Qian Renxue retrieved the fingernail-sized tracking soul tool and placed it in her palm. The silver thread slowly drifted inside the transparent shell, pointing toward the southeast of the basin. "She is definitely in this mountain range," Qian Renxue said, staring at the wisp of silver thread for a moment. "She's at least thirty miles away, but the direction is clear. Tomorrow, we'll head in this direction and adjust our route as we go."
Su Chen reached out to take the soul tool, bringing it close to his eyes for a careful look. The movement of the silver thread was highly rhythmic, like a tiny magnetic needle slowly pointing toward a fixed direction. Occasionally, it would tremble slightly, as if sensing some sort of disturbance. "Will it be affected by other soul power sources?" he asked.
"It won't," Qian Renxue said. "This remnant soul power trace comes from the subject's very origin soul power, making it highly unique. Even if other soul power sources are nearby, they cannot distort its directional lock. Unless her soul power is completely drained or masked and sealed by some external means, this soul tool will continue to track her."
Su Chen returned the soul tool to her and nodded thoughtfully. Sitting opposite them, Chen Hao yawned, his eyes slightly red—clearly, his physical exhaustion hadn't been fully replenished. Zhang Wan added a pine branch to the campfire. The flames suddenly leapt higher, illuminating a faint scar on her profile; it had been left by a flying piece of gravel during the Battle of Clear Wind Valley and was now covered by a light pink scab.
"We'll take turns keeping watch tonight," Qian Renxue said. "Chen Hao, you take the first half of the night. Zhang Wan will relieve you at midnight. Su Chen, your arm is injured, so you're exempt from the watch. Get a good night's sleep." Su Chen opened his mouth to say he was fine, but Qian Renxue cut him off: "Your mental exhaustion is worse than anyone else's. Don't push yourself. Once we enter the deep zones tomorrow, you'll have plenty of time to be wide awake."
Su Chen looked at her profile, illuminated by the firelight. The dancing flames softened the lines of her face compared to the day, yet the resolve in her eyes remained utterly unwavering. He swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and nodded.
Chen Hao was the first to crawl into his tent to sleep. Zhang Wan leaned against the roots of a pine tree, resting with her eyes closed as she waited to take over the latter half of the night. Su Chen remained sitting by the campfire. He rested his right arm on his knee and felt the stabilizing brace through his sleeve. The itch emanating from the fracture was already more pronounced than it had been during the day—a sign that the bone was accelerating its healing, indicating that the bone-setting ointment was doing its job.
Qian Renxue retrieved the map from the bundle and reviewed it once more, mentally retracing the route they would take tomorrow before putting it away and standing up. She walked over to stand beside Su Chen, her gaze fixed on the mountain shadows to the southeast that had been swallowed by the night. Her voice was very soft: "Do you think we can find them? Those living experimental subjects?"
Su Chen fell silent for a moment. The firelight shone on his face, reflecting two dancing clusters of orange-red flames in his pupils. "I don't know," he said, his tone honest to the point of brutality. "But I do know that if we don't go looking for them, they absolutely won't survive. As long as we go, there's still a fifty percent chance."
The corner of Qian Renxue's mouth twitched. The expression couldn't quite be called a smile, but compared to her usual frosty demeanor, it held a trace of warmth. "A fifty percent chance," she repeated the phrase, tilting her head slightly to look up at the Milky Way. "In the past, I wouldn't make a move unless I had absolute certainty. Now I realize that there is no such thing as absolute certainty in this world."
"Ninety percent is enough," Su Chen said. "The remaining ten percent, we make up for with on-the-spot adaptability."
Qian Renxue didn't reply. She simply stood there for a long while, quietly observing the night sky, before turning and walking toward her tent. Before lifting the flap to enter, she tossed a remark over her shoulder without looking back: "You should sleep early too. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day for you."
Su Chen watched the tent flap fall. He sat alone by the campfire for about another quarter of an hour, listening to the sounds around him—the wind, the faint crackle of burning pine branches, the distant, low cry of some unknown night bird. Within the silence lay the breathing of an entire night. He poked the fire a few times, ensuring the embers retained enough heat, and then retired to his own tent.
The floor of the tent was lined with a thick layer of moisture-proof felt, carrying the fresh scent of dried grass as he lay down. Su Chen lay on his side, carefully resting his right arm on a soft cloth cushion, and closed his eyes. The fatigue of the day washed over him like a tide, and he fell asleep quickly, without even dreaming.
During the shift change at midnight, he vaguely heard low voices talking outside the tent; it was Zhang Wan and Chen Hao swapping places. Then everything grew quiet once more, sinking back into that peculiar silence of the deep mountains, carrying the scent of pine resin.
At dawn, Su Chen was awakened by a chorus of crisp birdsong. As he crawled out of his tent, he saw Qian Renxue already standing in the very clearing where she had gazed out the night before. The morning light spilled over the eastern ridge, bathing the entire basin in a soft, pale gold. A light mist had risen in the valley, hovering over the tree canopy like gossamer veils. The distant mountain silhouettes loomed faintly within the mist, appearing as if they were slowly flowing.
"You're up?" Qian Renxue heard the movement and glanced back at him, her expression calm. "Grab a bite to eat and we'll head out. I checked the tracking soul tool's direction again just now. The target is about thirty miles to our southeast, but that location—" The tip of her brow furrowed slightly as she pointed southeast. "It's right on the boundary line between the mountain's transition zone and the deep zone. Less than ten miles further in, and we'll enter the dense activity area of ten-thousand-year soul beasts."
Su Chen stretched his slightly stiff right arm. The stabilizing brace pressing against his inner forearm was a bit uncomfortable, but the pain had lessened by more than half compared to the previous two days. He grabbed a piece of dry flatbread from his bundle, chewing as he walked, and helped Zhang Wan strike the tents, restoring the campsite to a traceless state. The traces of the beast-repelling powder were covered with dirt; the campfire ashes were thoroughly doused with water and scattered; any marks that might expose their whereabouts were meticulously erased.
The four set off toward the southeast. Shrubs and coniferous trees grew intertwined across the basin, and the ground was carpeted with a thick layer of pine needles and fallen leaves, making their footsteps soft and utterly silent. The light in the forest was dappled; the sunlight, filtered through the overlapping canopies, broke into tiny golden fragments that scattered across the moss and lichen. The air was damp and crisp, carrying the rich scent of vegetation.
After trekking for about two hours, the terrain began to steepen. The ground gradually sloped upward from the flat basin, revealing an increasing number of exposed rocks and sharp inclines. The density of the coniferous forest decreased, the spacing between the trees widened, and large patches of wild grass and low shrubs were exposed. Su Chen noticed that the surfaces of some rocks bore dark brown stains, resembling liquid that had dried long ago, but he kept the observation to himself, merely taking a few extra glances before pressing on.
Just around noon, Qian Renxue suddenly halted. She raised her right hand in a gesture to stop, and all four of them instantly crouched down where they stood.
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