Chapter 32: The Silver Wolf with Thunder Wings

The low growl of a monster beast echoed from the distant forest.

"Thud! Thud!"

Heavy running sounds came through the silent night. Judging by the weight of the footsteps, it seemed to be a human running.

Whether it was a martial artist hunting a monster beast or a monster beast preying on humans, Shi Yan couldn't tell and didn't want to get involved. He said to Di Yalan, "Hide yourself and don't meddle in other people's affairs. Remember the lesson of the Fangya Mercenary Group."

Di Yalan nodded and whispered to Mu Yudie in the tree hollow, "Don't make a sound, just stay in the tree hollow."

"Let's go, find a tree with dense leaves to hide in." Shi Yan pondered for a moment, then quickly moved, soon finding a large ancient tree with lush branches and leaves to crouch under.

As soon as he crouched down, Di Yalan followed and hid beside him in the leaves.

The two peered through the gaps in the leaves, holding their breath and concealing their presence, afraid of being discovered.

Soon, five panicked mercenaries, looking disheveled, appeared from the distance.

All five were more or less injured. The leader had the cultivation of the Human Rank, while the other four were at the Innate Realm.

These five people, in a panic, fled without a clear direction, often looking back as if something monstrous was chasing them.

And indeed, there was!

As soon as the five appeared in Shi Yan's line of sight, he noticed a "Fire Cloud Demon Python" and two "Frost Lizards" swiftly moving through the forest. Face-sized "Silver-Armored Poison Scorpions" also appeared from the left side of the five, seemingly planning to encircle them.

The five looked desperate and continued to flee recklessly into the forest.

Shi Yan's face changed, realizing they were doomed.

The five couldn't see, but Shi Yan could clearly see that in front of their escape route, there was a four-meter-long, extremely robust silver wolf!

The silver wolf had two silver wings, each about five meters long, covered in mysterious patterns, making it look very strange and eerie.

Although it was the first time Shi Yan had seen this silver wolf, he had heard of it before. It was the "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf," a seventh-level monster beast, the apex predator of the Dark Forest!

As soon as the "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf" appeared, Shi Yan realized that this was not a case of mercenaries hunting monster beasts, but rather... monster beasts preying on humans!

The bloody hunt began instantly!

As the five rushed into the forest and saw the "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf" waiting for them, they immediately let out desperate screams.

The "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf" didn't give them a chance. With a spread of its thunder wings, a series of thunderous explosions sounded around the five, and three of them were instantly blown to pieces!

The "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf" stood there proudly, motionless, not moving again.

But the other monster beasts that were chasing them pounced, instantly entangling the remaining two.

Under the combined attack of the "Fire Cloud Demon Python" and the "Frost Lizards," the two were trapped. One was poisoned to death by the "Silver-Armored Poison Scorpion," and the other was bitten to death by the "Frost Lizard."

"Crunch!" "Crunch!"

The silent forest echoed with bone-chilling sounds.

Apart from the "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf," the other monster beasts gathered around the five mercenaries' corpses, gnawing on their bones.

Di Yalan was horrified and dared not look.

She wasn't afraid of killing, but the brutal way the monster beasts ate humans made her feel queasy.

Shi Yan, however, watched the monster beasts calmly from the leaves, silently calculating.

As the five mercenaries died, their vital energy would gradually dissipate, eventually dispersing into the air.

If he could reach the area before their vital energy completely disappeared, he could benefit from it!

However, with so many monster beasts feasting on the corpses, he didn't dare to act rashly and could only hope they would leave soon.

"Ugh..."

From a great distance, a human's anguished scream echoed, filled with despair.

The "Thunder-Winged Silver Wolf," which had been standing there unmoving, suddenly growled and darted away.

The few monster beasts that were almost done feasting on the five mercenaries' corpses immediately stopped and hurriedly followed it, as if searching for more human prey.

Seeing the monster beasts scatter, Shi Yan leaped down from the tree, ghost-like, heading toward the bloodied corpses.

Di Yalan was startled and whispered in alarm from the tree, "What are you doing?"

"Going to check, I'll be back soon. Don't leave," Shi Yan said without turning back, rushing to the area, standing among the scattered limbs, and closing his eyes to sense the vital energy.

Fortunately, although he was late, there was still some left. The vital energy of a Human Rank martial artist was indeed more substantial, and about twenty percent of it remained.

Invisible threads of vital energy, as if attracted by a magnet, entered his pores and converged into the acupoints in his body...

Feeling the power contained in the vital energy, Shi Yan's lips curled into a satisfied smile.

Soon, all the remaining vital energy in the area was absorbed into Shi Yan's body.

Looking at the scattered limbs and organs, Shi Yan frowned, enduring the pungent smell of blood, and began rummaging through the blood-soaked backpacks of the five corpses.

The food was too contaminated with blood and possibly the venom of the "Silver-Armored Poison Scorpion," making it inedible. Crystals were not very useful here, and carrying too many would slow them down, so the mercenaries didn't carry much.

After searching for a while, he only found some materials from monster beasts and some healing powders.

"Poor devils."

Shi Yan muttered, wiping his blood-stained hands on one of the backpacks, then walked in the shadow of the tree toward the ancient tree where Di Yalan was hiding.

"Roar!" "Roar!"

The Dark Forest echoed with the roars of monster beasts. As dawn approached, the monster beasts seemed to be organized, hunting the martial artists and mercenaries in the forest.

Hearing the heart-stopping roars, Shi Yan was not alarmed but rather pleased.

The actions of the monster beasts would certainly affect the group chasing them. Those who dared to move at night would inevitably alarm the monster beasts. The larger the group, the more obvious the target. Perhaps the Dark Night, Mo Family, and Fangya people would suffer heavy losses this night, becoming the main targets of the monster beasts.

He was right...

That night, Mo Chaoge and his group indeed received special attention from the monster beasts.

Due to their urgency in pursuing Shi Yan and Mu Yudie, the group did not rest after Hu Long's suicide and continued searching for Shi Yan's group in the Dark Forest, which attracted the attention of the monster beasts. It wasn't until five of them were killed that the group realized the situation and hid in the ancient trees.

"What were you doing?" Di Yalan frowned, "Was it worth the risk for the things on their bodies? If a monster beast returned or you were discovered by another, you wouldn't have been able to escape!"

"Am I not fine?"

Shi Yan climbed up the ancient tree and didn't explain what he had truly obtained. He said with a serious face, "Something strange is happening tonight. I don't know why, but the monster beasts suddenly went mad, hunting the mercenaries and martial artists in the forest. Someone must have done something to anger the high-level monster beasts."

"What should we do?" Di Yalan looked helpless, "Should we continue our journey?"

"Let's wait. The monster beasts have been busy all night and probably won't appear during the day. We'll set out at noon."

"Alright."