Dog Body

In the great river, a colossal Water Python had entangled a Giant Hippopotamus.

The thick serpent squeezed with all its might, and the Giant Hippopotamus let out pained bellows, struggling violently in the water.

Unidentified dark shapes darted swiftly beneath the water. The Water Python's ferocious head emerged, its mouth opening in a silent roar as its massive body tightened. Blood flowed from the Giant Hippopotamus's seven orifices, staining a large area of the water red.

On the riverbank, Old Wu, Luolin, and Ding lay sprawled on the ground.

Old Wu's left shoulder had its coarse cloth torn away, and blood continuously spilled out.

Luolin and Ding were both spitting blood, coughing incessantly and expelling black, bloody water. The poison had corroded their windpipes, and their chests made a whirring sound like a windmill with every breath.

Wu Tie landed heavily a dozen meters away, observing them.

The three looked at Wu Tie with grim expressions, their eyes showing not fear, but a kind of shame, as if they couldn't bear to be seen.

Wu Tie remained silent for a moment, then pulled out a small animal skin pouch and tossed it in front of Luolin. "It's white, effective both externally and internally. Why don't you try it? Old Wu, you've lost quite a bit of blood."

Inside the pouch were three bottles meant for Foundation Establishment Potions, filled with the white liquid from the crystal sphere.

This liquid had excellent efficacy for external wounds and also strongly counteracted various toxins. Wu Tie had relied on the crystal sphere's healing properties to escape danger on several occasions.

Luolin gritted his teeth and said word by word, "We... have medicine."

Old Wu gave a wry smile. "Third brother, we can't afford to be proud now. Qiao usually keeps the medicine. We don't have any potions with us."

He looked deeply at Wu Tie and said gravely, "Thanks... It's embarrassing to have you see us like this."

Wu Tie's faceplate retracted, revealing a scalp burned bare and covered in blisters. He held a bottle and applied the white liquid to his scalp, enduring the stinging and itching. "Embarrassing? Why would you think that? It's that Qiao's fault..."

The blisters on his scalp quickly shriveled and fell off. Dead skin flaked away, and new flesh grew, leaving Wu Tie's scalp patchy, white and red.

The medicinal effect was clearly significant.

Luolin picked up the animal skin pouch, took out a bottle, and swallowed half of the white liquid in one gulp before taking a deep breath.

A stinging and itching sensation traveled from his throat down to his abdomen, but it was immediately followed by a refreshing coolness and a sense of ease. Clearly, the white liquid was potent in both healing wounds and dispelling poison.

Having personally experienced the miraculous effect of the white liquid, Luolin couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Then, with a grim expression, he poured half a bottle into Ding and applied the remaining bottle layer by layer to Old Wu's wounds.

Wu Tie looked at the three, whose complexions had improved considerably, and asked in a deep voice, "You just killed Feng Yu? He was your own companion."

Luolin's face turned icy, and he remained silent for a long time.

Old Wu looked at Wu Tie and said gravely, "Our hatred for Shi Lingqing runs too deep... If Feng Yu fell into her hands, who knows how much he would suffer... It's better to grant him release than to live a fate worse than death, only to be used as bait against us."

Before Wu Tie could ask further questions, Luolin sneered, "Now you understand what kind of woman Shi Lingqing is, don't you? Do you still have any good feelings for her? If we want to kill her, will you still help her?"

Wu Tie opened his mouth, unable to speak.

He couldn't answer Luolin's question, nor did he have a firm decision himself, so he turned and left.

For the next few days, Wu Tie stayed curled up alone in the wooden shed, idly playing with a hapless Little Flying Snake that had blundered into his shelter. He spent his days posing the three-foot-long snake in countless strange positions.

Old Wu, Luolin, and Ding's vitality was like that of cockroaches. They rested for only half a day before regaining their vigor.

The three left their temporary shelter and disappeared, their destination unknown.

Wu Tie guessed they had gone to seek revenge on Shi Lingqing, but he didn't want to get involved. His mind was a mess, and all sorts of strange thoughts sprouted like weeds in his heart, making him agitated but unsure how to deal with them.

Especially since, last night, he had dreamt of Shi Lingqing while sleeping.

The dream was strange and ambiguous; he and Shi Lingqing had done things he couldn't recall after waking.

The only thing he remembered about the dream was waking up abruptly with slight tremors in his body... something unfamiliar had happened.

The lid in the corner of the wooden shed was violently thrown open, and four Metal Spiders carried Old Tie up. The Metal Spiders circled Wu Tie three times with Old Tie, who then sprayed a stream of electricity from his large teeth, making Wu Tie yelp in pain.

"Women, the most terrifying creatures in the world," Old Tie declared loudly. "Fortunately, this grandpa doesn't need women and has no such weakness... Yang Jian and many others suffered because of women back then."

"So, little guy, how are you... how are you feeling now?" Old Tie cackled.

"I can't say," Wu Tie replied honestly, looking at Old Tie. "I don't know. It's just... very uncomfortable, yet also very relieving."

"It's all your former Master Hui's fault," Old Tie pointed out uncharitably. "He filled your head with too much useless stuff... weak, useless things, even dangerous things for this era."

"Apricot blossoms, spring rain... what kind of rubbish is that?" Old Tie's eyes glowed with a blood-red light as he looked at Wu Tie and said gravely, "Those melancholic sentiments are fine in times of peace, but now..."

"What should I do? What should I do?" Wu Tie asked Old Tie urgently, as if clinging to a sturdy log in a flood.

He also admitted that what Master Hui had taught him before seemed truly useless. Just like the 'love' that Master Hui had yearned for and that had sparked Wu Tie's four brothers' imaginations... Was it 'because of love' between Shi Lingqing and Qiao?

Wu Tie wasn't sure.

What had happened between Shi Lingqing and Qiao made Wu Tie feel dirty and disgusted.

"Hold onto your true heart!" Old Tie roared. "Little rookie, hold onto your true heart... Do everything according to your most primal instincts. Guard your true heart, then clench your fists, and use your fists, your blades, your guns... to eliminate all targets that make your true heart weak and confused!"

"This is a dark jungle... Only the strongest hunters have the right to survive." Streams of dazzling electricity shot from Old Tie's large teeth, making Wu Tie yelp and jump around erratically.

"You've wasted several days of your life... Although you're young, young people especially shouldn't waste their lives!" Old Tie roared. "Little rookie, do something meaningful, anything at all, even if it's just going to a place with a wide view and fresh air to pee while enjoying the scenery... Run, move, liven up your young life!"

"Get out of this damn wooden shed, young people shouldn't be shut-ins."

"Run, move, do anything... Run... One-two, one-two... One-two... Move!"

Wu Tie ran towards the outside of the wooden shed. One of Old Tie's eyeballs shot out a thin beam of red light, hitting the tight-fitting armor on Wu Tie's backside. A small circular area on the armor, which was resistant to blades and swords, suddenly turned bright red, its temperature soaring as if it were a branding iron.

With a pained howl, Wu Tie clutched his backside and hopped and leaped out, running at his fastest speed while gasping for breath.

After running around aimlessly for an entire day, Wu Tie had beaten up a Giant Hippopotamus, knocked out a Water Python, tied two Black Ring Snakes into a beautiful bow, and hung a Black Widow spider using its own silk on a luminous fern…

After a whole day of exertion, over ninety percent of the pent-up frustration in Wu Tie's heart had dissipated.

Then he discovered the three of them – Old Wu and the other two.

The three of them were like three injured, starving wolves, tracking faint traces on the ground as they moved forward.

Luolin and Ding occasionally slashed their straight swords through the mushroom patches and fern thickets. Each time, faint snapping sounds would come from within, and sometimes arrows, flying daggers, and similar objects would weakly fly out.

Along the way, they had encountered a series of ingenious ambushes, as if someone had anticipated their arrival from this direction.

Luolin and Ding seemed extremely familiar with the methods employed by this person; they easily dismantled the traps and ambushes along the path.

Only those who were most familiar with each other could achieve such results.

Wu Tie quietly followed behind them.

He hadn't decided who to help yet, but he wanted to see how things would turn out.

As he moved forward, Wu Tie was astonished to find that they had arrived at the very spot where four giant spiders and two giant beasts had perished in a mutual destruction.

Due to the self-detonation of one of the giant beasts, the entire stone pillar forest, spanning dozens of miles, had sunk. Beneath the stone pillar forest, about ten meters of rock layer concealed a vast underground space. The giant beast's self-detonation had destabilized the rock layer, causing the entire ground to collapse and sink.

A cold wind continuously blew out from the pit, which spanned dozens of miles. Standing at the edge and looking down, the depth was about two to three hundred meters. Countless broken stone pillars and stalagmites lay scattered haphazardly on the ground, creating a scene of utter devastation.

Luolin and the other two searched around the edge of the pit for a while. They soon found a thick vine hanging down to the bottom of the pit.

"They went down from here," Luolin said with certainty, looking at the traces left near the vine. "Qiao knows that with their current manpower, they can't withstand our assassination in open terrain."

Old Wu chuckled with a hint of coldness. "So, he chose this place to fight us to the death?"

Ding also laughed. "This sinkhole is too deep. Otherwise, just like the plan he had the other day, if we lured a big guy over, it would be enough for them to handle."

Wu Tie stood about a hundred meters away. The voices of the three were loud enough for Wu Tie to hear clearly.

Ding mentioned something that happened a few days ago. Wu Tie recalled the miserable situation of being chased by two giant beasts for hundreds of miles and couldn't help but glare at them fiercely.

With a cold snort, Wu Tie leaped up and jumped into the large pit.

An invisible force field enveloped his body, and he glided down lightly. After a few breaths, he successfully reached the bottom of the pit.

"This kid!" Ding grumbled enviously. "What kind of innate divine ability is that?"

Old Wu patted Ding's shoulder with one hand and said in a deep voice, "Why envy others? Be careful. Go down… Shi Lingqing and Qiao must die."

Luolin said in a deep voice from the side, "It's my debt to my brothers…"

Old Wu laughed and said in a deep voice, "Stop the nonsense. We're brothers… Hey, brother!"

The three of them climbed down the vine.

Wu Tie ignored them. His invisible force field covered a radius of a hundred meters, and he moved forward quickly and nimbly.

As he walked, his fingers traced a raised diamond-shaped pattern on his chest.

The pale white, form-fitting armor quietly changed color, rapidly shifting from a conspicuous pale white to a deep, pitch-black hue like the night. Without the slightest reflection, Wu Tie, entirely black, quickly blended into the darkness deep within the pit.

This collapsed area was roughly rectangular, about twenty miles long and over ten miles wide. Wu Tie spent two days searching the bottom of the pit but couldn't find any trace of Shi Lingqing and her group.

It was clear they were hiding.

They didn't know where they were hiding or what preparations they were making to deal with Luolin and the other two.

Wu Tie became increasingly cautious. He used his invisible force field to support his body, moving without touching the ground and making not a sound.

The entire ground had collapsed, and the pit was a mess. The howling cold wind continuously blew out from cracks of various sizes in the pit walls. Over two days, Wu Tie had searched the entire area of the pit, but he hadn't explored the cracks in the pit walls.

As he followed along the pit walls, Wu Tie suddenly stopped.

Ahead, a crack in the pit wall, over a hundred meters high and more than ten meters wide, was continuously spewing out cold wind. Wu Tie's invisible force field also detected signs of human activity.

What attracted Wu Tie's attention was not Shi Lingqing's subordinates, who were lying among the scattered rocks at the crack's entrance, but a strange, large creature about thirty meters inside the crack.

This creature was entirely pale white, clearly made of the same metallic material as Old Tie.

Its appearance was somewhat like the wolf Master Hui had described. Its head was exactly the same as Master Hui's wolf head, and the heads of the Wu Family's Azure Wolf warriors and Grey Wolf warriors.

However, in the center of this creature's head was a transparent hole, and around the wound, some crystalline solidified fluid shimmered with a faint light.

It was evident that this hole had inflicted a fatal wound on the creature.

"This… how could this thing be here?" Old Tie's voice suddenly came from beside Wu Tie. The sudden sound startled Wu Tie, nearly making him scream.

He spun around abruptly and saw a palm-sized metal spider sprinting rapidly from a hundred meters away. With a few leaps, it landed lightly on Wu Tie's shoulder.

"This damned thing, how is it here?" Old Tie's voice came from the metal spider's belly.

"Damned thing?" Wu Tie suddenly remembered that Master Hui had once mentioned a creature called a dog in ancient times, an animal that ancient people used to raise in large numbers.

"This damned thing… it's an acquaintance of Grandpa's… How could it be here?" Old Tie's voice was filled with inexplicable emotion. "Bring it back, now, immediately, bring it back!"