At that thought, Evan Chu grew anxious. He quickly spread out his spiritual sense, searching for Jungle Wolves within several li of the forest. But with his cultivation suppressed, even his spiritual sense was limited.
Right now, Evan could only scan up to ten li with his spiritual sense, and it drained his mental power like crazy. He had no choice but to narrow his range and boost his speed.
Hard work pays off—before long, Evan spotted traces of several Jungle Wolves. He already had a plan: lure them in one by one and cut them down. To do that, he’d have to use Thundershift, which could attack from range. With his current suppressed strength, he figured his Thundershift could reach about twenty meters.
Evan crept closer to the Jungle Wolves, stopping when he was just about at their range. He began channeling the lightning element inside his body, preparing to unleash Thundershift.
But just then, Luna cut in: "Linfeng, why bother using your own lightning? You can just borrow the thunder element in the tower’s space! The lightning particles here can resonate too, and you’ll be able to strike from way farther away than your own Thundershift."
If you gather enough lightning element, you can one-shot a Jungle Wolf instantly. It doesn’t matter that your own power’s suppressed—it won’t affect this at all. Got it now?"
"Got it, totally got it! This is even better than Soul Rend. Soul Rend can handle the close-range Jungle Wolves, and once I resonate with the lightning element or other elements, I can blast the ones farther out. This time, beating Jade Chu and Tom Chu should be way easier." Evan grinned.
It was all clicking now. Evan slowed down and started sensing the elemental particles in the space around him. Soon he realized the five-element particles here were the most active and dense, while lightning and wind elements were much rarer.
After a while, Evan managed to resonate with the lightning element and began gathering it. There wasn’t a ton, but compared to the elemental particles in a Venerable Martial expert’s domain, it was way more—he pulled together a decent amount in just a few breaths.
Jungle Wolves weren’t all that strong—a normal lightning attack could seriously injure them. Evan laughed and called out, "Hey little wolf, taste Grandpa’s thunder!" As soon as he finished, a red thunderbolt crashed down from the sky, landing squarely on the Jungle Wolf closest to him.
The thunderbolt left the Jungle Wolf charred black. It struggled on the ground for a moment, then stopped moving. Evan Chu grinned to himself, "Looks like this Jungle Wolf’s got something on it. Otherwise, just like Luna said, it would’ve vanished instantly."
But right as he finished, the Jungle Wolf flashed with white light and vanished. Evan stared, furious. "Are you kidding me? The moment I say it, it disappears! This is just infuriating."
The sudden lightning strike from above made the other Jungle Wolves wary. They’d never seen anything like this before. They couldn’t talk, but they were smart enough to scan all around. Soon, one Jungle Wolf spotted Evan Chu’s figure.
That wolf immediately howled at the sky. As soon as it started, more and more howls echoed around, and those cries were getting closer—seemed like the whole pack was rushing toward Evan.
Evan’s heart skipped a beat. He glared at the howling Jungle Wolf, wishing he could cut it down right then. With so many wolves coming at once, how was he supposed to kill them all?
"Linfeng, pick a big tree and use it as cover. Then attack with your elemental powers. I’m telling you—even if there are a ton of Jungle Wolves, you’ll have no problem wiping them out." Luna advised.
"Sister Luna, you’ve got to be kidding. These Jungle Wolves hit like late-stage Saint Martial beasts—any of these trees would get shredded in seconds. If I hide in a tree, I’m basically asking to die!" Evan grumbled.
"Honestly, you’re as dumb as a pig. Why not use Wood-Shift and merge straight into the tree? No matter how strong the Jungle Wolves are, they won’t see you. Then you can kill them however you want." Luna snapped.
"That actually makes sense. Let me give it a try!" Evan said.
He picked a big tree and leaped up, using Wood-Shift for the first time to merge into its trunk. The feeling was just like fusing into water or earth before—right now, Evan was the tree, and the tree was him.
He could see more and more Jungle Wolves gathering below, but they couldn’t see him at all. Evan quickly started gathering lightning element, and after about half an incense stick’s time, he hit the limit of what his current spiritual power could control—he couldn’t pull in any more.
By now, twenty or thirty Jungle Wolves had appeared on the ground. With no target, they were wandering around, some howling, some looking ready to leave.
No way was Evan letting any of them escape—what if one of these guys had the key to open the gate? With a thought, he summoned another blazing red thunderbolt from the sky, this time aiming right at the densest cluster of Jungle Wolves.
This time, the thunderbolt was as thick as a bucket, instantly blasting at least five or six Jungle Wolves to bits. The ones nearby weren’t spared either—several were badly injured and couldn’t even get up.
Seeing that this one strike had killed at least seven wolves and wounded another dozen or so, Evan was overjoyed. If he kept this up, he figured two or three more rounds would wipe out the whole pack.
The ground was filled with pained howls. Some wolves lay motionless, maybe stunned by the thunderbolt—after all, the crash of thunder was just as loud as their own howls.
Evan started gathering lightning again, and before long, he dropped another bolt, killing a few more. By now, there weren’t many Jungle Wolves left, and they’d scattered, so he had no way to take out lots at once—he’d have to pick them off one by one.
It took Evan over an hour to finish off the whole pack of dozens of Jungle Wolves. Only then did he slowly emerge from the tree and drop to the ground, where something faintly glowing yellow immediately caught his eye.
Evan’s heart jumped. Could it be the key? He rushed over and grabbed it, only for his face to twist into a complicated expression as he saw what it was…