Sacrificial Offering: Eye of Zheng

The wolf pack moved.

A short, piercing howl seemed to snap some taut string. The Xie Wolves surrounding them pounced at once, their crimson heads dragging streaks of scarlet afterimages through the dim forest.

Seven or eight Tidal Surge Realm bodies rode the stench-laden wind, lunging at Biao and Lin Yi from different directions.

Biao stepped sideways and blocked Lin Yi head-on.

His right fist shot out fiercely, striking the foremost Xie Wolf square in the face. The beast gave a muffled grunt and flew backward, crashing into and disrupting another wolf's charge behind it.

But more wolves had already flanked them from both sides.

Gritting his teeth, Lin Yi raised his leg and kicked away a Xie Wolf biting for his left leg.

But he was too weak. That kick only knocked the wolf slightly off course. It rolled once upon landing, then rose again, its crimson eyes fixed tightly on him.

While blasting back the wolves in front of him, Biao's peripheral vision kept sweeping toward Lin Yi.

Every time a Xie Wolf turned and pounced toward Lin Yi, he had to endure the attacks before him head-on to free up a hand to protect him.

One Xie Wolf's fangs pierced the flesh of his shoulder, while another's claws plowed three bone-deep bloody furrows across his back. Yet he did not even furrow his brow. He smashed the jaw of the wolf biting his shoulder with a backhanded elbow, then spun around and kicked away the beast clawing at his back.

But there were too many wolves.

They surged forward like a rising tide, wave after wave. The moment one wave was driven back, the next filled the gap.

Biao had to block most of the frontal assault alone while dividing his attention to save Lin Yi behind and beside him.

His breathing grew increasingly ragged, and the speed of his punches visibly slowed. The wounds on his body began spreading from flesh wounds into deeper injuries.

Lin Yi looked at Biao's back before him. That iron-tower-like body had been soaked in blood until its original skin color could no longer be seen. Fresh claw marks and fang holes covered his shoulders, back, and legs, blood dripping down his trouser legs onto the ground.

With every drop, Lin Yi's heart sank with it.

"Brother Biao..." His voice was so hoarse that it was barely more than breath. "Forget about me. Break out on your own."

Biao did not turn around, nor did he pause.

He punched away the fastest Xie Wolf charging at him, then abruptly turned sideways and rammed aside another wolf trying to bite Lin Yi from the flank. The entire sequence flowed in one unbroken breath.

Then he cursed, "What the fuck are you talking about?!"

His voice was hoarse, but every word carried scorching fury.

"How long did you carry me on your back just now? You didn't fucking abandon me, and now you're telling me to leave?!"

He blasted another wolf away, then turned his head with a rough gasp and glanced at Lin Yi.

His face was smeared with blood, but his eyes burned like red-hot coals. "If we leave, we leave together. If we die, we die together."

Lin Yi's throat tightened, and he said nothing more.

Gritting his teeth, he raised an arm and, with the last shred of his strength, drove an elbow into a Xie Wolf trying to sneak up on Biao from the side.

The two held on for another dozen or so breaths.

Biao's movements grew slower and slower.

His right fist could no longer send Xie Wolves flying with a single blow as it had at the beginning. Most of the time, he could only barely knock them aside and force them back.

Lin Yi was even worse off. His legs had begun to weaken, and patches of black swam before his eyes.

The two went from fighting shoulder to shoulder to supporting each other. Biao used his still-uninjured right hand to grip Lin Yi's arm and hold him up, while Lin Yi clutched Biao's arm to keep him from falling.

But the wolves surrounding them remained.

Although four Xie Wolf corpses already lay on the ground, the remaining wolves still watched them like tigers eyeing their prey, forming an even tighter circle. Their crimson wolf eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty light.

Those beasts were hunters too. They could smell the scent of weakening prey. They were waiting—waiting for the moment these two could no longer stand.

Awooo—

A howl deeper and longer than all the previous wolf cries came from behind the pack.

As though receiving an order, the Xie Wolves surrounding them retreated to both sides in unison, opening a passage three feet wide.

From the shadows within that passage, an enormous wolf, a full size larger than an ordinary Xie Wolf, slowly emerged.

Its fur was darker, gray to the point of being nearly iron-black. The tuft of crimson fur atop its head looked as though it had been repeatedly soaked in blood.

Its limbs were far more powerful than those of ordinary Xie Wolves, and its aura clearly stood an entire level above the surrounding pack. The pressure of the Mountain-Sinking Realm carried the composure and seasoned craftiness unique to a leader.

The Xie Wolf King stopped three zhang away from them. Its crimson eyes slowly swept over Biao's right fist, then over Lin Yi's hands, which could no longer even clench into fists.

A low rumble came from its throat. Then it slowly crouched, the muscles in its hind legs tightening like bowstrings.

It was about to act personally.

Lin Yi and Biao exchanged a glance.

Lin Yi saw calm in Biao's eyes—the calm of a hunter accepting his fate in the final moments.

Lin Yi's hand trembled slightly, yet he still gripped Biao's arm and pulled him half an inch closer to his side.

Just as the Xie Wolf King's hind leg muscles were about to spring loose—

A savage, slaughterous, nearly tangible aura of ferocity descended from the heavens!

That aura came without warning, like an invisible mountain suddenly pressing down from thin air.

The air around Lin Yi and Biao abruptly congealed. Even breathing became thick and sticky.

The few Xie Wolves nearest them seemed to have all their strength drained away in that instant. Whimpering, they collapsed to the ground, tails tucked as they shivered.

That aura carried the oppression of ancient primordial wilderness, more terrifying than any ferocious beast Lin Yi had ever seen.

Before this aura, the Dragonlike Blood-Qi Inkshadow Leopard was like a tiny loach compared to a deep-sea whale. They were not on the same level at all.

"Wretches—get lost!"

An aged, weighty roar came from the forest.

Lin Yi abruptly turned his head and saw a stooped figure striding toward them. The village chief was moving more than twice as fast as usual, his gray-white hair flying wildly in the wind, his face set in a killing intent Lin Yi had never seen before.

In the village chief's right hand rested something the size of a fist. It was dark bluish-green throughout, its surface covered in dense, ancient patterns, like a tightly shut, translucent stone eyeball.

The Eye of Zheng.

At that moment, the eyeball floated above the village chief's palm, radiating a dim, savage green light.

The aura that made the entire Xie Wolf pack tremble was bursting forth from this fist-sized eyeball.

Behind the village chief, Mang led ten hunting team members charging out of the forest, each holding a weapon, their faces filled with anxiety and fury.

Under the pressure of the Eye of Zheng, the Xie Wolf King's limbs involuntarily buckled half an inch, but it still forced itself not to collapse.

Its crimson wolf eyes were now filled with wariness—not only toward the pressure itself, but even more toward the sense of suppression from deep within its bloodline.

Zheng was an ancient exotic beast. Its aura possessed an innate power to suppress the bloodlines of low-tier ferocious beasts. That suppression disturbed the Xie Wolf King far more than the mere pressure of a stronger being.

Its ears flattened back, and several gurgling rumbles rolled through its throat. Then it suddenly threw back its head and let out a short, piercing howl.

Awooo—!

The wolf pack retreated like a tide.

Those crimson figures scattered into the depths of the forest in an instant, not even having time to drag away the corpses of their companions.

The Xie Wolf King was the last to turn away. It looked back at Lin Yi once—that gaze carried a predator's viciousness and grudge—before its figure too melted into the shadows.

The forest suddenly fell quiet, leaving only ragged breathing and the rustle of wind through leaves.

The village chief put away the Eye of Zheng. The dark bluish-green radiance on the eyeball slowly faded, and it became an ordinary-looking stone bead once more.

He hurried forward, and his aged eyes abruptly tightened when he saw Lin Yi and Biao's condition.

"Quick—save them!" the village chief shouted urgently.

Mang rushed forward first and caught the swaying Lin Yi.

The other hunting team members surged forward as well. Some supported Biao by the shoulders, some examined their wounds, and some tore strips from their own clothing to bind the worst-bleeding areas.

"I'm sorry..." Mang's voice was thick with guilt. "We came too late."

Biao was supported by two people, half his face smeared over with blood. Yet his lips curled into a faint smile, his voice as weak as a passing gust of wind. "...Just in time."

After saying those four words, his eyelids closed completely. His right hand, still bleeding, slipped from the shoulder of the tribesman supporting him, and his entire weight fell onto the people at his sides.

Lin Yi was also forcing himself to cling to his last sliver of consciousness.

He raised a hand and shakily pointed in one direction—the direction where the Inkshadow Leopard's corpse lay.

"There..." His lips moved, but he could only squeeze out a single word.

Then darkness fell over his vision. The raised arm dropped limply, and his whole body toppled backward, only for Mang to catch him steadily.

And he sank completely into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Mang held Lin Yi's limp body, lowered his head to look at the claw marks and blood covering him, and pressed his lips into a hard line. He raised a hand and waved it toward the tribesmen behind him.

"Take them all back."

In silence and with swift efficiency, everyone placed Lin Yi and Biao separately onto stretchers hastily woven from tree trunks and vines. Some picked up the corpses of the four Xie Wolves.

Mang headed in the direction Lin Yi had pointed. When he arrived, he found the Inkshadow Leopard's corpse. His voice was filled with disbelief. "This is an Inkshadow Leopard. You two really did it."

The village chief walked at the very back of the group, the Eye of Zheng already tucked back into his robes.

He watched as Mang carried back the Inkshadow Leopard's corpse.

"They actually killed the Inkshadow Leopard." The village chief's tone was full of shock. The other members of the hunting team heard it as well.

They looked toward Lin Yi and Biao on the stretchers with admiration in their eyes.

"Whatever it is, we'll talk after we get back," the village chief said softly.

The stretchers were lifted steadily and carried quickly along the path they had come from, toward the tribe.