After the silver glow dissipated, a pure white horse was revealed lying on the ground. It was Sky. She didn't have any visible changes and was still unconscious; however, her flanks were rising and falling steadily, so she seemed to be sleeping soundly now, no longer panting heavily in pain.
Snort?
(Translation: What happened? Why didn’t she gain any markings?)
Galaxy snorted in confusion, not understanding why his wife hadn't gained any silver markings like himself and his son.
Jin Shu was equally confused. "I have no clue."
Snort!
(Translation: She got to keep her beautiful snow-white coat of fur! But look at me! My once supremely beautiful pure black coat of fur is now destroyed by these silver speckles!)
Galaxy snorted angrily.
Jin Shu ignored him and turned to check on Yin'er. She had curled herself up and was sleeping peacefully.
Next, he checked on Star, who was still panting in exhaustion while lying next to his mother. "Here, let me help you recover some Qi, Star."
He placed his hand on Star's flank and infused his own Qi into Star's body. Star's Qi was fire-type, and normally someone with a Qi of another type wouldn't be able to infuse their Qi into someone else without hurting or even killing them, but Jin Shu's Qi was attribute-less. Although Jin Shu cultivated the most basic of cultivation techniques, one good thing about it was that it had no set attribute. For instance, his mother's cultivation technique is of the fire attribute, which means she could help Star recover his Qi; however, if she tried to help someone with a water attribute cultivation technique, she could injure or even kill them.
As Jin Shu's Qi flowed into Star's body, he gathered it and converted it into fire-attributed Qi, which caused his mane of flames to come back to life.
Flame-Maned Plains Runners were a very unique type of Demonic Beast. Most Demonic Beasts follow a very similar method of cultivation compared to humans. However, a Flame-Maned Plains Runner has its own unique style of cultivation. They store all of their Qi, not in their dantians like humans and other Demonic Beasts. Instead, they store it all in their manes. They originally start out as Red-Maned Plains Runners, which are normal horses, but when they gather Qi, it is automatically converted into fire-attributed Qi in their bodies and then stored in their manes, which eventually become entirely Qi instead of hair. The color of their Qi flame manes is also an indication of their cultivation level. Star's mane was dark red, indicating that he was in the lower stages of the Qi Gathering Realm. His mother Sky's mane was dark pink, indicating that she was in the later stages of the Qi Gathering Realm, and his father Galaxy had a bright pink mane of flames, indicating that he had reached the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm and was on the verge of a breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm.
---
An hour had passed when Sky began to wake up.
Neigh!
(Translation: Wife! You’re awake! How are you feeling?)
Galaxy neighed joyfully when he saw his wife wake up.
Neigh?
(Translation: Who are you?)
Sky neighed in confusion when she opened her eyes and saw Galaxy standing above her.
Snort!
(Translation: What!? What do you mean, ‘who are you’? I’m your incredibly handsome husband!)
Galaxy snorted with a shocked look on his face. He couldn’t believe that his wife forgot her supremely handsome and beautiful husband. It must be these damned silver specks.
Nei-eigh-eigh!
(Translation: Hehehehe!)
Sky giggled in joy as she saw the shocked look on Galaxy’s face.
Snort!
(Translation: Why are you laughing? It’s these damn speckles, isn’t it? That’s why you can’t remember your divinely beautiful husband!)
Galaxy snorted delusionally.
Nei-eigh-eigh!
(Translation: Ahahahaha!)
Sky burst into raucous laughter while rolling on the ground.
Jin Shu and Su Bing stared at the two horses, wondering what in the hell they were doing.
Neigh! Nei-eigh
(Translation: I’m just joking, hehe!)
Sky neighed to Galaxy.
Snort!?
(Translation: What!?)
Galaxy snorted in confusion.
After some more nonsensical back and forth between Galaxy and Sky, Galaxy asked Sky what ability she got from Jin Shu’s blood. She said that she didn’t know, as she couldn’t feel anything different other than a slight feeling that she was a little stronger than normal.
In the case of Galaxy and Star, they had something to focus on to activate their new powers. Star had his diamond mark, and Galaxy focused on the silver star-like marks on his back. However, Sky didn’t have any visible changes.
---
After Sky finished pranking her husband, they all traveled about thirty miles and made camp, as they were all exhausted from fighting.
Thirty miles may seem like a long distance; however, in the week since the horses joined Jin Shu and the others on their travels, they had been able to travel at more than triple their previous speed. So, this thirty miles would have taken them about fifteen minutes to travel; however, due to their exhaustion and the need to be wary of another possible attack from the wolves who had escaped, the thirty miles ended up taking nearly an hour to travel.
Jin Shu hopped off Galaxy’s back and looked around a clearing they had come to in the forest. "Let’s set up camp here for the night. I’ll set up some warning devices. Su Bing, can you set up the tents?"
"Sure!"
As soon as they were done setting up camp, Jin Shu started cooking some wolf meat steaks. Although the horses were mainly herbivores, they didn’t mind eating meat, and Galaxy actually preferred it to a plant-based diet.
---
Deep into the night, Jin Shu was standing guard when a noise alerted him from one of his alarm devices.
Ting! Ting!
He stood up from where he was sitting beside the fire and moved toward the sound while picking up and lighting a torch he had placed next to himself.
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He had placed the alarms about a hundred feet from the camp. When he reached halfway, an alarm sounded on the opposite side of the camp, then two more on either side. "Shit! We are surrounded!"
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
"Everyone! Wake up!" he shouted to alert everyone.
Awoo!
A wolf howl rang out in the silent night.
After the echoing wolf howl died down, the alarms stopped, and the night regained its silence.
"Jin Shu, what's happening?" Su Bing asked as she stepped out of her tent, her hair still messy from just waking.
"The alarms went off, and I heard a wolf howling," he replied, while glancing around to see if the wolves were going to come back.
"I don't hear anything," she said questioningly.
Jin Shu waited a moment before replying, "I think they retreated."
---
The night passed, and morning came. There were no more alarms or wolf howls throughout the night.
Jin Shu and the others picked up camp and set out again.
After traveling an entire day through the forest, they still hadn't reached the end yet. Even after traveling nearly a hundred miles, according to the map, this forest stretches over three hundred miles, and a day's travel after this forest would finally bring them to the Eastern Region.
They were making relatively slow progress as the large horses couldn't move very well through the woods. Their horses would dwarf even the largest horses from his previous life on Earth. In fact, Galaxy was so large that Jin Shu could comfortably sit cross-legged on his back. He had been sitting in meditation on his back during the previous week to catch up on his cultivation practice, which had fallen behind due to their traveling. He had now reached the 3rd stage of the Core Forging Realm.
They made camp again, this time finding a tall hill to set up on top of, so they could get a better vantage point. Jin Shu also planted torches around the camp to light the area up.
---
Deep into the night again, more wolf howls sounded just outside the torches' reach. This time, the howling lasted the whole night, preventing the campers from getting any sleep.
"Yawn! Yin'er is sleepy... Can you tell the bad wolfies to be quiet, Daddy?"
---
They were now on their third night in the forest.
"We should keep moving through the night. I have a feeling that the wolves are going to attack tonight, as we're nearly to the end of the forest," Jin Shu commented uneasily.
---
They traveled through the night. However, they didn't hear a single howl until they made it to the edge of the forest.
Awoo!
Suddenly, howls sounded from behind and to either side of them. In front, the massive wolf with its now broken bone spurs stood at the end of the forest path they were traveling down. Next to the massive wolf stood a figure draped in a black robe.
The robed figure began speaking in an ugly, grating voice that sounded like someone rubbing stones together. "So, you're the ones who hurt my precious Hell Hounds. For that, you will di—"
Bang! Thud!
A loud gunshot echoed in the previously silent forest, and the massive black wolf collapsed to the ground with a bloody hole in its forehead.
"Your Hell Hounds hurt my little Yin'er, so I believe we're even now," Jin Shu said, holding his gun, smoke still rising from its muzzle.
The robed figure stood in stunned shock, his mouth hung open. After a few seconds, he demanded angrily, "What did you do to my Cerberus!? How did it die so suddenly!?"
Jin Shu asked a question back. "Isn't Cerberus supposed to have three heads?"
"It wasn't the real Cerberus, just a name I—wait, no, that's not important right now. What is important is that I'm going to kill you!"
The robed figure waved his hand and commanded the wolves to attack. "Hell Hounds, att—"
Bang!
"Aaack!"
The robed figure took a shot to the knee and collapsed, screaming in pain.
Although Jin Shu could have shot and killed the man fairly easily, he was curious why this man was attacking them with these supposed Hell Hounds.
When the man was shot in the knee, the Hell Hounds stopped running at Jin Shu and the others. They then turned around and ran back into the forest. It seemed whatever method the man had been using to control the wolves stopped working when he was injured.
The man was rolling on the ground while clutching his bleeding leg. "Aaa! My leg!"
Jin Shu, riding on Galaxy, approached the screaming man.
"Aaah! My leg! Aah! What did you do to my leg!?"
Galaxy stopped a few feet from the man, and Jin Shu jumped off his back, landing in front of the screaming man, and asked him some questions. "Who are you? And why were you attacking us?"
The man didn't respond and continued to scream. "Aaaa! My leg!"
Jin Shu kicked the man's bleeding wound and asked again, more forcefully this time, "Who are you!? And why were you attacking us!?"
The man screamed even louder. "AAAAAH!!!"
Jin Shu pressed his foot on the man's wound. "Don't make me repeat myself again!"
"Aaa! I'll answer, please take your foot off, it hurts so much!" the man screamed and begged.
Jin Shu removed his foot from the man's wound.
The man began answering. "I'm a Demon Worshiper. I was tasked with capturing sacrifices in this forest to be used in a ritual!"
Jin Shu continued questioning the Demon Worshiper. "A Demon Worshiper? I thought you were all in the Southern Region?"
The man answered while clutching his teeth in pain, "Aaa! We are spread throughout all regions! Aaa! But we control most of the Southern Region!"
"Where are the oth—" Jin Shu was about to ask another question when the man lunged up from the ground, holding a sword that he had pulled out from inside his robes.
Bang!
Jin Shu shot the man's arm, attempting to disarm him of his weapon. However, the bullet pierced his arm and shot through his heart.
The man coughed out blood and died instantly. "Ack!"
Jin Shu blinked in disbelief. "Well, shit."