Shadow

The group passed through the forest at an even faster pace than before. Occasionally, one of them would crouch down, looking carefully at the nearby area with scrutiny.

Si Niang was beginning to find it difficult to trace Mu Bai's steps, at their current location, even he was beginning to fear this dead night and the creatures that lurked in it. He even feeling a bit annoyed at this friend of his.

However, there was another person who was even more annoyed by all this. She truly felt she was both unlucky and damned. Being stuck with this group was not a very pleasant experience. It had started off as hunting just to kill time, now it was a life and death situation. She had only touched some blood but who would have thought that this blood was poisoned.

Now she was scratching her skin so hard it seemed like it wouldn't be long before her finger nails pick up a chunk of flesh. She even feeling more annoyed with Cui Bei.

When she first saw Mu Bai lying in a pool of his own blood, she had not gotten enough time to recall if she knew this person. It was only when they began this search for a cure, did she remember that just before, in the main camp, when Cui Bei had visited her, there was that one conspicuous guy in the back accompanied by Si Niang.

Looking at it this way she now understood why Si Niang was not grouped with them. This fella had likely joined Bai Ming's group to act as Cui Bei's eyes and ears.

But now as she looked him, he did not seem to be doing anything a spy would do. She had tried to rack her head to figure out Si Niang completely but no fruits were bore. In the end she decided to give up on the idea and focus on Cui Bei.

This rascal had come all the way here for what exactly?

Many thoughts were running through her mind. 

She gave a side glance to the sleeping Mu Bai in the back. Looking back to everything that had happened she wondered if Cui Bei had some sort of hidden goal for coming out here.

Logically speaking people such as her would not usually join in the hunts. Of course, their families would send servants to represent them but in no way would successors such as them be sent out here. Otherwise, there was no way Mu Bai could have encountered such a life-threatening thing.

Her thoughts kept moving and she felt she was on the cusp of figuring it all out but her thoughts were disrupted.

Even though she was not in the best condition, Cui Rong perked her ears to the left side. She felt as though she had heard faint snapping sound behind them. She did not want to alert the other party, so she maintained her speed with her eyes on the front. In the group she stood in the middle with Bai Ming and Si Ning in the front then Wu Zhengyi and Li Tian in the back. This was the perfect position for her thwart the other party's intentions.

Swiftly, the group passed through many parts of the forest, if it were anyone else in Cui Rong's place, they would probably start to think if their senses were playing tricks on them but Cui Rong did not think so.

She was wondering why only she had heard this faint sound. It then dawned on her that the poisoned had dulled some of her senses including sight but her hearing seemed to heightened a bit.

She felt an intense premonition that something was coming. Without any hesitation she turned back and stared behind Wu Zhengyi and Li Tian.

Her actions had come without any warning, so naturally Wu Zhenyi and Li Tian were taken by surprise but as people walking in an unfamiliar place in the dead of night, they quickly became vigilant and surveyed their surroundings.

Time passed slowly, from a moment to a few moments. Wu Zhengyi began to feel restless. Li Tian instead asked her.

"Lady Rong, did something alert you?"

Cui Rong, being questioned like this made her head feel dizzy.

Could she have been wrong about this?

Was it a hallucination?

Is this also one of the symptoms of this poison.

She could not think too much as this made the exhaustion her even more heavy so could only answer in short and truthfully.

"A while ago, I thought I heard something snap behind us"

Everyone hearing this looked into the darkness behind them but could not see anything. Bai Ming and Si Niang's eyes darted about everywhere surveying the nearby area but could pick up on anything suspicious at all. The two looked at each other and looked back at Cui Rong.

Bai Ming to a step forward and spoke, "Lady Rong, it must have been the poison, our state getting worse. At this moment we shouldn't delay further otherwise our condition may end up being irreversible"

Hearing this everyone seemed to agree to this.

Even Cui Rong was starting to believe that she had been wrong. Seeing everyone nod just when they were about to continue moving and Bai Ming had turned his attention to the front, a black shadow came out from the left side of the group. It was moving so fast and its target was not Wu Zhengyi or Li Tian but Cui Rong.

At this moment her guard was completely down and she did not show any sign of reacting.

Cold sweat poured trickled down her forehead, a piercing chill in her spine stunned her completely.

Looking at this, she was not wrong, there truly was something lurking nearby but none of the people present had sensed it. Wu Zhengyi and Li Tian had their hands full with Mu Bai and could not react fast enough.

In this hopeless situation, Cui Rong tried to summon every bit of energy in her body but her efforts seemed to fail. It seemed as if the energy inside her was scattered throughout her body and could not be reunited in a timely manner.

She could not see or know what had her attacked her, it was simply too fast and even Bai Ming could not react fast enough.

She tried making calculations of her own in that instant but her head was buzzing and she could not piece up a complete thought.

Everything seemed hopeless.

It seemed this would be the day she breathed her last.