Fang Yaoting firmly guarded the carriage while waiting for Guo Baiyu and Zhao Renshu to return. Since they stopped at this place, he felt uneasy, so he decided to investigate the area and found that there was a bottomless cliff on the other side of the road, a perilous drop.
"They have been away for a while. Should we wake up Ping'an?" Fang Yaoting asked Lee Dachin, his gaze scanning the horizon.
"Let her rest," Lee Dachin replied softly. "I heard from Baiyu that her back was severely injured."
"This is not a good place to rest," Fang Yaoting murmured, his unease growing. "Mountain roads are always dangerous."
Fang Yaoting suddenly saw a woman riding a horse heading towards them at a very fast speed. Fang Yaoting quickly dragged the horse carriage from the middle of the road closer to the mountainside to ensure that the woman would not hit them and scare their own horse away.
An arrow suddenly hit the woman's horse's buttock. The injured horse was frightened, so the horse bucked violently, throwing the woman from its back to the ground. The horse then galloped away, leaving the injured woman behind. Four men on horses, the apparent attackers, chased the woman relentlessly. The woman stood up slowly, bleeding profusely from her right arm. The woman was dirty from head to toe, her clothes torn.
Lee Dachin, who was sitting on the carriage platform, saw the woman and immediately recognized her. He had met her in Sunshine Town and Capital City. "Xiao Dan?" Lee Dachin exclaimed, surprised.
Fang Yaoting looked at Lee Dachin. "Do you know her?" he asked.
"We met her in Sunshine Town and Capital City many years ago," Lee Dachin explained quickly. "She and her sister were the ones who asked Longtong about the whereabouts of Baiyu and Renshu."
"You mean she is one of the two beautiful sisters we met many years ago?" Fang Yaoting asked, surprised by her current state.
Lee Dachin nodded.
"The way she looks right now," Fang Yaoting said, "I don't even recognize her."
Xiao Dan turned to look at Lee Dachin and Fang Yaoting, her eyes wary. "Who are you?" She pointed her short sword at Lee Dachin and Fang Yaoting, suspicious.
Fang Yaoting immediately stood in front of Lee Dachin, staring at Xiao Dan coldly, ready to defend. Lee Dachin got off the carriage platform and stood beside Fang Yaoting, supporting him.
"Xiao Dan, we met in Sunshine Town and Capital City many years ago," Lee Dachin said, trying to reassure her. "I am a friend of Ping'an."
"You are trying to deceive me," Xiao Dan said angrily, still on guard.
"No, Ping'an is actually in the carriage," Lee Dachin insisted, trying to prove his truthfulness. He opened the curtain gently. "Ping'an, wake up."
Ping'an slowly opened her eyes, disoriented. "Dachin, what is it?"
"Come out," Lee Dachin urged.
Ping'an slowly got out of the carriage. She saw Xiao Dan stained with blood, and her eyes widened in alarm. She jumped out of the carriage and rushed to Xiao Dan, concerned for her safety.
"Ping'an," Xiao Dan cried out, relief washing over her.
Another arrow came flying directly at Ping'an. Fang Yaoting pushed Lee Dachin, hiding him next to the carriage. He quickly rushed to Ping'an, unsheathing his sword, and blocked the incoming arrow with a clang.
When the four men on their horses approached, Ping'an sent three sharp icicles directly at the first two horses. The two horses slammed onto the mountainside, killed instantly. The two men abandoned their horses, touched the mountainside with their feet, and transformed themselves as they leaped onto the carriage rooftop, their bodies shifting into hulking wolf forms. Two big wolves, the size of humans, jumped off directly from the carriage rooftop at Ping'an and Xiao Dan, attacking aggressively.
Ping'an quickly took out her whip and swung it at one wolf, hitting the wolf on the back with a crack. She directly sent a talisman to the injured wolf. The rope talisman quickly wrapped around the wolf tightly, binding it.
Fang Yaoting swung his sword at the other wolf, cutting it in half through the abdomen, and immediately killing the wolf. The wolf's guts and blood spilled all over the ground in a gruesome mess.
The other two men (the remaining wolves) caught up and started attacking Fang Yaoting, their blows fierce. He blocked their attacks, and he kicked one of the men hard, which caused the man to stumble backward toward the horse carriage.
Ping'an sent three icicles to the man, forcing him to jump up. The icicle hit the side of the carriage, piercing the wood. Ping'an, Fang Yaoting, and Xiao Dan rushed to the horse carriage, taking cover. Lee Dachin emerged unscathed from behind the carriage. The group of friends saw three more horses coming toward them, carrying more wolf men.
"When we attack, Xiao Dan, you run up the mountain to find Baiyu and Renshu," Fang Yaoting instructed quickly. "They are out there somewhere." He turned to Lee Dachin. "Do not stay further than two feet away from me."
Lee Dachin ran around, standing faithfully next to Fang Yaoting. The three newly arrived wolves caught up.
"Go," Fang Yaoting turned to Xiao Dan, giving her the command.
Xiao Dan ran up from the hill and, as she ran, transformed into a white fox, a blur of fur. The four remaining wolves became enraged, and they began to attack.
Fang Yaoting fought the three wolves while protecting Lee Dachin, his movements fluid and precise. The three wolves attacked from all directions, but he, the highly skilled swordsman, blocked all their attacks. One of the wolves threw a power kick toward him, but he blocked the kick with his left hand and then kicked the wolf man in the lower abdomen, making him grunt in pain.
The three wolf men conjured their weapons, and the three wolves sprinted at Fang Yaoting.
Meanwhile, the first wolf (the one Fang Yaoting had kicked) recovered and kicked Ping'an twice, aiming exactly at her chest. She blocked it with two arms, but the force caused her to fly backward twenty feet away towards the cliff edge. She directed two swords directly to the charging wolf man.
The wolf man blocked the first sword, but the second sword passed through the wolf man's abdomen, piercing him. Ping'an's swords then hovered back and floated beside her, returning to her command. She fell down on one knee and vomited a mouthful of blood, her strength failing.
Fang Yaoting swung his sword at one of the wolf men, then quickly pushed Lee Dachin out of the way as another wolf man charged at him.
"Ping'an!" Lee Dachin rushed to his fallen friend, concerned.
The other wolf man, seeing an opening, flipped back and hit Lee Dachin on the left shoulder blade, a precise strike, which caused Lee Dachin to stumble off the bottomless cliff, falling into the abyss below.
"Dachin!" Fang Yaoting screamed, his voice filled with raw terror.
Ping'an, despite her pain, sent her whip wrapped around Lee Dachin's waist, catching him mid-fall. But Lee Dachin's falling body dragged her, pulling her towards the cliff edge. The wolf man took this opportunity to pierce his sword with one blow after another, aiming at her abdomen, trying to finish her.
Ping'an rolled desperately on the ground, a blur of motion that narrowly dodged the wolf man's stabbing attack. He retaliated with a furious flurry of sword strikes aimed at her prone body. With a surge of adrenaline, she pushed herself just high enough to avoid being sliced. But the moment she lifted off the ground, the wolf man delivered a vicious kick to her abdomen. The blow sent her flying, tumbling over the edge of the cliff with Lee Dachin, both of them plummeting into the inky darkness below.
Guo Baiyu and Zhao Renshu, hearing the screams, both roared, "Ping'an!"
Fang Yaoting screamed, "Dachin!"
Zhao Renshu, seeing the devastating fall, sent out an icicle, impaling and killing the wolf man dead on the spot. He then flew away from the hillside, joining Fang Yaoting, and attacked the remaining wolves. Fang Yaoting stabbed a wolf on the left chest. The wolf man died immediately.
Zhao Renshu drew his sword; his face contorted with rage. "I am so sick of you wolves!" He violently attacked one of the wolf men, his movements a blur of fury. He defeated the wolf man in five brutal moves. Then, he cleanly severed the wolf man's head with a single sword swing.
Fang Yaoting kicked the last wolf man towards Zhao Renshu, and he, with grim determination, cut off the wolf man's head with his sword. He shook the blood off his sword and sheathed his sword back, the battle over.
Guo Baiyu handed the baby to Xiao Dan, his face pale with dread, and ran down the hillside to where Ping'an and Lee Dachin had fallen.
"Ping'an! Dachin!" Guo Baiyu shouted down the bottomless cliff, his voice echoing with desperate fear.