The mirage of the Black Rain Kingdom last night was like the devil waving to those who fell into the water. No matter how hard they swam, they could not reach the end. In the end, they collapsed halfway like the caravan from exhaustion and were eventually buried by the wind and sand.
If it weren't for Jin An and Goat, their team would probably be in trouble.
After traveling all night last night, everyone except Jin An had reached the limit of physical exhaustion, so Jin An proposed to rest for half a day before continuing on the road.
The team was so tired that they didn't even bother to eat the naan and immediately fell asleep one by one. They were really exhausted from the torment last night.
Only Yari and Sureti cheered up and came together to help feed the camels and sheep, but they couldn't bear to wake up the others.
Jin An, who was not sleepy and was taking care of camels and sheep, saw the two people coming to help and said with a smile: "It's okay, I can handle it here by myself. You should rest early. We have to continue our journey later."
Yali first translated Jin An's words to Su Reti, and then said to Jin An embarrassedly: "Originally, we were the ones taking care of Taoist Jin An, but we felt that Taoist Jin An was taking care of us along the way, so we also
We should do something for Taoist Jin'an, otherwise it will be too embarrassing for us men of Yueqiang Country."
While helping, the two men mentioned last night's experience with worried eyes: "Taoist Master Jin An, did you say that the mirage we saw last night was real or fake? Why did someone show up in Black Rain City in the end?"
Are we coming?"
"This is the first time we have encountered such a mirage... The feeling is too real... It's like there is a very scary devil in Black Rain City staring at us... Will we encounter it next time? Will we encounter something like last night?
Mirage? If you accidentally enter it by mistake, will you encounter the real devil?"
Ari continued with a sad look on his face: "There are running devil ships and devil mountains in the desert. Maybe we encountered the devil city last night, and the skinned dead people in that city are all real, not hallucinations..."
Jin An hummed: "I know about ghost mountains and ghost cities. What about the ghost ships in the desert? Are there ghost ships like ghost ships in the desert?"
Ari shook his head and said: "We have never seen a devil ship. We have also heard the old man talk about it. It should refer to the sunken ships in the dried up ancient rivers."
He had to talk to Jin An, translate with Su Reti, and translate again. This made Yali very tired. He said he was thirsty and drank some water for himself.
It looks like you're drinking a lot of water, but it's actually just moistening your lips.
Water is precious in the desert.
Jin An nodded thoughtfully.
With two more people to help, the camels and sheep were fed much faster. Finally, Yali and Sureti could no longer bear the fatigue of not sleeping all day and night, and fell asleep.
…
In the next three days, the weather in the desert was clear, and the team arrived at Xituo Kingdom smoothly. Fortunately, they did not go in the wrong direction in the wind and sand.
The Xituo Kingdom, like the Yueqiang Kingdom, is also a small country with a population of several thousand.
After passing through the Situ Kingdom, the next step is to actually enter the depths of the desert. This Situ Kingdom is their last stop for supply in the depths of the desert. Next, they will face the most cruel and ruthless side of the desert, along the way.
There is no place to refill water.
Therefore, they either find the ruins of Guchi Kingdom and pray that there is still water in the ruins of Guchi Kingdom, or they fail to find Guchi Kingdom and must return as soon as possible, otherwise they will die of thirst in the desert.
In order to be fully prepared, the team prepared in Xituo Kingdom for four days before continuing on the road. If it were not for arriving in the area near Guchi Kingdom where historical data can be found before December, Jin'an would have wanted to stay a few more days.
Let both the people and the camels recuperate before heading into the depths of the desert.
But time is running out right now.
I could only rest for four days before continuing on the road.
During this period, they also encountered a problem. The desert has been experiencing a severe drought for half a year, and it is getting hotter as they go southwest. The Xituo Kingdom has also entered the dry season, so they have implemented restrictions on the purchase of clean water. But they have too much water to prepare and cannot
Fill all the water bags, which will directly affect their next plan.
Water is more valuable than gold in the desert.
Water can save lives.
Gold may not save lives.
Sometimes you can't even spend money to buy life-saving water.
In the end, it was Yali who came forward and revealed his identity as the Yueqiang Kingdom. The Xituo Kingdom sold a favor and was able to buy enough water.
Although Jin An has the imperial water talisman, he is not so kind as to think that all the people in the world are harmless. Before he has enough understanding, keeping wealth secret is always the way to survive, otherwise it will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.
…
Over the next twenty days, the camel caravan continued deep into the desert.
I also encountered various situations along the way.
For example, I encountered quicksand once.
Two camels were lost.
The adsorption force of the quicksand is very strong. Even Jin An's strong body cannot save the two camels. The harder you exert force in the quicksand, the faster you will sink and die.
He could only stand outside the quicksand and watch the two camels being swallowed by the quicksand, unable to do anything.
Facing nature, manpower will eventually be exhausted.
Even if he tried to rescue the two camels, he would not be able to do anything except break the camel's body in two. The adsorption force under the quicksand is far beyond ordinary people's imagination.
At the end of November, they encountered strong winds twice more, but luckily they came out safe and sound.
Moreover, the further south they walked in the desert, the hotter the sun was above their heads. This reminded Jin An that they seemed to be walking on the Flame Mountain, and there was an overturned Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace burning in the sand under their feet. Both humans and camels were sensitive to water.
Consumption increased dramatically.
But these are not the biggest troubles.
The biggest trouble is not finding the direction in the desert.
There is only sand in the depths of the desert. I often walk for a day or two before I see Haloxylon ammodendron and Populus euphratica sporadically.
And these scattered Haloxylon ammodendron and Populus euphratica have become the only signposts in the depths of the desert.
If you deviate just a little bit from the direction, you will miss a thousand miles by just a few centimeters. You will lose your direction and get lost in the desert. At this time, you must not go down any further. You can only go back and go back to the previous starting point, and then look for the correct direction again.
.
The delay of going back and forth like this lasted four or five days.
Ari and the others had never gone deep into such a deep desert. Even with Old Sadiq, the most experienced person in the desert, leading the way, the team still went in the wrong direction once, and it took them four days to find the right path again.
On this day, the morale of the team was low. Everyone was so hot and droopy from the sun above their heads that they could not lift their heads.
Everyone was lying on the backs of camels with dry mouths and listless spirits. They often didn't have the energy to talk all day long, so they could save their limited energy and water.
"Taoist Master Jin'an, something is getting worse the further we go in the southern desert... If the sun continues like this, people will sooner or later die of dehydration in the desert." At this time, Old Sadiq weakly said to Jin'an.
The three sheep were now tied firmly to the camel's back with ropes.
With the intense consumption of water, Jin An specially made room for the camel's back space to carry the three sheep after drinking all the water.
Otherwise, with the little physical strength of the sheep, they would definitely not be able to keep up with the speed of the team.
"Are you lost again?" What Jin An is most afraid of hearing now is that he got lost in the desert. That means they have to waste several days to go back again. That is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of water that is not much.
.
Because there is an endless cycle of Zang Qi, the five internal organs in the body are equivalent to the circulation of the five elements, and the body is cool, so Jin An's complexion and energy are very full, and even the Qi in his speech is very strong. Except for his lips being a little chapped, there is no big abnormality.
.
Jin An's physical strength is well preserved.
Old Sadiq shook his head weakly and said: "We are not going in the wrong direction. When I say something is wrong, I mean the weather is not right."
"As early as the Wumo Kingdom...the temperature in this desert is getting hotter and hotter...it's like walking in flames...this is an abnormal weather that has never happened before...it has never been this hot before..."
"...If Taoist Master Jin An doesn't believe it...you can ask Yali and the others...it has never been so hot in the desert..."
Everyone was almost exhausted and listless due to the scorching sun. Old Sadiq just spoke a few words, but it was extremely laborious and his voice was intermittent.
"...This desert...seems like it's on fire, it's too hot..."
"...The deeper we go, the hotter the sand becomes... What I'm worried about is that if we continue walking forcefully like this, the consumption of clean water will become more intense... I'm afraid we won't be able to get to where Taoist Jin'an is going, and we will
If you die of thirst in the desert because of the water problem, even if you don't die of thirst in the desert, you will be scorched to death by the sun sooner or later..."
The three sheep on the camel's back all had their long tongues sticking out, and the heat was unbearable.
Jin An glanced at the team. Everyone looked shaky and exhausted, as if they were about to fall off the camel's back due to exhaustion at any moment.
Now it's just the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Even these desert people can't withstand the exposure to the sun. Those in the Central Plains would have been exhausted long ago. You can imagine how scorching the desert temperature is now.
"Have there never been such abnormal temperatures before?" Jin An asked thoughtfully.
Old Sadiq no longer had the strength to speak and could only shake his head weakly.
"Yari, Yari..." Jin An shouted twice and walked in front. He was a little dizzy and tinnitus due to the strong sun above his head. He took a water bag and tried hard to pour water into his lips, but it took him a long time to drink it.
Ari, who was dripping with water, turned his head slowly.
Looking at Ari with severely chapped lips and dull eyes, Jin An frowned, worried about the state of the team.
Jin An took off the water bag from his waist, threw it to Yali, shared his water with the other party, and then asked: "Yari, how much water do we have left?"
You should not drink water in a hurry in the desert. You should hold a sip of water in your mouth, and then slowly suck it in to moisten your throat, and slowly allow your body to fully absorb all the water. The faster you drink water, the thirstier you will be.
Ari was not a greedy person. He only took a sip of water and then handed it to Jin An with gratitude.
After adding some water to his thirsty body, the person finally regained some ability to think. Ari said in a hoarse voice: "Because we lost water for two camels and went in the wrong direction once and wasted four days of water, Taoist Jin'an...
Our water consumption is a bit high, and I’m afraid it will be difficult for us to find Guchi Country in the vast desert..."
"Moreover, the weather in the depths of the desert is very abnormal. Both humans and camels can't stand the heat. The deeper you go, the greater the consumption of water... According to the water we have left now, and the consumption rate..."
Ari licked his chapped lips, moistened the chapped and uncomfortable lips with his tongue, and then said hesitantly: "We are about to drink up the water halfway..."
Jin An frowned.
Even Ari said so. It seems that the weather in the depths of the desert is indeed abnormal.
"If we return the same way now, will there be enough water left to return to Xituo Kingdom?" Jin An looked at Yali and asked.
Although it is important to find Guchi Country.
But he couldn't sit back and watch others die of thirst in the desert because of him.
So he planned to wait until he returned to the Kingdom of Situ, leaving the others behind, and then go back into the depths of the desert alone with his camels.
Yali was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it, he said bitterly: "It's a bit difficult. Even if you don't go in the wrong direction in the middle, it's probably difficult to walk back to Xituo Kingdom."
This is really bad news in succession.
Jin An lowered his head and thought.
"Have you ever heard anyone talk about why the weather in the deep desert is so abnormal?" Jin An raised his head and asked.
Ari was confused.
Jin An asked old Sadiq and the old king again.
Although the King of Yueqiang Kingdom has never left Yueqiang Kingdom, every time the caravan comes and goes, it will bring timely information on the desert. Every day, a dedicated person collects the latest information on the desert and reports to him. Ilham thought and replied: "
It seems to be related to the drought half a year ago..."
Although he was deceived by the human-faced clay pot in the past six months, the daylight hours were normal most of the time, so he still had a grasp of some major events in the desert.
Jin An's eyes flickered, why was it half a year ago again?
The once-in-a-century desert storm half a year ago not only blew out a lot of things from the sacred mountain of Guchi Kingdom, but also blew out a country of black rain to reappear in the world.
Even the severe drought in Xizhou Prefecture and the severe drought in the desert started at that time.
Now even the southern desert is experiencing abnormal weather.
"What happened half a year ago? Why did all kinds of abnormal things begin to appear in the desert?" Jin An asked old Sadiq, young Sahab, and the old king.
However, they are just ordinary mortals, and they also have no idea about some extremely profound matters.
In Yali's eyes, the conversation between Jin'an and Jiyang was like a person talking to himself.
But after seeing it too much along the way, he had already become accustomed to it.
Pretend not to see it.
"Old Sadiq, you mentioned before that your village is near the Xitu Kingdom. How far is your village from us now?" Jin An looked at the sheep on the camel's back.
Old Sadiq was silent.
Didn't answer right away.
Of course he knew very well what Jin An meant when he asked this question at this time.
But he also knew very well that before the well water in the village was destroyed by those ungrateful Han people, the whole village was already having difficulty with water and could not afford to support so many people who came to the village to borrow water.
After the well water in the village was destroyed, it became even more difficult to support so many people.
Not only the old Sadiq was silent, but also the talkative and nervous little Sahaf also lowered his head quietly at this time. It was he who saved the Han people back to the village, but ended up causing disaster to the village.
Jin'an did not embarrass old Sadiq and young Sahaf, and said calmly: "I know what you are worried about. You have been following the vultures before. Ayesha and the others are just to help the village find new water sources. I can
Help you."
The two still remained silent.
"You can ask Ilham if I lied,"
"I can assure you that if I can't help the village find a new water source, I will just leave with the camels and people without taking a drop of water."
The two of them still lowered their heads and said nothing.
After getting along along the way, they had already trusted Jin An.
But the psychological trauma that time was too great.
It won't be possible to let it go immediately.
"Besides, the wanderer has been away from home for two years...don't you want to go home and see how your elderly parents are doing?"