Down to the last wolf, Dai Yuan watched as the beast crouched low, its bloody gaze locked onto him in preparation for a final, desperate charge.
The wolf sprang forward. Dropping his shoulder, Dai Yuan rolled his massive body out of the beast's path, his hand sweeping across the dirt to grip the discarded iron rod. Feeling the heavy weight return to his hands, he took a sharp breath and gathered every ounce of his strength into his torso. He channeled the force entirely into the iron rod, violently thrusting it backward as the monster lunged again from behind.
Puch!
The heavy blow drove the blunt end of the weapon straight into the abdomen of the last wolf. The beast squeaked out its final breath, squirming weakly as the heavy rod remained lodged deep in its stomach before it finally went still.
Huff! Huff!
Dai Yuan's breathing turned ragged as a wave of pure exhaustion washed over his body. Though a sense of relief settled over him, he refused to take a step, fearing his legs might collapse from overexertion. The final strike had demanded everything he had, forcing him to channel his full strength into that single, explosive motion.
The entire battle had lasted less than an hour, but the clearing was now a scene of quiet carnage. Four dead wolves lay strewn across the dirt. Sitting heavily on a nearby rock, Dai Yuan felt the self-healing properties of his internal shamanic rune begin to stir. Warmth rippled through his cells, gradually returning a fraction of vitality to his hollowed body and allowing him to stand back up to inspect his hunts.
"Wait… are my eyes playing games with me?" Dai Yuan muttered in confusion, narrowing his eyes as he recounted the bodies.
"One… two… three… four."
"Damn it!"
Turning around rapidly, Dai Yuan cursed under his breath, his eyes darting toward the large boulder where Wang Linlin was hiding. A cold sweat broke out on his neck.
"Thank goodness," he breathed, sighing in relief when he saw she was unharmed and that the missing fifth wolf wasn't lurking near her. Still, anxiety gnawed at him. The wolf had clearly faked its death during the chaos and slipped away into the undergrowth while he was occupied.
A sudden, retching sound snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked over to find Wang Linlin leaning against the rock, her face pale as she vomited onto the grass, completely shaken by the violent spectacle.
"Uh… sorry, Miss Linlin," Dai Yuan muttered, scratching his head as he approached. His clothes were ripped into shreds, and fresh blood dripped from the deep gashes across his torso and back.
"Stop right there! Don't come any closer," Wang Linlin gasped, waving a trembling hand while wiping her mouth.
"We need to leave this place immediately," Dai Yuan said, ignoring her protest as he gently but firmly gripped her arm to pull her up. "One of the wolves escaped. The scent of blood here is too strong; it's going to attract other predators."
"What do you mean?" Wang Linlin shivered, her voice meek as she looked at his blood-stained frame. "Weren't there five of them?"
"Exactly," Dai Yuan replied, supporting his weight with the iron rod as he pointed toward the clearing. "But as you can see, there are only four corpses on the floor. The last one ran."
"But what about the Fullmoon Grapes?" she asked with difficulty, casting a lingering glance toward the giant berry tree.
"We are leaving now. Don't worry, I promise I will come back and harvest them for you," Dai Yuan said, turning her around and guiding her back toward the path they had cleared through the trees.
They walked in silence for a while, hurrying away from the clearing.
"Brother Dai…" Wang Linlin finally spoke, her voice tight as she glanced at the gruesome cuts covering his back. "I'm sorry for putting you in so much trouble. Are you going to be alright?"
"It's nothing, Miss Linlin," Dai Yuan shook his head, waving his hand dismissively to keep her moving forward.
"Call me Wang Linlin!" she snapped back habitually, though the usual fire in her voice was softened by worry.
Once they finally exited the deeper canopy of the Brightmoon Forest and reached the safer dirt path leading toward the city gates, Dai Yuan came to a halt. "Wang Linlin, can you wait for me here? I need to go back and dispose of those wolf carcasses before I return to town."
Wang Linlin spaced out for a moment, looking at his ragged appearance, before she bit her lip and nodded silently.
"Thank you. I'll be fast," Dai Yuan said, turning on his heel and rushing back into the treeline.
Within minutes, Dai Yuan arrived back at the foot of the cliff. The four white-furred corpses still lay exactly where they had fallen, pools of blood staining the dirt.
"Thank goodness they're still here," he muttered. On the run back, he had been praying that no roaming scavengers would steal his prizes. Though the earlier fight hadn't been fatal, the coordinated numbers of the pack had overwhelmed him. Now, he planned to use their bodies to improve his cultivation.
Quickly dragging the four heavy carcasses into a tight pile, Dai Yuan laid his iron rod beside him and sat cross-legged on the blood-soaked earth.
Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on the first Moon Dancing Wolf's body and activated the Shamanic Rune. The rune on his upper torso burned hot as it began refining the blood essence.
As the refined essence of the first two wolves flooded into his body, Dai Yuan's bones hummed. The energy saturated his skeletal structure, tightly packing the marrow and solidifying his Peak Bronze Bone foundation to its absolute limit. When he refined the third wolf, a powerful surge of energy flooded his body. His bones crackled as he broke through. The sheer volume of refined energy forced his bones to transition, taking on a faint, silvery luster as he successfully broke throughto the Low Silver Bone stage.
The essence from the fourth and final wolf rushed in immediately after, stabilizing his new cultivation realm at the Initial Silver Bone stage..
Thanks to the breakthrough and the absorbed energy, most of the wounds across his body healed rapidly. The shallower cuts closed completely, while the deeper gashes stopped bleeding and remained only slightly open.
Opening his eyes, Dai Yuan exhaled a cloud of turbid, dark vapor, feeling noticeably stronger. A small smile appeared on his face as he stood up and retrieved his rod.