The wolf's breath came out heavy, steam rising in the cool morning air. Its sharp eyes locked onto Zhang Wei, filled with pure hatred.
Zhang adjusted his footing on the damp ground. His shoulder ached from the earlier hit, but he pushed the pain aside. He could not let it distract him now.
The wolf growled low, its body lowering, muscles tensing. Zhang could see the way its back legs shifted—ready to spring.
Here it comes.
The beast lunged forward, closing the distance in a heartbeat. Zhang raised his sword just in time.
Clang!
The blade met teeth again, the force sending a shock through his arms. He stepped back quickly, avoiding the wolf's snapping jaws by inches.
It's too fast…
The wolf landed, twisted, and came at him again without pause. Zhang sidestepped to the left and swung low. His blade sliced across the wolf's side, leaving a deep line of red.
Grrraah!
The wolf howled in pain, but its charge didn't stop. Its massive body slammed into Zhang, knocking the wind from his chest. He rolled across the grass, dirt sticking to his sweat-covered arms.
Coughing, he forced himself up, gripping his sword tighter. His breathing was heavy now, but his eyes stayed sharp.
The wolf circled him slowly, its injured paw leaving streaks of blood on the ground. Each step it took was measured, almost careful.
It's watching me… waiting for me to slip.
"What a smart beast."
Zhang Wei smiled. He didn't know why, but this kind of life made him excited—like his whole body was screaming, I'm alive!
A strange warmth spread from his chest to his limbs.
Zhang took a step to the side, keeping his distance. He couldn't rush in. One wrong move and those jaws would crush his bones.
The wind blew harder, carrying the smell of blood across the grassland. The sound of the river far away mixed with the wolf's heavy breathing.
Without warning, the wolf charged again.
Zhang didn't back away this time. He moved forward, meeting it head-on. At the last moment, he dropped his body low and slashed upward.
Slash!
His blade tore through the wolf's jaw, blood spraying across his face and arms.
The wolf screamed and staggered, shaking its head wildly. But its claws still came for him—one sharp strike catching his side.
"Agh—!"
Pain shot through him, but he forced himself to stay on his feet. He glanced down—three long cuts across his waist. Fortunately, they were only skin wounds.
They stood facing each other again, both wounded, both breathing hard.
Zhang's grip tightened until his knuckles turned white.
One of us isn't walking away from this.
The wolf roared and charged once more, and Zhang stepped forward to meet it.
The wolf's growl rumbled deep in its chest, low and dangerous. It paced in a half circle, each step leaving a dark smear of blood on the grass. Zhang Wei matched its movement, his sword never leaving its guard position.
The air between them felt heavy, as if the world had narrowed down to just the two of them. His ears caught nothing but the sound of his own breathing and the wolf's slow, angry steps.
A faint sting from the claw marks on his side reminded him of the cost of even the smallest mistake. The blood was warm, sliding down beneath his shirt, but he ignored it.
The wolf suddenly stopped.
Its muscles bunched.
Zhang's fingers curled tighter around the hilt. His eyes didn't blink.
Then—
Whoosh!
It lunged, the ground shaking under its weight. Zhang stepped to the side, his sword flashing toward its neck—
Clang!
The wolf twisted mid-air, catching the blade with its claws. Sparks flew as steel met hardened bone. The force pushed Zhang back a step, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forward, shoving the beast off balance.
The wolf landed hard, snarling, and swiped again. Zhang ducked low, feeling the wind of the claw pass over his head. He drove his sword forward, piercing deep into its shoulder.
"Grrraahh!!"
The beast howled, thrashing violently, but Zhang tore the blade free and backed away before it could bite.
They clashed again and again—blades and claws flashing, dust and grass flying into the air. Each strike left another wound, and Zhang's arms were starting to burn from the effort.
"I need to end this quick!"
Feeling the blood running down from his forehead to his eyelashes, Zhang Wei narrowed his eyes and endured the discomfort from an earlier scratch.
"One slash… Just give me one opportunity, and I will end this!"
He knew he couldn't drag this out. The wolf was bigger, stronger. If he let his speed slow even for a moment, it would tear him apart.
Then came his chance.
The wolf, breathing hard, leapt back to gain distance. It landed on a small rock ledge above him. Zhang watched as its body crouched low, ready to spring down and crush him.
For a heartbeat, neither moved.
Then the wolf jumped.
But this time, Zhang Wei's lips curved into a thin smile. His eyes flashed with a cold, sharp light.
Clang!
In a single motion, he stepped into its shadow, his sword slicing diagonally through the air—bypassing its claws and cutting straight across its exposed throat.
Spurt!
The sound was clean and smooth.
The wolf's momentum carried it past him, its body twisting midair before hitting the ground with a dull thud, its throat split clean.
Blood poured from the deep slash, staining the grass a dark red.
It gave one last, choking growl… then went still.
Zhang stood there for a moment, chest rising and falling, the cold morning wind brushing against his sweat-damp face.
He slowly lowered his sword.
"It's done."
Wiping the blood from his eyelashes, he took a deep breath, feeling the air of freedom entering his lungs.
"Life is good."
He had never experienced something like this in his past life. Although it had been safe and comfortable, sometimes he had wanted to do dangerous things.
If this were his past life, his parents would never have let him do something like this.
He remembered the time when he improved himself by jogging from home to school in secret—only for them to forbid it when they found out, saying it would make him sweaty and haggard when he got to class.
And another time, when he wanted to go with his classmates to a beach during a storm, but they stopped him because it was "too dangerous."
Zhang Wei smiled faintly, looking at the scratch on his arm with blood slowly trickling out. A proof that he was alive and breathing.
"You never gave me the chance to live at all…"
"Although life was safe and looked promising, you never asked me whether I wanted it."
He felt a strange calm thinking about it, but quickly shook his head.
"They'll be okay… They wouldn't need me there anyway. They have my siblings."
His parents in his past life couldn't be said to be bad, but also not pure good. It was somewhere in between—arbitrarily deciding his life and pushing him onto what they believed was the true path to success.
But they forgot that the world was always changing, and the right path from before might not stay right forever.
With technology advancing every year and the online world showing the future, older people were already getting left behind by time. But he couldn't fully blame them—after all, even he, living in that era and improving himself daily, had sometimes felt left behind.
Thinking about it, the chance to start again was incredibly valuable. Even though this world was foreign and dangerous, with his talent, he believed he could at least have a place among the crowd.
The world was so big… there would always be a place for him to stand.