Chapter 77: Wolf Plague
Wolf Peak was some distance from the Golden Ape Martial Arts School, so Li Chuan did not have Su Yan go directly, but gave him one day to prepare.
This shift duty, although also one of the obligations of inner disciples, clearly relied on his mountain hunting ability to find the Wolf King.
In this case, combat was naturally inevitable.
Su Yan first went to Tiger God Temple City in his overt identity.
He exchanged for one thousand seven or eight hundred taels of silver at the martial arts school, which meant that spending around two thousand taels on the account was completely no problem.
Everyone had silver expenditures without detailed records, so as long as it was roughly the same, the source would be considered clear.
Tiger God Temple City, Hundred Herbs Hall.
As soon as Su Yan entered, a shop assistant came forward to greet him.
Those who could stand in this city, even this shop assistant, had some martial arts in possession and was a Skin Refining entry-level martial artist.
“What pills does the customer want to buy?”
“Bone Forging”
The shop assistant’s eyes brightened slightly: “Pills for Tendon Strengthening and Bone Forging, the most common are Bone Forging Pill and Tiger Bone Pill, both are first-order mid-grade pills, five taels of silver each.”
Bone Forging pills were mostly used by Muscle and Bone Realm martial artists, with stronger medicinal effects and more precious.
Su Yan asking this price naturally had some probing and inquiring meaning.
“What about better ones?”
The shop assistant was stunned, his eyes immediately lit up, even more eager: “The stronger one is the first-order high-grade Fetal Bone Marrow Quenching Pill, refined from the essence of feral beast fetuses, with the strongest effect, ten taels of silver each.”
Ten taels of silver each, even ordinary Muscle and Bone Realm martial artists could not afford such consumption.
Cultivation was not finished with just one pill down the throat, but required long-term tempering.
“Give me five bottles.”
One bottle of ten pills, five bottles cost him five hundred taels of silver.
Coming out of Hundred Herbs Hall, Su Yan could not help but sigh that the stronger the strength, the greater the expenditures in all aspects.
If not for being able to refine pills himself, Blood-Strengthening Pills that nurtured Qi and Blood could also make up for it, otherwise he would probably have to purchase many just now.
Blood Strengthening, Bone Quenching, Tendon Strengthening.
To progress quickly, he had to fill the body’s deficits, otherwise it would be a grind, accumulating slowly.
Tian Feng Weapon Shop
As soon as Su Yan entered, he approached the counter shop assistant.
“One ranked saber, one pair of gloves.”
The shop assistant showed a surprised expression, then reacted: “Friends from Golden Ape Martial Arts School, right? We have ranked gloves, please wait a moment.”
In Yun Cang Town, the ones using fist techniques the most were none other than Golden Ape Martial Arts School, especially these gloves.
The shop assistant moved quickly and soon brought what Su Yan wanted.
“Customer, please look, there are many ranked blades, the commonly used styles are Green Wave Saber, Crescent Moon Saber, Black Shadow Saber, fewer fist styles, first-order high-grade only Black Scale Gloves.”
The Green Wave Saber had a slightly curved blade, flowing light on the edge, a fast saber.
The Crescent Moon Saber was shaped like a crescent, blood groove like a line penetrating front to back through the blade, a weapon used in dodging, fast draw and retract.
The Black Shadow Saber was entirely black, thick back and sharp blade, a conventional blade style.
The remaining Black Scale Gloves were short alloy armguards fitted with black feral beast scales, forming a pair of gloves that could block sabers and swords.
Tian Feng Weapon Shop’s forging craftsmanship was extremely good, everything taken out was top-notch weapons.
Su Yan looked over and said: “How much for Black Shadow Saber and Black Scale Gloves?”
“Black Shadow Saber two hundred taels of silver, Black Scale Gloves are more troublesome to forge, need three hundred taels of silver.”
Su Yan did not bargain, in Yun Cang Town, if wanting good weapons, could only come to Tian Feng Weapon Shop.
After purchasing the items, Su Yan headed straight to Wolf Peak.
Wolf Peak, compared to Golden Ape Mountain, was closer to the inner side of the desolate mountains, one of the territories newly developed by Golden Ape Martial Arts School.
Wolf Peak abounded in Wolf Tail Grass, a medicinal herb for tempering the physical body, which could be used to refine Body Tempering and Bone Quenching pills.
Although not comparable to Treasure Plants, it won in quantity and could bring large amounts of money.
Besides Wolf Tail Grass, Golden Ape Martial Arts School also had people open terraced fields, planting Red Tooth Rice, plus hundreds of mu of Spirit Infused Fruit, extremely valuable.
But precisely at Wolf Peak, Gray Thorn Wolves were extremely numerous, originally requiring regular patrols to clear invading feral beasts, which was also why Bai Yun was stationed here.
Unexpectedly, recently some cunning Wolf King seemed to have emerged.
Gray Thorn Wolf packs attacked and retreated in groups, advancing and retreating in order, hard to completely exterminate, resulting in inability to harvest the nearly mature Red Tooth Rice, truly troublesome.
Having Su Yan come over was also to provide some support, if unsuccessful, probably more disciples would have to be sent to search the mountains.
Although Wolf Peak’s terrain was not as steep as Tiger God Mountain, the forests were extremely dense, with many mountain valleys and fissures, once a person entered, it was easy to get lost.
Su Yan had mountain hunting ability, naturally would not get lost, but walking along the mountain path still slowed him down somewhat.
Entering Wolf Peak territory, he could vaguely see the reclaimed terraced fields and Red Tooth Rice seedlings half a person’s height.
“According to the map, Wolf Village should be close.”
Wolf Village was the mountain stronghold between Wolf Peak and Falling Moon Mountain, for the mountain villagers under control to live, and also Su Yan’s destination this time.
He identified the direction, walked another two li along the mountain path, suddenly wolf howls rose one after another.
“Direction of Wolf Village?”
He frowned, quickened his steps, and hurried to a terraced field slope position.
Looking fixedly, he immediately saw martial arts school people entangled in combat with a pack of Gray Thorn Wolves.
About forty or fifty Gray Thorn Wolves, vaguely surrounding the people, charging from left and right.
The martial arts school people numbered only a dozen, holding weapons, back-to-back forming defense.
Although few in number, they cooperated with each other and had sharp weapons in hand, for the time being the Gray Thorn Wolves’ pounces could not break the defense.
In the center a woman in white strong suit, a pair of white gloves, armguards extending an inch of sharp blades, between moves faintly had White Ape Phantom at her side, sweeping across those Gray Thorn Wolves.
Her movements were light and agile, yet not lacking ferocity, often one fist could kill a Gray Thorn Wolf.
But at this time, three Gray Thorn Wolves the size of yellow oxen pounced up, tying down her actions.
Su Yan saw the situation and thought to himself: “Came at just the right time, Spirit Nurturing Realm, must be Senior Sister Bai Yun.”
He took down the Fine Steel Longbow from his back, drew the bow and shot arrows, whooshing breaking air sounds rose, in an instant three or four sharp arrows shot out.
Arrows flew like shooting stars, arriving in a flash.
The Gray Thorn Wolves never expected someone would suddenly shoot arrows, instantly pierced through by the sharp arrows.
Blood splashed out, Gray Thorn Wolves fell to the ground, the crowd startled by this sudden support.
Only heard Su Yan shout loudly: “Senior Brothers, I come to help you, fight steadily.”
His steps were extremely fast, while rushing down the slope, drawing bow and shooting arrows.
Hand movements steady, arrows like beads continuous.
In a few short breaths, several more Gray Thorn Wolves were shot.
Golden Ape Martial Arts School disciples also reacted, instantly pounced up, sabers and swords chopping, finishing off the battling old wolves.
The situation changed, three late first-order Gray Thorn Wolves howled long, about to leave.
Bai Yun’s eyes turned cold, her temper up.
‘Just beasts, thinking they can leave whenever they want?’
White Ape Phantom behind her merged with her figure, aura condensed on a pair of slender fists.
Only saw her figure like a flitting butterfly, arriving before one Gray Thorn Wolf, one fist down, directly breaking its spine.
Nearby Gray Thorn Wolf opened blood basin big mouth to bite over.
She swung hand slashing, the sharp blade extending from armguards slashed out blade qi, slashing across the blood basin big mouth, shaving off half its head.
The last one turned and ran, bringing other Gray Thorn Wolves to immediately retreat, thus not killed on the spot by Bai Yun.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Bai Yun looked toward the newcomer on the slope, beautiful eyes flashing surprise.
The helper who shot arrows just now was actually just a young youth, looking no more than sixteen or seventeen.
“Is it Junior Brother Su Yan?”
Li Chuan had sent word that he would send Father’s newly accepted disciple to help.
The message said this junior brother had exceptional talent, and skills not bad, now it seemed he indeed had something.
“Elder Li Chuan sent me here.”
Su Yan walked forward, greeted Bai Yun, gaze sweeping the battlefield.
“Didn’t expect to run into this just right.”
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, Bai Yun was not one to talk much, just said: “These days the wolf packs have become more rampant, if you are on shift duty, afraid you’ll encounter such situations often.”
Cleaned the battlefield, moved all Gray Thorn Wolf corpses back.
Su Yan then followed Bai Yun and them back to Wolf Village.
Wolf Village had about seven or eight hundred mountain villagers living, no distinction of upper or lower stockade, wooden houses layered, neatly arranged, actually simpler than Golden Ape Village.
Golden Ape Martial Arts School guards and inner disciples all lived on the inner side.
Bai Yun brought Su Yan to the lodging, instructed the servant to help him settle in.
“Wolf Village has 80 guards total, 20 inner disciples, 1 in Spirit Nurturing Realm, me alone, 2 in Blood Moving Realm. You are my father’s newly accepted disciple, if anything, just tell me directly, no need to stand on ceremony.”
Bai Yun spoke more directly than Lu Ling, long hair tied high, also neat attire, extremely heroic.
“Senior Sister, what’s the situation with the wolf disaster at Wolf Peak? With so many disciples and guards, they still dare to come to the door?”
Bai Yun glanced at Su Yan, this junior brother was direct, no nonsense.
“In the past Gray Thorn Wolves also invaded, but not as frequent as this period, lone mountain villagers or patrol teams might be attacked.”
Her beautiful eyes moved slightly, said: “I probed deep into Wolf Peak several times, those wolf packs all mobilized by one wolf howl, must be at least Spirit Nurturing Realm Wolf King commanding. I think it’s delineating new territory, if not eliminated it’ll be harder to handle, that’s why I called for support.”
She looked at Su Yan: “I thought Senior Brother would come personally.”
With two in Spirit Nurturing Realm, she could kill straight into the deep mountains, no matter how wolf packs fled or blocked, hard to resist, searching a few days could find the Wolf King.
Su Yan being looked at by her, not embarrassed, just smiled: “My strength naturally not comparable to Senior Brother, but if finding clues and traces to locate the Wolf King, might be somewhat better than Senior Brother.”
“Tomorrow I’ll take you into the mountains, first kill a few waves of wolf packs.”
Bai Yun neither questioned nor denied, she liked to see real things.
Early next morning, Bai Yun came to find Su Yan, white strong suit, but changed to clothes with fine armor.
Long hair tied back, waist with a Black Shadow Saber, longbow on back, jade belt at waist, armguards on arms, heroic bearing.
Su Yan knew today entering the mountains, similarly attired, strong suit, bow and arrows, saber all prepared.
“Follow me.”
Bai Yun had no plan to bring others, this time just to see Su Yan’s combat power, and let him familiarize with the situation here.
The two quickly left the stronghold, Bai Yun’s pace extremely fast, figure light and agile like White Ape, she only slowed slightly, suddenly her expression changed.
‘He is actually this fast too?’
Originally thought Su Yan would not keep up, after all just a Muscle and Bone Realm martial artist.
But this leaping agile figure seemed even three points smoother than hers.
She naturally did not know Su Yan’s Monkey Fist had long reached Transformation Realm, the Monkey Leap Step within even more so, plus archery brought pace flexibility, figure naturally had such skill.
“Junior Brother Su, I’m speeding up.”
She reminded, the two sped up, soon passed through the mountain forest, arrived at a small valley position.
Bai Yun stopped, said: “This is a wolf pack gathering spot probed the day before yesterday, I originally planned to scout alone yesterday, just right ran into you.”
Su Yan hid in the woods, looked into the valley, everywhere lush shrubs, no Gray Thorn Wolf figures seen.
“Many such gathering spots?”
“Quite a few.”
Bai Yun said: “Wolf packs keep roaming Wolf Peak, gathering to launch attacks, but one thing, they won’t proactively return to Wolf King side, otherwise would have found it long ago.”
Roaming wolf packs were both vanguards for attacks and sentries.
Often when Bai Yun and them wanted to probe deep, alarming these wolf packs would let Wolf King know the news too, harder to find.
“See if there’s any method to find Wolf King traces.”
While the two spoke, rustling sounds came, wolf pack in shrubs quickly approached, clearly having detected unusual scent.
“Sense of smell sharp, kill first then talk.”
Sharp glint in Su Yan’s eyes, figure moved, pounced toward the rushing wolf pack, this time without using bow and arrows.
Bai Yun watched his figure closely, ready to help anytime.
But she wanted to first see his combat ability.
Three or five Gray Thorn Wolves pounced at Su Yan, ferocious momentum.
Su Yan’s eyes sank, aura rose on body, Fierce Ape Three Forms struck out.
He fully unleashed Fierce Ape aura, to reach great accomplishment, constantly practice, constantly combat.
Li Chuan sending him also had this intention.
He hammered down with one hand, smashing a early first-order Gray Thorn Wolf’s head.
Nearby Gray Thorn Wolf bit over, he body slammed, hand lifted, smashing it flying, wolf ribs broken.
Fighting style fierce, wolf pack rushed, all killed one by one, aura rising higher and higher.
This valley wolf pack only a dozen plus, in an instant half killed by him in combat.
Bai Yun’s red lips slightly open, showing astonishment, early first-order already had some Muscle and Bone Realm ability.
But this junior brother killed seven or eight in a row, aura not weakening half a bit.
Even Gray Thorn Wolves such feral beasts weakening, should not be to this extent, such proficient martial skills.
Soon the leading Gray Thorn Wolf head in the valley pounced from shrubs, size like an old ox.
Bai Yun’s eyes moved, longbow already taken down from back, whoosh, shot it through.
Head dead, remaining Gray Thorn Wolves immediately scattered.
Valley left with seven or eight Gray Thorn Wolf corpses and ground of blood filth.
“Senior Sister Bai, you watch here, I’ll go in to probe, look at traces.”
“Good.”
Bai Yun had no doubts, Su Yan quickly entered the valley, one sweep, indeed as Bai Yun just said.
This mountain valley had eating traces, but no long-term territory markers like scents or traces, scents mixed, even paths of coming and going traces had several.
‘If I tracked myself, would take days to find, first release White Bone Poison Centipede to probe.’
He quietly released White Bone Poison Centipede into the mountain forest, Red Armored Mad Scorpion too large, not suitable to release, kept for self-defense.
Roughly identified direction, immediately had White Bone Poison Centipede probe toward Wolf Peak depths.
Since constantly roaming, there must be a core position, following scents, must have clues.
