1033: Chapter 1032 Within the Relics, Dao Traces Crystallized

Li Wuji looked up at the eerie sky, then at the scorched earth beneath his feet; the obscure patterns on his fingertips seemed to warm slightly for a moment.

The silence did not last long.

Woo-woo—!

A shrill, piercing howl erupted without warning from all directions, instantly breaking the deathly silence of the wasteland.

The howling did not come from a single direction but layered over itself like waves, moving from far to near, rapidly flooding his entire sensory space.

On the scorched horizon, cyan-gray figures emerged like ghosts, charging toward him at an astonishing speed!

They were wolves, but certainly not ordinary beasts.

They were as large as calves, with sturdy skeletons and bulging muscles, covered in cyan-gray fur that resembled steel needles.

Most eye-catching were their limbs and snouts, which were wrapped in visible light cyan Qi; as they ran, wind formed beneath their feet, their speed so fast they almost left afterimages.

Their wolf eyes were scarlet, filled with pure brutality and a desire to kill, devoid of any shred of reason.

Wind Wolves!

And their numbers were enough to make one's scalp tingle!

Looking out, there were no fewer than a hundred, flanking and encircling Li Wuji's position from all directions, forming an ever-shrinking circle of death.

They clearly did not appear by accident; it was more like they were attracted by the aura of an "entrant," or perhaps this was the "welcoming ceremony" inherent to this Secret Realm.

Li Wuji stood in place, not even adopting a defensive or offensive stance, merely watching these Vicious Beasts charging toward him calmly.

The pack of Wind Wolves was extremely fast; in just a few breaths, the dozen or so at the front had lunged close, a fishy wind hitting his face, their claws wrapped in wind power flashing with a cold light as they viciously tore toward his vital points!

However, the moment those claws were about to touch the hem of his clothes—

Li Wuji did not even lift his eyelids.

It was just a thought.

Without a sound, without any flash of exploding energy, without any ripples of Law fluctuations.

With him as the center, within a radius of about fifty meters, all the Wind Wolves that were lunging, running, or even just stepping into this range, suddenly stiffened!

The next moment, a terrifying scene occurred.

These ferocious Wind Wolves, as if their vitality and Soul had been instantly drained, saw their scarlet eyes dim and turn gray in an instant, their galloping bodies suddenly losing all strength, collapsing to the ground like puppets with severed strings.

No struggle, no screams, not even a wound; over a hundred Wind Wolves, in the same instant, completely lost their life aura.

On the scorched wasteland, with Li Wuji as the center, a cyan-gray "carpet" abruptly spread out, silent and still.

The bodies of the Wind Wolves did not bleed or rot like ordinary creatures; the moment they died, wisps of light cyan, translucent mist drifted from each wolf carcass.

These mists seemed to possess a faint spirituality, slowly drifting and converging in the air, eventually condensing into several irregular, light cyan crystal fragments resembling shattered glass, hovering about an inch above the corpses.

And they were rapidly dissipating!

Li Wuji reached out and grasped at the air, and a fragment closest to him flew into his palm.

It felt slightly cool to the touch, not a solid object, but an aggregate of strange energy and information.

As soon as his Mental Energy probed inside, he could feel a faint but pure will of "Wind" contained within!

This was an insight into speed, an application of airflow cutting, a fragmentary perception of riding the wind... chaotic, primitive, yet pointing directly to a certain essence.

What drew Li Wuji's attention even more was that at the core of this fragment, there was a strange "pattern" entangled, a thousand times thinner than a hair and almost imperceptible.

This pattern itself had no physical form; it was more like a manifestation of rules, containing a trace of the most basic, most Origin-level dao marks of the Great Dao of "Wind."

"Insight fragments of the dao marks of the Wind Dao..."

A flash of realization crossed Li Wuji's eyes, "Hunting creatures in the Secret Realm to obtain will fragments containing insights into Law, or even a trace of primitive dao marks... So that's it.

This is the 'gift' of the first layer of the Secret Realm, or rather... a screening?"

His gaze swept over the Wind Wolf corpses covering the ground and those hovering light cyan fragments.

Killing over a hundred Wind Wolves with a single thought, the fragments obtained, while not many, could allow for extremely fast insights into the Wind Dao; this was simply lightning speed compared to the outside world.

Although the insights contained in each piece were extremely shallow and fragmented, and those dao marks were so weak they could almost be ignored, many a little makes a mickle; for a Cultivator comprehending the Law of Wind, this was undoubtedly precious material.

Moreover, these were merely the most basic creatures on the outermost periphery of the Secret Realm.

It was conceivable that as he delved deeper into the Secret Realm, the creatures encountered would be stronger, the quality of the will fragments obtained after defeating them might be higher, and the contained dao marks might be clearer and more complete.

Almost at the same time Li Wuji realized this, other entrants in various parts of the Secret Realm also encountered attacks from packs of Wind Wolves.

Not everyone was as relaxed as Li Wuji; roars, screams, explosions of energy, the clashing of weapons...

Began to sound sporadically across this vast, desolate land.

Some were caught off guard and were injured or even perished in the first wave of the Wind Wolves' assault; others reacted quickly and engaged in fierce battles with the Wind Wolves.

Soon, those lucky ones who succeeded in killing the Wind Wolves also discovered the light cyan will fragments emerging from the corpses.

After a brief investigation, the light of surprise and greed replaced their initial tension and fear.

"This is... an insight fragment of the Law of Wind!"

"Killing these beasts actually has such benefits!"

"Quick! Kill more! This thing is of great benefit to me!"

"Grab it! There are more fragments over there!"

Throughout the Secret Realm, the situation changed abruptly.

People who were originally defending passively, trying to break out or avoid the pursuit of the Wind Wolves, immediately became active and even fanatical after realizing that killing Wind Wolves could yield tangible benefits related to Dao insights.

The instinct for survival was quickly overwhelmed by the desire to hunt for Opportunity.

Many teams or individuals began actively searching for packs of Wind Wolves, even erupting into conflict over the ownership of a relatively dense will fragment.

Above the wasteland, the drama of hunting and contention began to unfold.

Li Wuji did not go to collect the fragmented Wind Wolf pieces on the ground, which were of little significance to him.

He casually crushed the piece in his palm, letting the faint insights and aura of dao marks dissolve into the surrounding air, while his gaze turned toward the deeper parts of the wasteland.

There, more violent wind elements were vaguely gathering, along with... several auras that were significantly stronger, more obscure, yet more ferocious than ordinary Wind Wolves.

"It seems I need to walk toward where the 'wolf packs' are denser and where the alpha wolves are located."

He whispered to himself, took a step, and walked unhurriedly toward the depths of the wasteland, in the direction where the sound of Feng Xiao was most shrill.

Behind him, only a ground full of silent wolf corpses and light cyan light spots, gradually dispersed by the wasteland breeze, remained.