Volume 1, Chapter 9: Heavy Blow

In the early morning forest, a light blue mist condensed at the base of the trees.

Above the light blue mist, milky white fog drifted with the wind, and vague black shadows could be seen moving in the mist.

Xiahou felt amazed. Apart from their own tribe, which had happily trained a large number of tooth wolves, this time they had brought two hundred fierce tooth wolves to cooperate in battle. Although other tribes did not have large-scale tamed beasts or birds of prey, they each had their own specialties. For example, beside the Yun Panther of the Chi Hu tribe, there was also a fierce tiger with a black base and golden flowers; and above their own home, there were more than a dozen Iron-winged Eagles flying. A group of five thousand people, mixed with more than six hundred fierce beasts, was quite spectacular.

But Xiahou dared not compliment the Chi Hu tribe's fighting skills.

With more than five thousand people plus more than six hundred fierce beasts, they lazily formed three or four rows of scattered lines, blowing beast horns and beating leather drums, making a racket as they walked toward the village of the Yi Wolf tribe. Was this enough?

The sharp horn, the heavy drumming, the noisy voices, and the occasional loud beast roar broke the tranquility of the jungle, causing countless birds and beasts to scatter in panic. Across a clear and shallow river about ten meters wide, the people of the Yi Wolf tribe had already appeared on the other side. They wore animal skin skirts around their waists, and their upper bodies were covered with crude armor made of bark. They shouted with surprise from their mouths. The simple cries mixed together, but the momentum was not smaller than that of the Chi Hu tribe.

An old man with seven golden eagle feathers inserted in his head carefully peeked out from behind a large tree and shouted loudly, "Chi Hu Lei Niu, do you really want to go to war with us?"

Lei Niu took a few steps forward, bent down to pick up a cobblestone, and smirked, "Yi Wolf Peng, if you return Iron Bamboo Mountain to our Chi Hu tribe, we will leave immediately. How about that?"

Yi Wolf Peng shook his head repeatedly, "It's impossible to return it to you. We want to use the bamboo on Iron Bamboo Mountain to make arrows. There is iron ore on the mountain, and we also want to use it to make arrowheads. Can't we exchange it with you for the Jinchuan River? There is gold sand inside."

Lei Niu roared, "What do I want your gold sand for? Can gold sand fill our stomachs? Can gold sand feed our wives and children? We only want Iron Bamboo Mountain, which is a rare pasture in the mountains and forests. How can we give it to you, a bunch of cowards who dare not fight against our brave warriors?"

Lei Niu swung his hand violently, and the small child-sized cobblestone whizzed toward Yi Wolf Peng. Yi Wolf Peng swiftly retreated behind the tree, and then a crisp sound was heard. A piece the size of a human head was shattered by the cobblestone on the tree trunk. The stone rebounded and hit the arm of a nearby Yi Wolf tribesman. The Yi Wolf man screamed in pain and immediately retreated, his arm bones shattered.

The Chi Hu tribe immediately cheered loudly, their eyes flashing with a warlike gleam. Chi Hu Hei Chen took out a bone staff and said coldly, "Jin Chuan River? Heh, after defeating you and capturing your leader, shouldn't you use Jin Chuan River to exchange?" With a swing of the bone staff, black mist rose from the ground, enveloping large flakes of sharp snowflakes, like a blizzard pouring down from the sky, covering an area of about a hundred feet, sweeping towards the dense forest where the Yi Wolf tribe was located.

With a cracking sound, a thick layer of ice formed on a section of the small river in front, and the river water immediately overflowed.

"Hei Chen's witch power attribute is water. There is a small river here, which is just suitable for him to use witchcraft." Xiahou silently watched Hei Chen perform witchcraft, tightly holding back the impulsive Bai, afraid that he would rush into the Yi Wolf tribe's position and start a massacre without caution.

From the opposite dense forest came the chanting of another witch. On the plain, countless grasses rapidly grew, intertwining and weaving into a thick grass wall, blocking the black blizzard. The sharp snowflakes were like knives, cutting through the grass layer by layer. However, the grass grew extremely fast. After one layer was split, another layer immediately grew back, constantly resisting. Obviously, the strength of that witch was not inferior to the fourth-class witch Hei Chen.

A swooshing sound came, and hundreds of sharp arrows shot towards the Chi Hu tribe people. The Yi Wolf people had already launched an attack. In their view, holding bows and arrows across a small river gave them the advantage. If they didn't seize the opportunity to inflict heavy casualties on the Chi Hu tribe people, did they have to wait for them to cross the river and massacre their own people? In the mountains and forests, when it came to close combat, few tribes could compete with the Chi Hu tribe.

To the astonishment of the Yi Wolf tribe, the Chi Hu tribe people, who had always wielded heavy weapons and fought bloodily with beasts and enemies, actually magically produced heavy wooden shields half the height of a person and as wide as a person. These Chi Hu tribe people held the wooden shields in front of them, laughing loudly, driving their tamed beasts, and wading across the creek.

In just a few breaths of time, the Chi Hu tribe people had already crossed the creek and rushed into the dense forest. Blades swung, swords moved, and as soon as they approached, the slightly frail Yi Wolf tribe people were no match for the Chi Hu tribe people. The heavy swords were not polite at all and immediately chopped up a dozen or so Yi Wolf people who were left behind. The smell of blood permeated the forest in the early morning.

Xiahou followed closely behind Xia, gripping the steel sword tightly. Bai? He didn't need to worry. As someone who was originally impervious to blades and spears, how could the Yi Wolf people pose any threat to Bai? Only Xiahou Xia was the one he couldn't rest assured about. Treading in a strange rhythm, he seemed to appear and disappear beside Xiahou Xia like a ghost. The arrows attacking from both sides were easily deflected by Xiahou, and Xiahou Xia roared loudly, like an angry bull, easily breaking through the interception of a dozen Yi Wolf people and reaching the witch who was confronting Hei Chen.

"Yada!" Xiahou Xia roared, and the machete in his hand fiercely slashed across the neck of the Yi Wolf tribe witch. A skinny skull-like head was thrown high by the gushing blood. Xiahou Xia proudly dropped the shield, picked up the witch's head, and said, "You Yi Wolf bastards, your tribe's witch is dead. Aren't you going to kneel down and beg for mercy?"

A piercing sound tore through the air as three arrows, faintly glowing with a pale blue light, shot towards Chi Hu Xiu. Xiu's body spun violently, and his long machete deflected two arrows, but the third one pierced through his right shoulder, spraying blood onto Xiahou's face behind him. With a muffled groan, Xiu staggered back, holding the machete, "You Yi Wolf bastards, always shooting arrows from behind."

Dozens of Yi Wolf warriors with varying numbers of golden eagle feathers on their heads rushed out from the forest. They were obviously high-level fighters, and the arrows they shot had a faint glow surrounding them, making them ten times stronger in penetration than ordinary arrows. With arrows raining down like a storm, dozens of Chi Hu tribe members immediately screamed in agony as dozens of arrows, each as thick as a thumb, pierced their vital spots, causing them to fall to the ground in despair.

However, the main targets of these dozen or so warriors were aimed at Chi Hu Xiu. They roared, "Chi Hu trash, drop the head of your tribe's witch, or we'll kill you." One after another, arrows with loud whistling sounds chased after him. With a severe injury on his right shoulder and holding a severed head in his left hand, Xiu had no time to fend off those arrows. He could only passively dodge behind tree trunks.

But the witchcraft of these Yi Wolf warriors was formidable, at least at the level of third-class. Several arrows even penetrated through the tree trunks, almost turning Xiu into a hedgehog.

With a snort, seeing his father of this world severely injured, Xiahou's heart ignited with anger. His steel sword danced like a cloud of black mist, shredding the arrows into pieces. However, the force on the arrows was not weak, causing Xiahou's wrist to tingle slightly.

At the same time, the warriors from Xiahou's village roared and rushed forward, tightly shielding Chi Hu Xiu with their shields. Seeing that the witch confronting him was successfully slain by Chi Hu Xiu, Hei Chen couldn't help but reveal a few traces of a smile on his thin face wrapped in thick black mist as he dashed into the dense forest. Wherever Hei Chen passed, thick layers of ice formed on the ground, and countless ice crystals floated in the air. The arrows shot by the dozen or so Yi Wolf warriors were all deflected by these ice crystals.

Countless beasts rushed towards the Yi Wolf people under the driving of the Chi Hu tribe, and after a fierce battle, the Yi Wolf people left behind hundreds of corpses and fled in embarrassment. Suddenly, a Yi Wolf warrior with a large piece of golden eagle feathers on his head jumped out from the forest, shouting angrily a few times, then glanced at Chi Hu Xiu's side and suddenly shot an arrow.

Hei Chen screamed, "Fourth-class witches, get out of the way!" Suddenly, dozens of fist-sized black ice balls emerged in the air and smashed towards the arrow with a strong green light.

However, the arrow's trajectory was erratic, and Hei Chen's ice balls all missed. The arrow pierced through a tree trunk, penetrated a shield, and fiercely stabbed into Chi Hu Xiu's right chest. With a muffled groan, Xiu dropped the severed head from his hand and spat out a mouthful of blood, weakly stepping back a few steps.

Xiahou's eyes suddenly turned red.

Since inexplicably arriving in this world, everything felt like a dream, unreal, hollow, as if he was dreaming. Only his parents and relatives were evidence that he was still alive in this world. These parents and relatives were his only weakness in this world. Although he was already an adult in his previous life, and his demeanor towards his parents and relatives seemed a bit indifferent, in reality, the more outwardly indifferent a person was, the more passionate emotions might be harbored in their heart.

With Chi Hu Xiu seriously injured, Xiahou's anger surged. At that moment, he seemed to have reverted to the cold-blooded warrior of his previous life, who didn't hesitate to stain his hands with the blood of his enemies to complete his mission. A layer of earthy-yellow light emerged from his body, and the steel sword emitted a piercing sound as it flew through the air, giving off a hint of a swordsman's aura. He shot out dozens of feet into the air, heading straight towards the elite among the group of Yi Wolf warriors.

In mid-air, the sword suddenly flashed twice, cutting through two long arrows and also breaking two thick tree trunks. With a powerful kick on one of the tree trunks, they turned into giant arrow shafts, whistling towards the dozen or so Yi Wolf warriors. Xiahou stood on one of the tree trunks, his eyes burning with yellow flames, and a steady stream of earth elemental power infiltrated his body, forming a sturdy armor on his body. Seven Yi Wolf warriors were hit by the tree trunks, their chest bones shattered on the spot. However, their tribesmen remained silent, agile as deer, quickly retreating tens of feet away, shooting dense arrows towards Xiahou. Xiahou slightly bent his body, his two arms almost dragging on the ground, tightly gripping the sword hilt, the steel sword hanging diagonally on his right side, leaving a long sword mark on the ground. With just a few big strides, he had already reached three Yi Wolf warriors.

"Yatay!" He also let out the terrifying roar that Chi Hu Xiu made when killing the Yi Wolf tribe's witch, and the long sword on his right side was suddenly swung diagonally upward.

With a flash of the sword, six Yi Wolf tribe members, along with their bows and arrows, were split into two pieces. In the midst of blood, the six mutilated bodies fell to the ground in a miserable state. The smell of blood became even stronger.

Bai also heard Xiahou's roar and immediately rushed over from a distance with several leaps. Seeing the anger in Xiahou's eyes, Bai let out a long roar as if he were a mad dragon whose scales had been exposed, and his arms moved like the wind, instantly ripping open the skulls of five Yi Wolf people. Xiahou, unwilling to be outdone, shot out a three-inch-long yellow sword aura from his steel sword, unstoppable, shattering nearby rocks, tree trunks, and Yi Wolf people into pieces. Occasionally, he even used witchcraft to lift one or two huge rocks and smashed them towards the Yi Wolf people who were desperately resisting nearby.

Under the leadership of these two fierce beasts, combined with the fact that the Chi Hu tribe's combat power was originally stronger than that of the Yi Wolf tribe, and with shields to fend off arrow attacks, the Yi Wolf people were forced into a retreat. In just over an hour, the Yi Wolf people had lost nearly two thousand warriors. Seeing that they couldn't withstand the Chi Hu tribe's attack, the Yi Wolf tribe chief could only humiliatingly issue the order for the entire tribe to retreat. Instantly defeated, the Yi Wolf people no longer had the mind to resist and quickly abandoned their village, fleeing into the mountains and forests.

The Chi Hu tribe erupted in cheers, and Lei Niu roared, "One thousand tribe members, occupy their village, and capture all their women and children. The rest of you, follow me and continue to kill!"

Before the tribesmen could continue their pursuit, Xiahou's face had already turned dark, and he alone chased after the Yi Wolf people. He had already set his sights on the Yi Wolf witch who had wounded Xiu. A fourth-class witch? Well then, let him see how much he weighed. At the very least, Xiahou was confident that a fourth-class witch who wasn't good at close combat posed no threat to him.

Bai, on the other hand, had already rushed into the village early. He heard the squealing of the pigs he liked the most in the village. He was very clear that this was the enemy's village, as Xiahou had told him. Therefore, the pigs in the enemy's village were enemy pigs, and enemy pigs should be killed. If he killed the enemy pigs, why should he share with others? Naturally, he should enjoy the delicious blood food alone.

Xiahou moved lightly, combined with the stealth training he received in his previous life, it was only a matter of time before he caught up with the Yi Wolf people. His target, the fourth-class Yi Wolf witch, was only a dozen steps away.

However, Xiahou dared not make a move because several other Yi Wolf people whose strength he couldn't gauge had joined the fourth-class witch. But it was evident that they had also suffered in the battle with the high-level Chi Hu warriors, with deep and shallow wounds all over them, looking extremely miserable. But with so many high-level warriors gathered together, Xiahou couldn't guarantee that he could defeat them all and escape unscathed.

After some calculation, Xiahou was now at the level of strength he had reached in his previous life, capable of wielding tens of thousands of pounds of force with his arms alone. His body's strength was probably much stronger than that of a fourth-class witch. Even his witchcraft should have reached the level of fourth-class or above. Considering his comprehensive strength, Xiahou firmly believed that he had reached the level of a fifth-class witch. Coupled with the killing techniques he had learned in his previous life, it should be easy to kill a fourth-class witch or warrior.

However, there were six fourth-class or so witches here. Plus, there were Yi Wolf people nearby. Xiahou dared not guarantee that he could escape unscathed.

Seeing the Yi Wolf people running faster and faster, their chief was cursing his useless tribesmen in a low voice, while loudly shouting to find another tribe they had previously allied with on the grassland to help defeat the Chi Hu tribe. Xiahou couldn't help but feel anxious. If you run to the grassland, how can I find you again in the future?

Carelessly, Xiahou stepped on an old branch.

In the early morning of the dense forest, although there was the noise of the Chi Hu tribe in the distance, it was still very quiet nearby. Those Yi Wolf people, for some reason, were able to move silently. As soon as Xiahou stepped on the broken branch, several Yi Wolf people immediately turned their heads.

Xiahou and one of the witches with the most feathers on his head stared at each other for a long time. At the same time, they both reacted. With a loud shout, Xiahou's body leaped into the air, and his steel sword turned into a black light, slashing towards the witch. However, the witch suddenly had a strange long bow in his hand, with green light flashing in his eyes, and he struggled to draw the bowstring.

The sword flashed, and so did the arrow.

The witch was split in half by Xiahou's sword. However, Xiahou's protective earth elemental force, as thick as a thumb, was shattered by a steel arrow. The arrow pierced into his thigh and shot straight out from near his lower back. A stream of blood followed the steel arrow, spraying out seven or eight zhangs away.

The elemental force quickly circulated around the wound in Xiahou's body, and he sighed in relief. Fortunately, the witch hadn't had time to aim for his vital points. Although the injury looked severe, it was actually not serious. At least the most important organs in his body were not affected, and the arrow luckily passed through a thick part of his flesh directly. Only his dantian had been shaken, and now every breath he took felt like he was being burned alive. His head was spinning, and he couldn't concentrate his witchcraft.

Xiahou fell to the ground abruptly, without a word, and turned to run, not even caring which direction he was heading. He cursed himself in his heart, "Did I still think this was Earth from my past life, and these Yi Wolf people were those special forces? Their physical fitness is much stronger than the best special forces from my past life! Next time, I won't show off until I reach the highest level of Xuanwu's true solution and have ninth-grade witchcraft. White Tiger was right, the more you show off, the more scars you'll have! Didn't you see that guy had no good skin left on his body?"

Running tens of zhangs with a pounding head, he heard angry curses from the Yi Wolf people behind him. The Yi Wolf chief roared madly, "Kill him! Whoever kills him will be the next leader of warriors!" Immediately, the sound of dozens of footsteps approached.

Gritting his teeth and clutching his head, Xiahou fled in a sorry state. As he ran, he grabbed a handful of medicine powder from his belt and stuffed it into his wound without caring if the witch doctor had mixed any scorpion or centipede parts into it. It was a penetrating wound, and with the wound near his waist and leg, if he didn't deal with it quickly, he might collapse after just a few steps. He had no doubt that if the Yi Wolf people caught him, he would be torn to pieces and cooked into soup.

The Yi Wolf people were skilled with bows and arrows, and each arrow was aimed at Xiahou's back. While running desperately, he didn't know how they managed to aim so accurately. But this ended up benefiting Xiahou. Hearing arrows coming from behind, he simply tilted his body slightly, and the arrows naturally missed their target.

Dozens of pursuers shot six or seven arrows at him with each breath. Xiahou had to change direction rapidly six or seven times with each breath, which was extremely painful. Rapidly changing direction put a huge strain on his thigh muscles, and he could feel the wound that had closed with the help of his earth elemental force tearing open again and bleeding. Xiahou couldn't help but curse, "What are those brutes doing? Did they rush into the village and start enjoying themselves with women first? Where does such a thing happen? If they don't come to help soon, I'm done for."

Using the little earth elemental force left in his body to protect the wound, Xiahou accelerated his pace using the lightness technique he had learned in his past life. However, his earth elemental force was originally focused on stability and solidity, with nothing particularly special about speed. Even with increased speed, it wasn't much faster, but it did manage to widen the gap between him and the Yi Wolf people behind him, making it easier to evade the arrows.

As he ran all the way, not knowing the direction or how long he had been running, the sparse mountains and forests ahead suddenly became denser. Suddenly, Xiahou stepped on empty air, exclaimed in shock, and fell off a cliff.

Seeing the abyss below, which was thousands of meters deep, Xiahou subconsciously tried to adjust his body, and thrust his sword into the side of the cliff. The sword blade entered the stone, and Xiahou's body immediately stopped for a moment with a 'crunch,' his right wrist dislocating. The steel sword, pulled down heavily by Xiahou's weight, broke off and he fell again from a height of over three hundred meters.

Helplessly, he grabbed half of the long sword with his left hand and stabbed it into the cliff again, but this time a huge force came from his left wrist, dislocating all the joints in his left arm. The arrow wound burst open again, and Xiahou's vision darkened as he fell from a height of over thirty meters.

Below, there was a roar of beasts, and Xiahou glanced hurriedly, just in time to see several huge monsters resembling tyrannosaurs but covered in pitch-black scales running towards him at great speed. The giant mouths had four rows of razor-like teeth. The saliva dripped everywhere from their mouths, and several monsters arrived directly below Xiahou.

"Suffering! Being blown up in my past life was miserable enough, but now I'm going to be eaten by monsters in this life!" Xiahou felt a huge shock in his body and immediately passed out.