gang leader led us, fighting our way forward with saber and spear, until we made the Lin Family flee in panic."
The woman looked at Liu Dachui, her eyes shining with spirit and her tone resolute. "We still have forty brothers. Then we won't need ten years."
Liu Dachui froze for a moment. Seeing that the Young Gang Leader possessed such lofty ambition, he felt inferior even to a youngster and could only smile bitterly. "All six brothers have died. I'm just a little ghost waiting to report to the King of Hell. Whatever you say, Young Gang Leader, I'll do!"
"Xia, what should we do next? Do you have a plan?"
The man sitting on the left was named Zhao Huaien. He was Zhao Laodao's adopted son, a deep and resourceful man who had always played the role of strategist within the gang.
Zhao Xia asked, "Brother Huaien, do you have any suggestions?"
Zhao Huaien pondered for a moment before saying, "When the Dragon Scale Association launched its ambush, I was with the gang. Quite a few brothers were killed or wounded, but the Lin Family's experts did not specifically pursue the ordinary gang members. Most of them escaped, though they were scattered outside."
Liu Dachui slapped his thigh. "That's right! Young Gang Leader, shall we gather those brothers back?"
Zhao Xia thought for a moment before saying, "Brother Huaien is right. We should gather the scattered members, but we have no information. Sending people down the mountain blindly could easily land us in the Dragon Scale Association's trap."
Zhao Huaien nodded lightly and asked, "Then what do you think, Xia?"
"The Dragon Scale Association was able to crush our Wild Wolf Gang because it received help from the Mount Song Sect. Otherwise, with that old turtle Lin Kun, they could never have killed my father."
"The Wild Wolf Gang is a vassal sect of the Sun Moon Divine Cult. We should wait for experts from the Divine Cult to arrive."
Liu Dachui frowned. "Young Gang Leader, we sent a messenger twenty days ago, but still haven't received a response. Will the Sun Moon Divine Cult really send people?"
"Pingyang City lies on the border between two provinces. It is the western gateway to Blackwood Cliff and a buffer zone with the Five Great Sword Sects. If we let the Dragon Scale Association control this place, the Mount Heng, Mount Hua, and Mount Song Sects will have a bridgehead from which to attack Pingding Prefecture. In my letter to Wind Thunder Hall, I explained the stakes clearly. Elder Tong Baixiong should not stand by and do nothing."
Though Zhao Xia was a woman, her father, Gang Leader Zhao Laodao, had always raised her as his successor. Whether in martial cultivation or vision, she was outstanding among the younger generation of the Wild Wolf Gang.
Otherwise, the more than forty gang members in the temple would never have accepted her leadership.
Zhao Huaien said, "Xia is right. But I believe that to forge iron, one must still be strong oneself. We should request outside aid, but at the same time, we should gather the scattered members and strengthen ourselves."
As the three discussed the matter, a commotion suddenly broke out at the temple entrance.
Zhao Xia sprang to her feet. Her height of over six feet was immensely imposing. She effortlessly lifted the Daylily-shaped Long-handled Axe, which weighed fifty or sixty pounds, like a female chief of a primitive tribe.
Liu Dachui also drew his iron-ring saber.
Escorted by two gang members who had been standing guard outside, a blood-covered man crawled and rolled into the Martial Saint Temple.
"Young Gang Leader, Sixth Master, I've finally found you."
The blood on the man's face had frozen into ice chips. His eyebrows, beard, and hair were stuck together, making his features impossible to see clearly for the moment.
Zhao Huaien recognized the man. "Are you Wang Jinquan?"
"I'm Wang Jinquan, from Fifth Master."
Zhao Xia said, "You're still alive? How many brothers are still alive?"
"We gathered more than thirty brothers. After learning that the Young Gang Leader was at Wolf Head Mountain, we came here to seek refuge. Who knew we'd run into people from the Dragon Scale Association? We fought, but we were outmatched and fled into the woods. Now there are only a little over twenty brothers left. Every one of them is wounded, and they're hiding in the woods. They sent me to Wolf Head Mountain to find the Young Gang Leader."
"Young Gang Leader, please save those brothers."
"Otherwise, even if the Dragon Scale Association doesn't kill them, they'll freeze to death in the snow."
The man spoke with heartfelt sincerity and repeatedly knocked his head against the ground. His frozen wounds split open, staining the ground red.
Looking at the expressions of the brothers in the temple, Zhao Xia knew that if they did not go down the mountain to rescue the others, the little morale and loyalty they had left would disperse.
"Where exactly are they?"
"The Black Pine Woods, twenty li from Wolf Head Mountain."
"How many people does the Dragon Scale Association have?"
The man replied, "When we fought them, the Dragon Scale Association had more than forty people. After we scattered, some of them left as well. Only a dozen or so remained to guard the road."
"Uncle Liu, I'll take the brothers down the mountain. You stay here and guard the temple."
"Young Gang Leader, I have to go."
Liu Dachui glanced at the blood-covered man and said quietly, "In case... the Wild Wolf Gang should still preserve a seed."
Iron Head Wolf Liu Dachui was at the Mid-stage Armor Piercing realm. He had the highest martial prowess and the richest experience in the martial world among them. He was indeed the most suitable person.
"All right, then. Uncle Liu, take thirty brothers down the mountain. I'll wait for you here at the Martial Saint Temple."
"Young Gang Leader, twenty brothers will be enough."
Zhao Huaien said, "Sixth Uncle, you should take more people. First, we have to deal with the Dragon Scale Association. We're already at a disadvantage and our morale is low, so having more people is safer."
"Second, those brothers are wounded and unable to move easily. They'll need people to support them."
"If we can rescue this group of brothers, we'll have sixty men. We'll have more than enough manpower."
Zhao Xia nodded.
"Young Gang Leader, take care."
Liu Dachui led more than thirty brothers out of the Martial Saint Temple with Wang Jinquan, who had come to deliver the message. Their backs gradually vanished into the snowstorm. The tracks in the snow would disappear before long.
Only a dozen or so people remained in the Martial Saint Temple, which suddenly felt deserted.
Zhao Xia sat alone before the fire, gazing at the Xuanhua Great Axe. It was a gift Zhao Laodao had given her when she came of age.
Her mother had been a woman of the grasslands and had died in childbirth while giving birth to her.
After that, she had followed her father through this martial world, which was too cruel even for men, fighting and struggling until the small Wild Wolf Gang broke into Pingyang City and stood against the Dragon Scale Society as an equal.
Yet overnight, everything was gone.
"Xia, don't be sad."
"Brother Huaien, I've never dared to ask you. My father... how did he die? Did he leave any last words?"
"My adoptive father was severely wounded by an expert from the Mount Song Sect who used a sword. He seized a horse and could have escaped, but when he saw Second Uncle and Third Uncle surrounded, he charged back in."
"Later... Lin Kun launched a sneak attack from the shadows. With a Dragon Catcher Hand, he dislocated my adoptive father's shoulder, then struck him in the chest with another palm. My adoptive father vomited blood, fell to the ground, and died."
"Lin Kun personally cut off my adoptive father's head..."
Zhao Xia suddenly asked, "Brother Huaien, what were you doing at the time?"
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