章節 156: Razor Wolf I - Innate Technique.

Unfortunately, his ambush had failed, and his arrow had barely left a shallow wound on the wolf, and there was no way Shu He would be able to escape the creature now that it was set on him, however Shu He didn't panic, that was the worst thing he could do right now.

Instead he dropped to the ground, ignoring the quacking duck that seemed happy to see him and stared the beast down, making sure to not back away or blink, he drew his bow once more with the arrow pointed at its forehead.

The wolf backed away slightly, its body shook as it lowered its head slightly, but it was reluctant to back down fully, the pain from the wound on the side of its head was like hot coals to a fire, constantly throbbing and aggravating it.

It dug its claws in to the dirt and a low, rumbling growl leaked from the gap in its jaws.

'Tch, it's hit its limit'.

He let the string go as the arrow shot through the air, at the same time the large wolf weaved its large body as it dashed forward, barely clipping the arrow as it passed by, Shu He grabbed the small duck and put it inside his robes as he jumped into a nearby tree.

"Stay put!" He told it, and it quickly nestled into the sides of his robe.

*BANG*

The tree he stepped on shook as the razor-sharp maw of the wolf locked around it, easily cutting in to its inch thick trunk and decimating it like paper, toppling it while Shu He leaped off it.

'Yeah, if I'm caught I'll be torn to shreds easily' He felt a drip of sweat fall from his brow as he watched the wolf spit out the wooden chunks before charging towards him again, he knocked three arrows and began moving from tree to tree leaving a line of destruction as the beast tore his footholds asunder.

Each time, arrows flew towards the wolf, they weren't fully powered shots like before but rather angled shots in an attempt to catch it off guard and deal smaller wounds, the problem was the beasts pelt was too thick, even the most well-placed arrow would only bury up to its head before it shook them out.

'My Enduring Edge might be able to cut through that pelt easily, but getting close to that thing would be a death sentence!' He cursed in his mind, the wolf had gotten lucky in its ascension, the metal element is one of the most durable elements.

'?!' He turned ahead, to the way he was travelling as he had picked up on two cultivators ahead of him, coincidentally it was the tattered and neat cultivator from before, they had found yet another stone and were talking to each-other peacefully.

Unbeknownst to them, they had become the target of the wolf! I had realised that the two were carrying more than one stone, and in its rage its path had switched from Shu He to them!

'Damnit, it's on a rampage now!' He thought as he picked up his speed, trying to reach the two before the wolf, he shot through the foliage and in to the opening that the two stood in, because he had his bow out with and arrow in his hand they took a cautious stance, preparing to fight.

"DROP THE STONES AND RUN!" He shouted, hoping they'd pick up on the danger they were in before he turned and let loose the powerful arrow that swerved through the trees, cutting another gash on the wolf's body as it evaded at the last second.

The two frowned as they watched the arrow fly off, then they looked around confused until they heard the thudding of large footsteps.

"What's that?" The tattered one asked but "Let's go!" The neat one shouted, before dragging the other one off.

"No- leave the stones!" Shu He tried to remind them, but they ignored him.

In the next moment-

*BANG*

The wolf burst through a set of trees, skidding on the mud as its head fixated on the tattered man, or rather his pocket.

Before, it would have shaken in fear, but now it charged forward without a moments hesitation, its eyes red with anger!

"A spirit beast?!" The tattered guy screeched as the neat one performed a hand sign before a fire ball went flying towards it, causing it to attempt to halt before it got engulfed in flames, the fire spitting out sparks that began to light the surroundings on fire.

"Did you get it?" The tattered guy asked, trying to peek through the red flames but the neat guy's eyes widened suddenly as he threw another fireball "Quick! Put up a wall!".

The tattered guy did as ordered, he slammed his hands to the ground as a thick wall of dirt rose up and hardened-

*BANG* *CRACK*

The sound of a large object hitting a solid wall echoed, the earthen wall had an indent and cracks covering it all of a sudden! On the other side, the wolf was stumbling back after running headfirst in to it, glaring at the wall that had suddenly appeared.

'They managed to stop it!' Shu He gasped with surprise, he hadn't seen many earth techniques so far, their defensive capabilities were impressive; But… it wasn't over!

Shu He was observing from the side while he prepared his next step, so he saw what the two that were preparing to run didn't, the wolf's tail shuddered like a cat's fur when it was startled, the fur changed shape and aligned itself-

Into the shape of a curved blade!

Shu He felt a chill from head to toe, he shouted out to the two.

"DUCK!"

Having learned their lesson, the two below reacted instinctively and dropped to the floor when they heard his voice and barely a second after they did-

*SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*

The earthen wall was split cleanly in two, as well as the trees surrounding it in a semi-circle, the mighty thud of falling trunks and earth shook the ground and kicked up dust, covering the area in a thin brown cloud.

"Th-that's…" Shu He struggled to catch his breath as he felt it all drain away a second ago.

'That's an innate technique! Only a Satiated rank beast should have one!'

"I was wrong… it's even more of a threat than I thought!" He hurried the Qi that he was channelling into his gauntlet, he was preparing more seeds as everything happened!

Under the cloud of dust, the two cultivators had taken off once more since they knew very well that their life was in danger, the problem was, they hadn't dropped the stones.

'What's the wolf doing…?' He focused his territory around the beast, it was sluggishly moving; He took the chance to fire off another arrow that ended up piercing the upper jaw of the beast, it was slower but not entirely immobile, so it had managed to shift itself slightly.

"Grrrrrrr" It growled as its head shifted back to Shu He, the arrow was lodged just under its eye, so it was causing it a lot of pain, yet it didn't move yet.

'It's Qi flow is disrupted… could it be? Is it not used to using its innate technique yet, so it is in a state of weakness after using it?'

Shu He felt slightly relieved, if it was like a true Satiated Rank beast it'd be able to use it until its Qi was depleted, it seems this wolf was overdeveloped in some areas while weak in others.

However, it was only a matter of time until it began moving once more, so Shu He hurried as fast as he could, this down time was perfect.

And like he thought, barely a minute later it stirred as the dust began to settle and crouched, ready to continue its chase, with Shu He as its target once more, it had realised who was the threat.

An arrow slowly formed from a twisted vine that entered Shu He's hands before he knocked it on his bow once more, it was different from his usual arrow with a twisted head with an odd groove where a purple line travelled along it along with barbs lining the sides of the head.

'I don't really want to use this but… it's my best bet' He suppressed the negative feelings welling in his heart and let the arrow loose, it curved through the air while spinning, its trajectory changing erratically, the wolf shifted to dodge it but it ended up piercing the side of its leg.

It then shot off, crushing the trees once more as Shu He jumped along.

'Good' Shu He thought as he created multiple of the same arrow, preparing to shoot them.

He had to make every shot count here.

These weren't normal arrows formed through <<Vernal Growth>>, they were composite arrows made with multiple plant species and made with a complex design, they take a while to make, need a lot of Qi, and the end result doesn't last anywhere near as long as normal ones, he isn't able to make them in advance because of this, at least not yet his control and detailing wasn't great enough.

That's why, each arrow here had to land!