The footprints meandered away in the desert, and gradually stretched further into the thick and cold darkness.
The wind blew a sharp whistle and circled up. With a puff, Shan Chao inserted the dead branches he picked up deeply into the yellow sand, and managed to climb up the sand dune with his strength.
It's getting dark.
The temperature dropped sharply during the hot day, the desert surface was dripping with ice, and the shrill howling of wolves wandering in the distance gradually came.
Shan Chao has lived in Mobei for so many years, he knows that the fall of night means death.
The most urgent task is to find a leeward and hidden slope to settle down, find a way to make a fire, fetch water, and re-bandage the wound. Otherwise, the smell of blood will attract wolves, and he will never survive the next morning when he is unarmed.
Shan Chao staggered down on the sand dune, fell to the ground with a plop, leaned back weakly, his eyes were as lifeless as a dead body, and stared blankly at the gradually spreading gray in the farther sky.
The sword wound on his chest was broken again because of the fall, and blood was dripping from the messy wrapped cloth strips, but Shan Chao couldn't feel much pain anymore. All the strength in his body seemed to be sucked away by nothingness and emptiness, and all that was left was the numbness dripping with blood after the excruciating pain.
Xie Yun did not catch up.
He turned his head many times, only the endless wind and sand and his own obliterated footprints behind him, nothing else.
—Why did you suddenly turn your face and be ruthless
Why are you so determined to kill me
Shan Chao struggled to his feet like a walking dead, and picked up dry roots of Populus euphratica from the riverbed farther away, and rubbed stones to start a fire. Soon the night covered everything like a black cloth, and the bonfire barely illuminated Shan Chao's cold pale blue cheeks, making a slight crackling sound.
The long night is long, and the galaxy is bright.
Six hours has passed, what is Xie Yun doing now
What are you thinking
Shan Chao looked up at the vast night sky, and suddenly remembered a similar moment many years ago, when the Milky Way traversed the autumn night sky and turned into a sea of stars. It was the first time when he was young that he thought he was very close to death, but before his consciousness sank into the eternal abyss, he looked back and saw another pair of gentle and quiet eyes.
"My surname is Xie, word cloud."
"Being a teacher for one day and being a father for the rest of your life, you will be your master from now on."
"Ahem..." Shan Chao let out a hoarse wry smile, which quickly turned into a bloody cough. He reluctantly turned his head, looking behind with the last hope, trying to see the familiar figure in his memory again from the end of the wind and sand; however, the empty desert under the moonlight only echoed the endless wailing.
Shan Chao turned his head slowly, and suddenly stopped.
Out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to catch a glimpse of something, and the whole person suddenly felt chills from the spine—
wolf pack.
Not far away, there are dozens of green lights cruising faintly behind the sand dunes, gradually approaching here, they are the Mobei wolves!
Without any time to hesitate, Shan Chao pulled out a piece of wood from the bonfire. At the same time, a wild wolf that was half the height of a man roared towards him, and Shan Chao got up suddenly, and beat the burning stick hard on the head. !
"Aww—"
How could the lone wolf withstand such a precise and fierce blow from a martial arts master, and immediately flew out with a scream!
Various ferocious beasts often appear in the desert at night. Shan Chao scanned the surroundings and saw that it was a small wolf pack consisting of seven or eight wolves. The one-eyed gray wolf who was overthrown by him at the head was extremely huge, and his head was covered with blood at the moment. Standing up staggeringly, his mane was completely blown out, and he looked even more fierce.
The wolves probably also saw that he was alone and unarmed, but the nature of the beast, scruples about the bonfire, wandered around eagerly, gradually shrinking the encirclement while making a very threatening whimper.
Shan Chao's sharp eyebrows twitched, his arm muscles tensed, and he tightly grasped the wooden stick.
He has no weapons to defend himself, and the time the bonfire can delay is limited. Once seven or eight wolves pounce at the same time, the situation will immediately fall into the worst situation...
Xie Yun let him go, but he didn't completely let him go.
They all knew each other that it was a miracle that they could get out of this desert alive.
Is it really going to be over today
Sadness suddenly surged in Shan Chao's heart, but before he had time to think about it, the alpha wolf roared and rushed over like an arrow again!
Shan Chao took a half step back, and just before his sharp fangs approached his throat, he grabbed the wolf's mane with incomparable precision, and hit its nose hard with a stick like lightning!
The wolf screamed and kicked his front paws fiercely. Shan Chao didn't know how many times he was caught on his arms and in front of his body, but another wolf rushed up behind him, and his sharp claws "cracked!" back shoulder.
—Wolf shoulders is a common tactic used by wolves to attack people in the wilderness. Experienced nomads know that those who have been shouldered should remember not to turn back, because once they turn back, the deadly neck will be exposed to the wolf's mouth without reservation. Down. So Shan Chao didn't turn his face away, and risked being attacked by the wolf in front of him, he let go of his hand, pressed the wolf's paw on his shoulder, leaned over with his strength and made a decisive decision, and slammed the wolf behind him. Volley flung it out!
Boom!
The gray wolf rolled to the ground, but in the confusion, Shan Chao also fell due to his unstable center of gravity. The fierce wolf head rushed over and bit him.
Shan Chao didn't hide at all. At this moment, his whole body was full of blood, and he stretched out his hand to grab the wolf's neck like iron pincers, and punched it head-to-head and face. The alpha wolf struggled and scratched, but when Shan Chao's hard finger bones hit the wolf's head, he even made a slight puffing sound. He couldn't tell whether human blood or wolf blood mixed together and splashed out, spraying Shan Chao's head and face.
"Aww!" The gray wolf who was thrown shook his head, ran back angrily, and bit Shan Chao's thigh with his mouth open!
Shan Chao let out a roar of pain, and punched the head wolf so hard that its seven orifices bleed, and then threw the nearly one hundred catty wolf out neatly, got up and grabbed the wooden stick that fell by the side just now, and threw it The gray wolf that bit his thigh swept away!
This series of moves was so fierce that even the remaining wolves didn't realize it. When they came back to their senses, they saw that the first wolf had already rolled down the sand dune, its fur was covered with clumps of blood. I can't get up.
Immediately, the pack of wolves burst out with sharp, long and angry howls, and all the wolves showed the attitude of about to attack, and then a male wolf came out more and led the other wolves to rush over like lightning!
Shan Chao staggered to his feet, but as soon as his injured thigh fell to the ground this time, he fell back due to excessive blood loss.
Is it over
Is this really... the end
He was soaked in blood all over his body, his side face, neck, chest and even limbs were covered with deep or shallow wounds, and the extremely smelly wolf blood dripped into the sand from his fingers. There was a little whiteness in the broken skirt on the chest, and Shan Chao raised his hand to pull it out, it was a bunch of flowers that were about to wither.
He held the bunch of flowers to his lips, and slowly pressed a cold and trembling kiss.
The foul wind came in an instant, and the ferocious black shadow rushed over his head in an instant, and the fangs reflected the cold light of death under the moonlight!
In the blink of an eye, five or six wolves will pounce on Shan Chao at the same time, and their sharp teeth will immediately cut his throat and tear his internal organs.
But at this moment, an even faster gust of wind approached from far away, and there was only a crackling sound, and the metal arrow spun and pierced through the head of the male wolf in the front!
With a plop, the wolf carcass fell to the ground, Shan Chao suddenly opened his eyes, and suddenly saw a tall and thin figure not far away, standing sideways with a bow, and glanced over coldly.
"..." Shan Chao's blood-stained lips moved, and he murmured hoarsely, "...Xie Yun?"
Xie Yun pulled out three sharp arrows from the quiver with his backhand, put on the bow at the same time, and took aim.
The wolves keenly noticed something was wrong, but by then it was too late. I saw Xie Yun loosen his pressing fingers, and at the same time as the pack of wolves started howling and running, a sharp wind whizzed towards them, shooting down the three gray wolves in the front row at the same time with lightning speed!
The remaining two didn't know whether they didn't react or their eyes were reddened by the blood. They stepped on the corpses of the wolf and the same kind and rushed towards Xie Yun, jumping high. Xie Yun faced them at close range, his calm face showed no expression at all, his left hand held the bow down, and his right hand drew the sword out of its sheath. Forcibly strangled the bodies of the two wolves!
Wolf blood splashed all over the sky, and the corpse fell to the ground with a bang.
Xie Yun put his sword back into its sheath, drew his bow and stringed it, and aimed at Shan Chao. Shan Chao was stunned, before he realized what happened, he saw the arrowhead passing close to his ear, nailing the gray wolf who had been hit by the arrow but hadn't died completely to the ground with a loud bang.
"Thank you—" Shan Chao paused, panting tremblingly, "...Master."
The dunes were in a mess, blood and flesh were all over the ground, and the bonfire extinguished by the wolf corpse finally made a puff, emitting the last wisp of long black smoke.
The two looked at each other and didn't make a sound for a long time.
"It's been six hours," Xie Yun finally said calmly after a long time.
He raised the bow and arrow again, and Shan Chao noticed that the last metal arrow was still buckled on the string, but this time it was really pointed at himself.
Xie Yun's voice was hoarse and desolate in the wind, and he stared straight at the apprentice he brought up with his own hands: "I gave you a chance to escape, but you couldn't catch it..."
I don't know where the impulse came from at that moment, Shan Chao got up, staggered forward regardless of the deep and visible scars all over his body, and stretched out his hand to Xie Yun desperately and full of despair.
Xie Yun shook his head, and there seemed to be a glimmer of light in the corner of his eyes:
"If there is a next life, please don't let me meet you again."
He let go of his fingers, the bowstring buzzed, and the arrow pierced through the thick and cold night sky in the north of Mobei like a shooting star, passing through the countless overlapping laughter, tears and thoughts in the past few years.
The arrowhead rotated inch by inch, and came to the door in front of Shan Chao under the suddenly dilated gaze of Shan Chao's pupils—