Knowing that my friends wouldn't be able to dodge in time, I transported myself to the front using Shadow Steps. Emerging from the shadows, I then swung Abyssal Edge and unleashed Shadow Sword Strike to counter the flames.
Black and red qi collided against each other before detonating violently. I stumbled back, buffeted by shockwaves and searing heat, cursing as the embers burned my flesh. Immediately Lan Bei Er rushed toward me, using her healing techniques to nullify the wounds I had sustained.
"Thanks," I told her, heaving. Righting myself, I watched the Hell Wolf King with narrowed eyes. It let out another howl, hellfire igniting in its jaws as it prepared for another attack.
"This is going to be troublesome," Hong Yao Yao remarked. "A Hell Wolf King is almost on the same level as a Ruby Rhino. It's not as sturdy and durable, but it's faster and more ferocious. In some ways, it's deadlier. A Ruby Rhino is gentler and less aggressive, it won't attack you unless you provoke it, but a Hell Wolf King is always hostile toward humans."
"So what?" Chi Yan snapped, his hands bursting with flames. "It'll still die to the same old things. Just keep attacking it!"
"Easier said than done," I muttered under my breath. Then I thought for a moment. "This world isn't the type where you can obtain beast cores from spirit beasts and consume them to improve your cultivation, right?"
Everyone stared at me as if I had gone mad.
"What the hell is a beast core?" Chi Yan demanded.
"Uh, well…aren't cores usually contained in high-level spirit beasts with incredibly high cultivation realms? Their cores are the stuff that usually contain their qi and essence or life force. Usually cultivators consume these cores to boost cultivation?"
"I don't believe I have ever heard of such a thing before," He Shan Jie admitted. "Or do you mean to say the Hell Wolf King is a Core Formation Realm spirit beast? I believe it's at least Innate Realm."
"Ha ha! You've been reading too many cultivation novels!" Hong Yao Yao was the only one who appeared to have any clue to what I was referring to. "Where got so easy get core one? If consuming spirit beast cores help you progress with your cultivation, don't you think every cultivator will be out here hunting spirit beasts for their cores? Why bother with training then? It's easier to gather together, hunt a few spirit beasts, and eat their cores to level up. But of course reality isn't so easy! You want to grow stronger, you have to do it the hard way! Train and practical combat experience! Not by relying on cores or spirit pills or elixirs!"
"Huh? So you're talking about something from a story?" Lan Bei Er asked, confused. I sighed and slashed another gout of hellfire apart with Abyssal Edge.
"Sorry for confusing reality with fiction. Never mind, let's just focus on slaying this spirit beast for now."
The Hell Wolf King didn't seem to care about our conversation and was leaping from place to place, attempting to bite us. I was the closest target, so it pounced on me first. Good. I wanted to be the one to engage it.
Standing my ground, I swung my sword and rammed it against its jaws, the blade colliding against its fangs. Shadows collided against hellfire and exploded, forcing the both of us to spring apart. Growling, the Hell Wolf King slashed at me, but I parried its claws with Abyssal Edge before countering with a riposte. The spirit beast pulled back, deflecting my counterattack with its claws, and then it tried to pulverize me with both paws.
Twisting aside, I spun around and then struck with my sword. Black qi flared out of the blade, the Shadow Sword Strike unleashed at pointblank range. The Hell Wolf King batted the blast away, but its crimson fur was still singed. Snarling, it retaliated with a stream of hellfire from its jaws, almost engulfing me in burning death.
Fortunately, I was able to sink into the shadows and emerge elsewhere. The Hell Wolf King didn't expect me to pop up from the flanks and stab it in the side, but it kicked me viciously. I was barely able to block its claw-tipped paw with my elbows, but blood splashed across the ground, my skin torn apart by the fiery claws.
Damn, but that hurt!
"Husband!"
Lan Bei Er hurried over to heal my arms, but I shook my head.
"Stay back!"
"But…!"
Whatever protest she had died in her throat when the Hell Wolf King sprang forward. Not allowing it to pounce on my wife, I tackled it with whatever strength I had, doing my best to drive my sword into its belly. The Hell Wolf King howled and swatted me aside, causing me to spin across the ground. I managed to halt my momentum by stabbing the floor, but blood dripped down from my wounds.
"Go heal your man! I'll take care of it!"
"Understood!"
At Chi Yan's command, Lan Bei Er rushed toward me. The Hell Wolf King growled and turned toward her, but Chi Yan landed in front of it, his hands erupting with flames. He grinned and then unleashed a lotus flame into its face, causing the whole place to explode.
The Hell Wolf King howled and burst out of the inferno, its fur scorched. It slashed at Chi Yan, and he finally deigned to draw his gigantic black broadsword that was almost as big as him.
"I'm going to battle through the heavens!" Chi Yan Shouted, flames wreathing his massive black sword. He slashed at the Hell Wolf King, blasting it back with another lotus-shaped fire. It bellowed, writhing as its fur caught fire, but it absorbed it into its hellish aura to intensify its flames. Pawing at the ground, it retaliated with another stream of hellfire, which Chi Yan cleaved apart with his huge sword.
"Are you planning on changing your family name from Chi to Xiao?" I asked dryly.
"And ruin the whole color scheme that we have going on?" Chi Yan responded with a chuckle. He had a point. All of us had family names that took after colors.
"You still are in the mood to make jokes?" Lan Bei Er reprimanded me, even as she healed my injuries. One of the lesser hell wolves pounced on her, but I stabbed it with a shadow sword that I conjured with the mini version of Shadow Sword Storm. Since I only needed one, I didn't summon an entire hail of them.
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize!" Hong Yao Yao snapped. "Just take out the Hell Wolf King already! As long as we can eliminate it, the rest of the hell wolves wouldn't be a threat!"
"I'll try to hold it down." He Shan Jie said, moving his earth golem forward. He had put his gigantic puppet to the task of keeping the hell wolves at bay, but with it now engaging the Hell Wolf King, the pack of hell wolves began to break through and fling themselves at us.
"Then I'll take care of the hell wolves," I said, raising a hand and summoning the Shadow Sword Storm. With Abyssal Edge in my right hand, and trails of black qi extending from the fingers of my left hand, I launched a simultaneous attack to decimate the second wave of hell wolves, forcing them to withdraw or disperse.
While they were struggling to evade the barrage of shadow swords, the hell wolves didn't notice the swarm of pink butterflies creeping up under or behind them until it was too late. Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped, their tongues lolling out, when they spotted the horde of pink butterflies fluttering around them.
Before they could move, the pink butterflies exploded, consuming the pack of howling hell wolves in a pink conflagration.
"That should take care of them." Hong Yao Yao turned toward me. "Mr. Hei, you should help the other two gentlemen with the Hell Wolf King. Whatever's left of the little hell wolves, leave them to me. Bei Er, support me – heal me when necessary."
"Understood!"
"All right." I nodded and turned back to the Hell Wolf King. The earth golem was currently grappling with it, the titan's formerly brown skin now charred black. The Hell Wolf King snapped and bit at it, but its fire fangs didn't manage to penetrate the tough surface of rock.
While they wrestled, Chi Yan lunged forward and slashed the Hell Wolf King in its back, drawing a huge spurt of blood. The Hell Wolf King bellowed in agony and responded with a liquid torrent of hellfire, trying to hit the escaping Chi Yan, but the earth golem grabbed hold of its neck and shoved it to the side, directing the hellfire downward.
The Hell Wolf King continued to paw away at the golem, occasionally raking gouges across its bulky body. The golem didn't feel any pain and continued to wrestle the high-ranking spirit beast to the ground, incapacitating it.
"Just die already!" Chi Yan yelled, gathering his lotus flames and swinging his huge sword. Triple lotus flames engulfed both the golem and Hell Wolf King before detonating.
"Hey!" He Shan Jie shouted, annoyed. "Watch it! You're attacking my golem too!"
"Does it really matter?" Chi Yan replied indifferently. "It can't feel any pain, and you can just repair it if it's broken."
"Do you think it's so easy to repair a golem like that?! It's not indestructible, and it costs a lot of spirit stones! Maintaining a golem isn't cheap, you know?!"
"Junior He, don't worry. I'll definitely take responsibility. If your golem is damaged by my attacks, I'll pay for the repairs myself. I'll make sure you won't suffer a loss. But if we don't eliminate the damned Hell Wolf King, then we'll all die here."
"Can't you kill it without destroying my golem? You do realize that the Hell Wolf King isn't the only enemy we'll be facing in this ruin? I'm pretty sure there's at least one other terrifying foe we'll be running into before you can get your Nine Yang Divine Energy."
That caught my attention, but before I could ask about it, the Hell Wolf King burst out of the lotus-shaped inferno, howling in rage. Most of its fur was burned away, and the raw muscle underneath was scorched.
Fortunately, the golem wasn't destroyed either. Its hide singed black, it lumbered out to seize the Hell Wolf King around the midriff, trying to pin it down.
"It's still alive!?" Chi Yan cursed.
I was already moving forward before anyone could react, driving my sword through the throat of the stunned Hell Wolf King. Partially because He Shan Jie's golem was already pinning t to the ground and immobilizing it, the poor thing wasn't able to evade. Abyssal Edge pierced through its throat, slitting the jugular vein and carotid artery to spill tons of blood.
Not done with that, I yanked my sword to the side and beheaded the Hell Wolf King. Its head flew out in an arc, leaving a trail of blood behind, before it finally hit the ground with a soft thump.
The surviving hell wolves shrank back fearfully, their courage gone now that their leader had been slain. Hong Yao Yao giggled darkly, calling forth more of her pink butterflies.
"You guys aren't going anywhere."
Explosions lit up the interior of the tomb, wiping out the retreating hell wolves. Disgruntled that he wasn't the one who delivered the finishing blow, Chi Yan vented his anger on the fleeing hell wolves, hunting down every single one of them before they could escape into the shadows. Meanwhile He Shan Jie sat back for now to assess the damage on his golem.
"Are you all right?" I asked, staggering toward him. Lan Bei Er quickly grabbed hold of me and supported me. I smiled and waved away her concerns. "Don't worry, I just expended a bit too much qi. I'll be fine after some rest."
"That's good." She sighed in relief.
"My golem's still mostly intact. Despite Senior Chi Yan's best attempts to destroy it along with the Hell Wolf King, I can easily patch it up with a few minor repairs." He Shan Jie sounded relieved as he infused his brown qi into his earth golem. Already the damage were being molded and reshaped, and the soot was flaking away to reveal the golden brown surface that the golem originally harbored. The bald Elemental Mountain Sect disciple nodded in satisfaction. "Give me some time and I'll be able to restore it fully."
"You have all the time you need," I assured him. Beside me, Hong Yao Yao slumped down, her eyes closed and her breathing heavy. She nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we all could use some rest. Wake me up when you're done."
"Phew…" I exhaled wearily, and then reached for a bottle of water inside my spatial pouch and hydrated myself. After a few gulps, I handed it over to Lan Bei Er, who also drank a few sips. Given the dry heat inside the fiery ruin, we had to make sure we didn't fall to heat exhaustion. I then offered to He Shan Jie, but he shook his head and produced his own bottle.
"Thanks. I appreciate the offer, but you should make sure you have enough for yourself. I have my own."
"Excellent." I took a deep breath and leaned against a wall, Lan Bei Er sitting beside me. I nodded toward He Shan Jie tiredly. "Let me know when you're done."
"Will do."
Closing my eyes, I began the Heaven and Earth breathing methods that would allow me to restore my qi as quickly as possible.