Chapter 8: Escaping Peril

Seeing Lu Xiaotian’s sudden movement, several wolves in the pack lunged toward him and the spirit beast leopard first.

Roar! The spirit beast leopard ferociously opened its jaws and bit directly into its opponent’s throat, ending the creature’s life.

Lu Xiaotian’s expression turned cold. He drew his short sword and slashed at the head of a lunging wolf. Awoo! A gash appeared on the wolf’s head, slanting from its ear down to its nose. In the blink of an eye, two wild wolves were dead. However, more than a dozen wolves of varying sizes surged out from the white mist in the distance.

"Run!" Lu Xiaotian gave this command to the spirit beast leopard. He swung his sword to force back another wolf, grabbed the rope with one hand, and decisively jumped off the cliff. The number of wolves was too great, and there were even one or two demonic beasts among them, their aura not much weaker than the leopard’s. If he stubbornly held his ground here, he would surely end up being torn apart and eaten by the pack. Thus, Lu Xiaotian chose to flee without hesitation, leaving the leopard to its own fate. As for whether it could survive, that would depend on the leopard’s own luck.

The leopard looked back, saw that Lu Xiaotian had already jumped off the cliff, let out a sharp howl, and charged toward a thinner part of the wolf pack on the opposite side.

Above, the wolves howled incessantly. As Lu Xiaotian slid down, he felt a strange movement from the rope in his hand. Looking up, he saw two wolves beginning to gnaw on the rope; these beasts were quite intelligent. Lu Xiaotian cursed, accelerated his descent, and kicked hard against a rock on the cliff face, using the momentum to swing toward the vines growing on the precipice. He grabbed the vines with one hand. Just as he secured his grip, the rope above was bitten through by the wolves.

Lu Xiaotian whispered a silent prayer of relief. He caught the severed rope and, using the leverage of the vines, landed safely on a protruding rock on the cliff.

Above the cliff, the wolves paced back and forth for a while, let out a few disappointed howls, and then left one after another.

He wondered how the leopard was doing now. Soon, Lu Xiaotian couldn't help but shake his head; he could barely look after himself, let alone the leopard.

Setting the broken rope aside, Lu Xiaotian looked up. The spot where the vines grew was about five or six zhang from the top of the cliff. If he climbed up the vines and threw the broken rope back up to snag a tree trunk, he could still escape this dangerous situation. With his retreat secured, Lu Xiaotian felt at ease; all he needed now was to outlast the wolf pack.

Although he couldn't hear the wolves above, based on his experience of going into the mountains with his father as a child, wolves were the most vengeful of animals. Even though the howling had stopped for now, the wolves might not have truly left; there might even be one left behind to keep watch.

Having temporarily escaped the crisis, Lu Xiaotian began to feel a dull ache in his shoulders, elbows, and chest.

He lifted his clothes and rolled up his sleeves to find several purple-red bruises from the impacts. In many places, blood was seeping through—the result of hitting the rocks on the cliff face when he jumped. Fortunately, no bones were broken; he would just have to endure it.

However, Lu Xiaotian soon realized his situation was not good. Having been trapped in an unfamiliar terrain, chased by wolves, and fleeing here, he had completely lost his sense of direction. After meditating to recover some of his internal energy, he noticed the sky darkening. In the middle of this cliff, the cold wind was gradually picking up, whistling in his ears.

In the canyon, the temperature dropped sharply every night, and it was even worse here on the cliff. With an empty stomach, the cold and hunger of the night would be hard to bear.

Thinking of this, Lu Xiaotian searched the square-meter rock he was on. His gaze fell upon a patch of withered yellow among the vines growing on the cliff, and his eyes lit up.

He drew his short sword, walked to the vines, and pushed aside the green leaves to reveal a cluster of dead vines inside.

"These must have grown here for years and eventually withered. They can be used to start a fire to warm my body; the night won't be so hard to endure."

Snap! Lu Xiaotian swung his sword and cut off a withered vine. Just as he reached out to grab it, a faint hissing sound made the hair on his back stand up.

Lu Xiaotian pulled his left hand back like lightning and looked closely. He saw a mottled yellow and green grass snake slithering among the vines, flicking its scarlet tongue at him. Its triangular head was bobbing back and forth. The snake had been hidden in the vines; if it hadn't attacked, it would have been impossible to spot while it lay still.

Lu Xiaotian cursed his luck. If he hadn't been practicing the "Hunyuan Sutra," which had made his senses much sharper than before, he would have been bitten by this unknown snake.

Having barely escaped the wolf pack only to almost die in the jaws of a snake, this canyon was truly treacherous. A moment of carelessness could lead to unknown dangers.

The grass snake slithered out from the vines, revealing a body as thick as an arm. It raised its triangular head angrily, closing in on the intruder.

Lu Xiaotian narrowed his eyes. Predators in the mountains had strong territorial instincts; it seemed he had trespassed into this snake's territory.

However, he was at a dead end. The protruding rock was only a square meter in size, and there was nowhere to hide. Since that was the case, he had no choice but to fight.

Hiss! The snake let out a low sound and lunged at Lu Xiaotian’s face. Lu Xiaotian hurriedly dodged, swinging his short sword at the same time.

With a soft thud, the triangular head fell to the ground. The snake’s body writhed among the vines for a moment before falling, blood gushing out.

Lu Xiaotian unbuckled his pack, took out a small iron pot and some salt, and then picked up the snake body like a treasure. After draining the blood, he skillfully skinned it, chopped it into dozens of small pieces, and threw them into the pot.

He carefully pulled out the withered vines from earlier, tidied them up, and used flint to start a fire. He cooked the snake meat directly. It was a pity he didn't have enough water, or it would have been even more delicious as a soup. Fortunately, the canyon was foggy, and every morning, dew would accumulate on the leaves, so he wouldn't die of thirst.

Lu Xiaotian ate until his belly was full and patted his stomach. It seemed he would have to spend the night here. There was no one to feed the little green ants in his cave dwelling; he estimated there wouldn't be many left by the time he returned.

Lu Xiaotian shook his head and gave a bitter laugh, mocking himself. In his current situation, it was unknown if he could even make it back, yet he had the leisure to worry about the ants. The black-robed old man had no shred of humanity and no interest in teaching him; it was better not to return to that dreary cave, if only to avoid another lashing. The old man’s hand was heavy; the last whipping had nearly killed him.

I won't go back! Lu Xiaotian made this decision silently.

As the night deepened, the cold wind howled against the cliff, and the temperature plummeted. With the biting, bone-chilling wind blowing incessantly, he found it impossible to sleep.

(End of chapter)