Chen Zhiyu and Wu Haoran ran forward to throw a punch using the first stance while Tian Qingfeng pulled out his saber from his armor's left thigh and slashed forward.
As Tian Qingfeng's saber hacked down at the mutant wolf, it stepped to the side, dodging the strike.
Immediately after, Lu Tai swung his sword, forcing the mutant wolf to take another step back. In that time, Wu Haoran and Chen Zhiyu managed to successfully execute the second fist stance and landed the two punches they needed to generate inner qi with the 8 Tigers Fist Art.
Returned to the resting tiger stance, they both dashed backwards towards their weapons. Grabbing their polearms, they pulled them out of the ground before rushing back towards the mutant wolf. When they returned, the four of them spread out to encircle the mutant wolf.
Seeing that it was surrounded, the mutant wolf entered a defensive posture, crouching low to the ground.
For a moment, the mutant wolf and the group of four were at a standoff. As the four of them and the mutant wolf glared at each other, Chen Zhiyu eventually stabbed forward with his spear.
As the spear stabbed towards the mutant wolf's head, Lu Tai, Tian Qingfeng, and Wu Haoran also struck. Lu Tai stabbed forward with his sword while Tian Qingfeng and Wu Haoran each hacked at the mutant wolf with their saber and halberds, respectively.
The mutant wolf dodged the spear strike and then swiped his claws at Tian Qingfeng. Seeing the claws coming at him, Tian Qingfeng abandoned hacking at the mutant wolf and turned his saber to parry the claws.
While Tian Qingfeng was parrying the claws, Lu Tai and Wu Haoran's strikes landed on the wolf's body. Lu Tai managed to stab his sword into the belly while Wu Haoran chopped down with his halberd, gouging a thick gash into the wolf's body, causing hot, red blood to drip out.
Tian Qingfeng, after getting hit by the claws, flew backwards and slammed into the ground. Luckily, the armor absorbed the impact force, lessening the injuries that Tian Qingfeng suffered.
Immediately after, the mutant wolf ran at Tian Qingfeng and tried to bite him.
Seeing the wolf's gaping maw rapidly bearing down on him, Tian Qingfeng quickly rolled to the side and barely avoided the chomp of the wolf's jaws.
The wolf's mouth closed with a sharp snap as it snapped shut where Tian Qingfeng once was. Seeing that, Tian Qingfeng swiped his saber at the wolf's face. Before the Wolf could retreat, the saber swiped across his face, cutting through the eye.
Immediately after, the other three bore down on the wolf with their weapons. Chen Zhiyu's spear stabbed into the body as Lu Tai and Wu Haoran slashed at the wolf's torso, causing more blood to seep out.
As the other three struck at the mutant wolf, Tian Qingfeng managed to get back on his feet. The mutant wolf, feeling the pain, lunged at Wu Haoran. At that moment, a spearhead stabbed towards the wolf's head from the side where it was missing an eye, stabbing into the cheek. This caused the wolf to stagger as the immense force to the face knocked it to the ground.
Seeing this, the other three ran forward and struck with their weapons at the wolf's head. A short moment later, the four of them, panting, stood around the corpse of the mutant wolf.
"Hah, hah, why was this wolf so much harder than the boar from before?" Chen Zhiyu said as he gasped for air. "That boar was even at the 6th realm, while this wolf was only at the peak of the 5th realm."
"Even though the boar was in the 6th realm, it only charged at us. That allowed us to train the boar to run in circles before eventually running towards Wu Haoran." Lu Tai said, "Meanwhile, this mutant wolf was a lot more agile than the boar. It's also more aggressive and has more varied methods of attack. With all those factors combined, it's no surprise that this battle was that much harder."
"Alright, smartass." Chen Zhiyu muttered under his breath
"What'd you say?!" Lu Tai questioned Chen Zhiyu, "Say that again, I dare you!"
"I didn't say anything." Chen Zhiyu denied vehemently
As they were bickering, Tian Qingfeng pulled up the leaderboard while Wu Haoran called in the retrieval drone.
⌜￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
1) [Team Spirit Flower]: 72 points
2) [Team Crimson God]: 54 points
3) [Team Cloud Hunters]: 39 points
4) [Team Swift Winds]: 24 points
…
________________________⌟
"Dang," Wu Haoran, having finished calling the retrieval drone, whistled as he saw the leaderboard. "72 points. They gained 18 points in the short span of time?"
"If they keep this up, I don't think Hong Wuhao's team will be able to catch up." Tian Qingfeng said
"But to encounter two 6th realm mutant beasts in that short of a time, there had to be some amount of luck involved." Wu Haoran stated
"True," Tian Qingfeng agreed
"What are you two planning over here?"
Tian Qingfeng looked over at the voice and saw Chen Zhiyu.
Chen Zhiyu and Lu Tai, after finishing their squabble, had come over to them.
Tian Qingfeng showed them the leaderboard he had pulled up on his bracelet.
"Oh wow, first place is like 30 points ahead of us." Chen Zhiyu said
"To be exact, they are 33 points ahead. Or three 6th realm beasts and one fifth realm beast ahead of us." Lu Tai added
"Alright, alright." Chen Zhiyu said, " Let's hunt one more beast and then return to camp. We're losing daylight."
After the drone picked up the mutant beast corpse, they continued searching for another 5th realm or 6th realm beast.
By the time they began to return to camp, they had hunted one 6th realm beast and two 5th realm beasts. That puts their point total at 60. As they headed back to camp, Tian Qingfeng pulled up the leaderboard to peruse it once more.
At the top of the list was still Team Spirit Flower. They were now at 90 points. Next up was Team Crimson God with 78 points. And finally, there was Team Cloud Hunters in third place.