"Tonight, I’ll take turns with Xiwang to keep watch," Gu Qingheng said as he pulled Yang Ruxin into his embrace, helping her find a relaxing position. "Sleep."
And Yang Ruxin indeed closed her eyes.
Perhaps it was the familiar scent that made her sleep so deeply; she probably wouldn’t have woken up if she hadn’t sensed danger approaching.
"What’s wrong?" Yang Ruxin sat up.
"It seems like a lot of wild animals have drawn near," Gu Qingheng said, eyeing the surroundings with caution. "We’ll need to find a way to break out soon..."
Yang Ruxin nodded, gripping her whip tightly in hand, Xiaolun had vanished somewhere, and Xiaohei also needed sleep at night. What’s more, Xiaobai was likely quite far from here, so at the moment, they could only rely on themselves.
"It’s wolves." Lin Xiwang’s voice quivered a bit. "Lots of them."
"These aren’t wolves," Yang Ruxin shook her head. "They’re hyenas, also known as jackal-dogs." The last time they’d encountered these, that beautiful man had almost fallen prey to them, becoming a resentful ghost. And now, they’d run into a pack of hyenas too.
"There’s too many of them, there’s a large tree over there. I’ll attract them, and you’ll take the chance to climb up," Gu Qingheng’s treasure sword was drawn.
Because it was winter, and food in the mountains was scarce, these creatures tended to hunt in groups. Seeing the three of them was akin to stumbling upon a delicious feast.
Gu Qingheng was an excellent fighter, swiftly spearing four or five hyenas that charged him. However, the number of hyenas around them kept growing without any sign of diminishing.
"Get up there," Yang Ruxin signaled to Lin Xiwang. "Don’t come down unless absolutely necessary. You can climb trees, right?"
Lin Xiwang nodded, and then swiftly scaled to the top of the tree, aware that he was only a burden on the ground.
"Xinxin..."
"I’ll stay with you," Yang Ruxin lashed out her whip at a hyena that pounced towards Gu Qingheng from behind, and then the two of them stood back to back. "Don’t believe we can’t handle this bunch of beasts."
"Okay," Gu Qingheng nodded. "Be careful."
Soon, the corpses of the hyenas piled higher and higher around them, yet the remaining hyenas showed no fear, relentlessly charging in waves.
"This is like a war of attrition," Yang Ruxin gasped. "If this keeps up, we’ll be exhausted to death."
"Xinxin, in a moment, I’ll distract them, and you..."
"Cut the crap," Yang Ruxin didn’t let him finish, "We agreed on living and dying together, not just empty words. Say that crap again, and I’ll break up with you when we get back..."
"Fine, I’ll stop," Gu Qingheng chuckled. "Let’s break out together."
"Don’t worry, we’re not even married yet. We won’t die," Yang Ruxin also laughed, thinking that if worse came to worst, she’d just drag him into the space if he fainted later. No matter how many hyenas there were, they wouldn’t be able to touch them, and they had enough supplies in the space to last for a few years.
"Heh heh..." Gu Qingheng laughed out loud.
The hyenas continued their assault with incredible patience, in no hurry at all, gradually wearing down their prey’s strength, waiting for the moment of exhaustion to feast.
"Gu Qingheng, I’d rather die from a fall than be bitten to death by them," the two found themselves chased to a cliff edge.
"Okay," Gu Qingheng nodded, he’d been torn in several places by the hyena-dogs in his efforts to protect Yang Ruxin. "Then let’s jump together."