Wolves howl in the night raid, the Dao Foundation begins to resonate.

The tension in the village was like a taut bowstring.

The rhythmic thumping of reinforcing the fences, the heavy footsteps of patrols, and the lingering worry on the villagers' faces painted a stifling picture of an impending storm.

Medicine Old Man distributed precious herbs capable of masking human scent to the patrol teams, working day and night to prepare more healing salves for the inevitable.

Nightmare seized every moment to Cultivate.

By day, he drew upon the geothermal mineral energy in the hot springs for Body Tempering; by night, he poured all his efforts into refining the Rock Bear resources within the primal cube.

Under the continuous nourishment of energy, the vortex within his Chaos Dao Foundation had grown to the size of a fist.

As it rotated, it generated a suction force, allowing him to absorb the meager external energy more efficiently, increasing his refinement speed by several fold.

His Physical Body strength had recovered to a level comparable to a Foundation Establishment Stage Body Cultivator, and the cracks in his body had mostly healed.

Although his deduction ability had not fully recovered, his Divine Sense could now cover nearly half the village.

He could clearly "see" that in the stone house at the west end of the village, Han Li's aura was like a sharp blade hidden within its sheath—cold and dangerous—seemingly indifferent to the village's tense situation.

Meanwhile, in the direction of the Back Mountain Forbidden Land, that ancient and vast fluctuation seemed to have become slightly more active under the pressure of the impending beast tide.

On the third night, dark clouds obscured the moon, and the mountain wind was exceptionally biting.

Woo-ooo—!

A shrill, long-drawn wolf howl suddenly erupted from the mountain forest outside the village, instantly piercing the silence of the night!

Immediately following, a second, then a third... countless wolf howls echoed from all directions, like ghosts wailing, completely surrounding Shiquan Village!

"Enemy attack! Wind Wolves are here!"

The hunter on watch duty in the lookout tower let out a blood-curdling scream, only to have half his head sliced off by a wind blade that struck like black lightning, causing him to fall down with a shriek!

The battle broke out instantly!

Outside the fence, countless ghostly green eyes lit up in the darkness like floating will-o'-the-wisps.

Agile gray figures dashed toward the fence like a gale, their sharp claws and fangs glinting in the dim torchlight.

They were not only numerous but also swift and well-coordinated, spitting out weak yet sharp wind blades to attack the defending hunters from a distance!

"Hold the line! Use the spears! Archers, fire!" the old village chief shouted hoarsely, directing the defense.

Holding a heavy stone axe, he stood behind the fence himself, cleaving a Wind Wolf that tried to climb over it in two, hot blood splashing all over him.

The hunters roared, thrusting their spears through the gaps in the fence, while archers fired arrows into the densest parts of the wolf pack.

However, the Wind Wolves were too fast; many attacks missed, while the wind blades always found the gaps in the hunters' defense, causing constant casualties.

Shrieks, wolf howls, and the clash of weapons intertwined, and the smell of blood quickly permeated the air.

Stone Tiger fought like a mad tiger, wielding a heavy bone blade that whistled with each swing, killing three Wind Wolves that pounced on him in succession.

However, he also sustained several deep, bone-exposing wounds, drenched in blood.

His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "We can't go on like this! The fence won't hold much longer!"

Medicine Old Man did not go to the front line.

He set up a large pot in the open space in the center of the village, boiling healing medicine while distributing powder that could stimulate blood Qi and briefly boost strength to the wounded who rotated back.

His expression was incredibly grave; the situation before him was worse than he had imagined.

Nightmare stood at the doorway of the stone house, calmly observing the entire battlefield.

There were over a hundred Wind Wolves, with at least five particularly robust alpha wolves, whose auras rivaled Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators, directing from the rear.

The villagers were relying on the fence and their own courage to hold them back, but defeat was only a matter of time.

His gaze crossed the chaotic battlefield, casting toward the dark mountain forest outside the village.

There, he faintly caught a more obscure energy fluctuation that carried a familiar rhythm—weakly similar to the rule power of that silver-white creation, but more primitive and chaotic.

It was this fluctuation that was driving the wolf pack!

"Sure enough, there is a mastermind behind this..." A flash of realization crossed Nightmare's mind.

The anomaly in this Land of Absolute Spirit was no natural disaster.

Just then, with a thunderous boom, a section of the fence on the east side of the village collapsed under the combined force and wind blade cutting of several Wind Wolves!

The wolf pack poured into the village like a burst dam!

"Oh no! The east side is breached!"

"Quick, plug the gap!"

The villagers panicked, and the defensive line instantly fell into Chaos.

Several ferocious Wind Wolves lunged directly at Medicine Old Man, who was boiling medicine in the center of the village!

"Grandpa Medicine, watch out!" a villager exclaimed.

Medicine Old Man's expression changed, and he grabbed the pestle at his side, but he was old and frail; how could he resist the ferocious Wind Wolves?

Just as Medicine Old Man was about to perish under the wolf's jaws—

A black shadow, like a ghost, swept past with speed far exceeding that of a normal person, blocking in front of Medicine Old Man.

It was Nightmare!

He did not use the black longsword within the primal cube space, but fought bare-handed.

Facing the lunging Wind Wolves, he did not dodge or evade, guiding his Chaos Dao Foundation.

The fist-sized Chaos vortex suddenly accelerated, and a strange power—fused with the death intent of annihilation, the vitality of the world, and the stability of space—instantly condensed onto his right fist.

His fist struck first despite moving later, appearing slow but accurately imprinting onto the forehead of the first Wind Wolf.

There was no earth-shattering boom, only a slight "crack" sound like rotting wood breaking.

The Wind Wolf's forward momentum came to a sudden halt, its ghostly green eyes instantly losing all luster, and it slumped softly to the ground.

There were no visible wounds on its exterior, but all its life force had been completely annihilated in an instant by the punch, which contained the Dao Rhyme of Annihilation!

Immediately after, Nightmare's figure moved like the wind, his footsteps treading a mysterious rhythm, as if traversing the gaps in space.

He easily avoided the pounces of the other two Wind Wolves, attacking with both hands, feet, and fingers—poking, slapping, and chopping!

Every strike landed on the most lethal energy nodes of the Wind Wolves (as determined by the primal cube's analysis), the power of the Chaos Dao Foundation penetrating through to either annihilate their vitality, shatter their internal organs, or disrupt the weak flow of wind-element energy within their bodies!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With three muffled thuds in succession, the other three Wind Wolves also fell dead without suspense.

They died in different ways, but all lost their life force instantly.

The entire process took only two or three breaths, dazzlingly fast.

The originally chaotic battlefield fell silent for a moment.

The villagers fighting nearby and the bloodthirsty wolf pack subconsciously paused, looking in shock at the young man standing in front of Medicine Old Man, dressed in black robes, with a calm expression.

He... he was actually this powerful?!

What kind of power was that?

It was neither the blood Qi power the hunters were familiar with, nor the Spiritual Qi of the legendary Cultivators; it was bizarre and powerful!

Medicine Old Man looked at Nightmare's back, his eyes full of shock, but more of a sense of "as expected" relief.

Nightmare ignored the shocked gazes around him.

He felt the Chaos vortex within his body slightly depleted from the previous outburst, yet it was quickly replenishing by absorbing the dissipating blood energy around him and the residual weak wind-element energy in the corpses of the Wind Wolves.

The Chaos Dao Foundation, tested for the first time, had demonstrated its astonishing potential for devouring, evolution, and combat!

He raised his head, locking his gaze onto the few alpha wolves directing from the rear, as well as that obscure fluctuation deep in the mountain forest.

The hunt had only just begun.