Chapter 1: Perplexity

  "Hum... whoosh!" A strange sound suddenly came from Gao Huaiyuan's hand, and a sharp arrow shot out, instantly pinning the black figure that was approaching Huang Yan to the ground.

  "Ahhh......!" The black shadow that was shot by the arrow immediately let out a shrill howl, fell to the ground, and struggled desperately.

  Suddenly, a chorus of wolf howls rose from the dense forest in all directions. Gao Huaiyuan's head seemed to have grown bigger as he listened, and he secretly exclaimed, "Heavens! My earth! There is such a large pack of wolves in this mountain!"

  "Hurry up! The wolf is coming!" Gao Huaiyuan didn't dare to delay any longer, and immediately let out a loud shout. He quickly drew another arrow from his hand and placed it on the bowstring.

  Huang Yan was dreaming and didn't know which little girl he had dreamed of, when he was suddenly awakened by the mournful howl of a wolf not far away. He sprang up with a start, grabbed the machete beside him, and got to his feet in confusion, without knowing what had happened.

  Just as Huang Yan was about to get up, the wolf pack, under the command of the lead wolf, also launched an attack. The lead wolf was furious, and the consequences were severe. This two-legged creature had actually killed one of its powerful warriors with just one appearance. How could this be tolerated? This was the greatest provocation against the lead wolf's dominance in the forest. In the angry lead wolf's roar, the wolves that had already arrived at the scene let out dog-like howls and rushed out of the forest, pouncing on Gao Huaiyuan and Huang Yan who were standing in the campsite.

  Huang Yan was sleeping dazedly, and when he opened his eyes, he only caught a glimpse of a machete. He saw a black shadow jumping over the pile of extinguished bonfires in front of him, rushing towards him head-on. In the darkness, he could see two greenish lights on top of the black shadow's head, followed by a gust of fishy wind blowing straight at him.

  Huang Yan let out a loud cry, momentarily stunned, and instinctively raised his hand to block the wolf that was pouncing on him. His reaction was slow, but the wolf quickly bit down on his arm. The swift movement startled Huang Yan, leaving him momentarily unable to react. Just as all hope seemed lost, another arrow shot through the air, striking the wolf that had attacked Huang Yan and pinning it to the ground with great force. The wolf let out a pained yelp, similar to a dog's bark, before falling into the still-smoldering bonfire.

  The bonfire was hit by the wolf, and immediately another burst of sparks rose up, filling the air with a burning smell. The wolf, despite being seriously injured, was invigorated by the pain of the burns and jumped out of the bonfire again, bringing flames with it, before falling to the ground and struggling to get up.

  The wolf pack was stimulated and also went crazy, rushing towards Gao Huaiyuan and Huang Yan with a fierce howl.

  Things happened so suddenly that Gao Huaiyuan himself was not prepared, and the speed of the wolf pack's arrival made his bow and arrow useless in an instant. In the darkness, he felt like there were wolves everywhere, with two already pouncing on him from the front. He had no choice but to drop his bow and arrow, quickly drawing out his dragon-scale dagger. With one swing of the knife, he sliced through a wolf that was about to attack, its blood splashing onto his face. However, another wolf simultaneously attacked from the side, forcing him to be unable to turn the blade in time to chop it down. He had no choice but to fly up with his left leg and kick the wolf's open mouth, barely resolving the crisis.

  Even so, the wolf still left a scar on his calf and tore his pants, startling him into a cold sweat.

  Huang Yan finally recovered from the initial shock, immediately swung his knife to slash a wolf that was pouncing on him, and rushed towards Gao Huaiyuan while shouting. In this situation, his choice should be correct. Once surrounded by wolves in an open area, no matter how good one's martial arts skills are, they would not be able to withstand several wolves. Eventually, they would still be torn apart and eaten by the wolves.

  At this time, the wolf pack rushed over frantically, and it was impossible to tell how many wolves came in the darkness. The fierce barking tore through the night sky, and the birds and beasts in the mountain forest were also startled and fled in all directions, making a loud noise.

  Such a commotion, unless it was really the head of the pig, would not have been startled awake. Several young men were awakened by the wolf's howling voice outside the hut in their sleep and, after thoroughly waking up from the initial confusion, understood what had happened outside, so they all felt for their weapons by their side, rushed out, and as a result, they immediately bumped into the rushing wolf pack, and a battle between humans and wolves began.

  Such an environment is very unfavorable for Gao Huaiyuan and his men. In the dark, they don't have the wolf's good eyesight at all, and the wolf's body is relatively short, which can hide in the grass and shrubs to launch a surprise attack on them, making them unable to defend themselves. After a while, someone was bitten by a wolf and injured. If these people weren't used to taking care of their companions, it's likely that someone would be pounced on by wolves and bitten to death.

  Liu'er was also startled awake by the huge noise outside the hut, and when she opened her eyes, she didn't see Gao Huaiyuan beside her. She then heard the eerie howling sound coming from outside again, and she let out a blood-curdling scream.

  Two wolves heard the sharp cry of Liu'er in the hut and immediately turned their heads to pounce on the hut where Liu'er was. Gao Huaiyuan, who had just felled a wolf that was pouncing on him, happened to see the movement of the two wolves and was suddenly startled, his hair standing on end. He reached for the flying knife at his waist, but grabbed nothing, only then remembering that he had taken off the scabbard last night when he went to sleep because it was pressing against his waist, and had placed it inside the hut.

  He didn't dare to hesitate any longer, and with a loud shout, he pounced forward. In the blink of an eye, he had reached the entrance of the den and with one swing of his knife, he chopped the wolf behind him in half. However, due to his haste, his strength wasn't fully utilized, and the blade got stuck in the wolf's bones. He couldn't pull it out no matter how hard he tried. Seeing another wolf had already crawled halfway into the den, Gao Huairen's eyes turned red with rage as he threw away his knife and pounced forward again. He grabbed the wolf trying to enter the den by the scruff of its neck and pulled it out with a crazed strength. Letting out a loud roar, he swung the wolf around like a weapon and began to fiercely battle the surrounding pack of wolves that were constantly closing in.

  The willow child saw a wolf with green eyes emerging from the outside of the den, and was so frightened that she almost fainted. But just as she was about to give up hope, the wolf suddenly retreated, letting out a terrified whine, its two front paws frantically scratching at the inside of the den, barely missing the willow child's legs, causing her to let out another shrill cry.

  At this moment, Gao Huaiyuan thought that the wolf had bitten Liu Er, and immediately became furious, using all his strength to grab the wolf's tail, swinging it up, and slamming it to the ground with a loud crash. The wolf was slammed until its bones were broken, its head smashed into a pulp, and it let out a final whimper before dying. Gao Huaiyuan had no weapon at this moment, so he simply picked up the wolf's corpse and used it as his own weapon, swinging it left and right to fight off the pack of wolves that was rushing towards him at the entrance of the den.

  "Fools! Gather around quickly, form a circle and defend together! Fighting separately, you'll be dragged away by the wolves sooner or later! Fools! Gather around quickly!" When Gao Huaiyuan woke up from his initial panic, he saw Huang Yan and others fighting in disarray, so he immediately scolded loudly.

  After Gao Huaiyuan's reminder, these people who were in a state of panic finally came to their senses and quickly gathered together, surrounding the two injured brothers in the middle and protecting them tightly. Back-to-back, they began to fight against the wolf pack. These people performed quite well; if it had been others, they might have already been scared stiff and killed by the wolves on the spot. Most of these young men had experienced the battle against bandits some time ago, so their mental toughness was already quite strong, which is why they remained calm in the face of danger. Although everyone was injured, no one lost their life.

  When the crowd gathered together, the situation began to improve slightly. At this time, Liu'er also crawled out of the hut with a trembling body. After seeing that Liu'er was fine, Gao Huaiyuan finally felt at ease and threw away the wolf corpse in his hand. He immediately knocked down one of the wolves, which rolled over on the ground, let out a panicked howl, tucked its tail, and ran away quickly.

  Taking advantage of the wolf pack's temporary retreat, Gao Huaiyuan stepped on the wolf corpse on the ground, pulled out the treasured sword from its body, grabbed Liu'er's hand and rushed towards his own encirclement.

  A wolf was very cunning, seeing that Liu Er had left her back to them, so she immediately pounced silently from behind, and with one bite, she bit down on Liu Er's small leg. Fortunately, Liu Er's trousers were quite loose, so the wolf didn't bite her leg directly, but instead grabbed her pant leg. She was almost dragged to the ground by the wolf, and was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she let out another cry of alarm.

  Gao Huaiyuan pulled Liu Er with force, turned around and fiercely swung his knife at the vicious wolf that was biting Liu Er's pants leg, beheading it in one swift motion. The wolf's fresh blood immediately splattered all over Gao Huaiyuan and Liu Er.

  Everyone did not think that this wolf pack was so numerous, the general wolf pack has only a dozen or so at most forty or so heads, but today's encounter with this wolf pack is clearly more than this number. After a fierce battle for half a day, they killed no less than a dozen wolves, but there were still large packs of wolves surrounding them on all sides, continuously launching attacks on them.

  Look at the sky, it's still a long way from dawn. If they keep fighting like this, heaven knows if their physical strength can last until dawn. Most of them are already injured, either scratched or bitten. Everyone is tense to the extreme. Liu'er looked around at the blurry wolf pack and was scared pale, tightly clinging to Gao Huaiyuan's back, but biting her lips tightly, refusing to make another sound. She was afraid that her scream would interfere with Gao Huaiyuan and the others. So she made up her mind that even if she were dragged away by the wolves, she wouldn't cry out again. Now she didn't care about herself living or dying, as long as Gao Huaiyuan was fine.

  Gao Huaiyuan led several of his subordinates, constantly repelling the wolf pack's attacks, while assessing the situation around him. In his heart, he secretly lamented that after all his efforts to reach this point, where he might finally be able to do something for this era, would he really lose his life in these mountains today?

  He was unwilling! How could he die, but instead become wolf dung? Gao Huaiyuan forcibly suppressed his panic, calming himself down, constantly thinking of a solution. Finally, he suddenly shouted: "Form a circular formation, don't let the wolf pack get close, we'll slowly move towards the bonfire, Liu Er, you and the injured people stay in the middle of us, pick up some branches along the way! First, let's relight the bonfire, these beasts are afraid of fire!"

  Everyone listened and thought Gao Huaiyuan was right, so they started to follow his orders, surrounding Liu'er and the wounded in the middle, slowly moving towards the direction of the bonfire. Liu'er and the two wounded men supported each other, occasionally bending down to pick up some dry branches and leaves from the ground.

  The wolf pack seemed to have discovered their intentions as well, and with the howling of the lead wolf, they launched another fierce attack on them. A dozen or so wolves suddenly emerged from the shadows and pounced on them, putting immense pressure on the people at the periphery. They hastily stopped and began to fight back desperately against the wolves. Before long, Huang Yan was bitten by a wolf on his left arm, and blood gushed out instantly. The pain drove him mad, and he violently slammed the vicious wolf that had bitten his left arm to the ground, stomping on it with one foot, shattering its ribs, leaving it on the verge of death.

  Several others fought back with all their might, and although each of them was slightly injured, they managed to repel the wolf pack's attack.

  If there was only one person, the situation might be a little better. After all, when he was with San Shan San Ren before, he had practiced dodging and hiding many times, his body had formed a kind of instinct to dodge and hide, which could better play to his advantage. However, today he couldn't leave these brothers, once he left, it would make their defense appear vulnerable. So he stuck to his own side, fighting to the death without retreating, but also suffered minor injuries, being scratched by the wolf on his ribs, leaving several deep blood marks, hurting so much that his whole body trembled.

  Fortunately, they quickly repelled the wolf pack's attack and stabilized the situation before retreating again towards the bonfire, finally reaching its side.

  The campfire, which had been extinguished, was only smoldering with some charcoal, and was almost completely out after being kicked by a wolf earlier. As soon as everyone arrived, they surrounded the campfire, and Liu'er and two seriously injured men immediately put the dry branches and leaves they had searched for on top of the fire. One of the injured men crawled on the ground, carefully blowing on the embers, and under their care, the dry leaves finally ignited a flame and started burning.

  When the bonfire was rekindled, it quickly began to burn again. The wolf pack saw that the bonfire had reignited and suddenly paused its attack, slowing down.

  Beasts are born with an uncontrollable fear of fire, and when they saw these two-legged creatures produce flames, they began to slowly retreat. However, they did not escape but continued to surround the area, staring intently at Gao Huaiyuan and others, as if waiting for the bonfire to go out again before reorganizing their attack.

  As the wolf pack retreated a bit, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, slightly relaxed and scolded in unison, cursing these damned wolves for being so cunning.

  But Gao Huairen knew that this was not the fault of the wolf pack, but rather that they had entered the wolves' territory and disrupted their lives, which led to the wolves attacking in unison. However, at this moment, it was not the time for reasoning; they were now in a situation where there was no room for compromise with the wolf pack, and if they couldn't drive them away, they would end up as wolf dung.

  Look at the green lights flashing in the distance, Gao Huai and others knew that those green lights were wolf eyes, a chill ran down their spine, today was really unlucky, they had encountered a rare large-scale wolf pack, things seemed to be getting out of hand.

  "Master! Our firewood is probably not going to last much longer! What are we going to do?" Zhou Hao asked Gao Huaiyuan in a low voice.

  Gao Huaiyan looked down at the bonfire that was burning and immediately furrowed his brow. Zhou Huan had spoken correctly, they indeed had very little firewood, far from enough to last until dawn. However, all around them were packs of wolves, going out to gather firewood would surely provoke a wolf attack, it could be said that whoever went to find firewood would be risking their life, what to do now?!

  Gao Huaiyuan thought for a moment, then immediately called out to several people: "Except for Liu'er, quickly take off your upper clothes and use them to hold on for now!"

  After hearing this, everyone immediately followed Gao Huaiyuan's instructions and took off their upper clothes one after another, revealing their bare backs. At this time, almost every person had some scratches or bites on their bodies, which looked bloody and frightening.

  Liu'er immediately covered her mouth and burst into silent tears as soon as she saw the wound under Gao Huaiyuan's ribs. Large drops of tears fell onto her hand, then rolled down to the ground.

  "Older brother! Today is all my fault, I've wronged you and everyone else. I'll go gather some dry branches!" Huang Yan stared with bloodshot eyes, his face filled with shame as he spoke to Gao Huaiyuan. He understood that even with these clothes, it was unlikely they could last until dawn. Gnashing his teeth, with a determination to die, he wanted to atone for his mistakes and fight for a glimmer of hope for everyone.

  Gao Huaiyuan took a glance at Huang Yan's left arm, which was torn and bleeding, and glared at him coldly. "Who do you think you are? You dare to speak out of turn here? It's your fault that I'll deal with you, but I won't let you go get yourself killed! Just stay put quietly! If you keep spouting nonsense, watch me slap you in the mouth!"