In the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
Over those three years, Chen Village had changed enormously.
The village had doubled in size, and all kinds of fruit trees and herbs had been planted around it. Villagers played and frolicked among the fields and trees, and laughter filled the air.
A fierce wolf-shaped demonic beast suddenly charged down from the mountain behind Chen Village. It was about two meters long, with pale blue fur and bared fangs, and its eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
In the past, if a demonic beast attacked the village, the villager on duty in the watchtower would have sounded the alarm. This time, however, he glanced at the direction the beast had come from and watched the spectacle with interest instead.
"Wow! An Azure Moon Wolf! Brother Huo, it's mine! You're not allowed to fight me for it!"
Below a wooden house, a charming little girl waved her fist at the boy beside her in a show of defiance, then excitedly charged at the Cang Moon Wolf.
The little girl wore a pair of finely crafted wooden frames on her face, her hair was tied into two braids, and she had leather gauntlets on her hands. It was Chen Duo, now nine years old.
She moved extremely fast, with the faint sound of wind and thunder around her. Her imposing presence was no weaker than the Azure Moon Wolf's.
"Roar!"
When the Azure Moon Wolf saw that such a tiny creature dared to challenge its dignity, it let out an enraged roar.
As soon as they drew close, the Azure Moon Wolf swung a forepaw down at Chen Duo's head. The enormous paw was bigger than her head and could have smashed her into a pulp with a single blow.
"Vajra Fist Seal!"
Chen Duo refused to back down and met the Azure Moon Wolf's giant paw with a punch.
Boom!
Chen Duo stepped back, but the Azure Moon Wolf's giant paw was also knocked aside. The exchange had ended in a dead heat, with neither gaining the upper hand.
"Haha, again!"
Like a vajra possessed, Chen Duo fought with overwhelming force, launching into a fierce battle with the Azure Moon Wolf.
In the distance, A Huo, dressed in plain cloth robes with a longsword at his waist, watched their battle calmly.
The Azure Moon Wolf was at the early second tier, while Chen Duo had only recently broken through to become a Fourth Stage Martial Artist. They were evenly matched in terms of strength.
Chen Duo's defenses, however, were exceptionally strong. Even ordinary Fifth Stage Martial Artists could not match him, and with the protective items Chen Mu had made for her, defeating the Azure Moon Wolf should not have been a problem.
"Duoduo, hit it harder. If you don't beat a demonic beast until it's thoroughly afraid, it won't submit easily."
As A Huo watched the fight, he offered his cold assessment.
"Hmph! Easy for you to say."
Chen Duo looked annoyed, but she knew A Huo had a point, so she could only push herself harder.
"Vajra's furious glare, Mighty Vajra Palm!"
As her fighting spirit boiled, she seemed to hear an excited shout from the gauntlets on her hands.
Joy filled her heart. This was the first time her gauntlets had shown such a strong emotional response since their spirit forging had succeeded. It meant her compatibility with them had deepened, allowing her to bring out more of their power.
Chen Duo's punch drove the Azure Moon Wolf back three steps. She pressed her advantage, unleashing more than a dozen moves in succession before finally beating it to the ground.
She then took a talisman from her waist and struck it into the Azure Moon Wolf's body with her palm.
"Submit to me, or die!"
Through the Beast-Taming Talisman, she could convey her will to the Azure Moon Wolf. As long as it agreed, she could establish a soul contract with it and make it her spirit pet.
Demonic beasts were extremely simple-minded and revered the strong. If they were defeated fair and square, a Beast-Taming Talisman would generally work.
But if someone won by other, underhanded means, success was nearly impossible. That was also why A Huo had insisted on letting Chen Duo fight the Azure Moon Wolf alone.
At that moment, Chen Duo sat down and closed her eyes.
Establishing a soul contract was extremely draining on the mind. Only after the time it took to drink a cup of tea did Chen Duo open her eyes in excitement.
"It worked! Hehe, the Azure Moon Wolf is my mount from now on!"
A trace of envy appeared in A Huo's indifferent eyes, but he had a Beast-Taming Talisman too. As long as he found an opportunity later, he would have no trouble getting a mount of his own.
The fight had drawn quite a few villagers to watch.
The villagers' appearance had also changed considerably. Most of them had once worn poorly made animal-skin clothes or coarse hemp garments, but now many wore cloth clothes or well-tailored garments made from fine animal hides. Their lives had clearly improved a great deal.
Several of them also had mounts beneath them, though their presence was clearly much weaker than the Azure Moon Wolf's.
"Oh! An Azure Moon Wolf. Not bad."
Chen Mu had heard the commotion and hurried over as well. He glanced at the Azure Moon Wolf on the ground and nodded.
Three years had passed, and Chen Mu had grown quite a bit taller. He no longer wore animal skins, having changed to loose white cloth robes instead. His hair was cut very short, and because he spent so much of the year doing research in the talisman-making room, his skin was fairly pale and his eyes somewhat puffy, giving him a scholarly air.
"Hehe, of course it can't compare to your Dragon-Horned Horse, Brother. What have you been researching lately? Why do you stay in the talisman-making room every day? I haven't seen you in days!"
Chen Duo happily linked her arm through Chen Mu's and spoke with a smile.
"Alas, you wouldn't understand even if I told you..."
Chen Mu patted Chen Duo's head, then remembered something else. "By the way, have you read the notes on the Dao of Talismans I gave you? Did you gain any insights?"
"Uh... I couldn't understand them!" Chen Duo's voice was as faint as a mosquito's hum.
Chen Mu sighed helplessly. It seemed Chen Duo truly had no talent for talisman cultivation. Even after he had carefully taught her for over a year, she still showed no sign of getting started.
Still, Chen Duo had considerable talent as a martial artist. She was only nine and already a Fourth Stage Martial Artist, which would have been considered outstanding in many medium-sized tribes. That gave him some consolation.
"All right! Since you can't keep studying it, I won't force you. From now on, just focus on cultivating the Martial Dao!"
Chen Duo's face blossomed into a smile at that, and she nodded repeatedly. "Okay! From now on, I'll leave the talisman-making to you, Brother. I'll just protect you, haha..."
Chen Mu could not help smiling. Then he looked at the sky and said, "Go play! I won't join you. Third Uncle asked me to come over for a clan meeting. There must be something important to discuss."
"Okay! Then I'll go get to know my Little Moon better first, haha! In the future, it's going to sweep through our enemies with me."
With that, Chen Duo led the Azure Moon Wolf, which had woken up, away. The onlookers had all left as well.
A Huo was about to leave with Chen Duo, but Chen Mu called him back.
"A Huo, come to the clan meeting with me too! We'll probably be discussing how to wipe out the Black Water Tribe this time, and we'll need your help when the time comes."
A Huo was indifferent by nature. Over the years, aside from cultivating desperately, he cared only about Chen Mu and his sister; he was unconcerned with everything else.
His strength had also advanced extremely quickly over the past three years, and he had already reached the realm of a Fifth Stage Martial Artist.
But Chen Mu had discovered that his strength was by no means as simple as his Fifth Stage Martial Artist realm suggested. He cultivated the extremely rare Sword Dao, entering the Dao through the sword, and his attacks were exceptionally powerful. Even Chen Mu himself, as he was now, had to avoid meeting them head-on.
So if they were to wage war outside the village, A Huo would undoubtedly be a great general.
"All right!"
A Huo had always readily accepted what Chen Mu said, and he agreed at once.