Finally arriving at the edge of a ridgeline, Su Xiang beckoned to Hou to join her as she counted the wolves feasting on the carcass of a young buck. Hou still couldn't count, but he'd told Wu Ling there were more wolves than there were people in their own group. For the first time, Su Xiang got a look at what 'more' meant.
The massive figure of the Greater Blood Moon Mist Wolf was impossible to miss, even from more than a hundred meters away. In the time since she'd first encountered it, the beast had grown even larger than it had been on the night of the eclipse. Now, it stood even taller than her, nearly reaching the size of a small horse as it surveyed the pack of wolves under its command.
The pack itself seemed to have grown since the eclipse as well. Besides the Greater Wolf, five others had grown considerably in size and their already vibrant red fur had turned an even deeper shade of crimson. The other six wolves present, however, looked to be regular Red Mist Wolves. From the way each of them behaved, hesitantly approaching the carcass the other wolves feasted on, it was clear that they lacked the power to assert themselves within this larger pack.
"Hou," she whispered, reaching up to poke the golden bird's puffed-up chest. "We need to teach you how to count."
Twelve wasn't an impossible number to face. In fact, the group had already accepted that they would engage as long as they weren't outnumbered more than two to one by the wolves. Seeing that half of the wolves were only regular Red Mist Wolves emboldened Su Xiang even further as she readied herself for the opening move in Brother Ling's plan.
Moving quietly, Su Xiang untied a small wooden box from the sash at her waist and pulled out a small cone of incense. While they'd originally planned to use Wu Ling's wind talismans to spread the scent, Xiong Dahuo believed doing so would risk attracting unrelated beasts and overwhelming them with numbers. Instead, Su Xiao would have to lure the wolves into the trap personally.
"Alright Hou, just a little flame for me," she whispered. Soon, a thick, cloying scent began to fill the air around her as she returned the lit incense to her waist, allowing the dark yellow smoke to spill through holes in the small wooden box. "Now Hou, we can't scare them too badly, we can only anger them and keep them chasing us. If they don't take the bait, it will be much harder. You only attack them if they get too close to me okay?"
CAW!
"Good, I'm counting on you Little Hou," she said, giving his crest a final scratch before drawing her longsword and sprinting toward the feasting wolves. Brilliant silver energy gathered around Su Xiang like hundreds of motes of gleaming moonlight as she pushed her Radiant Flash Steps to the limit, racing down the ridge toward the feasting wolves below. Her sapphire eyes glowed brilliant blue and the world around her faded away until the only things that existed in her world were the path ahead and the wolves she'd come to bait.
AOOOOOO!
The wolves howled and scattered out of the way of the rushing swordswoman. Silvery light gathered along Su Xiang's nameless sword as she poured all of her energy into the first technique of the Heart Warding Sword Canon - Cleaving Light. As the space between her and the wolves shrank by more than a dozen meters with each breath she took, she condensed a brilliant aura of swordlight around her blade that extended its length by nearly three meters.
The Red Mist Wolves had completely scattered and the Blood Moon Mist Wolves howled in answer to their Wolf King's commands, sprinting at Su Yang at a pace almost as fast as her own.
Suddenly, Su Xiang leaped into the air, her blade spinning in a brilliant arc of silver sword light that cut deep into the chest and shoulders of two of the leading wolves, spilling blood across the damp earth of the forest floor and drawing howls of pain and anger from the two injured wolves.
"Now Hou, the big one!" she shouted, dropping to the ground in a forward roll and barely avoiding the snapping jaws of another wolf as she changed direction, sprinting back the way she'd come. She'd bloodied them and Hou's attack was certain to enrage them, now all she had to do was stay ahead of them long enough to lead them back to the group's waiting trap.
Fire blossomed behind her as Hou threw three separate balls of flame at the Greater Blood Moon Mist Wolf and the lesser Red Mist Wolves cowering around it. Heat surged through the cool night air, blazing hot enough to faintly pink Su Xiang's skin as though she'd stood too long under the scorching hot sun.
AOOOOOO!
The Wolf King howled as Hou's fireballs descended, energy swirling around the mighty beast and conjuring the faintest image of a rising blood moon that enveloped all of the wolves in a faint, shimmering orange aura moments before the fireballs exploded.
Glancing back over her shoulder as she sprinted away from the wolves, Su Xiang's eyes widened in shock as the flames receded, revealing not only that none of the wolves had suffered any injuries from Hou's attack - the two wolves she'd already injured were rapidly healing under the effects of their Wolf King's energy.
With a fearsome snarl, the Wolf King commanded his pack and all dozen wolves charged into the night after the fleeing swordswoman. The lesser members of its pack had already caught the woman's strange, smokey smell but for the Wolf King, even a dozen cones of incense wouldn't mask the scent of the woman who had slain two members of his pack the night he'd received the Blood Moon's Blessing.
With a feral grin, the Wolf King loped after its rushing pack members, savoring the feeling of the night air in its deep crimson fur and the anticipation of sinking its fangs into the flesh of the woman with the silver sword.