Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

The sound of camel hoofs rising and falling gradually became clear, and soon turned into a thunderous roar, and the earth seemed to be shaken. Under the radiance of the scorching sun, it was like a large number of enemies riding camels changing back and forth between substance and shadow, ghosts generally come into view. Long Ying cried out for help when he saw it, and finally learned the extraordinary ability of the timid camel to rule the desert.They are not running at all, but jumping, more like dancing, approaching effortlessly. Until he saw it more clearly, he knew that there were thousands of riders in the enemy's foot. Remembering Lin Zhuang said that camels never sleep, and they drive on the sandy waves for more than ten days without dripping water. Long Ying's heart is cold. half.

Xue'er stomped her hooves and neighed lowly, and even touched his shoulder with the horse's head, urging him to flee. Long Ying had no choice, got on his horse and fled north. The enemy saw that the stamina of the horse was far less than that of the camel, so they persevered in chasing it.If Longying was riding an ordinary horse, he might die under the torment of heat and poison in less than a day. Fortunately, Xue'er is a blessed steed, and after three days and nights of galloping, he still did not show signs of fatigue. And he refused to stop, Longying also knew that when he stopped, he would die, so he had to resign himself to fate and let Xueer walk endlessly.

The sound of camels chasing came near and far away, as if possessed by a ghost. Going up and down the hills, Long Ying was dizzy, and the exhaustion that broke out that night hadn't been replenished, and he couldn't help supporting Xue'er with magic energy, trying to feed the whole pot of water to Xue'er while walking Finally, he threw away the water bottle, leaned on Xue'er, and fell into a half-asleep and half-awake state until he lost consciousness. Longying woke up with a start, regaining all his strength and full of devilish energy. Cher stopped, standing still uncharacteristically.

An extremely ominous and terrifying feeling filled Longying's heart. He opened his eyes and saw that it was no longer a desert, but a semi-desert area, and he was in a sparse forest area of ​​Populus euphratica. Hastily jumped off the horse.He took off the saddle all at once, took another sheepskin bag filled with water, moved it in front of Xueer, pressed the horse's head with one hand, and fed it water with the other hand. Xue'er closed her eyes, she refused to open the horse's mouth, and forced the mouth of the bag into its mouth, and it also spit out the water. Longying's hand holding the horse's head trembled, tears poured out uncontrollably, and Xue'er was exhausted.No longer accepting his devilish energy, it was just its inherent pride that made it unwilling to fall down so easily before exhaling its last breath.

Long Ying's mind went blank, and it was difficult to think normally in the heartbroken.Since leaving the barren valley hut, he had been doing well, and now he finally tasted the pain of parting from life and death.At this moment, a flash of light flashed in his mind, and he hurriedly searched for the saddle.Find Bada's gift in return, the bag of salt that Bada said could save the horse's life, but luckily he didn't lose it. Long Ying took out a handful of salt and stuffed it into Xue'er's mouth.Unexpectedly, it refused to eat it, but vomited it out with great difficulty.

Long Ying couldn't help crying out, feeling helpless, his heart moved.Put a little salt in the palm, and pour water into the palm, let the water and salt mix.Hold up the horse's head and pour salt water down its throat. This time Xue'er was obedient, she took all the orders and swallowed the salt water.Longying was overjoyed, so he changed the method, stuffed the salt into the sheepskin water bag, shook it well and poured Xue'er to drink it. Xue'er gulped for him to feed and drink, and opened her eyes, visibly regaining a little vitality. After Longying fed it another bag of salt water, he put his arms around the horse's neck and slowly injected the devil's energy into the horse's body.

Long Ying fell to the ground with tears all over his face, but this time he shed tears of joy. Xue'er returned to normal, kept stepping on her hooves, and even leaned forward to lean on the horse's head to make out with him. Long Ying put his arms around the horse's neck, excited in his heart, this time it was all thanks to Ai Ma to do his best to save his life, if Xue'er really died, he would not be happy in the future, thinking about the two extreme situations of life and death , made him feel chills, and he was even more fortunate that the situation did not develop to the most unfortunate end.

The sun is setting. Cher urged him on the road again. How dare Longying let Xueer work hard, he picked up the saddle and the only bag of water left, spread his legs, let his beloved horse chase after him, and swept west. The destination is the most prosperous place in this area, Khotan City, the capital of Khotan Kingdom. After 16 days of non-stop rushing, I finally arrived at the big oasis where Khotan is located. After experiencing the hardships and dangers of the desert, you feel that the prairie in front of you is extremely beautiful.On the left is the majestic Kunlun Mountains, with snow-capped peaks emerging.The oasis spreads from the foot of the mountain like a blanket, extending to the horizon on the other side, the valley is flat, the trees are lush, and the pine cones are like sharp swords pointing to the blue sky. Floating slowly, grass waves fluctuating with the wind, flowers bloom everywhere, a small river not far away plays the sound of nature, the smell of flowers and plants is sent into his spiritual nose by the gentle wind, making Long Ying fascinated.

If one day I could bring the little witch and Renya here, how happy would they be?Thinking of this, I can't help but think of Xianmen, which is like the old reincarnation that happened so many lives ago.Time does heal all things, especially on such an arduous journey. Xue'er, who was grazing behind him, suddenly jumped and neighed. Long Ying was startled secretly, and looked at it, only to see that its eyes were staring at the direction of Kunlun Mountain, and it kept raising its head and neighing, looking extremely excited. The dragon eagle followed its gaze, and there was a group of wild horses running in the distance.

Longying understood that if there is a master, there must be a horse. Xueer smelled the smell of the female horse in heat, "became tempted", and wanted a "little lady, a gentleman is very good", walked over to hug Xueer's Neck said: "Should Xue'er go to be ridiculous?" Xue'er didn't know if she understood what he said, so she turned her head to lick him and hissed softly. Longying laughed, patted it vigorously, and said, "Go! I'll find out the way, and I'll come back to find you." Let go of it, and pat it on the buttocks again.

Xue'er hissed happily, let go of her four hooves, and galloped away without looking back. Longying's heart is full of deep feelings with Xue'er, and he feels great comfort. Letting the wild and unruly horse freely indulge in this beautiful prairie is really the best way to repay it. He wasn't worried at all that wild horses dared to reject Xue'er, because Xue'er was the evil emperor of Mali, no matter male or female, they could only submit to him. It wasn't until Xue'er became a little black speck in the herd of wild horses, blending harmoniously with other horses, that he calmed down, hid the saddle, and went on the road easily by himself. Even though Long Ying had been mentally prepared, when he arrived at Khotan City, he still couldn't help but marvel at the scale, prosperity and uniqueness of the fortress of the Western Domain City. Khotan City is located in the middle of a large oasis between the Taklamakan and Kunlun Mountains, sandwiched between the two source rivers of the Khotan River, the Karakash River and the Yulong Kashgar River. Rush into the sea of ​​death, forming a green shortcut that runs through the Taklamakan, and along this road you can reach the country of Qiuci in the northern border of the Great Sand Sea. Khotan is not only the necessary fortress to go west to Persia and Tianzhu, but also the only shortcut to cross the sea of ​​death. Its prosperity can be imagined. The city of Khotan is divided into inner and outer parts. The outer city has no city walls and is composed of irregular buildings. The large and small streets due to the buildings are of different widths and narrows, and they are full of business travelers from all over the world. .There are many shops on the relatively spacious streets, and the open space is as lively as a market. People from all over the country set up stalls and shout loudly, and there are many patrons. It is a place full of opportunities. What is unique is the vast square of more than 2,000 steps before entering the inner city. More than a dozen large tents that can accommodate hundreds of people are set up at both ends, which makes people feel adventurous.The air was full of smells, not least of course the strong smell of camels, horses, cattle, and sheep. After Longying gave way to a large group of shepherds who were driving sheep into the inner city, they squeezed among various people and entered the inner city.Against the background of the rising domes of the mosque, a castle-like building built on a hill in the north stands tall and majestic. The relationship is like Li Zhiji's tooth tent and Rao Le, but on a larger scale. multiple times. There were more than a dozen Khotan soldiers standing guard at the entrance to the city, but no one was left behind, they just watched with cold eyes. Before entering the city, Long Ying had put on the ugly mask, and when the soldiers saw his unbearable face, they hurriedly looked away, not wanting to take another look. The inner city is much more organized, the main and the auxiliary are distinct, and several tributaries of the Khotan River run through the southeast, making the city of Khotan full of vitality. For a moment, I thought I was in a town in the south of the Yangtze River with dense river bridges. There are many hotels on both sides of the main street leading to Wangbao. Long Ying pretends to be a Tubo person and speaks Tubo language, but from the expression of the owner of the shop, you can tell that he sees through that he is a Han Chinese.I found the most decent one, took out a gold ingot, exchanged it for more than a hundred strings of Khotan copper coins, and paid the money to the shop.The room in the backyard is dark but spacious, with straw mats, felts and cooking utensils piled up in a mess.Long Ying took care of his mother, put aside everything and fell asleep.After waking up, it was already noon the next day, and not only was he completely refreshed, but his magic skills seemed to have improved a lot.In a good mood, I left the hotel and went into this strange city where people from all walks of life gathered. Long Ying and more than a dozen Tocharian businessmen huddled together in an open-air deli, enjoying the spicy mutton soup that was life-saving. Everyone was sweating profusely under the high temperature, and Long Ying's sweat was also oozing from the ugly mask, saying Not uncomfortable is fake.But it was this feeling of blood and sweat that made him so happy after a long desert trek and a near-death journey. I thought to myself that now it is the situation where Xueer waits for a group of horses to drink water and graze on the shore of the hot spring lake after arriving at the big ghost. But also a headache. He had just asked more than a dozen elderly people from Khotan about the route to Tibet.No one understands Turkic. Fortunately, three of them have a rough command of Tubo, but each of them speaks a different route. The only thing they have in common is ambiguity, and the place names they spoke in the native language made him even more confused. refer to. It seems that the Han people here must be picked to ask for directions. At this moment, two women who did not know where they came from caught his attention. They were all wrapped in black cloth, with only a pair of eyes exposed. Perhaps because the only thing they could see directly were their eyes, their eyes were particularly bright and moving. And the delicate body wrapped in the robe is even more graceful and attractive, full of exotic style.