Qingshi originally had no specific plan and was not in a hurry to go to Baiyun City. Now when they met Luoluoshan, he wanted to take them to explore the ruins of the 'Desert Dragon' underground palace. Not only would they have the opportunity to obtain the treasure inheritance, but they could also avoid bounty hunters and thousands of people. Why not pursue the Immortal Alliance?
After eating and drinking, Luo Luoshan explained the detailed situation. Only then did Qingshi roughly understand the origin of the so-called 'Desert Dragon' and the specific plan for this expedition.
The Great Ancient Desert is an ancient desert, completely different from those deserts that were born after the era of human-monster wars.
The Desert Dragon is said to refer to a person, and there is also a saying that he is an earth dragon demon that has turned into a human form.
Thousands of years ago, the Desert Dragon had been active in this vast ancient desert for many years. At that time, the area of the desert was not so large, and the ecology was much better. At least the number and area of oases were much higher than now. Therefore, there is a lot of human and animal activity in this desert. And the Desert Dragon is the king here.
The Desert Shenlong established a city, Shenlong City, as his royal capital. This city was not located in an oasis, but in the depths of the desert. It is said that most of it is underground to avoid the blazing sun and wind and sand. He also He built a magnificent underground palace as his royal palace.
This city is very mysterious because the Desert Dragon does not allow outsiders to enter there. It is said that only his disciples and his trusted people live there, less than a thousand people. The vast desert under his rule has a population of several million, and there are at least ten towns in the oasis.
The ancient desert is very rich. The native products of the oasis are rare and abundant, and purchasing caravans from all over the mainland come in an endless stream all year round, bringing them huge wealth. And more importantly, it is said that there is a giant spirit stone vein underground in the Shenlong City deep in the desert. This is also the reason why the Desert Shenlong built the royal capital there. Not only that, the desert is also rich in precious metals and rare minerals. Therefore, the wealth of the Desert Dragon is famous all over the world.
It is not easy to keep one's wealth, but the Desert Dragon has done a good job. The royal capital is mysterious and cannot be found. The guards who protect the royal capital are few but very powerful. He himself is a great master with incredible martial arts skills. , and he is also a formation master and weapon refining master.
However, even the best people will die. The Desert Dragon failed to become a god and finally died more than two thousand years ago. It is said that he turned the underground palace into his own cemetery, and his inheritance and most valued treasures were buried with him. Then, everyone in the city moved away, and the originally illusory Shenlong City disappeared into the vast yellow sand.
For two thousand years, countless people have wanted to find the tomb of the Desert Dragon, but no one has ever succeeded. Five hundred years ago, after the era of the war between man and beast, the ecology of the entire continent deteriorated. The area of the ancient desert expanded more than three times in a hundred years, and it is still expanding today. The clues compiled by generations of treasure hunters were completely useless, so since then, almost no one has mentioned this treasure again.
Ten years ago, Luo Luoshan accidentally learned some clues about the underground palace of Desert Dragon City, so he came here and built this inn. The purpose was to facilitate his search for the tomb of Desert Dragon. After ten years of exploration, he was finally able to put his plan into action.
As night fell, Luo Luoshan led the team to set off.
There are eighteen people in the entire team. Divided into five small groups. In addition to Shentuo and his three disciples, the Black and White Shuangsha, the Five Elements Catcher and Tianxuan Sect, Luo Luoshan himself also brought three guys.
The three guys were called A Dong, A Xi and Anan respectively. Anan was the one who quarreled with Duan Wutian. The three of them looked unattractive, but Qingshi could tell that their skills were not low.
Luo Luoshan led everyone to the southeast. After walking more than a hundred feet, the team came to the edge of a small sand dune. Asi and Anan each took out a wide-headed wooden shovel and began to dig in the sand. The yellow sand was dry and soft. They soon dug down a few feet, revealing a wooden bow.
Luo Luoshan took two steps, grabbed the iron ring on the bow of the ship, exhaled and shouted: "Get up!"
As he pulled hard, a wooden boat that was ten feet long and about ten feet wide was pulled out from the sand.
Qingshi took a closer look and found that the ship did not look small, but it was actually made very delicate. It had no bottom, only a three-foot-wide smooth wooden board on both sides of the keel. On both sides of its hull, there were four small The Aura Drive, which is apparently a 'sand boat' made for gliding across the sand.
Boss Luo asked everyone to get on the boat. The ten crossbars connecting the keel and both sides could be used for sitting or standing, and there were several straight logs of different lengths on each row of crossbars as handrails. It didn't seem crowded even if the whole team got on the boat.
After boarding the boat, Adong activated four spiritual energy drivers, and the sand boat began to slide forward slowly, climbing towards the top of the hill.
"Boss Luo," Shentuo said, "your boat should have sails, right?"
"Not bad!" Luo Luoshan said, "Not only the driving speed of the spiritual weapon is too slow, but the consumption of the spiritual stone cannot withstand it."
"Then..." Shentuo said, "Where are your masts and sails?"
"Don't worry," Luo Luoshan said, "The wind is leeward here, and you can set up your sails after you get up the hill."
While the two were talking, the sand boat had slowly climbed to the top of the dune. Sure enough, as soon as it came up, it felt like the wind had become significantly stronger, and the wind direction was now blowing from northwest to southeast.
Luo Luoshan waved his hand and saw a black shadow as big as a fence flying into the air with a rope. Then, the spherical black shadow was suddenly blown away by the wind and turned into a figure bigger than a sand boat. A slightly larger black sail. The black sail was blown by the wind and flew dozens of feet in the air, and the rope at the end was firmly tied to the large iron ring on the bow.
Suddenly, the sand boat was driven by the big sail and slid forward suddenly, rushing down the sand dunes in an instant. Luo Luoshan skillfully controlled the hull and let it slide along the ridges between the sand dunes.
The night is as cool as water, and the desert under the moonlight is like a pond blown by the breeze. The rolling sand dunes are like ripples like fish scales, and the sand boat controlled by Luoluo Mountain is like a small fish, shuttling between the sparkling microwaves. , meandering and jumping towards the southwest.
Seven days later, the sand ship had traveled more than five thousand miles southeast and penetrated deep into the heart of the desert.
The whole journey was day and night. That night, just after midnight, Luo Luoshan took in the sails and slowed down the speed of the sand boat. From time to time, he took out a compass and other objects and looked up at the stars to position and steer. After two hours, , finally came to a small undulating sand dune area and stopped.
Luo Luoshan led everyone to climb up to the highest sand dune and looked forward, only to see a lowland two hundred feet ahead. Within the lowland was a rugged and weird sparse stone forest. The entire stone forest lowland is very narrow and long, looking like a valley. It is no more than fifty feet wide and at least a thousand feet long.
The lowlands of the stone forest were filled with soft sand and gravel mixed with large rocks, making it impossible for the sand boat to glide. Therefore, Luo Luoshan commanded Adong Asi to bury the boat in the yellow sand under the small dunes and prepare to cross on foot.
"Boss Luo!" Bai Sha said, "The spiritual energy in this stone forest seems to be stronger than outside. The sand boat may be able to fly close to the ground."
"No!" Boss Luo said flatly, "The spiritual energy is not abundant to that extent. Moreover, in places with abundant spiritual energy, poisonous insects and evil beasts will gather. The sand boat is too large and can easily expose the target to attack. We have to separate and walk quietly. Go through it. After passing this stone forest, you will not be far from your destination."
"Since there are poisonous insects and evil beasts," Jin Yi said, "why don't we take a detour?"
"This won't work," Luo Luoshan said. "It would take at least a hundred miles to go around from the left. The spiritual force field in that direction is very chaotic. Not only is it difficult to accurately locate Shenlong City, but there may also be other dangers. From the right It is even more unfeasible to go around, because there is a quicksand river on this side and it is impossible to cross it."
"Liusha River?" Duan Wutian asked curiously, "Is there a river in this desert?"
"Tch~" Anan curled his lips and said, "I have no idea!"
"Haha!" Luo Luoshan said with a smile, "I'm afraid this brother has never been in the desert, right? Water is rare in this desert, where can there be any rivers? As the name suggests, the Liusha River is a flowing sand river. Whether it is a person or something else, as soon as it enters its range, it will sink deeply, and even a feather will be buried underground by the quicksand."
"Oh I got it!"
Duan Wutian suddenly realized that there were others who didn't know the origin of this name, and they all understood it just like Duan Wutian.
"This stone forest was called Haoyue Valley thousands of years ago. Now the mountains on both sides have been smoothed by wind and sand, and it is what it is now." Luo Luoshan said, "Finding it is equivalent to finding the entrance to Shenlong City. You guys The stone forest I saw has been buried under the yellow sand all year round. Every few years, it will be exposed when strong winds blow away the sand and dust on the surface. Generally, within a month or two, it will be submerged in the yellow sand again. Under the sand. Treasure hunters in the past didn’t understand this truth, so they often couldn’t find this entrance even after searching for a thousand years.”
Everyone nodded secretly, and then realized that Luo Luoshan had indeed done enough homework.
Luo Luoshan took out a compass and stood at the place where the ship was buried, looking up at the stars in the sky. Then he took out a wooden stick and stuck it in the ground before leading everyone towards the stone forest.
"Boss Luo!" Qingshi asked as he walked, "Are you using the stars for positioning? Are you worried that when we come back, the dunes may have been flattened and there will be no place to bury the ship? "
"Yes! I didn't expect Brother Haiya to know the art of formation." Boss Luo looked at the bluestone in surprise and said, "It has been nearly a month since the stone forest was exposed. The next large sandstorm may happen soon. If it hits, those stone pillars will most likely be buried under the yellow sand again, and this sand dune landscape will probably completely change."
Arriving at the edge of the stone forest, Luo Luoshan stopped again.
He and the three guys each took out a lot of various wooden or metal components from the storage, and soon assembled them into two puppet carriages with wheels and wooden legs, which looked quite like Fuya's crossbows. Car puppet.
Luo Luoshan and A Dong released the two puppets together, and they immediately began to roll into the stone forest. The pillars in the stone forest were very sparse and regular. They were generally distributed in five strips, and each two stone pillar strips were like a strip. Main road.
Two puppets walked on the middle road. They rolled a few feet, then stopped and walked on the ground with their wooden feet, and then rolled forward again.
"Each of our teams will choose a way to enter," Luo Luoshan said. "Try to be careful not to make any noise when walking. Moreover, you should stop for a few breaths every few dozen steps before walking. In short, you must walk smoothly. There are obvious rules. If any team is surrounded by poisonous insects and evil beasts, other teams can help if they can, but there is no obligation to help. Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
There must be poisonous insects and evil beasts, but Luo Luoshan doesn't know what they are specifically. This is the farthest point he has explored. He could find the entrance alone, but he would never dare to enter it alone.
So, each team chose a path and started moving forward.
Everyone knew that the two puppets were bait, so they all wanted to choose the path farther away from the puppets. Luo Luoshan was generous and let others choose first. Because of his age, Shentuo chose the road farthest from the center first. Finally, from right to left, there were four people from Shentuo, the Black and White Shuangsha, the four people from Luoluoshan, the puppet carriage, Tianxuanmen and the Five Elements. catcher. The middle road where the puppet is located is sandwiched between Luoluoshan and Qingshi.
After starting to set off, Shentuo and the four of them ran the fastest again. Black and White Shuangsha and Five Elements Catcher took a look and also set off quickly. Qingshi deliberately fell behind and walked in parallel with Luo Luoshan's team, while Luo Luoshan was completely following the puppet's rhythm. When the puppet rolled and stamped its feet, they walked away, and as soon as the puppet stopped, they stopped immediately. Down.
Soon, Qingshi discovered the pattern of Luo Luoshan's actions, so he also followed the puppet's rhythm.
The desert under the bright moon is mysterious and quiet, with only the slight rumble of the puppet wheels rolling and the thump of their feet echoing in the empty stone forest.
They were all monks with excellent physical skills, and they made almost no sound when they moved. They moved forward for a hundred feet without causing any reaction, including the two puppets who deliberately made noise, and everything was normal.
Suddenly, a slight rustling sound began to be heard from the ground. Then, the sound became louder and louder, and the sand and stones on the ground began to appear slight bulges, like thousands of black lines crawling on the earth.
Just when everyone discovered the abnormality and before most of them could react, those wandering black lines broke through the mud and jumped out of the ground. Qingshi could clearly see that they were black beetles. They were only the size of a fingernail, but there were at least millions of them. They were crawling quickly on the ground, moving towards the two puppets like a stream of black water. As well as people still moving.
