That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Everyone present shivered; unknowingly, they had been silently surrounded by the wolves.

Jiang Jingming lowered his head, bent his knuckles, and plucked the bowstring.

These wolves were less like demons and more like they were suffering from a mental illness.

Extreme excitement and a dulled sense of pain seem to have also caused them to lose some sensitivity to smells and night vision.

However, if the torch is extinguished, a person will also lose their sight.

In the brief moment of his contemplation, Temur had completely regained his composure, and he directed the able-bodied men of the tribe to surround and protect the women, children, and infants.

Each of the guards gripped a knife tightly, suppressing their fear.

Na Risong, also a wounded soldier, was surrounded in the middle. He sat on the ground, panting heavily, probably only realizing the pain of his wounds and belatedly catching up.

For a moment, no one spoke; the only sound in the wind was the panting of the wolves.

Jiang Jingming closed his eyes. In the darkness, the sound of grass rustling was like a snake crawling by, fine and faint.

He suddenly turned around, drew his bow, and fired three arrows in quick succession.

A white wolf that had circled around to the rear in an attempt to launch a sneak attack was pinned to the ground.

This arrow was like the sounding of a war horn, and in an instant, the mountains and fields were filled with the howling of wolves.

No longer hiding, the wolves crossed the ring of fire without hesitation and pounced on the crowd.

"kill!"

Temur stood at the forefront, gripping his saber with both hands and slashing down with all his might, splitting a wolf in two at the waist.

The chief's bravery gave the tribesmen great courage, and they rekindled their fighting spirit, roaring and brandishing their swords to protect the women and children behind them.

However, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The wolf, which had been cut in half at the waist, was not quite dead yet. It struggled and crawled forward with its remaining forelimbs, its mouth opening to bite a man's ankle tightly.

With the sound of bones breaking, he screamed and fell to his knees.

Temur stepped forward, drew the dagger bound to his leg, and plunged it fiercely into the wolf's head.

"He should be beheaded!"

He turned around and shouted at the guards, only to be met with a scene of utter devastation.

The already fragile defensive perimeter was showing more and more gaps, and the wolves surged in like an inextinguishable swarm of ants, tearing the fallen guards to shreds and leaving blood everywhere.

Jiang Jingming stood on high ground, the pervasive stench of blood making him feel nauseous, but his hand holding the bow remained as steady as still water.

He had to stand in this position to see the gap in the guard circle and quickly kill the wolves trying to take advantage of the situation.

However, fewer and fewer guards remained standing, and the circle shrank smaller and smaller until almost everyone was back to back.

There was no way to retreat any further; behind them were their people, whom they would protect at the cost of their lives.

The slightly stronger woman pushed the child to the old man, picked up the knife from the ground, and joined the guard.

Nevertheless, it was still impossible to stop the relentless onslaught of wolves, especially since they were much harder to kill than ordinary wolves.

In an instant, another guard fell. The white wolf's hind legs had been cut off, yet it was still able to make a pouncing motion.

Behind the guard was a blind old woman, who was holding a crying baby tightly in her arms and murmuring prayers.

The white wolf killed the guard and immediately turned to pounce on the people behind him.

Jiang Jingming reached for the arrow, but found the quiver empty.

Oops!

He quickly drew Wujiu from his waist and leaped off the platform.

We're going to miss it!

Jiang Jingming's heart pounded, but the temperature of his palm was colder than the hilt of the knife.

The white wolf's target was the child in the old man's arms; in the firelight, its fangs were bared and its eyes were bloodshot.

At the last moment, someone suddenly flew over and grabbed the white wolf by the throat with both hands, rolling away with it.

Jiang Jingming swiftly stepped over the piles of corpses, and before he even arrived, his horizontal sword had already slashed out.

The black blade swung in a perfect arc, cleaving the white wolf in two from head to tail.

The white wolf's corpse split open, and Jiang Jingming finally saw the person lying on the ground.

That was a wounded soldier who should have been surrounded and protected.

That day, the pine tree.

His throat was bitten off, and the spurting blood almost turned him into a blood-soaked figure.

Jiang Jingming knelt down and pressed his hand against the man's throat. Hot blood flowed rapidly under his palm, showing no sign of stopping.

"..."

Na Risong seemed to want to say something, but he could no longer speak. He tried to open his mouth, but blood kept gushing out.

His injuries were so severe that he had almost no room to struggle; his eyes remained open, but his pulse had stopped beating.

Jiang Jingming felt as if he had returned to the battlefield ten years ago, a place of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a desolate wasteland.

This time, however, it was someone he knew who collapsed in front of him.

It turned out to be the case.

This is the real world beyond the desolate cliffs; the people you care about can die at any moment.

Jiang Jingming gently touched Na Risong's eyes and stood up.

Wujiu trembled slightly in his hand, emitting a clear sound like the wailing of ghosts in the netherworld.

Chapter Twelve: Burning the Flag

Temur leaned on his saber, panting heavily like a stranded fish.

His physical strength had reached its limit, but he could not fall down. Even if it meant death, he would stand and protect his people.

With no energy left to think about the current situation, Temur roared and leaped up like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, slashing at the wolf that was trying to ambush the old man.

This was practically his last strike, so he recklessly exposed his back to the other wolves.

The cleaver successfully severed the wolf's head. Temur knelt on the ground, feeling the stench of blood rapidly approaching behind his ear. He closed his eyes and awaited death.

Even before the fangs appeared, a brilliant arc of light from a sharp weapon.

Temur opened his eyes hesitantly. Jiang Jingming stood quietly in front of him, holding a knife in one hand, the tip of the knife dripping blood and still warm.

The flickering flames and the bloodstains made him look like a demon.

Temur suddenly sensed a chilling aura emanating from the ever-smiling boy, and he shivered inexplicably.

"Put out the campfire."

Jiang Jingming spoke.

"what?"

Temur's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Put out the campfire, trust me."

His calm tone carried an undeniable pressure, and the moonlight reflected off the dark blade, revealing the utterly calm depths of his eyes.

Temur looked into his eyes and suddenly thought, "How can I not believe you? You are the last straw a dying man can grasp."

So he struggled to his feet and roared at the few remaining guards.

"Put out the campfire!"

"what?"

Others echoed his surprised rebuttal.

"Put out the campfire!!!"

Temur plunged his saber into the back of the head of a struggling wolf, then kicked over a pile of firewood.

This was the leader's order, and even if the others didn't understand, they could only grit their teeth and obey. In an instant, the scattered campfires around them gradually went out.

The wolf and the man were both plunged into darkness with extremely low visibility.

Jiang Jingming walked forward towards the wolf pack, holding his sword horizontally in front of him. He bent his arm and wiped the blood-stained blade clean from his sleeve.

Even the most bloodthirsty and frenzied wolves felt a bit of fear towards this knife, warily surrounding him and letting out low growls.

Jiang Jingming paused, then reached out and pulled up the wolf flag that had been carelessly stuck into the ground in the chaos.

Then the flagpole tilted and broke the wine vat next to it.

That was originally the strong liquor that Temur had prepared for tonight's celebration banquet.

In an instant, the aroma of wine filled the air, mixed with the smell of blood and rust, making the scene eerily resembling a human sacrifice from ancient mythology.

The Azure Wolf Banner, soaked in strong liquor, became extremely heavy.

Jiang Jingming sheathed his sword with a backhand motion, grabbed the flag with both hands, and spun around to mount his horse.

Finally, he lit the Blue Wolf Banner in the extinguished campfire.

Suddenly, a wall of fire burst into flames in the pitch-black night!

Everyone stared in shock, the burning flag almost like a giant white wolf awakening from the flames.

The wolves let out excited growls; after briefly losing their target, they found the same direction to attack again.

Jiang Jingming raised the Azure Wolf Banner high, like a general raising a battle flag to command thousands of troops, and then spurred his horse to gallop.

So all the wolves followed the wall of fire, howling as they chased after it.

"He...he lured all the wolves away!"

A guard's knife clattered to the ground, pointing at the departing wolf pack.

After a brief silence, almost everyone collapsed helplessly, and a mournful wail erupted from the crowd.

"Chief, Chief! We have to help him! There are so many wolves, he'll die alone!"

Tana stumbled over and grabbed Temur's sleeve.

She had been protecting the children of her tribe from harm, but now she was covered in mud and looked completely different from her usual delicate and charming self.

"How can we help? Run! The wolves might come back!"

Another person shouted loudly.

Temur ignored their words and simply walked slowly to the other side.

He took off his fur armor and gently draped it over a corpse.

He had long seen that it was his son, his only relative, but he had never had the strength to face it.

Tana followed behind him, and the first thing she noticed was the brown leather gloves on the corpse's hands.

Tears seemed to freeze in her eyes, her legs went weak, and she knelt down helplessly.

Temur turned around, his expression cold and hard.

"Those who are afraid of death but still want to live should stay behind and protect the women, children and infants as they evacuate, heading south to seek help from other tribes."

He pulled his horse-slaying sword from the stiff wolf carcass.

"Those who are willing to die, stand with me! We, the men of the Hara tribe, cannot stand by and watch our saviors die in our place!"

Temur mounted his horse and roared angrily.

He had long been prepared to sacrifice himself for the tribe, and now he only regretted letting that child who did not belong to this grassland do what he should have done.

There was a brief commotion in the crowd, and the first person to step forward was Tolui, who had somehow picked up Nari Song's waist knife.

Soon, one young man after another picked up a weapon and came to his side.

"We were born in the Hara tribe, and we will die here."

An old voice spoke slowly, saying that they had no intention of leaving the grassland.

Temur gritted his teeth and pointed his sword at the sky.