The group was walking through the forest with listless eyes and somber spirits. The two girls among them were tearing as they walked."Ranran, do you think we are going to die in here?" One of the girls asked as she choked back on her tears.
The other three guys also had extremely ugly looks on their faces as they looked over at the girl. At this moment, they were all feeling rather helpless.
A wisp of fear had already been planted in everyone"s hearts, and a gloomy atmosphere of hopelessness hung over the entire group.
"It"ll be fine, we"ll definitely be able to walk out of this place!" Jiang Ranran steeled her voice with resolution. She was still young, and had plenty of things to accomplish. How could she simply die here in the wild?!
Ji Wuxie stood out and said, "Right, we"ll definitely be fine. We"ve been out here for a really long time. When our families realize that we"ve been out of reach for so long, they will definitely inform the police! For all we know, the search and rescue team may be already searching for us right now!"
This was not the time to panic. If they did, it would really spell their doom!
Hearing the optimistic words of the two, the other four also felt much better. A ray of hope shone anew in their eyes!
While the other four were looking forward with resolution, Ji Wuxie and Jian Ranran exchanged a look. In both pairs of eyes was a dark look.
They could only depend on themselves at this point. Shennongjia was extremely vast, and the mountains stretched endlessly before their eyes.
Not mentioning if there was a search and rescue team looking for them; even if there was one, they would definitely not be able to find them within a short period of time!
Jiang Ranran had never expected that a simple sightseeing trip would end up landing their entire group in such a situation.
They were all year 2 students from a high school in the capital. It was the winter vacation before the year"s end, so they wanted to go on a fun trip before the new year.
All of them had decided to visit Shennongjia and take in the natural views of the land.
After following the tour guide around for an entire day, they decided to break off from the boring tour. In the end, the group bought some tents and other camping equipment, and ventured into the undeveloped areas closed to tourists.
The breathtaking scenery and the cordial atmosphere caused the group to fall into a drunken state, ending up with them forgetting their surroundings. Under the urgings of a few members of the group, they ended up going deeper in instead of turning back!
By the time they decided to return, they had already lost track of their directions and could not find the path back.
The group had already been wandering about in Shennongjia for an entire week. Luckily, it had not begun to snow yet, and the weather was still very forgiving. Otherwise, these students with almost no outdoor survival skills would have died here long ago.
Even so, they were already running dry on all resources. Their food was all gone, and while the forest was filled with wild animals, they had to be able to catch one first if they wanted to eat!
After receiving the minor boost in morale, the group determined a direction and forged forward again with renewed confidence.
"Wu, wu... I can"t walk any further, I"m not going any further! If I die, so be it!"
Time pa.s.sed slowly and as dusk fell, one of the girl in the group suddenly sat down and cried.
The other girl also sat down beside her and sobbed silently. Seeing that, Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie could only pitch their tents on the spot.
Two of the boys also stepped out to help. One of them helped the girls to set up their tents, while the other went out to gather firewood in preparation for the night.
Ji Wuxie then disappeared into the forest alone. Just when Jiang Ranran and the rest were beginning to get worried, he returned with a bunch of wild vegetables in his hands.
Seeing the worried looks in everyone"s eyes, Ji Wuxie revealed a light smile and explained, "Relax, these wild vegetables are not poisonous. My hometown was in a common village and as our family was poor, we often had to go into the mountains to look for wild vegetables."
After downing a bowl of wild vegetable soup, everyone"s stomachs felt much better. Unfortunately, the soup did not have the slightest bit of oil, so it was certain that everyone would turn hungry again before long.
Night fell, and strange shuffling noises kept appearing in the forest, causing yet another sleepless night for the group.
Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie sat together beside the fire and chatted.
An hour later, Jiang Ranran returned to her tent. Ji Wuxie was on guard duty until 3am, when another person would take over the duty.
The next day, everyone woke up early, packed their things and set off once again.
"Bam!"
"AHH!"
Jiang Ranran and the rest had barely taken a step forward when a figure dropped down from the tree right before them, causing them to scream aloud with shock.
"Is that a person or a ghost?"
Everyone peered cautiously at the figure which had landed on the ground, stirring up a mini-dust cloud. In that moment, no one dared to step forward.
"Whew! How comfortable!"
The figure on the ground moved and stood up. A contented sigh left his mouth as he patted the dust off his clothes.
Finally, he noticed the group of dumbstruck kids looking at him who had just fallen off a tree.
It had been a long time since he had such a good sleep. After exhausting his mental power, Bei Feng had fallen asleep naturally. Nothing in this forest was capable of doing him any harm, after all.
The poisonous bugs that neared his body were directly crushed to dust. Freed of worries, Bei Feng"s body had completely relaxed, bringing him into a state of deep sleep as his five senses shut down temporarily.
As a result, he"d actually fallen off the tree with a casual flip. Even worse, there was a group of kids standing right below the tree to witness his ungraceful landing. Seeing their stupefied faces, Bei Feng"s old face also turned slightly red.
If this matter was to spread among the martial community, he would certainly cause quite a few people to die from laughing too hard. An Esteemed Xiantian Lord actually fell out of a tree!
After a good sleep, Bei Feng felt completely rejuvenated, and a sense of happiness radiated from his heart.
"Who are you? Are you lost too?" a man from Jiang Ranran"s group asked as he looked at Bei Feng curiously.
Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie were instead on their guard against Bei Feng. This person fell from such a great height and was completely fine. Furthermore, he didn"t seem like someone who"d lost his way.
Firstly, the person"s mental state and appearance were in prime condition. His white robes were virtually spotless save for the bit of dirt that had gotten on during his fall. In addition, judging from Bei Feng"s attire, he did not seem like a person who was lost.
Bei Feng took a closer at this bunch of people silently. They did not seem to be old, and their faces still carried traces of childishness. Ji Wuxie and Jiang Ranran however caused him to raise his eyebrows slightly with interest.
Under Bei Feng"s stern gazes, the group began to feel slightly uneasy. It was as if this person could see through them completely!
Finally, Bei Feng cleared his throat awkwardly and walked away in a certain direction without saying a single word.
Everyone was looking at Bei Feng"s departing back with some uncertainty. At this moment, Ji Wuxie turned around and asked seriously, "Ranran, what should we do now? I think we should follow this person."
"I share the same thoughts." Jiang Ranran nodded in agreement. At this point, they could only place their hopes on this stranger.
"What if he"s a bad person? Judging from his dressings, I reckon there should be something wrong with his head," one of the girls asked weakly.
"Let"s just follow him. No matter how bad it is, the situation will not be any worse than our current one. In any case, if we still cannot find the way out, we would not be able to hold on any longer."
Jiang Ranran gritted her teeth and hurried after Bei Feng.
After this period of time together, Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie had already enjoyed some level of trust among the group. Seeing Jiang Ranran and Ji Wuxie chasing after the strange person, the others also exchanged a look and followed suit.