Chapter 5: The Forbidden Forest Encounter (2)

  "Little Tian Ge, save me!" This time the voice was much clearer.

  "It's Yan'er!" Little Tian immediately reacted, and quickly parted the grass bushes, running towards the direction of the sound with all his might. After running dozens of steps, Little Tian saw a blue figure huddled on the giant root of an ancient tree, shivering violently.

  "Yan'er! Don't be afraid, I'm here!" Xiao Tian didn't dare to hesitate and rushed towards Yan'er with all his might!

  "Little Tian Ge!" Seeing Little Tian appear, Yan Er's body suddenly gained strength from somewhere and she stood up and rushed into Little Tian's arms, accompanied by a loud wail. (Ps: Xi Feng: Haha, crying again! Yan Er: Bad author, I'm scared to death, how can you still laugh? Xi Feng: Hahaha... Just as Xi Feng was gloating, a brick flew over with a "slap" sound, Little Tian had made his move, and Xi Feng continued writing with gauze wrapped around his head.

  "Silly girl, what are you doing here?" Xiang Tian hugged Yan Er tightly, feeling both heartache and blame.

  "I - I want to follow you!" Yan'er said, and suddenly seemed to remember something, stood up and pointed in a direction saying, "Little Tian Ge, look, what's that?"

  "What the...? What kind of monster is that?" Xiaotian looked in the direction Yanyu was pointing, and he couldn't help but be shocked as well. In front of them was a strange beast, shaped like a sheep but slightly smaller than normal, with nine tails growing from its back, no eyes on its head but four ears instead, and a pair of eyes were actually growing on its back, staring straight at Xiaotian and the others. Even Shouhuan and Dahu, who had been chasing after them, didn't bother to ask Yanyu anything, they were also startled by the monster!

  "Come on! Come on!" Yanyu was right behind him, and Xiaotian didn't care about being afraid anymore. He plucked up the courage to raise his fish fork and waved it at the monster while shouting. Shouhoutu and Dada also drew their own weapons, sickle and axe, and followed Xiaotian's lead in shouting.

  "Maaaa!" The creature let out a bleat like a sheep and then turned around, spreading its four hooves and running deep into the forbidden forest.

  "Whew..." Xiaotian watched as the strange creature ran far away, only then did he put down his harpoon, wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and let out a long breath.

  "Yan'er? How are you here?" asked Qiu Hou, now looking at Yan'er whose complexion had returned to normal.

  "Me... me..." Yan'er looked at Xiao Tian's face sinking down, unsure of how to explain.

  "You, you, how can you be so disobedient? It's so dangerous here! You really are..." Xiaotian was furious in his heart, he didn't care about the danger himself, but he couldn't help but worry about Yan'er. He was so angry that his words were incoherent and he didn't know what to say anymore.

  "Alright, Little Tian Ge, since you've already come in, there's no use saying these things. Let's think about what to do next instead." Seeing Yan Er's eyes redden and almost tear up from Little Tian's questioning, Da Tou quickly intervened to mediate and change the subject.

  "What can be done? What can be done?" Little Tian said in a bad tone, he couldn't tolerate putting Yanyan, a girl, in danger!

  "Hmm! Alright!" The skinny monkey and Big Head both nodded in agreement, partly because of Yan'er's sake, and also because the two of them had been frightened enough lately!

  The problem soon arose. These young men got lost and couldn't find their way back. The traces they had left behind also disappeared in the cold wind that just blew by.

  "What to do? Which way should we go?" Four young men sat on a huge tree root, frowning and thinking of a solution.

  "Ah?" Along with the thin monkey's sharp cry, a sudden change occurred. Suddenly, a green vine sprang out from the dry leaves under the thin monkey and quickly wrapped itself around its body several times, dragging it outward!

  "Little Tian, save me! Quickly!" The thin monkey was so frightened that he hurriedly shouted for help, his two feet kicking wildly on the ground, his two hands grasping desperately at the ground, and the dry leaves on the ground were dragged out in several gullies.

  Unlike Da Tou's panic, and unlike Yan Er's stunned expression, Xiao Tian made a swift decision. He grabbed the sickle that was placed aside and rushed over. In an instant, he took a step forward, his left hand grasping the thin monkey's flailing right hand, while his right hand wielded the sickle in a flash of lightning, slashing towards the green vine with a "swish" sound. A loud "thud" was heard as the blade fell, and the severed end of the vine spurted out fresh red blood like a fountain, splashing Xiao Tian's head and body. The segment of the vine that was wrapped around the thin monkey's body also quickly withered and fell to the ground.

  "What kind of vine is this? Has it become a spirit?" The thin monkey stood up, its heart still racing as it looked at the bright red bloodstain on the ground.

  "Hurry up and leave here, it's dangerous!" Xiao Tian wiped the blood stains on his face with his sleeve, and his originally handsome face looked a bit frightening!

  The three skinny monkeys didn't dare to slack off and ran in the opposite direction of the retreating green vines. Xiao Tian held a sickle and cut behind, only to see the withered leaves on the ground being lifted up, as if they had been plowed through. The fresh mud underground was also turned over. The green vines pursued relentlessly. Xiao Tian ran for several steps before his feet were entwined by the vines and he fell to the ground. With quick eyes and hands, Xiao Tian swiftly swung his sickle, cutting the vines again, and blood splattered everywhere. Shou Hou and Da Tou turned around, pulled up Xiao Tian, and continued their frantic sprint. However, they didn't see the green vines catch up again, probably because it was afraid of the sickle in Xiao Tian's hand.

  Four young men ran wildly in the woods like headless flies, until they were stopped by a small stream in front of them and finally stopped panting. The terrain here is relatively open, the trees are not as dense as before, and when you raise your head, you can still see the blue sky through the gaps in the leaves.

  "My goodness, I'm scared to death, I'm exhausted!" The thin monkey sat down on the grass by the stream with a thud, panting heavily.

  "That green vine has come to life? How terrifying, and it's bleeding so much!" A big head that had fallen into a pile of dry leaves continued to say.

  "Xiao Tian is so amazing!" Later on, Yan'er's blue skirt was covered with twigs and grass roots as she was almost dragged by Xiao Tian to run. She washed her face with water at the stream and followed suit, looking at Xiao Tian's eyes filled with admiration.

  Xiao Tian didn't bother to respond, he carefully surveyed his surroundings with a sickle in hand before sitting down on a rock by the stream to wash his face and drink some water. The tension had just dissipated, and now he felt the intense fatigue wash over him. After washing off the bloodstains on his face, Xiao Tian removed and untied the green cloth bundle from his back, took out the dried fish slices inside, and distributed them among the other three people, taking one for himself as well. As they ate, he said: "This forest is too eerie, first we saw a sheep with nine tails, and then that vine that can entangle people and make them bleed. No wonder nobody from the village dares to come in."

  "Yes, this forest is really too scary!" Da Tou ate salted fish slices while using the creek water as a mirror to tidy up his hair that was messed up from running away in a fluster.

  "Little Tian Ge, I'm scared!" The frightened Yan Er didn't have much of an appetite, she leaned against Little Tian's side, tightly hugging his arm.

  "It seems okay here, I'm really exhausted, how about we rest here for a while?" The thin monkey lay flat on the grass by the creek, his mouth full of salted fish and speaking unclearly.

  "No! I see that there are many animal footprints by the stream, some of which are quite large. I'm afraid there may be ferocious beasts coming here to drink water, and this place isn't very safe either. Let's take a short rest and then leave here. Before nightfall, let's try our best to get out of the forest!" Xiaotian said seriously while patting Yan'er's head to comfort her.

  "Huh, is that so? Will there be ferocious beasts?" As soon as he heard about the ferocious beasts, the thin monkey, who had been frightened multiple times, couldn't lie still anymore and sat up with a start. He swallowed the salted fish in his mouth in two or three gulps, "I think we should leave now!"

  "Haha, Skinny Monkey, you're really too timid! Scared like this, Xiaotian just said there might be fierce beasts, not that they've actually arrived." Seeing Skinny Monkey's flustered state, Dahan couldn't pass up the opportunity to mock him and spoke sarcastically.

  Just as they were saying this, another unexpected event occurred!

  "A loud roar" swept out from the woods, blowing up a gust of foul wind that sent the dry leaves on the ground flying, followed by a fierce beast's growl that shook the forest like thunder, startling Big Head to drop the salted fish slice in his hand with a "slap".

  What kind of danger will Xiaotian and his friends face again? Please see next chapter "Entering the Forest Encountering Danger (Three)".

  Ps: West Wind is after all a newcomer, writing for the first time, and it's inevitable that it's not perfect. I also feel that my beginning is a bit dull. But this is only temporary, as the plot progresses and writing becomes more skilled, it will become more brilliant later on. I hope readers will collect and recommend it widely, West Wind is deeply grateful and will definitely work hard to write more and return the favor to everyone.