Free Web NovelChapter 305: Chapter 303: Accident
"You’ve seen Little White?"
The little monkey nodded, trembling.
Xu Jiali turned to Song Jiayan. "Did I just say ’the fox’ or ’Little White’?"
"Little White."
"So it knows Little White’s name?"
Song Jiayan nodded.
Xu Jiali murmured to herself again, clearly surprised that the little monkey actually knew Little White’s name.
The little monkey didn’t know that Little White had once introduced himself before the monkey troop as Immortal Xiao Bai!
"Then is your leader with Little White?"
The little monkey hesitated for a moment, recalling the scene before its leader left, then slowly nodded.
Based on its reasoning, its leader had taken Little Feng to see the Fox Immortal.
So it was correct to say they were together.
When Xu Jiali saw the little monkey nod, she jumped up in joy. She couldn’t help but grab Song Jiayan’s arm and hop around. "Did you see that, Song Jiayan? We’re going to find Little White! As long as Little White is here, we’ll definitely find Sister Wen Ying and everyone will get home safely!"
Song Jiayan was happy too, but he was still a little worried. ’Does this monkey really understand, or is it just playing with us?’
But given their current situation, it wasn’t a good time to discourage Xu Jiali.
If there was even a glimmer of hope, they had to pursue it.
Finding Little White would be a good thing.
"Little monkey, can you take us to Little White?"
The little monkey stood on the branch and didn’t respond.
Xu Jiali grew anxious. "Little monkey, can you take us to Little White? Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you! If you lead us to Little White, we’ll reward you."
Still, the little monkey didn’t move.
"Why not? Is there some kind of danger?"
This time, the little monkey didn’t just stand there in silence. It nodded.
"There really is danger!" Xu Jiali became even more frantic. "Doesn’t that mean Sister Wen Ying is in even more danger? No, I have to find Sister Wen Ying."
"Little monkey, can you take us to Little White? You can just lead us to the point where you feel it’s dangerous and then leave. We’ll go the rest of the way ourselves. How about that? I can make it so Little White owes you a favor! You should know who Little White is, right?"
The little monkey remained silent. Just as Xu Jiali was about to speak again, it finally nodded.
The two of them followed the little monkey as it twisted and turned, making their journey difficult.
The little monkey swung from branch to branch, effortlessly gliding over any obstacles on the ground.
But Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan were walking on the ground, and the trees here were particularly dense.
The path the little monkey led them on seemed even more remote, desolate, and difficult to traverse.
But Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan couldn’t turn back. Along the way, their skin was scratched up by countless branches.
The cuts stung sharply.
After walking for about half an hour, the little monkey suddenly stopped.
It stood on a high branch, hopping back and forth, but it wouldn’t move forward.
Five minutes later, Xu Jiali sensed that something was wrong.
"Little monkey?"
Hearing her voice, the little monkey looked at Xu Jiali but still shook its head at her.
"We can’t go on?"
The little monkey nodded. It was unwilling to go any further.
Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan followed the little monkey’s gaze, looking in the direction it indicated.
Before they could say anything, the little monkey had already scampered away.
Xu Jiali was a little angry, but Song Jiayan comforted her. "Don’t be mad. We should be grateful that the little monkey brought us this far. If it’s dangerous ahead, it’s better that it didn’t go. I’ll go with you."
Xu Jiali nodded. She understood, she really did. She was just overwhelmed with worry, and her emotions were a mess.
Song Jiayan yanked aside the branches blocking their path, letting Xu Jiali pass.
The environment was simply awful.
There was no path.
After walking for about five minutes, Xu Jiali estimated they had covered less than two hundred meters.
Their pace was excruciatingly slow.
"CHITTER CHITTER CHITTER!"
Upon hearing the sound, Song Jiayan quickly pulled Xu Jiali’s arm and hid behind a large tree.
Without the monkey scouting for them, they were in much greater danger, not knowing what they might encounter in the forest.
But unexpectedly, it wasn’t another animal that had followed them, but the very same little monkey that had led them here.
The little monkey was hugging a bunch of four or five bananas.
It stopped in front of them, chittering nonstop.
"Are you giving the bananas to us?"
The little monkey nodded.
It then placed the bananas to the side and jumped onto a branch.
It tried to recall what kind of movements and gestures humans made when saying goodbye.
And so, Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan watched as the little monkey stood on the branch, raised its hand, and waved at them.
As if saying goodbye, the little monkey turned and darted away with swift movements.
Song Jiayan and Xu Jiali each ate a banana and then continued on their way.
Thankfully, after another five minutes of walking, the path improved considerably.
Their line of sight suddenly opened up, and they no longer needed to constantly push aside branches and weeds to walk.
A stretch that would have taken five minutes to walk now only took two.
But as they walked, a cloud of black mist suddenly billowed toward Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan.
Panic, fear, and unease welled up in their hearts.
It was as if something terrifying was hiding within the black mist.
The thing seemed to open its gaping, bloody maw at them. Song Jiayan swiftly grabbed Xu Jiali’s arm, pulled her into his arms, and they both ducked down.
They lowered their heads, their eyes squeezed shut.
In that instant, they felt as if they had touched death, as if they were facing the most terrifying thing they had ever encountered in their lives.
But then, a scorching light suddenly erupted beside them, seemingly dispersing the black mist.
The bone-deep fear that had sprung from their hearts vanished without a trace.
Song Jiayan opened his eyes and looked at Xu Jiali. "Jiali, are you okay?"
Xu Jiali shook her head. The feeling just now had been too terrifying; a lingering fear still gripped her.
But the more she felt this way, the more she worried about Sister Wen Ying.
"What was that just now? Why did I feel like I was about to die?" Xu Jiali’s face was pale as she looked at Song Jiayan, feeling the relief of having survived a close call.
Song Jiayan shook his head. He didn’t understand either.
"I don’t know, but it seems like something drove away that black mist? Sister Wen Ying didn’t walk into the black mist, did she?"
The two fell silent for a moment, then got to their feet.
Xu Jiali suddenly grabbed Song Jiayan’s arm. "Song Jiayan, your Red Rope Bracelet?"
Only then did Song Jiayan look down at the wrist wearing the bracelet. The once-crimson bracelet now seemed to have lost eighty percent of its color, looking extremely faded.
Xu Jiali looked at her own bracelet. It was normal.
But when they compared the two bracelets, the difference was absurdly large.
An even more bizarre idea popped into Xu Jiali’s mind. "Song Jiayan, do you think... do you think this bracelet just saved our lives by driving away that black mist?"
Unexpectedly, when Song Jiayan heard this idea, he nodded in agreement.
"The peace charm Sister Wen Ying gave me really can keep us safe!"
Xu Jiali grew excited. She once thought that while it might have some minor effect, it was mostly just a placebo that worked by altering one’s "magnetic field."
But now—
