Chapter 3: Power of blood

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The Green Lakeshore -  Afternoon

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On the lake shore, there are two people, a boy and a girl in early teens talking and giggling with each other while waiting for the fish to take their bait. They are Zhu Wushang and Xiao Lan; the bucket at the boy side is full of fish until there’s no space to put any more fish.

<Splash>

A boy quickly set the hook and swung it up in one strike. At the end of the cord; a big delicious looking jade fish has been hooked up from the water and falls to the half empty bucket at Xiao Lan side as she is cheering loudly for the boy.

“Here the spirits jade fish. Now you won’t lose face, and you won’t get teased by godmother when we return.” Zhu Wushang said with a carefree smile.

“Thanks, Wushang” Xiao Lan hugs Zhu Wushang before carrying her bucket that’s full of fish and waits for Zhu Wushang who is cleaning up the site where they are fishing.

“I’ll make spirit jade fish for supper, stay and eat with us Xiao Lan,” He tells Xiao Lan after finishing with the cleanup and keeps all of their fishing gear in the bamboo basket on his back.

“Um! Definitely!” Xiao Lan accepts without thinking, Who’s going to miss the food from the chef that has a skill equal to the most celebrated spirit chef in the capital.

This is the regular interaction between them for more than 6 years since the first time they met. Zhu Wushang thought that this light heart and carefree life would continue on a bit longer, but the reality proved to be otherwise.

Both of them walked hand in hand together until reaching the small passageway between the forest and the lake, but Zhu Wushang frowned and stopped in his tracks.

“Hm? What’s the matter Wushang?” Xiao Lan asked.

He didn’t answer but picked up the small stone at his feet and threw it at the air in front of him.

<Crackle!!>

The invisible spirit qi wall obstructs the throwing stone path, and he frowned even deeper, he slid his hand in the pocket inside his chest and brought out the poisoned dagger. He looks at the forest and brings Xiao Lan to move away from its border.

“Xiao Lan be alert, stay behind me.” 

He whispers to Xiao Lan and looks at the black substance at the edge of his dagger. It’s the potent poison that he concocts without the spirit qi by the pure alchemy skill of his. He is confident that his poison can kill even the Spirits Commander realm expert If... he manages to wound that expert with his dagger.

Fortunately, his dagger is a King Grade dagger that his father gave him to protect himself, that means he can cause a wound to Spirits King expert even if that wound is just a scratch, but it’s enough for his poison to do their job.

He might not have spirit roots, but his perfect inner qi cultivation makes his battle power to be no less than the peak of the Spirit Warrior realm.

<tap> <tap>

He heard the sound of many light footsteps from the forest border and many grey wolves appeared from the forest followed by the Spirits dire wolf. It seems like the Spirits dire wolf is the leader of this pack.

He looks at all of the wolves that try to surround them; thinking about the area restriction formation that he discovers a moment ago, surely this is the human-made disaster. Fortunately, he already secures their back by turning their back to the lake. And if no one interferes with the lake, there should be no dangerous creature within.

<Arooooo!!>

The Spirits dire wolf howl in command and three of the grey wolf paunch at them. Zhu Wushang quickly intercepts these three wolves. He quickly slashes at the first one before he kicks at the second one and stabs at the third. Within five breaths two of three wolves stop breathing and the one that survives has a minor injury at its neck.

He sheaths his dagger and unsheaths it again to re-coated the poison that was already used on the two wolves. He never thought that the safety protocol that he always prepared all the time will be of use today.

In this situation, he really wants to escape and bring Xiao Lan along with the life-saving treasure like those experts in the story that his father usually told him. But unfortunately, those kinds of treasure need spiritual qi to activate, and he didn’t have that.

Unknown to him that if he had one and has spirit qi to use it right now, he can’t use it because Xiao Lan has been sending the SOS to everyone in Zhu Manor at the start when Zhu Wushang discovers the area restriction formation with her communication seal. But, She can’t contact them at all. And all of the teleport and life-saving treasure in her body also didn’t render useless by this formation. It’s like her connection to these treasures has been interfered by stronger spiritual qi.

The Spirits Dire wolf sees this, and its intelligent eye looks at Zhu Wushang dagger before releasing its spirits qi aura.

[Peak of Spirits commander realm spirits beast!!]

The alarm inside Zhu Wushang heart rang, the pressure of this Spirits Commander realm spirit beast pressures him to kneel to the ground and all of the wolf pounce at him.

But at this moment, the spirits pressure from the Spirit dire wolves significantly lowered and the figure of Xiao Lan shot passed him and intercepted all of the wolves that targeted him.

[Spirit commander primary stage!?]

"Don't you dare touch him!!"

Unlike her normal childish behavior, Xiao Lan fiercely attacks the wolf in front of her and uses her element spirits qi without reserve. The fireball flies and the lighting spark everywhere. Some wolves got burned alive, some had been shocked charred black.

Xiao Lan fights with the pack of the wolf while he's protecting himself from a stray wolf that chooses to attack the easier target and kill the wolf that tried to sneak attack on Xiao Lan. The pack of wolves has been thin until there are only ten wolves left including their pack leader the Spirit dire wolf.

Both of them fight for a long while, but Xiao Lan that uses her spirit qi without reserve didn't have any sign that her spirits qi is any lower than before while he's exhausted and panting heavily.

It's dark but the wolves still do not go anywhere or show any sign of fear or retreat like it has been trained to kill. Zhu Wushang looked at his surroundings and found out that the formation of the wolf looked suspicious. He's looking at the position of the group of 4 wolves that stay back in an area that is always a blind spot for Xiao Lan.

At this moment the dire wolf attacks Xiao Lan with all of the wolves except four of them. Zhu Wushang immediately looked at the position of the four wolves that were stationed at the back, but he found the empty spot instead. He was looking harder and saw the white fang of those four wolves appear from the dark.

These four wolves' fur turn from grey to black to camouflage themselves in the dark of the night and use it to attack Xiao Lan unnoticed.

[Damn it!! Shadow wolf!!]

The shadow wolf is the wolf that specializes in hunting in the night, and its camouflage ability is well known to many people.

Zhu Wushang rushed to intercept those four wolves, He slashed at the first one with his poisoned dagger and threw the blade to the one that was out of his reach but nearest to Xiao Lan.

At this moment Xiao Lan fights with all of the wolves in front, especially the Spirit dire wolf that has higher cultivation than her. She can't protect herself from two shadow wolves at all.

[Damn it!! I can't make it!!]

He pushes Xiao Lan out of the way and takes the consequence himself.

<Chomp!!> <Chomp!!> <Chomp!!>

Both of his arms get chomped down by two shadow wolves that try to sneak attack on Xiao Lan while the spirit dire wolf bite at his torso. His blood gushes out from all of the wounds and enters the mouth of these three wolves including the spirits dire wolf.

"Wushang---------!!!" She shouts with a heartbroken tone and tries to use all of her strength to strike at all of the wolves in anger.

But before she can reach her target, Those three wolves howl and attack each other like it has gone insane, flesh and blood of those three wolves flying around while the remaining wolf that wasn't affected by insanity just trembles in fear and runs into the forest without looking back.

The victory goes to the injured spirit dire wolf that has higher cultivation than both of the shadow wolves. It's howling in insanity before it's eyes turn blank and collapse on the ground without moving again.

"It's… It's dead?" 

Xiao Lan pulls Zhu Wushang King grade dagger out of the corpse of a shadow wolf and walks cautiously to the body of the Spirits dire wolf before stab at its head two times to make sure that it's dead.

"Wushang!! Wushang!!!" She quickly goes to the side of Zhu Wushang and checks his pulse.

"Phew." 

She is sighing in relief after knowing he is still alive then she brings the storage ring from her chest inner pockets inside her robe. She activates it and produces the jade bottle full of Blood clot pills that usually uses to stop the bleeding.

"Shang'er!! Xiao Lan!!!" Zhu Songtian shouting voice aloud from a distance. In a moment he flew through the air and flew down to the side of Zhu Wushang and Xiao Lan.

What he saw was Zhu Wushang in an unconscious state with blood stains around his body and many of the wolf's corpses lying around the area including the spirit dire wolf. He grits his teeth in frustration then kneels to Xiao Lan.

"Eastern general Zhu Songtian greeted her highness. I deserved death a thousand times for letting a group of assassins to…"

Before Zhu Songtian continued further, Xiao Lan waving her hand interrupted.

"Stop with the pleasantries, General Zhu. We should bring Wushang back to your manor and heal him.

"Yes! Your Highness"

Zhu Songtian agrees, then quickly brings Xiao Lan to grab on his arm and pick up Zhu Wushang and fly through the night sky.