Chapter 38: Heavy Encirclement

Together, Qin Lie and Ling Yushi returned to the defensive formation and began to fight alongside everyone.

“Zing zing zing zing zing zing!”

One sharp ray of silver light after another shot out of Liu Yan’s Hexagonal Shield, and the six beams rushed out, amalgamating into a defensive ring.

Ling Feng and Ling Yushi both took out their respective spirit artifacts, gathered spirit energy and infused it into them, also readying themselves to exhibit the power of their spirit artifacts.

Gao Yu’s cold expression looked towards the Silver Winged Demon Wolves, also inciting his Ogre-faced Rings.

Cluster after cluster of tormented spirits, in the form of ghostly faces, emerged in front of his body like black clouds, assailing people with coldness while also bringing along a heart wrenching wave of mind energy which turned into a layer of defense as well.

Qin Lie clenched the sculpture, pointing the head of it towards the pack of wolves. Amidst the crackling of electricity, the net of thunder and lightning gradually expanded out.

“Howl!”

The Silver Winged Demon Wolf that had previously been injured lowly howled, signaling for the pack of wolves to spread out and encircle the group of people.

“Everyone be careful! Silver Winged Demon Wolves have intelligence, they know how to attack weak spots. Do not let them break the formation!”

Liu Yan reminded everyone, his expression grim as he circulated his strength so that everyone could continue to hide within the formation. Only Qin Lie, Ling Yushi, Ling Feng, Gao Yu, and himself were outside of it.

The others were armed with javelins, lances, bows, and other long ranged weapons. They huddled within the defensive circle, preparing for the moment when the Silver Winged Demon Wolves drew close enough so that they could coordinate with Qin Lie, Gao Yu, and the rest.

“They’re coming!”

Liu Yan grimly yelled and his Hexagonal Shield expelled six streaks of rainbow-colored rays, causing a powerful aura to emanate from him.

The eleven Silver Winged Demon Wolves surged over at the same time, attacking from all four directions; Qin Lie, Ling Yushi, Gao Yu, and Ling Feng all infused spirit energy into their spirit artifacts.

At this moment, the spirit artifacts all let out colorful, dazzling rays of light. These rays shined upon the Silver Winged Demon Wolves, causing their pupils to contract.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Clap clap clap!”

At the same time, the formation of rainbow rays, the lightning net, the groups of fire clouds, the clusters of tormented spirits, and the curtain of silver light emanated great power, forming layer after layer of thick, defensive rings which welcomed the charging demon wolves.

Behind them, the others were either desperately shooting arrows or throwing javelins and spears towards the wolf pack.

“Awoooo!”

As the Silver Winged Demon Wolves powerfully howled, they charged at the defensive barrier composed by the spirit artifacts. Under the barrage of arrows and javelins, light reflected off of the wolves’ two meter long bodies and flickered in the sky, making it seem as if they were on fire.

Each arrow and spear could only leave shallow cuts on the wolves’ bodies and were unable to truly wound them.

Only the lightning net, sharp rays of light, and tormented wraiths, condensed by the respective spirit artifacts of Qin Lie, Liu Yan, and Gao Yu, were able to cause the wolves to cry out in pain when they were hit, causing the wolves to avoid them in a panic.

Clearly, only the attacks of Liu Yan, Gao Yu, and Qin Lie could fatally wound the Silver Winged Demon Wolves.

The first wave of the Silver Winged Demon Wolves’ attack was unable to break through the defensive barrier. Taking fire from the powerful spirit artifacts wielded by Qin Lie, Liu Yan, and Gao Yu, who were desperately infusing spirit energy into their artifacts, the wolves hurriedly retreated, temporarily leaving the three’s attack range.

The first wave of offense ended extremely quickly, and thus they were only able to leave a few wounds on some of the Silver Winged Demon Wolves’ bodies.

“Howl!”

The wolf which had exchanged blows with Qin Lie earlier suddenly growled, its fierce eyes staring at everyone as it circled them before surprisingly backing off bit by bit.

The rest of the Silver Winged Demon Wolves also strangely retreated, as if they were giving up on this special meal.

“No way?” Ling Xin dropped to the ground, his expression pale as he said, “I had thought that we would be torn to pieces. With our strength… there is no way to win, why did they leave?”

This same question formulated in everyone’s mind.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

For eleven Rank Two Silver Winged Demon Wolves, each with the power of a Natal Opening practitioner, killing them would not have been a hard task.

In the previous wave of attack, they had nearly broken through the defenses set up by Ling Yushi and Ling Feng, almost able to break through the barrier where they would have bitten and killed every member of the Ling and Gao families there.

“Maybe they decided that brother Liu, Gao Yu, and Qin Lie weren’t easy opponents and were afraid of casualties, afraid that killing us required them to pay a certain cost. They… probably didn’t want to make any sacrifices, didn’t want any wolf to die, so they let us go,” explained Ling Feng after thinking for a while.

Liu Yan, Ling Yushi, and the rest all slightly nodded their heads, believing that what Ling Feng had said was definitely possible.

“It’s not!” Gao Yu looked over in the distance towards the direction the Silver Winged Demon Wolves left from, his heart beating rapidly. He continued, “When they attacked earlier, there was the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. If I didn’t hear wrongly, they should have been summoned by the chief!”

After his remark, everyone’s expressions became terrified. Ling Feng panickingly asked, “Could it be that there is another pack of wolves? If their leader is with another pack of wolves, then that pack is definitely even more terrifyingly powerful than this one!”

After believing that they had just weathered the storm, everyone once again fell into an uneasy fear as they looked in the direction that the Silver Winged Demon Wolves went.

Qin Lie looked at Gao Yu astonishedly. Pondering a moment, he bit the bullet and said, “Although I don’t want to irritate everyone, I still must say it. The howl in the distance… I heard it as well. I had originally thought I had heard wrong, but upon hearing Gao Yu say he heard it too, then I mustn't have…”

Pausing a moment, he bitterly laughed and continued, “What Gao Yu said should be correct. There should be another pack of wolves in this forest with the leader, and they are definitely scarier than the ones we just encountered.”

Everyone's faces became ashen.

Gao Yu frowned, giving Qin Lie a glance before snorting and muttering, “The Ling Family, I guess not all of them are trash…”

He said this very quietly. The Ling Family members, knowing that he had lost a lot of family members and was deeply resentful towards them right now, acted like they didn’t hear anything even if they had.

“What do we do now?” Ling Feng looked at Liu Yan.

Liu Yan’s expression was solemn for a moment. Then, he looked at Gao Yu, and then Qin Lie, asking, “What do you two think we should do?”

Gao Yu and Qin Lie shouted at pretty much the same time. After they finished, both of them were startled, and immediately looked the other way.

“Then let’s run!” Liu Yan had no clue as to why the wolf pack leader had howled and didn’t hear it either. However, now that there was a glimmer of hope, he naturally didn’t dare to hesitate as he urged Qin Lie, “Lead the way, we will follow you!”

“Okay!”

Qin Lie didn’t bother saying any more. Taking a deep breath, he picked a new direction and quickly left with everyone.

Fifteen minutes later.

“Waaaaah!”

Shrill screams constantly emanated over from nearby; it was coming precisely from the direction they were heading to.

A male clad in the practitioner uniform of Shattered Ice Manor suddenly ran out from amidst the forest with his body covered in blood, his left arm missing, and his face full of terror.

A Silver Winged Demon Wolf opened its silver wings and soared through the sky as it fiercely attacked, biting his neck from behind.

“Snap!”

After the bite broke his neck, fresh blood spewed out from the wound like water. The man had been killed in front of their very eyes.

“So the other group of wolves encountered Shattered Ice Manor’s people…”

Needless to say, everyone now understood why the pack of wolves had suddenly withdrawn.

“It seems that although our luck cannot be considered good, at the very least… we didn’t encounter the pack with the leader,” dryly commented Ling Feng with eyes containing a profound bitterness upon seeing the brutal scene in front of him. Flesh and blood were splattered everywhere.

In front of them, the Silver Winged Demon Wolf tore the Shattered Ice Manor practitioner’s body to pieces. As it chewed up the bloody flesh, it howled, and from nearby, other howls came back.

This Silver Winged Demon Wolf seemed to have been a part of the leader’s pack as it thought that Qin Lie and his group belonged to Shattered Ice Manor. Its cold, cruel eyes flashed with the light of excitement.

“This way! Withdraw this way! Eh? Are those people of Nebula Pavilion? Nebula Pavilion’s people are over here!”

Another practitioner of Shattered Ice Manor emerged from the nearby forest. Upon seeing Qin Lie, Liu Yan, and the rest, they immediately screamed.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

The sound of clothes fluttering quickly came from all sides. Many of the Shattered Ice Manor practitioners, upon hearing the shouts, transmitted the information along and then began gathering towards Qin Lie, Liu Yan, and their group.

“F*ck your mother!” loudly swore Ling Xin towards those people as his eyes immediately turned red.

“Sheet, this daddy’s going to kill you!” The eyes of the other Gao Family practitioner also turned red. Cursing all eighteen generations, of their ancestors, he stomped and angrily rushed towards Shattered Ice Manor’s practitioner.

The Shattered Ice Manor practitioner, upon locating Qin Lie’s group, clearly wanted to lure the deathly Silver Winged Demon Wolves over so that they would have to fight against the attacks of the wolves together. He wanted to bury Qin Lie’s group along with them. It was no wonder why Ling Xin and everyone else flew into rage.

Sure enough, as those practitioners shouted to each other, they all tried to converge at the position of Qin Lie’s group.

Feng Yi and another Feng Family member appeared in the crowd, also covered in blood as they moved towards the position of Qin Lie’s group.

“Should we break out?” loudly shouted Ling Xin.

“The wolves are still howling within the forest. If we rush right into a pack of wolves, I’m afraid we will die even faster. As soon as we start running, our formation will also fall apart. We can’t outrun them either. We’ll only be bitten to death. Only if we keep our formation and hang on can we have a chance. We must not aimlessly run!” explosively yelled Liu Yan, trying to get everyone to remain calm as they quickly reformed the defensive formation.

Only, that Gao Family member had already impulsively left the area, trying to kill his way over to that Shattered Ice Manor practitioner.

“Shing!”

An icy cold crescent beam suddenly shot out from within the forest, instantly hitting him.

The Gao Family practitioner, who had shouted that he would kill the instigator, now had a bloody hole in his chest. Before he had even reached the other person, he had unwillingly stopped breathing.

“You think you're strong enough to kill me?”

The Shattered Ice Manor practitioner who had shouted first spat at the corpse of the Gao Family member. Casually swinging the sword in his hand, he beheaded the dead practitioner, and his grin became even wider.

“Yan Qingsong! I’m going to cut you into ten thousand pieces!” Gao Yu let out a bestial howl, crazily rushing over, wanting to finely mince him.

“Hehe, you can come and try. Just like how I beheaded your clansman’s head, I will behead yours as well.” The young practitioner of Shattered Ice Manor, called Yan Qingsong, uncaringly said as he smiled strangely. Waving his hand at the people behind him, he said, “Bring everyone over and attract all of the Silver Winged Demon Wolves here. Sheet, there’s no reason for just us to die, how can we let them off so easily?”

As he waved and spoke, the nearby Shattered Ice Manor practitioners began to all move over.

Before long, even the Head Elder of Shattered Ice Manor, Yan Dewu, appeared along with his trusted subordinates.

He had also been injured with bloodstains around his chest. At the moment, his eyes were sinister. After arriving, he nodded towards Liu Yan, saying, “In order to kill you all, we have already spent a great amount. You can all die peacefully now.”

Upon seeing the appearance of Yan Dewu, Gao Yu, who nearly rushed over, quickly stopped. He ground his teeth, and no longer dared to continue forward.

“This time, we truly cannot escape,” bitterly laughed Liu Yan. Sighing deeply, he said, “We will either be killed by Shattered Ice Manor or get torn to pieces by the Silver Winged Demon Wolves. That being the case, let us try to kill a few more members of Shattered Ice Manor. In this situation, even if we all die, most of Shattered Ice Manor’s people will die as well because they will be chased down by the wolves. It’s worth it!”

Indeed, as soon as Liu Yan finished speaking, another loud howl came from the periphery.

When the wolf howled, Yan Dewu also became frightened.

Afterwards, the sound of the quick movements of Silver Winged Demon Wolves immediately rang out from all sides as one wolf after another gradually appeared from their surroundings.

These demon wolves were extremely disciplined. With the leader’s howl, they used their speed advantage to gradually scatter and encircle everyone within.

As of right now, Shattered Ice Manor’s forces and Qin Lie’s forces were face to face in their formations, and the two forces were in turn surrounded and being observed by the fierce and brutal Silver Winged Demon Wolves.

……