"This place isn't safe to linger." The heavy stench of blood sent a chill through Qin Meng. If they delayed any longer, who knew what ferocious demonic beast they might attract?
He immediately cleaned up the battlefield, splitting open the head of the large Iron-Armored Salamander Demon with his blade and extracting a deep-blue Crystal Core and an Emerald Bead.
Blue crystals were treasures that only demonic beasts of the second rank or higher could possibly condense. They were extremely valuable; this single one could fetch several hundred taels of silver.
The Emerald Bead was only the size of a longan, yet it contained a pure, surging vitality. Qin Meng didn't know where it came from, but he knew it was no ordinary object.
He carefully wiped the bead and Crystal Core clean, wrapped them in cloth, and stowed them close to his body. Then he examined the head of the smaller Iron-Armored Salamander Demon, but found neither a Crystal Core nor a green bead.
Not daring to waste time, he used what was at hand to quickly make a simple drag sled from rope and branches. He bled the Silly Roe Deer, discarded its entrails, and firmly tied it to the sled along with the two salamander demon corpses and his basket.
With his bow and arrows on his back and a long knife in hand, Qin Meng dragged the heavy sled one-handed away from the bloody battlefield, hurrying down the mountain path.
He calculated that the prey and demonic beast materials would fetch a great deal of silver. He would keep the large Iron-Armored Salamander Demon for himself and sell the smaller one.
Prices in Linshan Town, a tiny place, were too low. He needed to find a shop that specialized in buying demonic beast materials, and while he was at it, look for clues about the core cultivation technique.
Just as Qin Meng was thinking this—
"Awoooo!" A sharp wolf howl suddenly shattered the forest's silence nearby.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
A second howl followed, then a third. Soon, the cries rose and fell in a continuous chorus.
There were at least ten wolves in the pack.
Their howls grew clearer by the moment. They were closing in.
Qin Meng's expression shifted. He immediately held his breath and focused all his power on activating his Wild Instinct talent.
His invisible awareness rippled outward. Beyond the scents of grass, trees, soil, and blood, he clearly caught the rank odor of the wolves on the wind. Several scents were moving swiftly from different directions, evidently forming a ring around something.
More troubling still, he sensed a trace of human blood—and a faint shout, nearly swallowed by the howling:
"Run! Hurry!"
Someone had run into trouble deep in the mountains and was being chased by wolves.
Qin Meng's eyes sharpened like a falcon's. He glanced down at the sled beside him, then toward the howls, rapidly weighing his options.
He could almost be certain that the people in danger were hunters from Luming Fort.
Some time ago, he had hunted a Spotted Deer in the mountains. When word reached the fort, it had made many hunters jealous and sent them into the mountains to hunt. There was a good chance their run-in with the wolf pack had something to do with that.
Should he save them, or leave at once?
He had just survived a life-and-death battle with the Iron-Armored Salamander Demon. Though his Self-Healing talent had restored most of his injuries, he had still expended a great deal of energy, and his right hand had not fully healed. He was far from his peak.
On top of that, demonic beasts had appeared repeatedly in the mountains, and now the wolves were on the move. Clearly, this mountain forest had been anything but peaceful lately. Interfering recklessly would be like inviting disaster.
But the shouts on the wind sounded oddly familiar, and for some reason his heart tightened.
"Forget it. This started because of me. I'll go take a look."
Qin Meng needed no more than an instant to decide.
The next moment, he activated his Environmental Integration talent. His aura blended into the plants and trees around him, and his figure became a ghostly shadow. Treading over fallen leaves, he silently crept toward the howls.
From the forest ahead came rustling and low growls that made the scalp crawl.
Three figures stumbled out, with death practically at their heels. The wolves chased close behind, and more seemed to be approaching from farther away.
The broad-shouldered man in front was Li Tiezhu, built like a mountain. Now his clothes were in tatters, and he was covered in wounds. He held Qin Xiaoshan up with his left arm.
Qin Xiaoshan's thigh was a bloody mess, and deep claw marks scored his shoulder. Every jolt sent pain knifing through the wounds, while cold sweat mingled with blood and streamed down his face.
"Brother Tiezhu... put me down!" He clenched his teeth and forced the words through them. "I'm holding you back... Let me stay behind and cover your escape!"
"Shut up!" Li Tiezhu didn't even look back. His voice was firm as a nail, leaving no room for argument. "We came together, we leave together. Keep running your mouth and I'll knock you out and carry you."
On the other side, a stocky, dark-skinned boy barreled ahead with his head down. It was Wang Tieniu.
He was only fifteen or sixteen, but already a martial artist at the great-completion stage of the Boiling Blood Realm, with astonishing strength. Even now, he was carrying two enormous Spotted Deer. Their blood splashed along the path, the pungent smell a banner leading the wolves straight to them.
Li Tiezhu glanced back and nearly burst with rage. "Tieniu, have you stuffed donkey hair in your ears? Drop the deer! Can't you smell all that blood?"
"I won't drop them!" Wang Tieniu shouted back, neck tendons bulging. "We worked so hard to hunt them. Why should we let those beasts have them?"
The howls drew near; the rank wind was already at their backs!
Two ancient trees stood close together ahead. Li Tiezhu made an instant decision. "Up the trees!"
The three stumbled toward the trees. Li Tiezhu first hoisted Qin Xiaoshan onto a low branch, then climbed up after him.
Even at a time like this, Wang Tieniu couldn't bear to leave the prey. He set one deer down, then started climbing with the other still on his back.
Halfway up, he turned and saw the deer on the ground. His eyes reddened. With all his might, he tossed it onto a branch, then suddenly jumped back down.
"Tieniu!" Li Tiezhu and Qin Xiaoshan shouted at the same time.
Just as Wang Tieniu bent to grab the deer, several green shadows sprang from the forest, their gaping jaws lunging for the back of his neck.
At that critical moment—
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two sharp arrows cut through the air and struck the eye sockets of two wolves almost simultaneously.
Their howls turned to shrieks, and their assault faltered.
It was Qin Xiaoshan! Half his body leaned against the trunk, his face pale as a ghost, but the hand gripping his bow was steady as stone. Blood ran from his fingertips, yet he nocked a second arrow with blinding speed. Every shot was viciously precise, aimed at the wolves' eyes or throats, forcing back the first few attackers.
Li Tiezhu fired arrow after arrow as well. His aim wasn't as precise as Qin Xiaoshan's, but his shots packed a heavy punch, knocking down wolves that tried to circle around and attack from the side.
In the blink of an eye they had bought with their lives, Wang Tieniu let out a roar like a tiger. Rather than flee, he drew the hunting knife at his waist and spun around, hacking down hard.
His blade flashed, and a gray wolf tumbled away with a wail.
He kicked the wolf toward the pack, then seized the dead deer from the ground and swung it onto his shoulder. A few bounding steps took him to the tree. He scrambled up with hands and feet, then wedged both deer securely between the branches.
"My goods... Nobody's taking them!" He panted, still shaken, yet his words held that infuriating stubbornness.
Below, however, the wolves had completely surrounded the trees.
More than ten giant wolves, each as large as a calf, prowled around the two ancient trees. Their eerie green eyes stayed fixed on the people above, drool dripping from their jaws.
One wolf was especially strong, its fur a fiery red. It threw back its head and howled, and the pack erupted into a frenzy.
They split into several groups. Their hind-leg muscles bunched, then they leaped, claws sinking deep into the bark as they scrambled upward.
Three of the strongest wolves backed away a few paces, then slammed their shoulders into the tree Wang Tieniu was in.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The heavy impacts boomed through the forest like muffled thunder. The ancient tree, too thick for a man to encircle, shuddered violently. Leaves rained down, and an ear-grating crack rang out from the trunk. Bark split, and wood chips flew.
Wang Tieniu was shaken off balance. His face turned deathly pale as he clung desperately to the trunk, still stubbornly holding the two deer in place.
"Drop the deer and hold on to the tree!" Li Tiezhu shouted, his voice hoarse with panic. He wanted to reach Wang Tieniu, but the wolves below kept leaping at him, giving him no chance to break free.
"No... They're silver. Grandpa can buy medicine with the money." Wang Tieniu cried out as the tree shook violently. Thinking of his grandfather, whose old illness had returned and whose health was worsening by the day, made his fear give way to stubborn resolve.
"You..." Li Tiezhu was frantic with worry. He wanted to curse, but the words caught in his throat. If he had known it would come to this, he never should have given in and let that reckless kid come into the deep mountains.
Qin Xiaoshan's vision was already going dark. His blood loss was leaving him weaker by the moment, and even staying upright was a struggle. He could only lean against the tree.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
His last few arrows flew, and the quiver was empty.
The wolves attacked even more fiercely below. The red-furred Alpha Wolf bared its murderous intent and joined the assault itself.
The cracks in the trunk of Wang Tieniu's tree were spreading right before their eyes...
They were trapped. Truly trapped.
Just as despair was about to swallow the three of them whole—
At the forest's edge, a dry, yellowing thicket shifted slightly. A figure slipped close like a ghost.
Qin Meng had arrived! His Wild Instinct talent detected no sense of danger. He stopped hiding, darted forward, and silently crouched in a patch of shadow closer to the scene, ready to save them.
The view opened up before him. There was the desperate tableau of men trapped like beasts, their lives hanging by a thread.
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