"I didn't expect us to finish so soon." Huo Yuhao rolled his shoulders, a faint smile on his face.
They had just completed the field survey Xuan Ziwen had assigned them. According to plan, another half day's travel would take them back to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
After days of trekking through dense forest, with rustling leaves and the smell of damp earth constantly around them, they were exhausted in body and mind.
"The sooner we finish, the sooner we get back to the academy." Ju Zi stretched, her slender figure outlined by her fitted gray-black outfit.
They had spent days eating and sleeping outdoors, without even a proper bath. The thought of the warm bath back at the dorm filled Ju Zi with longing.
A long soak in steaming hot water sounded wonderful right now.
As Ju Zi indulged in that thought, Huo Yuhao's brows drew tight. His relaxed back tensed, and he snapped his head toward the depths of the forest.
"Wait. Something's coming."
Huo Yuhao's hearing had been honed far beyond that of an ordinary Soul Master.
The faint crack of dry twigs and the rustle of shifting grass came intermittently from all around them.
The outskirts of Sun Moon Forest were usually peaceful. Thousand-year Soul Beasts were few and far between, large beast tides were rare, and no Soul Beast had attacked them on the way here.
But no lone Soul Beast could have made those sounds.
A great many beasts were silently closing in on them!
"Ke Ke, use the Soul Guidance Reconnaissance Camera." Ju Zi's expression sharpened. Her earlier ease vanished as she went on alert.
At Ju Zi's command, Ke Ke bent down without hesitation and swiftly activated the Reconnaissance Soul Guidance Device.
"Got it."
The miniature camera hovering outside