The ancient city of Jingjue is located in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert.

According to the "Book of Han: Biography of the Western Regions", Jingjue Kingdom is one of the most prosperous kingdoms among the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions.

Unfortunately, with the passage of time, all the countries in the Western Regions were buried under the yellow sand.

Ye Bai and his party of six, including Jin Abacus and Zhang Jiuyi, arrived in Xi'an first. After replenishing supplies that were difficult to buy in Xinjiang, they headed for Xinjiang.

Everyone stopped at a small tribe in Xinjiang, and Chen Yulou went out to find a guide who was familiar with the desert.

In the tent, Zhang Jiuyi frowned slightly after doing a divination.

"This trip involves a lot of risks, so please don't take it lightly."

Everyone nodded, and Partridge Whistle took out a map and explained to everyone: "Since the ancient city of Jingjue was buried by the yellow sand, no one has found any trace of it. My third brother and I thought about it and found that there is no reference in the desert.

, we try to walk along the ancient ruins."

"Start from Bosten Lake to Xiye City. This section includes desert and Gobi Desert. As long as you follow the ancient channel of Kongque River and use a guide, you won't get lost."

Partridge Whistle draws a red circle on the big map.

"The road after that is the Black Desert. Residents here say that black storms often occur in the Black Desert. The sand raised by the strong wind forms a sand wall, and the visibility is almost zero."

"Brother, how can we find the ancient city in the black desert?" the old foreigner asked.

Ye Bai replied for Partridge Whistle: "Look for the Zidu Underwater River. This underground river is formed by the melting of the snow all year round in the Kunlun Mountains. The ancient city of Jingjue is connected to the Zidu Underground River. You can find it along the underground river."

The most exquisite ancient city."

Everyone in the tent was still discussing, and after a while, Chen Yulou came back with a dark-faced guide.

He is a young man named Karama.

This guy has been living in the desert since his grandfather's generation. He is very familiar with the desert and can speak Mandarin.

Just judging from his reluctant expression, he must have been coerced and lured by Chen Yulou.

Ye Bai stepped forward and made a fool of himself, comforted him for a while, and promised many benefits.

"Uncle Ye, it's windy season now, and the desert is very dangerous. If there is a real danger, I won't be able to save so many of you."

Ye Bai smiled: "Don't worry, if you are really in danger, just run away and ignore us."

Speaking of which, this is the first time for everyone to explore caves in the depths of the desert. Even Jin Abacus, who has made countless fortunes, does not have much experience.

On the second day, Ye Bai and his party of nine prepared food and water for about a month and headed for the desert with twelve camels.

The first section of the itinerary starts from Bosten Lake to the southwest and walks westward along the Kongque River until we find the ancient river channel heading south.

A few days later, everyone came to Bosten Lake.

Bosten Lake can be translated as standing. It was called the Sea of ​​Fish in ancient times. It is the largest inland freshwater lake in China. The Kongque River originates from here and flows to the depths of Taklimakan.

The blue surface of the lake is like a mirror, coupled with the yellow sand on the horizon, giving people the illusion of reaching the end of heaven and earth.

Along the way, there were a lot of green thorns and vegetation. When encountering such beautiful scenery, everyone was very excited. They didn't feel hard, but felt a bit fresh and fun.

The lost water source was replenished by the lake. After everyone stayed for a few hours, they continued to set off.

Ye Bai also had some memories of the lake scenery, lamenting that the most beautiful scenery in the world is often found in places where few people visit.

According to the guide Karama, this initial stage is not a real desert at all.

This section of the ancient channel of the Kongque River existed before the river changed its course. The riverbed in some areas has not completely dried up. The surrounding sand is very shallow, and there are many scattered small lakes and seas.

Haizi is a small lake in the desert, but the water is salty, so it is called Haizi.

At night, the temperature in the desert dropped sharply. Ye Bai and Partridge Whistle went out and caught a few red-billed gulls and an unknown type of duck.

After the tent is set up, Hualing makes a fire to cook.

Karama held a roasted duck in his arms, his mouth full of greasy food.

He pointed to the southwest with his greasy hand and said: "Once you cross this bend, you will reach the real desert. If you go southwest, you will enter the black desert."

Ye Bai squinted his eyes and nodded slightly.

In the distance, the setting sun clings to the ridgeline of the desert. There is still a faint red light in half of the sky. In the other half of the sky, the moon and stars are faintly emerging.

Perhaps only in the desert can the sun and moon be clearly seen.

Another day passed, and everyone came to a desert with great mobility.

The sky is filled with yellow sand, and there is no green at all around it.

The wind was howling, so Ye Bai and others put on sunglasses and covered their mouths, noses and ears with face towels to prevent sand from pouring into the seven holes.

There are vague traces of remaining buildings in the distance, with only half of the roofs of towers and houses exposed.

At this time, Karama in front suddenly stopped and said that the wind and sand were too strong, burying the traces left by the ancient river channel, and he could not find the direction.

Helpless, Zhang Jiuyi and Jin Abacus took action. After calculating, they pointed in a direction and asked everyone to continue moving forward.

At night, everyone camped under a small slope.

Jin Abacus brought together a few old foreigners to play poker, and even the curious Karama was pulled in.

Ye Bai shook his head and stepped forward to help Hua Ling cook.

"Brother Xiaobai, we have used up one-third of our food and almost half of our water."

Knowing that Ye Bai has storage space, Chen Yulou and others have never saved food and drink. Yesterday, several people even took a bath with the water they brought, which was extremely luxurious.

Ye Bai couldn't help but sigh, this was not a visit to the grave, this was clearly a vacation.

And fucking bathing in the desert.

However, Ye Bai shook his head again, blaming me for starting this first.

"I'll get another batch from the space later. Hua Ling, please take good care of the supplies this time and don't let them use them indiscriminately."

"Okay, Brother Xiaobai."

Taking out a large piece of steak from the space, Ye Bai divided it into nine parts and asked Hua Ling to fry it and prepare one piece for each person.

On the other side, Chen Yulou used the spring water from the treasure gourd to boil a pot of Wuding Qianxiang tea brought back from Yunnan. The tea was fragrant and distributed to Zhang Jiuyi and Partridge Whistle.

Taking a sip of tea, Zhang Jiuyi soaked his lungs and was immersed in the bitter and sweet aroma of tea. He couldn't help but admire: "This trip is really worth it. The scenery on the road alone is worth it."

"Mr. said before that this trip is dangerous, but what happened?" Chen Yulou asked.

Zhang Jiuyi put down the tea cup, and was determined to take the exam, so he said: "Let me tell you about the hexagram before departure. The hexagram points to the northwest, which means that the destination of this trip is the ancient city of Jingjue. This hexagram of mine is just to ask for directions.

It is a bad and auspicious hexagram, but the final hexagram shows water and fire. How would you interpret it?"

Chen Yulou has also studied some divination methods in the past few days, and has some impressions of the combination of water and fire described in the hexagram book.
Chapter completed!