Yun Manman deftly skinned one tiger and put it into her space, then prepared to take her knife to the second.
A faint tremor ran through the ground, accompanied by an unbroken chorus of wolf howls.
Yun Manman's gaze instantly turned cold.
She looked at the two wolves beside her. The female slowly approached, rubbed against her leg, then curled up at her feet.
Yun Manman guessed they meant no harm; it was just that the pack had arrived.
But she did not lower her guard. Although she had just saved them and they had gotten along well,
these were wolves, after all, with a beast's nature. They could turn around and bite her at any moment.
Sure enough, wolves soon appeared one after another at the entrance to the valley.
The admiration in Yun Manman's eyes gradually tightened into caution.
Finally, looking at the rows upon rows of wolves surrounding the entire valley, she felt her heart leap into her throat.
"Master, th-there are actually a hundred and eight wolves!"
Yun Manman swallowed. Was this a fucking wolf pack?
This was a whole hundred-wolf regiment!
Looking at the pack's formation, Yun Manman hastily grabbed the female beside her. Only as she stroked the wolf's fur did her heart settle.
At her peak, handling this many wolves would have been nothing, but right now, she was a weakling in the newbie village!
Although she now had her space to hide in, any human would feel intimidated looking at all these wolves, big and small, wouldn't they?
Besides, if they wanted to kill her, even with her space, they could take turns watching her, fifty wolves at a time.
Unable to come out and leave, wouldn't she still be trapped in her space until she died?
Seeing Yun Manman's movements, the male stepped onto a large rock. His eyes instantly regained their fierce authority, and his aura carried the imposing air of a ruler.
He roared several times at the wolves below, and Yun Manman noticed their gazes change. The hostility, greed, and killing intent from before were gone.
Their brown eyes held curiosity and scrutiny, with some even showing gratitude and friendliness.
Yun Manman knew they must have learned that she had saved the wolves.
Presumably, the male she had saved was the pack's king, which meant the one curled up at her feet like a pet was the wolf queen?
At that thought, Yun Manman felt she should not be intimidated. Her standing was different now. She immediately straightened and gave a light cough.
"No need to thank me. When you see injustice on the road, you draw your blade to help. Besides, I only saved a pregnant woman. Hello, wolf brothers!"
A hundred-odd pairs of brown wolf eyes stared blankly at Yun Manman before turning toward the wolf king.
The wolf king rubbed his ear with a paw. Why had he eaten that fruit?
Now, not only did his injuries feel healed, but he could actually understand some of what this human was saying. He was the wolf king-he couldn't become human!
He then raised his head and let out another series of howls at the pack.
Yun Manman saw all the wolves lower their heads toward her, as though bowing respectfully or expressing gratitude, far more reverently than the wolf king had earlier.
Yun Manman hurriedly waved her hands. "No need to stand on ceremony, wolf brothers. Go on back. I still have to process these tigers and sell them for silver!"
Seeing the wolves still standing there, silently watching her,
Yun Manman rubbed her nose helplessly. Why didn't she have a skill for communicating with animals?
A knife appeared in Yun Manman's hand, and she crouched to begin skinning the tiger.
The wolf queen raised her head to look at Yun Manman, then turned toward the pack and let out several howls.
In an instant, all the wolves scattered in every direction.
"Master, Master, it turns out it's not just humans! The resentment of wild beasts works too! The space has grown much bigger now, though the points haven't changed."
Yun Manman's hands paused in their skinning. This worked too?
This was much better than doing those inhuman things to people. Should she catch a wild boar, take it home, and trade insults with it every day?
She shook her head. How could she be so stupid?
Without replying to the resentment in her space, she deftly continued skinning the tiger. Behind her, the wolf king and queen nestled against each other, watching her movements.
Yun Manman finished skinning the tiger, put the hide into her space, and washed her hands in the spring pool. Looking at the two wolves flaunting their affection, she said,
"May we never meet again. Go on back. I'm leaving too, to look around elsewhere."
With that, Yun Manman turned to leave, but the wolf queen immediately came forward and caught her hem in her teeth.
Yun Manman lowered her eyes to meet the wolf queen's gaze. There was a trace of anxiety in those eyes, as though she were asking her not to leave.
Yun Manman crouched and gave the wolf's head a few strokes. "My family is still waiting for me. I have to go home. I'll come find you the next time I enter the mountains."
But the wolf queen still would not let go, and the wolf king also stood there howling at Yun Manman.
Yun Manman covered her forehead. What a headache!
Was this a communication barrier?
An epic communication barrier that crossed races and species, at that!
But then she thought of how much she had gained today. The surroundings really were better suited to cultivation than her room, and if she cultivated now, she would have wolves protecting her.
That wasn't bad either!
"All right, then. I'll stay with you tonight and see whether I can wait by a stump for beasts to turn up."
Watching the wolf queen release her hem and curl up beside her legs again, Yun Manman could not help smiling. Could she really understand what she meant?
She took three Returning Lotus Fruits out of her space. After the two wolves and one human finished eating, Yun Manman sat in meditation and began cultivating her internal cultivation method.
The fierce battle earlier had exhausted her internal energy and mental power. Cultivating now should yield twice the result with half the effort.
The moon still hung high in the sky.
An immense aura of energy suffused Yun Manman's entire body. She felt she could master the second level today.
She seemed to hear faint wolf howls, and then her surroundings fell silent.
When daylight shone bright,
Yun Manman slowly opened her eyes. The fluctuations of energy around her dispersed, and her entire bearing had changed once again.
Her aura seemed to have been washed clean, gaining a measure of imposing dignity.
Her already exquisite features had gained a cool aloofness, making her seem unapproachable yet all the more tempting to approach.
This cool, peerless beauty had not yet had time to let her violet eyes brighten with delight at mastering the second level of her cultivation method,
before the heap of prey before her left her stunned.
Seeing that Yun Manman had finally awakened, the wolf queen hastily stood and ran over. She caught Yun Manman's hem in her teeth, pulled her over to the prey, and began howling...
Yun Manman looked at the prey, then at the wolf queen. Remembering how the pack had vanished after the queen howled a few times last night, could she have been issuing orders for them to catch prey for her?
So that was why the wolf queen had refused to let her leave last night!
Yun Manman raised her brows with some delight and looked at the wolf queen. "Is all this for me? Don't you need to keep some to eat?"
The wolf queen simply pushed Yun Manman forward with her head, then backed away several steps and stood beside the wolf king, watching her.
"Hehe... ah."
Yun Manman gave a soft laugh tinged with bitterness. In that instant, she felt that perhaps heaven had let her transmigrate and be reborn just so she could experience this kind of
heartwarming bustle of ordinary life!