Shooting Black Wolves

"What? We're not allowed to farm points anymore?" Su Bai was startled. "Why?"

He did not know how efficient others were at earning points, but their side was truly fast. They did not have to do anything but listen to the ladybugs crackle and pop.

And it was safe!

As for the fire oil, they had packed five storage bags' worth—five hundred whole tons! They could burn for three days and three nights without running out!

"No idea." Xun Hu scratched his head as well.

"Maybe the bug got patched!" Yang Ning was somewhat speechless too, but since the message had already come, they could only leave.

"Where do we go next?" Xun Hu asked.

"Black Wolf Forest is up ahead!" Yang Ning said. "Let's go kill wolves."

"Sounds good!" The three of them immediately lit up.

Black Wolf Forest was filled with black wolves. These Fierce Beasts liked to move in packs, and their cultivation was not low—around the Fourth or Fifth Level of Body Refinement. The wolf king possessed the strength of the Sixth Level of Body Refinement.

Black wolves had keen noses and astonishing endurance. Once they latched onto someone, it was a fight to the death. Any ordinary group would have a splitting headache if they encountered them.

But if they ran into a tank—

Put it this way: black wolves simply had no way to break a tank's defenses.

After discussing it, the four of them rumbled toward Black Wolf Forest in the tank.

Their movements were not only being watched by the Inner Disciples. The residents outside Seacloud City were watching as well.

"This steel fortress seems very useful!" Some sharp-eyed merchants had already realized the tank's value. "I know of a secret realm rich in iron ore, but it has far too many venomous insects and bees, making mining extraordinarily difficult. If we had something like this..."

"It isn't just for mining. This thing would be formidable in war too!" Kings and generals who had come to Seacloud City to travel and watch their own children perform were also discussing it. "If even Cherry Blossom Ladybugs cannot bite through it, wouldn't bows, arrows, and machetes be unable to damage it either? Having one of these on the battlefield would be far more useful than a war chariot!"

"But it can only set fires at close range. It does not seem to have any long-range attack methods. If the enemy is far away, wouldn't it be useless?" the king asked.

"Long-range attack?" The general pointed at the enormous cannon barrel. "That should be for long-range attacks, right?"

"Uh..."

The tank drove to the forest's edge. Then its hatch opened, and a young girl emerged carrying a net bag full of meat, which she hung from the armor.

The meat was dripping with blood. It was clearly freshly butchered and still fresh.

And fresh meat was what attracted Fierce Beasts the most!

The girl ducked back inside. Then the image switched, and Yuan Qingming killed another crocodile!

"Fuck!" Countless people roared. "Why the hell are you switching screens?!"

"Who wants to watch crocodiles being killed? I want to see the fortress!"

Ascension Academy paid no heed to the residents' protests. More importantly, the Inner Disciples were dissatisfied too!

"Fang Zhuo, why haven't you switched it back?" someone shouted. "What is there to see in killing a crocodile? Show the fortress!"

"Exactly! Who has not seen someone stab a crocodile with a spear before? Switch back to the fortress already!"

Fang Zhuo was speechless. Yuan Qingming had killed more than ten crocodiles in such a short time. In previous years, that would have made him shine brilliantly, yet this year no one wanted to watch?

The key was that no one had ever seen a tank before. No one had ever thought of burning Cherry Blossom Ladybugs with fire either. Naturally, everyone was curious.

Even Inner Disciples who possessed Peerless Divine Abilities were curious about how that round, chubby fortress would kill black wolves.

"Here they come!" Fang Zhuo hurriedly had someone switch the screen back and fixed the main screen there. Anyone who wanted to watch others could use the split screens.

When the screen shifted, a black wolf was cautiously poking its head out from behind a rock.

The Sixth Level of Body Refinement did not strengthen the brain, so no matter how strong this black wolf was, it was still merely a beast.

It saw the meat hanging on the tank, but it did not see the people inside. After cautiously observing for a while, it immediately charged over.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, a small firing port opened. Then a crossbow bolt shot out, and the black wolf fell at once!

"Well..." How should they put it? It felt only natural, yet somehow unsatisfying.

"Shooting arrows from inside the fortress—what a fine idea!" The general's eyes lit up.

"Is that so?" The king shook his head. "It seems rather ordinary to me!"

"One arrow is enough to kill one wolf. No waste, just right!" The general praised it with all his might.

He loved this thing far too much. He wished he could build eighty or a hundred of them. If I do not steamroll all the way to the enemy capital, you may cut off my head!

The king's mouth twitched. Did he think the king could not see how useful it was? But it was made of iron! Did he know how expensive this thing was?!

Rather than build this, he might as well spend the money raising his own son into an immortal!

"Here they come again!" Seeing black wolves appear once more, the king hurriedly changed the subject.

This time, there were two.

They first saw the meat hanging from the tank in the distance, then saw their companion's corpse and the arrow in it.

They were not unfamiliar with such things. There were so many Ascension Academy students every year, and some always used bows. Thus, the two wolves immediately became wary and began twitching their noses to sniff out the enemy's scent.

But after sniffing for a long time, they smelled nothing.

The tank could even keep out water, so naturally it could isolate scents as well.

"Did they leave?" Wolves were animals, after all. When they could not figure something out, they stopped thinking about it. Then they cautiously approached and carefully stepped over their companion's corpse.

Nothing happened.

"Good!" Yang Ning said. "If they had not come soon, we would have had to change locations."

Ning Rong stuck out her tongue. They had agreed to let them come closer before attacking, but she had not been able to resist shooting that arrow just now. Fortunately, those two wolves had not eaten their companion's corpse and had instead chosen the meat on their tank.

Perhaps they also knew their companion's meat would not taste good?

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two more arrows flew out. This time, they did not strike the wolves' vital points, but after struggling for a short while, the two wolves still collapsed!

"The arrows are poisoned!" Ming Yuxiu said helplessly. "What kind of people are these? Is this how Ascension Academy students play these days?"

Hiding in a fortress to burn ladybugs, coating arrows with poison to kill black wolves—were these even proper cultivators?

Why had she not known to do that back then? She had foolishly used a sword to hack at them and even torn a huge gash in her arm.

"But it works very well!" Li Yuan's eyes lit up. His bookboy had died early, and since he himself liked artifact forging, he had gone to study it as well.

Perhaps not every Artifact Forging Master believed that creations mattered more than people themselves, but those who did were certainly the majority.

Li Yuan was one of them.

He happily watched the scene in the Water Mirror while considering what it would be like if this thing were refined into a treasure artifact.

At the very least, it would have to be able to move on its own, fly into the sky, and travel underwater. As for weaponry, bows and arrows were useless against Qi Refining cultivators, so they could be replaced with Lightning Dao Spells.

"Damn, isn't that just the Void Lightning Disk?" Li Yuan thought of a Dao artifact. Standing on it granted unparalleled defense, and it could also fire lightning to attack others.

"Seems... that's all there is to it?" Thinking about it that way, this mobile fortress did not seem so impressive. There were simply too many treasure artifacts and Dao artifacts that combined defense and offense. Even among Spirit Artifacts, there were many of this type.

But this mobile fortress had merely been made by a first-year Ascension Academy student. It was not even a mundane artifact!

Thinking of it that way, the youth seemed remarkable again.

"Wolf pack!" Li Yuan suddenly heard a suppressed cry behind him. Turning around, he saw a woman in green robes and a little maid in orange.

Who were they? Why did he not recognize them?

But the woman in green was seated, so she was an Inner Disciple?

A female Inner Disciple was truly rare. By rights, he should have an impression of every one of them. Had she only recently advanced?

Li Yuan turned back, intending to say something to the woman. In the next instant, he felt surging pressure carrying endless coldness sweep over from one direction.

He hurriedly turned his head back. It was one of Lin Tianheng's people.

At the same time, he cursed inwardly. You already have so many, yet you are still eating from the bowl while eyeing the pot, huh!

Looking back at the screen, a black wolf pack had indeed appeared—more than forty wolves!

The lead wolf was four meters long and two meters tall, with a faint character for king on its forehead!

"This Black Wolf King must be at the Sixth Level of the Body Refinement Realm, in the Return to One Realm!" Li Yuan watched the black wolf pace lightly over a tree branch without bending it. Such control over strength was not something a Fifth Level of Body Refinement cultivator could achieve!

A Fierce Beast of that strength would require seven or eight second-year groups working together to hunt!

Compared to the Fifth Level, the Sixth Level might only increase raw strength five or six times, but skill could improve by dozens of times. Overall combat power would thus rise fifty or sixtyfold!

Could Xun Hu's group handle it?

As he pondered, he saw the cannon barrel on the fortress's third level turn toward the Black Wolf King.

For no reason, the Black Wolf King's heart tightened with unease, yet it had no idea where that feeling came from.

As for that cannon barrel before it, none of its ancestors had ever seen such a weapon. Naturally, no inherited memory told it that it should avoid this thing.

No matter what, a display of dominance came first!

The Black Wolf King found a massive boulder and leaped onto it in two or three bounds. "Awooo!"

Bzz! A black shadow tore through the air and instantly plunged into its chest!

"Aargh!" The Black Wolf King let out a miserable cry and immediately tried to flee, but in the next instant, it felt a tearing pain.

It turned its head and discovered that the thing which had shot it had not only sunk completely into its body, but a rope was actually connecting it to that fortress!

"Awooo!" The Black Wolf King immediately ordered the black wolves to charge. As long as they killed the enemy, it would naturally be safe!

The order had barely left its mouth when waves of weakness began spreading outward from the wound, and its mind was repeatedly overcome by dizziness.

This was... poison!!

The Black Wolf King hurriedly circulated its qi and blood. Wolves had strong resistance to poison, and it was even a Sixth Level of Body Refinement wolf. It might not be immune to all poisons, but it was not far from it.

It was only poison, after all—eh?