Hu Tiehua raised his head. This action dazzled his eyes, causing him to quickly lower his head. However, his eyes were already burning. What was even more terrifying was that he could not even shed tears. It was as if his body had already dried up.
He was a wastrel. He had once climbed Mount Tai and sailed far away. He had seen the warm, warm, and ever-changing sunlight in the sky of different places, but he had never seen such a sun!
Although it was the same sun, when the sun reached the desert, it suddenly became vicious and poisonous, as if it wanted to burn the entire desert.
The sun was so hot that Hu Tiehua didn't even want to drink. He only hoped that the sun would set soon. When a drunkard didn't want to drink, he must be very sad.
There was no wind, not even a wisp of wind, and not a single sound. Under the scorching sun, all life in the desert had entered a state of dizziness.
Everything around him was a blur. Although the camel under his feet had been moving, it seemed to have never moved at all. He could not walk out of this damn desert! If it wasn't for Chu Liuxiang and Ji Bingyan by his side, he would probably have already gone crazy!
It had been seven days since they entered the desert.
Hu Tiehua saw that Ji Bingyan and Chu Liuxiang were swift and decisive. That night, he secretly set off. He rode in a carriage that was extremely plain on the outside but more luxurious than the Emperor's residence, and sneakily arrived at the edge of the desert.
There, Ye Qiu immediately abandoned the carriage and spent a few large pieces of glistening gold to buy six camels, dry rations, cooking utensils, tents…Of course, the most important thing was a dozen large sheepskin bags of water!
The gold that Ye Qiu took out was enough to buy a manor in the Chinese server, allowing a person to live comfortably for the rest of his life, or even the next life after that. However, this was all he could get here.
Then…they plunged into this damn desert!
"Old bug, old rooster…do you know what I'm thinking?”Hu Tiehua's voice had also become hoarse, causing him to be a little surprised."I'm thinking about that damn rooster's carriage! Now, whoever sends me to that carriage, I will kowtow and call you grandpa…"
Ye Qiu sat in the middle of the hump, motionless like a statue.
It was as if he had to maintain every ounce of physical strength. Even if Hu Tiehua called him by his nickname again, it did not make his eyebrows move at all.
" At night, we can set up the tent…" Chu Liuxiang's lips were also a little dry. After he moistened them with the water in the water bag, he felt better.
Now, although he still had a lot of water stored, he did not dare to waste a drop.
Only in the desert would he understand the value of water, especially for someone like him who grew up in a water village!
Suddenly, a faint voice sounded.
Although it was extremely light, it was as loud as thunder in the ears of the three Jianghu experts!
Hu Tiehua suddenly reined in his camel.”
Hu Tiehua, who seemed to be on the verge of death, seemed to have disappeared. In his place was a man made of iron!
"So what?" Ye Qiu didn't even open his eyes.
" Of course you can tell…" Hu Tiehua said loudly,""This isn't just a human voice, it's the wail of a dying person!”
"So what if I am?" Ye Qiu opened his eyes." People die every day in this desert. If we save everyone we see, we won't have to do anything!"”
"I didn't expect you to be such a person!”Hu Tiehua turned his camel around and ran toward the back of the sand dune where the voice came from.
Chu Liuxiang was silent for a while before smiling,"At least…we still have a lot of water left. If it's within our ability, even you won't refuse to help others, right?”
After turning around the sand dune, they finally saw the 'person' who had made the sound!
That might not be considered human anymore.
Under the scorching sun, the three of them were stripped naked and tied up in the shape of a 'big' before being exposed to the sun.
Their skin was tanned, and their lips were cracked. Their eyes were half-closed, but the eyeballs and the whites of their eyes could not be distinguished. They looked like gray holes that had been blinded by the sun!
Hu Tiehua trembled. He quickly got off the camel and cut the rope to save the person.
After a long time, they began to tremble. When they could make a sound, they kept shouting and begging,"Water…water…"
Hu Tiehua knew that they would die immediately if they were allowed to drink a lot of water now. He could only sigh and wet the towel with water before covering their lips. He said softly,"Friend, don't worry. There's plenty of water here. You can drink as much as you want.”
"What happened to you? How did you become like this?”Ye Qiu walked over and asked sternly.
"How can you do this? Even if they used to be bad people, they don't even have a piece of cloth on them now. How can they harm us?”Hu Tiehua said angrily. Chu Liuxiang didn't think that these three naked and unarmed people, whose skin was cracked by the sun, could threaten them. It was as if the three of them were going to be torn apart if they moved!
" It's... it's bandits..." These people stuttered as they struggled to raise their hands and desperately grabbed their hair. Their faces were twisted in fear, and their bodies trembled even more.
" Water…Please…Water…"
" Don't worry, no one will hurt you anymore…" Chu Liuxiang muttered to herself and walked towards the water bag.
However, just as he turned around, the three dying people jumped up like rabbits.
Their hands that were grabbing their hair suddenly shot out like lightning. Each of them shot out a dozen black lights that were faster than lightning. They were hidden weapons shot out from the crossbow barrel.
And this hidden weapon was actually hidden in his hair!
As soon as they waved their hands, Ye Qiu, Chu Liuxiang, and Hu Tiehua immediately flew up like swallows. Even though they were caught off guard, with their quick reflexes, very few hidden weapons could hurt them.
Unexpectedly, the hidden weapons didn't hit them, but hit the water bag instead. With a series of popping sounds, dozens of water columns shot out of the sheepskin bag like arrows.
The three dying men also flew out. Hu Tiehua's anger was about to explode. He shouted angrily,"Brat, you still want to escape?"
He had already chased after her like a gust of wind, and Ye Qiu was even faster than him.
In a flash of white light, the two people who were running suddenly broke into two. What was even more terrifying was that the upper half of his body fell into the sand, but the lower half of his body still ran two to three feet before bleeding and falling down with a bang.
Hu Tiehua rode on the remaining one and slapped him dozens of times."Speak! Who are you? Why do you want to harm us?"
Chu Liuxiang also rushed over, still holding a half-empty water bag in her hand. She suddenly shook her head and threw the water bag away, letting the precious liquid fall.
"There's poison in the hidden weapon! This water is no longer drinkable!" He looked at the person in front of him and said in a deep voice,"As long as you tell us who's behind this, we definitely won't hurt you!”
" I won't say it…" That person laughed wildly."When you are about to die, you will naturally see her. And I guarantee that all of you will die ten times, a hundred times worse than me!”
"You're not afraid of death?" Hu Tiehua asked in confusion.
"Hehe…what's so scary about dying? I'm happier than anything to die for her!”
His laughter suddenly weakened, but his eyes emitted a strange light.
"This person actually had a suicide poison hidden in his mouth…The person behind him actually made him willingly die for it…" Chu Liuxiang was moved.
"Not only is he willing, I think he's really happy!”Hu Tiehua raised this person and realized that he had already stopped breathing. He couldn't help but put the corpse down and said to Ye Qiu,"I know you must want to hit me. Come on, I won't fight back!”
"If I can make water appear by beating you up, I definitely won't mind beating you up until you're a pig…I'm a little curious now, they're still able to move after being sunburned like that!”Ye Qiu's face was expressionless. He slowly bent down and shook the hair on the corpse. Immediately, a piece of skin miraculously fell off, revealing the smooth and flat skin underneath.
"Disguise!" Hu Tiehua's eyes widened." I've really seen a ghost. I just met a random person in the desert, and his disguise skills are not inferior to that of an old bug!"”
Chu Liuxiang opened her palm, revealing a black iron cylinder."" I also found the syringe that they used to shoot the hidden weapons. Its structure is so exquisite that it seems to be even better than the famous 'Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, Heavenly Demon God Needle'. I really can't think of anyone in Jianghu who could make such a hidden weapon…"
"I know three people who can!”"The first one is the Sect Leader of the Tang Sect in Sichuan, the second is the Old Master Zhu of the Jiuqu Pond in Jiangnan, and the third is you, Chu Liuxiang!" Ye Qiu said faintly.”
"The two people in front of me naturally wouldn't come to the desert, and I certainly wouldn't deal with myself…" Chu Liuxiang smiled bitterly.
"Not bad!" Ye Qiu touched the human skin mask and sighed."There are not many people in Jianghu who can make this kind of human skin mask. In the past 50 years, there are no more than 10 people who are good at this, but only three can be called good.”
"Are you talking about the child prodigy, the Thousand-faced Devilman, and that male lady?”"It's just that the child prodigy died young, while the Thousand-faced Devilman and Lady Xiong have long committed evil deeds. They died at the hands of Hero Tie Zhongtang and Jellyfish Yinji respectively…" Chu Liuxiang said.
At the mention of the child prodigy, Chu Liuxiang's brows seemed to have a touch of sorrow.
"It looks like there's a fourth person who's skilled in concealed weapons and disguises hiding…This person must be the one who's dealing with us!”Ye Qiu smiled.
"What else is there to say? That person must be Shi Guanyin!!!”Hu Tiehua had already jumped up.”
Six camels fell into the sand, and the blood that flowed out was actually black!
Hu Tiehua almost fell to the ground when he saw this scene.
Those hidden weapons not only destroyed their water bags, but also sent their only mount and companion to hell!
Chu Liuxiang said," That enemy knew that we would pass through this path, so she set up a trap here first…She wanted to wait until we were half-dead from thirst before making a move. At that time, we wouldn't even have the strength to fight back. Wouldn't we be at her mercy?”
"Maybe she doesn't want our lives yet. She just wants to slowly torture us and watch us suffer…" Ye Qiu said slowly.
"This is all my fault!" Hu Tiehua wished he could kill him.
Seeing him like this, Ye Qiu smiled."I know that there is a secret water source 80 miles away. Even if we don't have camels, we can reach there before sunset tomorrow!”
"Ji Bingyan! You actually want me to be anxious and make a fool of myself!”Hu Tiehua immediately came to life and shouted.
However, Chu Liuxiang seemed to notice the gloominess in Ye Qiu's eyes, but he didn't ask. This was also his talent. The more dangerous the situation was, the more calm he was.
The three of them immediately hurried on their way. When the sun set the next day, they finally arrived at that location.
This place was also covered in yellow sand, no different from any other place in the desert. The only eye-catching thing was a tree. The tree grew beside a pile of weathered rocks and had long since withered.
"It can't be wrong. It's here! Many of the secret water sources in the desert were originally hidden underground!”Ye Qiu took out a map and looked at it.
Hu Tiehua cheered. Even Chu Liuxiang had a relieved smile on her face.
But they did not laugh for long.
Two hours later, Chu Liuxiang and Hu Tiehua looked at the huge pit without a drop of water and were completely dumbfounded.
Chu Liuxiang tried her best to sound calm and natural as she asked,""Think again. Did you get the wrong place?”
"I spent ten lives to explore this place. How could I be wrong?”Ye Qiu was like a stone statue. After a long time, he moved and tore the map in his hand into pieces." The underground water source will suddenly dry up and change its course. This is a joke of the heavens. No one can do anything about it…I had someone draw this map ten days ago, but now, the human lives and resources spent, as well as this trade route, are all worthless…"
Chu Liuxiang sighed deeply." Ten days is still too long for the changes in the desert. It's long enough to change the world!"”
……
In the desert, there was no water or camels. What kind of despair was that?
Hu Tiehua stood under the sun and felt as if he was stepping on balls of flames. The terrifying heat continued to sweep through his body, taking away every bit of water in his body.
He swayed and finally fell down.
Until a touch of moisture pulled him back from the edge of death.
" Water…Water…Oh my god, this is the first time I know that drinking water alone can make people so satisfied. It's more intoxicating than any century-old wine…" Hu Tiehua's throat moved, but he quickly shut up.
Immediately, he saw the dark sky and Chu Liuxiang and Ji Bingyan beside him.
There was also a water bag by his mouth.
Chu Liuxiang carefully put the stopper back in, and a smile finally appeared on her face.""Thank God, you're finally awake…It's better not to talk now…"
"Are we saved?" Hu Tiehua struggled to sit up, only to realize that he was still in the desert. This was simply a nightmare! It was even more terrifying than a nightmare! There was no way to escape!
"Not yet…This is the water that Old Goose brought with him…"
Chu Liuxiang's face was already expressionless. His lips were very dry and had even cracked open.
" This damn rooster…" A warm current rolled in Hu Tiehua's chest and rushed straight to his head. He really wanted to cry.
" You know that I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket…" Ye Qiu sat down as well. His eyes seemed to have a different kind of expression, like two faint lights in the dark night."I have bad news and good news. Which one do you want to hear first?”
"There's already too much bad news. Let's talk about the good news!”Chu Liuxiang smiled bitterly.
"The good news is that I still remember the locations of a few oases and secret water sources, but the closest one will take me ten days to travel!”
"Ten days?" Chu Liuxiang seemed to be stunned,[This is really a hellish distance…]
"What's the bad news?" Hu Tiehua shouted.
" The bad news is…" Ye Qiu's voice turned hoarse and mechanical."No matter how frugal we are, even if we drink our own urine, the remaining water is only enough for two people to use for ten days at most…"
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。