Watching the battle in the distance, Wang Chuan frowned tightly.
Strictly speaking, Red-Headed Jackals were not wolves. They belonged to the jackal family.
The jackal in "jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards."
And what was the essential difference between the two?
The difference was that while both hunted in packs,
wolf packs had wolf kings, while jackal packs did not.
Furthermore, wolf packs assessed the situation. When they encountered large predators, they generally would not hunt them, because that would only cause severe losses to the pack.
Jackals were different. These creatures were far more savage than wolves at heart. Even when they saw predators much stronger than themselves, they dared to charge in head-on. They were practically the honey badgers of the wolf world.
But compared to honey badgers, jackals hunted even more brutally. Like hyenas, they specialized in attacking vulnerable areas below the waist.
It was precisely because of this brutality that, although tigers were clearly much stronger than jackals, the ancients placed jackals at the very front of "jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards."
They even distinguished jackals from ordinary wolves.
Of course, Wang Chuan had learned all this from educational videos in his previous life. It had little to do with this world.
In the backward world of Douluo Continent, the reason jackals were classified separately was because of Yazi, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon.
Legend had it that Yazi possessed a dragon's head and a jackal's body, and was the progenitor of this branch of Spirit Beasts on Douluo Continent.
Yet as he watched the battle before him, Wang Chuan felt that these Red-Headed Jackals were not much different from the jackals described in the educational videos from his previous life.
Because these creatures were likewise surrounding the Copper-Armored Giant Elephant by using underhanded tactics, attacking below the waist.
That was why Wang Chuan had frowned earlier.
I'm not going to have to fight these things, am I? I'll probably get swarmed. And if more than ten Red-Headed Jackals gang up on me chaotically, even with Observation Haki, I don't think my lower half will survive.
Moreover, Copper-Armored Giant Elephants were generally over five meters tall, while these Red-Headed Jackals averaged less than one and a half meters. What normal Spirit Beast would fight something with such a vast size difference?
This only proved that these creatures possessed the savage nature of honey badgers. They charged at anything they saw as prey.
Still, although the battle was brutal, Wang Chuan did not take it to heart. Instead, he felt that he might be able to reap the benefits later.
Wang Chuan then turned his head and looked at Golden Scale, who had shrunk back down and coiled around his arm.
"Golden Scale, are these the ones?"
Wang Chuan had instinctively assumed that Golden Scale would nod.
After all, since Yazi was the progenitor of the jackal species in Douluo, then strictly speaking... these creatures could also be considered... Sub-Dragons, right?
Wang Chuan thought uncertainly, finding it rather strange.
He had previously absorbed a Serpent-Dragon Species Spirit Ring, so how had things suddenly veered toward a mutant dragon species?
However, Golden Scale shook his head and conveyed that while the scent of these creatures was similar, it was not the scent that had triggered his instincts earlier.
This sudden development immediately put Wang Chuan on guard.
It meant that something else was hidden outside the battlefield, and that existence was connected to this pack of Red-Headed Jackals.
Wang Chuan immediately scrutinized the scene and activated Observation Haki, searching for clues he had overlooked.
At the same time, Wang Chuan recalled the specific information on Red-Headed Jackals.
The reason Wang Chuan wondered whether these creatures counted as Sub-Dragons was that this particular Spirit Beast had not been taught in Clan School.
He had learned of it from Spirit Beast records gathered from outside sources.
Within the Heaven Dou Empire, there was a certain clan whose inherited Martial Spirit was Yazi.
Though Wang Chuan seriously suspected they were fooling people.
After all, if their Martial Spirit truly was Yazi, then the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon could never have become the strongest Beast Martial Spirit in the world.
Compared with Yazi, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon fell short by far more than a little.
Was it not true that ten thousand years later, even Xuanzi, the supreme elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, possessed only a mixed-blood Godly Taotie Bull Martial Spirit, yet he could cultivate to Rank 98 and shake the world? The Radiant Sacred Dragon could even cultivate to the Rank 99 Limit.
What did the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon have?
Aside from the powerhouses forcefully added into the setting later on, it had been a complete mess in the early days. Yu Yuanzhen, the strongest Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Spirit wielder of this era, could not even break through Rank 96.
The reason Wang Chuan strongly suspected that the Ge Clan's Yazi Martial Spirit was fake was that their future Marshal Ge Long had not even broken through Rank 90.
It could not even compare to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and this was supposed to be Yazi, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon?
But none of that was the point. The point was that Wang Chuan remembered a note beneath those Spirit Beast records.
[This Spirit Beast has a mutant individual known as the Red-Maned Jackal King.] [Its primary characteristics are that the red fur around its neck forms a mane like that of a male lion-type Spirit Beast, while a pair of horns grows from its head.] [Any who can provide information on this Spirit Beast may report to the Marshal's Mansion in Heaven Dou City. Once the information is verified, the reward will be ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.] [For a live capture, regardless of cultivation age, the reward starts at one million. An additional one million Gold Soul Coins will be awarded for every extra ten thousand years of cultivation.]
As he recalled this information, Wang Chuan's eyes gained a hint of amusement.
Because if it could trigger Golden Scale's instinctive craving, this was likely not merely a mutant individual. The words "ancestral reversion" should be added as well. And such a Spirit Beast should not be called a Red-Maned Jackal King.
It had even grown dragon horns. No matter what, it should be called the—Dragon-Maned Jackal King!
"Wouldn't you agree?"
Wang Chuan murmured inwardly. His Observation Haki had already locked onto a patch of grass some distance from the battlefield, where a powerful life force pulsed.
In an instant, a wolf howl shot into the sky. The Red-Headed Jackals that had been surrounding and attacking the Copper-Armored Giant Elephant all stopped and retreated from it.
Although the Copper-Armored Giant Elephant had no idea what was happening, it knew that if it did not run now, then when would it?
It immediately turned and fled!
Wang Chuan, however, felt his scalp tingle, because the gazes of all thirty Red-Headed Jackals were fixed precisely on his hiding place!
"Damn it! This Dragon-Maned Jackal King's senses are far too sharp!"
Wang Chuan cursed inwardly, but his feet were not slow in the slightest.
Because the Red-Headed Jackals were already leaping through the trees with agile movements, pouncing toward Wang Chuan.
Seeing this, Wang Chuan realized something.
This pack of Red-Headed Jackals could no longer be treated as an ordinary jackal pack. With the Dragon-Maned Jackal King present, they had become like a true wolf pack with strict discipline.
The inherently savage jackal pack had already made Wang Chuan feel that his crotch might be destroyed.
Now that they were so disciplined as well, Wang Chuan absolutely did not dare let them get close.
Because although they might not be able to break through his Armament Haki, merely imagining those areas being targeted made Wang Chuan's face darken.
Wang Chuan then tried to capture the leader first.
But these Red-Headed Jackals, which possessed extraordinary strength, formed a dense protective net among the trees. Unless he defeated them, Wang Chuan had no way to hunt the Dragon-Maned Jackal King.
Wang Chuan used Geppo to stand suspended in the air as he looked down at the vicious jackals, his gaze gradually turning cold.
"I originally did not want to start a massacre, but you blocked my path...
And you're canines...
I hope your meat is delicious, premium meat. Otherwise, I might have trouble eating it."
In an instant, with a thought from Wang Chuan, his entire right arm was dyed a golden-black color.
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