~Burp~
Lin Mu took a burp and then looked up at the shadow that was kind of covering his face. He saw that he had unknowingly created a small hill of bones.
'Did my appetite increase even more? I didn't even realize it while eating.' Lin Mu wondered.
He then looked up at the remaining amount of meat that was left on the large skewer. Lin Mu had eaten half of the spirit beast and only the upper torso and one of the legs of it was currently left. He touched his belly and figured that he had had enough food for now.
'I'll save the rest for dinner.' Lin Mu thought.
Even though he would not feel hungry for an entire day after eating a meal, he still liked to eat it as it was a habit for him. It just didn't feel right to him when he didn't. Anyways, he still got to absorb the vital energy and the spirit qi from the meat, so it worked in his favor.
Lin Mu touched the meat and stored it in the ring. After that, he took out a gourd and poured out some water from it. He drank some to satisfy his thirst and used the rest to clean himself. In his process of eating he had evidently been a bit messy and had oily fingers and face.
Lin Mu looked around and saw that the others were done eating as well and were cleaning up now. They wrapped the remaining meat and kept it for a later time.
"Everyone ready?" Hei Yingjie asked as he looked around.
"Yes senior!" They replied in unison.
Nodding at them, he spoke again, "Let's continue then. We should probably reach our destination by tomorrow."
They then started their journey again and proceeded deeper into the forest. They were going in a northwestern direction now and would probably meet the other team that was being led by Hei Bao soon.
Eventually, the sky started to darken, and the snow had started to fall. Knowing that it would be more risky to proceed in the night, Hei Yingjie decided to stop for the night.
"We will rest here for the night. We leave tomorrow at first light." Hei Yingjie ordered.
Everyone acknowledged the orders and started setting up the tents. The tents were nothing fancy and were just simple canvas sheets that they propped up with some sticks. Since everyone was a cultivator, they would not be sleeping anyway and would just be cultivating through the night.
They had already had some sleep on the previous day, thus did not need to sleep for the coming two days at the very least. They could get by just by cultivating. A few minutes later the tents were set up, and a fire was blazing at the center.
The tents were arranged in a circular manner, and there were five of them. Two people each to every tent. This way the fire would warm all tents and also provide some light. Two of the men stayed up to keep a watch during the night, while the others rested.
Lin Mu noticed the manner in which they acted and the way they worked, it was almost habitual. It was as if they had done this many times and had been doing it for a while now.
"They are just trained well. Anyone can learn well if given enough time." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.
"Is that so? They looked quite different before though, but now that they are out here they seemed to be in a completely different character." Lin Mu replied.
"It's just something they learned to hide. We do know that they were disguising as commoners for a few years now and only returned because they were called, so it's obvious why." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu didn't reply but simply stayed silent as he thought over it.
"But that man, Hei Yingjie, he's different," Xukong added.
"How so?" Lin Mu asked.
"He seems to be putting up a facade, a mask of some kind. He's hiding quite a lot beneath that, I presume. I can sense it." Xukong replied.
"Hmm…"
Lin Mu did not speak further and just took out the remaining spirit beast meat and started to eat it. He had just finished eating when he heard a faint noise. He immediately became alert and his spirit sense spread out.
Lin Mu stood up and walked out of the tent, and just as he did, he saw that Hei Yingjie had walked out as well. Evidently, he had sensed it as well. They looked at each other and nodded in a tacit understanding. The two people that were guarding too saw them leave the tents.
"What's the problem, Seniors?" They questioned.
"Alert the other, we have a large group of beasts approaching us." Hei Yingjie ordered.
The two immediately left to inform the others while Lin Mu looked at Hei Yingjie in confusion.
"A large group?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Yes, they seem to the Steel back wolves that we killed in the afternoon. Looks like they brought the entire pack for revenge." Hei Yingjie spoke with a serious expression.
'Did he observe that with his spirit sense? How long is his range?' Lin Mu wondered.
"He's in the core condensation realm, so it won't be unusual for his spirit sense's range to be more than a hundred meters," Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu thought for a bit and then spoke, "How far are they?"
"They're around two hundred meters away and their numbers are large." Hei Yingjie answered.
'So his range is about two hundred meters.' Lin Mu grasped.
"How many are there do you know?" Lin Mu questioned again as he tried to use his own spirit sense to see if any were nearby.
"There's more than a hundred and they seem to be spread around. They're sneaking around us to ambush us." Hei Yingjie spoke.
Lin Mu became even more alert after hearing Hei Yingjie's words and unsheathed his own short sword. He knew that if there were more than a hundred steel back wolves then this was probably the entirety of the pack.
"This is going to be a difficult fight." Lin Mu muttered.