Tianzhi Mountain Range, Mutant Wolves and Bei

"Once we cross the Tianzhi Mountain Range, we'll arrive tomorrow," Cui Xuan said as he watched the burning campfire in the night.

Lu Xingshi gnawed on some dry rations as well, though his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere. Then he asked, "Great Hero Cui, how many times have you been to Saibei?"

"I came three times in my earlier years. I've taken this trail once." Cui Xuan had earned his reputation only after roaming far and wide for many years. Naturally, he had been to Saibei.

"Oh. Are there any animals around here that could threaten your fellow disciples? He's been gone for so long to relieve himself—why hasn't he come back yet?" Lu Xingshi knew something had happened.

Cui Xuan shot to his feet. "Plenty. There are jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards."

They were not invulnerable. Martial artists were fundamentally still made of flesh and blood, unlike Lu Xingshi, who had already reached the level of an Immortal Fetus Immortal Bone.

"If jackals, wolves, tigers, or leopards attacked, your fellow disciple should at least have cried out." Lu Xingshi rose as well, along with the other three Iron Sword Sect members. Seeing this, he reminded them, "Don't split up. Be careful not to get caught again."

The situation had the feel of a horror story. If they split up, then aside from Lu Xingshi, everyone else could be picked off one by one.

The others had no objections, because Lu Xingshi was right.

The missing Iron Sword Sect disciple was actually quite skilled, yet he had vanished without a sound. That meant they could meet the same fate.

"Do you remember which direction he went to relieve himself?" Lu Xingshi asked.

"I do. Bring the torches. We'll go find Sui Shidi. I suspect an aberrant beast was responsible." Cui Xuan's suspicion was not unreasonable. If it had been a person, they likely would not have struck now. Wouldn't the latter half of the night have been a better time?

"I'll bring up the rear!" At the mention of aberrants, excitement rose in Lu Xingshi's expression.

His Aberrant Hunter Acquired Trait could finally come in handy. He could even obtain another piece of material afterward.

Watching Lu Xingshi load the Golden Crow Hand Cannon onto his left hand, Cui Xuan's eye twitched. An aberrant might truly not be able to withstand Lu Xingshi's move, the Golden Crow Gun.

"Give us a warning before you use it." Cui Xuan and everyone present had seen the power of the Golden Crow Gun. When it exploded, it was truly deadly.

It was true that aberrants could not withstand it, but neither could they.

"No problem. I know what I'm doing." Lu Xingshi was not so deranged that he would directly sacrifice his teammates.

By now, he had cultivated the Eternal Undying True Art to perfection. There were no more techniques left for him to cultivate, so it was basically equivalent to having maxed out this character.

A Peerless Genius with one hundred points in all Three-Dimensional Attributes, supplemented by a series of Innate Traits—his progress was simply that fast.

He was still wondering whether his Three-Dimensional Attributes and ability values could be raised further. Now that he had hit the limit, it left him somewhat dissatisfied.

"As long as you know what you're doing." Cui Xuan did not think Lu Xingshi would truly act recklessly.

Following the direction Sui Shidi had gone earlier, they soon found traces. Aside from certain excrement, there were large amounts of bloodstains and drag marks.

Every trace indicated that the man had already met with disaster.

"It was a wolf." One of the Iron Sword Sect members lowered his head to inspect the traces and found a series of pawprints.

Yet the pawprints were unusually large. Based on his animal taming and numerology abilities, Lu Xingshi estimated the wolf's size.

"This wolf is about as large as a tiger." Lu Xingshi voiced his conclusion. That confirmed it was indeed an aberrant.

How else could an ordinary wolf grow that large?

"By rights, that still shouldn't be enough. No matter how big or strong an aberrant is, it shouldn't have been able to kill Great Hero Sui without a sound." Lu Xingshi was puzzled.

Judging from the bloodstains, it did not look like his head had been smashed apart. It looked more like arterial bleeding.

"His throat was bitten through before he could react," Cui Xuan said.

Hearing that, Lu Xingshi felt that wolf was being far too sneaky. With such a huge body, it had actually used such a method? "No, wolves travel in packs. Does that mean there's a wolf pack nearby?" Lu Xingshi suddenly thought of this.

"Er... when I came here before, I didn't encounter one." Cui Xuan had not encountered any back then.

Lu Xingshi lowered his head to study the wolf pawprints, feeling that something about them was off.

"Did you find something?" Cui Xuan saw Lu Xingshi crouching on the ground and examining the prints closely.

"There seems to be a problem with the depth of the pawprints." As Lu Xingshi spoke, he pointed at several of them. "Look, these prints seem deeper, as if something stepped on them again. And not in the usual manner of walking—it was more like jumping."

"That's why these pawprints are slightly deeper."

A three-dimensional image formed in Lu Xingshi's mind: behind a huge wolf followed another creature, and that creature advanced by hopping.

"The other creature should have been hopping upright on two legs!" The three-dimensional image in Lu Xingshi's mind changed, shifting from four-legged hopping to two-legged hopping.

His first thought had actually been a kangaroo. After all, that was the most famous creature that stood upright to hop.

"It's a Bei!" Cui Xuan looked around warily.

Lu Xingshi instantly understood. The Bei from the phrase "wolves and Bei colluding in villainy" was precisely a two-legged upright animal that could ride on a wolf's back. In his previous life, there had been wolves, but no such creature as a Bei, so the idiom had only been used as a derogatory expression.

But in this Martial Arts World, even Bearmen existed. The appearance of a Bei was not impossible.

"In other words, there are actually two aberrants this time." Lu Xingshi now understood why the man had vanished without a sound. Two aberrants had worked together, and the Bei most likely possessed extremely high intelligence, directing the wolf's attack.

This would likely be far more troublesome than the Bearman. The Bearman was clever and could even imitate human voices, but it was rather rigid.

"There may be even more. You said it yourself—wolves travel in packs." As Cui Xuan said this, lingering fear filled his heart.

A wolf that large was simply unlikely to have been driven out of its pack. More likely, it had not only a Bei serving as its strategist, but also a pack of ordinary wolves as subordinates.

If they encountered a wolf pack, only Lu Xingshi's Golden Crow Gun would be effective enough. Cui Xuan and the others would have to avoid its edge for the time being.

It was not that they could not win, but that it was not worth it. If a wolf bit off a chunk of flesh, then even killing one wolf would leave them at a loss.

When facing such wild animals, people generally sought to kill without injury rather than Exchange Injury for Life.

What they faced now was even more severe. This wolf pack knew tactics as well, and they could easily be ambushed to death.