“Grrr…” A full-throated growl came from close by.

“Hmmm?” Gray extracted his face from a chunk of bison tenderloin and looked around in confusion.

There were at least five pairs of bright yellow eyes in front of him. He heard more noises behind and turned to see even more sets of eyes. He soon recognized the rows of sharp teeth, furry faces, triangular ears, and four-legged bodies… great wolves!

A suffocating aura of death surrounded him. It did not come from the half-eaten carcass but the killing intent of these powerful hunters.

They had been attracted by the bison carcass and he had been too distracted by it. He might have been able to run if he was paying attention but now it was too late. He was completely encircled and he was now their prey.

“Woooo!” The largest wolf cried out and a pair of smaller ones charged.

“Fuck!” Gray yelled and leaped back.

The wolves snapped their jaws but only caught air. Gray wasn’t a pushover and swept out with a kick. His toes dug into the side of one of the wolves. There was an audible crunch as bones broke and it was sent flying away.

However, his victory was short-lived and he felt sharp pains in his back. Another wolf had taken the opportunity to climb on. Its claws dragged into his skin, leaving deep gouges.

He had no time to think about the pain as the wolf was already going for the back of his neck. He ducked to the ground, causing it to miss. He reached back and grabbed it by its fur. He gave a mighty heave and pulled it off his back. The wolf weighed only two hundred kilograms at most and was sent flying into the air.

“Rrooowww!”

Several howls sounded and two more wolves charged at the same time. He dodged the attack and rolled to the side towards the bison carcass and found his pickaxe. Fighting barehanded against sharp teeth and claws was way too unfair. It was time to even the odds!

“Come here!” Gray roared defiantly and brandished the pickaxe with both hands.

A furious, chaotic brawl ensued. The ten great wolves took turns attacking, one, two, or even three at a time. Gray stood his ground and did not flee. He suffered many cuts and slashes but refused to give up the prized bison meat.

The wolves had their sharp teeth and claws but they could not chew through metal. A pickaxe was an unwieldy weapon but it was all he had. As a miner, it was his chosen weapon. Through the endless attacks from all directions, he gradually learned tricks and ways to utilize the pickaxe properly in a battle. The sharp point could be used to land a killing blow. The shaft could be used to block attacks. Balance, speed, and agility; the more he fought, the more he improved.

The wolves were at the fifth level or sixth level with the pack leader at the seventh level. The wolves dared to attack because of his cultivation but they made a grave mistake that they could not have foreseen. He was not a normal human cultivator. With his abnormal strength, he was able to hold them all off.

The battle dragged on and both sides suffered. However, the losing side became clearer and clearer. One side had barely any intelligence and was driven by instinct. The other had the Tome of Glorious Fortune and a stomach full of spiritual meat.

The first wolf that was kicked by him was mostly useless afterward. Three more suffered direct hits from the sharp end of the pickaxe and were bleeding out. The wolf pack steadily lost their fighting strength while Gray seemed to get stronger with each passing moment.

Bloodlust drew the pack to push onward until the two most wounded wolves dropped the ground and did not budge. The pack leader gave a sorrowful howl, which caused the other wolves to pause and retreat. It panted heavily, in obvious pain, while it glared with furious yet regretful eyes. Its expression was almost humanlike.

“Awoooo!”

The leader gave one last howl before running away. The seven wolves that could still move turned tail and dashed away into the night, leaving two of their comrades dead on the ground.

Gray laughed triumphantly. “Hahaha, run doggies… uhhh!”

Sharp pain all over his body interrupted his victory and he slumped to the ground. He groaned as he took stock of his injuries which were numerous and deep. One wrong move and perhaps he would have lost a few fingers or even his life. If his spiritual sea had not been topped off by bison meat, he definitely would have suffered worse.

After resting, he dragged the two dead wolves over and examined them. They had suffered several skewering blows from the pickaxe and had bled out. Their bodies were still warm and blood was still flowing so he drank them dry to replenish his own.

He then went into a meditative posture. His spiritual sea was depleted and he was too injured to do anything else. His body glowed a golden color that only he could see as the Tome of Glorious Fortune activated. His spiritual gates opened to the heavens and the earth and sucked in any scrap of spiritual energy available.

A hungry beast awakened inside of him once again. His spiritual sea ached and called out for nourishment. Eyes still closed, he reached over to grab a wolf carcass and bit into its flesh.

It tasted raw... and pretty good...

The tome showcased its power as he cultivated nonstop. He sat in the same spot and cultivated straight through the night and into the next morning. He refilled his spiritual sea with energy from beast flesh. His tired body gained renewed energy and his wounds started to heal rapidly. When his stomach became empty, he quickly refilled it. First, it was bison, then wolf meat, then bison again. He was not bored for one moment because of the simple fact that he was constantly eating. Eating was his most favorite thing to do so how could he ever be bored? This kind of wild cultivation was the best!

His stomach turned into a golden furnace that endlessly absorbed spiritual meat. The Tome of Glorious Fortune was peerless, even in the matters of cultivating with food. The spiritual veins around his stomach and other organs were fully activated. His efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy was simply unmatched. It was many, many times more effective than if an ordinary cultivator had eaten the same amount of food, if they were even capable of such volume.

Two days later, the expected happened.

His spiritual sea finally overflowed, having reached the brim from an unending supply of beast meat. His brain was still focused on eating but his body took care of it. He did not resist and it happened smoothly as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Boom!

The 6th Level of the Spiritual Strengthening Realm was achieved just like that!