The desert is filled with many dangers.
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.
To be continued...