My knowledge of outdoor survival skills could only be attributed to my childhood life when I was young. I remembered full well that the National Studies Institute was built only after I began schooling. Before that, my parents and I were nomads who moved around the world. Many a time I had wondered how my father was able to finance our never-ending trips that would have bled most people dry of their wealth. What was more, my parents were frequently deep in the wilderness to help solve paranormal incidents. Living in the wild enabled me to learn survival skills since a very young age and it had become one of my strengths! At present, I could easily survive in the wild for two or three months without a lighter!

I related more of my past to everyone, including the Sisters; and everyone was stunned, their arms hanging loosely at their sides with disbelief. Xiao Liu, ever so gentle and docile, gasped, “Incredible! You are indeed your father’s son!”

We waited until it was evening, and I went to check the snares that we laid. Not only the snares were empty, but they also appeared to be totally untouched! I felt a stab of disappointment as I dragged myself towards the river, hoping that the eddying waters would at least provide us with a meager bounty for dinner, lest we have to starve tonight. Still, an inspection of the fish traps proved to be equally fruitless. We divided what was left of our ham sausages and bread between us and ate them to stave off the pangs of famishness. With nothing left to do, we made ready to retire for the night. We applied more wormwood juice unto ourselves and coiled some of the wood weed around some of the kindling before consigning them into the fiery tongues of the burning fire. The fire consumed everything that we tossed in with comparable hunger as the scent of the wormwood began to slowly flood our campsite, driving away any mosquitos…

When we woke up the following morning, the soreness and fatigue we felt yesterday were but a memory! I got up and first went to have another look at the snares and found nothing. Enduring the redoubled weight of despair, I dawdled to the fish traps and discovered four meaty catfishes! We were so filled with glee that we were dancing around! We were having barbequed fishes for breakfast! We cleaned the fishes and ran them through with sharpened poles we had fashioned from branches! Before long, we huddled around the sizzling fishes and breathed in the enticing aroma of our breakfast! Since then, the three of us would always go for barbeque whenever time allowed us such leisure and indulgence!

We finished our breakfast and began packing up, continuing our trek southbound! I did not forget to first dismantle the snares that I had installed. There would not be any use for them once we were gone! Then I went to the river and disassembled the fish traps and, last but not least, put out the fire, which was one of the most important safety precautions in the wilderness. We hiked out of the mountainous region and reached a clearing filled with trees and forests by the side of the river that coursed from the foothills of the range. We plowed waist-deep through the tall grasses and underbrush as the morning dews droplets on the plants spawned wet patches on our pants as we moved on. Suddenly, we heard a long feral howl! A literal and blood-curdling call of the wild! It was the summons of one of the most feared alpha predator in the wild that triggered a cascade of responding howls! Frozen by shock, a word loomed in our minds as we realized that they were: Wolves!

Immediately I understood: we had been moving from the north all these while without noticing that the mountain winds must have carried our scent into the valley! The wolf pack had not attacked us when we were close to the denser parts of the copse in the glen. Instead, they waited until we ventured into the clearing where the woods were considerably less thick and more suited for their assault! Damn! How could I have overlooked this! On our right, the river channeled straight ahead while the wolves howls’ came from the left. They were trying to use the river against us to surround us and cut off our exits! We could not move further anymore; the waters of the rapids would get deeper and deeper and we would even lose our one last chance of escaping when the wolves close in on us!

In a blind panic, I began looking around, anxiously searching for ideas when my eyes fell upon a strong and large cottonwood tree opposite the river. “Can you see those beards of lichen hanging from the tree opposite?” I asked Lin Feng, “Do you think if you can use your rope-dart to coil around and grab hold of a bunch of them?” “What do you mean…” Lin Feng asked hesitantly but he began to see my plan. “We’ll swing over the river!” I replied, confirming his thoughts. Without another word, Lin Feng ran nearer to the tree to have a closer look. He made a mental estimation and took out his rope-dart, swinging it over his head for two rounds before tossing it forward. The dart zipped over the river and coiled around the bearded strands of the tree as Lin Feng yanked his rope-dart hard, causing the dart to grapple and clamp tightly. With a few steps to gather momentum, Lin Feng swung over the swirling rapids and reached the other side. He clambered upon the bough of the tree and made sure that his dart was strongly fastened before tossing the other end of his rope dart across the river, crying loudly, “Catch!” My arm reached up and I caught the rope, staggering a few steps back before I too reached the other side as Yuan Chongxi followed suit later. Finally, we heaved a breath of relief. Just then, from our side of the river, the grasses at the opposite stirred and rustled, as if declaring with fear the arrival of our predators. The air filled with hungry howls and ravenous snarls; the wolf pack had arrived. They would have surrounded us if we had lingered opposite earlier! The pack of wolves came closer to the river, looking over the water, eyeing us intently with their feral and insatiate eyes; their fearful and blood-thirsty countenance sending shivers and goosebumps all over us!

At the other side of the flowing waters that seemed to have provided us security, we patted each other’s shoulders for comfort. There was no need for fear even in times of panic, I told my companions and we began moving downstream.

But a foreboding dread made me turn my head to look at the pack of wolves, and I was just in time to see a wolf, the leader of the pack, racing towards the river and bounded off the edge of the banks! With a splash it plunged into the rapids, almost reaching the other side! The next thing we saw was his sleek black head tossing against the churning water as it paddled frantically to reach our side! The rest of the pack followed suit; they leaped as far as they could and braced themselves as the horde of predators all crash into the whitewater to follow their chief. Wolves could swim! How could I have forgotten that! Yuan Chongxi screamed to Xiao Qi, knowing that we would never be able to outrun the animals, “Xiao Qi! Are you not the ghost of a drowned woman! You’re adapted to water! Stop them before we become ghosts ourselves!” The spectral figures of Xiao Qi and the Sisters hovered above us as Xiao Qi spat, “That’s easy for you to say! How do you expect me to single-handedly hold off an entire pack of wolves?!”

The whole pack of wolves was across the river now, creeping closer to us inch by inch. Lin Feng extracted one of his darts that I noticed, despite the hectic situation, that it had a blue tail. A poisonous dart! Lin Feng would never have used such ruthless methods unless forced to! I had never believed that Uncle Quan would have given these to him! This could only mean that Brother Lin was out of options, I realized. Lin Feng aimed at a wolf which had crept to spitting distance from him and threw something at it with his left hand, only to be evaded by the wolf! It was not only fast and agile, but it could also read our maneuvers! But it did not realize that it was a feint: what Lin Feng had thrown with his left hand was only a stone! The wolf was barely able to react when Lin Feng’s right hand hurled his poison dart that pierced the neck of the savage canine. The wounded mutt scampered off, howling in pain before it staggered and collapsed. Its leg shook violently for a second before it was completely still. But to our horror, the rest of the pack threw themselves at its carcass and began devouring its remains voraciously like sharks in bloody waters! Realizing our chance, we ran as quickly as our legs could carry us. But our relieve was short-lived: it appeared that the carcass was hardly enough to feed the entire swarm of predators! If anything, the short, grisly feast was merely an entrée to a larger and more appetizing banquet: us!

Desperately, Lin Feng let loose another poison dart and another fell. Unlike humans, the carnivorous canines did not learn from their comrades’ mistakes. The sequence repeated for a few more times and I began to notice that the numbers of wolves pursuing us were dwindling! Could the rest of them have stopped chasing us when they had their fill of food? I muttered my suspicions to Lin Feng who refuted my assumption, explaining that the poison that he applied on his darts were a special and fast-reacting concoction that would quickly enter the bloodstream of its target. It was more than likely that the rest of the pack had been poisoned after feeding on the poisoned ones of their own! But there was another bad news, Lin Feng revealed. He had brought only six poison darts, and he was quickly running out! Panting as he ran, Yuan Chongxi still managed to scoff, “Damn, Brother Lin! Are they not prohibited?” Keeping up his pace, Lin Feng replied between his breaths, “I did not bring these myself. I had tied my weapons to Shiyan’s sword for him to summon the entire bundle to us. But when I tore my weapons off the Shiyan’s sword when we got off the plane, I found that my father had quietly included these poison darts into the array of weapons I prepared!” And indeed, it did not take long for Lin Feng to completely exhaust his supply of poison darts, while we were too spent to run anymore. But there was still half a dozen of them behind! I looked at my companions, and decided that there was no other way. “I have no other choice but this then!” I yelled.

I extracted my calabash gourd and ripped off its stopper. I recited a spell, the Curse of Despoiled Souls, and all six of the wolves fell lifelessly to the ground. With the magic that I would normally refrain from using, I had relieved the wolves of their souls and had stored their souls in my gourd. It was a spell that would cause instantaneous death! Yuan Chongxi shoved me weakly, “Damn! Why did you not use this spell earlier! I was so close to wetting my pants!” I could see that he was heavily drained from the ordeal as I patted on his shoulder. “Even you should have known, my simple-minded brother, that this is not a magic that one could lightly use without suffering heavy repercussions from Heaven! It is hateful to take lives, as you should already know. I would not have used this magic if not for the fact that we were but a mere hair’s breadth from dying! I’m not my father! He can be kind and friendly in one second, but he can also become alarmingly brutal and callous in the next! This pack of wolves would have not been completely wiped out if they had retreated earlier!” I turned to Lin Feng and said, “So, your poison will also kill the wolves that ate the poisonous carcasses?” “No, I think,” he replied, “Considering the size of these predators, they would at most be incapacitated for a few days with foam running from their mouths. Their bodies will expel the toxins on their own if they survive and they will be completely fine in a week!” “Very well,” I said, “Let us rest and feast on what we have here!” The mention of food had never failed to renew Yuan Chongxi with drive and energy as he said offhandedly, “Let me handle them. Wolves are no different from dogs! Hahaha!”

We kindled another fire with dry firewood we collected around us; the endeavor only served to aggravate our cravings for food! We roasted a wolf leg each on the fire and watched with interest as the meat broiled over the fire! I jabbed at Yuan Chongxi, joking that we should not overeat, lest we would not be able to run if we were attacked again, and that earned a guffawing laugh from everyone. But quickly, our laughter subsided as quickly as the tide as I muttered quietly to Chongxi, “So, you even know how to slaughter a dog…” “I have been following my mentor even before I was a boy. We were but penniless vagrants, moving from town to town, not knowing when will the next meal come. It was common in those days for me to steal, more so when it comes to stealing and slaughtering dogs for food…”

We dismissed the melancholic recollections and joked happily with each other as we gnawed at our meat when we suddenly heard the sound of galloping hooves approaching us! We were not alone, and our intruders were in greater numbers! Like a wind, the riders charged towards us!