Xie Wolf Pack Again

The exhaustion flooding through his body was like a rising tide.

Lin Yi lay on his back amid the shattered stones at the edge of the deep pit. Every breath in his chest burned with pain, and the weariness in his body made his eyelids feel as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.

The Inkshadow Leopard's corpse lay sprawled not far beside him. Its inky Divine Markings had completely faded, leaving behind only a charred shell with twisted joints.

Just as his eyelids were about to close completely.

Awooo—!

A long, piercing wolf howl rose from the depths of the dense forest, carrying the thrill of a hunter that had found prey and a summons to gather its companions.

The sound pierced through leaves and air alike, crashing against Lin Yi's eardrums.

His eyes flew open. His pupils contracted, and it felt as though a basin of icy water had been poured over him from head to toe, instantly jolting him more than halfway awake.

"...Fuck." He struggled into a sitting position, his teeth grinding audibly. "Am I really going to die here today?"

The smell of blood. During and after the battle, the thick stench of blood had continuously drifted outward, carried by the wind deeper into the Great Wilderness.

And in this world, the scent of blood was the most direct invitation imaginable to predators.

If it were one or two wolves, he might still be able to fight them to the death with this battered body. But wolves never acted alone.

When one wolf howled, it meant that at least a pack was gathering.

Gritting his teeth, he climbed to his feet and first glanced at Biao.

The burly man was still unconscious. The angle of his twisted left arm was horrifying, and blood still seeped from the claw marks on his forehead, but his breathing remained fairly steady.

Lin Yi bent down and, gritting his teeth, hoisted him onto his back.

In his prime, he could have carried an adult man's body with one hand and still moved as swiftly as the wind.

But now, his vitality and blood were nearly exhausted. Only a thin layer remained in his dantian and meridians, barely enough to keep his consciousness from scattering as it slowly circulated.

With every step, the cracks in his chest bones hurt so badly that his vision repeatedly turned white.

He gritted his teeth and did not stop.

The wolf howls behind him drew closer and closer. Barely a dozen breaths after the first howl, a second rang out from much nearer.

Then came a third, a fourth—several howls answering one another from different directions, like a net slowly drawing shut around the center of the bloody scent.

Lin Yi moved his legs desperately, but he simply could not pick up speed.

In his current state, dragging such a burden, he could not even run at half his usual speed.

The rustling behind him grew denser. The sounds of grass blades snapping underfoot, heavy snorting breaths, and the low, excited growls unique to canines closed in from every direction.

At last, at the edge of the clearing ahead, a pair of crimson eyes lit up.

Then a second pair, a third, a fourth—crimson points of light appeared one after another amid the low shrubs and tree trunks, like glowing embers being kindled.

Those points spread out in an arc, bypassing Lin Yi's front and closing in from both flanks before finally joining together behind him.

A wolf pack.

Lin Yi stopped and slowly turned around.

He saw the creatures clearly: gray-black fur, with a patch of crimson hair atop each head, glaringly vivid as though soaked in blood.

They were nearly twice the size of ordinary wild wolves, their backs high, their limbs thick, their claws embedded in the soil.

Each wolf was nearly ten feet long. Their exposed fangs were sharp as bone blades, gleaming with a damp, icy light beneath the mottled shade.

Tidal Surge Realm.

Every one of them possessed at least fifty thousand jin of strength. And those seven or eight pairs of crimson eyes before him meant there were at least seven or eight such creatures.

Lin Yi took a deep breath.

His gaze swept over the slowly tightening encirclement, and it felt as though a stone were sinking in his heart.

At his peak, he could have slaughtered this pack of beasts cleanly by himself, one punch per wolf without any effort.

But now his vitality and blood were depleted, his breastbone was cracked, and he still had the unconscious Biao on his back.

He gently lowered Biao from his back and let him lean against a tree trunk behind him.

Then he used his body to shield Biao.

"Fuck... I'm really going to fall here today."

He cursed under his breath, yet his feet did not retreat a single step.

Another wolf howl rose in the distance, deeper and more resonant than the previous ones, carrying the force of a command.

As soon as that sound fell, the nearest wolf in the pack suddenly lowered its body, its hind-leg muscles tightening.

The signal to charge.

Lin Yi cursed inwardly and desperately activated the Savage Bull Art.

He felt the final thin wisp of vitality and blood deep within his dantian being forcibly squeezed out, spreading through his meridians toward his limbs.

But there was simply too little. That vitality and blood was as thin as watered-down gruel; by the time it reached his body's surface, it could not even form the most basic patterns.

The Savage Bull Diagram had been activated, but the blood-gold radiance merely flickered across his skin before dimming. Not even a complete pattern lit up.

Thirty thousand jin. Less than a quarter of his peak strength.

The first Xie Wolf had already pounced before his face! Its bloody maw opened wide, fangs lunging straight for Lin Yi's throat!

Lin Yi hastily raised an arm to block. The wolf's fangs bit savagely into the flesh of his forearm! Explosive pain erupted as fresh wounds piled atop old ones. Lin Yi let out a muffled groan, twisted the wolf's head with his left hand, and drove his right knee fiercely into its belly, smashing the Xie Wolf back until it staggered and released its bite.

But in the next instant, more crimson figures surged in from every direction. Left leg, right leg, back—fangs snapped at him from all sides. He had to protect the unconscious Biao behind him and could not possibly free his hands to block them all.

Just as one Xie Wolf's fangs touched the flesh of his lower back—

"Get lost—!"

A hoarse yet violent roar exploded from behind Lin Yi!

Biao had awakened.

Though the iron-tower-like man's face was pale and his left arm hung limply at his side, the sight of the wolf pack before him and that slender back, drenched in blood yet still shielding him, set his pupils ablaze.

He sprang away from the tree trunk and swung a punch with his right hand, directly sending the Xie Wolf trying to ambush Lin Yi from the side flying!

That punch was immensely powerful. The Xie Wolf was blasted more than thirty feet away, the crisp sound of cracking bones clearly audible.

Then Biao vaulted over from behind Lin Yi, placing himself before him. With one hand, he seized the head of the Xie Wolf that still clamped down on Lin Yi's forearm and refused to let go, then violently clenched his five fingers!

Crack! With a sharp sound, the Xie Wolf's skull was crushed directly in Biao's palm, red and white matter splattering across the ground.

"Brother Biao!" Lin Yi was overjoyed.

Biao glanced back at him, his gaze sweeping over Lin Yi's pale, bloodless face and his body covered in wounds. He asked nothing.

He turned and stood back-to-back with Lin Yi, the two forming a defensive formation where they could cover one another.

Biao's right fist clenched until his knuckles turned white. Sweat mixed with blood streamed continuously down his face, but he did not bend his waist even once.

His gaze swiftly swept across the wolf pack. When he saw those crimson wolf heads and their spread-out encirclement formation, his pupils narrowed slightly.

"...Xie Wolves." Biao's voice was hoarse and heavy. "These beasts are notorious for clinging like leeches. And their Wolf King still hasn't shown itself."

Lin Yi's heart sank.

Following Biao's gaze, he looked toward the darker forest beyond the wolf pack.

There truly was another, larger Xie Wolf there, breathing heavily. Unlike the restless Xie Wolves before them that growled low in agitation, that creature was waiting.

Waiting for the two of them to expend their last shred of strength.