Chapter 70: Spirit Beasts! Poisonous Insects! Danger Lurks Everywhere!

At the bottom of the valley, the air was sticky as if it were unmeltable mud.

Rotting dampness mixed with plant stench rushed straight into the nose; each breath felt like swallowing a mouthful of rotten mud soup.

Above, the canopy was tightly woven, letting through only a few strands of sickly light, which struggled to form ghostly patches of light in the pervasive gray miasma.

Visibility was extremely low; beyond five steps, only blurry outlines could be seen.

The bloody smell after the slaughter quickly spread in the sultry heat.

On the ground lay several corpses of shadowcats, their dark gray fur soaked in greenish-black blood, exuding a piercing stench.

Beside them, the corpse of a Wang family member lay still, his throat torn open in a horrible gash, eyes wide open, dead without peace.

He was Wang Wu, an honest and simple collateral branch disciple, whose ordinary name was lost in the crowd, yet now he ended his life in such a gruesome way.

Wang Shan's hand gripping the knife still trembled slightly, not from fatigue, but from the unbearable pain welling up in his heart.

He gasped heavily, his chest rising and falling violently like a bellows.

Looking around, the surviving clansmen either sat or slumped, their faces and bodies covered in mud and blood, with scorched marks from scratches. Their eyes were empty and numb, like a group of walking corpses whose souls had been sucked out.

Twenty-three people.

When they jumped down from the cliff, there had been twenty-five or twenty-six; a shadowcat ambush took another, leaving only twenty-three. This number cut into Wang Shan's heart like a knife.

Wang Zhize covered his shoulder, where the shadowcat had scratched him, blood still oozing out; his face was pale, his lips pressed tight.

Wang Zhitao had injured a leg, leaning against the tree trunk, cold sweat pouring from his forehead.

Several of the severely injured were in worse condition, their faces dark and purplish, injured internally by Wan Tianjue's pressure and the aftermath of the thunderstorm; even their groans were too faint to hear.

Wang Shan withdrew his gaze, forcing himself to stay calm.

Now was not the time for sorrow. He looked at the shadowcat corpses.

First-order spirit beasts, their materials worthless, but now in dire straits, even a mosquito's leg is meat.

"Zhize! Zhitao! Take a few people and strip these beasts of their pelts, claws, and spirit cores! Move fast!" Wang Shan's voice was hoarse, carrying an unquestionable ferocity.

Wang Zhize stared for a moment, then understood, enduring the pain as he called over the few clansmen who could still move.

Their movements were clumsy, even tinged with disgust, but the survival instinct overcame their discomfort, and they began to process the spirit beast corpses.

The bloody smell was indeed the beginning of trouble.

Soon a dense buzzing filled the air. Looking up, beneath those light patches above, swarms of black dots appeared. They hovered a moment, as if they had found a target, then swooped down fiercely!

"Watch out! Bloodsuck mosquitoes!" someone cried out.

These mosquitoes were as big as a finger joint, with transparent wings, jet-black bodies, and mouthparts flashing a chilling light. They flung themselves at the crowd heedless of danger, trying to pierce clothing and suck blood.

At the same time, movement began in the layer of rotting leaves on the ground. Colorful poisonous snakes and scorpions silently emerged, camouflaged extremely well—some like dead twigs, some like fallen leaves; a moment's inattention and they would spot you.

"Ah!"

A shrill scream split the forest's dead silence. A clansman on watch duty stiffened suddenly; looking down, a variegated viper camouflaged as a vine clung tightly to his calf. The venom spread quickly, his calf visibly blackening and swelling, then his whole body, his face covered in purplish-black spots, his breathing becoming rapid and ragged.

"Family head! I… I can't…" the clansman's voice hoarse, his eyes showing despair.

Wang Shan's face changed. The variegated viper's venom was extremely potent; ordinary detox pills were useless! In an instant, his mind flashed to the 【Basic Detox Powder】 he had just exchanged in the system space.

"Don't move!" Wang Shan rushed over, chopped off the viper's head with one blow, and flung the corpse aside. The clansman had already begun to foam at the mouth, his body convulsing.

Wang Shan fumbled, pulling a small porcelain bottle from his bosom—this was the system-produced 【Basic Detox Powder】. He pinched open the man's mouth and poured the entire bottle of powder in.

The powder dissolved on contact, a cool sensation quickly spreading along the man's throat. His convulsing body eased a little, the purplish-black spots on his face fading slightly, but he remained pallid, his breath as thin as a thread.

"He's hanging on…" Wang Shan exhaled, but his heart grew heavier. One bottle of Basic Detox Powder could barely suppress this virulent snake venom, and it consumed a great deal. What's worse, though the clansman hadn't died, he was gravely weakened and couldn't regain combat strength in the short term.

We can't stay here any longer! The bloody smell, poisonous insects, poisonous snakes—this area is practically a death trap! Wan Tianjue that old dog could come after us at any moment; we must move, using the complex terrain of the dense forest to evade.

"Everyone listen!" Wang Shan stood straight, his voice hoarse yet infused with ironclad will: "This place is too dangerous! We must leave!"

He pointed to the depths of the forest, where the miasma seemed thicker and visibility lower. "Zhize, Zhitao, you lead the people carrying the wounded! Others, support each other! Walk along the low-lying parts of the terrain; there might be water there!"

The group set off again. Every step was extraordinarily difficult. Beneath the rotting leaf layer lay hidden pits; someone stepped empty, half a leg sinking in, and it took great effort to pull him out. Twisted tree roots resembled hands reaching from underground, ready to trip anyone at any moment. The miasma in the air grew denser, carrying a sweet, cloying oddness that made people dizzy and nauseous.

"Watch out for those flowers!" Wang Shan's sharp eyes spotted clusters of brightly colored, strangely shaped flowers growing by the roadside, emitting a faint fragrance. The system panel flashed in his mind: 【Hallucinogenic Spore Flower, inhaling its spores can cause hallucinations.】

No sooner had the words fallen than a young clansman scouting ahead accidentally inhaled a wisp of colorless, odorless spore. His body swayed, his eyes instantly becoming vacant and dazed, he muttered incoherently. Immediately, he whirled around, raised his weapon, and slashed at a nearby companion!

"Little Tiger!" Wang Shan, quick-eyed and quick-handed, lunged forward and struck the man's neck with a knifehand, knocking him out.

Another one! How long have we been walking? Threats keep popping up, impossible to guard against!

Food and clean water supplies were also rapidly dwindling. The dry rations had already been nearly exhausted on the Black Feather Boat; now we could only rely on finding provisions along the way.

Wang Shan tried using the system to identify surrounding plants; most were poisonous, only a few sour, hard-to-chew berries were edible, barely able to supplement a little water and energy, but they might also cause diarrhea.

One blow after another—death, injury, hunger, fatigue, fear—swallowed the team's morale like a tide.

Suppressed sobs began to rise in the group. Someone walking would suddenly stop, eyes blank, as if wanting to give up.

"Family head… we… can we still survive?" a young clansman could no longer suppress his inner despair, his trembling voice asking. His voice was like a needle, piercing this veneer of calm and drawing out everyone's buried fear.

Others' gazes also turned toward Wang Shan, filled with pleading, confusion, and the fragility of near collapse.

Wang Shan surveyed the crowd. Every gaze asked the same question. His throat tightened, a sourness rising in his nasal passage. But he could not collapse, could not show the slightest timidity. He was the family head, their last pillar.

He drew a deep breath, pressing down all fatigue, pain, and despair. He knew that now, confidence mattered more than any elixir.

"We can!" Wang Shan's voice hoarse yet utterly resolute, carrying an unyielding conviction. "As long as there is still a breath, we must survive! For the fallen clansmen, for Wang Wu, for all who couldn't escape! They gave their lives to buy us this chance; we cannot let them down!"

His gaze swept over each clansman, sharp and full of strength.

"What if Wan Tianjue that old dog comes after us? He's badly injured, his spiritual sense limited in this godforsaken place! He wants to play cat and mouse? I won't let him succeed! We have this dense forest as cover, we have our own hands and feet! As long as we live, there is hope! Everyone, pull yourselves together!"

Wang Shan's roar echoed in the forest like a thunderclap, briefly dispelling the gloom hanging over everyone's hearts. In the despairing eyes, a faint spark seemed to ignite. They are Wang family members; Wang Shan hasn't given up, so neither can they!

The group pressed on, steps still heavy but now with a hint of unyielding resilience. They walked deep and shallow through rotten leaves and sludge, vigilantly avoiding dangers that might appear at any moment.

Just as they detoured around a huge dead tree, Wang Shan, leading the front, suddenly halted. He sharply lifted his gaze toward a crack in the tree's roots, half-hidden by vines. A wisp of extremely faint, extremely fresh spiritual energy drifted out from the crack.

The system panel almost simultaneously popped up a prompt:

【Detected signs of high-grade spirit plant growth nearby; spirit plant point collection function activated.】

Wang Shan's heart stirred. He recalled the system's earlier hint about the "Century Stone Marrow Ganoderma." Could it be right here?

He had just wanted to step forward to check, but behind him, deep in the forest, a low, deep growl suddenly came—it was not like the previous shadowcat, carrying an ancient, heavy oppression that made the surrounding leaves rustle down. Immediately after, the ground began to tremble slightly.

What massive creature is approaching them!