Outside, Wu Ling called Yue back into his inner world and summoned Hou to join the fight against the Wolf King. By the time he joined the battle, blood already flowed from half a dozen deep gouges on Xiong Dahuo's forearms and thighs but the young man fought like a red-haired demon, constantly lashing out with his nine-ringed saber and forcing the Wolf King to block or evade his powerful blows.
The Wolf King itself bled from almost as many cuts as Xiong Dahuo did, and when it surveyed the battlefield, one eye seemed clouded, as though it was looking somewhere other than the battlefield. The half-distracted look not only gave Xiong Dahuo precious opportunities to strike from its blindspots, it signaled to Wu Ling that the wolf was likely controlling the phantoms that had attacked his companions. If that was the case, he was even more certain that defeating it would free his companions.
"Brother Xiong, I'm here," Wu Ling said, skidding to a stop in the mud ten meters away from the fight. It felt far too close but if he was any further away he wasn't confident that he could affect the wolf without also affecting Xiong Dahuo.
If the red-haired Brawler heard Wu Ling, he gave no sign of it as he continued to struggle with the massive Blood Moon Mist Wolf, both of them moving rapidly across the ground made slick with spilled blood.
Thumbing through his talismans, Wu Ling quickly found another of the ones he'd prepared after fighting his duel with Xiong Dahou. Launching the talisman, the paper melted like candle wax before splattering against the wolf in a dark blob. The blob didn't stick to the wolf for long, however. Rather, it continued to melt away, flowing down the beast's side like hot wax and taking with it a portion of the beast's strength.
Instantly the tide of the battle began to shift as the beast faltered, its strikes becoming weaker and its lunges failing to reach even a corner of Xiong Dahuo's robes. Before Wu Ling's talisman arrived, the man and beast had struggled at near equilibrium, but now, the balance shifted as though the talisman were a stone dropped on one side of the scales.
Wu Ling wasn't finished, however. He'd seen more than once this night the devastating impact that restricting the wolf's movements could have and so once again, he launched a talisman to capture the wolf with a thick, muddy hand of Earth.
He had no illusions about capturing all four of the beast's limbs nor of holding it for very long, but as soon as the wolf faltered, Hou dropped all three of his burning miniature suns directly on the howling wolf's back! Fur burned away and flesh seared and bubbled at the heat of Hou's attack, drawing agonized howls of pain from the furious Wolf King.
Frantic to defeat this new threat, the Wolf King's hazy eye began to clear as it could no longer spare as much attention to manage its phantom wolves. It didn't abandon the phantoms entirely, each one had some strength on it's own, but without the reinforcement of their king, it was uncertain whether or not the young cultivators would be able to break free of their phantom jaws.
Xiong Dahuo took instant advantage of the opening created by Hou's attack, slamming his saber deeply into the shoulder of the wolf before leaping back out of range of its snapping jaws.
The Wolf King's eyes glowed wickedly as it turned its gaze from the red-haired Brawler to Wu Ling, realizing that the young Artist presented a much greater threat with his strange methods than the simple Brawler wielding a heavy saber. The Wolf King tore itself free from the muddy hand formed by Wu Ling's talisman and charged straight at the young Artist.
Wu Ling turned to sprint away from the rushing beast only to slip in the bloody mud and fall to his hands and knees, scattering his talismans around him as he fell. For a moment, as he struggled to regain his feet, all he could see was the Wolf King's snarling muzzle and gleaming fangs.
"You will not hurt my brother!" Su Xiang yelled, a silver beam of sword light flashing out from her blade and piercing deep into the Wolf King's bowels. Her face was drawn and pale from fighting off the wolf that invaded her inner world but the thought that her brother was in danger never left her mind for a moment as she struggled to break free of the visions the phantom wolf conjured.
"Brother Wu," Zhang Buyan said, arriving in front of Wu Ling and positioning himself between the Artist and the howling wolf. "Take my hand," he said, quickly helping Wu Ling to his feet before he turned to join the fray.
"Thank you, Brother Zhang," Wu Ling said, retrieving the least mud-covered talismans from the ground and quickly sorting through them, hoping to find a way to strike out against the pain maddened Wolf King among the talismans that could still be used.
With its hold over Su Xiang and Zhang Buyan broken, the Wolf King fell to an even greater disadvantage and instantly turned to flee. While it hungered to feast on the flesh of the young cultivators, it had achieved it's aim in this battle tonight. Much like it had recognized when it first fought Su Xiang, it was better to escape and live than to fight to the death against a foe that could inflict grevious wounds.
Wu Ling, however, threw out one of his 'Ice' talismans in imitation of one of Yue's signature moves, creating a slick, smooth patch of ice directly beneath the Wolf Kings feet. The slick ice wouldn't disrupt it for long, already the beast's powerful paws and sharp claws were cracking the ice to gain the traction to flee, but it created a moment in which someone else could act.
"Brother Zhang, hold it!" Wu Ling shouted.
The burly man needed no further instruction as he leaped toward the powerful wolf, wrapping his arms around its waist and pulling with all of his might. The Wolf King wouldn't be bound by Zhang Buyan's power of the tides, but the young man still had the strength and weight of Gold to draw upon, and he did so deeply, turning himself to the heaviest anchor he could imagine.
A moment later, Su Xiang's sword flashed in brilliant silver light, piercing between the wolf's ribs, all the way to its heart. In almost the same instant, Xiong Dahuo's saber came crashing down on the beast's skull, cleaving directly between its glowing eyes until it became wedged deep in its brain.
For a moment, a misty form of the Wolf King tried to separate itself from the beast's body only to be dispersed by another ball of flame dropped by Wu Ling's furious Guardian Golden Crow. The young Guardian Beast might not be smart enough to count, but it recognized how the phantom wolves had tried to harm its friends and it wasn't about to let this one turn into mist and escape!
"Brother Yu," Wu Ling called, turning away from the fallen wolf. "How are Sister Jin and Brother Fang?" His heart thudded in his chest like a drum but it couldn't rest until he heard an answer to his question.
"Better," the young alchemist answered after a moment. "Whatever was attacking their cultivation, it stopped. And Brother Fang will live," he said with a shaky smile. "He may even keep the leg."
A wave of relief washed over Wu Ling, nearly robbing him of the strength to stand but he forced himself to keep going. Soon, they would all rest, but first, there was still work to do.