The night wind was icy, carrying a thick stench of blood as it spread in every direction, utterly unrestrained.
Ten heads whose eyes had not closed in death hung outside the cave where the Guada Tribe had once lived, still dripping black blood.
Beneath the heads, a single torch stood planted in the ground. Wu Yuan sat there with a calm expression, slowly shaving a wooden spear with a bronze short sword. Once he finished one, he tossed it aside, working with the dedication of a carpenter.
No one knew how much time had passed. The wind grew colder, and the night even more desolate.
Suddenly, a black shadow silently approached from more than ten meters away. Then it abruptly leaped up like an arrow loosed from a bow, whipping up a fierce gust as it bit toward Wu Yuan's throat.
But in the next second, the fierce wind remained while the black shadow went tumbling away with a whimper. A brand-new wooden spear had pierced straight through its mouth and entire body, leaving it unable even to cry out.
In the blink of an eye, it became a corpse.
Yet more than a dozen corpses like that had already piled up all around in the darkness.
The stench of blood grew even thicker. The wind howled, continually carrying the bloody reek away, as well as the bleak, murderous chill of this place!
Or perhaps this was more like a declaration of war—a challenge to stir up endless slaughter in the dark night by himself.
Inside the cave, Zhang Yang was busy making preparations. Since Wu Yuan was determined to challenge the legendary-grade vicious beast Sabertooth Tiger King, Zhang Yang could not bring himself to dissuade him. The Hero's Trial was simply this cruel: either Wu Yuan could only become