Chapter 21: Venturing into Treacherous Terrain

  "Thanks for the help, Young Mistress." Guo Fei smiled and took out a bag from his waist, which contained some stir-fried noodles. "Young Mistress, I don't have anything good to eat, but here's some stir-fried noodles, you can barely fill your stomach with it!"

  "Eat!" Zhao Xue almost stood up. Without any courtesy, Guo Fei poured the stir-fry onto her pale palm, and she swallowed it in one gulp, choking until her face turned bright red, not daring to cough, afraid of spitting it out, and only slowly swallowing it down after a long while.

  "It's so delicious!" Zhao Xue gazed at Guo Fei's stir-fry bag with an insatiable look, her eyes fixed greedily on it. At this time, Zhao Ba and the two guards revealed wolf-like hungry eyes, as if they wanted to snatch away Guo Fei's stir-fry bag.

  "Hmph!" Guo Fei directly ignored them, thinking that if they wanted to eat, they would have to pay with soul crystals. This was a good opportunity to raise the price. Guo Fei still had a lot of food and water, all piled up in the great hall of the military symbol space.

  "Ghost!" Guo Fei was calculating, waiting for them to ask for food, how to extort a bit. The ninja's keen sense of awareness made him feel a hint of a sinister wind blowing in. Guo Fei's face suddenly changed, and he lightly shouted at the few people, pulling out the Xuan Tie sword stuck in the ground.

  Zhao Ba and the others' faces changed, their physical strength had not yet recovered, if the vengeful spirits came, they would definitely be unable to cope. The four of them stood up, listened carefully for a moment, and their faces immediately became calm. Especially Zhao Ba, whose face showed a look of disdain, thinking that Guo Fei was deceiving them.

  Guo Fei's toes lightly touched the ground, and he floated up onto a withered tree branch. After observing for a moment, a deep worry appeared on his face.

  In this world, few people of lower status can come into contact with high-level martial arts. Without cultivating internal energy techniques, it's simply impossible to become a Qi Refiner. Therefore, judging solely from their social status, the several people present had already determined that Guo Fei was at most just a martial practitioner, and his cultivation wasn't very high.

  But seeing Guo Fei's toes lightly touch, like a spiritual monkey, he climbed up the tens of meters high big tree. Zhao Xue and others suddenly flashed a hint of astonishment in their eyes. If it weren't for the cultivation of a mid-level Qi Refiner, it would be impossible to have such swift movements, and they were secretly shocked at heart.

  Just now, Guo Fei killed several dead spirit monkeys. Some people thought that Guo Fei was just taking advantage of the situation because the monkeys had already been exhausted by several others. However, his current movement skills were genuine and impressive, making it impossible for them not to reevaluate their opinion of Guo Fei.

  "Little brother, how are you?" Zhao Xue asked with a furrowed brow.

  "The road to the south can't be walked, it's vague and unclear, I estimate there are many dead spirits. We can only head northwest, detour around them to find a way out." Guo Fei thought deeply.

  "No, you're putting us in danger. Sister, don't listen to his nonsense, who knows what this person is thinking. Ten kilometers south from here and we'll be out of the dense forest. Heading northwest would lead us straight into the Death Fog Sea, venturing deeper into this withered forest will leave us no way out. We must head south if we want to escape the Sunset Desert and return to Black Wall." Zhao Ba stood up and shouted sternly at Guo Fei.

  His eyes and movements suggest that Guo Fei is hiding a huge conspiracy, as if he has ulterior motives towards Zhao Xue, as if he wants to lead them into a desperate situation.

  The two guards beside him drew out their cross-shaped swords and stood in position, surrounding Guo Fei in the middle.

  "Oh, after drinking some water and recovering his strength, he wants to burn the bridge behind him. Hmph!" Guo Fei grasped the Xuan Tie sword, coldly gazing at the three of them.

  "Little brother, don't misunderstand, if we go deep into the withered forest, it will definitely be a dead end! We must head south, only then is there a way to survive!"

  "Kindness is being treated as a donkey's liver and lungs, I didn't force you to follow me, where you want to go has nothing to do with me. It's just that I'm kind enough to remind you, going south will only get you killed faster. Specifically, where you go, I can't control it, if not for the sake of the young lady, I wouldn't even bother with you ignorant fools, following you will only get us all killed together. Farewell!" Guo Fei quickly drew out his Xuan Tie sword, let out a low growl, and his figure flashed as he rushed northwest.

  With Guo Fei's ninja sharpness, he naturally saw that a group of undead in the south had formed a semicircle and were closing in, leaving only the northwest as an escape route. Moreover, the undead were now less than a kilometer away, and if they delayed any further, it would be too late.

  Guo Fei galloped northwest, rushing into a dense forest of withered trees. Less than half an hour later, he heard the intense sounds of battle behind him. Guo Fei didn't look back and instead quickened his pace.

  "Cliff!" Guo Fei buried his head and ran into the dense forest, but when he reached the end of the forest, it was a steep cliff, smooth as a mirror. He looked up and couldn't see the top. Guo Fei's heart was racing, searching for a way to climb the mountain everywhere. This cliff seemed very long, with no edges in sight to the left or right.

  Guo Fei's heart was racing with anxiety. If he couldn't climb up this cliff, he would have to turn back and fight the army of undead, which was tantamount to seeking death.

  Just as I was in a hurry, my eyes flashed and suddenly discovered a rattan strip hanging from the cliff. The dry rattan strip, which had been through countless years, still hung stubbornly beside the black stone cliff, almost sticking to it. If you don't look carefully, you really can't find it.

  Guo Fei pulled himself up and found that he could support his own weight, so he climbed upwards with both hands grasping the rattan. After climbing about 200 meters, he reached the root of the rattan. The root was on a protruding rock, which was not very large, only enough for two or three people to lie down. A thick layer of soil had accumulated on its surface, and the rattan had grown around the rock, deep into the soil, but most of it had rotted away, relying entirely on the tangled rattan to hold it together.

  Guo Fei climbed up and looked towards the cliff, still unable to see the top, and had no idea how high it was.

  "Help!" Guo Fei had just sat down when he heard Zhao Xue's urgent cry for help from the dense forest. Behind them, Guo Fei saw a large number of withered tree branches falling and swaying rapidly, as if hit by a storm. The momentum was so great that it was estimated that over a thousand vengeful spirits were chasing after them.

  "Grandma, if this little beauty dies, my plan to go to the palace to learn martial arts will be ruined. Moreover, this little beauty comes from a big family and must know more than Wang Zhi does. It's worth asking for advice on cultivation knowledge." Guo Fei thought for a moment, cautiously looked around, made sure that these dead spirits couldn't come up here, then loudly shouted downwards: "Come over here!"

  This shout was like a lifesaving holy edict, causing several people to be overjoyed and quickly arrive at the foot of this cliff.

  "You go up one by one. If too many people climb, the withered vine won't hold, and you'll all die!" Guo Fei warned as he took off his clothes and pants, tying them together.

  This withered vine has been dry for many years, if it suddenly collapses, it's over, not only will they be trapped on top of it, but so will I. The only solution is to rescue them and then collect the withered vines after the spirits leave, before going down again.

  Moreover, since they were rescuing people, they had to see it through. So Guo Fei twisted his clothes into a rope and let them grab onto it at any time to reduce the burden of the rattan pole.

  Guo Fei took a look and found that there were only three people left below, one of whom was clearly sacrificing himself.

  Three people rushed to the foot of the cliff, and the guard next to Zhao Xue quickly pulled over a withered vine to support Zhao Xue as she climbed up. This move surprised Guo Fei very much. In this world, there was a deep-rooted distinction between high and low social classes. If it were Guo Fei himself in such a situation, unless it was his closest relative or the king who had arrived, Guo Fei would not have let him go up first.

  Zhao Xue climbed up for a while, and Zhao Ba couldn't wait any longer, wanting to pull her up. The withered rattan suddenly made a "crackling" cracking sound.

  "No way, you'll break the withered vine if you do it like that. No one will survive." Guo Fei hastily reminded them.

  Zhao Ba ignored him, desperately climbing up because the army of undead was less than a hundred meters away, and the thick death aura made his heart lose its guard, desperately scrambling to catch up with Zhao Xue.