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Chapter 18: Mutated Thunderlightning Gray Wolf

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Kyu Cao did not immediately turn. He prudently glanced with the corner of his vision, and he was a bit surprised by what he found.

A wolf beast.

Though it seemed to be one of the thunderlightning gray wolves from earlier, this one's fur was actually of a lighter color and its size a bit bigger, although somewhat lanky.

Its black lips were parted, and its fangs bared in full display with a ferocious snarl; it was glaring fixedly at him.

Kyu Cao slowly turned to face it.

The distance between the two was not great, so he didn't dare to immediately flee and show it his back.

When the wolf noticed what he was doing, it swiftly crouched to a readied position, but it didn't attack. Somehow, the wolf seemed to be cautious of him.

Now Kyu Cao could see better the wolf's appearance.

What would catch one's attention first, was that it was really dirty.

Because its fur was really light, the dirt and grime stood out the more, this one was also disheveled and strands of fur stuck out all around.

This didn't make Kyu Cao wrinkle his nose though.

It was the opposite. Noticing how beneath all that filth, the color of its fur seemed to be a light, silvery gray, he grew a wish to see it in a more presentable appearance. Surely with a bath, it would become a stunning creature.

It eyes were also, surprisingly, purple, really striking. These stared straight at Kyu Cao with an indomitable will and bone-chilling ferocity, as well as some intelligence.

It really was a bit bigger that the other thunderlightning gray wolves he'd seen before, but its lanky build seemed to be because of malnourishment.

Despite its current state, Kyu Cao could clearly perceive an aura of nobleness on this wolf, like a pearl whose beauty could not be hindered no matter how mud was thrown at it.

It was really interesting.

The wolf's gaze flickered, ad Kyu Cao noticed this had passed over the chunk of wood on his paws. Quickly he realized the reason why it was here.

Obviously, it had come for the spirit herb.

"Grrr!"

As if reading his thoughts, the dirty wolf growled once more; its gaze flickered to the wood chunk again, this time openly.

It might've been only his imagination, but Kyu Cao got the clear impression that it had just said that it wanted him to leave the spirit herb and scram, and it would not pursue him.

...

The nerve!

Had it been another theriope, Kyu Cao would've had more patience, and dealt with them accordingly.

But suddenly finding himself extorted by a mere beast, his ear flickered with great annoyance, and his impassive face gained a hint of seriousness and haughty.

He put an eye closely on the wolf's movements, and without doing any motion and just an intention he threw the chunk of wood into his extra space ring.

Seeing the wood chunk with the spirit herb suddenly disappear, the dirty wolf was momentarily stunned, before it gave out a savage roar and charged furiously toward Kyu Cao.

Kyu Cao didn't tarry, and using his Treading the Frozen World's tyrannical traction he shot backward. He spun around midair, and when he touched the ground again he was already ready to run to the woods.

He didn't have thoughts of fighting, since wolves were the only creatures in this forest that never went about unaccompanied.

Another angry growl sounded from behind, but Kyu Cao ignored it and continued forward.

Movement on the corner of his eye alerted him, but he only saw a blur.

When he tried to follow, this blur swiftly moved ahead of him and stopped, to reveal the light lanky, dirty wolf.

Kyu Cao's pupils clenched and his ears stood on alert.

Fast! Truly fast!

This wolf was so fast that hadn't even covered a dozen of steps before it effortlessly overtook him with a wide margin.

Finally, Kyu Cao's brows creased with gravity.

This wolf, could it be a grade one martial beast?

With a foothold as firm as Earth itself, Kyu Cao quickly changed directions, going to the right toward a tree.

The wolf, however, wouldn't give him the chance, as it swiftly as a gale ran toward Kyu Cao's direction, again overtaking him and standing on his path.

Facing this situation again, Kyu Cao once more effortlessly changed directions and ran toward the rock formation.

If this wolf's speed greatly surpassed his, then he would have to shake it off with overwhelming maneuvering.

He could hear the wolf's paws strike against the ground in another run. Glancing to his left, he could see the wolf trying to circumvent him, so he again changed directions toward the opposite of the wolf.

With this, he believed he would finally gain some advantage, but soon Kyu Cao discovered that he'd still underestimated its speed as it soon enough ran ahead of him and barred his way.

Kyu Cao stopped completely. The previous exchange was enough for him to understand that it would be extremely hard to shake off this wolf.

He'd managed to outrun the thunderlightning gray wolves before, but that was because they were weak ferocious beasts. Moreover, he'd used the terrain to gain a huge advantage.

But on this even piece of land he was at disadvantage against this wolf, which he now was sure it was a grade one martial beast. There was only the mushroom rock formation, but that was of not much help with a shape like that.

This was bad. If he were to be surrounded, the struggle to break free would not be light.

Kyu Cao stared at the dirty wolf, that seemed to have no intention of attacking for now, but was equally fixedly staring back.

What to do?

With perked ears, Kyu Cao closely listened to his surroundings.

His biggest concern was, when the other wolves would appear.

He could hear the dirty wolf's powerful breathing, with the occasional growl. The myriad of forest sounds reached them with distant, soft echoes, as if the place they were in was far away from the rest of the world.

"...?"

More than a hundred of hour passed, but there were no movements. This caused Kyu Cao some puzzlement.

Suspicious, he allowed more time to pass.

Two hundredths, three hundredths, in respect to a confrontation, this was already a very long span of time. However, nothing occurred.

The wolf didn't move either, only keeping attentively vigilant of his movements.

"... Are you alone?"

Kyu Cao had only intended to do a soliloquy, but as if understanding his words, the dirty wolf visibly tensed for instant, before it launched itself at him like an arrow that left the bow.

Kyu Cao hadn't expected such a strong response. His muscles flexed with readiness, his tail became taut, facing the most ferocious attack he'd ever faced till now he didn't dare to be negligent.

The wolf quickly covered the distance separating them, but to Kyu Cao's surprise, it did not jump toward his neck as he'd already experienced several times before.

Instead, it went to his left side, opening his fanged maw wide.

Greatly taken by surprise, and feeling great danger, Kyu Cao's slit pupils contracted in a terrifying manner.

Using his utmost strength, he pulled back his paw, barely avoiding the wolf's jaws. For a moment, he felt the hot breath brush against his fur uncomfortably.

At the same time, under the effect of a reflex, and using the impulse from his retreating side, he threw a vicious kick the wolf's flank.

This one connected with a yelp, and the wolf tumbled on the ground leaving a trail before integrating itself.

However, it could be said that Kyu Cao didn't really know how to kick properly, so the wolf had not suffered significant damage, and he instead was feeling a stinging aching in his leg.

Kyu Cao ignored it and retreated, aiming to distance himself enough to escape.

Yet how could the wolf allow this so simply? Without breaking a pause, it charged again with horrifying speed.

Kyu Cao felt his scalp go numb.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to outrun it, he stopped and prepared to dodge.

When he noticed that it again seemed to go for his left side, his eyes narrowed slightly, but he had a less of a close call when those jaws tried to bite down on his paw.

"Is it going for my ring?" This conjecture appeared in Kyu Cao's mind.

Did it understand what he did with the spirit herb?

Kyu Cao wasn't clear on a martial beast's intelligence, but be it that or instinct, he didn't rule out the idea.

"Then... I can use that."

He evaded and retreated some distance once more. Of course, it resulted useless as the wolf swiftly followed.

When he confirmed that it was indeed going for his left side again, this time he waited for its attack.

It was at the right moment, when its head was fingers away from his paw, that with a quick flick he retrieved something from his extra space ring and threw it into the wolf's maw.

This maneuver didn't go that smoothly though. The wolf's sharp fangs almost sunk on his paw, and even though he pulled out on time, deep cuts were now on his paw almost showing the bone, bleeding generously.

The wolf did notice that it had bitten down on something strange, and took some distance from the cat.

It then tried to cough it out. But whatever it was, it was stubbornly sticking to the insides of its maw, and it only managed to spit a few dregs.

These dregs were from a plant. Some were dark green, while some bright pink.

The wolf glared at the cat with reproaching and infuriated, but soon, it felt a burning sensation light up inside it and spread through its body.

This sensation was of internal hotness, its internal temperature rising, its heartbeat accelerating. It was uncomfortable, but oddly gratifying.

Then, the hotness seemed to become too much for its body, as it made its limbs go weak. Its strength seemed to be being quickly sapped.

The wolf didn't know what had happened, but it instinctively knew one thing.

It was going into heat.

Observing the dirty wolf quickly start to go weak-legged and its breathing to quicken, Kyu Cao knew his idea had worked, and he was even a bit amazed at how quick acting it was.

What he'd thrown into the wolf's mouth was, of course, a stalk of Devilish Catnip.

To halt its overwhelming speed, this was the quickest method he came with.

Other martial artists would regard the usage of an aphrodisiac to impede one's enemy as an extremely shameless, low and evil act.

But for Kyu Cao, who knew nothing of a martial artist's heroic honor, it was a valid tactic, and he thought nothing of it.

To begin with, as the decorative Third Young Master of the Bloodstripe Clan, Kyu Cao single duty was to not bring shame or embarrassment to the family.

And according to his interpretation of this, anything he did that could be frowned upon was still fine as long as it not publicly known.

When he and the others discovered the field of Devilish Catnip, he had already planned to collect some, but he couldn't do that in front of them. So once he was alone again, he returned and picked up quite a bit of it.

As for why he would do it, he honestly hadn't had devious intentions. He merely did it because he thought that such a thing might come in handy sometime, so it didn't hurt to have some at paw.

And just now this proved that his thinking had been correct.

Maybe.

Plop.

Incapable of standing any longer, the wolf fell down, lying on its stomach.

It had to be said, the Devilish Catnip's effects were nothing to scoff at.

When it was said that it made someone more receptive and submissive, it didn't mean it only in a mental manner, but physical as well. Actually, its effects on the body were much greater than on the mind, since the victim... the affected wouldn't become muddleheaded because of the sexual urges, and would retain complete awareness.

However, their strength would be completely drained, and they would even be unable to use their Qi.

With the wolf like this, Kyu Cao was more at ease.

He was also now almost sure that other wolves wouldn't come, since this appeared to be a rare lone wolf.

After waiting for another moment just in case, he approached the wolf.

This, still vigilant of him, growled menacingly, but Kyu Cao ignored it. He still didn't foolishly get too close though.

Now he could appreciate the dirty wolf more calmly.

Its features, they were certainly of a thunderlightning gray wolf's, but this one's coloration was different, much more lighter.

This was no difficult mystery though; it was obvious it had to be a mutation.

Despite the dirtiness, the fur below looked very light, almost closing on white.

If a regular thunderlightning gray wolf's fur was like a dark gray cloud during a storm, then this wolf would be an aloof, serene one during a bright day.

It was a pity it was so non-presentable.

Furthermore, besides the dirt, Kyu Cao now could notice some scars. These were only the big and noticeable ones, meaning that it was probably carrying more.

In overall, it seemed this mutated thunderlightning gray wolf had gone through quite the number of hardships.

"Oh." Could it be, it was not a lone wolf by choice, but was actually chased out of its pack?

That did not sound like an unreasonable notion, taking into account it was a mutation.

Variations, they weren't always a good thing.

A high-pitched but quiet whimper snapped Kyu Cao from his thoughts.

He looked as the wolf shifted with seemingly discomfort, apparently trying to not lie on its stomach.

It took only a brief moment to Kyu Cao to suspect what it was trying to do, and looking how the dirty wolf had become quite miserable looking, something that even the dirt and the messy fur had not managed to do before, he realized that the Devilish Catnip was more frightening than he'd thought.

To be under the effects of such powerful aphrodisiac, he simply couldn't imagine it how it could be, but it appeared to be extremely unnerving.

The dirty wolf, however, still glared at him with a strong will.

Though slightly clouded, its striking purple eyes were shining brightly like the legendary Heavenly Lighting of tales.

Maybe this was his chance to retreat.

But Kyu Cao did not.

He gazed at the dirty wolf, quite interested in its reactions. Then a stray thought passed through his mind and stuck.

Looking at the mutated thunderlightning gray wolf, he recalled a peculiar tidbit he had overheard during his time at the state's beast breeder.

The head trainer had once said, that the seed of thunderlightning gray wolf worked well as an anesthetic, and it could be used to make medicinal salve.

At that time Kyu Cao hadn't paid much attention to it, only regarding it as an curious fact. However, now, as someone who studied the concoction of medicines, this piece of information managed to attract his interest.

Seeing how the dirty thunderlightning wolf was still not resigned, but nevertheless completely unable to move, lest retaliate, Kyu Cao believed this could be a unique chance.

He stood there, pondering for a moment, but also waiting to see if any sudden change would occur.

But apart from the distant noises, and the deep pants of the wolf, nothing else reached his ears.

Now that he considered it, this was a grade one martial beast, which was regarded as one at the top of the power pyramid in Backdoor's Forest. Even if small, this lone wolf must have a territory of its own, and this place had to be part of it.

In that case, then the two of them surely were here alone.

Taking his decision, Kyu Cao walked toward it.