Dao of the Deal

Chapter 11: Cookware (5)

Muchen put away his feelings of triumph as he faced down this new challenge. His heart was racing from the excitement and adrenaline rush, but he did his best to focus and decide on the best course of action. He'd managed to kill one wolf with a single decisive strike, but that didn't mean that finishing off two wolves was just a matter of swinging his knife twice.

The beasts he was facing only bore a superficial similarity to any wolf he had seen back on Earth. On the Qianzhan Continent, humans weren't the only ones who could use spiritual energy. All of the local wild animals were at least a little bit stronger, faster, and smarter than their counterparts on Earth.

The sects were always on the lookout for dangerous beasts, often sending their disciples out to nip troubles in the bud. Animals that managed to reach the equivalent of the Foundation Building stage were rare. These wolves were not among their number. Otherwise, Muchen would already be dead.

Still, even a little bit of cultivation was a dangerous thing. These wolves didn't have any instinctual fear of humans. They were stronger and faster than they had any right to be. And they had a rudimentary grasp of tactics.

That last point was on display as the two wolves approached him. While one came at him head on, snapping and snarling but staying out of arm's reach, the second wolf circled around him, ready to nip at his heels. Part of Muchen wanted to charge forward and lay about him with his knife. He could finish the battle one way or another in a matter of seconds.

He knew better than to take the risk. Instead he took a careful step backwards, turning to keep both wolves in his vision while he held his knife at the ready. The wolf in front of him took a quick hop forward and lashed out with its paws. He brought his sword around and caught the blow with the flat of his blade.

The shock of impact rattled his arm. He took a half step forward, ready to lash out in retaliation, only to find that his foe had already retreated out of his reach. An ominous gut feeling sent him whirling around, barely getting his knife up in time to intercept the second wolf as it came charging towards him.

His counterattack caught the wolf at an awkward angle and skittered off of its matted fur. Instead of slicing through its neck, he ended up with the flat of his blade pressed against its chest as it tried to bear him to the ground. Muchen took two steps backward, bringing his free hand up against the flat of the blade. He crouched down, absorbing the last of the wolf's momentum before he sent it flying back with a great shove.

He didn't have a chance to follow up on his advantage before the first wolf was back, snarling and snapping at him. It stayed just out of reach, content to buy time for its companion to get back to its feet rather than trying to win the fight on its own. Muchen let out a growl of frustration, irritated at the idea that he was being outsmarted by a pair of wild animals.

All of his pivoting and backstepping had turned him around until he was facing his cart. Xinyi still sat there, chin in hand, watching the show. His irritation spiked even higher at the callous show of indifference.

Unfortunately, the battlefield wasn't the kind of place that would adjust itself according to his anger. His only reward for his momentary distraction was a line of fire traced down his calf. He turned in time to see the wolf that had attacked him slinking out of range, its claws wet with blood that looked black in the moonlight.

He took a limping half step forward, then gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain in order to move properly. The wolf was caught off guard as he threw caution to the wind and charged forward. It hesitated for an instant, caught between the desire to fight back and the urge to run away, and that was enough. Muchen brought his knife down with a roar, carving a bloody path through the beast's waist. The wolf collapsed to the ground, it's life blood seeping out of the wound.

Muchen stood over the body of his enemy, gasping for breath. He knew the fight hadn't been going on that long, objectively speaking, but the stress and danger had drained his energy just as much as the physical exertion. Still, at least he was winning. As the flash of bloodlust started to recede, he knew he needed to come up with a plan to finish the fight. Actually, now that he wasn't reveling in the satisfaction of finally delivering a killing blow, it occurred to him that he had been standing still in one place for far too long.

The sinking feeling in his stomach was interrupted by the shock of impact as the remaining wolf chose that moment to re-enter the fray. It crashed into the small of his back with the force of a speeding car. Muchen staggered forward and hunched over, doing everything he could to stay on his feet. If he fell to the ground, his survival would be entirely dependent on Xinyi's intervention.

Muchen hissed as pain blossomed in his left shoulder, traces of agony licking down his arm. It took him a moment to realize that the wolf had bitten into him, latching on and doing its best to drag him down. He was dimly aware of more wounds being carved into his back as the wolf scrabbled for grip with its claws.

He reversed his grip on the knife and stabbed straight back, aiming to pass the blade under his arm to strike at the wolf clinging to his back. It was an unpracticed motion, awkward and without any sort of strength boost from his spiritual energy, but the weight of the wolf itself lent him enough force that the blade plunged deep into the wolf's chest.

The wolf let out a muffled whimper through its death grip on his shoulder. With as deep as the knife had penetrated, its fate was sealed. Muchen's fate, however, was still up in the air.

Even if the wolf was dying, it was determined to bring him down together. Muchen twisted the knife, trying to finish the wolf off as quickly as possible. If anything, it burst out with a renewed fury, wrenching at his shoulder until it felt like his arm was about to be dragged out of its socket.

With his free hand he punched at the beast's snout. The awkward angle prevented him from getting much power behind the blow. He kept pounding away at it, grunting as he caught his own shoulder almost as often as he managed to land a clean hit. He kept plugging away as a grim haze settled over his vision, finally grunting in relief as the wolf let him go.

He twisted his hips and gave the wolf a shove. He managed to tip its weight off of him, sending the limp body to the ground with a thud. He knelt down next to it and took a grip on the handle of the knife, still lodged in its chest. With a grunt, he forced the tired muscles in his legs to go to work and lurched to his feet, the knife ripping free in a spray of blood.

For just a moment he stood there, a feeling of triumph welling up in his heart as he surveyed the bodies of his defeated enemies. Muchen had never been in so much as a fist fight since he'd graduated from middle school. He was the product of an upbringing in a modern society where violence was wrong, dangerous, something to be regulated and left to the professionals. For all of that, standing there with his hands shaking and his heartbeat pounding in his ears, Muchen wanted to laugh out loud.

That giddy feeling of victory fled quickly when three more wolves stalked into the clearing. They eschewed the subtlety of their predecessors, spreading out and charging forward with blood in their eyes. Muchen was only able to spare a brief glance to check on Xinyi before they were upon him.

She hadn't moved. Her chin was still resting on the palm of her hand and she was still grinning as she watched him fight.

Muchen started to call out to her but was cut off with a grunt as the lead wolf slammed into him. He had his knife interposed lengthwise between them, the wolf's claws scrabbling off the flat of its blade as it tried to get at him. He was spent, barely able to keep his feet. Only the endless defense drills ingrained in his muscle memory let him keep the knife between himself and the danger he faced.

He didn't have any illusions of slaughtering his way through a three on one disadvantage. He didn't even have the strength to stand his ground against the impact, which sent him staggering backwards. He did the best that he could to pivot as he moved, trying to keep the wolf's body between himself and its companions. One of the wolves was forced to break off its attack with an angry snarl, moving back to try and find a better angle of attack. The other... Muchen had lost track of the third one.

The third wolf announced its presence with a fury. Its teeth clamped down on his already injured calf, but the attack didn't stop there. Instead the wolf barrelled forward, crashing into the back of his legs and sending Muchen to the ground.

He rolled with the impact and got his arm up in front of his face. Muchen didn't know how he was going to fight his way back to his feet, but in order to even have the chance to try he would first have to keep the wolves from tearing his throat out.

Another spike of agony lanced through him as a powerful set of jaws clamped onto his forearm. The wolf wrenched its neck from side to side. Muchen screamed. His arm felt like it was breaking into pieces. Suddenly there was a thump of impact that he felt through his arm more than he heard. Muchen blinked as an arrow seemed to sprout from the wolf's flank. Another thump sounded out, then another. The wolf vanished from his field of view.

Muchen knew he should do something, but it was hard to bring himself to move. He pressed an arm against the ground and started to stand, only to flop back on his back as his strength gave out on him. The fall didn't hurt as much as it should have. Actually, none of his wounds were hurting as much, now.

That was probably a bad sign, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Instead, Muchen relaxed and lay where he had fallen, staring up at the starry sky. A moment later, a figure intruded into his view.

It was a tall, sturdy man, with a bow held in his hand and a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. That explained the wolves coming down with a sudden case of death, then. The man leaned over to check on him, revealing a surprisingly young face. Muchen felt a distant sort of curiosity at what a teenager was doing wandering through the forest at night.

"Is he all right?"

Xinyi came into view, practically skipping. At least there was one person out of the three of them who wasn't worried about the situation.

"He'll be fine," Xinyi said, then leaned forward to study him closely. "I suppose he's not fit for any further training."

If he was about to die, she would have looked more worried. Probably. He might be fooling himself, but Muchen was just about at the end of his endurance. With a ragged sigh, he relaxed the grip he was holding on staying conscious and let the world fade away.

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