Chapter 31: The Wolf Pack (Part 2)

Liu Longjin's breathing grew heavier and heavier; he felt the scenery in his vision seemed to be forming spinning black circles, making him dizzy and his legs weak beneath him. The words he spat out had changed tone, startling himself.

The children behind them, under the care of Yu Zhengchun and Hei Liuzi, were all nervously huddled to their left and right.

Xiao Juzi and Xiao'e were so frightened that their faces turned deathly pale, but fortunately, none of them cried out.

"No, they won't come!"

When Li You was a child in his past life, there were often wolves in the mountain village; every winter and spring, he had seen villagers hunt wolves, and as he grew older, he had hunted them himself, so he knew the habits of wolves very well.

At such a distance, a wolf pack would generally not launch a charge.

Yet before his thoughts could settle, a mighty howl rang out, and the wolf pack indeed began to charge toward them...

The sound of wolf hooves, "Boom... boom-boom... boom...", gradually grew denser, like a series of urgent drumbeats striking everyone's hearts.

"They're here, they're really here!" Liu Longjin screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Damn it, we just had a full meal, and now disaster strikes... Oh no, which one was howling just now? We need to find that beast leading them, or we're all done for!"

Wa Qingyun's mood was somewhat sour; he had hunted wolves before, but never so many.

In such a situation, surviving could be said to be extremely difficult; the overwhelming pressure made him strongly want to turn and flee.

"No, they won't come, don't move, none of you move... they must be trying to scare us, it can't be a real attack!"

Li You was truly worried they couldn't withstand this pressure and would turn tail and run, so he immediately spoke up.

In the instant they were speaking, the wolf pack had charged over thirty paces, but then suddenly stopped.

"They stopped? Mr. Li is truly a god!" Liu Longjin's eyes widened; he had to admit Li You was right.

Li You felt he needed to speak; doing so could relieve their immense mental pressure.

So he opened his mouth: "Wolf packs most love to chase in relay; they reveal themselves because they want us to panic and then run for our lives, attacking us from behind. But we are leaning against the mountain rock and not moving, which restricts their attack paths, so just now they probably just wanted to charge at us to force us to flee.

There are many loose stones on this mountain road; running consumes a great deal of stamina. Whoever runs out of strength and gets isolated will be attacked first,

and after biting them to death, they will continue the pursuit until they have killed us all before stopping... this way they can minimize their own losses!"

The wolf packs are most skilled at these tricks; when hunting, they rarely engage in direct combat. They scare whenever they can, specifically killing enemies during the pursuit to reduce their own losses. This is somewhat similar to the mobile warfare tactics of the Mongols, or one could say the Mongol cavalry's tactics were learned from wolves.

"Tch... damn dogs are truly sinister... screw your grandmother! If you want to eat Grandpa, Grandpa will take three or four of you down with him!"

Liu Longjin spat into his hand and switched to holding his blade with both hands. He was wielding a Pu Dao 【pdo】, a cut-and-thrust blade with a wide front and narrow back. This type of blade was not a mainstream sidearm in the late Ming because a Pu Dao generally weighs five to six jin,

and if one cannot control the center of gravity with such a blade, wielding it is extremely tiring. Thus, the sword techniques easily become stale; it is all hooking, chopping, stirring, lifting, and cleaving. Once the set is finished, if the opponent isn't dead, the wielder can only die to provide entertainment.

And what Wa Qingyun held was a Goose-Wing Blade that could only be wielded with one hand. Li You had used it to kill Tian Si; compared to that, this blade is much more flexible, but it certainly cannot pierce armor. If used to chop wolves, applying too much force will instead cause the blade to get stuck in the bone.

Li You habitually glanced at the Miao Dao he had forged, then his gaze turned back to the distance. Suddenly, two gray wolves, a size larger than the others, emerged from a patch of grass. Their fur color was no different from the other wolves, except one had a large patch of black-brown mixed fur on its spine, and its overall coat was much smoother and shinier.

After they appeared, the wolf pack howled at the sky in unison. Immediately, within the pack, five or six wolves, led by a head wolf, moved first.

This time the speed was extremely fast, and all the wolves began to move, forming a semi-circular attack formation, baring their teeth, rushing forward with a "whoosh-whoosh" sound!

"You two protect them... now... loose the arrows!"

Li You's Dragon Spine Bow had already been drawn when the wolf pack moved. When five or six wolves charged to within twenty paces,

he exerted force again, pressing his index finger to align the string and the arrow's direction of force, aiming the arrow shaft at a running head wolf. At the same time, he slightly twisted the string counter-clockwise with his hand. The Shovel Arrow was steadily pressed against the bow handle. The "boom-boom-boom" sound of the bow tips bending seemed mixed with a dull metallic ring. He drew the Dragon Spine Bow fully, the string pulled back to behind his ear...

"Bang... whoosh..."

The bowstring snapped back violently, striking the air with a dull explosion. The Shovel Arrow, leaving the string, turned into a black shadow, more like a bolt of lightning. With a "crack," it pierced the belly of a gray wolf leaping into the air. Then, its momentum not yet spent, it struck again, embedding itself in the hind leg of the running head wolf.

"Sizzle... squeak..."

The two wolves fell to the ground instantly, wailing in pain. But the wolf pack had already launched their charge; the two fallen wolves did not stop the pack's assault. Moreover, although these two wolves were injured, neither wound was to a vital spot, and they were already groaning and trying to get up.

It was only because Li You's heart was too cruel. He drew the bow fully to behind his ear. Such a draw length was large, but with a large draw length, the hand must be pulled to behind the ear. This leaves the hand suspended in the air with no anchor point, making it impossible to control precision well. Any tremor in the arm upon release would cause the arrow to deviate. Furthermore, his current state was not calm enough.

"Damn it, what a waste of a shot!"

Li You rarely swore like this, because he had clearly aimed at the head wolf's eye, yet the shot went so far off.

After cursing, Li You immediately nocked another arrow, wanting to find another head wolf, but as he looked up, there were wolf shadows everywhere within ten paces; how could he possibly search carefully?

Besides, when he released the arrow, the other wolf king was not stupid; it would definitely be hiding behind the pack of wolves.

Li You dared not search again. At this moment, the angle of his bow tips was perpendicular to his drawing hand, separating from the bowstring. This lengthened the lever arm, forming a more force-saving lever, making the increasingly heavy draw pull smooth and stable. The tight sound of the bowstring rang out directly. The Pu-tou Arrow, carrying a humming sound of tearing wind, surged out again...

The structure of the string rest added to the bow back made the vibration of the returning bowstring smaller. Combined with his left hand instinctively pressing the bow tips, stability was greatly improved.

Because the bow and arrow receive force at the nock, the nock is pushed outward by the string's thrust, causing the arrow shaft to flex. His "rear lift" and "neck wipe" release perfectly ensured that the pushing hand and the drawing hand were on the same line. While maintaining the full draw, the force of the pushing hand and the drawing hand were two forces of equal magnitude and opposite direction.

Upon release, one must ensure symmetrical force front and back until this pair of forces breaks the original force maintaining the full draw, converting all of it evenly onto the arrow, becoming the kinetic energy that propels it forward at high speed.

This time, as Li You released the arrow, he knew it would hit. Sure enough, a piercing wail sounded; a gray wolf was shot and knocked three paces away, falling to the ground.

But more of the pack wolves were already getting closer and closer...