Watching from Erming

As soon as she finished speaking.

A rustling sound came from the bushes to their front left, followed by a massive Tusked Wild Boar pushing its way out.

Its dark-red bristles, upturned tusks, and murky little eyes all radiated irascibility.

It appeared to be seven or eight hundred years old.

"Should we go around it?" Lin Yi looked at the two girls.

I'm only a Support Spirit Master. I'm not fighting, anyway.

If you want to fight, I can reluctantly cooperate.

The two girls were speechless upon hearing his Heart Voice. This guy had really started treating himself like a Support Spirit Master.

Still, neither of them said much. If they could avoid it, they would.

After exchanging a glance and nodding, the three quietly backed away and circled around from the flank.

The Tusked Wild Boar seemed not to notice them. It lowered its head and rooted around in the dirt a few times before quickly disappearing into another patch of bushes.

Lin Yi let out a breath.

Not bad luck. We ran into a boar, not wolves.

Boars have poor eyesight. As long as you don't run straight into them, they generally won't actively pursue you.

If we ran into something like Wind Wolves with sharp noses, they wouldn't be so easy to fool.

As he thought, he adjusted their direction and led the two girls toward more open terrain.

The next two days passed with the three of them traveling and resting like this.

Lin Yi's familiarity with the forest surprised Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing.

He knew where they were likely to encounter spirit beasts, and he could even judge the rough direction of water sources from the way the trees grew.

That was not knowledge a Work-Study Student from a junior academy should possess.

Good thing I know the original story well enough to roughly understand the distribution of spirit beasts.

Still, all this circling around is a pain.

Too bad I can't expose my second martial soul. A Support Spirit Master's stamina really isn't that great.

Lin Yi sat down against a large tree and rubbed his slightly sore calves.

Xiao Wu sat beside him, took out some dried rations from her bundle, and handed them to him.

Zhu Zhuqing sat alone on a rock some distance away, silently wiping down her dagger.

After three days together, she had grown accustomed to the way this pair interacted.

Xiao Wu talked a lot. Lin Yi would respond simply on the surface, while his inner thoughts answered every question one by one.

Unlike her.

At the Zhu Family, she had grown accustomed to being alone and to burying every emotion beneath an icy expression.

When she had first started traveling with them, she had remained silent almost the entire time. Occasionally, Lin Yi's Heart Voice had left her shocked.

But Xiao Wu never cared about her silence. She always spoke to her naturally, handed her rations first when dividing food, and saved her a place when setting up camp.

She did not know whether it was deliberate kindness.

But she did not dislike the feeling.

"Lin Yi." After finishing the ration in her hand, Xiao Wu suddenly spoke. "What kind of spirit beast do you think I should choose for my Third Soul Ring?"

Lin Yi glanced at her and complained inwardly.

She finally asked.

In the original story, Xiao Wu's Third Soul Ring came as a gift from Erming. It never clearly stated what spirit beast it came from, but its effect was Teleportation.

The problem is that the plot has completely gone off course now. Whether Erming will even appear is still unknown.

"The Soft Bone Rabbit martial soul favors speed and agility." After pretending to ponder for a moment, he said, "For your Third Soul Ring, you can consider agile spirit beasts, such as Shadow Cats or Wind Spirit Foxes."

Xiao Wu tilted her head and thought for a moment. "What about Teleportation? Are there any spirit beasts that can provide teleportation-type spirit skills?"

Lin Yi's movements paused.

How does she know about Teleportation? At this point in the original story, she shouldn't know yet, right?

Is it an ability she wants? The intuition of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast after taking human form?

Suppressing his doubts, he kept his expression unchanged. "Teleportation-type spirit skills are very rare. As far as I know, only certain special spirit beasts can produce them, such as the space-attributed Phantom Spirit Cat."

Xiao Wu blinked. "Can we encounter that kind of spirit beast?"

"I'm not sure." Lin Yi shook his head. "We'll have to see how lucky we are."

If we're lucky, Erming will appear and take you away, and then you'll have one. If it doesn't appear, I don't know what to do either.

After all, those two big fellows, Daming and Erming, know where to find such spirit beasts, and they know even better what kind of spirit beast suits Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu gave an "Oh" and did not ask further questions.

But her eyes lit up for a moment.

Zhu Zhuqing's hand also paused briefly as she wiped her dagger.

Those two big fellows, Daming and Erming?

What exactly were they?

That night, the three set up camp in a natural cave.

As usual, Lin Yi was responsible for keeping watch.

Xiao Wu lay on a bed of dry grass, unusually quiet.

Zhu Zhuqing had not fallen asleep either.

She lay on her side with her back to the campfire, but her ears remained perked up.

Because Lin Yi's Heart Voice came through intermittently.

Today is already the fourth day, and there's still no movement at all.

Could Erming really have failed to sense Xiao Wu?

Or was that time in the original story merely a coincidence? Is there no special sense at all?

Forget it. I'll wait two more days. If there's still no movement, I can only find another way to help Xiao Wu obtain her soul ring.

Otherwise, if Erming doesn't show up and some other thousand-year or ten-thousand-year spirit beast does, we'll be in trouble.

Lin Yi sighed and added another piece of firewood to the campfire.

Zhu Zhuqing closed her eyes and stored away every piece of information.

Along the way, she had heard Lin Yi's Heart Voice reveal Erming more than once.

But he had never said it outright.

He had only said that they seemed to share some special sense.

But what exactly was that special sense?

She was extremely curious, but she held herself back and did not ask further.

Meanwhile, Lin Yi sat at the cave entrance, feeling uncertain.

Could Erming be in seclusion at this time? Or maybe it isn't home?

Logically, a spirit beast at Erming's level shouldn't need to go into seclusion, and it has an extremely strong territorial instinct. It wouldn't easily leave the core region either.

Unless... it has already sensed Xiao Wu but, for some reason, doesn't want to show itself?

Lin Yi shook his head, rejecting the idea.

Spirit beasts did not have that many twists and turns. If it did not want to meet them, it simply would not. There was no such thing as watching from the sidelines.

But he was wrong.

At that very moment, atop a cliff roughly five li from the camp, a towering figure stood silently like a mountain.

The Titan Giant Ape.

It maintained its stance with its upper body slightly inclined forward, its dark-brown fur swaying gently in the wind.

Its golden beast eyes pierced through layers of treetops and landed with perfect accuracy on the human youth sitting at the cave entrance.

Then it heard that voice.

Forget it. If it still doesn't show up today, we can only leave tomorrow.

But speaking of it, when Erming carried Xiao Wu away, it looked pretty mighty. Pretty cool too.

Tsk, tsk... Tang San was scared out of his wits. That was wonderful.

Hearing this, Erming's eyelid twitched.

It could understand human speech.

And this human seemed to know of its existence—and knew that it would definitely appear?

And the word "cool"?

That word was not popular among spirit beasts, and it had no idea what it meant.

But it understood "mighty"...

It lowered its head and looked at its thick arms, then at its muscular chest.

The female apes in the forest did indeed like its build.

It shook its head and continued listening intently.

What was that human youth thinking now?