Trapped

Zhao Fan was filled with determination as he walked outside to face another hard day. Next to the cave, there was an area free of trees, where many stumps stood. It was a result of him practicing his fist technique, Steel Gorilla's Fists which, coupled with his strong body, could chop down a tree in one strike. After practicing for a week, he was able to perfect the second level with no problems, augmenting his power by 50 percent.

The third level however, was the most difficult because it not only concerned pure offensive power but also made the fists tough enough to be used for defense. An hour later, Zhao Fan finished his practice and set out to go hunt. Due to his increase in strength, he now considered hunting fourth tier beasts if he ever came across any.

As usual, he ventured into the forest to begin another day. This time he decided to go in a little deeper than usual to try to find fourth tier beasts and immediately the amount of beasts he saw increased almost exponentially. If before he came across a beast every hour, now it was easy to find one by running around for 5 minutes. Some of these beasts that passed Zhao Fan in his hiding spot were even rank 5 or 6 with the occasional rank 4. Since it was his first time after all, he wanted to find a relatively weak tier 4 beast.

Soon enough, a rank 4 dark wolf came out. It was around the same size as the rank 3 one that Zhao Fan one shot before but he could tell that the beast qi surrounding it was much stronger. However, he felt confident that he could fight the wolf with the increase in his strength or run if it outclassed him, so he came out of the cover and charged straight at him.

Executing Spirit Dash, he charged at the wolf with a fist flying towards it. It wasn't caught off guard like the other wolf so it had time to swipe at him.

"F*ck'' Zhao Fan flew back a little with a shaking hand. That one swipe with the sharp claws imbued with beast qi almost broke the fingers in his fist. Fueled with fury, the wolf kept charging and threw out another slash as it pounced on him. This time it wasn't so easy to block, directly making Zhao Fan fly back and hit a tree. His forearms were covered in blood from crossing his hands to defend. He couldn't resist with his fists because the gloves didn't have many defensive properties and he still hadn't cultivated the third level of Steel Gorilla's Fists so if he took on the hit with his fists they would undoubtedly shatter.

Although the situation was dangerous, Zhao Fan didn't falter as this wasn't his first dangerous situation over the two weeks he spent in the forest. The wolf didn't give him any time to rest and pounced at him while he was leaning on a tree. Zhao Fan immediately jumped up with all of his strength.

BAM

The tree he was leaning on was separated into 4 parts by the cross attack.

Above the wolf, Zhao Fan started falling with his arms stretched out straight, his right hand facing downwards towards the back of the wolf and his left hand reaching for the sky. The qi that he was accumulating in the fist of his left hand accelerated by his control as it made its way from the left hand to the right in a straight line. This only took a brief moment and the instant it was released, the burst of qi already reached an incredible speed, directly slamming into the wolf's back.

This was a new technique Zhao Fan created which used his special ability to move qi around his body freely to accelerate a bundle of qi like a bullet.

BAM

This time, it was Zhao Fan who blew the wolf away. A shockwave was produced as the wolf was blasted into the ground, shattering its bones. However, as the dust settled and Zhao Fan was falling down, his eyes widened. The wolf surprisingly was still alive with a bloody hole in its back and it bit directly at Zhao Fan's neck. This was already the wolf's strongest attack and even if he managed to somehow block it with his hand, he wouldn't have a hand anymore.

"AGHH" At the crucial moment, Zhao Fan's eyes widened and all of his muscles tightened, in the moment the wolf was about to chop down on his neck, a fearsome aura of a steel gorilla was released and Zhao Fan's fist flew towards the open maw. Before the wolf could chomp down however, a second hand made its way into its mouth. Despite its sharp teeth, his hands pushed against the closing jaw.

CRACK

The jaw of the wolf was directly torn apart and a fist came a moment later exploding its head.

"Phew, that was close." Zhao Fan fell down from exhaustion but realized that he needed to absorb the wolf's beast essence. Once more, he got naked and shifted the wolves innards to make way for his entry into the wolf. This time the sensation was even stronger causing Zhao Fan to moan in pleasure as his exhausted body regained its energy and became stronger. Honestly, he didn't think the Steel Gorilla's Fists would have that great of an effect but he was confident that he would be able to make it out even if he wasn't able to kill the wolf. After all, it was near death from having a hole in its back and could hardly give chase.

Unexpectedly however, the sharp teeth of the wolf barely pierced his skin which is why he decided to rip the beast apart in a cool way instead of just blocking the attack.

An hour or so passed when Zhao Fan finally made his way outside and went to bathe himself. He placed the wolf's organs in a bag like usual and was about to put on some clothes when he heard a yell.

"Help!" A panting young man ran into the clearing and saw Zhao Fan putting on clothes next to a dead wolf.

"What the f*ck??" Zhao Fan recognized the young man who was shocked at the scene, he was Liu Zhong who he met earlier in the Technique Hall.

"Listen, it's not what it looks like! I was harvesting the organs of the wolf and got dirty so I went to wash myself" Zhao Fan finished putting on his clothes and hurriedly explained as he did not want to give Liu Zhong a bad impression. Before Liu Zhong could reply however, he heard a noise like a stampede getting closer and closer.

"Never mind your fetishes, the wolf pack is drawing near, run!" Liu Zhong didn't have time to care about what Zhao Fan was doing with the wolf and the two ran away together.

"Sh*t they are getting closer." Clearly they would not make it out of the forest before the pack of wolves overtook them. As time passed, Zhao Fan faintly saw a black sea of wolves drawing closer and closer behind him and Liu Zhong, toppling trees onto the ground as they passed.

"There seems to be a cave up ahead! We can maybe hide in there!'' They ran with all their might and finally made it into the cave. The entrance was fairly narrow and wouldn't allow too many wolves at a time so at least they had some chance to fight back. Out of the enormous pack of thousands of wolves, not many would probably come in and fight them one at a time so they at least would have a chance.

As they rushed in the cave, they hit a dead end fairly quickly in the form of a huge domal area lit by some type of plants growing on the wall which made it look enchanting. However, how could the two care about some pretty view before a matter of life and death? Luckily it was as they expected and only a few wolves went in the direction of the cave while the other ran past.

"The wolves are so close to the city, the cultivator's from other sects should have started to hunt them down right?" Zhao Fan was a little bit confused because he was technically still in the periphery of the forest, but the wolf pack already roamed here. At this rate they might soon spread towards the city.

"Hopefully it is sooner than later." Liu Zhong slightly relaxed as well since their situation seemed to be fine. As some lower tier wolves rushed in one by one it wasn't difficult for the two to instantly kill them.

"Sh*t, some tier 4 wolves are getting in!" Luckily due to the wolves increased size, only about two could make it in at a time and they would have to squeeze through. Liu Zhong unsheathed his sword and started getting serious. If they could not kill fast enough, then as more made their way in, the two would get overwhelmed and die.

Liu Zhong turned into a shadow as his Shadow wind art was unleashed. Liu Zhong was an heir to a rich family so he wasn't lacking in terms of battle techniques. Not only that, his sharp black sword could easily slice through tier 4 wolves. Even those highly priced artifacts Zhao Fan had seen before might be inferior to the price of his sword and full set of armor. Zhao Fan didn't hold back at all either, using level 3 Steel Gorilla's fists coupled with his improved physique.

The sharp claws of the wolves would most likely not pierce the gloves and the power produced by the impact could be easily resisted with his fists. Zhao Fan was able to hold off the two wolves with this power defense while Liu Zhong struck down with his Shadow wind art to instantly slice apart the skulls of the wolves. Secretly Liu Zhong was impressed by Zhao Fan, who couldn't even fight an Ironpaw bear a week ago.

Together the two of them were able to quickly get rid of the two rank 4 wolves which came in. However before they could catch a break, a terrifying howl resounded.

A tier 5 wolf!