Drops of Ji Yuan's life reddened the grass.
He couldn't avoid injury against eight foes all at once. He kept his knees bent and his lower body limber just to minimize injuries. Without that, his evasive maneuvers wouldn't have been swift enough and he might've had his intestines dangling out already.
The most severe injury—three claw marks across his abdomen—was still bleeding profusely. The four remaining wolves were like sharks sniffing blood. Their ferocity fully ignited, their bodies lower to the ground, they moved even faster than before.
Ji Yuan's movements were beginning to slow down from blood loss. He couldn't even spare a glance at the encampment.
He could very well die today and that realization filled him with a calm serenity he's never felt in his entire life. Fighting and dying in battle would lead him to heights most sublime. Never before seen heights.
A reward for all the repression he's done all his life is the ecstasy that comes at the end of his blood running through his body.
The sweat and blood in his eyes blurred his vision. The beasts in front of him were intelligent enough to take advantage of that brief lull in his movement and charged at him from all angles.
The stench of carrion from the wolf's maw invaded his nostrils, making him react with a backstep while sending an uppercut into its jaw. After avoiding its sharp teeth, a wolf at the side swung the natural weapons attached to its forelimb at his stomach to completely disembowel him this time.
He clenched his bloody fists and met the claw slicing through the air with a roaring punch. The sharp claws of the wolf was a hot knife through butter slicing through his fists, but his iron fists honed from years of training mercilessly shattered the paw of the wolf.
While that wolf wouldn't be able to move as quickly as before, he opened himself up to the two wolves behind him.
He recklessly threw a back kick and felt the satisfying impact with the accompanying melody of bones breaking.
He shifted his body to avoid the last wolf, but he couldn't fully dodge its teeth. It sunk its fangs into his thigh, barely avoiding the femoral artery due to his last-ditch evasion.
It hung from his leg and bit deeper.
Ji Yuan snarled and slammed his elbow onto the top of its head, but it still didn't let go!
He can't die just yet!
There wasn't a contradiction there.
He wanted to die in battle, but he also wanted to keep fighting. It wasn't purely out of a desire to live.
What he wanted was to exhaust every drop of his spirit and leave the world before his body hits the ground. Only when something like that is done can he say that he's given everything he had with no regrets.
Yes, to live a life without regrets.
This time, he'll do exactly that.
He was alone and the cunning beasts already lost four. They valued teamwork, but they didn't hesitate to step over the corpses of their own to take down the prey in front of them.
To them, he was prey and they were the hunters.
But to him, he was the hunter and they were the prey.
The searing pain over his body was like the harshness of boiling water, yet it was that same pain that was like ice to his brain. The warmth leaving his body and the coldness beginning to set in brought new clarity to his mind.
He needed to stay calm and focused...but how could he do that when this is the first time he's ever unleashed himself!
He can't take it anymore!
He ignored his injuries and raised his arm in front of his body. He stepped with his chewed leg into the maw of the wolf with the broken paw and shoved his arm into its open mouth. It instinctually bit down, giving Ji Yuan the opportunity to gouge out its left eye with his free hand.
His arm wasn't mangled too badly, but the teeth reached the bone. The wolf spasmed in pain on the ground. He stomped on its neck with his free leg and turned his attention to the wolf still biting on his thigh.
Including this annoying one, there was still another one looking at him warily.
"Tastes good?" he asked the biting wolf with a smile.
The look of malice on his face held a bloodthirstiness that was deeper than these savage wolves born in this forest.
A chill ran up the animal's spine. Its jaw loosened in that brief moment and it was all over for it.
While Ji Yuan was engaging with those wolves, there was an even more fierce battle taking place at the camp. These were cultivators who were born and bred in this continent. Their usage of profound energy drove the profound skills they were so proud of.
Beams of light and the flashes of elements lit up the area. Bursts of wind blew away the leather tents nailed with iron. The pack leader came up to a person's shoulder and its agility was superior to its smaller subordinates. The only one who could keep up with it was the woman with the saber and the thin man with a bow.
Their teamwork kept it from assisting its companions while the other three men were brutal tornadoes tearing through the army of wolves. Two swords were dripping blood and the axe still had pieces of an organ hanging off the blade.
With a flourish, it was sent flying into the face of his charging opponents.
"Strange," the unshaven man muttered.
"What'd you say, boss?"
"Don't you find it odd how these wolves attacked us immediately? There was no warning growl or anything like that. They immediately resorted to a life and death battle. Even after so many of them have fallen, they're still risking their lives without retreating."
The other two men were silent in understanding.
They weren't stupid. They could realize this wasn't normal behavior for wolves, but that's it. What could they determine from that?"
The axe wielder looked at the youth finishing off the wolves around him and analyzed his condition. His familiar companions instantly realized that suspicious look on his face and almost laughed in disbelief.
"No way, boss. You can't honestly think that he's responsible for them coming here, right? Does that mean we had the misfortune of getting caught up in his problem?"
He spoke sarcastically, but the axe wielding man seemed to seriously consider it.
The other man, with a thin face and fox-like eyes, spoke sinisterly. "Even if he's not to blame, we should try and force some compensation out of him."
They talked, thought, and fought at the same time. After that bout of multi-tasking, the leader finally shook his head.
"Forget it. He's weaker than us, sure, but he doesn't look like he has that much on him. Whether it's an accident or ill intent, we're still working with the miss. After we finish this job, we can decide what to do later."
The other two nodded and continued their slaughtering of the wolves.
A brutal axe swing bit into the head of the large wolf and sliced open its skull. Blood and brain matter spewed from the wound, staining red the gray fur of the large beast.
With the final mournful howl of the pack leader, the remaining few wolves scattered, broken by defeat.
"Alright, get to scavenging. This is a bonus for us."
Ji Yuan panted like a dog. His vision was permanently blurred and he was seeing double. He sat down in a pool of his blood, his eyes heavy.
"Am I going to die?"
No, he can't die. He didn't even exhaust himself fully. If he strains himself, he can stand up again and throw some more punches, so that means it's not time for him to die. He didn't want to die because he wanted to fight more.
He wanted to kill more.
In his book, there were plants with pro-coagulant effects. With those, he could stem the bleeding and begin recovery.
He was formerly a med student, so he's able to assess these wounds. While they might be fatal for a normal person, this body is far from normal.
Right as he was about to summon his book, footsteps closing in on him prompted him to cease that line of thinking. He looked up and saw two ladies walking toward him with two men following by their sides.
Hm, he's still seeing double. He closed his eyes, rubbed them, and reopened them.
His vision was still a mess, but at least he was seeing the proper number of people.
"What's up?" he asked, a relaxed smile on his face.
He hasn't felt at this much ease in a long time.
The look on his face contrasting the state of his body produced a contrast that made the two strangers pause for a bit. The girl fished in her robes and took a tiny green object in the form of a sphere. She held it in her palm and extended it to the wounded transmigrator.
Ji Yuan tilted his head.
He knew what this was, but he was confused why she was giving him this. Could it actually be a poison pill and she wants to trick him out of something?
Not wanting to arouse suspicion, he took it from her hand and pocketed it.
"Thanks," he said with a nod. "How's your side doing?"
The girl's frown deepened in dissatisfaction when she saw him refuse to use it. She viewed it as foolish stubbornness. She walked away without a word, feeling that her kindness was wasted.
Ji Yuan didn't care and looked to the thin man for an update on their status.
He touched the bow on his back as a form of security.
"Just minor injuries. Our only losses are the camps we set. You should use that pill to restore your condition and head back to New Moon City."
"So she really gave me a healing pill? I thought it was poison and you guys were gonna rob me. If it was just a group of you guys, you would've just straightforwardly attacked already while demanding everything I have from me, but someone like her feels like a sinister person who'd meaninglessly take a roundabout way of doing things to feel 'clean'."
The archer was dumbfounded.
No, bro, what kind of paranoia is this? You're right about us but wrong about her.