Chapter 519

"I just hope Fan Sheng doesn't fail again this time."

Cen Boqing laughed heartily: "What are you afraid of? Time and advantage are on our side. Every day that passes, He Xiao becomes more passive."

Lord Zhongsun Mou thought for a while and felt relieved. Analyzing the current situation, the guy surnamed He had nowhere to bite even if he wanted to implicate them.

Status is the best barrier.

Even if it's the Crown Prince's special envoy of Chi Yan, he can't move them at all without solid evidence.

"That's true." His gaze swept to the mysterious crystals on the table, a bit regretful. "I still have to thank him for sending me a big gift. It's just a pity for that mirror shield."

That magic treasure was an excellent defensive treasure, just right for a fragile person like him. If Fan Sheng killed He Xiao, the mirror shield would become someone else's trophy, unrelated to Lord Zhongsun Mou.

He He Lingchuan was not a jack-of-all-trades, and his rowing skills were very poor. Fortunately, the one cooperating with him was one of Commandant Lu's subordinates, named Jia Yu, who was a local fisherman in Tangmi Township before joining the army, and could row a boat through rapids; walking through a Hegong was a piece of cake.

Jia Yu taught him the tricks while rowing, and after He He Lingchuan tried a few times, he gradually got the hang of it, and the boat's speed increased greatly.

The water here was gentle, and the test was nothing more than the participants' ability to recognize the way.

Of course, the most important thing was luck.

But He He Lingchuan held a cheating prop in his hand and decided to win by strength rather than luck—

He could determine the location of the treasure based on the heat of the God Bone necklace.

Assuming the treasure recognized by the God Bone was that "Overlord Lotus."

Approaching the Hegong, He He Lingchuan knew what it meant to have infinite green lotus leaves reaching the sky; this was a whole forest of lotus leaves.

The lotus leaves formed one green high wall after another, and the small boat sailed in, losing its way after a while.

Not to mention the people in the boat, even the guests on the Chaohu Tower looking down from a high position probably couldn't see the specific situation in the maze.

"How did you find the Overlord Lotus in the past?" He He Lingchuan asked Jia Yu. "Ask the water tribe for help?"

"It doesn't work." Jia Yu said, "For the sake of fairness, all water tribes must retreat and leave after clearing the duckweed; only then will the Overlord Lotus grow. And the lotus-picking competition is only open to humans."

"Can't these water tribes not leave?" Fish and turtles are hidden in the water, not easy to be discovered, right?

"The local water spirit is a lotus monster over two hundred years old; it will closely watch the situation of the competition." Jia Yu rowed hard. "In the past, sixty or seventy people cheated, all because they didn't believe in evil, but everyone was caught and severely punished by it. After that, no one was so arrogant."

He He Lingchuan shrugged: "That's good."

This lotus monster's magic power is very powerful, able to grow such dense lotus leaves on the water surface in just a few days.

The water routes in the maze, the widest part is less than two zhang, the small boat can basically only row forward, with no place to turn; and the narrowest part is only five feet, and the boat can only pass by squeezing.

Once entering the maze, it became quiet all around.

Only the rowing sounds and human voices of other boats could be heard, not knowing from which corner they came.

"East." He He Lingchuan suddenly said. "Right, go forward ten zhang."

Jia Yu wondered: "Do you know what the Overlord Lotus looks like?"

"Uh, I don't know." He only knew it wasn't at the position, because the God Bone necklace was still quite hot.

"It's a huge blood-red lotus bud with golden stripes on the surface."

"Blood-red..." He He Lingchuan looked around and found that there were hundreds of lotus buds waiting to bloom here, all rushing to the sky, also called lotus arrows. Besides the most common water red, there were light pink, light purple, pink white, and light green, truly colorful.

Finding a blood-red lotus bud among these tens of thousands, over a hundred thousand lotus buds, was about as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. You know, most of the lotus arrows hadn't bloomed yet, and most were green calyxes; you might miss it just by looking at it.

Jia Yu was looking left and right, hating himself for not having a few more pairs of eyes.

"Generally speaking, the Overlord Lotus rarely appears on the outermost periphery and in the center of the Hegong." He muttered, "We have to look for it in the middle layer of the maze. Can you remember the water route?"

"Barely." He He Lingchuan wondered, "How do you know it rarely appears in the middle?"

"In the past few decades, it was only found seven times in the middle."

"Is that so?" He He Lingchuan looked north. "Don't worry about it, follow me."

"Do you have a way?"

"Yes." He He Lingchuan smiled. "I can calculate, which is always better than you searching blindly."

Jia Yu was happy: "Good, good! Wherever you point, I'll row."

The small boat went on for a while and was deep in the maze.

The setting of this Hegong was also very wicked; the scenery at both ends of the channel was often exactly the same, making you completely lose your way after rowing back and forth a few times.

Especially on this kind of overcast day, you couldn't even use the sun in the sky to locate.

It was quiet all around, with only two silly frogs occasionally jumping out of the water.

The God Bone necklace suddenly heated up, and He He Lingchuan let out an "Eh."

Their small boat was rowing very slowly and was about to make a small circle to turn around; why did the necklace suddenly heat up so much? Was the target further away?

The Overlord Lotus should stay still after growing. Could it be that the God Bone necklace was pointing to something else? Don't, please don't pit him, three mysterious crystals were already bet on the Chaohu Tower!

He He Lingchuan felt his head was as big as a bucket.

But he had no other way, so he could only call Jia Yu to turn around again and head north.

This special envoy often let the boat turn around, and Jia Yu was used to it, only listening and not talking much.

Fortunately, the God Bone necklace didn't make any more trouble, and the pointing was very clear.

The further He He Lingchuan went, the lower its heat.

"Open your eyes wide." He reminded Jia Yu. "It should be around here."

Jia Yu was indeed looking left and right, afraid of missing it.

It had been less than three quarters of an hour since the start of the competition. He He Lingchuan and the two had already walked to the northeast corner of the entire maze, and the small boats they met were getting fewer and fewer, and now only insect chirps and frog sounds accompanied them.

Just as Jia Yu said, everyone didn't like the edge position, thinking that the possibility of finding the Overlord Lotus there was too small.

But the God Bone necklace pointed here.

"There!" Jia Yu suddenly reached out and pointed, excited enough to almost jump.

Participating for six years, accompanying the run every year, he had never found the Overlord Lotus in the maze.

"Shh!" He He Lingchuan held a finger to his lips, telling him to be calm. "Row over, hurry."

Among the hundreds of lotus arrows in the layers of lotus walls, one was blood-red, with two thin golden stripes on the surface. Because it hadn't bloomed yet, this pattern was particularly inconspicuous.

It was hard for Jia Yu to find it.

He He Lingchuan's heartbeat also accelerated two beats; this thing was worth fifty thousand taels of silver.

The mirror giggled twice: "Did you think about it long ago, if someone else finds it first, you will rob the lotus?"

If this kid didn't get it, the loss would be one hundred thousand taels!

With his not-so-wealthy family background, how could he bear such a snow-on-snow loss?

"No." He He Lingchuan whispered, "Even if I lose, Lord Zhongsun Mou can't take my money away."

He smiled both firmly and insidiously, and the mirror actually shivered, as if returning to the time when He He Lingchuan calculated it.

The small boat moved forward quickly, and Jia Yu didn't wait for it to stop steadily, but dived into the water with a splash, still holding a knife in his mouth.

The essence of grabbing the lotus lottery was one word:

Fast! He went to find the Overlord Lotus, and He He Lingchuan also waited with bated breath.

With two splashes, the lotus leaves suddenly shook left and right, scaring both of them.

It was a black-headed duck that rushed out of the lotus wall, quacked angrily at them, and then ran away quickly by stepping on the water surface.

"Dead bird!" Jia Yu cursed; if it were normal times, he would have roasted this duck.

Just then, ripples suddenly appeared on the water surface one zhang behind He He Lingchuan.

A short pole silently emerged from the water—this thing was common everywhere—aimed at He He Lingchuan, and suddenly shot a blowpipe! Then it was a shadow breaking through the water, taking He He Lingchuan directly.

Although the pole was perfunctory, the blowpipe was not; the arrow's speed suddenly doubled halfway, and the arrow changed from one to three, taking He He Lingchuan's back of the head, back of the heart, and tailbone in a "pin" shape.

The arrowheads were all hundred-refined steel, attached with faint white light, with armor-breaking effects, plus Yuan power protection, so penetrating protective true qi was not a problem.

Once hit, he would be half-disabled if not dead.

The person who rushed out of the water was extremely fast; although he was behind, he had already caught up to three feet behind the arrow, and swung his axe like a crescent moon.

This blow had been nurtured for three quarters of an hour until his spirit was full. The moment of attack was truly like thunder descending; no matter if He He Lingchuan dodged or blocked, he couldn't avoid his full blow.

The strength of the gang wind on the axe blade was so strong that even the air was cut with a tearing sound. The violent air wave pushed towards He He Lingchuan, and the feeling of facing it was no less than a tornado sweeping directly onto his face.

Not to mention that his eyes couldn't open, even his body was about to be pressed to death.

With this person's status, he wouldn't attack if he didn't, but once he did, he would finish it in one blow.

The blowpipe had just come out, and He He Lingchuan seemed to have eyes on his back, a fierce tiger landing style, pouncing forward and falling.

He had waited so long, and the opponent finally attacked.

How could the small boat withstand his force? The bow sank and ate water, and the stern naturally rose high, just blocking in front of the three blowpipes.

Ding-ding-ding, three sounds, the blowpipes pierced through the wood and hit the lotus wall ahead.

The strength could be imagined.

The person behind had almost caught up to the blowpipes, which meant the raised stern also blocked his path, giving him a slap in the face! With a crack, the stern split into several sections, and wood chips flew everywhere.

This axe's remaining power didn't diminish, and the lotus wall seven feet ahead was cut down in a large area, the tall stems falling into the water with a rustle.

Fortunately, Jia Yu had just poked his head out of the water and hadn't climbed onto the lotus wall, otherwise he would have been cut in two.

He shrank his head in fright, and He He Lingchuan's voice rang in his ear: "Blow the lotus, hurry!"

The lotus wall was cut down, and the stem of the Overlord Lotus was also broken in half, and it was blown crookedly by the axe wind, really afraid that it would break in the next second.

Jia Yu had been in the army for many years, and obeying orders had almost been branded into his instinct; hearing this, he hugged the Overlord Lotus. In his view, the attacker also wanted this lotus, and as long as he snatched it first, the overall situation would be settled.

(End of chapter)