Accepting the Task, Warriors Are Hard to Talk To

After returning to the classroom and finishing the Martial Soul theory lesson on the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu left the school together, took an umbrella, and headed for the Soul Master Guild.

The rain that had begun in the morning stopped during class. To prevent getting caught if it started pouring again, it was better to bring an umbrella. Xiao Wu had quite a few complaints about carrying one, but Yu Yan ignored her grumbling. Kids never liked bringing umbrellas. It did not matter; once it rained, she would understand the benefits of having one.

At the Soul Master Guild's task reception area, Yu Yan searched through the listings and accepted a help request issued by residents near Balaque City. The task issuer was Stone Mill Village, north of Balaque City.

Recently, whenever night fell, mysterious beast roars had echoed from the mountains surrounding Stone Mill Village.

During the day, Stone Mill Village organized groups to investigate the mountains, but they found nothing unusual.

Several consecutive days of beast roars had made the villagers fearful. After discussing it, they pooled together a sum of money—three Gold Soul Coins—and posted a task at the Soul Master Guild, hoping a Soul Master would come resolve the strange roars.

Based on the information provided by the village chief and their past experience, the Soul Master Guild's task reviewers judged that the creature making the roars was likely a beast that had only recently become a Soul Beast. It was not very strong and did not dare attack humans traveling in groups.

Three Gold Soul Coins was indeed rather little to hire a Soul Master to deal with a Soul Beast. However, considering the village's situation, they made an exception and put the task up, hoping to get lucky.

The relationship between beasts and Soul Beasts was like that between humans and Soul Masters.

Under all sorts of fortunate circumstances, a beast could evolve into a Soul Beast.

Two days after the help request was posted at the Soul Master Guild, Yu Yan accepted it.

Yu Yan accepted the task partly because Stone Mill Village was close to Balaque City, and partly because he simply wanted to take it.

After having lunch at a restaurant in Balaque City and discussing the general details of the task with Xiao Wu, the two left Balaque City and set out for Stone Mill Village.

Stone Mill Village was named Stone Mill Village because it produced millstones in abundance.

The village could produce so many millstones because the surrounding mountains were rich in high-quality natural stone.

Standing before Stone Mill Village and looking around, Yu Yan could see many huge grayish-white boulders directly exposed on the mountains behind the village.

"Hello, Village Chief Shi. We accepted the Soul Master Guild's task and came to investigate and resolve the beast roars in the mountains around your village."

Led by a villager from Stone Mill Village, Yu Yan met the village chief. He was a muscular, robust middle-aged man.

At first, Village Chief Shi was clearly disappointed to see that only two children had come. But after Yu Yan showed his Spirit Hall Soul Master certificate and Soul Master Guild certificate, the delight on the Stone Mill Village chief's face could not be concealed.

"Wonderful, wonderful! A Soul Master has finally come to solve this problem! You have no idea, ever since those beast roars began, we—"

"Stop, stop, Village Chief Shi. I came to ask you a few questions. Once I'm done, we'll enter the mountains and search for the source of the roars."

Not wanting to listen to Village Chief Shi ramble, Yu Yan directly cut him off and asked for detailed information about the beast roars.

After questioning him for quite some time, Yu Yan still did not receive much useful information. All he learned was that the roars came from the mountain range east of Stone Mill Village.

As they headed into the eastern mountains, Xiao Wu could not help complaining about Stone Mill Village. "These people are way too unreliable."

"Even so, I have to say they're truly unreliable. They just keep rambling without ever getting to the point."

Yu Yan nodded in agreement. He also had plenty of complaints about the Stone Mill Village chief.

After talking with Village Chief Shi for over half an hour, the man had ultimately provided only one piece of information: the direction of the beast roars.

Something that could have been explained in a single sentence took him half an hour to make clear. Talking to warriors was such a pain.

"Hahahaha..."

Thinking of Yu Yan's usual calm and composed expression turning into one full of question marks as he stood before Village Chief Shi after the conversation ended, Xiao Wu could not help laughing happily.

"You're actually gloating? Ah—take this, my head-pat attack."

Already in a bad mood, Yu Yan heard her laughter and quickly approached Xiao Wu. He placed his palm atop her head and gave her a head-pat attack.

"Damn you, Yu Yan. Take my head-pat attack too."

Refusing to be outdone, Xiao Wu jumped up, looped her arms around Yu Yan's neck, and placed her hand on his head for a head-pat attack. After getting her revenge, she released his neck and quickly retreated, putting distance between them to stop him from doing it again.

"Hmph. Childish Xiao Wu."

Yu Yan gave a disdainful snort and rolled his eyes at Xiao Wu.

"Hmph. Damn Yu Yan."

Xiao Wu imitated Yu Yan's snort and replied with the exact same words.

After the head-pat attack, Xiao Wu suddenly noticed that Yu Yan was a full head taller than her. She remembered that before Yu Yan obtained his Soul Ring, he seemed to have been the same height as her.

"Yu Yan, why did absorbing a Soul Ring make you grow taller while I haven't changed at all? I want to grow taller too."

"Generally speaking, after absorbing a Soul Ring, a Soul Master undergoes more or less some changes. You absorbed a Soul Ring too, so why haven't you changed?"

Yu Yan was also curious about this question. He threw it back to Xiao Wu, hoping she could provide an answer.

Regarding this, Yu Yan guessed it was due to Xiao Wu's unusual nature. She had not absorbed a Soul Ring but condensed one herself.

Hearing Yu Yan's question, Xiao Wu, who had formed some guesses of her own, decisively shut her mouth and stopped discussing the subject. Yu Yan was too smart; if they continued talking about it, he might uncover some of her secrets.

The two quickly climbed the mountain and made a simple search through the area, but found nothing unusual.

Since the beast roars only sounded at night, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu decided to wait in the mountains until nightfall. The Stone Mill Village residents feared the roars, so they had never investigated the mountains at night. They did not know what lurked there after dark.

Xiao Wu caught several mountain chickens in the hills, while Yu Yan used Fire Fish to ignite a flame and began making Beggar's Chicken for her.

The plump, fragrant Beggar's Chicken made Xiao Wu repeatedly cry out over how delicious it was, and she devoured two entire chickens all by herself.

"You really have a good appetite."

Seeing Xiao Wu stare eagerly at the Beggar's Chicken in his hand, Yu Yan tore off a drumstick and handed it to her.

"Hehehe, Yu Yan, you're so nice."

Xiao Wu took the drumstick and began eating it in huge bites.

Watching Xiao Wu gorge herself, Yu Yan wondered whether he would end up feeding her until she got fat.

Night fell, and a not particularly bright moon climbed above the treetops, faintly illuminating the mountains.

As they said, summer weather changed as quickly as your girlfriend's mood. It had clearly been raining in the morning, yet by evening the dark clouds had dispersed and the moon hung in the sky.

Soul Masters had vision far beyond ordinary people. With the moonlight's lingering glow, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu could clearly see everything in the mountains.

As the night deepened, a clear, resounding cry suddenly rang out through the mountains.

"This thing is a beast roar? It sounds so strange."

To Yu Yan, the sound did not seem like a beast roar at all. It resembled cicadas chirping, yet it was not quite the same.

"Yu Yan, hurry over. I've already pinpointed where the sound is coming from."

Having activated Martial Soul Possession, Xiao Wu successfully located the sound with the Soft Bone Rabbit's hearing, several times sharper than that of ordinary people.