"..."
Seeing Fire Meow Meow acting completely uninterested, Zhu Zhuqing twitched the corner of her mouth and abandoned her desire to learn more about the so-called wish.
That was a bit disappointing…
But she had roughly understood the situation through the story Keke had told her.
To attract the attention of a god, first you had to have an extremely strong wish.
If she wanted to draw the notice of that exalted one, she also needed an extremely strong wish.
But what exactly was that wish?
Zhu Zhuqing pondered quietly.
Meanwhile, outside the residence, Aether and the others waited not long before the steward reappeared—this time accompanied by a slender woman in her twenties.
The woman wore a white veil over her face; her figure was thin, and her eyes were bloodshot.
She said nothing, walking straight to the horse-drawn carriage that had long been prepared.
"Everyone, though it's pouring rain, my young lady is eager to hunt for spirit rings. Thank you all for your efforts."
After helping the woman into the carriage, the steward turned to the bounty soul masters.
"No problem. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave."
A soul master from the group replied.
"All right, then let's get on."
Seeing no objection, the steward signaled, and several footmen drove four horse carriages over.
Everyone crowded into the carriages, but Aether did not rush in.
After the young man entered the carriage, Aether followed, squeezing into the same vehicle.
Since there were many bounty hunters this time, the steward had prepared only four carriages, making the interior cramped.
Soon, a foul smell arose inside.
Noticing Paimon's wrinkled nose, Aether glanced at the boy squeezed into the corner, then opened his arms to hold Paimon, squeezing to the edge of the carriage and pulling up the curtain to breathe in fresh air.
Outside, rain still poured down.
The coachman wore a straw raincoat, cursing from time to time as he cracked his whip on the horses, urging them to speed up.
"This damn weather… it's been raining all morning nonstop?"
Bored, a soul master peeked outside through the gap Aether had made and complained.
"If it keeps raining like this, entering the forest later will be much more dangerous."
"Hey, big brother, what do you think?"
Xulai frowned, looking outside and asked.
"Heh, seeing you like this, I bet this isn't your first time on a mission like this. You're probably not from Skywater either, right?"
The soul master glanced at Xulai with a teasing look.
"I'm just passing through without any money, so I thought I'd take some bounty jobs to save up for my trip home."
Xulai didn't deny it and met the soul master's gaze without flinching.
"Hahaha~"
The soul master laughed loudly and stopped teasing him. Then he said, "Our Skywater borders a soul beast forest called the Icebound Forest. The soul beasts there are relatively weak. Rarely do you find beasts older than ten thousand years.
"But most of them are water or ice element types. In weather like this, their soul power and attacks get greatly enhanced, so the danger level definitely increases."
"I see."
Xulai nodded silently, staring through the curtain into the heavy rain outside, lost in thought.
Icebound Forest?
Aether thought it over but didn't find any memories of the place. Judging by the soul master's words, it was probably just a small soul beast forest.
After more than an hour, the carriage jolted to a stop at the coachman's shouted command.
"We're here. Everyone, get down."
The steward's voice came, and Aether holding Paimon followed the young man off the carriage.
"Everyone, we're about to enter the forest. There's no path ahead. From now on, we'll have to rely on you all to protect my young lady."
The steward said a few words and organized the group, selecting Aether and the young man to the front of the formation.
He and the veiled woman walked in the middle, with soul masters of level thirty-plus guarding the rear.
"Hey steward, why doesn't your young lady just say what kind of soul beast she wants to hunt? We could split up and find them faster."
"Yeah, with such a big group together, it'll take forever to find the right soul beast."
As the team marched forward, some soul masters began to get impatient and spoke up.
"Soon, soon, why rush?"
The steward shouted hoarsely at one, then peered ahead before continuing.
"We've already found the soul beast's location we're hunting. We're heading there now. No need to waste time searching."
Hearing this, many breathed a sigh of relief and continued following the team.
Though high-level soul beasts were rare in Icebound Forest, most of the soul masters in the group were level thirty to forty.
Those suggesting splitting up were mostly higher level, and if they really split, the lower level soul masters would be in grave danger.
As the team moved on, they inevitably encountered some soul beasts.
But as the soul master in the carriage said earlier, most here were low-level.
Sensing such a large group, the beasts instinctively kept their distance.
So the journey was quite easy.
"Hiss~!"
Suddenly, a strange sound from nearby caught the group's attention, and they stopped.
The steward frowned, glancing at the woman beside him. Seeing no abnormality, he called out:
"There seems to be a soul beast blocking the way up ahead. Everyone, stay alert."
Everyone heard the beast's roar and looked around warily.
Aether opened his Elemental Vision to sense the area but paid no further mind.
Judging by his vision, the beast's level was roughly equivalent to a level forty soul master—not a threat to the group.
But Aether detected something interesting.
The woman the steward called "young lady" showed no trace of soul power at all—meaning she wasn't a soul master.
Excluding the other bounty soul masters accompanying Aether, the young lady was only followed by the steward and a middle-aged man dressed like a footman.
Clearly, the purpose of this bounty mission was not actually to help the young lady hunt for soul rings.
Now that was interesting…
Aether hadn't expected a simple bounty mission to become so complicated.
_
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