Hearing the tiger's roar, the White Wolf Leader felt a shock in its heart and knew things were going badly; it had to finish off Li Qiu immediately. If this dragged on much longer, once the real tigers arrived, the gray wolves would certainly scatter in all directions. Originally, the pack had only followed along due to its intimidation, and now, out of more than three hundred gray wolves, only around a hundred remained—a staggering casualty rate of seventy percent. Had it not been for the three Cyan Wolf subordinates who had wounded three of the opposing youths just moments ago, leaving only one standing, the pack would likely have broken and fled long ago.
Hesitating no longer, it raised its head and let out a long howl. The howl carried a strange, eerie tune. Upon hearing it, the three Cyan Wolves and all the gray wolves turned bloodshot in the eyes, their fur standing on end like steel needles. They looked transformed into demonic entities, howling as they charged toward Li Qiu with an unstoppable momentum.
The three Cyan Wolves lunged forward simultaneously, their three jaws and six fangs gleaming with a chilling light in the grim, murderous night, intent on tearing Li Qiu to pieces.
At this moment, Li Zhuo was unconscious, while Wang Suo and Zheng Shude were gravely wounded.
Li Qiu had nowhere left to retreat.
Frenziedly swinging his staff to beat back two of the Cyan Wolves, Li Qiu felt his strength utterly exhausted. After all, he was slight of build and had never practiced martial arts; the Cyan Wolves closed in on him in an instant. The third Cyan Wolf repeated the previous tactic: its front paws pinned down the staff Li Qiu was using to guard his neck, while its hind legs kicked fiercely toward his chest.
As the Cyan Wolf kicked out hard at Li Qiu, it expected this slender, bamboo-like youth to snap in half right on impact. Unexpectedly, in that exact split second, a burst of azure light erupted from Li Qiu's body. The wolf's leg struck the azure light and was instantly repelled by a tremendous force. The Cyan Wolf let out a piercing shriek, tracing a graceful arc through the air before hitting the ground several yards away with a heavy thud. After tumbling over several times, it struggled to stand up, but feeling as though every bone in its body had been shattered, it collapsed back to the ground with a dull plop.
Seeing how he had instantly counter-controlled the Cyan Wolf, Li Qiu felt a surge of exhilaration. That flash of azure light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, yet Li Qiu felt a sudden flash of intuitive understanding. Recalling his experience meditating in the tree that day, he instantly sank his mind into a realm of absolute emptiness, closed his eyes slightly, and entered a state of serene stillness. He stopped thinking, stopped looking, stopped listening, and stopped moving, guiding his breath straight to his dantian.
A short while later, Li Qiu felt heat and azure Qi rise from his dantian, rapidly coursing through his limbs and bones. The strength that had been on the verge of exhaustion suddenly poured back into him, just like water being poured into an empty barrel, until it gradually grew full.
Li Qiu was overjoyed. Previously, he hadn't known this was how the Azure Wood Formula was meant to be used, but remembering that wood thrives and flourishes, and that wood governs the vital breath of life, he felt a sense of relief and understanding.
Meanwhile, the White Wolf Leader was utterly stunned by Li Qiu's sudden display of fierce prowess. Unwilling to give Li Qiu a chance to recover, it let out another roar, and the pack of beasts lunged at him once more.
By now, Li Qiu felt his arms brimming with strength. The staff danced in his hands with the force of a roaring wind, looking utterly majestic as he beat the wolves left and right, knocking out their teeth.
After fighting for half an hour, Li Qiu gradually felt his strength waning. He had already completed three circulations; if he continued to circulate his internal energy, he risked suffering a deviation in his practice and going mad. Yet, without that miraculous strength, how could he possibly hope to fight off the pack of wolves? Anxiety welled up in his heart.
Right at that moment—
A few tiger roars echoed through the forest, so loud and distant that they were deafening. In fact, three adult male tigers had arrived all at once.
Li Qiu exclaimed in bewilderment, "They say two tigers cannot share one mountain—how did three of them show up at once?"
Hearing this, Wang Suo coughed and replied, "What I imitated just now was a female tiger."
Li Qiu was instantly left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Still, this was for the best; with the addition of three fierce tigers, their chances of winning had increased quite a bit.
The three fierce tigers had actually come looking for a mate. Failing to find a tigress, they had instead found over a hundred wolves. When the three tigers saw the pack of wolves congregated in the riverbed, fury surged within them.
They were the kings of beasts, and tiger majesty brook no offense. Each of the three had its own territory, minding its own business, but upon hearing the call of a tigress—and an estrus call at that—they had rushed over hoping for some intimate romance, only to find this massive horde of wolves: gray wolves, white wolves, and Cyan Wolves.
The tigers felt their authority had been flouted, and wolves were the creatures they loathed most in the world.
Three fierce tigers versus a hundred wild wolves.
Fierce tigers possessed their own pride, and looking at those lean, scrawny wolves, they felt nothing but utter contempt. Suddenly, as if in mutual agreement, the three tigers let out an earth-shattering roar.
Hearing it, the majority of the gray wolves trembled with terror. A few chose to flee, only to be run down by the Cyan Wolves and torn to pieces on the spot.
By this point, a tripartite stalemate had unexpectedly formed between the wolf pack, the fierce tigers, and Li Qiu.
The moon slowly climbed up to the treetops, casting a blanket of silver radiance across the ground. Basking in this silver glow, the White Wolf Leader and the White Fox seemed supremely comfortable. The White Wolf Leader's previously hazy eyes closed completely, and the wolf pack, lacking orders from their leader, refrained from attacking.
The tigers also understood that the wolf pack numbered over a hundred and could not be taken lightly, so they too stayed put in their respective spots.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Qiu quickly regulated his breathing to recover his stamina.
As the three parties confronted one another for a full hour, the White Fox's previously listless expression vanished entirely. Suddenly, a sharp, ear-piercing screech broke from the White Fox's mouth.
Stung with pain, Li Qiu covered both ears with his hands, shook his head hard, and opened his eyes.
The sight before him gave him a tremendous fright. All around him, apart from thick, swirling fog, there was nothing else to be seen. He stretched out his hand, but he couldn't even see his own fingers—what a massive fog!
Li Qiu shouted at the top of his lungs, "Second Brother! Third Brother! Fourth Brother! Are you still there?" There was no response whatsoever from the surroundings, only an endless, hollow silence.
A gentle breeze blew past, and the mist gradually dissipated. Two figures slowly came into view. They were an elderly man and woman, hunchbacked and with heads of white hair, leaning on each other as they walked toward Li Qiu.
The moment Li Qiu saw the two of them, a mix of shock, joy, and grievance welled up in him: "Father! Mother! Why are you here?" With that, tears rolled down his cheeks. After all, he was only a thirteen-year-old child; having left home for just five or six days, he had already been through such life-or-death trials. Though it had matured him considerably, it had also terrified him to his core.
The couple, however, did not hear Li Qiu's cries and walked on as if he weren't there at all.
Just as Li Qiu hurried to approach them, three tiger roars suddenly rang out beside his ear. Looking closely, Li Qiu saw that they were the very same three male tigers Wang Suo had lured in.
Catching sight of Li Qiu's parents, the three great beasts lunged toward them as if they were prey.
Pale with fright and desperate to save his parents, Li Qiu found that his staff was nowhere near him. He was completely empty-handed, and his strength had already faded. Yet, driven by an urgent desire to save them, Li Qiu could no longer care about anything else. He instantly settled his Qi into his dantian, forcibly driving his internal energy to execute the fourth circulation.
A surging wave of power flooded his entire body. Letting out a fierce cry, Li Qiu lashed out with his fists, engaging the three fierce tigers in hand-to-hand combat. In the process, he was mauled all over by the tigers, dripping with fresh blood.
With a heavy thud, the final tiger had its skull smashed in by Li Qiu, red and white matter spilling across the ground.
Li Qiu hastily looked toward where his parents had been—where were his parents now?
Right before Li Qiu stood the White Wolf Leader and the White Fox, the two beasts staring at him in silent mockery and pity. The White Fox alone appeared even more listless than before, as if suffering from severe internal injuries.
Looking down at his three sworn brothers lying on the ground—even Wang Suo, who had briefly regained consciousness earlier, had now passed out—Li Qiu finally realized he had fallen for a trap. He must have been duped by these two beasts a moment ago, lured straight into an illusion. Yet, when he looked at the three tigers lying stiffly on the ground without a single breath of life left in them, he knew this wasn't entirely fake. How laughable that just days ago he had used the tactic of "the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the yellow sparrow behind," only to be stabbed in the back by a beast himself. Was he truly still far too arrogant and prone to underestimating his foes?
Before Li Qiu could dwell on it further, the backlash from forcibly driving his internal energy finally struck. The meridians throughout his body began flowing in reverse, the pain tearing through him as if he were being chewed apart by ten thousand ants. Blood spilled from his nose and mouth, and his vision blurred. Biting down hard on the tip of his tongue, Li Qiu used the stabbing pain to snap himself back to awareness.
He must not black out; he must absolutely not black out.
Li Qiu stood there swaying unsteadily, looking as though a gust of wind could blow him over, yet he stubbornly refused to fall.
At that moment, Li Qiu's heart was utterly tranquil, devoid of any other thoughts. Even in the face of death, his mind remained as still as an ancient, waveless well. He did not fear perishing, but he sought survival by every possible means.
Survival! To survive, to attain longevity. No matter the circumstances, one must never abandon the hope of living.
Though not a shred of hope remained for him to turn the tables, Li Qiu still refused to give up. He bent down and picked up Li Zhuo's staff once more, his body trembling repeatedly, nearly collapsing.
The White Wolf Leader raised its head to gaze at the moon in the treetops, suddenly seized by the urge to compose a poem. The mortal before it had lingered on the brink of death for so long that it couldn't help but look at him with newfound respect. Very well, but it must end here.
Though the White Fox's illusion, "Flowers in a Mirror, Moon in the Water," had triggered its old injuries, it had successfully made the three tigers and Li Qiu slaughter each other. It had originally expected the three tigers to kill Li Qiu, after which it would finish off the great beasts, but the outcome had turned out precisely the opposite.
This youth's resilience of character was truly on par with its own.
Alas, it must ultimately put an end to him.
Without a low growl, the White Wolf Leader turned its head back toward Li Qiu, and the two Cyan Wolves instantly sprang into action.
The Cyan Wolves drew closer and closer to Li Qiu. He could hear their heavy panting and see the bristling, stiff fur on their bodies. Calming his heart, Li Qiu closed his eyes slightly, entering a state of serene stillness. He stopped thinking, stopped looking, stopped listening, and stopped moving, guiding his breath straight to his dantian.
He was actually attempting the fifth minor circulation.
As the soul-devouring, bone-melting agony washed over him, Li Qiu felt nothing. He knew the consequence of forcibly driving his internal energy this time would be death, but he had cast all of that aside. What he wanted was that power, so he could drag these beasts down to hell with him.
The fangs of the Cyan Wolves were already grazing the tip of Li Qiu's nose.