Wolf Pack

The lead wolf moved.

It did not pounce on Yan, who was closest, or Xie Yue, who posed the greatest threat. Pushing off with all four paws, it leaped from the depths of the dry ground, its gray-white form tracing an arc through the mist as it went straight for Hu Liena. It was so fast that it reached her in almost an instant. Hu Liena's pupils contracted. She stepped back half a pace, and her Third Soul Ring lit up again. Pink illusory mist surged around her and formed a thin veil before her as she simultaneously used her First Soul Skill, Fox Charm. The lead wolf plunged headfirst into the mist, and its movements indeed stalled for a moment. A trace of confusion flashed through its gray-blue eyes.

That single moment was enough.

Xie Yue arrived. His two blood-colored Moon Blades crossed as they slashed down, and his First Soul Ring lit up. Crescent Moon Slash. Two silver-red arcs of blade light closed like crescent moons, cutting toward the lead wolf's midsection. The wolf abruptly came to its senses and rolled sideways. The blade light grazed its spine, shearing off a tuft of eerie blue mane. It gave a low growl and dug all four paws into the ground. A dim light suddenly spread over its eerie blue mane, and the wolf seemed to melt into the mist, its form growing indistinct.

"It's going to stealth!" Ning Buhui shouted from the rear.

Xie Yue did not pursue. Instead, he stepped back half a pace and crossed his Moon Blades before him. He could no longer see the lead wolf, but he could hear it. Keeping his breathing extremely quiet, he listened for every faint sound in the mist. A soft scrape of claws against mud came from ahead to his left. He ducked and swept his right blade upward in a backhand slash. Shattered Moon Impact. Blade light burst forth, tearing a gap in the mist. The lead wolf flashed out through it, a fresh bloody gash on its left forepaw.

The lead wolf landed and looked back at Xie Yue. That look sent a slight chill through him. It was too calm. The beast was not angry. It was assessing the situation.

Just then, four pairs of gray-blue eyes lit up at once in the mist around them.

Four younger wolves arrived, emerging soundlessly from four directions. Two thousand-year wolves were on the left, a fifteen-hundred-year wolf was on the right, and an eight-thousand-year wolf blocked their retreat. They did not attack immediately. They merely lowered their bodies and edged closer, tightening the encirclement bit by bit.

"Yan!" Xie Yue barked.

Yan was already moving. Her Second Soul Ring lit up. Fire Wall. A scarlet wall of fire rose from beneath her feet, stretching across the path of the two thousand-year wolves. Flames rolled and churned, making even the mist sizzle. The two wolves were forced back several steps, baring their teeth as they circled around it. Before they could get past, Yan's Third Soul Ring lit up again. Lava Body. Dark red cracks spread across her skin, as though magma were surging beneath it. She stepped forward, scarlet Soul Power wrapping around both fists as she struck at one of the two-thousand-year wolves. Her First Soul Ring lit up. Lava Fist. The force of her punch evaporated the mist in its path. Unable to dodge in time, the wolf took the blow on its shoulder blade and flew sideways, snapping two small trees before retreating with a howl.

"Don't kill them yet! Don't forget our plan!" Ning Buhui shouted.

Yan forcibly checked the second punch she had thrown to follow up, cursed, and turned to block the other wolf.

Hu Liena was tied up by another two-thousand-year wolf. Copying the lead wolf, it refused to fight her head-on, instead circling through the mist and occasionally lunging from the side with a swipe of its claws. Dense pink mist surrounded Hu Liena as she used her First Soul Ring's Fox Charm to control it, but the wolf was extremely slippery, and she missed it by a hair every time. She frowned, and her Second Soul Ring lit up. Fox Claw. Her fingernails lengthened several inches, gleaming with a cold silver-white light. She twisted sideways and raked her claws across the wolf's attack path, leaving a bloody gash on its front leg. The wolf whimpered and backed up two steps, but still refused to leave.

Ning Buhui stood at the rear, maintaining three support Soul Skills at once. The golden light of Butterfly Dance Flowing Radiance continued to flow over the three fighters, while the blue-purple lightning patterns of Wind Thunder Wing Shadow intertwined and flickered beneath their feet. He watched their condition while keeping an eye on the lead wolf. The lead wolf was waiting. It was waiting for the younger wolves to throw the fight into greater chaos, waiting for the three to expose an opening. The beast was more patient than he had expected.

Xie Yue had noticed it too. After driving the lead wolf back, he had not pursued, instead stepping back half a pace to shield Ning Buhui. His gaze swept over the entire field, and he suddenly said, "Buhui, those two thousand-year wolves on the left-give me a layer of vine armor."

Ning Buhui understood at once. His Second Soul Ring lit up. Vine Armor Spring Life. The yang fish swished its tail, and a dark green illusory suit of vine armor settled over Xie Yue. Xie Yue pivoted and shot forward, heading straight for the two thousand-year wolves on the left.

Hu Liena moved at the same time. Her Second Soul Ring lit up. Fox Claw. She pounced to meet the two-thousand-year wolf on the right. Yan roared, set a Fire Wall across their retreat, and charged the wolf that had withdrawn earlier, her Lava Body wreathed in scarlet flames.

In an instant, the four split into three groups. Xie Yue fought two wolves alone, his blade light flashing as he forced them back again and again. The vine armor took a claw strike from one of them head-on, and Xie Yue seized the chance to send one flying with Shattered Moon Impact. The other had a hind leg severed and fell into the mud, howling. Hu Liena was locked in combat with the two-thousand-year wolf, Fox Claw against wolf claws, cold silver-white light against gray-blue poisoned blades. Crisp metallic clashes rang throughout the mist. Yan's fight was fiercer still. A Lava Fist struck the wolf on its other shoulder blade, sending it flying sideways and snapping two small trees. It took a long while to get back up, then tucked its tail between its legs and darted into the mist.

All three battlefields blossomed at once, and they appeared to have the upper hand everywhere. But Ning Buhui's heart suddenly tightened.

He stood at the rear, and the other three attacking at the same time had left him exposed. That was exactly what the lead wolf had been waiting for. It did not pounce on Xie Yue, who was locked in combat, or on Hu Liena, whose back was turned to it. Instead, its paws gripped the ground without a sound, and its gray-white form streaked along the edge of the mist, heading straight for Ning Buhui.

It covered the dozens of steps between them in a single breath.

By the time Ning Buhui saw the gray-blue shadow charge out of the mist, the lead wolf was less than two meters away. Too fast. He had no time to warn anyone and could only deal with it himself. Every thought in his mind seemed to explode at once, but he ruthlessly suppressed them and forced himself to stay calm. He immediately held the tower across his body while frantically pouring Soul Power into his First Soul Ring and Third Soul Ring.

Butterfly Dance Flowing Radiance. Wind Thunder Wing Shadow.

Golden light and blue-purple lightning patterns descended on him at once. All his attributes climbed, his speed soared, and his reactions became noticeably faster. But the lead wolf was already upon him, his tiny reflection visible in its gray-blue eyes.

Mountain Suppressing Falling Strike.

The tower in his palm abruptly grew to half a person's height, and he smashed it forward. The lead wolf had not expected him to advance rather than retreat. The tower blocked it head-on, halting its charge and suspending its entire body in midair for an instant. Just that one instant.

The Wind Thunder Wings unfolded silently. Pale white-blue light flowed across the left wing, and light black-purple lightning leaped across the right. Ning Buhui turned into a streak of blue-purple light and vanished from the spot. The lead wolf's claws passed through where he had been standing, tearing apart nothing but an afterimage. When Ning Buhui reappeared, he was behind an old tree twenty steps away, his back pressed against the trunk, chest heaving and sweat beading at his temples.

The lead wolf landed and turned to stare at him. Its gray-blue eyes showed clear surprise for the first time; plainly, it had not expected him to be able to teleport as well. It did not give chase, because Xie Yue had already arrived.

Seeing that things had turned against it, the two-thousand-year wolf tucked its tail between its legs and darted deeper into the woods. Hu Liena did not pursue, turning instead toward the lead wolf. Yan also strode back. The four regrouped. Of the four younger wolves, two were wounded and two had fled; only the lead wolf remained standing where it was.

It did not run.

It stood in the middle of the dry ground, forepaws gripping the earth, the eerie blue mane on its nape bristling like a little flag flapping in the mist. It looked at the four of them, its gray-blue eyes sweeping over each face.

It raised its head and let out a long howl. The sound pierced the mist and echoed through the swamp forest in waves, surging outward in every direction like a tide. Ning Buhui felt nothing thanks to the tower's passive mental defense; Yan staggered and nearly fell, then shook her head and cursed, "That beast can even wail like it's at a funeral"; Hu Liena's face paled slightly, but she quickly steadied herself; Xie Yue also frowned in discomfort.

The lead wolf seized the chance and charged Xie Yue at the front. Ning Buhui cast another layer of vine armor on him, but the lead wolf shattered it with one swipe and was knocked back two steps. Just then, the blue-purple lightning patterns on Xie Yue flashed. The Static Counterattack attached to Wind Thunder Wing Shadow had triggered. The patterns crackled, and a tiny arc of electricity sprang into the lead wolf's front leg, bringing its next pounce to a halt. In less than half a breath, Xie Yue seized the opening. His Third Soul Ring lit up. Shattered Moon Impact. Both blades slashed down together, and silver-red blade light struck the lead wolf squarely in the shoulder blade. Blood burst forth. The wolf's massive body was knocked onto its side and rolled twice across the ground, its front leg twitching, unable to support it.

Xie Yue did not stop. He pursued it across the muddy ground, turned his Moon Blade, and aimed its tip at the softest spot on the back of the lead wolf's neck. He cut down.

The lead wolf stopped struggling.

Only the rank smell of mud and blood remained on the dry ground. The four younger wolves had either been wounded or fled, and there was no further movement from them. Mist surged in from all around the swamp forest, but the lingering ripples of Soul Power on the clearing held it back, keeping it from gathering there for the time being.

"Take the materials." Xie Yue put away his blades and glanced at Yan and Hu Liena.

Yan crouched down and used a thick-backed knife to carefully part the fur on the lead wolf's shoulder, exposing the intact shoulder blade beneath. Xie Yue took the knife and turned his wrist slightly, guiding its tip along the seams of the bone as though peeling away an extremely thin sheet of paper. The wolf's mane was cut off at the roots with a dagger, a lock of eerie blue that glimmered with fine specks of fluorescence in the dim light. The shoulder bone came out intact, its surface smooth, with not a chip along its edges.

Ning Buhui stood nearby and watched. He kept his support Soul Skills active for the moment, alert to any movement around them.

"Done." Xie Yue finished preparing the shoulder bone and wolf's mane, put them into his ring, then stood and wiped the blood from his Moon Blades.

"What about the Soul Ring?" Yan looked at the purple Soul Ring rising from the lead wolf's corpse. "It's almost five thousand years old. If no one absorbs it, it'll disperse."

Xie Yue glanced at the purple ring and shook his head. "Its attributes don't match. My Moon Blades are suited to both power and agility attacks, while this wolf has both wind and poison attributes. It isn't suitable, and its age is too low. My Fourth Soul Ring has to be at least ten thousand years old."

Hu Liena shook her head too. "It's a shame, but this Soul Ring isn't suitable for us."

"Let's go." Xie Yue finished packing everything away. "The mission's complete. We'll find somewhere to rest for the night on the way back and hurry to Spirit City tomorrow morning."

The four turned to leave. Ning Buhui withdrew his three support Soul Skills and followed behind them. As he left the dry ground, he looked back. The lead wolf's body lay quietly in the mist, and the swamp forest's mist was slowly closing in, swallowing the battlefield once more in gray-blue haze.

He turned around and hurried to catch up with the other three.