Chapter 268

Chapter 268: You Didn’t Bury A Few Bananas On The Mountain, Right?
Yu Zhao caught the faintly sympathetic look in Bai Mei’s eyes and felt quite confused.

Bai Mei added with a gentle smile: “After the Little Gathering is over, you can come stay on my Spirit Mountain for a while.”

Yu Zhao was stunned.

Before Yu Zhao could speak, Xiao You answered for her: “Sister Bai Mei, we can’t. Yu Zhao still has to go back with us to see the Chieftain. We will come visit Spirit Mountain another time.”

Only then did Bai Mei realize she had been overthinking it.

Bai Mei smiled and gently rubbed Xiao You’s head, saying: “Alright, then Sister Bai Mei will wait for you on Spirit Mountain.”

Xiao You replied happily: “Mm!”

They chatted together in high spirits, and Hua Tu started to doubt himself.

He thought to himself: “The White Peacock and this fox demon know each other, so her identity should not be a problem.” [So was his intuition wrong?]

Hua Tu did not think about it for long. A gray-haired old monkey, less than half a person’s height, jumped to the center of the clearing.

As soon as it appeared, the noisy voices around them suddenly dropped.

The old monkey coughed loudly and shouted: “Cough, cough, quiet, quiet!”

The old monkey was small in size but loud in voice. After it shouted twice, the rest of the sounds also disappeared.

It nodded in satisfaction and said: “I will keep it short. By our rules, any goods that were not traded by the end of the Little Gathering can be treated as spoils of war, as rewards for the winning demonic beasts. Now, those who are willing to hand over your items, step forward and place all your goods on the open ground in front of me to the left.”

As soon as it finished speaking, dozens of demonic beasts stepped forward and set down the items in their hands in the marked area.

Then, more demonic beasts went up one after another.

Even Bai Mei, Xiao You standing on Yu Zhao’s shoulder, and the other little foxes went up holding things and then came back empty-handed.

Soon, a glittering pile of items rose like a small hill. There were no extremely rare treasures, but together they still formed a sizable fortune.

All around them, the demonic beasts began to breathe harder, and the air seemed to grow hotter.

In this kind of atmosphere, it was hard not to be affected.

Yu Zhao’s interest, which had been only three out of ten, jumped to about seven.

The old monkey jumped onto the little hill of goods, looked down at everyone, and announced: “We will decide the winner in one round. This time, we are testing whose sense of smell is the sharpest.”

“It’s a smell test?” a beast laughed loudly, boasting: “Hahaha, then I will definitely win. My sense of smell is the strongest!”

A wolf demon shouted proudly: “Our Heavenly Wolf Clan are the true kings of smell!”

Another demonic beast wailed: “Ah, if we are testing smell this time, then I am sure to lose!”

Bai Mei sighed and said: “The peacock race only has average smell. We have no chance this time.”

Xiao You proudly puffed out its round little belly and told Yu Zhao: “Yu Zhao, I can do it. Just watch me!”

Yu Zhao had already seen how amazing Xiao You’s sense of smell was.

The other little foxes had dried little fish they could not bear to eat. As long as they hid them somewhere on Qingqiu Mountain, no matter how deep or secret the spot was, Xiao You could still dig them out.

The three-eyed leopard was also full of confidence and called out: “Old Monkey, what are you going to make us look for?”

Other demonic beasts shouted along: “Yeah, yeah, hurry and tell us!”

One beast joked loudly: “Old Monkey, you didn’t just bury a few bananas on the mountain for us to find, did you?”

Laughter broke out at the scene.

The old monkey had grown up alone in the Dragon Pool Mountains and knew the area like the back of its hand.

After the Little Gathering began to be held in the Dragon Pool Mountains, it ran around helping with many things and earned a place in the hearts of the demonic beasts. Later, it slowly became the person in charge of the activities held after each Little Gathering.

It had no tribe and always moved alone. As a monkey, it was fair and impartial, so everyone trusted it.

The old monkey also enjoyed being the focus of everyone’s gaze. It kept them in suspense on purpose for a while before pulling out a large leaf.

It explained: “The thing this leaf once wrapped is what you must find. Whoever finds it first and brings it back here will win, and all of these items will belong to them. Is that clear?”

After all the demons said they understood, it tore the leaf into several small pieces and passed them around for everyone to smell.

After awakening the memories in the Water Spirit Jade, Yu Zhao’s five senses had evolved once. Later, when she broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, they evolved again, now surpassing cultivators at the same level.

So when she got a fragment of the leaf, she held it under her nose and carefully smelled it for a while.

[Hmm, there is a faint fragrance of glutinous rice.]

She judged in her heart: “This leaf must have wrapped some kind of spirit herb.”

Having a rough idea, Yu Zhao handed the leaf fragment to Bai Mei.

Bai Mei chose to give up directly and passed the piece to the demonic beast next to her.

After the time of one stick of incense, the fragments had gone around all the demonic beasts.

Under countless expectant gazes, the old monkey finally announced that they could set out.

The quick and agile demonic beasts were like arrows on a bowstring. The moment they were released, they shot out like lightning.

In the blink of an eye, half of the demonic beasts had disappeared from the clearing.

Bai Mei saw that Yu Zhao and the little foxes were in no rush and asked curiously: “Don’t you want to try too? Why aren’t you leaving yet?”

Xiao You answered with the look of someone sure of winning: “Sister Bai Mei, you can’t rush this. If you go too fast, you are more likely to miss clues. No rush.”

In fact, it had been eating too much lately, and its extra weight was slowing it down. It could not run fast at all and could only make excuses.

Bai Mei did not see through Xiao You’s act and even felt that what it said made a lot of sense.

Trying to find one item in the vast Dragon Pool Mountains was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

You really could not rush it. You had to find the right method.

Of course Yu Zhao did not expose the little fox, who cared so much about saving face.

Since Bai Mei had given up and planned to stay here and wait, Yu Zhao entrusted Lin Shuang to her care.

As a member of the White Peacock Clan, who was deeply influenced by Clan Chief Bai Ling, Bai Mei did not look down on human cultivators at all, so she agreed happily.

So Yu Zhao tucked a few protective yellow talismans and a Message Transmission jade talisman into Lin Shuang’s hands, then led the treasure hunting team, with Xiao You at the front, out again.

After Yu Zhao and the others left, only a few demonic beasts remained on the field.

Bai Mei was about to find a place to rest when the old monkey walked toward her.

The old monkey asked politely: “Lady Bai Mei, who was that young woman from the Fox Clan who stood beside you just now? This old monkey has never seen her before.”

The White Peacock were widely recognized as the strongest clan among the demonic beasts. Clan Chief Bai Ling rarely showed herself, so Bai Mei often acted as their representative outside. Any demonic beast with good information channels knew her and treated her with great respect.

Bai Mei answered calmly: “She is a new friend from the Fox Clan.”

The old monkey’s eyes turned. [A new friend?]

Bai Mei added with a smile: “Yes. She has some ties with our Chieftain and with the Chieftain of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan as well.”

The old monkey at once understood that this was not someone it should be asking about. It changed the subject right away and did not say another unnecessary word.

Yu Zhao had walked for less than one hour when she again felt the sensation of being watched from the shadows.

She stopped and swept her gaze sharply toward the front right.

It was that three-eyed leopard called Hua Tu again.

Xiao You looked up and asked: “Yu Zhao, what’s wrong? Did you find a clue?”

Xiao You’s strength was not enough to sense Hua Tu hiding nearby. It looked at Yu Zhao with a silly and cute face.

Yu Zhao lowered her voice and said: “That leopard you hate the most followed us.”

All of Xiao You’s fur stood on end.

It shouted angrily: “It is Hua Tu. He must be trying to follow us, then jump out to steal the thing once we find it! That is so hateful!”

The other little foxes cried out one after another: “Hua Tu followed us? Hurry and drive him away!”

They all shouted together: “Hua Tu! Stop following us! Go away! You are not welcome here!”