My Hands and Feet Aren't Mine

The darkness was filled with murmuring whispers, and from time to time, bursts of wolf howls came through, making one's hair stand on end.

Wolf!!

Wolf!!!!

"Are you alright? Wake up?!"

Zhou Qianwu's voice echoed all around, jolting Ding Cang awake from his nightmare.

His clothes were soaked through with sweat, the gauze on his limbs seeping blood in various places, and even his eye sockets were slightly sunken.

Zhou Qianwu looked at Ding Cang with concern and couldn't help asking, "Dreaming again?"

Ding Cang muttered to himself, "Ever since those beasts bit my hands and feet, I've had this strange dream every day."

He cupped his face in his hands, his expression full of dejection.

"In the dream, it feels like I've been swallowed into a wild wolf's belly, and I can even feel its panting breath right by my ear."

Saying this, Ding Cang couldn't help but dry heave, nearly bringing up sour bile.

Zhou Qianwu quickly brought over some clean water and patted Ding Cang on the back with his palm, trying to ease his suffering.

He remembered that on the road just after they left Taoxing Village, they had encountered several wild wolves late at night, and Ding Cang, caught off guard, was snatched away in their jaws.

To rescue Ding Cang, they fought back desperately, even causing two Hunters to be injured in the process.

After the wild wolves were wiped out, Zhou Qianwu and the other Hunters searched for a long time before finding the unconscious Ding Cang in the Wolf Den. Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt, with the injuries mainly concentrated on his hands and feet.

Zhou Qianwu said reproachfully, "When Officer Ren came to see us a few days ago, why didn't you explain the situation?"

"I... I..."

Ding Cang's eyes were vacant, as if he were still immersed in fear.

Zhou Qianwu let out a long sigh and said, "Your injuries are just about healed. How about going to the Camp to relax and clear your mind?"

"En, thank you, Uncle Zhou. I really should take a walk..."

Ding Cang stood up woodenly and staggered out of the wooden hut.

Zhou Qianwu watched his retreating back, his brow slightly furrowing as he muttered to himself, "That kid Ding Cang... doesn't he seem a bit taller than before?"

"Or have I just shrunk with age?"

When Ding Cang arrived at the Camp, he felt the gentle warmth of the setting sun on his body, and his mood became less tense.

Several Hunters he knew well, seeing him finally out and about, called out greetings one after another.

Ding Cang responded to each one, and just as he was about to stop and chat with them, his feet involuntarily carried him deeper into the Camp.

What's going on?

Ding Cang thought nothing of it, assuming it was just his hands and feet being stiff from not going out for so long.

But then he sensed something was wrong. A faint stabbing pain came from the joints of his hands and feet, and blood seeped through the gauze.

He subconsciously raised his arm to look, but his eyes felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity, as if the arm had nothing to do with him.

Then Ding Cang noticed more anomalies. There had originally been a light-colored birthmark on the back of his right hand, but now it was gone.

And the scar from an old knife wound on his left wrist had also suddenly disappeared.

Panic began to rise in Ding Cang's heart, and he wanted to seek help from a Forbidden Guard, but his feet were no longer under his control, striding quickly on their own toward the Karst Cave.

He tried to resist several times, but it was utterly useless.

Just then, Ren Qing, who had just come out of the mine, was heading to the wooden hut to rest, holding a conspicuously large four-foot Great Miao Saber in his hand.

Ding Cang was stunned for a moment, then, as if grasping at a lifeline, tried to call out to Ren Qing.

"Mm—"

His right hand suddenly clamped over his mouth.

Ding Cang's pupils dilated. When ordinary people encounter something incomprehensible and eerie, their bodies instinctively try to make a sound.

His right hand abruptly pried open his jaw and forcefully grabbed his tongue.

Before he could react, a searing pain shot through his scalp. His tongue had been ripped out by the root, and blood gushed forth.

His twisted face was indescribably horrifying.

Ren Qing stopped in his tracks.

Ding Cang could tell that Ren Qing seemed to have noticed something was wrong with him, and tried to signal for help again, but the speed of his running feet only increased.

He felt the bones all over his body emit sounds of unbearable strain, to the point where his internal organs were squeezed painfully.

Ding Cang crashed heavily in front of the Karst Cave, his flesh and blood flowing out like melted butter, with countless eyes floating within it.

His consciousness felt as if it had returned to the wolf's belly, but this time, besides the heavy breathing, there was also the voice of a strange man.

"What a pity, it didn't fully cover the Mining Area."

Blood splattered everywhere.

The Hundred-Eyed Forbidden Zone was formed.

Beasts swarmed in packs, converging in a relentless tide.

Though the gu insects deployed for defense outnumbered them, they clearly couldn't kill the beasts quickly enough, allowing some fearless ones to charge into Camelback Mountain.

The surviving beasts were mostly wolves, tigers, leopards, and bears—all creatures that had lived thanks to their agility and speed.

They seemed to already know the location of the Calamity Abatement Restricted Zone and rushed straight toward it.

As a large number of gu insects perished, Li Yaoyang rubbed his temples with a conscious gesture, his expression growing impatient.

He sat cross-legged inside a cave on Camelback Mountain, surrounded by a dozen jars and pots, all filled with countless gu insects.

Frowning, Li Yaoyang muttered to himself, "Ridiculous. Driving a few ordinary beasts and thinking they can break into the Restricted Zone—where do they get the nerve?"

He cut his wrist with a fingernail, letting blood drip into an earthen jar filled with gu insects. Inside, the sounds of frantic feeding erupted.

A few breaths later, over a dozen gu insects resembling hornets burst out of the jar, spread their wings, and flew into the dense mountain forest.

Li Yaoyang then left the cave and called out loudly, "Miss Wood, there's still one cultivator left to deal with. Go control his corpse, so it doesn't create a new Restricted Zone after death."

As his words faded, the nearby trees and vines intertwined with one another.

A treant over three meters tall strode toward where the beasts had attacked. Its terrifying appearance made it hard to imagine it was a young woman in her prime.

Yet the birds showed no fear of Wood Yi, even perching on her shoulder.

By the time Wood Yi found the beasts' tracks, they had already charged within a kilometer of the Calamity Abatement Restricted Zone.

Wood Yi spread her hands.

Dozens of vines instantly coiled around the beast pack, and even the few that slipped through were bound by roots bursting from the ground.

She inspected the beasts one by one, only to find them all quite ordinary, with spell traces so faint they were barely noticeable.

"Could it be that cultivator never even entered the mountain?"

Wood Yi closed her eyes, receiving feedback from the vegetation. Countless jumbled memories flooded her mind as she tried to extract useful information from them.

After a long while, Wood Yi opened her eyes.

Just over ten minutes ago, a large, sturdy old wolf had climbed the cliff-covered back mountain, creeping toward the side of the Calamity Abatement Restricted Zone.

But the old wolf was already near death and probably wouldn't last much longer.

Wood Yi retracted the vines into her body, returning to her ordinary human form.

Then she reached out to let a few birds draw near, emitting a series of chirps from her mouth as if communicating with them.

The birds flew off, and Wood Yi hurried into the forest.

Whether that old wolf was a cultivator in disguise or not, she had to stop it.

If it affected the Calamity Abatement Restricted Zone, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, the Restricted Zone was surrounded by indiscriminate spells—even a Ghostly Realm cultivator would find it no easy task to break through quickly.