The wolves came fast and coordinated, splitting into flanking positions while the Alpha held back and directed them with low growls.
Huo Chen watched them move and felt his stomach tighten at how disciplined they were. "Flame Palm wall—ignite!" Elder Huo Rong's command cut through the tension and disciples responded in unison. Crimson Qi flared from their palms, creating a wall of heat that pushed back the advancing pack.
The air filled with the acrid smell of singed fur. Huo Chen fell into position on the right flank, his stance automatic after countless practice hours. Fire-Qi gathered in his palms, just enough to hold his section of the line.
His job was simple: keep the wolves back, don't die, collect merit points at the end. The formation held as the wolves tested it, darting forward in pairs to probe for weaknesses before retreating when met with fire.
Huo Chen kept his breathing steady, pushing Qi through his meridians in the rhythm Elder Shun had drilled into every disciple. Around him, the sounds of battle built into a steady roar of snarls, howls, and the hiss of fire meeting flesh.
His world compressed to the three-meter section he was responsible for, watching the wolves and maintaining the technique without breaking formation. His arms started to burn from the constant Qi output, but he'd worked twelve-hour shifts in the mines and knew how to pace himself through pain.
Then a fifth-layer disciple on his left made a mistake. The guy overextended going for a kill on a wounded wolf, his Flame Palm catching the beast in the skull and dropping it instantly, but his momentum carried him forward and for just a heartbeat his shoulder turned and his guard dropped. A massive scarred wolf that had been circling saw the opening and pivoted mid-stride, muscles bunching as its eyes locked on the exposed throat.
The attack would land before the disciple even realized his mistake. Huo Chen moved without thinking, his body staying locked in stance to maintain his section while his awareness dropped through his feet into the earth. The connection to his clone flared to life and he pushed a thread of energy through it into the ground where the wolf's trajectory would take it.
The soil rippled and loosened just enough. The scarred wolf launched itself in a leap that should have ended the fight, but its front paws hit disturbed earth instead of solid ground and its footing collapsed.
The entire attack fell apart as the massive body pitched forward completely off-balance. Huo Chen closed the distance in three long strides, his right palm igniting with concentrated fire-Qi as he brought it down on the wolf's lowered skull with everything he had. The impact traveled up his entire arm and bone cracked under his palm.
The wolf's body hit the ground and went still. Huo Chen stood over it breathing hard, his hand still tingling from the strike. The disciple he'd saved stumbled back with a sheet-white face. "Brother Chen, I didn't even see it coming," he managed. "Thank you." "The Ground was unstable there," Huo Chen said, forcing his voice steady. "Got lucky with the timing. You hurt?" "No, I'm fine thanks to you." Huo Chen nodded and moved back to his position like nothing had happened, his heart hammering but his hands steady.
Nobody seemed to have noticed anything strange, just loose ground and good reflexes. The battle broke five minutes later when Elder Rong's technique punched straight through the Alpha's chest and the massive wolf went down with a howl that echoed off the canyon walls.
The remaining pack scattered immediately, disappearing into the hills. Elder Rong walked the line checking disciples for injuries, and when he reached Huo Chen's section his gaze fell on the scarred wolf.
"Clean kill," Rong said with genuine approval in his voice. "Most fourth-layer disciples freeze up against a beast that size." "The ground helped," Huo Chen replied. "Caught it mid-leap when the soil gave way." Huo Rong studied the disturbed earth for a moment then nodded. "Mining experience teaches you to read terrain better than most. That awareness saved your brother's life today."
He clapped Huo Chen's shoulder once before moving on to call out orders for cleanup. The next hour passed in familiar post-battle rhythm as disciples extracted beast cores and recovered scattered spirit stones. Huo Chen helped drag corpses to the roadside, his muscles screaming as the adrenaline drained and exhaustion set in.
By the time the sun reached its peak, Elder Rong had tallied contributions and allocated merit. Huo Chen pulled out his jade token and watched the characters shift into new numbers.
Twelve points total, ten for participation and two bonus for the assist. He turned the token over in his hands feeling its weight. After three years of scraping by on minimum monthly stipend, twelve points felt significant and real. This was progress he could actually use. The walk back settled into comfortable rhythm as disciples chatted around him, comparing allocations and replaying moments from the fight. Huo Chen walked quietly in the middle of the group, and when the disciple he'd saved caught his eye and nodded thanks again, he returned it without fuss. The story would spread through the dining halls about a fourth-layer disciple with quick reflexes and mining experience who made a good kill.
Nothing remarkable enough to draw real attention, but solid work that earned respect. His body ached everywhere from maintaining the Flame Palm technique and his right hand throbbed where it had connected with the wolf's skull, but underneath all of it was something he hadn't felt in years. The clone had worked exactly as he'd hoped with instant connection, precise control, and manipulation subtle enough to pass as natural terrain.
The clan gates came into view as afternoon sun painted the stone walls gold and the sentries waved the patrol through without ceremony. Inside the walls, disciples split off toward their quarters and Huo Chen headed for the branch disciples' section where his small courtyard waited.
He'd meditate tonight to let his Qi recover and maybe look over technique manuals to see if anything was worth the merit points. Twelve points for a day's work, not just surviving but actually contributing and building something even if the increments were small.
As he pushed open his door and stepped into the quiet of his room, Huo Chen let himself smile. The jade token sat heavy in his sleeve as proof that things were changing, slowly but definitely. For a fourth-layer disciple with mediocre talent and a secret he couldn't share, that was more than enough.