Tuoba Qingtian was originally the pirate king who roamed the East China Sea in ancient times. The place where he hid his treasure should have been in the East China Sea. The stories that have been circulating in the world for many years are indeed described in this way. There was also a time when
Someone is sailing a boat to search in the East China Sea, hoping that with enough luck, they can find the secret place where gold and silver are everywhere and where treasures are piled up like mountains.
However, no matter how lucky they are, they are destined to return in vain, because Whale Swallowing Island is not located in the East China Sea at all, but is located on the South China Sea.
Compared with the flagship "Jinyu" of "Wanjintang", the "Jinyan" is much smaller, only thirteen feet long, and can only carry more than 30 people on board. However, the two sides of the "Jinyan" are the same
It is painted in a gorgeous golden color, has a streamlined hull, and has nine sails that can be hung on three masts, allowing it to sail at a speed that is not inferior to that of the "Jinyu", or even faster.
In fact, the "Jinyan" is the fastest sailing ship among all the ocean-going sailing ships of "Wanjintang".
Today, there are less than twenty people on the "Golden Swallow". Apart from Hua Bushi and Sima Rulan, there are only more than a dozen elite guards from the City Lord's Mansion, and the person responsible for steering the ship is Commander Okura.
Fu Ao, the helmsman of the city navy.[
Swallowing Whale Island is very secretive. Outsiders have learned that there should not be any danger in going to the island to take pictures this time. It would not be easy to keep the secret if too many disciples are followed, and it is not necessary.
"" was seriously damaged in the recent sea battle and has not been completely repaired, so Sima Rulan chose this fastest sailing ship and only took a few escorts with him.
The sky is clear and although there is wind on the sea, it is not too strong. It is the most suitable weather for sailing.
We boarded the ship from Okura Port at noon and set off. With the speed of the "Golden Swallow" much faster than that of an ordinary sailing ship, the voyage that originally took a whole day only reached the destination early the next morning.
When the red sun rises in the east, on the deck in front of the sailboat, Hua Bushi is holding the cable on the side with one hand and setting up a pergola with the other hand, looking towards the sea, and Sima Rulan is standing next to him
.
Just over ten miles in front of the sailboat, a small island was clearly visible.
This island is not too big, with a total length of only about five or six miles, but it is composed of two parts: the main body is a blue-black round rock mountain, protruding from the sea level in an arc, and there is a sharp piece behind it.
From a distance, the entire island looks like a large whale half submerged in the sea. The arc-shaped rock peak is the body of the fish, and the small peak behind it is the tail fin.
Around this big whale, there are also many miscellaneous fish of different sizes scattered around, but they are all on rocks half exposed on the sea surface.
"Miss, the island marked on the chart is ahead. Captain Fu said that there are too many rocks in front of this island, and it may be difficult for our big ship to sail past it." A guard from the city lord's palace ran onto the deck and told Sima
As Lan reported.
The location of Swallowing Whale Island is a secret that only the principals above the elders in the "Wanjin Hall" can know. The ordinary disciples all know from this. Even the helmsman Fu Ao does not know that this time he went to sea.
Sima Rulan only said that she and Hua Bushi were going to take a boat trip to the sea. She gave Fu Ao the chart marking Swallowing Whale Island and asked him to drive the boat according to the direction of the chart.
After hearing the report from the gang, Sima Rulan said: "Go and tell Captain Fu to sink the anchor and anchor the ship here. Mr. Hua and I are going to row the sampan to the island."
The sailboat stopped and the sampan was quickly prepared and lowered into the sea water from the side of the "Golden Swallow".
Sima Rulan and Hua Bushi were about to get off the deck, but Fu Ao had already walked over quickly and said: "Miss, wait a minute, the rocks outside the island in front are very dense, why don't I let my subordinates accompany the eldest lady and Hua Bushi?" Master, let us go together so that we can row and rock the boat for you."
This stocky man with a full beard was obviously a little worried about the two of them rowing to the island.
Sima Rulan said: "Thank you, Master Fu, but no need! I have been to this island many times before, and I know the waterway for rowing to the island. Master Fu only needs to wait here, as few as three In an hour, at most half a day, we will be back."
Although Fu Ao was still worried, when he heard the city lord's eldest lady speaking so resolutely, he had no choice but to say: "Okay, I will wait for you two here. The eldest lady should be more careful."
Hua Bushi grew up inland and knew nothing about boating, but Sima Rulan was an expert at rowing.
The two got on the sampan. Sima Rulan tapped the wooden oar in the water a few times, and the sampan jumped out like flying and headed towards the reef ahead.
When they reached the reef group near the edge of the island, Sima Rulan did not let the sampan go straight forward. Instead, she turned the boat and circled the island in a small half circle until she came to the spot facing the "whale"'s tail. Then we sailed into the reef group.
Then she rowed the boat sometimes turning left and sometimes right, zigzagging between the many rocks protruding from the sea, as if going in circles.[
Hua Bushi looked at it and wondered: "Is there something weird about these rocks?"
Sima Rulan said: "You guessed it right! When dad got Panlongjue, he also found a parchment, which recorded the location of Swallowing Whale Island and the route to the three natural chasms of the island's secret cave. This method, these rocks are the first method.”
Hua Bushi said: "If you want to go to the secret cave, are there so many natural chasms?"
Sima Rulan said: "Yes! These reefs look very ordinary. In fact, there are many undercurrents in the sea water in the middle, and there are many sharp rocks hidden under the water. Small boats have entered the reef group from the tail of the big whale. You can only approach the island through a special path, otherwise you will be washed up on the rocks by the rapids, or you will be stranded on the rocks, or the bottom of the boat will be pierced by sharp rocks under the water."
Hua Bushi said: "So, with these rocks as obstacles, even if a ship passes by here, it cannot board the Whale Swallowing Island, and the treasures on the island will be much safer."
He put his head out from the small sampan and looked at the sea next to him, but he only saw a blue-black chaos under the water. He could not distinguish the undercurrents and sharp rocks. It seemed that if he did not know the path to the island in advance, he would not be able to rely on his eyes. It is extremely difficult to cross this reef by observing carefully.
Hua Bushi looked away and asked: "These reefs are the first natural chasm, but I don't know what kind of dangerous places the second and third are?"
Sima Rulan smiled sweetly and said: "Lan'er won't tell you yet, you will know when you get to the place."
There are many reefs on the sea outside the island. The small sampan was very flexible under the control of Sima Rulan. After half an hour, it passed through the dense forest-like reef group and approached the island.
Under the stone peak that resembled the tail of a "whale", there was a small beach. Sima Rulan rowed the sampan to the shore. The two jumped from the boat into the shallow water, and then worked together to drag the sampan to the beach. Sima Rulan Lanze tied the rope on the bow of the boat to a large rock nearby to prevent the sampan from being washed away by the waves.
Walking onto the island from the beach, Sima Rulan took out a sachet from her pocket, handed it to Hua Bushi, and said, "Put this on your body, and we can pass the second natural chasm."
Hua Bushi took the sachet, put it in front of his nose, smelled it, and said, "It turns out that the second chasm is made of snakes and insects, which is a bit unexpected."
He has a very keen sense of smell and is good at distinguishing various odors. He can tell that the sachet contains realgar and other drugs for getting rid of snakes and insects just by smelling it.
Sima Rulan took out another sachet, put it on her waist, and said: "There are many vipers on this island, but as long as we wear this, they will not mess with us. La!"
Hua Bushi was proficient in medicine and knew how to prepare the "Thousand Snake Powder" from Miaojiang Poison Sect. He was not afraid of poisonous snakes, and he already had snake-killing medicine on him, but when he saw the sachet handed over by Sima Rulan, he was very worried. It was exquisite, and there was a white orchid embroidered with silk thread on it. It was obvious that a lot of thought had been put into it, so he hung it on his waist and said, "This sachet is really beautiful, but it was embroidered by Miss Laner herself." What?"
Sima Rulan blushed and said, "Yes! Lan'er's hands and feet are clumsy and her embroidery is ugly, which made Mr. Hua laugh."
Hua Bushi said: "Miss Lan'er is too modest. Hua Bushi must keep such a beautiful sachet carefully."
While he was talking, he was thinking about Yang Jiangyi doing embroidery on him that day in the abandoned courtyard in Wuyang City. Yang Jiangyi was really clumsy with his hands and feet, holding a silver needle. The young master screamed and screamed before he managed to suture the wound on his chest. That night was also the first time that he and Yang Jiangyi experienced life and death together.
Sima Rulan led the way, and Hua Bushi followed closely behind. The two of them quickly bypassed the protruding stone peaks and walked up from the tail of the "big whale" to the back.
This small island is completely covered with vegetation, and there is no green at all. As far as the eye can see, there are blue-black rocks. The two of them walked on a natural stone path, which was very rugged. In their ears, except for the sound of waves hitting rocks, they could only hear the sound of waves. Hear the sound of seabirds chirping.
Vipers of different sizes can be seen on both sides of the stone path, and even on the stone path. The big ones are two or three feet long, and the small ones are less than a foot. Some of these vipers curl up into a ball and stretch out their heads to spit messages, while some are coiled. On the rocks, some were hidden between the cracks. They smelled the scent of the sachets on Sima Rulan and Hua Bushi, and they all crawled away to avoid them.
Vipers are highly venomous snakes that can often be seen on the mainland. Based on the distribution along the way, Hua Bushi roughly estimated that there are at least tens of thousands of vipers on this small whale-swallowing island. , the number is surprising enough.[
On the mainland, even in primitive mountain forests, such a large group of snakes is unimaginable. Probably only on such an island where there are no human beings, where seabirds and other food are abundant, and where there are no natural enemies, these vipers can growing so prosperously,