Chapter 13 — The Siege and The Exploding Sun
The Circle of Eyes
Midnight wrapped Meng Village in a blanket of freezing silence. The moon was high and bright, casting long, sharp shadows across the snow.
Inside the fortified hut, it was pitch black. Long Tan had put out the fire so the wolves couldn't see his movement.
Su Lan sat in the far corner on the bed, clutching Little San and Baby Long Hao. She was trembling, her hand over Little San's mouth to keep him quiet.
Long Tan stood by the window slit. His breathing was slow and rhythmic. He circulated the Sun & Moon Technique to keep his body warm and loose.
Scritch. Scritch.
The sound came from the garden.
Then, a heavy sniffing sound at the bottom of the door.
Long Tan activated his Moon Eyes. The world turned into shades of gray and white in his vision.
He saw them.
Seven wolves.
They moved like liquid shadows. They circled silently, looking for a weakness in the wooden walls.
The First Wave
Suddenly—CRACK.
"YIPE!"
A wolf stepped on the crushed glass and sharp rocks Long Tan had hidden under the snow near the window.
It was the Teenage Wolf—the one Long Tan had kicked in the forest before. It was young and impatient.
"Now," Long Tan whispered.
He drew his Iron-Oak Bow.
With 360 Jin of arm strength, pulling the heavy string felt effortless. His muscles didn't even shake. The bow bent into a perfect crescent moon.
Twang!
The heavy arrow hissed through the air.
THWACK.
It punched through the neck of the teenage wolf. The beast dropped without a sound, pinned to the frozen ground.
The pack snarled. They knew they were under attack.
A second wolf tried to dig under the wall.
Twang!
Long Tan fired again instantly. The second arrow caught the wolf in the spine. It howled and dragged itself away, paralyzed.
"Two down," Long Tan counted. "Five left."
The Old Man's Witness
At the edge of the village, Old Zhang was watching from the shadows of a water barrel.
He gripped his rusty wood-chopping axe. His hands were shaking. He was terrified. He knew he was a weak man. A wolf could kill him in one second.
"He saved my life," Zhang muttered, his teeth chattering. "He saved my dignity. I cannot let him die alone."
He stepped out into the snow.
He crept toward Long Tan's house.
He saw the massive Alpha Wolf—the one with the silver scar—barking orders.
Zhang took a breath to shout, to distract them.
Inside the hut, Long Tan saw movement through the arrow slit.
He saw Old Zhang standing in the open.
Long Tan's eyes went wide with horror.
"ZHANG! GO BACK!" Long Tan roared from inside the house. "DO NOT COME HERE!"
The Alpha Wolf turned its head. It looked at Old Zhang. It licked its chops. Meat. Easy meat.
"I came to help!" Zhang shouted, his voice cracking.
"You cannot help!" Long Tan screamed. "You are weak! They will tear you apart in one second! Hide! Watch the road! Leave this to me!"
Old Zhang froze. He saw the yellow eyes of the pack turn toward him. He realized Long Tan was right. He was just a distraction.
He scrambled back behind the water barrel, heart pounding. "I will watch," he prayed. "I will be the witness."
The Roof Breach
The Alpha Wolf ignored the old man. It had a bigger prize.
It looked at the blocked door. It realized it couldn't break it down.
The Alpha leaped.
Thump.
It landed on the low roof of the hut.
Inside, dust and straw fell from the ceiling onto the baby's crib.
Scratch. Rip.
Great claws tore at the thatch. The roof groaned.
"Tan!" Su Lan screamed. "It's coming in!"
Long Tan looked up. He raised his bow.
But he hesitated.
"The roof is thick. If I shoot, the arrow will lose power. It will only scratch the Alpha. If I make it angry, it will drop down inside and kill the children."
He threw the bow onto the bed. Arrows were useless now.
"Hold the door!" Long Tan shouted to Su Lan. "Lean on the stone! Do not let the other wolves in!"
He grabbed his rusty iron knife.
He kicked the door open. BANG.
The Duel in the Snow
He stepped out into the freezing night to face the monsters.
"Get down here!" he roared at the roof.
The Alpha Wolf stopped digging. It looked down.
Its eyes burned with intelligence and hate.
With a growl, the Alpha leaped off the roof.
THUD.
It landed in the courtyard, five meters away from Long Tan.
It was huge. Its shoulders came up to Long Tan's waist. Its fur was thick and silver-tipped.
The remaining three wolves circled behind Long Tan, cutting off his escape.
It was 1 vs 4.
Long Tan didn't look at the small wolves. He locked eyes with the Alpha.
He held his knife in a reverse grip.
His current strength was 360 Jin.
But the Alpha was faster, heavier, and had teeth that could snap a cow's leg bone.
The Sacrifice
The Alpha lunged.
It moved like a gray blur. It was too fast to dodge.
Long Tan didn't try to dodge. He used the hunter's gambit.
He raised his Left Arm. It was wrapped in thick layers of old leather and cloth.
CRUNCH.
The Alpha's jaws clamped onto his left forearm.
The teeth tore through the leather. They sank into Long Tan's flesh.
Pain—hot and sharp—shot up his shoulder. Blood soaked the cloth instantly.
"Got you," Long Tan gritted his teeth.
The wolf was attached to him. It couldn't use its speed anymore.
The Sun Burst Strike
Long Tan raised his right hand, holding the knife.
He aimed for the wolf's skull.
But he knew the Alpha's skull was thick bone. A normal stab might not kill it instantly.
"I need more power. I need heat."
In that split second, Long Tan made a dangerous choice.
Usually, he circulated the Sun Energy gently to refine his body.
But now?
He grabbed all the Yang Qi in his dantian. He didn't circulate it.
He forced it.
He pushed the violent, burning energy into the muscles of his right arm.
[Technique Created: Sun Burst Strike]
WARNING: Body Overload.
Long Tan screamed.
His right arm turned a glowing, angry red in the darkness.
Steam exploded from his pores.
The muscles in his biceps bulged and twisted unnaturally.
RIP. SNAP.
Inside his arm, his own tendons were tearing. His muscle fibers were snapping because they couldn't handle the sudden surge of power. It felt like his arm was being ripped apart from the inside.
Strength Multiplier: 2x.
Momentary Strength: 360 Jin \rightarrow 720 Jin.
"DIE!"
Long Tan slammed the knife down.
It wasn't just a stab. It was a meteor impact.
BOOM!
The knife hit the Alpha directly between the eyes.
The sheer force of 720 Jin, combined with the explosive hot Qi, was too much for biology to handle.
The Alpha's head didn't just crack.
It exploded.
Bone, brain matter, and blood sprayed across the snow in a gruesome red fan. The sound was like a watermelon being smashed by a sledgehammer.
The massive body of the Alpha went limp instantly, dropping off Long Tan's arm like a sack of potatoes.
The Aftermath
The remaining three wolves froze.
They looked at the headless body of their king.
Then they looked at the human.
He was covered in blood. Steam was rising from his body in thick white clouds. His right arm was purple, swollen, and hanging uselessly at his side.
Whimper.
The wolves tucked their tails between their legs.
They turned and ran. They scrambled over the fence, desperate to get away from this demon.
Long Tan swayed. The adrenaline faded, and the agony of his torn muscles hit him like a hammer.
"Argh..."
He fell to his knees in the red snow, clutching his ruined arm.
Old Zhang slowly stood up from behind the water barrel. His axe fell from his hand.
Clatter.
He ran over, stumbling in the snow. "Lord Long! Lord Long!"
Long Tan looked up, his face pale and sweating.
"Zhang..." he rasped. "You stayed?"
"I saw it," Zhang whispered, staring at the headless beast. "I saw... the light. You... you are not a mortal hunter."
Long Tan smiled weakly. He pointed at the carcass with his good hand.
"Help me... drag this inside. The skin... is worth 5 silver."
Old Zhang nodded frantically. He grabbed the massive wolf legs. He didn't care about the blood.
At that moment, Old Zhang's loyalty changed.
He wasn't just helping a neighbor. He was serving a King.
Ding…
[Battle Victory.]
[Technique Created: Explosive Sun Qi.]
[Right Arm Status: Severely Damaged.]