What else was there to wait for? Run for her life!
Luo Ningning turned around with a pale face. The only earring she had left flashed with light and transformed into a tiny boat. Luo Ningning leaped aboard and fled at the fastest speed of her life!
But even so, she was no match for those demonic-qi tentacles. A black shadow flashed, and the tiny boat shattered! Black, swimming dragons twisted around her, forcibly binding Luo Ningning into a dumpling.
The giant wolf was truly enormous. It was only when Luo Ningning was dragged before it that she realized she was merely as large as its head. Its white, gleaming teeth, radiating a chilling light, drew closer to her. Perhaps in the next second, they would bite straight through her body…
At this critical juncture between life and death, Luo Ningning shouted in a trembling voice, “Spare me, Great King!”
Her figure was reflected in the giant wolf’s ice-blue eyes. The girl’s features could only be described as delicate and pretty, but her pair of eyes was exceptionally beautiful. There was a natural tenderness in their shifting gaze, and even when she was terrified, she remained touchingly lovely. Fine sweat had appeared on her forehead from nervousness. Her voice trembled, soft and airy as it scattered into the wind, carrying a faint, seemingly nonexistent sweetness.
The sharp teeth finally stopped advancing. The giant wolf looked her up and down.
Hope rose in Luo Ningning’s heart. Could this wolf… understand human speech?!
She spoke rapidly in her desperation to survive. “Don’t eat me! I’m so small I’m not even enough to fill the gaps between your teeth! Spare my life, and I—I can heal your injuries, Great King!”
At such close range, Luo Ningning had already seen clearly that the giant wolf had several wounds where flesh and blood had been mangled, its fur dyed red with blood. It seemed that even after facing many enemies alone, this ancient ferocious beast had been unable to escape unscathed.
The giant wolf suddenly spoke in a human voice. “You’re a medical cultivator?”
It really could communicate!
Luo Ningning nodded like a pecking chicken, then shook her head again. “I’m not a medical cultivator. I’m a music cultivator! I can play the qin to heal you, Great King!”
Every cry of “Great King” was heartfelt and sincere.
The black demonic-qi tentacles tightened around her white gauze dress, winding upward in circle after circle. Then, at last, they relaxed.
Luo Ningning suddenly lost her support and fell straight into the sand, ending up covered in dust and shaken to the core.
The giant wolf casually lay down on the ground and flicked its tail. “Play the qin?” Its black nose puffed out a breath that sounded almost like a derisive snort. “I don’t understand. Don’t try any of those fancy tricks on me. Just come over and transfer spiritual energy.”
Luo Ningning hesitated. “But I’m a music cultivator. I’m better at regulating qi through music…”
The giant wolf grinned, revealing a mouthful of eerie white teeth. “What? You can’t?”
Luo Ningning: “…I can.”
Luo Ningning primarily cultivated music cultivation, with dual cultivation as her secondary discipline. She had also dabbled in medicine, forging, and talismanic inscriptions.
The reason she had developed in so many areas was that this world was home to both humans and demons, and the two races had been erupting into wars from time to time since ancient times. To deal with the demon race, powerful human cultivators had established the Heavenly Extremity Pavilion. It recruited elite disciples from every sect, with elders from the various sects taking turns as guest instructors, cultivating versatile combat talents. Medicine, forging, and talismanic inscriptions were also taught as basic courses and had gradually spread throughout the cultivation world.
Luo Ningning’s attainments in music cultivation were naturally far higher than her medical skills, but she could not contend with this wolf, which was probably an illiterate wolf that actually discriminated against music cultivators.
The severed limbs and shattered corpses of the surrounding demon beasts were still warm. Luo Ningning simply did not dare to oppose this wolf. She walked over and crouched beside the giant wolf, then placed both hands over its enormous paw and circulated the spiritual energy within her body, pouring it inside.
The giant wolf’s cultivation was indeed extremely high. Her spiritual energy vanished the instant it entered, like a mud ox sinking into the sea.
Luo Ningning was worried that her meager spiritual energy would not produce any healing effect and that Wolf Lord would swallow her alive in a fit of anger, so she did not dare relax for even a moment.
As time passed second by second, fine sweat seeped across Luo Ningning’s forehead again. Only then did the wildly dancing demonic qi surrounding the giant wolf gradually settle down and slowly retract into its body.
Luo Ningning let out a sigh of relief.
Although the wounds on the giant wolf’s body had not visibly healed, she had helped it pacify its demonic qi. That was no simple feat!
Demonic qi corroded the bodies of living beings and devoured their reason. Mortals who fell under its influence had only one path—to die. After cultivators were invaded by demonic qi, they could only rely on their cultivation to suppress it as hard as they could and prevent it from corroding them.
This wolf, however, was audacious beyond belief. It actually used demonic qi as a weapon…
One could only say that it truly lived up to its reputation as an ancient ferocious beast.
The giant wolf was still lying there, looking as though being served had made it wonderfully comfortable but still not satisfied. It urged her, “Keep going.”
Luo Ningning truly had no strength left to continue. She tentatively withdrew her hands. “I can’t go on, Wolf Lord. I’m out of spiritual energy.”
The giant wolf lazily lifted its eyelids without saying anything. Luo Ningning took that as permission to rest.
The ground was covered in sand. Luo Ningning disliked the dirt and did not want to sit, so she braced herself against her knees and stood up.
Her forehead was drenched with sweat, which mixed with the sand and dust covering her face. Luo Ningning had always been accustomed to an extravagant life and found it unbearable. She took a handkerchief from her sleeve and carefully wiped herself clean.
The tiny grains of sand scraped across her skin. Her excessively keen five senses magnified the discomfort, and Luo Ningning hissed softly in pain. Her movements grew even gentler and more cautious as she thought about what she should do next.
Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. Now that she had inexplicably fallen into the inheritance grounds, there was no need for her to leave again. She might as well wait here for the male protagonist.
The only problem was this unfathomable giant wolf.
Although, judging from the current situation, it had discovered that she had value and wanted to keep her around as a physician, so it would not kill her, who knew what might happen later? She had no ability to resist in front of it. She could not place her safety in the hands of an ancient ferocious beast just like that.
She still had to find a way to escape as soon as possible.
Fortunately, she had also studied forging and could try to repair her Qiankun Bag. If she could retrieve the life-saving magical artifacts inside, she would no longer need to fear this giant wolf.
Once she had made up her mind, Luo Ningning finally finished wiping her face. She turned her head, only to meet the giant wolf’s fixed stare.
Luo Ningning froze, almost thinking that the wolf had seen through her thoughts. “W-What is it?”
The giant wolf’s voice revealed neither happiness nor anger. “What are you doing?”
Luo Ningning took a step back and slowly raised the handkerchief. “I…I’m wiping my face?”
The giant wolf continued to stare at her. “You don’t know the cleansing spell?”
Luo Ningning answered tentatively, “I do? It’s just that the cleansing spell doesn’t clean thoroughly, and I’ve never liked it.”
The giant wolf finally withdrew its gaze. Another derisive snort escaped its nose. “Fussy.”
…How was wiping her face by hand being fussy?
But Luo Ningning had no time to complain about Wolf Lord’s remark, because the giant wolf suddenly lowered its head, and she was sent flying into the air!
The giant wolf leaped, racing up and down the sand dunes at astonishing speed. Its figure was as swift as a shooting star.
Luo Ningning, held by the back of her collar between its teeth, was thrown into confusion by the wind. It took her a moment to regain her senses amid the sand blasting her face before she shouted in despair, “Wolf Lord, where are you going?! Put me down!”
In the time it took to shout that sentence, she had gotten a mouthful of sand. Her eyes were stung so badly by the grit that she could no longer open them. The giant wolf was moving too fast. Luo Ningning felt the oncoming wind slicing against her like tiny knives.
Trembling, she activated the defensive function of her magical garment. Only then did she feel somewhat better.
After half an incense stick of time, the giant wolf finally landed and released Luo Ningning.
Her hair was a disheveled mess, and she was covered in sand and dust, looking thoroughly miserable as she staggered to a stop.
She rubbed her reddened eye sockets. Tears brought on by physical irritation mixed with the sand and dust as they flowed down, and only then was she able to open her eyes and look around.
They were no longer surrounded by sand dunes. This should be an oasis. The trees grew even taller than the giant wolf, the muddy ground was damp, and tiny patches of wild grass dotted it.
Wolf Lord finally answered Luo Ningning’s question. “We’re finding somewhere to spend the night.”
There was shelter, water, and food. It was indeed a good place to settle down.
But…
Luo Ningning’s eyes were red as she gritted her teeth and smiled, baring her teeth. “Wolf Lord, could you not carry me by my collar next time you run?”
The giant wolf stood up and looked down at her condescendingly, its gaze full of disdain. “No. You run too slowly.”
Luo Ningning continued smiling. “Or could you use another method? For example, let me sit on your back?”
The familiar black nose puffed out a familiar breath, producing a familiar sound.
The giant wolf sneered. “Keep dreaming.”
Luo Ningning…could no longer smile.
She turned around, took out another handkerchief, and began wiping her now even dirtier face again. She did not want to look at this wolf anymore.
The giant wolf, however, paced around to stand in front of her and stared at her once more, as if it found her extremely novel. “You’re wiping your face again?”
Luo Ningning replied expressionlessly, “Yes, I am.”
The giant wolf circled her once. Then it discovered something interesting. “Why is your face red and white?”
Luo Ningning clenched the handkerchief. “…You ran too fast. The wind did it.”
The giant wolf made several “tsk-tsk-tsk” sounds of unclear meaning before lying down beside a tree. “Then hurry up. Once you’re done wiping your face, meditate and transfer spiritual energy to me.”
Luo Ningning: “…”
…This stinking dog!
She was going to repair her Qiankun Bag!
Right now! Immediately!
However…the dream was beautiful, while reality was cruel.
Her Qiankun Bag had come from the hands of the greatest forging master in existence and was itself a magical artifact with a defensive function. The reason all of them had been damaged at once was most likely because they had helped shield her from the injuries sustained when she entered the inheritance grounds.
Luo Ningning had no idea how to repair them for the moment.
She pretended to meditate, but her mind continued thinking. The wolf would occasionally cast a glance at her before suddenly standing up again.
Luo Ningning’s body stiffened. She pressed her back tightly against the great tree, afraid that it would pick her up by the collar again.
Seeing this, the wolf grinned, revealing a mouthful of white, sinister teeth. Without saying a word, it simply left on its own.
Luo Ningning: “??”
She was still wondering what the wolf meant when the cries of a wild beast came from not far away.
The short, panicked sounds announced that death was rapidly approaching. In no time at all, the giant wolf returned in the same manner in which it had carried her before, its teeth holding a demon beast that looked both like a pig and an ox.
The demon beast was thrown heavily onto the ground. Weighing several hundred pounds, it smashed a depression into the earth.
Blood stained the giant wolf’s gleaming white teeth. It glanced at Luo Ningning, stepped on the demon beast’s belly with one paw, and bit down on one of its hooves. With a single exertion of strength, it tore off an entire leg!
Blood and flesh flew everywhere. The torn-off leg curved through the air toward Luo Ningning, and the blood spray and scraps of flesh it dragged along followed a perfect parabola, splattering all over her face and body.
Luo Ningning raised a trembling hand and wiped away the blood and grime covering her face. But before she could do anything else, another bloody leg flew over and slammed onto the ground in front of her with a thud.
In a tone of charity, the giant wolf said, “Eat this. Spiritual energy is scarce here. Eating will help you recover your spiritual energy faster.”
Luo Ningning: “…”
She stared at the thickly furred animal leg before her. Mud and bits of grass still clung to the hoof…
Entirely natural. Purely organic. Free of pollution.
The giant wolf had already begun devouring its own portion. The sound of bones being crushed between its teeth was exceptionally crisp.
It was nothing…
Demon beasts were inherently crude and savage, not to mention that this was an ancient ferocious beast. Eight or nine out of ten ancient ferocious beasts did not even have human forms, so naturally, they would not understand human civilization or etiquette.
By the standards of beasts, the fact that Wolf Lord was willing to share food with her was already an act of kindness…
The wolf suddenly stopped chewing and looked toward her again. “Why aren’t you eating?”
Before Luo Ningning could answer, it came to a sudden realization on its own. “Oh, right. You humans don’t eat things raw.”
The giant wolf abruptly opened its mouth, and a ball of dark-blue flames shot toward the ground in front of Luo Ningning!
Luo Ningning hastily leaned backward, narrowly avoiding having her bangs burned off.
Once the flames withdrew, the animal leg had become a large, blackened lump. A heavy smell of char and scorched filth rushed straight into Luo Ningning’s nose and mouth.
The giant wolf glanced again at the girl, who had placed a handkerchief on the muddy ground to sit on and was sitting as elegantly as a little fairy. It gave a soft snort of judgment.
“Troublesome.”
Luo Ningning: “…”
No matter how kindhearted it was, she was not going to eat even one bite.
Even if someone beat her to death or forced her to jump off a cliff, she would never touch this cursed thing!
Luo Ningning slowly took a bottle of Qi Condensation Pills from her sleeve. With difficulty, she pinched one out and placed it between her lips.
“Thank you, but I don’t need to eat… I suddenly remembered that I still have a bottle of Qi Condensation Pills. They can replenish my spiritual energy too.”
The giant wolf studied her for a moment longer, then made two more “tsk-tsk” sounds before turning away.
Under Luo Ningning’s vehement insistence, Wolf Lord finally left the bloody feeding ground after eating and drinking his fill, choosing another place to rest.
Luo Ningning treated it once more, exhausting her spiritual energy again and leaving herself drenched in sweat.
She felt as though every bit of her had been hollowed out. She had never suffered this much in either of her two lives.
In her previous life, her family had been comfortably well-off. She had been a wealthy young lady, raised with endless pampering.
In this life, she had become the only daughter of the Hehuan Sect’s leader. Her mother treated her extremely well and almost never denied her anything, which had caused her lifestyle to become even more refined and extravagant.
And now, with the moon high in the sky, she was in the wilderness, surrounded by gusts of chilly wind…
She was filthy, without even a blanket to sleep under.
Luo Ningning longed for the Liushan Spirit Spring, Shaoshan Cloudmist, Kunlun Spirit Dew, Taiqing Sacred Treasure, Jiaosha Immortal Garment, and Dongtian Spiritual Abode in her Qiankun Bag…
She had only wanted to piggyback on the male protagonist’s inheritance. Why had she ended up in such a miserable state?
Luo Ningning sat in silence for a while before speaking woodenly. “Where is there a clean water source? I want to bathe.”
The giant wolf had already closed its eyes, but its ears twitched at this. It slowly lifted its eyelids.
Perhaps Luo Ningning’s absent, miserable appearance had moved it somewhat. With a touch of impatience, it flicked its tail and finally stood up. “Let’s go.”
It lowered its head and bit down on the back of Luo Ningning’s collar. By now, Luo Ningning no longer wanted to struggle.
Fortunately, the giant wolf was not moving quickly this time. After only two jumps, it set her down.
Surrounded by green trees was a small lake, its surface glittering beneath the moonlight.
She could bathe!
Luo Ningning finally found a small measure of comfort amid her suffering and cheered up somewhat. She hoped the giant wolf would hurry up and leave, giving her a little space to herself.
But the giant wolf seemed entirely oblivious.
Under Luo Ningning’s hesitant gaze, it leisurely walked into the small lake.
The surface immediately filled with blood-red swirls and filthy substances of unknown origin.
Luo Ningning’s face stiffened, and she felt a wave of dizziness rush through her mind. “What…what are you doing?!”
The giant wolf washed roughly and carelessly, paying no attention whatsoever to its wounds, which were deep enough to expose bone. Water splashed noisily in all directions.
It quickly walked out of the small lake. “I was here anyway, so I washed too.”
It shook its fur, splashing the water all over the hem of Luo Ningning’s dress.
Luo Ningning took a deep breath. “What about me?”
The giant wolf answered as though it were self-evident, “You wash yours.”
Not even the glittering moonlight could conceal the stains floating in the lake.
Luo Ningning looked at the giant wolf beneath the moonlight, its white fur restored to its former luster. Wickedness rose from her heart, and anger gathered at the edge of her courage!
She suddenly threw herself into the giant wolf’s thick fur and grabbed the fur, wildly wiping the water and mud from her body. Word by word, she said, “I suddenly don’t want to wash anymore!”