Chapter 139: Intercepting the Blood Wolves

The sound of running grew increasingly urgent. Accompanied by continuous howling, dozens of blood wolves finally appeared at the village entrance. Their entire bodies were covered in blood-red fur, with wolf-like shapes, drooping tails, and eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty red glow. Their sharp fangs appeared terrifyingly sinister under the moonlight.

The cultivators clutched the farming tools provided by the village, staring at the blood wolves with tense expressions. If their spiritual power were still intact, they naturally wouldn't fear these beasts, but now they were merely somewhat stronger than ordinary mortals.

"Everyone, get ready." Zhou Qi clenched his fists and reminded the others.

As soon as the blood wolves appeared, they lunged directly toward the group at an extremely high speed. Startled, Zhou Qi hurriedly struck at the blood wolf leaping toward him.

The cultivators at the front were all body-refining practitioners. Seeing the blood wolves pouncing, they could only suppress their inner fear and engage the beasts in combat.

With a soft thud, Zhou Qi's punch landed squarely on the blood wolf's body, only to slip right off its fur. The blood wolf suffered no significant damage, as its fur possessed the ability to deflect force.

The blood wolf rolled on the ground once, scrambled back up, and the red light in its eyes grew even more intense as it lunged at Zhou Qi again.

Realizing that striking the body had no effect, Zhou Qi formed his hand into a blade and fiercely chopped at the blood wolf's neck. The blood wolf let out a miserable howl. Since the strike connected, Zhou Qi pressed his advantage and smashed the wolf's skull to pieces with a single punch.

There was none of the expected splashing blood; once its skull was shattered, the entire body of the blood wolf dissolved into a wisp of cyan smoke and vanished.

What was this? Zhou Qi was startled. Was this not a real blood wolf? Could it be a formation illusion or something else? Yet the tactile sensation of hitting it and the force of its lunges felt so real.

Zhou Qi had no time to ponder as another blood wolf lunged forward.

"Don't attack the blood wolf's body! Hit its skull!" Zhou Qi shouted at the top of his lungs.

The other cultivators also noticed the trick and quickly sought opportunities to smash the blood wolves before them into bursting, vanishing wisps. Although the cultivators lacked their spiritual power, their eyesight and combat skills remained. Before long, the dozens of blood wolves were all shattered to pieces.

"The blood wolves have been repelled! Haha, I didn't expect them to be so vulnerable." A cultivator shouted happily in triumph.

"Indeed, they're just ordinary demonic beasts. Not too difficult to deal with."

With the dozens of blood wolves completely wiped out just now, everyone's confidence soared, and they felt that the blood wolves were nothing special after all.

Zhou Qi remained silent. Huangfu Xiu, Dao Fan, Dao Hui, the young monk, and others also sensed that something was amiss. Judging by the sound earlier, the number should not be this small; the main force was likely still behind.

"Everyone, calm down. Don't celebrate too early. There might be even more coming behind," Dao Hui shouted, immediately stopping the members of his body-refining squad who were practically ready to celebrate on the spot.

Prompted by Dao Hui's reminder, the members of the body-refining group abruptly snapped back to reality. What was wrong with them? They had only defeated a few dozen ordinary blood wolves—what was there to be excited about?

Sure enough, just as Dao Hui finished speaking, the outline of blood wolves appeared once again at the path behind the mountain, this time numbering over fifty.

Excluding the support group members, the blood wolves held the numerical advantage. However, the previous victory inspired the crowd; as long as they targeted the right spots, defeating the blood wolves wouldn't be difficult.

"This is bad! Blood wolves have also appeared in front of the village! There must be no less than twenty, and we won't be able to hold them off!" A cultivator in charge of the front of the village ran over, stumbling and already injured.

Everyone was shocked. They hadn't expected the blood wolves to be so cunning as to split up their attack. Dao Hui and Huangfu Xiu hurriedly pointed out a few cultivators to go and reinforce the front.

At this moment, there were only a little over a dozen body-refining cultivators guarding the rear of the village, or roughly twenty people including Huangfu Xiu's backup squad. Fighting over fifty blood wolves with such numbers would likely prove to be beyond their capabilities.

We'll just have to fight to the death, the cultivators thought.

The blood wolves arrived with terrifying momentum, lunging in front of the group in a split second. Zhou Qi found his rhythm and continuously beat blood wolves to death beneath his fists, but the other cultivators were not nearly as fortunate.

Scarcely had the blood wolves lunged forward when some cultivators were bitten, chunks of flesh being torn away. Zhou Qi, Dao Hui, and a few other body-refining cultivators hurriedly rescued the bitten practitioners from the jaws of the wolves, tossing them to Jiang Yiyi and a few other female cultivators for treatment.

The backup squad cultivators had also joined the fray. Though not body-refining practitioners, they wielded sickles and hoes to battle the blood wolves.

The intermittent screams of cultivators spiked everyone's anxiety. Dao Fan, Dao Hui, and the others also turned fierce, continuously striking down blood wolves with their fists.

"Watch out!" A blood wolf managed to break through the cultivators' defense line and lunged at Jiang Yiyi, who was currently administering treatment. Zhou Qi leaped fiercely, grabbing the blood wolf tightly by its tail.

Jiang Yiyi finally reacted. Seeing Zhou Qi fling himself forward, she couldn't help feeling moved and called out a warning, "Zhou Qi, be careful!"

Energized as if injected with chicken blood, Zhou Qi forcefully yanked the blood wolf back, grabbed its jaws with both hands, and with a mighty tear, ripped the beast straight in half.

Seeing Jiang Yiyi's encouraging gaze, Zhou Qi howled wildly and charged back into the midst of the blood wolves. His display left Huangfu Xiu dumbfounded. Was this the power of love? Huangfu Xiu glanced at Shui Bing, only to find she wasn't looking at him at all, and let out a helpless sigh.

More people were injured. Five or six cultivators had already lost their combat capability, while over thirty blood wolves still remained. They couldn't hold the line much longer. The screams of cultivators echoing from the front of the village left everyone feeling uneasy at heart.

"Kill them! Fellow Daoists, it's either they die or we do!" Sensing the dipping morale, Zhou Qi shouted aloud.

Stimulated by the crisis of life and death, many cultivators who had previously held back ceased reserving their strength and went berserk, acting even more savagely than the blood wolves. Especially the group of monks—usually appearing amiable and gentle, each of their strikes claimed a life with a single palm blow.

Finally, the fifty blood wolves were slain one by one. The dozen-plus cultivators were all wounded, with only seven or eight remaining unscathed.

"This is bad! The front of the village cannot be held anymore; some villagers have been bitten," a cultivator shouted.

"Fall back!" Zhou Qi roared, leading the dozen injured cultivators toward the villagers' gathering place. Continuing to guard the village entrance at this point was meaningless. If more beasts appeared, they inevitably wouldn't be able to hold it; they might as well head back and protect the villagers.

The front village had also retreated. Of the twenty-plus blood wolves, four or five had broken through the cultivators' defense and were eyeing the villagers gathered tightly together in the center of the village with predatory gazes.

Benefiting from a defensive formation, thirty able-bodied men armed with sickles and hoes formed a tight circle, leaving the blood wolves no opening to attack, though one villager had already had his arm bitten off.

Seeing the cultivators from the front and rear return, the five blood wolves attempted to retreat. The cultivators swarmed forward, brutally beating the five beasts to death until they dissolved into flying ash.

By this time, over thirty cultivators were injured. Excluding the twelve female members of the support group, only fourteen remained with combat capabilities. Fortunately, only one villager was injured, and no lives had been lost yet.

Had it not been for Zhou Qi's prior arrangements, the situation undoubtedly would have been far worse.

However, everyone's hearts were extremely heavy. If another wave of blood wolves appeared, they would absolutely be unable to block them.

A silence fell over the crowd. If more blood wolves came, escaping to save their own lives might be imperative; perhaps once these blood wolves had their fill of the villagers, they would let the rest of them go!