"That monkey got monkey wine on itself, so the smell won't fade for a while. Little Senior Brother, hurry and follow the scent of the wine! I'll be right behind you!" Luo Yunji urged anxiously.
"Oh!" Zhang Xiaofan sniffed, and sure enough, from far away, he faintly caught a familiar fruity fragrance of monkey wine.
Zhang Xiaofan stamped his foot, and his figure vanished among the bamboo grove in an instant as he gave chase. If Zhang Xiaofan had not still been unfamiliar with his footwork, and if they had not been in a bamboo grove where he had yet to master the force needed for turning, he would not have failed to catch that monkey.
Luo Yunji, the little fatty, rested for quite a while before finally climbing to his feet. Then, following that faint, intermittent trace of wine scent, he tottered along in pursuit.
He had no idea how long he had walked. Luo Yunji only felt as if he had walked all the roads of an entire year today.
Ahead, the trees gradually thinned, and a faint bit of light filtered through. It seemed to be an open space, and there was the sound of water.
He could faintly hear the monkey's shrill cries.
The cries grew more and more frantic.
Before long, his eyes suddenly brightened. Sure enough, it was a wide open space, the ground covered in broken stones. In the middle was a small emerald pool, flowing westward.
Luo Yunji looked around and saw that, with that pool of clear green water at the center, not a blade of grass grew within thirty feet, yet beyond that distance, the woods were lush. Beneath a large pine tree, that gray monkey was crying anxiously toward the pool.
He saw Zhang Xiaofan collapsed beside the pool.