The next day.
Gu Chengyan woke up to the strong, heavy scent of blood. The large rooster, whose head had been bitten off by a wolf, had somehow ended up at his bedside, and there was a large, seeping pool of blood on the floor.
Gu Chengyan frowned. He sat up in bed, incessantly rubbing the bridge of his nose. He clearly remembered carrying the chicken inside last night and placing it on the west side; how could it have come back to life after a night had passed?
Come to think of it.
Gu Chengyan lowered his hand, his sharp gaze sweeping toward the west side of the room.
The youth was gone.
The box bed was empty, the bedding piled to one side. Gu Chengyan hurried over, threw on his outer robe, and reached out to touch the bed; it was, as expected, already stone-cold. There were bloody footprints leading toward the ground, but after pushing open the door, the outside was a vast, white expanse, leaving no trace behind.
Gu Chengyan stood in the doorway for a long time until the north wind made him sneeze, forcing him to close the door and return inside.
Forget it.
Gu Chengyan raised his hand to touch the side of his neck and gave a helpless, dry laugh.
After feeding the livestock in the yard and looking at the chicken that had died in vain, Gu Chengyan ultimately boiled some water and picked up a kitchen knife.
A short while later, kitchen smoke rose above the small courtyard. Gu Chengyan rolled up his sleeves and stood by the stove. He scooped a ladle of soup with an iron spoon, tasted that the seasoning was just right, and then happily filled a full bowl.
It was a snowy day; he could not go out, let alone climb the mountain. The howling north wind rattled the two windows with a clattering sound. Gu Chengyan thought about reinforcing the window frames as soon as possible, while at the same time picking up a tender, fragrant chicken leg from his bowl:
It was a pity he had stewed this large rooster so well. Why had the boy left?
After smacking his lips and finishing the bowl of stewed chicken, Gu Chengyan got up to wash the dishes and tidy the room.
When he put on his thick felt coat and went out to clear the small path in the courtyard, he unexpectedly saw a mass of tangled, mud-soaked bandages discarded on the ground. Gu Chengyan squatted down and hooked the blood-stained cloth with his fingertips. He did not have much medicine to begin with, and he had saved most of the medicinal powder and bandages for the youth.
Unexpectedly…
Gu Chengyan shook his head and let the cloth on his fingertips drift away into the mountain forest with the wind.
“Little ungrateful wolf. What a waste.”
Thinking about it now, the decision to bring the youth back seemed a bit unrewarding, but—but he simply could not ignore the familiar sensation of skin against skin. He always felt that the youth was the person who had saved him in the snow.
Over the following days, the north wind continued to blow across the grasslands, and the snow fell without pause. He could not enter the Holy Mountain, nor could he hunt. After sweeping the snow and feeding the small animals each day, Gu Chengyan could only sit inside the house to roast by the fire.
However, he was very good at finding things to do for himself. He found some Chinese buckthorn wood to carve new divination blocks, watched the sky when he was idle, and occasionally practiced swordplay in the snow. His father’s sword techniques were derived from Daoist principles: “Humans follow the Earth, the Earth follows the Heavens, the Heavens follow the Dao, and the Dao follows Nature.” The Dao also serves the purpose of strengthening the body. Moreover, he had been living in comfort and peace of mind these days; he actually felt his meridians were less sluggish, and the poison flared up less frequently.
Even better, while practicing swordplay and walking about with a light heart, he unexpectedly discovered a lake behind his small courtyard that he hadn’t noticed before. The lake was not far from the Snow Mountain Villa, hidden in a birch forest. After breaking the ice, it was the perfect spot for fishing. After trying a few times, Gu Chengyan finally had fresh fish soup to drink.
It was just that he could hear wolves howling every night these past few days. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but after hearing it more often, he realized it was not. The howling went from far to near, changing from one wolf to several. Recently, they had even dared to approach the courtyard, circling the walls and the room where the livestock were kept.
Gu Chengyan remembered what Tie Zhu had said about the “white-haired wind” (blizzards)—that wild animals in the Holy Mountain unable to find food would come down the mountain to attack the herders. Judging by the howls, the number of wolves was large. This time, he did not rashly go out to drive them away, but instead stood by the door and windows to watch.
The creatures entering the yard were a pack of white snowy wolves. Although they could squeeze through holes in the wicker fence, they were no match for the thick brick walls of the cottage.
Gu Chengyan breathed a sigh of relief.
However, perhaps because of the previous rooster, the pack realized there was food here. On the ninth snowy night, the starving wolves finally launched an all-out attack on the small courtyard.
It happened that Gu Chengyan had gone to sleep early that night; he had had a bountiful harvest at the lake during the day, catching a basket containing four large black fish. Besides the one he stewed for soup, he salted one and dried the other two, so he would have food no matter how heavy the wind and snow became later.
After a sound sleep, Gu Chengyan was awakened by the abnormal bleating of the sheep. He rubbed his eyes and pressed his temples, not yet fully awake. It wasn’t until he heard the high-pitched screams of the sheep that his heart skipped a beat, and his eyes suddenly cleared.
He rolled out of bed, put on his clothes as quickly as he could, and lit a lamp. By the faint light, Gu Chengyan realized that this pack of wolves was different from the ones before: the leaders were a male and female wolf king and queen, followed by a dozen smaller white wolves.
After the two chickens were bitten to death, Gu Chengyan had removed that section of the fence and moved the large white horse into the house after nightfall. He had also reinforced the courtyard wall that Tie Zhu had heightened.
Who could have guessed that this pack of wolves would cooperate so well? Two wolves lay down under the courtyard wall to act as a “ladder,” three wolves stood guard outside the yard, and three others entered the yard to keep watch. Meanwhile, the male wolf king sat vigilantly beneath the cottage window, and the wolf queen leaped onto the window frame.
Oh no!
Gu Chengyan had been so preoccupied with fishing these days that he had forgotten to add wooden bars to the windows.
The female wolf was smaller in size but exceptionally ferocious. In a few quick bites, she chewed through the window slats, ducked her head, and squeezed into the room to attack the sheep. After the female wolf bit one sheep to death, she clamped onto its neck and climbed back up the window. The male wolf was waiting outside, and the two cooperated tacitly, pulling the sheep out right before Gu Chengyan’s eyes.
Once in the yard, they stepped together on the wolves under the wall to coordinate with the wolves perched on the wall. After the sheep was pulled out, the other wolves took it and ran back toward the Holy Mountain.
After taking one sheep, the female wolf clearly wasn’t satisfied; she actually returned once more and plunged into the sheep pen. Seeing the female wolf sink her teeth into the large white sheep, the sheep kicked its four hooves and struggled frantically, bleating in a sharp and desperate tone.
Gu Chengyan took a deep breath and hurried back to retrieve his bow, arrows, and a torch. Just as he pushed the door open, several scout wolves bristled their fur, lowered their bodies, and bared their teeth at him viciously. The large male wolf also turned its head, staring at him intently with deep yellow eyes, while the female wolf also bit the white sheep’s neck and bared its teeth at him.
Gu Chengyan took half a step back, inserted the torch into a crevice in the wall, then drew his bow and aimed at the female wolf. This bow was a fine Rendi bow left by Tie Zhu, crafted through over a hundred processes over two years; it was considered a heavy bow. Gu Chengyan had used it to hunt rabbits and weasels, but this was his first time shooting at a wolf. A whistling arrow brushed past the top of the female wolf’s forehead.
His aim was true, but the female wolf was quick to dodge.
The female wolf let out an angry, low growl. The large male wolf lowered its body in turn, arched its head, and led the pack in surrounding Gu Chengyan.
While a powerful bow is good, it requires a certain distance. Gu Chengyan had not expected this pack of wolves not to run away, but instead to attack him. Seeing a scout wolf nearby already preparing to leap up and bite his arm, in a moment of desperation, Gu Chengyan had no choice but to use the bow like a sword, delivering a heavy blow to the wolf’s head.
He had no internal energy, and even using all his strength, it was only a heavy strike. The scout wolf, feeling the pain, let out a whimper and backed away, but it would quickly recover.
Gu Chengyan knew that a bow could not deal with these beasts, and he knew they hadn’t torn him to shreds yet only because they were wary of the torch by his side. Thus, he had to quickly turn back into the room to fetch a hunting knife and a white sword.
—Of course, he could have hidden in the main room and blocked the two windows with trunks, but all his livestock would be bitten to death by the wolves. Tie Zhu had said that wolves are highly vindictive; even if they couldn’t eat or carry off all the prey, they would kill every single animal just to ensure Gu Chengyan suffered heavy losses.
By the time he returned from the house, in that short span, the female wolf had seized the time to return to the pen. After trying twice and finding she couldn’t drag the fat, large white sheep out the window, the female wolf turned toward another lamb.
When Gu Chengyan emerged with his weapons and saw from a distance that the female wolf had actually entered the room again, he couldn’t help but laugh out of anger—
He took the torch to drive away the scout wolves nearby and quickly stepped toward the cottage, his hunting knife aiming straight for the male wolf guarding the outside. The male wolf leaped up, attempting to bite Gu Chengyan’s throat. Its frame was enormous, and standing up, it was actually taller than Gu Chengyan. Gu Chengyan changed tactics on the fly, ducking low to thrust his knife directly into its belly.
The belly is the most vulnerable part of a wild beast, and the male wolf was certainly not stupid enough to seek its own death, so it jumped to the side. As soon as it landed, it bared its teeth at Gu Chengyan and pounced again.
Gu Chengyan used the torch to drive away the wolves in the distance that wanted to help, while bracing his back against the wall. Being surrounded by a pack of wolves was extremely dangerous; he could not afford to be attacked from both front and back.
The male wolf attacked twice without success, and the female wolf jumped out of the window to help, bowing her head to bite at Gu Chengyan’s feet. Gu Chengyan reacted with lightning speed; he drew his white sword, flicked his wrist, and pierced straight through the female wolf’s eye socket.
The female wolf let out a shrill cry, retreated quickly, and hid behind the male wolf. The male wolf clearly had not expected this to happen, and when it looked back at Gu Chengyan, both its eyes were filled with murderous light.
Wolves are the most loyal, and they are also extremely protective of their own. For his companion to be injured was something the wolf king could not accept. The large male wolf backed up two steps and growled, then launched another attack on Gu Chengyan, while the other wolves seized the opportunity to launch surprise attacks.
Being besieged from left and right, Gu Chengyan could only dodge as best he could, managing to slash the hind leg of one of the scout wolves with his sword. Originally, he and the pack were barely evenly matched, but the wind and snow intensified in the second half of the night. A sudden gust of wind extinguished the torch in his hand.
Without the threat of fire, the wolf pack lost all their hesitation. Soon, Gu Chengyan suffered wounds on his legs and arms. Even more dangerous was that after the torch went out, not only was there no light, but he had lost his only source of heat. Standing in such heavy wind and snow, Gu Chengyan faintly showed signs of the poison flaring up.
If he showed weakness at this moment, the enraged wolf king would certainly rush up and lead the pack to tear him to pieces. Just as his knees grew soft and he was about to lose his footing, the male wolf which had been staring at him, ready to pounce suddenly hesitated.
It then widened its eyes and began to retreat step by step, warily.
Gu Chengyan was somewhat surprised. He used the last ounce of his strength to brace himself with his sword, supporting his body as he looked back. He saw, to his astonishment—
The youth emerging from the forest behind the house. His long, black curly hair was scattered in the wind and snow. Behind him, he was followed by another pack of wolves a group of no less than fifteen.