Every festive season doubles one's longing for family. Had it not been for Uncle Liu keeping a strict eye on him for devilish training, Jiang Feng would have long since gone to pay respects to his grandfather.
Bathing and changing his clothes, Jiang Feng hurried toward Daqing Mountain.
The path remained the same path, and the mountains remained the same mountains, yet only grandfather was missing.
Jiang Feng arranged the offerings, knelt before his grandfather's grave, and could not help weeping. Recalling every scene of his grandfather when he was alive, it felt as though it had only happened yesterday.
"If Grandfather were still alive, how wonderful it would be if I could still act like a child, being lazy and spoiled in front of him, but..." But henceforth, no one would ever cherish him the way his grandfather did.
Jiang Feng knelt in front of the grave for a long time. Standing up, his gaze gradually filled with hatred. "Grandfather, watch your grandson avenge you today."
Jiang Feng walked step by step into Daqing Mountain, and step by step entered the territory of the demon wolves. A murderous aura pervaded his body, and his cold gaze swept over the gray wolves appearing around him.
The gray wolves grew increasingly numerous, ceaselessly circling around Jiang Feng, yet not a single wolf dared to initiate an attack, for they feared the murderous aura emanating from his body.
At that very moment, the wolf pack automatically parted to clear a path. A Big Cyan Wolf nearly taller than a man slowly walked over from the distance—it was precisely the main culprit who had killed his grandfather.
Jiang Feng's eyes instantly turned blood-red and his killing intent soared to the heavens. His body rushed toward the cyan wolf at top speed.
Seeing this, the cyan wolf let out a low roar, and the wolf pack immediately blocked Jiang Feng and launched an attack against him.
Although Jiang Feng's physical body was extremely strong, he did not dare to lower his guard; one had to know that the bite force of an adult gray wolf reached a staggering four hundred pounds, capable of crushing bones into tiny fragments with a single bite.
Using both fists and feet, advancing and striking, Jiang Feng utilized his lightning-fast speed to touch and instantly retreat, knocking away a gray wolf with every single strike.
In a short while, more than twenty gray wolves were already lying flat on the ground.
That Big Cyan Wolf showed no signs of surprise or panic. It quietly watched Jiang Feng rampage through the wolf pack like a heavenly deity, then let out a long howl. The wolf pack stopped their attack and retreated behind it one after another.
The Big Cyan Wolf slowly closed in on Jiang Feng. Jiang Feng clenched his teeth tightly, hatred blazing in his eyes, and suddenly stomped both feet down, leaping high into the air with a swish to smash a fist toward the wolf's head from above.
The Big Cyan Wolf looked up at the diving Jiang Feng, opened its blood-red maw, and spat out a streak of wind blades that shot toward him. Jiang Feng neither dodged nor evaded, meeting the attack head-on with his fist. With a loud bang, the wind blade shattered into pieces, while Jiang Feng was directly blasted back to the ground. His right arm trembled incessantly, and a deep bloody gash was cut across his fist by the wind blade.
The Big Cyan Wolf looked at Jiang Feng, its eyes filled with mockery and ridicule. Jiang Feng ignored this, still rushing rapidly toward the Big Cyan Wolf while tightly clashing his right hand into a fist and punching out.
Contempt flashed in the eyes of the Big Cyan Wolf as it swatted out with a paw.
Bang! Fist and paw collided hard against each other, stirring up a flurry of flying rocks all around.
Jiang Feng's expression changed as a tremendous force surged through his arm. Under this massive force, Jiang Feng was undoubtedly sent flying three or four zhang away, landing heavily on the ground with a thud.
As for the Big Cyan Wolf, its body merely paused for a moment.
Clearly, in this head-on clash, Jiang Feng had distinctly fallen into a disadvantage.
"Fighting blindly like this gives me no chance at all. I must use the 'Double Surge' to strike its weakness." Jiang Feng shook his numb arm.
"Come again!" Jiang Feng's fighting spirit was truly ignited as he roared repeatedly at the Big Cyan Wolf. However, he also understood that he was unsuited for taking the initiative to attack; he had to seek an opportunity amidst defense and counterattack.
At this moment, the Big Cyan Wolf was also extremely shocked inside. This human before it had taken a head-on blow from it without even sustaining an injury—this was a blatant slap in the face! It made the beast furious.
With a long howl, the Big Cyan Wolf charged at Jiang Feng.
The Big Cyan Wolf was several times larger than Jiang Feng, running like a crazed elephant. With every step it took, the ground trembled slightly, and that momentum was utterly terrifying.
Seeing the Big Cyan Wolf charge over, Jiang Feng narrowed his eyes, slammed his right foot down fiercely, and shot toward the Big Cyan Wolf like a cannonball.
When he was still two feet away from the Big Cyan Wolf, Jiang Feng forcefully twisted his body to avoid a direct frontal collision, and his fist, gleaming with a faint golden light, slammed fiercely toward that huge wolf head.
Jiang Feng could be said to have exerted his utmost strength in this strike. Wherever his fist passed, the air seemed to be torn apart, emitting sharp and piercing sounds of breaking wind.
The Big Cyan Wolf also seemed to sense the extraordinary nature of Jiang Feng's punch, hurriedly dodging its head and meeting the blow with a raised paw.
Bang! Fist and paw collided once more. Before the fist force could dissipate, Jiang Feng shouted loudly, "Double Surge!Instantly, two forces superimpose formed an even more formidable power that slammed into the wolf's paw.
The wolf's paw was knocked high up, dragging the Big Cyan Wolf back several paces along with it. Before it could steady itself, Jiang Feng had already rushed before it, delivering another heavy Double Surge squarely onto the Big Cyan Wolf's neck.
The Big Cyan Wolf was sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground. It finally felt a long-lost pain; its emperor-like status over the years had made it almost forget the taste of pain, which instantly stirred its ferocious nature.
The fur all over the Big Cyan Wolf's body instantly stood on end. Pulling its hind legs back, it shoved off the earth fiercely and lunged at Jiang Feng with half-foot-long fangs bared, a reeking stench instantly surging straight into Jiang Feng's nose and mouth.
Seeing the Big Cyan Wolf coming with such fierce momentum, Jiang Feng did not dare to meet it head-on. He hurriedly withdrew and shifted his stance, moving horizontally to the right, and before the Big Cyan Wolf could land, he unleashed the full power of the Double Surge directly at the wolf's waist.
"Copper head, iron tail, tofu waist." Although his grandfather had never taken him hunting, he had told him about the characteristics of wolves. Therefore, if this blow landed solidly, the Big Cyan Wolf would suffer severe injuries.
Discovering that Jiang Feng was aiming for its weakness, the Big Cyan Wolf struggled and twisted in mid-air, forcibly dodging away from its waist, snapping open its left paw, and raking toward Jiang Feng's shoulder.
With two consecutive muffled thuds of "Bang!" and "Bang!", the human and the wolf were simultaneously sent flying backward.
The skin on Jiang Feng's left shoulder was torn open, and his left arm was unable to move. Meanwhile, the Big Cyan Wolf had suffered a heavy blow to its ribs with its internal organs injured, rendering it unsteady on its feet.
Jiang Feng's gaze was ice-cold as he slowly walked toward the Big Cyan Wolf, simultaneously mobilizing the Chaos Qi, allowing a layer of pale golden energy to gradually wrap around his right arm.
Jiang Feng came to a halt right in front of the Big Cyan Wolf—the time to decide life and death had arrived!
"Grandfather, your grandson has avenged you!" Jiang Feng gathered all his strength into his right fist, unleashing a Triple Surge accompanied by a whistling sound as he smashed it toward the Big Cyan Wolf.
"Wait... wait!" An unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed in Jiang Feng's mind. "Quickly... stop!"
"Huh?" Jiang Feng abruptly halted his movements, turning his head to look around in all directions, yet not a single shadow of a person was in sight.
"What person is here playing the ghost?" Jiang Feng demanded in a loud voice.
"Me, I am the one speaking to you using spiritual sense." The Big Cyan Wolf before him stared at Jiang Feng, blinked, and then pointed at itself with a paw.
"You? How can you communicate with me?" Jiang Feng was completely bewildered.
"Because I am your father's... bound beast. Any being who shares a bloodline with the master can engage in simple communication with his bound beast." When the Big Cyan Wolf said this, the image of that god-like man unconsciously surfaced in its mind. As a god's bound beast, it felt incomparably proud.
"Whose bound beast you are is not important to me at all. What matters is that you killed my grandfather, so you... must die!" Jiang Feng finished speaking and prepared to make his move.
"Your grandfather was not killed... by me," the Big Cyan Wolf hurriedly said. "He was poisoned to death by a Golden Python."
"You're lying! I saw with my own eyes that you used a wind blade to injure my grandfather, and it was because of that that he succumbed to his injuries and died."
"At that time, your grandfather had already been poisoned by the Golden Python's deadly venom, and the poison had attacked his heart. Even if I hadn't injured him, he wouldn't have lived much longer."
"Is everything you said true?" Jiang Feng recalled the situation at that time; his grandfather had indeed vomited black blood before dying, and furthermore, a single wind blade from the Big Cyan Wolf could not have taken his grandfather's life.
"True... absolutely true. If I lie, I am willing to be struck... and killed by lightning," the Big Cyan Wolf swore. "Besides, guarding this place was a task arranged by the master."
"What task?"
"The master asked me to watch over a treasure for you, saying that whenever you entered Daqing Mountain and defeated me, you would be qualified to take it away."
"How did you know the person you were waiting for was me?"
"Because you carry the master's aura, and that is something our wolf clan could never mistake."
Jiang Feng fell silent. His state of mind was extremely complicated right now. If he said he hated his parents, he nevertheless held a special feeling toward them—hazy yet yearning; but if he said he didn't hate them, he still could not easily let go of the fact that they had abandoned him.
"That barrier at the foot of the mountain was set up by the master. If not for this barrier, a grave mistake would have been made that time." The Big Cyan Wolf looked cautiously at Jiang Feng. Although it did not understand human emotions, it knew that it had injured that old man, making this young man extremely furious.
"The master also said that if you have need of it, I can automatically dissolve my contract with the master, re-establish a contract with you, and acknowledge you as my master."
Jiang Feng's heart stirred. "What realm is that Golden Python at? Can the two of us beat it?"
Upon hearing this, the Big Cyan Wolf finally completely set its mind at ease. "The grading of our Demon Beast clan is as follows: tiers one to six respectively correspond to the human Qi Refining Stage to the Saint Stage, with each tier divided into three stars, which are equivalent to the junior, intermediate, and senior ranks of humans."
"Both the Golden Python and I are Tier 1, Star 1 Demon Beasts. It is at Star 1 Late Stage, while I have only just advanced to Star 1 and have yet to stabilize, so my strength is severely damaged. It is safe to say that even two of me would not be a match for that Golden Python. Not to mention it also has a killer move—it can spit toxic mist, and anyone who is struck by it will have the poison attack their heart and die if it is not detoxified in time."
Hearing this, Jiang Feng knitted his brows tightly. "What other characteristics does it have?"
"The Golden Python's defense is extremely strong. Its scales are as hard as refined iron, and even my sharp claws cannot pierce them. However, as far as I know, it is waiting for a certain spirit fruit to ripen. If that spirit fruit is swallowed by it, it can smoothly advance to Tier 1, Star 2, and by then we will never have another chance to kill it."
Jiang Feng glanced sideways at the Big Cyan Wolf. "You really want to kill this Golden Python?"