The caravan traveled by day and camped by night, taking to the road every day before dawn and handling breakfast and lunch on the road, only stopping when it came to dinner.
Occasionally, when Xue Fuyao sat in the carriage for too long, she would also come out to ride a horse for a while, stretching her muscles and bones and getting some fresh air.
With all the potions she had been concocting during this period, she was almost pickled with the scent.
The journey had already been so bitter, so the food definitely had to be eaten well, not to mention that Shadow One and the others were Xue Fuyao's biggest safeguard, so they definitely had to keep their physical strength abundant.
Half a month later, they finally entered the borders of the Qiu Kingdom and arrived before that forest.
Because they had not prepared potions intended for horses, Xue Fuyao sold the carriage along with all the horses before officially entering the forest, and the rest of the road could only be traveled on foot.
In addition to the potions that could prevent the poisonous miasma, Xue Fuyao also prepared Beast Repelling Powder; although it was not as useful as the Beast Repelling Powder of the Cultivation Realm, it was still not much of a problem when used to deal with beasts that had not opened their spiritual intelligence.
The Beast Repelling Powder was evenly sprinkled on everyone's body.
Aside from repelling beasts, this Beast Repelling Powder even kept snakes, insects, rodents, and ants from coming close.
Otherwise, in this forest, even if one did not encounter fierce beasts, just the snakes, insects, rodents, and ants inside would be enough to give you a hard time.
Probably because of the Beast Repelling Powder, after entering the forest, they did not encounter any danger along the way, nor did they encounter even a single mosquito.
However, Xue Fuyao knew that now was not the time to rejoice, because this was merely a beginning.
Under the premise of ensuring they did not get lost, it would take a month of walking on foot just for them to cross the forest and enter the Poison Miasma Zone.
However, Shadow One and the others all possessed qinggong, and they took turns carrying Xue Fuyao forward, which could shorten the time by two-thirds.
This had to be credited to the cultivation method Xue Fuyao gave them.
Over these past two years, they had not dared to slack off for a single moment, and their physical fitness had obtained a tremendous boost.
Xue Fuyao was carried on Shadow Six's back, and the scenery around her retreated swiftly.
"If you see white mist, absolutely do not harbor any lucky illusions; stop moving forward immediately," Xue Fuyao reminded.
As they penetrated deeper and deeper into the forest, a scent of rotting plants permeated the surroundings, and there were even traces of human skeletal remains on the ground, which, judging by the situation, should have been left a very, very long time ago.
Ten days later, the party finally arrived at the edge of the forest, and ahead was the white poisonous miasma.
Even before officially entering the poisonous miasma, one could see from afar that there were quite a few dead animal carcasses on the edge area, some of which had not even completely rotted, emitting an unpleasant odor.
Seeing this, Xue Fuyao took out the clothes she had prepared long ago.
The clothes were still soaking wet when taken out from the bucket containing the potion, and wearing them on the body was not comfortable, but there was no help for it, as such an effect was the best.
The remaining potion was not wasted either; Xue Fuyao put it away, and on the road, whenever she saw whose clothes on their body had dried, she would sprinkle some on, which could make it last a little longer.
She did not know how large this poisonous miasma mask actually was, and hoped it would not be too big.
Besides clothes and shoes, everyone was wrapped tightly from head to toe, their fingers were also wrapped with soaked cloth strips, and only a pair of eyes were exposed.
This time they could no longer "swiftly resolve" things like before, because besides the poisonous miasma, quagmires were also densely spread everywhere here.
Inhaling the poisonous miasma would mean death, and sinking into the quagmires would likewise mean death.
Therefore, every step taken in the poisonous miasma required being extremely careful.
Everyone held sticks in their hands, used to probe the road ahead.
And those skeletal remains that appeared on their path helped them a great deal in disguise.
Three days later, there was still no end in sight ahead of the poisonous miasma; instead, the concentration of the poisonous miasma was getting higher and higher.
Now the clothes on their bodies had to be changed every half day.
"Your Highness, how much longer do we need to walk?" Shadow Three, carrying Xue Fuyao on his back, could not help asking.
Xue Fuyao pressed against Shadow Three's back, shook her head with a solemn expression, and said, "I'm not clear either, but rest assured, the quantity of the potion is sufficient."
Seeing that the hour was getting late, they found a dry patch of ground and prepared to rest for a while.
Xue Fuyao took out one huge veiled hat after another from the Storage Bag and distributed them to everyone.
Everyone took the veiled hats and put them on their heads out of habit, then began to eat.
When eating, food would inevitably become contaminated with the poisonous miasma; although not fatal, it would still place a burden on the body, so Xue Fuyao used the veiled hats soaked in potion to once again shield against most of the poisonous miasma.
Even so, a trace of the poisonous miasma would still contaminate the food.
Xue Fuyao dissolved detoxifying pills in water, had everyone carry it on their bodies, and took it out to drink a sip from time to time, and whenever they finished drinking, they would come to her to get more.
Because Xue Fuyao was present, although this party of theirs was arduous along the way, they did not suffer any losses, and did not even encounter danger; by contrast, other people were not so lucky.
Right on the seventh day, Shadow One discovered a dead person's corpse in a quagmires.
This person's complexion was purplish, and the body had already started to rot; it looked as though they had been dead for quite some time, and they should have died of poisoning.
It was the first time Shadow One and the others had seen what a person who died from inhaling the poisonous miasma looked like, and they could not help tightening the face masks they wore to block it.
"It looks like there should have been another wave of people before us," Shadow Two said seriously.
This was not good news for them.
"Pay no mind to other people; we go our own way."
Ignoring the purplish corpse in the quagmires, the group continued forward; however, the further forward they walked, the more corpses they discovered, all of them without exception having died of poisoning.
Moreover, judging by the times these people died, they were getting closer and closer to the people ahead.
When they saw the corpse in the quagmires once again, Shadow One and the others were already used to it, ignoring the corpse and preparing to continue forward, but when Xue Fuyao saw the appearance of the corpse clearly, she was shocked.
Zhang Rong'er, the paternal half-sister of Zhang Qin’er-how could this person die here?
No, Zhang Rong'er was here, which meant the people ahead of them were Zhang Clan members!
Thinking this, Xue Fuyao had Shadow One and the others slow down their pace of advance.
"The people ahead are Zhang Clan members, and we do not yet have the strength to go head-to-head with the Zhang Family."
Regarding this, Shadow One was somewhat puzzled. "Your Highness, why do you say that?"
"The Zhang Family I speak of is not the Zhang Clan of the Mortal Realm, but the Zhang Family of the Cultivation Realm. That is a cultivation aristocratic clan, not something our current selves can shake, and I do not wish for news of me to reach their ears, as this will bring us endless trouble."
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