Endless darkness was filled with murmurs and whispers, punctuated occasionally by the howling of wolves, sending chills down one's spine.
Wolf!!
Wolves!!!!
"Are you okay? Wake up?!"
Zhou Qianwu's voice echoed from all directions, jolting Ding Cang awake from his nightmare.
His clothes were soaked with sweat, the bandages on his limbs stained with varying degrees of blood, and even his eye sockets appeared slightly sunken.
Zhou Qianwu looked at Ding Cang with concern and couldn't help but ask, "Another dream?"
Ding Cang muttered to himself, "Ever since those beasts bit my hands and feet, I've had this dream every day."
He cupped his face in his hands, his expression full of dejection.
"In the dream, it felt like I was swallowed by a wild wolf, I could even hear its panting right by my ear."
As he spoke, Ding Cang retched violently, nearly vomiting bile.
Zhou Qianwu hurriedly brought him water and patted his back with his palm, trying to ease his suffering.
He remembered it happened when they had just left Taoxing Village. Late at night, they encountered a few wild wolves, and Ding Cang, caught off guard, was dragged away.
To rescue him, they fought desperately against the wolves, even leaving two hunters injured in the process.
After the wolves were killed, Zhou Qianwu and the other hunters searched for a long time before finding Ding Cang unconscious in the wolf den. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously hurt, his injuries were mostly on his hands and feet.
Zhou Qianwu said reproachfully, "When Runner Ren visited us the other day, why didn't you explain the situation?"
"I... I..."
Ding Cang's eyes were vacant, as if still trapped in fear.
Zhou Qianwu sighed deeply and said, "Your injuries are almost healed. Why not go up to the camp mountain to relax a bit?"
"Mm, thank you, Uncle Zhou. I really should take a walk..."
Ding Cang stood up dazedly and staggered out of the wooden cabin.
Zhou Qianwu watched his retreating figure, frowning slightly as he muttered to himself, "This kid Ding Cang... why does he seem taller than before?"
"Or have I gotten shorter with age?"
When Ding Cang arrived at the camp, the warm sunset on his body eased his tense mood somewhat.
Several familiar hunters, seeing him finally step outside, called out greetings.
Ding Cang responded to each one, intending to stop and chat, but his feet involuntarily carried him deeper into the camp.
What's going on?
Ding Cang dismissed it, thinking it was just stiffness from staying indoors too long.
But soon, he noticed something was wrong, a faint stinging pain in his joints, blood seeping through the bandages.
He instinctively raised his arm to check, but his eyes registered a strange unfamiliarity, as if the arm didn't belong to him.
Then, Ding Cang noticed more oddities. There had been a faint birthmark on the back of his right hand, but now it was gone.
And the scar that once marked his left wrist had also vanished.
Panic rising, Ding Cang wanted to find a Restraint Officer for help, but his legs no longer obeyed him, carrying him swiftly toward the limestone cave.
He tried to regain control but couldn't.
Just then, Ren Qing, who had just emerged from the mine, was heading to the cabin to rest, carrying an unmistakably conspicuous four-foot Miao blade.
"Uh..."
Ding Cang froze for a moment, then, as if grasping at a lifeline, tried to call out to Ren Qing.
His right hand abruptly clamped over his mouth.
Ding Cang's pupils dilated. When faced with something incomprehensibly eerie, the body instinctively wants to scream.
His right hand suddenly pried open his jaw and grabbed his tongue.
Before he could react, excruciating pain shot through his scalp, his tongue had been ripped out by the root. Blood gushed out.
His twisted face was indescribably horrifying.
Ren Qing stopped in his tracks.
Ding Cang could tell Ren Qing seemed to notice his abnormality and tried once more to seek help, but his legs only sprinted faster.
He felt his bones creak under the strain, his organs crushed in agony.
Ding Cang collapsed heavily before the cave entrance, his flesh melting like butter, countless eyes floating in the ooze.
His consciousness seemed to return to the wolf's belly, but this time, besides the heavy panting, there was also the voice of a strange man.
"What a pity. It didn't fully cover the mining area."
Blood splattered.
The Hundred-Eyes Restricted Zone took form.
...
Hordes of beasts swarmed in.
The defensive insects, though greater in number, clearly couldn't kill the beasts quickly enough, allowing some fearless ones to break through into Tuofeng Mountain.
The surviving beasts were mostly wolves, tigers, leopards, and bears, those agile enough to endure.
As if they already knew the location of the Disaster Dispelling Restricted Zone, they charged straight for it.
With countless insects dying, Li Yaoyang subconsciously rubbed his temples, his expression growing impatient.
He sat cross-legged in a cave on Tuofeng Mountain, surrounded by over a dozen jars filled with swarms of insects.
Li Yaoyang frowned and muttered, "Ridiculous. Driving ordinary beasts here, thinking they can breach the Restricted Zone? Where do they get the audacity?"
He slit his wrist with a fingernail, letting blood drip into an earthen jar of insects. The sound of frenzied feeding arose.
Moments later, over a dozen wasp-like insects burst from the jar, spreading their wings and vanishing into the dense forest.
Li Yaoyang then left the cave and shouted, "Miss Muyi, there's still one cultivator left unhandled. Go restrain his corpse to prevent a new Restricted Zone from forming after death."
No sooner had he spoken than nearby vines and branches intertwined.
A three-meter-tall treant strode toward the approaching beasts, its terrifying appearance belying the fact that it was a young woman of sixteen.
Yet birds showed no fear of Muyi, even perching on her shoulders.
By the time Muyi located the beasts, they were already within a kilometer of the Disaster Dispelling Restricted Zone.
Muyi spread her arms.
Dozens of vines ensnared the beasts, and even those that slipped through were bound by roots erupting from the ground.
She inspected each beast but found them all ordinary, with barely detectable traces of spellwork.
"Could it be that the cultivator never even entered the mountain?"
Muyi closed her eyes, receiving feedback from the vegetation. Countless fragmented memories flooded her mind as she sifted for useful information.
After a long while, she opened her eyes.
Just over ten minutes earlier, a massive old wolf had scaled the steep cliffs of the back mountain, skirting toward the side of the Disaster Dispelling Restricted Zone.
But the old wolf was likely near death and wouldn't last much longer.
Muyi retracted the vines, reverting to her human form.
She then beckoned a few birds, chirping as if conversing with them.
The birds flew off, and Muyi hurried into the forest.
Whether the old wolf was the cultivator in disguise or not, it had to be stopped.
If it disrupted the Disaster Dispelling Restricted Zone, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Fortunately, the Restricted Zone was enveloped by indiscriminate spells, even someone of the Ghost Envoy Realm would struggle to break through quickly.