Holy Bone

Chapter 413 The burning desert
The desert is full of dangers.

The mirage of the Black Rain Country last night was like a devil beckoning to those who fell into the water. No matter how hard they swam, they couldn’t reach the end. In the end, they collapsed halfway tired like that caravan, and were finally buried by the wind and sand.

If it weren't for Jin'an and Goat, their team would have been in danger.

Last night, they had been on the road all night. Except for Jin An, everyone had reached the limit of physical exhaustion, so Jin An proposed to rest for half a day before continuing on the road.

The team, who had been exhausted for a long time, didn't even bother to eat the naan, and immediately fell asleep one by one. They were really tired last night.

Only Yali and Su Reti cheered up and came to help feed the camels and sheep with fodder and water. They couldn't bear to wake up the others.

Not sleepy, Jin An, who was taking care of the camels and sheep, saw the two people coming to help, and said with a smile: "It's okay, I can handle it alone here, you should rest early, and you will continue on your way later."

Yali first translated Jin'an's words to Su Reti, and then said to Jin'an embarrassedly: "We were originally taking care of the Taoist priest Jin'an, but we felt that the Taoist priest Jin'an was taking care of us along the way, and we also We should do something for Daoist Jin'an, otherwise we would be too embarrassing for the men of Yueqiang Kingdom."

In the process of helping, the two of them mentioned the experience of last night with worried eyes: "Daoist Jin'an, did you say that the mirage we saw last night was real or fake? Are we running?"

"This is the first time we have encountered such a mirage... The feeling is too real... It's like a very scary devil in Black Rain City is staring at us... Will we touch it next time, come across something like last night? Mirage? If you accidentally enter it by mistake, will you encounter a real devil?"

Yali continued to say with a sad face: "There are devil ships that can run in the desert, and devil mountains. Maybe we came across the devil city last night. The skinned dead people in that city are real, not hallucinations..."

Jinan huh?He said: "I know the ghost mountain and ghost city, but what about the ghost ship in the desert? Are there ghost ships like ghost ships in the desert?"

Yari shook his head and said, "We've never seen a devil ship, and we've also heard it from the old man. It probably refers to the sunken ships in the dry ancient river."

Not only had to talk to Jin An, but also had to translate with Su Reti, and had to translate it backwards again. This made Yali very tired, and his mouth said he was thirsty, so he poured himself saliva.

It looks like a gulp of water, but it is actually just soaking your lips.

Water is very precious in the desert.

Jin An nodded thoughtfully.

With the help of two more people, the speed of feeding the camels and sheep was much faster. In the end, Yali and Su Reti could no longer bear the exhaustion of not sleeping all day and night, and fell into a deep sleep.

……

In the next three days, the weather in the desert was fine, and the team arrived in Situo country smoothly. Fortunately, they didn't go in the wrong direction in the wind and sand.

This Xituo Kingdom, like Yueqiang Kingdom, is a small country with a population of less than [-].

After passing through Xituo Country, the next step is to really enter the depths of the desert. This Xituo Country is the last supply point for them to enter the depths of the desert. Next, they will face the most cruel and ruthless side of the desert. There is no longer any place to replenish water.

Therefore, they either found the ruins of the Guchi Kingdom and prayed that there was still water in the ruins of the Guchi Kingdom, or they failed to find the Guchi Kingdom and had to return as soon as possible, otherwise they would die of thirst in the desert.

In order to make sufficient preparations, the team has been preparing for four days in Xi Tuo country before continuing on the road. If it weren't for arriving in the area near Guchi country where there are historical records before December, Jin'an would also like to stay for a few more days. Let people and camels recharge their spirits before entering the depths of the desert.

But time is running out.

I can only rest for four days and continue on the road.

During this period, they also encountered a problem. The desert has been severely drought for half a year, especially as it gets hotter as it goes to the southwest, and the West Tuo Kingdom has also entered a dry season, so the purchase of fresh water is restricted.But they have too much water to fill all the water bags, which will directly affect their next plan.

Water is more valuable than gold in the desert.

Water saves lives.

Gold doesn't necessarily save lives.

Sometimes you can't even pay for life-saving water.

In the end, it was Yali who came forward. After revealing the identity of Mingyue Qiang Kingdom, Xi Tuo Kingdom was able to buy enough water by selling personal favors.

Although Jin'an has the Imperial Water Talisman, he is not so kind as to think that the whole world is harmless. Before he has enough understanding, keeping wealth secret is always the way to survive, otherwise it will cause a lot of unnecessary troubles.

……

In the next half month, the camel team continued to go deep into the desert.

Various situations have been encountered along the way.

For example, once encountered quicksand.

Two camels were lost.

The quicksand has a strong adsorption force, and even Jin An's strong body can't save the two camels. The more you work hard 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, helplessly.

In the face of nature, manpower will eventually be limited.

Even if he forcibly rescued the two camels, in the end it would not be of much help except to break the camels 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, but fortunately they all came out unharmed.

And the farther you go to the south of the desert, the hotter the sun above your head, which makes Jin An think that they seem to be walking on a flaming mountain, no matter people or camels, the consumption of water will increase sharply.

But these are not the biggest troubles.

Finding directions in the desert is the biggest trouble.

In the depths of the desert, there is only sand except for sand. It is often only after walking for a day or two that we can see sporadic Haloxylon and Populus euphratica.

And these sporadic Haloxylon and Populus euphratica became the only signposts in the depths of the desert.

A slight deviation from the direction is a thousand miles away, losing direction and getting lost in the desert.At this time, you must not go down any further, you can only bite the bullet and go back, walk back to the previous starting point, and then find the correct direction again.

This back and forth delay is four or five days.

Yali and the others had never gone deep into the desert. Even with the old Sadiq who had the most experience in the desert leading the way, the team still went in the wrong direction once, and it took four days to find the right way again.

On this day, the morale of the team was low, and everyone was so scorched by the sun that they couldn't lift their heads up.

Everyone was thirsty and depressed, and often no one spoke for a long time to save limited physical strength and water.

"Daoist Jin'an, the desert in the south is getting more and more wrong...If you keep going in the sun like this, you will dehydrate and die in the desert sooner or later..." At this time, old Sadik said weakly to Jin'an.

At this time, the three sheep were tightly tied to the camel's back with ropes, and they were all obediently motionless due to the heat.

With the intense consumption of clean water, Jin An specially gave up the space on the camel's back after drinking all the water to carry the three sheep.

Otherwise, with the physical strength of the sheep, they would definitely not be able to keep up with the speed of the team.

"Lost again?" What Jin An is most afraid of hearing is that they are lost in the desert, which means that they will have to waste a few days to go back again. It is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of not much water.

Because of the endless circulation of viscera, the five viscera in the body are equivalent to the circulation of the five elements, and the body is cool, so Jin An's complexion and spirit are full, and even his speech is full of energy. Except for a little chapped lips, there is no major abnormality .

Jin'an's physical strength is well preserved.

Old Sadik shook his head weakly and said, "Our direction is not wrong. When I said something wrong, I meant that the weather was not right."

"As early as from the Umad 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 so hot before, especially now that it is about to enter the twelfth The winter of the month..."

"... If Daoist Jin'an doesn't believe it...you can ask Yali and the others...the desert has never been so hot..."

Everyone was scorched by the sun and was almost exhausted and listless. Old Sadiq was exhausted just to say a few words, and his voice was intermittent.

"... This desert... seems to be on fire, it's too hot..."

"...The deeper we go, the hotter the sand will be... What I'm worried about is that if we continue to walk so forcefully, the consumption of clean water will be even more intense... I'm afraid we won't be able to reach the place where Daoist Jin'an is going, so 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 die in the sun sooner or later..."

The three sheep on the camel's back were all sticking out their long tongues, and the heat was unbearable.

Jin An glanced at the team, and everyone was struggling to hold on.

Even these desert people can't bear the sun exposure. If it were those Central Plains people, they would have been exhausted long ago. One can imagine how scorching the desert temperature is now.

"Has there never been such an abnormal temperature before?" Jin An asked thoughtfully.

Old Sadik no longer had the strength to speak, only nodded weakly.

"Yari, Yali..." Jin An yelled twice, walking ahead, a little dizzy and tinnitus from the sun above his head, holding a water bag and trying to pour water into his lips, but he didn't drink for a long time Yali, who was dripping water, turned his head unresponsively.

Seeing Yali with severely chapped lips and dull eyes, Jin An frowned, worried about the state of the team.

Jin An untied the water bag on his waist, threw it to Yari, shared his water with the other party, and asked, "Yari, how much water do we have left?"

In the desert, you can’t drink water in a hurry. You should have a sip of water in your mouth, and then slowly suck it to moisturize your throat, and slowly let your body fully absorb all the water. The more you drink water, the more thirsty you will be.

Yali is not a greedy person, he only took a sip of water, and then gratefully handed back the water bag.

After being hungry and thirsty and adding some water, he finally regained some ability to think. Yali said hoarsely: "Because we lost the water of two camels, and went in the wrong direction in the middle and wasted four days of water. Daoist Jin'an... Our water consumption is a bit high, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to find the Guchi country in the vast desert..."

"Besides, the weather in the depths of this desert is very abnormal. People and camels are unbearably hot. The deeper we go, the greater the water consumption... According to the water we have left now, and the consumption rate..."

Yari licked his dry and chapped lips, soaked the chapped and uncomfortable lips with his tongue, and then said hesitantly: "We will drink up the water before we reach the end..."

Jin An frowned.

Even Yali said so, it seems that the weather deep in the desert is indeed abnormal.

"If we go back the same way now, will there be enough water left to return to Situo Kingdom?" Jin'an looked at Yali and asked.

Although it is very important to find Guchi country.

But he couldn't sit by and watch others die of thirst in the desert because of him.

So he planned to wait until he returned to Xi Tuo country, leaving the others behind, and then re-enter the depths of the desert alone with the camel.

Yali was stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a while, he said bitterly, "It's a bit difficult, even if you don't go in the wrong direction in the middle, it may be difficult to support the journey back to Xituo Kingdom."

This is really bad news after another.

Jin An pondered.

"Have you ever heard people say why the weather in the deep desert is so abnormal?" Jin An raised his head and asked another matter.

Yari was at a loss.

Jin-an asked old Sadiq and old king again.

Although the king of the Yueqiang Kingdom has never been out of the Yueqiang Kingdom, every time the caravan travels, it will bring timely information on the desert. Every day, a special person collects the latest information on the desert and reports to him. Ilham thoughtfully replied: " It seems to be related to the drought half a year ago..."

Although he was bewitched by the clay pot of the ghost with a human face in the past six months, the daytime was normal most of the time, so he still had a grasp of some major events that happened in the desert.

Jin An's eyes flickered, why was it half a year ago?
The once-in-a-century desert storm half a year ago not only blew out many things from the sacred mountain of Guchi Kingdom, but also blew out a black rain country to reappear in the world.

Even the severe drought in Xizhou Capital and the severe drought in the desert began at that time.

Now even the southern part of the desert has abnormal weather.

"What happened half a year ago, and why did all kinds of abnormal things start to happen in the desert?" Jin'an asked the old Sadiq, the little Sahaf, and the old king.

However, they are all mere mortals, and they know very little about some extremely profound matters.

In Yali's eyes, the conversation between Jin'an and Jiyang was like a person talking to himself.

But he has seen a lot along the way, and he has long been used to it.

Pretend not to see.

"Old Sadiq, you said before that your village is on the side of Situo Kingdom. How far is your village from us now?" Jin'an looked at the sheep on the camel's back.

Old Sadik was silent.

There was no immediate answer.

Of course he knew very well what Jin An meant by asking this sentence at this time.

But he is also very clear that before the well water in the village was destroyed by those ungrateful Han people, the whole village had difficulty in getting water, and it was impossible for so many people to come 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 even the talkative and nervous little Sahaf lowered his head quietly at this time. He was the one who rescued the Han people back to the village, and in the end brought disaster to the village.

Jin An did not make things difficult for old Sadiq and young Sahafu, and said calmly: "I know what you are worried about. You have been following Vulture, Aisha and the others before, just to help the village find new water sources. I can Help you."

The two still didn't say a word.

"You can ask Ilham if I have lied."

"I can assure you in advance that if I cannot help the village find a new water source, I will leave with camels and people without taking a drop of water."

Jin'an's idea is that as long as he finds the underground river closest to the ground, maybe the well water can be restored with the Imperial Water Talisman, and the well water is the underground river closest to the ground.

The two still lowered their heads and did not speak.

They had already trusted Jin'an during their relationship along the way.

But the psychological trauma of that time was too great.

It is not possible to let go immediately.

"The wanderer has been away from home for two years... When you look at the direction of your hometown in the middle of the night, have you ever thought about going home to see how your elderly parents are doing?" Jin An's last words made the emotions of the uncle and nephew Unable to hold back any longer, she burst into tears, her eyes flushed.

"Fourth Uncle, I miss Apa Ata... I, I miss home..." Little Sahafu cried loudly.

"Old brother, I would like to swear on our family's reputation. Daoist Jin'an is different from the Han Taoist priests we met before. He is very capable. He can really find water under dry sand." Ilham also promised at this time Said.

"Sadiq, Sahaf, are you willing to trust us Han again?" Jin An sincerely looked at the pair of uncle and nephew on the back of the camel.

Seeing the sheep crying after saying a few words, Yali was shocked!
Could it be that Daoist Jin'an can really talk to sheep!

This is amazing!
(End of this chapter)