Xie Bohai felt confused after hearing Lin Mu's words. Lin Mu noticed this too and had a bad feeling, he wondered if he would buy it or not. But then he saw that Xie Bohai suddenly had a change of expression and his eyes made it seem as if he had just had a realization.
"Ah, senior just had an epiphany. It is understandable that you would want to capitalize on it." Xie Bohai spoke in an enthusiastic tone.
~Huu~
Lin Mu silently took a breath of relief. While he could still go off without considering the situation of the Hei corps, he would still not feel well doing that. Now that Xie Bohai had unknowingly given him a way out, Lin Mu jumped at it.
And technically, Lin Mu did have a certain kind of epiphany. At least that's what he told himself.
"Yes, that's exactly what I want to do. I would also like that you do not disturb me in that period." Lin Mu replied.
"That will be fine, senior. I doubt any more beasts will come here because of the Alpha steel back wolf's scent. They should stay away for a few days at least." Xie Bohai added.
Lin Mu's eyes went slightly wide, but he controlled himself. What Xie Bohai had just spoken had taken off another burden off his back.
"I'll be leaving after a while, I need to prepare for a bit." Lin Mu informed and then was just about to walk when another thought came to his mind.
"Umm, can you also skin and butcher the alpha steel back wolf as well as some of the other wolves for me." Lin Mu asked.
"Sure senior, it won't be a problem." Xie Bohai replied and then went to the carcass of the beast.
~phew~
Seeing him walk away, Lin Mu let out another breath of relief. He then picked a tent and went inside. Since his tent was destroyed and all others were empty, it was easy for him to choose one.
Lin Mu changed his soiled and tattered clothes and washed his face before sitting down on the bedroll. He then chanted the serving heart sutra and recuperated his depleted spirit qi.
Four hours later he was done and opened his eyes. He walked outside and saw the meat that had been butchered and cut into pieces. It had been wrapped up in their pelts for convenience and was ready for Lin Mu to take.
Lin Mu took one last look around the small camp and bid everyone farewell. He stored the meat in his ring and left the camp. He went towards the Northwestern direction and tried to see if he could find any clues. Lin Mu was also a little suspicious of the Alpha steel back wolf's attack and thus wanted to know more.
Alas, all the tracks of the wolf pack had been covered due to the Snow that had fallen last night. It was still snowing, but it was light. The snow on the ground was about six inches deep, but Lin Mu didn't have much problem navigating through it.
Lin Mu also left marks on trees so that he could find his way back. Although he was experienced with the forest, he was not so familiar with it that he could easily find his way back. The markings and his newly enhanced spirit sense would help him with that.
Along the way, Lin Mu spotted some spirit beasts and some normal beasts, but did not clash with them. He didn't want to create too much of a ruckus and attract attention to himself. Who knows if the culprits were nearby or not.
There were some times where he found the nests of beasts, and he had no choice but to go around them. This ended up extending his journey a little bit.
Twelve hours had passed since Lin Mu had left the camp behind. The sun had already set, and the forest had become dark. It had also started to snow, and Lin Mu felt as if a storm would be coming soon. The winds were getting stronger as well.
Lin Mu had walked far enough that he was now close to the mountains and the hills.
'This should be far enough for now. I'll find a place to rest.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He didn't have to look far, as with one sweep of his spirit sense he found a suitable place. Not far from him, there was an opening that seemed to be a cave. It was just at the very edge of Lin Mu's spirit senses range, thus he could not clearly tell.
But once he walked towards there for a bit, he confirmed that it was indeed a cave. A couple of minutes later he was at the entrance of the cave. There were some big trees that were blocking the strong winds near the entrance of the cave, so it was a bit more comfortable here.
"I should be able to start a fire here with little problems." Lin Mu reckoned as he took out the wood from his ring.
Lin Mu had plenty of wood stored in his ring from back when he was living at the hunting shack. He had kind of forgotten about it, but now it was coming to his use, anyway.
A few minutes later, a fire was blazing inside the cave and illuminated its insides. Lin Mu had scanned the cave with his spirit sense and had determined that while the cave went deep, it was far too small for anything threatening to live in it.
The main area of the cave was about two meters tall and about four meters wide and it tapered down as one went deeper. After a certain point, it was less than a few inches wide. Lin Mu picked up a burning branch and went close to it.
"Huh? It's actually a fissure." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
Lin Mu looked down and saw some traces of water near his feet.
"Looks like it was created due to water coming through it. It probably gets flooded when it rains and the water comes through the mountains." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu nodded and returned to the fire. He wanted to cook and eat dinner.
But just as he was taking out some meat from his ring, he heard it.
~ROAR~
It was a roar and not just any roar; it was one he had heard before a few months ago.