Water splashed softly as Huo Yuhao waded out of the stream, bare-chested, carrying a dozen or so plump black carp strung on supple grass stems.
Though he had received no formal guidance from a Soul Master, he was meticulous and had done his homework before setting out. Danger lurked everywhere in the Star Dou Great Forest, and Soul Beasts with the mental attribute were especially scarce.
Once he ventured deep inside to search, spending ten days or half a month would be perfectly normal.
These dozen or so black carp were the provisions he had prepared for himself. He was still on the forest's outskirts, where the fish in the stream were not yet Soul Beasts and he could still handle them. If he truly entered the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, never mind fish-with Little Huo's strength, even encountering a hundred-year-old aquatic plant would be a life-or-death struggle.
Finding a dry clearing, Huo Yuhao deftly gutted the black carp and set them over a campfire to grill, turning them as they cooked.
The firelight flickered, and the wood crackled softly. Dancing flames reflected in his clear eyes as the strain of fleeing for days and his bone-deep hatred were temporarily forgotten in this moment of peace.
His mother Huo Yun'er's face, voice, and smile quietly surfaced in his mind. Scenes of mother and son depending on each other for survival in that cramped woodshed, lighting fires and cooking meals, flashed past like a revolving lantern.
He mechanically repeated the motions of turning the fish and sprinkling seasoning. Only when his fingertips reached to the side and found nothing did he abruptly come back to himself.
Looking down, he saw that he had unconsciously finished grilling every last fish. Shaking his head hard, Huo Yuhao forced that grief