Chapter 25: A Cup of Clear Water for Twenty Wen

The scene just now scared the white dog into barking, and it turned and ran. The monster chased straight after it, and both soon disappeared behind the sand dune.

All the teams that witnessed this had their original relaxed atmosphere disappear.

Zeng Feixiong withdrew his gaze and murmured: "It's his fault. On the Red Cliff Road, children and dogs must be tied up."

"I've seen such a big yellow sole for the first time." He Lingchuan clicked his tongue. The original body often hunted and knew that the yellow sole was not a fish, but a monster lurking in the desert and Gobi, specializing in ambushing small animals passing by.

It could dive and surface freely in the desert, running faster than four-legged creatures.

But this thing was at most the size of a dog; even if it became a demon, it shouldn't be that size! "This is the Panlong Desert." Zeng Feixiong had escorted merchant teams many times and was already used to it. "Resentful souls affect everything here, and even monsters that originally had intelligence will be alienated if they stay in the desert for a long time."

That's the principle, so although the Sand Leopard also entered the Panlong Desert to hunt, it must stay in the Western Mountains to inhabit and reproduce in ordinary times.

The magnificent desert, looking at it for a long time, remains unchanged.

The journey is calm and boring; as long as you don't step out of the Red Cliff Road, you only need to deal with the trouble of hot wind, bright sun, and sandstorms.

For teams with preparation and experience, these can be endured.

After walking for three days, the team finally arrived at Bai Yuan Station.

This is a relay station on the Red Cliff Road for passing merchants to rest, and its predecessor was an ancient city.

There were more than ten ancient cities on the Panlong Wasteland, and few remained in the world after a hundred years. Bai Yuan City had long been swallowed by yellow sand, and it was the later comers who excavated its old base and added a few rows of houses to stand by the Red Cliff Road.

Within the scope of the ancient city, like the Red Cliff Road, it would not be attacked by resentful souls and monsters, so it became a good place for merchants to stay halfway.

The team drove into Bai Yuan Station, and He Chunhua hurried over to negotiate with the station official.

Yes, Heishuicheng set up a relay station here and sent special personnel to manage it. However, the control here is very loose, not as strict as in the Great Yuan Kingdom.

At this time, in this place, the power of money is reflected.

Bai Yuan Station allows passing merchants to set up tents, and it also sells food and water. If people want to be extravagant, they can also rent small houses.

Of course, the Panlong Desert itself has no water source, and all ingredients, clear water, and building materials must be transported from Heishuicheng.

Where there is demand, there is business. Those who want to do this business must first get through the relationship with the station official, and then go to great lengths to transport things to the barren land. Various costs are stacked on top of each other; a basic set meal of a steamed bun + a bottle of clear water sells for thirty wen, not expensive, right?

A bowl of mutton bubble steamed bun, the kind with only oil and no meat, sells for two qian of silver, not expensive, right? An overnight small house, the rent is five taels of silver; living in it makes you feel like you've taken advantage, right?

If you still want to take a hot bath in the desert to wash away the wind and dust and fatigue on the road—

State Preceptor Sun, Commandant Nian, and Eldest Young Master He all had this thought, so Governor He could only spend money.

Just this one expense could buy five acres of high-quality fertile land near Heishuicheng, permanent real estate.

After taking a bath and eating a few luxury set meals to half-full, He Lingchuan finally recovered.

With his strong physique, he walked very tired for these three days, not knowing how many difficulties were ahead.

In contrast, He Chunhua still looked at ease, clearly not as weak as he looked on the surface.

He Lingchuan also bought a few set meals for Zeng Feixiong, otherwise this person would be short of money and would have to gnaw cold steamed buns with the soldiers.

Zeng Feixiong felt sorry and declined several times, but unfortunately, he couldn't compare with Eldest Young Master He's determination, so in the end, he could only accept it with shame and kept saying thank you.

He Lingchuan knew that this person was straightforward but not reckless, and since he was leading the team into the desert this time, he patted his shoulder and said: "Eat well and drink well to have the strength to work. Our father and son's safety is handed to you."

"Governor He and you treat me with kindness, and solve my worries; I will repay you with my liver and brain!"

"Liver and brain is too heavy." He Lingchuan laughed. "By the way, I heard that your father was the only survivor who returned from the Panlong ruins?"

Zeng Feixiong's expression was dim: "Yes, twenty years ago someone paid a lot of money to find him to be a guide, and only he survived. But he lost his sanity from then on, and even the Great Shaman couldn't cure him. No one knows what happened to them; he only muttered one word all day—water."

"Water?" The desert is indeed short of water. What kind of crime did Zeng Feixiong's father suffer to still mutter about water after he went crazy?

At this time, Sun Fuping came to call people, wanting to gather several leaders in his small house for a meeting.

The guards got a lot of yellow sand from outside and poured it on the table.

A simple sand table was made.

"Red Cliff Road, we are almost done walking." Zeng Feixiong gestured on the sand table. "The day after tomorrow, we will leave the main road and enter the desert; the real test will begin at that time."

"The Red Cliff Road originally connected to Panlongcheng." Troop transport road, at least it had to transport troops and grain to the edge of the city to count. "Not long after the Panlong Wasteland turned into a desert, the nearby mountain peaks collapsed and smashed this road."

He drew a circle on the sand table: "If you want to go to Panlongcheng, you have to take a detour and enter from the gap of Ying Mountain."

This detour is not on the Red Cliff Road, and the danger they are about to face directly increases greatly.

By comparison, the journey of the past three days was as easy as a vacation.

Next, everyone discussed various countermeasures.

Although the He father and son had cracks with Sun and Nian, they discussed it extra attentively when it concerned their own lives.

He Lingchuan had been listening silently, until the discussion was almost over, before asking a long-standing confusion:

"As a flying isolated city, Panlongcheng persisted for thirty-two years under the situation of being attacked on all sides, which can be called super god. Then what was the reason for being broken in the end?" This is also the mystery of the Panlong Desert; neither historical books nor local legends have left a definitive argument. It only left a little far-fetched explanation in the storyteller's place. "Could it be like what the locals in Heishuicheng say, because Zhong Shengquan died of illness, Panlongcheng lost its backbone?"

People tend to find a reasonable explanation for unsolved mysteries. Zhong Shengquan occupied Panlongcheng for more than thirty years, and lived from a young man to an old man, and years of fighting would cause great damage to his body and mind. This explanation is still the most reliable one He Lingchuan has ever heard.

He was very curious about the truth.

"From the clues I have mastered, this legend actually makes some sense; Panlongcheng did lose its backbone." Sun Fuping poured himself a cup of water, a cup of clear water for twenty wen. "But it wasn't Zhong Shengquan, but General Red!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 26 =====

"Based on the clues I've gathered, this legend actually holds some truth; Panlongcheng did indeed lose its backbone," Sun Fuping said, pouring himself a cup of water—clear water that cost twenty wen a cup. "But it wasn't Zhong Shengguang; it was General Hong!"

(End of chapter)