Henry Carter was indeed a robust young man, handsome and powerfully built, even stronger than David Miller. When he first arrived in Xici Town, he had killed a demon wolf barehanded. Usually, he was lazy and uninterested in most things, spoke little, and whenever the three brothers had any matters, it was always Old Samuel who took the lead.

Samuel Carter was a chubby and amiable youth, more than ten years younger than his two elder brothers, and very articulate. He was about the same age as Emily Thompson and often went to see her. Occasionally, when he ran into William Carter at Emily Thompson's house, they hit it off right away and would often chat together. Samuel Carter never revealed the origins of his brothers, but William Carter could tell from the occasional look of terror in his eyes that he must have experienced something extremely traumatic.

After getting to know Samuel Carter, it was natural to meet his two elder brothers as well. The Wu brothers were all reliable people: Edward Carter was honest and sincere, Henry Carter was bold and forthright, and although Samuel Carter could be a bit slick with words, he was also a very interesting young man.

William Carter planned to venture deep into the Xici Grasslands to hunt demon wolves and search for their lairs. Samuel Carter was all for it and even brought his two elder brothers along. However, William Carter could also see that half the reason Samuel Carter wanted to hunt wolves with him was because of the little girl Emily Thompson.

Emily Thompson either didn't like Samuel Carter very much, or she was just shy and reserved. In any case, their relationship was ambiguous—neither close nor distant. William Carter actually wanted to play matchmaker for the two, but he had too many worries on his mind and no time to meddle in such affairs for now.

Whenever he saw this pair of young man and woman, William Carter would recall the innocent romance of his own school days, which eased some of the unhappiness of life on Fengzhou and also reminded him of his mysteriously missing fiancée.

Every time he saw Samuel Carter sidle up to Emily Thompson, William Carter couldn't help but think, "They say lovers can be together for three lifetimes, but I've ended up in such a strange place—maybe even in the next life, I won't be able to be with her anymore?"

Chapter 10: Wolf Totem

The six of them split into pairs and traveled together, with William Carter and David Miller at the front.

They had already been deep in the Xici Grasslands for two days and had encountered two demon wolves, but still hadn't found a wolf lair. So far, their gains were far below what William Carter had originally hoped for. After some discussion, they decided to venture even deeper into the grasslands.

William Carter glanced at the sky and said in a low voice, "It looks like we won't have any more luck today. Let's rest for now. Tomorrow morning, we'll travel for another half day, and whether we find anything or not, we have to return to Xici Town. We're running low on food and water."

Samuel Carter grinned and agreed with William Carter, saying, "Yeah, ordinary water is fine, but without the Xinchen fruit and pool water from the Xinchen Hall, it would be much more troublesome if we run into demon beasts."

David Miller chuckled and said, "Let's go back and rest for a few days. Maybe we'll have better luck next time."

Edward Carter gave a simple, honest smile and directed his brothers to each take a position, planting three small flags. After silently reciting the incantation to activate the flags, a cloud of smoke rose up, protecting the six of them. The Xici Grasslands were full of demon beasts, and at night, they were even more active. Without the Wu brothers' flag formation to conceal their presence, they would never have been able to venture so far into the grasslands. With the protection of the flag formation, they could rest at night with peace of mind.

As for the origin of this flag formation, the Wu brothers were very secretive. William Carter had tried to ask several times but got nowhere, so he let it go—after all, everyone has their secrets. Still, he was quite envious of this treasure. Every time the Wu brothers set up the formation, he would watch very closely, memorizing the steps. Sometimes, seemingly trivial things could be a matter of life and death. William Carter wasn't trying to steal the technique—after all, without the flags, memorizing the incantations and gestures was useless for setting up the formation. It was just his habit to be cautious.

Both William Carter and Emily Thompson had Tianluo bags, so they were in charge of carrying food and water. The two of them took out some dried meat and fresh water, and the six of them ate and chatted about the day's experiences in a harmonious atmosphere. After a while, just as William Carter was about to volunteer to stand watch with David Miller, he suddenly heard a faint wolf howl, sounding especially mournful in the quiet night.

"It's an adult demon wolf, and a lone wolf at that!"

Although Emily Thompson was young, she often roamed the Xici Grasslands alone and was very experienced with demon beasts. She immediately identified the situation. William Carter pondered for a moment, wondering whether to act. His main goal this time was to find a demon wolf lair, and lone wolves were vicious and extremely hard to kill—not ideal prey.

David Miller and Henry Carter, however, didn't think so much. Both stood up at once. David Miller gave his spear a shake and said in a low voice, "Perfect, we can have some real action tonight." Henry Carter silently followed behind David Miller, holding a purple birch staff as thick as a child's arm and as long as his own eyebrows.

With those two moving, the others had no choice but to follow. William Carter quickly took a pouch from his Tianluo bag and slung it over his back. It was filled with egg-sized stones, serving as his backup ammunition. After all, the five-colored stones were extremely rare, and William Carter was reluctant to use them for his powerful double-stone flying strike technique.