"I'm afraid it is not going to be that simple. I sense a large number of spirit bests in them as well. This is no normal pack." Hei Yingjie spoke as he looked at the rest of the members that were now gathered.
"That's why they're taking revenge. No common pack of steel back wolves would dare to attack cultivators that easily." Lin Mu realized.
"Everyone gets ready, we're going to have a tough night." Hei Yingjie ordered.
"Yes senior!" They responded as they withdrew their respective weapons.
Lin Mu then saw Hei Yingjie produce a saber in his hand. The saber had just appeared out of thin air into his hands.
'So he has a spatial storage treasure as well.' Lin Mu thought and looked at the saber.
The saber was slightly longer than a meter in length and was curved. It looked heavy and had a broad hilt. Its blade was gray in color and gleamed under the flames of the bonfire.
"It's a spirit weapon too, a low tier one though," Xukong informed.
"Oh? Well, that is expected as he's a core condensation realm cultivator and the Hei Corps do seem to have good connections." Lin Mu spoke in his mind.
Just as he said this, Hei Yingjie's expression fell.
"Careful, there's a core condensation beast leading them." He suddenly spoke up in an extremely grim tone.
"A core condensation realm steel back wolf? Can they even reach that realm?" Lin Mu questioned as he felt confused.
"It is indeed unusual. But there have been some reports of them reaching the core condensation realm before. But if one of them has, then that means it's the true leader of the pack and the pack has also come from the depths of the forest." Hei Yingjie spoke.
Just as Hei Yingjie spoke, the bushes in the distance started rustling. The wind was not blowing, thus this meant that the wolves were close.
"I'll handle the core condensation realm steel back wolf, while you all handle the rest. Form a circle, back to back." Hei Yingjie ordered.
He then turned to Lin Mu and looked at him with a serious expression.
"Brother Lin Mu, if anything happens to me or something unexpected happens, leave this place and runway. I'll give you an opening." Hei Yingjie spoke.
Lin Mu felt shocked that he would be willing to sacrifice himself like that.
'Seems like they really don't want you to die now.' Xukong spoke with a chuckle.
Lin Mu did not reply and just nodded simply. Hei Yingjie then turned to the forest and stood in a fighting stance. His saber wielding arm was pointed downwards in a diagonal angle towards the right and his left foot was forward.
Lin Mu took a deep breath and was ready to use the severing heart sutra. Soon the rustling sounds turned to growls as the wolves started appearing from the bushes. Some appeared from behind the trees and some from behind them.
They had completely surrounded their team. They were now in the range of Lin Mu's spirit sense, so Lin Mu could observe the closest ones easily. With the help of the light of the bonfire, he could also see in the distance vaguely and spot their figures.
While he could not sense that far, Lin Mu could still tell from the sizes of their bodies, which cultivation realm they belonged to. There were currently twenty-four wolves surrounding them at the closest range and out of these thirteen were spirit beasts while the rest were normal fierce beasts.
~Howl~
A howl sounded from the distance and soon a steel back wolf that was larger than any other appeared. Its fur was gray and had seven stripes extending from his forehead going all the way to its tail. These stripes split on its back into four more which went towards its four limbs all the way up to its claws.
Its fangs were about two inches long and looked gruesome. The Alpha steel back wolf was about one and a half meters tall and looked like a giant among its kin. A strange wave of energy was emitted from its body and spread over to all the people.
Lin Mu instantly sensed it and understood what it was.
"Spirit sense! The beast has developed its spirit sense?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.
"Of course, beasts can also develop their spirit sense. They can do so because they have an innate knowledge of it that's hidden within their bloodlines." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu wanted to observe the cultivation base of the Alpha steel back wolf, but could not since it was staying beyond the range of his spirit sense. Pushing these thoughts aside, Lin Mu just focused on the other steel back wolves that were in front of him.
Lin Mu didn't attack first, as that would mean that he would have to break their formation. No, he stayed there and waited for the wolves to make the first move. He knew that while he would be able to deal with the wolves with ease, the others may not be able to do the same.
Lin Mu had checked their cultivation bases and knew that out of the eight members, three were at the mid-stage of the qi refining realm while the rest were at the early stage of the qi refining realm. For Lin Mu dealing with a peak stage qi refining realm beast or cultivator would still be easy, if he used his skills.
A few seconds later the group of steel back wolves lunged at them. Lin Mu dodged to the right and slashed at the steel back wolf that had jumped at him. The wolf fell down dead, and Lin Mu spun around to slash two more wolves.
The rest were also killing the other wolves and had already killed some. Lin Mu did a quick scan with his spirit sense and saw that out of the twenty-four wolves ten were already dead. He had killed two spirit beasts and one normal beast while the others had killed three spirit beasts and four normal beasts.
They continued fighting and soon killed the rest of the steel back wolves. But they didn't get much respite after this as the next wave came nearly instantly and this one had even more wolves. This time there were around thirty wolves.
Lin Mu took a look around and spotted Hei Yingjie fighting with the Alpha steel back wolf and three other wolves. He seemed to be fine for now and was putting up a good fight. There were already four other corpses of wolves lying around him.
Lin Mu didn't get to watch for long though as the next wave of steel back wolves attacked soon. Returning to the fight, Lin Mu kept on slashing, chopping, and cutting. He didn't stay completely injured though, he still got a few minor cuts and grazes here and there while fighting.
The other members were doing worse than him as they were getting deeper injuries. But since they had good teamwork, they were still able to push back the steel back wolves. Lin Mu would assist them whenever he could, but it was still getting difficult now.