Ch 49: My Wolf Husband

In the midst of a well-coordinated human hunt, the female leader of the gray wolf pack was the last to be sent out of the encirclement and flames by her pack, barely clinging to life as she finally reached Dongshan.

Even she didn’t know why she was drawn here, only that she was following an innate instinct. However, this relatively intelligent wolf had not developed the ability to communicate fully; when summoned by the white wolves’ leader, she could only haltingly describe the plight of the gray wolf pack.

Fuli knew of this gray wolf pack. Ever since he “came of age,” he had naturally become aware of many things, as if by divine insight.

The gray wolf pack, a significant branch of the wolf species, thrived in the distant Altai Mountains to the west. The vast grasslands and dense forests there provided abundant food, leading to a large population of gray wolves.

Unlike the white wolf pack, which had quietly concealed itself in the heart of the Dongshan mountain range, the large gray wolf lineage could not hide its presence and often clashed or interacted with humans. The Altai was seen by people as the homeland of wolves.

Now, without any warning, they had been exterminated. The entire forest where their den was located had been burned, leaving not even the cubs alive, and the other creatures of the forest had also turned to ashes.

Rage surged within Fuli, his aura shifting to one of coldness and ferocity, revealing his beastly nature.

The white wolf king turned back to look at the mountain ridge; this was the ancestral land and den of the wolf clan, passed down since ancient times, a place of peace and seclusion. The newly born pups, still not yet able to open their eyes, lay in their dens, and the wolf king’s mate, her belly round with imminent birth, watched from the den, observing the frail gray wolf that had arrived.

The wolf king’s deep blue eyes were filled with determination. This was the sacred land the white wolf clan would protect with their lives, allowing no harm to befall it.

From that day on, the wolf pack’s vigilance became extremely strict, expanding their patrols throughout the mountains and keeping strong white wolves stationed on the ridges during hunts. Any slight movement in Dongshan was immediately detected by the wolf pack.

The gray wolf was accepted and placed in the forest to live alongside the green wolf pack, but it was already too weak, emaciated, and covered in burn wounds. Lin Shuishi applied medicine to it, hoping it would rest on the warm mountain ridge.

However, the former leader of the gray wolves adhered strictly to the new pack’s rules, cautiously limping down the ridge, where it was met by a few green wolves who led it away. Before leaving, the gray wolf did not take its cubs with it, as it no longer had milk to give. A simple survival instinct told the mother wolf that by staying close to the leader’s mate, her cubs would survive and not be cast out.

The gray wolf pack had never accepted lone wild wolves from outside and would often kill the cubs they brought. But the gray female wolf sensed that the leader’s mate had no cubs of her own and seemed willing to accept the weak little ones.

The mother wolf’s departure down the mountain was both desolate and resolute. Her gray wolf offspring would integrate into this new pack, and the bloodline would continue—this was nature’s way of ensuring survival.

Lin Shuishi stood at the edge of the mountain ridge, cradling the small gray wolf pups nestled in the sheepskin, feeling a sense of loss as he watched the mother wolf limp away. With no other choice, he wrapped the pups in the thick sheepskin and placed them back in his den. To prevent them from crawling out and falling, he put them in a basket, which made it easier to carry them around.

After finishing this task, Lin Shuishi turned and saw Fuli standing silently in the distance. He poured a bowl of water and handed it to him.

“Where is the gray wolf pack? Is it far from us?” Lin Shuishi had been uneasy ever since hearing about the mountain being burned and the wolves being wiped out.

Fuli downed the water in one gulp and handed the empty bowl back. Lin Shuishi noticed the dark, sharp claws emerging from Fuli’s hand, and he frowned as he took the bowl. He then grasped Fuli’s powerful hand, capable of shattering boulders, and pressed it against his own face.

As soon as the beastly hand touched Lin Shuishi’s delicate, fair skin, the claws instinctively retracted, leaving only the warm pad of the hand, which gently caressed his cheek.

Fuli was taken aback by the question. He didn’t know how to describe “distance” in human language, so after thinking for a moment, he finally said, “The wolf pack, at half a month’s speed.”

For a strong white wolf, it would take half a month of fast travel to reach the pack, but the mother gray wolf had taken a full month to arrive at Dongshan just in time to give birth.

This news made Lin Shuishi recall Fuli’s previous injury. The heavy arrow that had pierced his tendons and bones—Lin Shuishi had always thought it was just an accident. After all, who would bear a grudge against a “wolf” deep in the mountains?

But now, he couldn’t help but worry, especially since the arrow had been coated with poison.

Lin Shuishi put down the bowl and tightly grasped the beastly hand on his cheek, squeezing it as he looked at Fuli’s furrowed brow.

“Last time, I mean when you were injured in the mountains, what really happened? I never asked you before, but now I’m feeling uneasy.”

Fuli thought for a moment but then withdrew his hand and suddenly scooped Lin Shuishi up in one arm, leaping down from the mountain ridge.

Confused, Lin Shuishi was carried as they ran, moving farther and farther from the wolf den. They passed through vast grasslands where wild grass was beginning to sprout, crossed roaring waterfalls and rivers, and finally arrived at a shadowed canyon still covered in ice and snow.

Fuli gently set Lin Shuishi down and then leaped into a narrow crevice in the canyon. A moment later, he emerged, carrying the “body” of a “man” in one hand. Lin Shuishi was startled and hurried forward, carefully examining the “corpse” that Fuli had tossed onto the ground.

But the man didn’t let him get too close, raising his arm to block Lin Shuishi from bending down to examine the body.

Initially, Lin Shuishi felt a bit afraid. He had seen too many animal carcasses in Dongshan, even having to gut and prepare them himself. But a human corpse—aside from the villager from the distant mountain village who had been killed by a giant bear—was something different.

He had only caught a distant glimpse of the villager’s body, but now, this one was right in front of him, deeply connected to his current situation. Though he felt an instinctual fear, as he looked more closely, Lin Shuishi realized something was off and tried to lean in for a better look.

However, the man’s solid arm stopped him. Lin Shuishi had to cling to Fuli’s arm, stretching out to get a closer look.

The “corpse” was tightly wrapped in a suit of armor, only a small portion of the face visible. Lin Shuishi picked up a small stick and nervously poked and tapped at the armor. The material and sound it made were not that of iron, but of some sort of vine, coated with a light purple substance that made it both hard and flexible.

When he looked closer at the face, it didn’t seem like that of a normal deceased person. After death, regardless of how cold the environment is, a body typically shows signs of decay. But this body seemed more like a wax figure, the features expressionless, the face a dark purple color, resembling old tree bark soaked in dye.

And that wasn’t all—Fuli jumped back down and brought up another broken figure. When Lin Shuishi saw it, he felt a deep chill run through him.

The purple-coated vine armor wasn’t worn on the body; it had grown out from the “person’s” body and had been woven into armor, encasing—or rather, imprisoning—the body.

This scene was far beyond Lin Shuishi’s understanding! He gasped, ignoring Fuli’s attempts to hold him back, and walked to the edge of the gorge, where a cold wind blew. Fuli, worried, grabbed his hand, but Lin Shuishi bent over, his breathing rapid, and looked down.

In the still-bright daylight, Lin Shuishi saw the entire gorge filled with chaotic “vine armor,” with purple sap frozen in place, severed limbs with interiors resembling dried vines, and no sign of blood.

The heavy snow had covered much of it, so what he saw was just a small part.

Lin Shuishi’s mouth went dry, and he staggered back several steps, his back bumping into Fuli’s warm chest. Unable to hold back, he turned around and clung tightly to the still-strong and intact body, burying his face in Fuli’s chest, breathing heavily, too shaken to speak.

In a peaceful and lawful modern society, an ordinary young man could never imagine the brutal battles that Fuli had endured at that time. If he hadn’t brought it up, Fuli might never have shown him the shattered remains scattered across the gorge.

Fuli sensed that his little creature was still shaken, so he bent down slightly in front of Lin Shuishi, cupping his face and pressing their foreheads together, gently nuzzling him in comfort.

Lin Shuishi wasn’t exactly scared; rather, he was overwhelmed with relief that this wild beast was still alive and well! He also felt a deep regret for having left. If things had gone differently, it wouldn’t just be these vine-covered bodies buried under the snow—it could have been this very beast in his arms and the entire wolf pack of Dongshan.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Shuishi calmed himself and resolved to help Fuli cover the narrow gorge with branches and weeds, to prevent these strange and uncorrupted bodies from being exposed when the snow melted in the summer.

Fuli, thinking more efficiently, went into the forest and broke off thick trees, using them to block the mouth of the gorge, even kicking the two bodies on the ground down into it. Lin Shuishi, sweating profusely, worked even harder, asking anxiously, though his voice trembled, “Did… did you kill all of them?”

Fuli paused, surprised by the question, but then nodded. “All here. These things don’t run; they only attack. The wolf pack and I tore them apart and piled them up here.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuishi sighed in relief, biting his lip as he worked even more diligently, determined not to leave even a trace of these things exposed.

Since coming to this world, he had never encountered anything like an army and couldn’t determine the origin of these creatures. But the sinister and terrifying method used against them suggested they were not sent by any righteous force. He could only hope they had mistakenly wandered in or died here without passing the message along.

Sweat-soaked and exhausted, the two finally finished covering the area, and Fuli, still carrying Lin Shuishi, took him back. But halfway back, Fuli made a detour, bringing them to the hot spring valley.

At that moment, the geyser was in full eruption, and due to the warming weather in Dongshan, fewer animals were around. They were all busy hunting, courting, or raising their young.

The geyser roared as it surged from the ground, cascading down and pounding against the surrounding rock walls, its waters turbulent and grand.

The steam rising from the hot spring swirled into the sky, some settling in the nearby forest, while the rest ascended into the air, forming clouds and eventually the first spring rain of Dongshan.

After coming from the terrifying gorge, Lin Shuishi finally found peace in this display of nature’s boundless vitality. Leaning against Fuli, he watched as sunlight cast a rainbow arc through the steam from the hot spring.

Such a magnificent place on earth should never be tainted by blood.

Not by anyone.