"Boom!"
At the beginning of the thirteenth year of the second year after the establishment of the Vine Tribe, the ice and snow still did not melt. However, there were dark clouds and thunder and lightning in the west for several days in a row, which was very scary.
This was a situation that had never happened before. For a while, all the tribes were in panic, not knowing what kind of fate would befall them.
In the Vine Tribe, the old witch stood in front of the bamboo house, looking at the gloomy sky in the west and the flashes of lightning from time to time, with a very solemn expression on his face.
During this time, he always had a frightening feeling, as if something big was happening.
"Did something happen in Xihuang?"
The old witch frowned and thought for a long time, then said: "How about... go take a look?"
The old witch was a little hesitant, because it was winter now, it was snowing everywhere, the weather was very cold, and there were also unknown and huge dangers over there.
The old witch walked into the bamboo house, sat by the fire pit, looked at the dancing flames and pondered for a long time. Finally, he stood up again and said: "Go and have a look. At this age, you are not afraid of death anyway. And Why are you so timid?"
The old witch's eyes gradually became firm, and a fire burned brightly in his heart.
After making the decision, the old witch simply packed up and then walked towards the bamboo forest in the heavy snow.
The snow on the ground was deep, but the old witch didn't care. He stepped outside Jiang Xuan's yard and knocked on the door covered with a thin layer of ice.
In the bamboo house, Jiang Xuan, who was drawing a map, shouted outside: "Tangyuan, open the door!"
In the bamboo shed, Tang Yuan reluctantly stood up, then waddled to the courtyard door, used his beak to take away the wood holding the door, and then used his beak to open the door.
When it saw the old witch outside, it subconsciously looked back, but did not see the giant eagle.
The old witch patted Tangyuan's hard wings and said with a smile: "The little guy is getting stronger and stronger."
Tangyuan rubbed his head against the old witch affectionately, then waddled back to sleep.
"Squeak..."
After Jiang Xuan heard the old witch's voice, he hurriedly opened the door and came out.
"Old witch, it's snowing so heavily, why did you come here in person? If you need anything, let the soldier tell you, I can just come over."
The old witch waved his hand and said, "I'm not too old to walk yet, it doesn't matter."
Jiang Xuan invited the old witch into the bamboo house, let him sit by the fire pit to warm himself, and then scooped him a bowl of hot soup from the pottery tripod.
"Come, have a bowl of soup and warm your body."
The old witch was not polite. He picked up the bowl and blew on it. He finished the bowl of hot soup in a long time and his body felt much warmer.
The old witch put down the bowl and said to Jiang Xuan: "I want to go to the Western Wilderness."
Jiang Xuan was stunned: "Going to the Western Wilderness? Now?"
"Yes, something big must have happened in Xihuang. I want to take a look." The old witch's tone was calm, but his eyes were firm.
Jiang Xuan frowned and said, "But it's still snowing now and it's really too cold. Can we wait until the snow and ice melt before going?"
The old witch shook his head and said: "By that time, everything may be over. I have witchcraft to protect me and a thick animal skin to keep me warm. The mere cold is nothing."
The old witch is a very opinionated person, and it is difficult for other people to shake the opinions of what he decides.
Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "How about I go with you? I also want to visit the Western Wilderness."
The Vine Tribe is located in the northwest of the Southern Wilderness. According to the climate and environment of the Blue Sheep Tribe, it shouldn't be very far from the Western Wilderness.
If a huge change really happens in the Western Wilderness, then the Vine Tribe will definitely be affected in the future.
If you go there in advance to check out the situation, you can also respond early.
The old witch looked at Jiang Xuan and said, "I suggest you not to go. It may be very dangerous over there now."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "What's not dangerous? Even if you stay in the tribe honestly, you still can't avoid the disaster that's coming."
"What's more, I am now a four-color warrior and have the ability to protect myself."
In this dangerous and primitive world, even if you do nothing, danger may suddenly come.
All people who can survive, in addition to strength, also need a little luck.
Jiang Xuan thought that he was very lucky, not to mention that they took a giant eagle to go to the Western Wilderness, which was quite safe.
The old witch thought for a while and felt that what Jiang Xuan said made sense, so he nodded without hesitation and said: "Since you have decided, I will take you there. You can prepare yourself."
"good!"
Jiang Xuan immediately packed up things, such as dry food, kettles, weapons, medicinal powders, etc., which were all necessary.
He also prepared a large, thick animal skin and put it on his body to withstand the cold wind, ice and snow.
Afterwards, the two of them went to Chi Shao's place again and told her about the matter.
In fact, Chi Shao also wants to go together, but if she and Jiang Xuan leave, who will manage the tribe?
Therefore, red peony root can only stay in the tribe.
However, she stuffed a lot of medicinal powders for various uses into Jiang Xuan and asked him to take them with him in case of emergency.
Jiang Xuan explained the affairs of the tribe to Chi Shao, and then found Uncaria and others and asked them to take care of the glutinous rice balls on their behalf.
After all preparations were completed, Jiang Xuan and the old witch rode the black giant eagle and flew towards the Western Wilderness.
"Bah!"
The giant black eagle let out a high-pitched chirp, then flapped its huge wings and flew towards the west wasteland.
In the courtyard of the bamboo forest, Tangyuan watched the giant eagle fly away helplessly. It actually wanted to fly with it, but unfortunately it had not really grown up yet and could not fly long distances, so it could only stay in the tribe.
Chi Shao also stood beside Tang Yuan and prayed in her heart that Jiang Xuan and Lao Wu could return safely.
…
In the sky, every half a day of flying, the giant eagle will land on the mountain to rest and catch some prey.
Jiang Xuan and the old witch were covered in thick and large animal skins, sitting on the back of the giant eagle, enduring the cold at high altitude.
Fortunately, Jiang Xuan was already a four-color warrior. If he were a one-color warrior, he really wouldn't be able to bear the cold.
To Jiang Xuan's surprise, the old witch seemed to be more resistant to freezing than him. It should be the mysterious witch power protecting him.
Most of the time, their whole bodies were hidden inside the wide animal hides, and from time to time they would lift the hides to see what was going on outside.
The animal skin was frozen hard and covered with a thick layer of ice and snow. Every time it was lifted, it required a lot of effort, accompanied by the sound of cracking ice.
This situation lasted until the third day of their journey.
When the giant eagle took them deep into the Western Wilderness, the heavy snow that was flying in the sky suddenly disappeared, and there was no snow on the ground.
The temperature in the Western Wasteland is actually higher than where the Vine Tribe is.
At the same time, they often encounter large gatherings of thick clouds, from which rolling thunder comes from time to time, and lightning flashes like silver snakes.
"What exactly is going on?"
Jiang Xuan couldn't figure out what was going on in the Western Wilderness, why it wasn't snowing even though it was winter, and there were a lot of dark clouds gathering, lightning and thunder, but not much rain.
The old witch also frowned, this situation was really abnormal.
According to the records of successive witches of the Eagle Tribe and some legends, the Southern Wasteland is the warmest place, the Northern Wasteland is the coldest place, and the climates of the Eastern Wasteland and Western Wasteland should be similar.
However, the climate in the Western Wilderness is now very warm, which is obviously wrong.
On the fifth day of their journey, Jiang Xuan and Old Witch had already gone very deep into the Western Wilderness.
Just then, an accident happened.
This morning, a large area of fish-scale clouds appeared in the sky. At the same time, there was also a seven-color glow, which was very beautiful.
However, at noon, while they were resting on a mountain, the giant black eagle suddenly let out a sharp cry and spread its wings, urging them to get on the eagle's back immediately.
When the old witch and Jiang Xuan hurriedly climbed onto the eagle's back, the giant eagle immediately took off, and instead of flying forward, it flew higher and higher.
Not only the giant eagle, but also a large number of birds left the forest on the ground at the same time and flew into the sky. A large number of beasts ran wildly.
"Boom!"
At this moment, a thunderous sound suddenly came from the ground, continuous and extremely terrifying.
Jiang Xuan and the old witch sat on the back of the giant eagle and looked towards the ground.
They saw a very horrific scene.
I saw the earth suddenly heaving up and down like water waves, mountains collapsing, and rocks rolling on the ground. It was like a piece of exquisite porcelain was suddenly broken, with countless cracks appearing.
Towering ancient trees collapsed, and houses on the ground collapsed instantly. The beasts on the ground were wailing and running, and the tribesmen in this area were also running and wailing.
"The ground...there was an earthquake..."
Jiang Xuan's face turned pale as he looked at the horrific scene on the ground.
The old witch's face was also very pale. He had never seen such a tragic situation for most of his life, but had only heard some legends.
Because where the Eagle Tribe is, there has never been an earthquake.
The mountain top where Jiang Xuan and the others were just now collapsed. If they had not left in time, they would probably be in great danger now just like the people on the ground and the birds and beasts.
The black giant eagle flew higher. It was obviously very scared and subconsciously wanted to stay away from the dangerous ground.
Faced with this power of heaven and earth, neither humans nor birds, not even birds of prey such as giant eagles, have the ability to contend. All they can do is stay away.
The black giant eagle flew farther and farther until it left the large earthquake area. It was really tired from flying, and then it landed on a mountain in fear.
Jiang Xuan and Lao Wu also felt a little bit in shock. After all, the scene of the earthquake just now had a great visual impact on them.
The usually peaceful land turned into a raging sea at that moment, and countless creatures on the ground perished in this disaster.
Jiang Xuan and the old witch did not leave to the ground. They sat on the back of the giant eagle. The two of them waited for a long time, but they could not recover from the shock to China.
"Eat...have something to eat."
Jiang Xuan took out some dried meat and fruits and handed them to the old witch.
The old witch didn't ask for dried meat because he had bad teeth. He took a piece of dried fruit and chewed it slowly, but it tasted like chewing wax.
Jiang Xuan ate some dried meat to satisfy his hunger, and then said to the old witch: "Old witch, is this what makes you uneasy?"
The old witch thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, I feel there is a greater crisis. This is an intuition."
A crisis bigger than an earthquake? What kind of crisis would that be?
Jiang Xuan only felt bitter in his heart, because manpower was simply not enough to face such a crisis.
Just like those tribes just now, in an earthquake, they can only rely on luck to survive.
Fortunately, such a crisis did not occur in Southern Wilderness. Jiang Xuan felt happy in his heart.
Soon after, Jiang Xuan looked at the scenery on the ground, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong.
The ground was all dry and yellow, and there was almost no water. Even a small river in the distance had stopped flowing.
"Old Witch, do you feel that it's a little too dry here?"
The old witch said: "Isn't it always so dry in winter?"
Jiang Xuan frowned. He subconsciously felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
After resting for about an hour, there was no earthquake like before on the ground, which made Jiang Xuan and Old Wu feel a little relieved.
They took the black giant eagle and continued to fly west, hoping to find the "bigger crisis" in the old witch's intuition.
On the sixth day, Jiang Xuan obviously found that the vegetation on the ground was much sparser than before, the water sources had become less, and the air was drier.
Because there was no information for reference, he didn't know whether this was a characteristic of Xihuang or a change in recent years.
But Jiang Xuan kept this situation in mind.
The seventh day, the eighth day... As they continued deeper into the Western Wilderness, the vegetation on the ground became increasingly sparse, and water sources such as rivers and lakes also became rarer.
At the same time, the temperature gradually increased, and the sun hung brightly in the sky, bringing a rolling heat wave.
Jiang Xuan had already put away the thick and wide animal skin, and even took off one of the animal skin clothes he was wearing.
"Old witch, have any of the successive witches of your Eagle Tribe recorded this situation in the Western Wilderness?
The old witch looked at the dry land, shook his head blankly, and said: "No, our Eagle Tribe knows very little about the Western Wilderness, but I remember that the Western Wilderness should be similar to the Eastern Wilderness. How could this be?"
It was clearly winter, but the depths of the Western Wilderness were as hot as summer. Moreover, the ground vegetation was sparse, there were few water sources, and there were even fewer birds and animals, making it look like a desert.
When the giant eagle landed again, Jiang Xuan discovered that there were a large number of dead trees on the ground, some large and some small, some were rotten, and some were relatively intact.
Based on the dead tree stumps still on the ground and some dry river beds, Jiang Xuan judged that this place should have been rich in vegetation and sufficient water in the past.
The time it took for it to become like this shouldn't be very long.
If the time is very long, the ground will no longer be soil, but yellow sand all over the sky.
"Earthquakes and droughts, are there any connections between them?"
Jiang Xuan thought for a long time but couldn't get the answer, but he vaguely felt that there must be some connection between them.
Moreover, the changes in the Western Wilderness will have a huge impact on the Southern Wilderness and even the entire primitive continent.
Naturally, the Vine Tribe cannot survive alone in such a big environment.
…
Congratulations to book friend "Xinxuan Liangsheng丶" for becoming the first elder of this book.
