Zhong Di surveyed the situation but chose not to step in. There was no way he could interfere in the battles involving Liu Ming and Wang Gui; everyone there was at the Innate Ninth Stage, and stepping in would only be courting death. Only Tang Xiao You's side was one he could help.
Tang Xiao You had just called out that Zhong Shan was at the Innate Third Stage while he himself was at the Innate Fourth Stage. Zhong Di knew Zhong Shan and understood that Zhong Shan would never reveal his true strength. Thus, he did not dare fight Zhong Shan either. Instead, he gradually withdrew from the battlefield and hid in the rear.
The more Tang Xiao You fought, the more agitated he became. Zhong Shan was only at the Innate Third Stage—why? Why was his saber technique like that? It was as though every strike landed precisely on the weak point of his sword.
"Fire! Fire!" Tang Xiao You roared at the many Tang Family archers rushing over.
Arrows were still effective against those who had just entered the Innate Stage, but against someone like Tian Ling'er, who had formed True Essence, they could not even pierce the dense Baleful Qi surrounding her body. Besides, the crowd's speed was beyond what the archers could track. Zhong Shan, however, was different. He had yet to cultivate True Essence and possessed only true qi, which formed merely a thin layer of Baleful Qi outside his body. It could not block the arrows.
Being unable to block them did not mean he could not evade them. The speed of an Innate expert was far beyond what these archers could match.
A volley of arrows shot over. Zhong Shan leaped and swiftly jumped aside, coincidentally charging toward the little wolf. Then an even larger second volley shot toward him.
Looking at the dense rain of arrows, Zhong Shan knew he could not dodge them all. A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes.
Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique!
The muscles all over his body suddenly swelled, rapidly propping up his frame.
When Zhong Shan had previously raised his great saber, the Zhao Family servants had been so frightened that they scattered and fled.
The little demon wolf had naturally been abandoned.
The demon wolf had been asleep. When it was thrown onto the ground, the pain immediately woke it.
The instant it awoke, it saw fighting and killing in the courtyard. Then another rain of arrows—arrows like those it had once seen humans shoot—came streaking toward it.
They... they are finally going to kill me? Will I be shot to death by these arrows invented by humans, just like the other wolves?
Grandpa, aren't you coming to save Xianxian? They are finally going to kill me. I'm going to die! Grandpa, Grandpa!
With a despairing expression, the demon wolf stared at the massive rain of arrows flying toward it. Intense regret flashed in its eyes. If it had not run away, it would not have died. It would not have encountered these bad people.
"Ah~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
The demon wolf suddenly heard an enraged roar. Then, the countless arrows before its eyes abruptly vanished, blocked by something—a body, a huge human body. That body wrapped its arms around the demon wolf.
"Thud, thud, thud..."
The demon wolf felt the body tremble incessantly after embracing it. It knew that trembling came from the arrows striking the man's body.
He used his body to shield me from the arrows? He saved me? Is he the good person Grandpa always talks about? A good person?
"Zhong Shan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
Tian Ling'er's anxious cry came from the distance.
Zhong Shan leaped into a corner of the courtyard and set the demon wolf down in a safe spot. Then he sprang back toward the courtyard.
"I'm fine!" Zhong Shan shouted at Tian Ling'er.
The great saber in his hand hacked viciously toward Tang Xiao You.
Heaven Splitting Strike!
Under the Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique, Zhong Shan erupted with twice his strength. With another strike unleashed at full power, the saber swept out a vast mass of red Baleful Qi and cleaved fiercely toward Tang Xiao You.
Seeing the bloodthirsty look in Zhong Shan's eyes, Tang Xiao You knew something was wrong. An unprecedented fear spread through his entire body, and he hurriedly raised his sword to block.
"Clang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
"Slash~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
Tang Xiao You's sword broke, and his body was split in two by the saber. Blood splattered across the courtyard, blooming all over the ground.
With a savage expression, Zhong Shan raised his head and looked toward the archers.
The archers had long since been scared witless. So many arrows had struck his body, yet he had remained unharmed, blocking every one of them. Was his body made of diamond? In the blink of an eye, the archers fled without a trace.
"Go!" Liu Ming had been defeated by Zhao Suo Xiang's sword. He shouted at Wang Gui, shot upward, leaped onto the roof, and vanished from everyone's sight in a single bound.
Wang Gui naturally fled after him.
As for Zhong Di, he had disappeared without a trace long ago.
Tian Ling'er was worried about Zhong Shan. The moment she saw Wang Gui leave, she hurried over to him. Zhong Shan's back was covered in numerous holes.
"I'm fine." Zhong Shan shook his head.
Tian Ling'er immediately lifted Zhong Shan's outer garment. As expected, he was fine; only several rows of red marks had appeared across his back. Yet those red marks somehow added a touch of masculine bearing to Zhong Shan's back.
Masculine bearing? Bah, bah, bah! Tian Linger's face flushed, and she quickly covered Zhong Shan's clothes again.
"Zhong Shan, are you all right?" Zhao Suo Xiang asked.
"I'm fine." Zhong Shan shook his head.
"Zhong Shan is the most extraordinary person I've ever seen. At the Innate Third Stage, you actually killed someone at the Innate Fourth Stage with a single strike. Once you form True Essence, you must fight me." Zhao Suo Xiang immediately laughed.
"Good. I will." Zhong Shan answered readily.
Then Zhong Shan walked over to the demon wolf and gently picked it up.
"Zhong Shan, we owe it to you that we found the demon wolf this time. Otherwise, I would never have seen it again. You were also the one who saved it just now, so this demon wolf is yours." Zhao Suo Xiang spoke frankly at once.
Zhao Suo Xiang clearly distinguished gratitude from resentment. He still felt a trace of guilt over his previous misunderstanding of Zhong Shan. Now that the truth was clear, the demon wolf could serve as compensation.
"Good." Zhong Shan did not put on any false modesty and accepted directly. That settled the matter of the demon wolf.
Holding the demon wolf, Zhong Shan returned to the earlier courtyard. The maid had already prepared water for him to wash the blood from his body.
The demon wolf was also covered in blood.
Zhong Shan brought it to the bathing pool as well, tossed it beside the pool with only its head left above the water, and then ignored it while he washed himself.
Only after washing himself did he look at the demon wolf again. He picked it up and quickly began washing it in the pool, turning it over and over as he scrubbed.
"Huh, this high-level demon wolf really is different. Its entire body is covered in fur, so you can't even tell whether it's male or female." Zhong Shan's face showed a trace of astonishment.
Still, he quickly washed the demon wolf from head to toe. Afterward, he smiled and said, "It's a female little wolf. No wonder I couldn't see anything."
After putting on his clothes, Zhong Shan carried the little wolf out.
"Zhong Shan, let this little wolf go. It's so small. Let it return to its pack, or it'll starve to death sooner or later. Besides, we don't even know what it eats." Tian Ling'er immediately spoke up.
Zhong Shan looked at Tian Ling'er, his head throbbing. Let it go? This was a Fourth Grade Pill! But then he looked at the little wolf and thought she might be right. Perhaps it would starve to death before long. Zhong Shan had discovered that the little wolf did not eat rice porridge; it had vomited everything up at the bathing pool just now.
Perhaps it really would starve to death before long. Once it died and its blood dried up, it would become useless. And if he took it with him, he would have another mouth to look after.
Seeing that Tian Ling'er was determined not to stop until he released the demon wolf, Zhong Shan shook his head and said indulgently, "All right. I'll listen to you."
"Zhong Shan, you're planning to release this little wolf?" Zhao Suo Xiang asked incredulously.
"That's right."
Zhong Shan had been somewhat reluctant at first, but since he had promised Tian Ling'er, he severed all the reluctance in his heart. Once a man gave his word, he had to fulfill it. This was also Zhong Shan's way of conducting himself.
"All right. I'll take you there." Zhao Suo Xiang nodded immediately. Since Zhong Shan agreed, he had nothing more to say.
By afternoon, the group reached the northern mountains. Zhao Suo Xiang was also at the Innate Ninth Stage, but the spear in his hand could not carry him through the air like Tian Ling'er's Red Silk. After all, materials like those used to make Tian Ling'er's Red Silk were not easy to find.
When they saw the Small Lake, Zhong Shan gently set the demon wolf down.
"Go on, go on." Tian Ling'er called out happily.
The demon wolf looked incredulously at Zhong Shan, then at the other two. It took two steps forward before turning back. Only after confirming that Zhong Shan truly intended to let it go did the demon wolf finally understand that Zhong Shan really was a good person—truly a good person. It had met a good person too.
The demon wolf quickly ran to Zhong Shan. Wearing a puzzled expression, Zhong Shan reached out to pick it up, but the demon wolf lightly leaped aside. It looked at Zhong Shan's left palm, gently licked it, and then suddenly spat out a mouthful of white liquid.
Did it just spit?
The three stared dumbfoundedly at what the demon wolf had done to Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan had released it, and it had spat on him? But did the demon wolf even know what spitting meant?
After spitting out the white liquid, the demon wolf leaped and swiftly ran into the deep mountains, vanishing from Zhong Shan's sight.
"This little wolf is unbelievable. We let it go, and it still spat on you." Tian Ling'er immediately laughed.
Zhong Shan said nothing.
Spit? It was not spit. Zhong Shan felt the white liquid enter the center of his left palm and rapidly seep into his body. He even had the feeling that the white liquid had fused into his blood.
Shaking his head, Zhong Shan cast aside the doubt in his heart.
"All right, let's head back." Zhong Shan spoke.
"Mm." Tian Ling'er answered at once.
Then the three of them quickly left the mountains as before and made their way back.
After they had walked for half an hour, the group noticed nothing unusual. Yet on a distant mountaintop, a peculiar scene had appeared.
A Great Wolf stood atop the mountain, a giant wolf standing two meters tall. On top of the giant wolf's head stood a little wolf barely a foot tall—the very little wolf Zhong Shan had just released.
The little wolf stood atop the Great Wolf's head and watched Zhong Shan slowly disappear into the mountains. Then it gave several soft cries toward the Great Wolf below, as though issuing it an order.
The Great Wolf immediately whimpered several times. As if obeying the little wolf's command, it turned around and raced swiftly into the deep mountains.
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