Chapter 17: Ambush, Slaying the Demon Wolf in Yanglu Mountain

"Meh..."

Just as Xu Taiping was about to approach the trap, he suddenly heard the bleat of a sheep.

"Could it be that I've really caught a yellow sheep?" Xu Taiping's heart skipped a beat.

The taste of roasted yellow sheep meat is far superior to wild boar, especially when paired with the purple perilla leaves from his family's medicinal herb garden.

"Looks like I'll have a good meal tonight."

He thought to himself while quickly running toward the trap.

Arriving at the trap, Xu Taiping noticed that the branches covering it were no longer in place, further confirming that the trap had caught something.

"Ugh..."

Just as Xu Taiping was about to get closer to see if the prey was indeed a yellow sheep, a low growl of a beast suddenly came from behind him.

Boom!

Almost instinctively, Xu Taiping leapt from his spot and jumped across to the other side of the trap using his powerful legs.

Roar!

The moment Xu Taiping landed on the other side of the trap, a massive gray wolf, the size of a typical tiger, lunged at the spot where he had just been standing, knocking down a small tree the size of a bowl.

"A wolf? Or a demon wolf!"

Looking at the enormous gray wolf, Xu Taiping's hairs stood on end. He had hunted wolves with his grandfather before, but this one was on a completely different level, far more terrifying.

"Awooo..."

As Xu Taiping was still in shock, the gray wolf jumped again, pouncing toward him on the other side of the trap.

Wham!

Xu Taiping rolled sideways, narrowly dodging the wolf's attack. He immediately drew his hunting knife and dashed eastward into the forest.

Roar!

Although Xu Taiping was running faster than an average adult, he couldn't outrun the demon wolf. In just a few moments, the wolf had caught up.

However, by now, Xu Taiping had calmed down. Despite the wolf being so close, he was no longer panicked. Instead, he skillfully twisted and turned through the forest, just as his grandfather had taught him. When encountering wild beasts, one should never run in a straight line but rather make evasive maneuvers.

Boom!

At that moment, the demon wolf, turning too sharply, accidentally crashed into a large tree, breaking it in half.

Xu Taiping, noticing this out of the corner of his eye, immediately stopped, then quickly drew his bow and arrow.

He aimed not at the wolf's head, but at its lungs.

Whoosh!

As the demon wolf stood up again, Xu Taiping drew the bowstring back fully, then released the arrow.

Boom!

Whether by luck or due to the improvement in his vision and strength after his cultivation, Xu Taiping's shot hit the demon wolf squarely in the body.

Roar!

However, to Xu Taiping's surprise, the demon wolf's fur was incredibly tough. The arrow merely pierced the surface and failed to be fatal, instead enraging the wolf even further.

Seeing this, Xu Taiping didn't hesitate. He grabbed his bow and arrow again and took off running eastward into the forest.

This time, the berserk demon wolf didn't care about the trees in its path, crashing through them one after another.

As a result, the distance between Xu Taiping and the demon wolf quickly shortened.

"Come on!"

Just as Xu Taiping was less than three paces away from the wolf, and he reached a large tree with a cloth hanging from it, he suddenly stopped, drew his hunting knife, and turned to face the wolf, shouting defiantly, preparing for a life-or-death showdown.

Roar!

The wolf, already enraged, saw Xu Taiping's challenge and immediately howled, leaping at him with its deadly fangs bared.

Boom!

Just as the wolf was about to swallow Xu Taiping whole, he suddenly turned his knife sideways and slashed at a vine hanging from a nearby tree.

Swish!

As the vine snapped, a large wooden stake, the thickness of a barrel, which had been tied to the vine, shot out and collided with the demon wolf mid-air.

Awooo!

With a painful cry, the massive wooden stake pierced deeply into the wolf's chest, propelled by its momentum.

This stake was originally intended for wild boars, but it came in handy at this moment.

Roar!

However, Xu Taiping quickly realized that the demon wolf's hide was far thicker than expected. Even the wooden stake wasn't enough to completely penetrate it.

"I guess I have no choice."

In a moment of crisis, Xu Taiping gripped his hunting knife tightly, leaped into the air, and, disregarding whether it would mess up his inner energy flow, drew on the energy in his dantian and concentrated it in his arms. He then delivered a powerful slash to the demon wolf's lung wound.

Boom!

Another loud sound echoed through the forest.

The slash, powered by his inner energy, cut open the wolf's lungs, and blood sprayed out like rain.

Crack...

Before Xu Taiping could react, his hunting knife shattered into several pieces, and both of his arms began to swell rapidly, growing as large as elephant legs in just a blink of an eye.

The intense pain snapped him out of his daze.

"Not good, the energy's running wild!"

Xu Taiping's heart sank. He immediately sat down cross-legged and began to circulate the "Canghai Gong," guiding the chaotic energy in his arms back to his dantian.

Phew...

After a while, Xu Taiping sighed in relief as his energy finally stabilized.

At this moment, he was filled with fear.

He had acted impulsively and used his energy recklessly, almost causing his inner energy to run amok. The consequences could have been disastrous.

"I remember from the descriptions of the Sheep Deer Mountain that there have never been any jackals here. How could a wolf suddenly appear, and even worse, a demon wolf?"

Xu Taiping stood up cautiously and walked over to the demon wolf.

By now, the demon wolf was on the brink of death, its lungs torn open by Xu Taiping's hunting knife. Even with its tenacity, it couldn't survive much longer.

"The sky is getting dark. It's better to head back to the small courtyard. I'll ask the copper mirror about this demon wolf later. For now, I should stop hunting here, and I definitely need to buy a martial skill."

Looking at the sky, Xu Taiping decided it was time to head back.

Although his small courtyard, Qingzhuju, was dilapidated, the jade slip had indicated that the yard was surrounded by an array formation, making it safe from ordinary beasts and demons.

"Wait, this demon wolf's corpse might be worth some merit points, right? Well, whether it's valuable or not, I'll drag it back and figure it out later."

Just as he was about to leave, Xu Taiping had a thought. He turned back and dragged the demon wolf's body, walking out of the forest with it.

Although he still looked like a young man and his frame seemed somewhat thin, his strength had grown significantly, and dragging the demon wolf was no problem for him.

After Xu Taiping left, not long afterward, a figure, its body decaying, emerged from the forest.

"This foolish wolf, it can't even handle such a simple task!"

Seeing the bloodstains on the ground and the large wooden stake, the figure suddenly began cursing loudly.

"Now that we've alerted them, it seems I'll have to go myself to draw him out of that courtyard. I need to come up with a plan quickly. The king is already pressing for it, and if I don't bring that brat's heart back soon, I'll be the one serving as the king's appetizer!"

The figure stomped his foot, cursing under his breath.

If Spirit Moon Fairy were awake, she would certainly recognize this figure.

That's right, this was the ghost that had been spying on them outside the courtyard that night.