“Younger Sis, we’ll go together, together!” Without a second word, Xiao Mi pulled along her royal guard Gongsun Lie as she ran out from the back of the group to join Qiao Mu’s party of seven.
Upon seeing this, Baili Wu also dashed over hastily while shouting at Xiao Mi, “Cousin, bring me along.”
Baili Zhen turned to look sympathetically at Wei Nanshu, whose face had darkened, and remarked while shrugging her shoulders, “The young crown prince consort seems to not like you too much!”
After saying her piece, she took no heed of Wei Nanshu’s pitch-black face and went to catch up with her elder brother Baili Wu’s stride.
With this, it seemed as if they had split into two teams. Qiao Mu’s party had thirteen participants, while Wei Nanshu’s party only had eight participants.
The second team trailed after the first, and they didn’t make much sound on their trek.
They were walking toward the center of the Mystic Beast Forest, so the deeper they advanced, the more likely it was for them to encounter powerful mystic beasts at any time.
Later on, Wei Nanshu didn’t utter a word. Other than the four people from Northern Wei, there were only the two Akedo youths and the two Eastern Ying crown princes in his small team.
They traversed the verdant Mystic Beast Forest safely and soundly.
This place didn’t see sunlight year-round, so the air was suffused with a damp odor. Stepping on the fallen leaves that thickly carpeted the ground felt soft and squishy, indistinctly making them uneasy.
Achir grabbed Ali’s arm, worried that a snake might slither out from the leaves without warning.
After they had trekked for a very long time, Qiao Mu suddenly halted, turning around to look confusedly at Little Sixth Zheng and the others who were behind her. “Why are you all following me?”
Little Sixth Zheng: …
He suddenly had a very bad premonition!
Sure enough, the young crown prince consort’s following words could nearly anger a person to death.
“I don’t know the way, so why aren’t you people walking in front of me to lead the way??” Qiao Mu creased her brows with an unimaginable expression.
Dou Fengchi was about to spew out a mouthful of blood.
Xiao Mi also exclaimed in both amusement and exasperation, “I say, Younger Sis! If you don’t know the way, why did you head off first?”
“I just didn’t want to put my life into the hands of a captain I’m not familiar with. I didn’t say that I would lead the way??” Qiao Mu questioned as she looked at them dumbfoundedly.
They had walked for half the day already, yet no one took the initiative to lead the way. That’s why she finally couldn’t help speaking up.
Duan Siren chuckled. “It’s fine. I see that there’s only one path ahead anyway, so let’s continue walking. It’s alright as long as we are headed toward the center.”
“Oh.” Qiao Mu nodded her head.
“I’ll lead the way.” Qin Susu stepped out from the team and explained, “I come to the Mystic Beast Forest every year for practical training, so I am quite familiar with this area.”
Dou Fengchi glanced at her suspiciously, but she didn’t speak and just kept it to herself.
With Dou Fengchi’s bluster, Duan Siren and the others also suspected Qin Susu for the nightmare incident. However, they were able to keep their composure better than Dou Fengchi, so they didn’t say much and merely nodded lightly.
Qiao Mu just walked alongside Qin Susu.
As there was no distinction between day and night inside the Mystic Beast Forest, they could only approximate the time.
By now, it was almost eight o’clock in the evening, so everyone’s strength was quite drained.
Turning to consult Qiao Mu, Qin Susu inquired, “Miss Qiao, how about we stop for today and rest here?”
Of course, Qiao Mu agreed without objections.
Meanwhile, Wei Nanshu’s party, which had been trailing behind their team, also stopped and began pitching simple tents.
