Water Hounds

He is finally here: Mah Qi thinks involuntarily.

She had never experienced this much pain or an event like this ever before, nor did she feel this happy after seeing someone.

We are finally saved! I thought for sure I was going to die today!: Jun Haru finally relaxes his body.

All four of them were injured extensively, with chunks of flesh missing, but they forgot their pain.

Yang Zhai starts his battle. He first throws Red Poison in all four directions, making sure to avoid Jun Haru and the others.

Arf! Arf! Woof! Woof

The hounds were struck with rank 1 Red Poison. They barked loudly and started running and rolling crazily, hindering other hounds.

This blocked the path of the other hounds. They could not cross these crazily running hounds.

Yang Zhai rendered them helpless with just one move. However, Yang Zhai didn't relax. He uses the Blood Demon Ka to control the blood on the ground and create needles out of them. After that, he shoots these needles at the hounds in the back.

The hounds in the front could not attack and were mostly rolling on the ground.

Itch, it was something that could make anyone restless. Even during serious events, a person could not help themselves but scratch.

Red Poison could be said to be thousands of ants crawling and biting someone's skin.

Not just this, it attacks every cell in its contact and destroys it. In fact, it rots them slowly. If someone is struck with it, they would want to scratch themselves from the pain and fierce itching. However, if they touch it, even their hands would get contaminated: Yang Zhai contemplates.

This would send thousands of signals to the brain to react accordingly. However, it leaves even the brain restless, unable to decide what to do. If used correctly, it could drive anyone to madness.

This is what Red Poison was. It couldn't be described properly. It could also feel like thousands of needles were constantly piercing the body.

Unable to scratch their back themselves, the hounds were constantly rolling on the ground and touching other hounds to relieve themselves of this much pain and disturbing sensation.

Yang Zhai ignored them and only attacked the ones that were in the back or closing in on them. He spared the others as they were being helpful to him instead.

He dealt with the situation so masterfully. Why didn't we think of using Red Poison like this: Jun Haru and the others were shocked.

If they did as Yang Zhai did, they could have dealt with the situation themselves or, at the very least, held on for a few hours.

All the hounds suddenly lost their order and systematic attack and began to run away.

"What… happened…?" Si Yu mutters.

This was unexpected. Even if what Yang Zhai did was impressive, these hounds wouldn't leave so easily. They had been fighting and killing them for so long, but these hounds didn't give up even then, so what happened now?

After a while, The Last One arrives and stops in front of Yang Zhai.

"Good, now go back."

Yang Zhai praises it, and it disappears.

After a few minutes, the battlefield emptied and the remaining hounds fled.

As for the ones rolling in pain, Yang Zhai killed them himself.

"Brother… Yang, what happened?" Jun Haru asked, flabbergasted.

Yang Zhai cauterizes¹ the extensively bleeding wounds on the four's bodies.

They felt pain, but they understood why Yang Zhai was doing it, so they didn't criticize or stop him. As for Li Na, she was unconscious.

"We can discuss it later, let's leave this area for now."

After saying this, Yang Zhai grabs Si Yu and Li Na and begins to run, whereas the corpse picks up Mah Qi and Jun Haru and follows Yang Zhai.

They came to the cliff Yang Zhai had mentioned previously. It had two ledges.

Yang Zhai looked around and found a cave. He enters it.

"Brother Fen, what did you do back there? All of the dogs ran away." Si Yu asked.

"For now, rest a bit and try to get some sleep. We will discuss what happened after you rest. I will bring some water for you guys." After saying this, Yang Zhai stood up and was about to leave.

"Brother Fen, don't… leave us alone," Si Yu asked slowly.

Yang Zhai understood his intentions and said,

"Don't worry, I am leaving this rank 4 corpse here. It will protect you."

After saying this he leaves.

Darkness has settled, and the night has fallen. Stars can be seen everywhere. As this world is free of pollution, the stars can be seen clearly. The moon is full today and seems like a naturally built wonder to make humans jealous.

Below it are beautiful mountains with trees resting upon them. There is a silence, quite a serene silence. However, in this silence, there are some beautiful sounds in it.

The soft chirping of crickets, the lyrical songs of katydids, and the distant hum of cicadas blend harmoniously, crafting a serene and mesmerizing ambiance.

In this beautiful and serene night, a gentle glow can be seen coming out of a cave. In the cave, a few people are sitting around a fire.

Four out of the five stood up together and bowed respectfully, saying,

"Thanks for saving us, we will definitely make sure to repay you."

"No worries, we are a group and need to help each other. Sit down, I am just glad I arrived on time." Yang Zhai said with an amiable smile.

Li Na and Si Yu were even crying. Even if they were cultivators, they were still kids. Yang Zhai stands up and pats their heads before saying,

"Listen, you can depend on me. No need to cry, just be glad that you are safe. Now, sit down."

You four are still not ready. It is just the beginning. By the time I put you guys to work, you will be completely drowned in favors and gratitude for me. Respect for me, I will instill it in your bodies and minds. You will be nothing but my puppets: Yang Zhai contemplates while comforting them.

"Anyway, didn't I tell you to not stop before reaching this cliff? Why did you stop?"

Yang Zhai sits down and asks.

"Brother, we did just as you told us to. We didn't stop on purpose, we were ambushed by the hounds." Jun Haru replies with pain and indignation.

His body was still hurting like hell. He was barely controlling himself. Right now, these four were more injured than Yang Zhai.

Yang Zhai had only a small piece of flesh missing from the palm of his left hand, but the other four had chunks of flesh missing from many parts of their bodies.

Although Yang Zhai had other injuries, they were mostly filled in, though not healed.

Their clothes torn, their hair disheveled, had many injuries and were covered in dirt. If the injuries were set aside, all four of them looked even bigger beggars than Yang Zhai.

At least Yang Zhai's hair was in place.

"Brother Fen… do you know anything about those beasts?" Li Na asked with fear still lingering in her voice and eyes.

"Those beasts are called Water Hounds and are very fierce. The reason they are called Water Hounds is that they can fight more fiercely in water than on the ground. This is why I chose this path. If we had taken a detour, we would have had to cross lakes filled with them."

"However, if we had taken an even longer detour to completely avoid them, it would have taken us more than a month just to cross this area that we did in just a few minutes."

Yang Zhai explained.

"Oh, so that's why. But brother, why did they suddenly leave earlier?"

"Well, almost every pack of a beast is controlled by a leader or two, except for a few rare packs. These Water Hounds, too, were being controlled by higher-rank hounds. This group maybe had three leaders, so I sent my friend to get rid of them while I saved you."

"Anyway, start cultivating, you need to get stronger if you want to continue your journey with me. This world is dangerous and situations like these can happen in the future as well. I won't always be there for you." Yang Zhais said with a serious expression.

"Also, we need a healing Ka. At the rate we are going, we won't be able to keep on going like this." Yang Zhai said after thinking for a while.

"What should we do then?"

"About that, you know as well as I do that this world is dangerous. You might think that beasts are dangerous, but no, humans are even more dangerous. In the future, remember this, except me, trust no one. Some might even try to get close to you and then strike. Thus, from now on, rely on each other and trust only me, do not go for others."

"Also, it's better to strike first than be the target. When I go for someone, you guys need to follow me and do the same. You are still not aware, but this world is more dangerous than you imagine and I am sure all of you know this more than anyone."

After the others heard this, they lowered their heads. All four of them were betrayed and wounded by humans, so they understood what Yang Zhai was saying.

When Yang Zhai saw this, he smiled.

As they say, mix a little bit of lie with truth and nobody would be able to tell the difference. With the passage of time, their thinking capabilities would adapt to what I want, they would even think the way I want them to. Little by little, without letting them realize, they would become the way I want them to be. To them, I would become the only one they can trust: Yang Zhai contemplates.

/!*****!*****!/

1 Cauterize means to burn a wound to stop bleeding and prevent infection.