Other people might not be able to find the wolf pack's leader, but for Yang Tian, it was very easy.
He had Drago.
Yang Tian dashed down the hill with his saber.
"Drago, now's your time!" he said in between kills below the hill.
"Squeak squeak squeak…"
The little dragon heard Yang Tian's voice and rushed out of his backpack, squeaking to tell Yang Tian that he would accomplish the mission!
In a flash, Drago dashed ahead.
Yang Tian followed right behind him.
At that moment, Yang Tian realized something incredible—he could actually sense Drago's physical position.
He then recalled the blood bond that Drago made with him.
'Kill!'
Just as Yang Tian cut down two Black-backed Wolves, there were ten more charging at him head-to-head, flashing their fangs while running.
Yang Tian looked at them through his night-vision goggles and sneered. With a jerk at the wrist, his Tang dao drew a cross, and two of the oncoming wolves flew to either side.
The battle went on for a long time, and even Xiao Fei, the strongest among them all, was feeling a little tired.
Yang Tian, however, felt more and more energetic as he fought as if he has unlimited energy all over his body.
That was because of the Dragon Pearl in his body.
The Dragon Pearl was like a battery that provides energy, and it kept feeding Yang Tian with power.
As wolf packs were obstructing him, Yang Tian's progress was slow. He could not push past 200 meters in ten minutes.
Owooooo!
Suddenly, there was a howl in the woods ahead.
Yang Tian could tell that the tone of the howl was one of pain.
As the howl started, Yang Tian realized that the pack that was attacking him became less orderly, their assaults were not as fierce as before.
Drago found the leader!
Yang Tian chuckled. As the wolf pack's formation turned into chaos, he quickly ran toward Drago's direction.
Thud thud thud…
Yang Tian's Tang dao turned into flashes of white light. Wolves obstructing his way were all slashed by the blade—some even chopped into two halves.
He felt as if his blood was boiling.
Woosh!
Right at that instance, a Grade One Silver-toothed Wolf pounced at him.
Silver-toothed Wolf was much larger than a regular Black-backed Wolf.
However, Grade One Monster was nothing to Yang Tian at that point. He lifted his sword upward and cut the beast open in the belly, causing innards and organs to burst outward.
Thud!
Kicking the half-dead Silver-toothed Wolf into the air, Yang Tian continued his run forward.
Seeing that the wolf that he just killed looked like a guard, Yang Tian knew he was very close to the pack leader.
Just as he expected, another two Silver-fanged Wolves appeared in front of him right after the kill.
One of them charged right at Yang Tian while the other one was assisting from the side, aiming for his neck.
Yang Tian raised his foot and kicked one of them in the lower jaw, sending it flying outward. He could feel the kick shattering its skull.
Facing the other wolf still mid-air, Yang Tian made an uppercut with his left fist, hitting it in the neck and sending it flying as well.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Tian dispatched two Grade One Silver-fanged Wolves.
Woo… woo… woo…
Right then, a cry in pain came from less than a hundred meters ahead.
As soon as the cry was heard, a big number of Black-backed Wolves turned around right away and ran.
When Yang Tian dashed to the scene, he saw a three-meter long wolf rolling on the ground, pulling and scratching its head with its paws.
Drago was riding and scratching the giant wolf's hind neck perpetually with lots of blood splattering.
Even without Yang Tian's help, Drago had broken the wolf's neck.
After killing the beast, Drago jumped over onto Yang Tian's shoulder and went right into his backpack.
Not wanting his teammates to find out about his secret companion, he chopped off the giant wolf's head with his saber and made a few more cuts on its neck.
Two minutes later, Xiao Fei and the rest of the team rushed over.
"What a gigantic wolf!" exclaimed Zhao Fei when he saw the three-meter long beast.
However, Xiao Fei shook his head and said, "Too bad! Given a little more time, this animal would evolve into a Grade Four Green-fanged Wolf, it's now still a Grade Three Cyan-fanged Wolf."
As soon as he finished, Xiao Fei chopped open the giant wolf's skull and found a red-colored Beast Core.
Behind the night vision goggles, the Grade Three Beast Core was red as blood.
"Good job, Yang Tian! If it wasn't for you finding and killing this pack leader, we'd all probably have been 'deposited' to this place." Xiao Fei patted on Yang Tian's shoulder with a smile after he kept the Beast Core.
"It was just my luck," said Yang Tian with a smile.
The sun was rising soon, and the wolves dispersed. The Warriors each found a place to sit down and waited quietly.
At 6am, a lick of brightness filled the sky. The team started to get busy and searched the Silver-fanged Wolves' corpses.
Yang Tian remembered that he killed three of them. When he found those corpses, he broke open their skulls—only one Beast Core was found.
There were not only Black-backed Wolves in the pack; there were also a few Silver-fanged Wolves. Xiao Fei found another Grade One Beast Core.
All three Beast Cores were kept by Xiao Fei. They would discuss distribution when they returned to the city.
At 8am, they had breakfast and went to clean up in the nearby stream, washing away the bloodstains and putting on fresh clothes. The wet laundries were hung where sunlight could reach it. It would not take more than an hour to dry under the August sun.
Leather armor was not suitable for forest battle as it decreased flexibility. Hence, Xiao Fei did not equip his team with it.
"Good thing it ain't raining. It would be worse walking in the forest otherwise," said Zhao Wu while Yang Tian was hanging his clothes next to him.
As they were waiting for the clothes to dry, the eight of them took turns to rest. At around 11am, they kept their clothes and continued their journey.
The way forward was dull. Moreover, it was very dangerous. Situations like their run-in with the wolf pack could happen any time if they were not careful. One should realize that wolf packs were not the only creatures living in the forest.
After crossing the stream, Xiao Fei led the group forward. At around 3pm, the weather changed all of a sudden. The strong wind was howling, and the temperature dropped a fair amount.
"Ah, I jinxed it!" said Zhao Wu, looking at the thick clouds with a wry smile.
It was not comfortable in the forest when it rained. Fire could not be made, and they could be drenched in the rain if luck was not on their side. Even though Warriors almost always did not get sick, it still was uncomfortable to be in rain-soaked clothes.
Taking advantage of the time before it rained, everybody got busy.
Xiao Fei found higher ground, opened up a piece of tarp from his backpack and tied each corner to a different tree. He then cut off a tree branch to support the tarp from the middle. That way, the rainwater would not gather toward the middle.
While he was doing that, Yang Tian and the rest of the team were looking for dried branches around them to make fire.
Li Xuan gathered back the arrows he shot and went hunting with Liu Jian a few kilometers away. They found a few mutated pheasants and a wild cat, marinated their meat with some seasonings to get rid of their odor, and brought them back to the camp.
Soon after, rain started pouring.
The tarp was ten meters wide—just enough for the eight of them to sit underneath and not feel cramped. It was three meters above ground so the fire they made would not burn it.
Very soon, Yang Tian and company made a bonfire. They drove metal sticks through the meat that Li Xuan and Liu Jian brought back, and started eating after they were grilled at the fire.
The rain got heavier and heavier, and the sky became darker and darker. Yang Tian looked at the weather forecast on his Warriormate display and smiled wryly—the rain would last for three days.
Xiao Fei smiled and said, "We're actually not far from our destination. If we drove, it wouldn't take a day to arrive. However, crossing the woods like this would take at least a month. The obstacles on the way are the most time-consuming aspects."
Zhao Wu took a pack of cigarettes from his backpack and passed a stick to Yang Tian.
Yang Tian waved his hand and said, "I don't smoke. My girlfriend doesn't like the smell."
As soon as he said that, everybody started laughing.