Walking out of the fortress, Jiang Feng and Ling proceeded to fly towards the forest outside of the city. Their figures arrived before its edges in no time as they descended onto the ground, staring into the dark and silent woods.
"This will be your training ground for the next three days. Try to bring back as many monster corspes as you can."
Saying so, Ling conjured a foldable chair out from her space pouch and sat down next to a rock nearby. Seeing this, Jiang Feng blinked in confusion as he asked.
"Are you not heading in with me?"
"Well, I believe you can handle the dangers inside on your own. Don't worry, I'll save you if you're life is threatened."
Pulling down the cloak, Ling's radiant smile shone before Jiang Feng as words of reassurance came off. However, it rang off as a decree of death in Jiang Feng's ear instead.
"What?!! You want me to stay in this forest for the next three days without anything on me?" Jiang Feng shouted, scaring off the crows in the wood as they flew to the sky.
"Who said you have nothing? The sword I gave you although can't be called as a spiritual treasure, it still is durable enough to injure cultivators. You'll be fine with it, not to mention the Spells and Arts I taught you."
"Alright, time's ticking. Good luck~"
Shoo-ing off Jiang Feng as she turned away, a layer of spiritual energy enveloped Jiang Feng the next instant, carrying him deep into the woods as his figure struggled to break free from its seizure.
…
Somewhere inside the forest, Jiang Feng's figure lay on the ground covered in dried leaves and sticks as he stared at the starry sky above him.
The sword that Ling gave him was conjured out and held in his hands, for its immediate use should a monster approach him.
Finally coming to the conclusion that he wasn't going anywhere if he continued so, Jiang Feng stood up and patted off the dirt on him. His arms and sword were hidden within the cloak as he looked around with the help of Spiritual Sense.
'There doesn't seem to be any monsters nearby. I should start things by making a camp first.'
Having such a thought in mind, Jiang Feng took a step forward, intending to gather some firewood nearby.
Snap!
The loud yet crisp noise of a twig snapping in half echoed in the eerie forest as Jiang Feng looked around in tense. Seeing that there was no monster around him, Jiang Feng breathed out a sigh of relief as he bent down, extending his finger to pick up the snapped sticks.
Just as the tip of his fingers were only a few centimeters away from reaching the sticks, Jiang Feng's danger bell began ringing intensely.
Without hesitation, Jiang Feng threw himself forward as a huge shadow overlapped with his, blocking the moonlight from reaching him and the ground.
The owner of the shadow soon knocked into a tree as it shook heavily, more leaves falling onto the ground. Jiang Feng's attention was on another matter though as he stared at the monster trying to stabilize its figure.
The monster had legs that resembled that of a bunny, yet a hundred times bigger and covered with a layer of grey fur. Its upper body was that of a human's but dark-skinned, nails overgrown into the shape of a knife. Its head was the weirdest, resembling that of an adult wolf.
Seeing the monster's appearance, Jiang Feng was immediately reminded of the myth he once heard.
A monster that only appears on a full moon, possessing the blood of a wolf yet the body of a man, the Werewolf.
Unable to process what was happening before him, Jiang Feng could only stare at the Werewolf raise its head towards the sky, letting out a howl that resounded throughout the forest.
The Werewolf's cry awoke Jiang Feng from his stunned state, making him hold up his sword and assume an offensive stance.
His eyes glowed with a dim light of green as the Qi Middle Stage Art, Night Eyes, was activated. His sword was also covered in a layer of spiritual energy as flames arose, becoming the only source of light other than the moon within the woods.
The Werewolf had also turned to Jiang Feng while he readied for battle, baring its teeth at the cultivator as saliva dripped from the gap between.
Through the activation of Spiritual Sense, Jiang Feng could tell the Werewolf before him has spiritual energy reserves equal to a Foundation Building Entrance Stage.
Knowing this, Jiang Feng's guard relaxed a little as he compared his cultivation base with the Werewolf. He was only half a step away from Foundation Building Middle Stage while the Werewolf seemed to have only recently stepped into its current stage, the difference in rank apparent enough.
Using this to build up confidence, Jiang Feng raised his sword high as his figure sprinted forward, his legs already enveloped in spiritual energy.
Just as the flaming sword was about to hack down on the Werewolf, it reacted in time as its claws knocked away the blade, the ones on the other heading straight towards Jiang Feng's waist that was in the open.
Noticing the incoming attack as his danger bells rang again, Jiang Feng covered his waist with spiritual energy as it met with the claws of the Werewolf, being torn apart in an instant as the damage was negated, knocked back onto the tree with the residue of the brute force.
Standing back up from his knees, Jiang Feng held the sword above his head and blocked both of the claw strikes from the Werewolf.
However, the Werewolf was like a madman, continuously trying to bite off Jiang Feng's head like a dog barking.
Jiang Feng could only pull his face away from the monster, but such action only weakened the strength in his arms as he continued to hold back the dense claws.
'This won't do. It has too much strength over me!' Screaming inwardly, Jiang Feng began thinking of a plan to escape this predicament.
Just then, the sounds of leaves being brushed past on the ground echoed around him,
A few figures similar to the Werewolf, but shorter and smaller slowly emerged from the dark as they filled up his surroundings, leaving only a small space where he and the Werewolf were at.
Soon, a few of these figures stepped out from the darkness and entered Jiang Feng's line of sight.
Yet when Jiang Feng saw what they were, he wished he didn't for the sake of keeping his sanity.
It was wolves that surrounded him. Not normal wolves or those that he faced in the tomb where the Chaos Vampires nested, but mutated wolves filled with spiritual energy!
Their appearance didn't have much difference from a normal wolf on Earth, having grey fur and ears that resembled a dog's.
What made them special was their size enlarged by the spiritual energy reserves within them, comparable to a Qi Circulation Peak Stage Cultivator. The amount of spiritual energy also amplified the sharpness of their claws, as spiritual energy leaked out from them.
A drop of sweat trickled down Jiang Feng's face as gritted his teeth, scrambling his thoughts all over for a solution to his crisis.
The Werewolves and the packs of wolves around it didn't seem to care though, as the wolves marched closer constricting their encirclement over Jiang Feng.