Chapter 9: Wolf
Bandit's Home - Forest, Jade Empire
The beast was coated with grey fur with occasional streaks of white and stood almost as tall as the men while on all four paws. Its snarl perfectly displayed two rows of sharp white teeth. It released a continuous growl from between its teeth as it menacingly glared at them with crazed eyes.
“It’s a wolf!”, Joran exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. His face turned grim and numerous strands of smoky white strings protruded from his skin. The wolf matched his actions as it released a thick white layer of Qi that wrapped and outlined its figure.
The wolf is using Qi so the contrasting energy Joran is emitting must be Ki! Interesting… even beasts are subjected to the differences of Qi and Ki.
Adam released his own strands of Ki and stood besides Joran. They each wretched their respective axes out of the ground and took their own unique fighting stances, preparing for the worst.
“Tsk, it’s a Qi beast as well… I can’t sense it’s level, can you?”, Joran asked Adam under his breath. He shook his head. Joran’s face went pale and he sighed.
“We have to stall for time and let the children escape”, Adam decided with an equally pale face. Joran nodded in agreement.
The wolf’s patience faded in that instance and it lunged at Kai, ignoring the two men in front of it. The wolf clearly saw who threw the projectile, unlike the others, and was infurioated. Joran and Adam were startled that they weren’t its target but they quickly realized it was after Kai and instinctively dashed to intercept it. Running in between them, they managed to place their axes in front of them before clashing against the wolf’s claws.
The impact knocked the axes out of their hands but Joran immediately lowered his stance and swept his left leg, targeting the wolf’ front right leg. Adam acted in unison as he aimed a right hook straight to the wolf’s head, hoping that it would connect when the wolf jumped to dodge the kick. Unfortunately, the wolf’s speed was beyond their comprehension and it backed off before the strikes met.
Too slow… shouldn’t have taken those steps…
Kai stood in place, mesmerized by the fight between Qi and Ki users. He greedily broke down their applications of the energies in his mind while also mentally commenting on their movements. From the way they fought, he concluded that they never learned proper combat techniques, but their strength amazed him.
Their physical capabilities are nearly similar to mines in my past life therefore I should’ve been around the Novice level. That’s incredible! How much stronger can I become in this life!...
The fight persisted and Joran and Adam were slowly overwhelmed. The wolf sped past more futile attacks and sent its left claws straight towards Adam. Lagging from a previous punch, he was unable to promptly react and by the time he recovered, the claw drew too close to dodge. He crossed his arms in front of him and braced for impact.
The moment the paw struck his arms, blood rushed to his mouth. The claws briefly scraped his arms and he propelled two meters back before skidding across the grass. Satisfied with its strike, the wolf overlooked Joran for a second. During that second, Joran jumped at the wolf with a fist. It cleanly struck against the wolf’s blind side and caught it off-guard. It flew a meter away before landing on its side.
Joran ran to assist Adam and saw the children were standing still, seemingly all petrified on the spot. His face turned ugly as he bellowed, “What are you brats doing! RUN!”
The tone and volume of his voice broke the children out of their trances and Robert was the first to react. Spinning around, he grabbed the people next to him, Mark and Ben, and motioned for Kai to follow him. Without missing a beat, he sprinted straight for their houses.
Kai was reluctant to leave but he knew that his presence would ultimately distract the men, even if he secretly had the ability to escape. With a slight regret, he turned and trailed behind the rest of the boys. He saw his deflected his knife on the way and stealthily retrieved it without decreasing his speed. Trees blurred and the wind rushed past their ears. Their escaped was short-lived as two discernable crashes resounded behind them.
-Thud- -Thud-
They twisted their heads and witnessed Joran and Adam slammed against a tree. The impact was powerful enough to slightly imbed them into the tree. Kai saw their sorry states and immediately determined the light wounds visible on their surface was an illusion.
Fortunately they avoided being impaled by the wolf’s claw but they are most likely heavily injured, if not internally wounded. Should I act? At most I should be able to lead the wolf on a wild chase…
As he rationally thought of his options, Robert lost his reasoning and ran towards Joran in assistance. Ben mimicked his movements and headed towards Adam.
“Damn it! If only we were stronger…”, Adam groaned as he stood with the help of Ben. He clutched his side and winced. Joran coughed a mouthful of blood the moment Robert brought him to his feet.
The wolf revealed itself from the trees in the next second, ready and willing to battle once more. It limped on one of its front legs but its demeanor remained as ferocious as before, seemingly uninjured. It thrusted its head high and released a swift howl before decisively pouncing at Joran.
Joran pushed Robert behind him and prepared to take the brunt of the attack with his body. Kai flexed his legs and gripped the hilt of his knife, ready to act, but a figure appeared from behind the trees and crashed against the wolf.
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The wolf was hit squarely in its right ribs and slammed against a tree. The impact was stronger than those of Joran and Adam’s, creating a fabricated rain of leaves. It fell off the tree, leaving a shallow cavity, and turned to growl at the perpetrator. The woman returned the growl with a glare. It was Sandy!
“Do you always have to make an entrance Sandy?”, Jordan joked as he leaned on Robert. He tried to form a smile but violently coughed instead.
“You can still joke in this situation? You crazy idi-.”
Before she could finish, the wolf interrupted her as it lunged at her with its mouth wide open. Its teeth grew more visible, about to bite her, when Qi suddenly materialized and surrounded her entire body. Her Qi was as luminous as the wolf’s Qi.
Sandy is a Daoist as well… looking closely their Qi is definitely brighter than Teresa’s, does it have to do with their level’s degree?
She swiftly sidestepped but was still grazed on her shoulder by its teeth. Ignoring the pain she returned the favor, throwing a right uppercut at the bottom of its jaw. The strike sealed its mouth shut. Putting her full weight behind the attack, she jumped along with her momentum, and launched the wolf into the air. The resulting effect sent the wolf spiraling in the air but it managed to steady itself, carefully landing back down on its four paws.
Too rash! Luckily the wolf’s start was off balance because of the injury to its front leg, otherwise she would have been bitten from the neck up.
The wolf roughly shook its head, recovering from the blow. Sandy took the valuable break to communicate her thoughts.
“I’ve only just became a Peak Novice Daoist so I don’t think I’m enough to defeat this wolf. Teresa! Jen! You two help them and bring them into our house. Teresa you know what to do! I’ll stall it and meet up. GO!”
The wolf recovered by the time she yelled ‘GO’ and was in midair with its claws in front. As she turned to match the incoming attack, they mustered all of their strengths to carry Joran and Adam and ran for their house.
The sound of the fight dwindled behind them and the wooden fences gradually came into view. They entered the dirt lands and immediately rushed towards the house the adults commandeered. Jennifer reached the door first but panicked as he pushed the handle.
“Pull it, don’t push it! Hurry Jen!”, Teresa firmly corrected.
“Sorry!”
Jennifer pulled the door and held it open as Robert and Ben rushed through with the arms of the limp bodies over their shoulder. They carefully placed each man onto separate mats. Joran and Adam’s breathing were ragged and their faces slowly lost its color.
Damn, they’re internal injuries are getting worse. Can they even be treated in this meager environment?
They turned to Teresa for instructions. She was their choice for a leader regardless of Sandy’s last comment. Taking time to think, she closed her eyes and scrunched her eyebrows. They snapped back open almost immediately.
“Robert and Ben, grab a bucket and go to the well. Don’t bother filling it to the brim, just half is fine. Come back quickly!”, she began instructing.
Boths boys nodded and promptly grabbed a bucket each before speeding out, opening the door with their shoulders. Teresa then turned to Kai, Mark and Jennifer.
“Kai, in our house, under my mat, there is a pouch of herbs that I secretly hid. Bring that to me. Mark and Jen you two stay here and help me find every clean cloth in this house.”
Kai bolted out of the house without responding. Teresa attentively noticed that Kai’s speed was abnormal but in the current time of crisis, she put the information in the back of her mind. Her concentration soared as she searched for clean cloths like treasure.
Swinging the door open, Kai entered their house and went to Teresa’s designated mat. Flame and Snow were startled by the dramatic entrance but surprisingly behaved themselves, ignoring Kai. He hastily flipped the mat and found a small crater in the dirt. Not bothering to take a closer look, he reached down and blindly moved his hands around. He grabbed and pulled out the first thing he touched.
In his hands were two simple necklaces made with strings. Attached to the end of each necklace was a tiny flat stone. Two tiny, nearly indistinguishable, names were etched on the stones; ‘Teresa’ on one, and ‘Cindy’ on the other.
Kai never had a chance to be familiar with Cindy but he felt a pang of sadness and sympathy for Teresa. His emotions distracted him for only second before he shook his head and gathered his thoughts.
He grabbed at the remaining item in the crater and pulled out a fist-sized pouch. Examining its contents, he confirmed its contents and carefully placed the necklaces back into the crater. He pushed the door open and left, not bothering to properly place her mat back in place.
He encountered Robert and Ben on the way, helping them open the door as their hands were full. The moment he stepped through the door, Teresa lunged at him like a wild cat. Kai expectantly stuck his arm out, with the pouch on the top of his palm, and she immediately grabbed it. Jennifer gave her a bowl in a timely manner and she began rapidly throwing herbs into the bowl before grinding them into a paste.
“Mark and Jen, you two wet the clean cloths. Robert and Ben, you two wipe down their blood and sweat.”
They wasted no time and did as they were told. Not long before they worked, the sound of rapid footsteps neared the door. Moments later, Sandy swiftly opened the door and closed it behind her. Leaning against the door, she fell on her bottom and hungrily grasped for air.