Chapter 5: Encountering Ferocious Wolves on a Desolate Mountain

  "What disaster?" I asked in surprise.

  "Yes! Old Hunter once said that it's better to fight tigers and leopards than to provoke the gray wolf. Gray wolves and white wolves are both rare breeds of wolves. White wolves are brave, while gray wolves are cunning. The mother gray wolf is an excellent match for the Wolf King. It seems that the wild game in Sixth Brother's bag is its cub. The Wolf King must have found out about our whereabouts and will definitely take crazy revenge on us after losing his child." Fourth Brother said anxiously.

  "See me and Lao Liu moving slowly, my fourth brother suggested loudly again: "Big brother, sixth brother, hurry up and speed up the pace. It's best to reach the cave before the wolf pack arrives. After entering the cave, it will be easier to deal with the wolves. A good dog can lean against a wall and resist eighteen wolves.' Otherwise, if we are attacked from all sides, even if we escape with our lives, these precious things may end up in the belly of the wolves on Hope Mountain."

  His fourth brother's words at this time were actually filled with a calm tone, without any disorder.

  Hearing the fourth brother's words were so serious, I didn't dare to delay for a moment and hurriedly shouted forward: "Speed up our pace, Old Six! We must enter the cave before the wolf pack arrives!"

  Lao Liu seemed a bit hesitant, perhaps because he wanted to get to the wolf meat early. Upon hearing my order, he quickly led the way, urging the Xi gods to hurry forward with quick steps.

  "After walking for a while, he suddenly said: 'We're almost there, just ahead, no more than 200 meters away.'"

  At this time, the wolf pack suddenly stopped howling, except for the neat jumping sound of the Xi gods, and the surrounding area was eerily quiet.

  "Has the wolf pack left?" I asked my fourth brother beside me.

  "Smell carefully, big brother. The wolf howls in the distance, silent by our side, this wolf smell is getting closer and closer. When hunters approach their prey, they won't make any sound." Fourth brother said softly.

  I sniffed hard with my nose in the air and caught a faint pungent smell of wolf musk that was carried clearly into my nostrils by the cold wind.

  "The wolf pack is already not far away." I thought to myself.

  Looking ahead, all I saw was the hazy moonlight, and not far away, a pair of green eyes were quietly rushing towards us.

  "How much further to Lao Liu's?" I asked hastily, seeing a pack of wolves flying towards us.

  "We're almost there, old big brother. Mom's going to scold us to death, how did we end up running into the wolf's den today?"

  Lao Liu was leading the joyful god to a nearby mountain cave in big strides, but suddenly slipped and fell to the ground with a thud.

  My heart sank as I watched the gods fall one by one. It seems that tonight is truly a case of "when it rains, it pours" - just as one thing was settled, another arose. The sound of wolves' heavy breathing could already be faintly heard at my ear.

  "What are you still doing there? First protect the corpse group and give big brother time to resurrect." The fourth brother scolded.

  Sixth brother fell down and was dazed, still sitting on the muddy mountain road. He was reminded by fourth brother's words and quickly sprang up from the ground, not bothering to wipe off the mud and water on his face. With a "whoosh" sound, he drew out the heavy tungsten iron knife that weighed over 100 catties from behind him.

  "Lao Liu, you take the guide flag and give it to Fourth Brother to block the wolves that are attacking first. Fourth Brother, go to the front of the team and before I resurrect, work with Sixth Brother to prevent the wolf pack from getting close." I know that at this moment, I absolutely cannot panic, otherwise tonight we might not be able to leave Hope Mountain.

  As we spoke, a vanguard of over ten wolves suddenly pounced on us like lightning. Fortunately, they collided with my sixth brother who was rushing over in large strides and were all beheaded by him before they could even get close to the corpses. Seeing this, I felt slightly more at ease.

  I hurriedly went to check on the situation of the Joy God and saw that the talisman on his body was still intact. I quickly gathered some earth and made a makeshift altar, lit four incense sticks at the east, south, west, and north points, and waited for the paper money to burn out. Then, I closed my eyes and softly recited in my mouth: "The heavens and earth have their proper energy, mixed and bestowed upon all forms... Below, it becomes the rivers and mountains; above, it becomes the sun and stars... The wise man has long since gone far away, leaving behind his teachings from ancient times. The wind blows gently, displaying the book of old, illuminating the colors."

  Having finished reciting, he opened his eyes and shouted at the dead man: "If you don't rise now, when will you?"

  The gods who had just fallen to the ground were already standing up, and the large pack of wolves that was rushing over from a distance seemed to have been attracted by the aura of death, and they stopped on the spot, raised their heads to the moon and let out a mournful howl, leaving behind a desolate cry that echoed in the mountains for a long time.

  "This is really strange." I cursed in my heart as I looked at the abnormality of the wolf pack ahead.

  "Hurry up and seize this opportunity, big brother. Fourth Brother, you lead the way for us." Fourth Brother reminded me. As soon as he finished speaking, Fourth Brother had already blown the conch shell horn.

  With the sound of the fourth brother's horn, I held up my voice and shouted: "Let's go!"

  The wolf pack seemed to have reacted at this time and finally started rushing towards us crazily, but due to the narrow mountain road, where could they pass through? Lao Liu's knife was constantly taking down some fearless wolves, and the air was instantly filled with a strong bloody smell.

  Seeing Lao Liu walking ahead with his upper body exposed, I hurriedly scolded the newly risen Xi Shen: "Bastard, why aren't you leaving quickly?"

  The fourth brother quickly waved the guide flag in his hand and began to lead the joyful gods slowly following behind the sixth brother to a nearby mountain cave.

  Not long after, a large cave appeared on the side of the road. He couldn't help but feel a surge of joy and hastily called out to his fourth brother to lead the Xi Shen into the cave, leaving his sixth brother alone outside to guard the rear. After settling the Xi Shen, the huge stone that had been hanging in his heart finally fell, and he knew that his sixth brother was still outside fighting with the wild wolves. He quickly rushed out of the cave with his fourth brother to check on the situation.

  As I arrived at the entrance, I saw that dozens of wild wolf corpses had already piled up outside the cave. I laughed at these corpses and said: "You bunch of beasts who don't know life from death, running into Knife Scar Six tonight is your good fortune."

  "The sixth brother is not at the cave entrance." The fourth brother exclaimed in surprise.

  My heart was greatly shocked, and I hurried to the outside of the cave to look for Liu's whereabouts. Only to see my sixth brother frantically chasing after a pack of wolves on an open space about 20-30 meters away from the cave, at this time he had already gone mad with killing and didn't care about returning to the cave to hide.

  In the distance, more wolves kept coming to join the battle circle and began to surround Sixth Brother. The wild wolves seemed to know that Sixth Brother was formidable and no longer dared to clash with him head-on. Every time Sixth Brother approached, they would scatter in all directions and then surround him from other directions again. Fourth Brother's big knife had no chance to taste wolf blood again, but he himself was in a sorry state, wasting his energy as if fighting against a Tai Chi master, no matter how hard he tried, it was all in vain.

  It seems that if things go on like this, it will not be good for Sixth Brother. I hastily pulled out the mountain-opening knife from my waist and was about to rush over to help Sixth Brother when Fourth Brother instructed: "Big Brother, wait a moment, don't get entangled in battle. Just safely bring Sixth Brother into the cave and that's enough. I see that these wolf packs are now attacking with great changes compared to earlier. The previous wolves only wanted to come up and bite us to death, on one hand because the Wolf King had not appeared yet, they wanted to invite merit from the Wolf King, on the other hand, because they did not understand our true abilities, so they were easily killed by Sixth Brother. Now they have obviously already made plans, it seems that the Wolf King is about to appear. The Wolf King knows Sixth Brother's ferocity, it must be planning to exhaust its opponent. Excellent hunters all know how to slowly wear down powerful prey."

  I nodded to my fourth brother and rushed towards my sixth brother. Several wolves saw that I was smaller than my sixth brother and didn't know how formidable I was, so they hastily howled and pounced on me. As soon as my hand rose and my knife fell, they were already killed by me.

  I soon rushed into the wolf pack, Liu Di was already exhausted and struggling to hold on, using all his strength to wield a large knife that splashed water everywhere. It seemed like he could only defend himself and had no strength left to fight back.

  "Look who's here! The big boss has arrived. Let's clean them up together, Grandma!"

  While talking, a moment of negligence had already led to Old Six being grabbed by a wolf. Enraged, he was about to chase after it when I scolded him: "Don't you want to live anymore? Quickly retreat back to the cave with me! What you're doing will only get you killed by the pack of wolves."

  Lao Liu finally came to his senses and hastily leaned against us, fighting and retreating at the same time. The wolf pack saw that we were fiercely brave and unexpectedly did not pursue us, but reluctantly followed behind us. It seems that these beasts are going to exhaust us tonight.

  As we entered the cave, thanks to the shelter of the mountain cave, I didn't worry about safety issues at all. However, if this continues, we will eventually run out of water and food, and what awaits us is a pack of wolves waiting outside. The wolves stopped more than ten meters away from the entrance, some sitting or lying down, looking quite leisurely. The hungry wolves began to tear at the wolf corpses on the ground. Watching these guys lingering around the entrance with their ghostly presence, I couldn't help but feel worried.

  My fourth brother seemed to have seen the doubts in my heart and comforted me, saying: "Big brother, don't worry. There's a saying that goes 'catch the ringleader first'. As long as I can find the Wolf King, everything will be easy."

  I have no doubt about the fourth brother's skills, he is a hundred-step-piercing divine shooter and also proficient in the way of hidden weapons. The prey he sets his sights on can be said to have no chance of escape.

  I nodded at my fourth brother and asked: "Has the Wolf King been found?"

  "I'm still looking for the wolf king, who should be among these wolf packs. Otherwise, their attack earlier wouldn't have been so organized and disciplined. Since you rescued Sixth Brother from the cave, I've been searching for this beast. What's strange is that neither the mother gray wolf nor the wolf king has appeared. This situation is unprecedented." Fourth Brother said with doubt.

  "Was the wolf king controlling the pack from somewhere else?" I asked.

  "It's impossible that the Wolf King doesn't have the ability to remotely control the wolf pack. The number of wolves outside the cave is increasing, and the Wolf King must be nearby, maybe I just haven't seen it yet. Big brother, your night vision is very strong, take a closer look and see if you can find out where the Wolf King is." Fourth Brother said, looking at the outside of the cave.

  I hastily moved closer to my fourth brother, and the scar-faced six next to me was holding a fire starter to make a fire. It seemed that he had begun to think about enjoying his wild game, but the disaster brought by this wild game had already made us miss the big thing.

  Looking out of the cave, although it's quite dark outside, it's not difficult for me to make out objects in the darkness, especially on a night with moonlight. When I was young and learning to drive a hearse, my master had me intensively practice my night vision ability.

  Only to see that outside the cave, everywhere was wild wolves, and it was unusually quiet at this time. The previous killing seemed as if it had never happened. After searching hard outside the cave, there was no sign of the wolf king either. Just then, suddenly saw a slightly larger wolf carrying a raccoon-like beast on its body, and in an instant, it disappeared into the wolf pack without a trace.

  "What a strange thing! How can there be a wolf carrying a raccoon? Isn't the raccoon one of the wolf's favorite foods? And where would you even find a raccoon in this season?" I rubbed my eyes, somewhat disbelieving what I had just seen, and muttered to myself beside my fourth brother.

  "What did you see? Big brother? Badger?" asked the fourth younger brother curiously.

  "Perhaps I'm seeing things, but I could've sworn I just saw a wolf with what looked like a badger on its back." I replied.

  "Ah—" his fourth brother exclaimed in surprise.