The hinterland of the Far East
After a night of tight security, the 150,000-strong army finally made it to dawn without incident. The calm night made everyone feel a little relieved. Along the way, there were too many nights, and too many countless tragic things happened, which made the soldiers in the entire army nervous and anxious all day long.
Contrary to the soldiers, Han Qi became more and more afraid to relax along the way. Such a peaceful night made Han Qi feel uneasy. Maybe it's because the night in the Far East is too quiet, there is no howling cold wind, and there is no sound of falling snow. Like the calm before the storm, it makes people anxious.
Compared to Han Qi, Duke Shui Liang paid more attention to the ice field he was about to enter. There was a hint of worry in his gaze: Is the legendary thousand-year treasure really buried here? Are the psychic’s predictions really effective? He had risked so much to come here, and if he got nothing, wouldn't he have let down his persistence... Thinking of this, Shui Lianggong couldn't help but clench his sweat-soaked palms.
In the supply convoy of the kitchen camp, Qiye looked up at the endless ice fields of the plains, and sighed in his heart: What kind of miraculous power can the entire ground plane be polished as smooth and flat as a mirror? It's like an ice realm with no horizon, so beautiful. It also seems like a dressing mirror embedded in the ground by the Nine Heavens Fairy, reflecting the bright sky of stars. And where does this endless ice field extend? Although it is daytime now, the deepest part of the ice sheet is filled with dense darkness. Where is that place? ...Little Qiye's heart was like a fountain bubbling, and a series of questions emerged.
Not long after, the army regrouped and began to slowly march towards the ice field as smooth as a mirror. Langbei and Liubei, who were responsible for the escort, looked at each other and drew their swords one after another. They gathered around Hanqi, guarding against unknown attacks. Shui Lianggong and Han Qi rode together and walked in the middle of the team.
"Brother Shuiliang, in your opinion, where should this thousand-year treasure be buried in this ice field?" Han Qi asked tentatively after watching for a while.
"This ice field is vast and endless. Liang really can't detect where the thousand-year-old treasure is hidden." Shui Lianggong shook his head and sighed.
"Although Liang couldn't guess it, the thousand-year treasure has accumulated spiritual energy from heaven and earth after thousands of years, so there must be strange phenomena in the place where the treasure is buried." Shui Lianggong added.
"Oh, even Brother Shui Liang can't detect the specific location. But looking for it on this endless ice sheet based only on the vision of heaven and earth is like looking for a needle in a haystack." Han Qi felt a little helpless, but he didn't expect that there were so many difficulties. When I came here, I actually lacked the key means to find it.
"Lord City Lord, how about my subordinates use the "Four Sea Dragon Plate" to test it out?" Lang Bingwei suggested to Han Qi when he saw the opportunity.
"That's fine, please trouble General Lang." Han Qi readily agreed after hearing Lang Bingwei's suggestion. No matter how you compare to searching blindly, you might as well give it a try with a spiritual weapon. Moreover, the Sihai Dragon Pan is also a thing that specializes in detecting spiritual power. Maybe it can be found with it.
Wolfbei quickly took out the "Four Seas Dragon Plate" from the "Spiritual Ring" and held it in his palm, then poured spiritual power into it with a thought. After receiving the spiritual power, the spiritual needle on the "Four Sea Dragon Plate" began to rotate continuously, gradually getting faster and faster, and finally slowed down and pointed to the east.
Seeing this result, Wolfbei was not sure. According to the direction indicated by the spirit plate, the treasure should be buried deep in the eastern ice field.
Han Qi and Shui Lianggong discussed for a while after seeing the results of "Four Seas Dragon Pan". Decision: Continue to set off to the depths of the east ice field. After all, the army has been heading east since its departure.
Qiye followed behind the carriage of the kitchen camp. Along the way, the cook chief of the kitchen camp always left dangerous matters to Qiye and other handymen: whether it was in the ice and snow forest, chopping wood and making fire in the woods where giant wolves roamed; In the ice and snow, in the snow where ghosts are flying, you can get snow to boil water. The chief cook, on the other hand, hid tightly in the carriage and would never come out until the evening when the troops were stationed to light a fire for cooking.
Qiye felt disgusted with such a person who was greedy for life and afraid of death. If he hadn't been pregnant with "Ling Bu", he would have escaped from wolves several times and almost died. The other handymen in the kitchen camp were not as lucky as Qiye. From the four to five hundred handymen in the entire kitchen camp, there are now less than forty or fifty alive. Most of the handymen died of hunger and cold. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer handymen in the kitchen camp for the chief cook to command, and Qiye is also the only slave boy in the kitchen camp who has survived to this day.
The 150,000-strong army walked on the vast and endless ice field, like a swarm of ants migrating on the ice. Small and fragile, as if a gust of wind could wipe out the entire army. After traveling on the ice field for a day, I found nothing, not a single vision or any movement. There is always a layer of unchanging ice in front of you, and it is difficult to see anything except the stars in the sky.
As night falls, the army begins its garrison for the night.
The night sky over the ice sheet is not completely black, but is filled with the brilliant light of countless stars in the Milky Way. Tranquil, brilliant, beautiful, dreamy... The star-studded night sky reflects the smooth mirror-like ice surface. The flowing light scene is like the embrace of two fantasy worlds, showing the ultimate moving between heaven and earth. The starry sky and ice fields complement each other and blend into one. Being on the ice sheet is like standing in the depths of the Milky Way. It is difficult to tell which is the sky and which is the earth. This beautiful illusion of the vastness of the world gives people endless imagination.
Staring at the vast starry sky for seven nights, I felt an indescribable shock and trembling: the vastness of the world and the vastness of the starry sky can be appreciated once in a lifetime. Such a unique sight that has never been seen before is enough to comfort the soul. For the first time in his life, Qiye felt truly lucky to be born in such a beautiful world!
Once upon a time, in the slave mining camp, the little Qiye experienced too much suffering and bitterness in the world: the whip wounds on the body that would never heal, the year-round lack of food, the soreness that weighed heavily on the shoulders but could not be lifted, and the entanglement. , dying diseases, routine beatings, exposure to wind and sun, etc... all kinds of things are too numerous to count. The entire slave mining camp allowed Qiye to see almost all the suffering at the bottom of the human world.
I recall the past and unknowingly, two lines of hot tears flowed down my weathered and rough cheeks. When he was in the slave camp, Qiye felt infinite hatred for being born in such a hell on earth. At this moment, Qiye was so lucky that there could still be such fascinating beauty in this world, and everything he had encountered seemed to have been compensated.
Quietly, for seven nights, I lay alone next to the carriage in the kitchen camp, looking at the night sky: imagining the billions of stars in the sky. Does every shining star belong to one person's happiness? If so, which one is your own happiness? Qiye searched carefully in the Milky Way, which was like a vast ocean. In such a search full of happiness and hope, Qiye spent the first unforgettable night of happiness since his birth...
The sky is getting brighter and the stars are dimming. When the morning light first rises, the Milky Way gradually disappears into the daylight. The army, which had rested for the night, began to gear up and set off one after another.
In the hinterland of the ice sheet, there are many seasons in one day and the weather is changeable. Blizzards and sunshine alternate, and strong winds and temperature differences overlap. Although the 150,000 treasure-hunting army was not in danger, the severe temperature differences made many soldiers feel uncomfortable.
After a while, the scorching sun hit our head. The soldiers wore thick cotton-padded jackets and armor: airtight, heat-proof and drenched in sweat. But not long after, before the hot sweat dried up, a blizzard hit and the icy wind soaked the body. The scorching air blew away in an instant, and the bone-chilling cold caught people off guard.
With such severe cold and heat, many soldiers suffered from dizziness and vomiting. Qiye also felt dizzy, weak in his limbs, and sluggish in this alternation of hot and cold. As for the spiritual warriors in the army, they can use their spiritual energy to adjust themselves in time, so their bodies are not affected. However, the bodies of most ordinary soldiers could not withstand such torture, and the army's march encountered new obstacles.
After nearly a day's march, the army advanced dozens of kilometers eastward. Shuiliang Gong considered that most of the soldiers were ill and difficult to walk, which was not conducive to the excavation of thousand-year treasures. Therefore, it was proposed that the army set up camp in advance. Then, the military medicine doctors began to prepare medicinal soups for the symptoms. Due to the large number of sick soldiers, each person was only given a few spoonfuls of the decoction, but it was better than nothing. Soldiers with mild symptoms basically improved after drinking the decoction and resting for a while.
At night, Han Qi walked out of the camp in a sad and restless manner, looking to the west anxiously. Two months have passed since setting off, and his 100,000-strong army has suffered huge losses, but now there is not even a shadow of the thousand-year treasure. I don’t know how far I have to go and how many unknown risks lie ahead.
"Hey..." A helpless sigh
"Brother Han is worried about the thousand-year treasure, right?" Not far away, Duke Shui Liang asked with concern when he saw Han Qi standing alone outside the military tent.
"Isn't that right? It has been more than two months since Han and Brother Shui Liang took the risk together. Now the treasure has suffered such a big loss before it was even seen. Isn't Brother Shui Liang not impatient at all?" Han Qi asked.
"How can we not be impatient? You and I have made such a big sacrifice and still got nothing. Now even the material consumption is running out." Shui Lianggong explained.
"Oh, then why can't you see Brother Shui Liang is worried at all?" Han Qi asked puzzledly.
"Liang is naturally very worried, but I have a hunch that we should not be far from the thousand-year treasure." Shui Lianggong seemed to be very confident, but Han Qi was dubious.
And while the two were talking. An urgent report came from the night patrol: Report! There is an unknown phenomenon ahead!
After hearing the emergency report, Han Qi was overjoyed: Hurry! Take this city lord quickly!
Therefore, Han Qi and Shui Lianggong immediately followed the patrol and came to the forefront of the army. In the darkness ahead, behind a distant iceberg, countless fantastic scenes of light flashed out: the wonderful night light was like a rainbow lying on the waves, and like a dragon playing on the peak. After a while, it scattered like countless green threads, and gradually it became like a lone moon, floating on the top of the iceberg, changing like the aurora sky, magnificent and illusive...
"Haha~, that's right! That vision should be a thousand-year treasure, and I finally found it!" Han Qi said with a hearty laugh.
"This vision, the spiritual energy is so strong, it should be the place where the treasure is buried. But judging from the distance, it shouldn't be far. It is estimated that we can arrive tomorrow." Shui Lianggong carefully confirmed
"Why go tomorrow and stay overnight!" Han Qi was so excited that he couldn't wait.
"Absolutely not! Marching at night, the road ahead is uncertain and dangerous." Shui Lianggong stopped him unusually calmly.
"Okay! Let's set off tomorrow." After Shui Lianggong reminded him, Han Qi gradually calmed down. Then he could hold back his eagerness and return to the camp to make early preparations for tomorrow's treasure hunt.
