CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43: WOLF BANDIT

The forest was silent save for the steady drop of rain dripping onto the leaves. Goldie crouched low atop a thick branch, the heavy robe clinging to its big body. From the shadows of its hood, its piercing eyes observed the bandit camp ahead.

There were a few tents ahead, and a group of bandits seemed to be drinking and laughing around the camp fire. There are a few cages held what appeared to be a captive, judging by their ragged appearance.

Some of the bandits had surrounded a makeshift wooden fence, spectating a fight between captives.

The bandits shouted and cheered. And when one of the captives lost and he started crying, the bandits just laughed, dragged him out, and let the nearby wolf devour him alive.

"AHHHH!" A scream tore through the night as flesh and bone were crushed. The winner of the fight didn’t seem happy at all and start trembling, knowing it might be his fate next.

Inside the nearby cages, prisoners pressed themselves into corners, trembling with fear at the horrific display. A child whimpered, pressing his face into the rusted bars, while an old man silently rocked back and forth, staring into nothing.

One bandit approached a cage, yanked open the door, and seized a woman by her hair. She screamed, clawing at his arm, but he dragged her toward a nearby tent without hesitation. Her muffled cries blended with the leering laughter of the men around the fire.

Fires burned in the camp, throwing flickering light over the drunken men sprawled around piles of stolen goods. Their crude laughter mixed with the muffled sobs and cries of women from nearby tents.

"Boss sure is generous today," one of the drunken men said, his voice slurred. "Actually letting us taste some of those rich merchant lady."

"Haha, that’s because First Boss is in a good mood," another replied. "He reached the peak of the ninth realm of Qi Refinement. Can you believe it?"

"Yes, our First Boss is the best. But damn, those two are taking forever," one of the impatient men said, while glancing toward a tent where a rich lady was held.

"Let them have fun since those two volunteered to be on patrol. Meanwhile, the rest of us can enjoy that women for the rest of the night," another bandit added with a grin.

Soon, two bandits staggered out from that tent, hair messy and clothes half-loosened. One raised his arms with a satisfied smirk.

"My turn’s over!" he shouted. "Who’s next? You have to taste these high-quality women thoroughly. These sheltered women’s body are so soft!"

"Yes, even their screams are so sweet," the other one beside said crudely, laughing.

"Tch, you both sure taking your time. We’ve been waiting forever." Then a bunch of bandits waiting by the fire walked up toward the tent, some of them even start loosening their pants.

"N-No! AHH"

The tent soon erupted with a women muffled screams, mixed with lewd laughter and shouting, filling the camp with a sickening mix of pleasure and terror.

Goldie’s gaze shifted to the two bandits staggering out from the camp, heading toward its location, with two wolves padding at their side. The beasts’ yellow eyes glowed faintly, breath steaming in the night air.

"Haha, that one cried so much. It’s not so often; we can enjoy women like this," one of the men said with a disgusting chuckle, tugging at his pants as he remembered those amazing body.

"Hah, you’re too soft. I told you, just slap ’em till they stop," the other replied.

"But those guys are going to enjoy that woman the whole night..." the first one muttered, starting to regret choosing to volunteer for patrol.

After walking for a while...

Then, as if sensing something, the wolf growled low, ears twitching but it was already too late.

A black shadow dropped silently from the trees.

CRACK! SPLAT !

Goldie’s fist shattered the first man’s skull like a ripe melon, spraying blood and bone fragments across the mud. Seeing this, one of the wolves lunged, trying to bite, only for a single palm to seize its throat—snap!—the beast went limp before it could even whine.

The second man barely had time to gasp before a hand smashed his jaw sideways, tearing flesh and bone with a wet rip. His headless body collapsed, twitching violently in the mud.

The last wolf, seeing the scene, whimpered and tried to flee. After a few steps, its body froze and it glanced back, only to see a hand clamp onto its tail. It flailed desperately, legs thrashing and mud splattering everywhere, but its struggle was futile as it was slowly dragged back toward the tree.

CRUNCH—CRACK—SPLAT! The sound echoed from the hidden tree, followed by the wolf’s final, bone-crushing whimper.

"..."

Goldie stood motionless among the corpses, rain washing the blood into the mud. Its gaze slowly returned to the camp with unreadable intention.

--

Inside one of the tents, larger and more spacious than the others, was the place where the bandit leader held his meetings.

There were four strong-looking bandits inside, sitting messily and doing their own things.

At the center, one of them lounged with a cruel grin, a half-naked young woman kneeling beside him, pouring wine into his cup. He laughed loudly, enjoying the filthy scene before him.

Two strong bandits, one bald and fat, the other one skinny, were busily moving their waists. Between them was a mature beauty kneeling on all four that they had captured some time ago from a traveling merchant group. She was the merchant’s wife; the merchant himself had already been killed, his corpse thrown out for the wolves to devour. Now she was nothing but another plaything.

"Hahaha! Fifth Brother, you should train more. She can barely feel you at all," the man drinking wine mocked, squeezing the breast of the girl beside him.

The skinny man, Fifth Brother, snarled at the insult, his face twisting. He gripped the woman beneath him harder, slapping her hips until her reddened flesh shook."Shut up, Second Brother! She’s enjoying it. Hey, bitch, moan louder! Show him you like it!"

"Mhmm!Mhmmm!" The mature woman only whimpered, tears streaking down her cheeks. Her mouth was already stuffed with another man’s flesh, her muffled cries smothered by the one in front who gripped her hair tightly and forced her head forward.

The bald man grinned, not slowing down. "Heh, how about we switch? I’ll show you the difference."

"Fourth Brother, you—!" Fifth Brother’s face darkened, his thrusts turning even more violent.

Second Brother only laughed harder. "Tch, tch... First Brother, shouldn’t you show them how it’s really done?" He turned to glance at the leader sitting at the back.

The First Brother sat cross-legged on a wooden crate, his rough beard shadowing his hard face. A letter rested in his calloused hands, the only thing holding his attention. Behind him lay a massive Wind Wolf, its yellow eyes glowing faintly in the dim lantern light.

The First Brother frowned as he read, then calmly burned the paper in his palm. The flames ate through it quickly, smoke curling up toward the low tent ceiling.

Seeing this, Second Brother raised an eyebrow. "What’s wrong?"

"The City Lord of Cloudveil City will act soon," the First Brother replied flatly. "We need to leave this area now. And we must head to a designated location next."

"That woman again? She really should learn that it’s futile." Second Brother’s grin widened. "And a designated location? Oh? Who are we after this time?"

"Apparently, the client wants us to capture a young lady named Peng Meirong. She’ll be traveling through there soon."

The Second Brother’s eyes gleamed. "Heh... a young lady from one of the Four Major Families. Can’t wait to taste her." He chuckled lewdly, tugging at the woman beside him.

"Don’t worry. Once I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, we’ll move away from this region and establish our own family. By then, we’ll be able to enjoy many more things. Even young ladies from cultivation families won’t be impossible

The First Brother couldn’t help but sigh at how close they were to their dream. At first, they had just been random bandits, but just as they were about to be killed by the Imperial Guard, someone from the Fen Dynasty had offered them a deal. As long as he and his brothers helped that person with some dirty work, they would get all kinds of resources. That mysterious person whose name and face he still didn’t know even gave them a cultivation technique, ...a rather demonic techniques which allowed him to rise this far. And he was lucky enough to tame an Alpha Wind Wolf as well, which let him control an entire pack. Of course, he had to feed them often, but with captives from their raids, food was never a problem.

Still, he never fully trusted the one from the Fen Dynasty. And as expected, after they had done enough dirty work, that person had tried to get rid of him and his group. Luckily, he had been prepared and escaped quickly, ending up here.

Later, during one of their loots, they had unfortunately encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Instead of killing them, that cultivator also offered him a similar deal, helping with dirty work in exchange for resources and benefits. And he accepted again.

For a while, everything went smoothly, but nothing could stay hidden forever. Recently, the City Lord had discovered their presence and started hunting them down. With his backer’s help, he managed to escape, but he knew this time it wouldn’t be just the City Lord coming after them. So he decided to move.

The First Brother’s lips curved into a cruel smile as he said casually, "Kill all of the captives. They’ll only slow us down."

Hearing the order, the Second Brother just grinned. Standing up, he unsheathed his sword in a flash.

SLASH!

With a single stroke, he decapitated the woman who had just been serving him. Her head rolled across the floor, her wide, lifeless eyes still frozen in shock. Second Brother sheathed his sword and muttered, "What a pity. Since you served me well these past few days, I’ll grant you a swift death." Then he walked out of the tent to carry out the rest of the order.

Fifth and Fourth Brother didn’t care about the scene, still busy with their filthy business. The mature woman, enduring their torment, could only cry in her heart, tears rolling endlessly down her cheeks. As that delicate girl who had just been killed was her daughter.

Soon after they were done and start casually putting their clothes back on, the mature woman lay sprawled on the floor, tears flowing from her eyes while a white translucent liquid dripped from her mouth and between her legs.

"Sob... sob..."

"Tch, so now you can make noise?" Fifth Brother mocked.

Fourth Brother finished tightening his pants, then drew his sword and walked toward the mature woman.

Seeing her impending fate, the woman stopped crying. Instead, she glared at them with deep resentment and weakly said, "You... bastards will die a...horrible death."

"Hmph. You’re not the first one to curse us like that. Yet we’re still here, haha," Fourth Brother sneered before cutting her down with a clean stroke.

Outside, the screams of the remaining prisoners echoed through the camp before quickly fading into silence. Soon after, Second Brother returned with a bloody sword. "Should we head out now?"

"Hm. But where is Third Brother? He should be back by now," First Brother asked with a frown, glancing at a tied-up and blindfold, trembling little girl in the corner. He had planned to let Third Brother enjoy her, but the man was taking too long to come back.

Before anyone could answer, a terrified subordinate burst into the tent. "B-Boss! Third Boss is—!"

SWOOSH.

Something heavy flew through the air into the tent, striking the tent wall before rolling across the floor.

It was a head of a man with eye open wide in horror, and.....

It is their Third brother head.