If I add money to become a layman, I can cultivate immortality

Chapter 190 Desert Living Map: An Liman

Next, Professor Chen and others couldn’t wait to investigate the nine-story demon building.

However, everyone is still cautious. Although there is no threat of fire ladybugs, this place is full of weirdness after all, and God knows if there will be any weird things.

Professor Chen and others were extremely excited when they stepped onto the nine-story demon building that had been covered in dust for 2000 years.

Professor Hao took Chu Jian, Sa Dipeng, and Ye Yixin to observe and record the structure, layout of the tower, and the... mummies inside.

The tower was littered with corpses. Due to environmental reasons, these corpses did not rot but turned into mummies, and the clothes on many of them were intact.

It can be seen that these people are not of high status, they may be slaves, servants, etc., and from the postures of these people, it can be inferred that these people are likely to be buried alive.

In ancient times, many noble families liked to use slaves or servants for burial.

"Don't touch..."

Ding Xiu saw Fatty Wang preparing to touch a corpse and immediately shouted.

The fat man was startled, quickly retracted his hand, and asked: "Is there corpse poison?"

Ding Xiu explained: "It's not corpse poison, it's because over time, the clothes of these corpses have rotted away and will break if touched."

"Yes, yes!" Professor Hao said repeatedly: "Everyone must be careful not to damage anything here. This is a miracle of the world and a treasure of our China..."

Going up one level at a time, Professor Chen and his party discovered a pattern. The higher up the level, the fewer the corpses, and the higher the status in terms of clothing and burial items.

"Great, this is simply a great discovery..."

Hao Aiguo is over 50 years old, but he is as excited as a child.

Hu Bayi followed Fatty Wang closely, glaring at Fatty from time to time, because this guy was dishonest and always wanted to do something along the way.

It's not that Hu Bayi is very enlightened, but he is not as greedy as Fatty Wang, and with Professor Chen and others present, he has to restrain himself no matter what.

In addition, Hu Bayi also discovered something. Shirley Yang was also staring at him and Fatty Wang from time to time, seemingly suspicious.

In fact, Shirley Yang did have suspicions.

On the surface, her identity is that of a reporter, but after all, she is a descendant of Partridge Shao, who was a Taoist from Banshan, and later became a disciple of Captain Mo Jin.

Therefore, Shirley Yang still has a good understanding of the tomb robbing business, and she has begun to doubt the identities of Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang.

"Patriot, please record it..."

After an investigation, Professor Chen began to organize his thoughts and expressed his opinions.

"According to my speculation, these people are probably the nobles of the ancient Jingjue country. Why they want to build a nine-story demon tower here still needs to be verified.

However, from the analysis of the environment here, it is very likely that this was the most important water source in the ancient Western Region.

Most people in ancient times liked to live near water, so this may also be their belief and worship..."

After inspecting the nine-story monster building, Professor Chen and his party reluctantly walked back to the entrance of the passage.

"It's a pity that with the current conditions of our country, we are still unable to excavate and protect this place. However, we have a lot of detailed information this time, which is something to be thankful for..."

As the group left, Shen Changan remained silent and threw a small stone from time to time.

He is setting up a formation. Even if someone enters here by mistake in the future, they will not see the nine-story demon tower. This is equivalent to protecting the nine-story demon tower.

However, this formation is not permanent and will automatically expire after a certain period of time.

After leaving the Kunlun Mountains, the group went through a bumpy journey and finally arrived at a small town on the edge of the desert.

This small town can be said to be the last place of supply. Once you enter the desert, you will see an endless desert and an uninhabited land with a radius of hundreds of kilometers.

After arriving in the town, Professor Chen and his party were warmly welcomed by the town leaders.

Afterwards, Professor Chen proposed to find a guide who was familiar with the desert environment.

"Yes, there is an old man named An Liman in our town who is very good. Everyone calls him the living map, and he also raises good camels.

Even the children in our town know that you need to bring three things with you when going into the desert, water, camels, and Anliman..."

So Hu Bayi, Ding Xiu, Shirley Yang, and Fatty Wang went to find An Liman.

This old man is a money addict and starts by talking about money.

But that's okay, just talk about money. Shirley Yang immediately expressed her position: "The price is easy to talk about, just tell us when we can leave."

An Liman replied: "As long as you have money, you can set off soon."

"How soon?"

"Well... in two months."

Shirley Yang was anxious: "This won't work. The typhoon season will be over in two months."

The reason why she was so anxious was because the notebook said that the ancient city of Jingjue was buried under the desert. It was only possible to find the ancient city of Jingjue during the windy season, when strong winds blew away the floating sand.

Therefore, Shirley Yang chose to enter the desert during the windy season.

She did not conceal this point and truthfully told Professor Chen and others about its dangers.

Although Professor Chen and others have never been to the desert, it does not mean that they do not know how dangerous the desert is.

However, they are dedicated people, and they will not hesitate to have the opportunity to study the culture of the ancient Western Regions.

Three young people, including Chu Jian, Sa Di Peng and Ye Yixin, are also full of enthusiasm.

When they were in the capital, they wrote suicide notes respectively. In other words, they were actually mentally prepared and would never flinch even if it cost them their lives.

Many people of that era did have a fearless spirit and moved forward bravely for the dreams in their hearts.

An Liman replied: "Yes, you also know that it is windy season now. The wind is strong. People will die if we enter the desert."

His accent is a bit strange, a bit like a foreigner speaking Chinese.

But in fact, he is a Han Chinese who has been in the town since he was young.

Shirley Yang frowned and said: "Old man, let's do this. I'll pay double the price to buy your camel. When you come back, the camel will still be yours, but you have to leave as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, An Liman couldn't help but his eyes lit up: "Come back, is the money mine, the camel or mine?"

"Yes, it's all yours."

Unexpectedly, An Liman still waved his hand: "No, no, people will die if they enter the desert during the windy season, and God will blame them..."

"Old man..."

Fatty Wang was angry and couldn't help but rush forward.

"Fat man!" Ding Xiu raised his hand to stop Fatty Wang, then stepped forward and pulled An Liman aside.

"Old man, please don't refuse..." As he spoke, he whispered a few words.

An Liman looked at Ding Xiu with a shocked look on his face, and finally nodded: "Okay, I'll prepare and leave the day after tomorrow."

"Eh? Are you so happy this time?" Fatty Wang looked confused.

When he returned, he couldn't help but ask Ding Xiu: "Old Ding, what did you say to the old man?"

Ding Xiu said slowly: "I said, I guarantee that he can come back safely."

"If you don't believe it..." "Forget it if you don't believe it."

Next, the group began to prepare supplies.

Once you enter the desert, there is no man's land, so you must bring enough dry food and water, especially water, which is the most valuable thing in the desert, more valuable than gold.

If you get lost and have no water, a small bottle of water cannot be exchanged for a mountain of gold.

After all, a bottle of water can save a life in the desert, but what's the use of a mountain of gold?You can neither eat nor drink.

In addition to food and water, tents, equipment, and weapons must also be prepared, as well as bean cakes, salt biscuits, etc. that the camels eat.

When everything was ready, the group finally rode camels into the vast desert.

This time, the route started from Bosten Lake and continued southward along the course of the ancient Kongque River.

Bosten Lake was once a very large lake, and the Kongque River originated from here.

Once upon a time, there were many oases, villages, and ancient Western countries of all sizes along the Kongque River.

This route is the famous ancient Silk Road.

During the Tang Dynasty, the eminent monk Xuanzang also traveled to Tianzhu along this route. Later, his disciples wrote a book "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" based on his dictation and records.

Of course, in mythology, this is the story of Monk Tang’s pilgrimage to the West for Buddhist scriptures.

But now, Bosten Lake has withered, and the Kongque River, which once gave birth to countless small countries in the Western Regions, has long since disappeared.

This desert, called the Taklimakan Desert, is about 30 kilometers long from east to west and [-] kilometers wide from north to south. Its total area reaches more than [-] square kilometers, which is larger than many countries.

Moreover, the Taklimakan Desert is the second largest mobile desert in the world, and its quicksand area ranks first in the world.

Once you accidentally fall into quicksand, there is almost no chance of survival.

Before the Kongque River dried up, there were many villages and cities in these more than 30 square kilometers.

Today, these villages and cities have either turned into ruins, turned into yellow sand, or been buried under the yellow sand, leaving only many mysterious legends.

For example, the ancient country of Loulan, such as the ancient city of Jingjue.

Entering the desert for the first time was quite new and exciting for Chu Jian, Sa Di Peng, Ye Yixin and others.

After all, the scene in front of you is so spectacular. The undulating sand dunes, shrubs, cacti, and poplar trees can be seen everywhere, forming a unique desert scenery.

Riding on a camel, looking at the desert scenery, with the rhythmic sound of camel bells echoing in their ears, this was an experience they had never had before, and everything was new.

Professor Chen was also very interested and said: "The Kongque River can be said to be the mother river of the ancient Western Regions. It is precisely because of the Kongque River that the ancient Silk Road was created and the prosperity of the ancient Western Regions was achieved.

Unfortunately, as time goes by, the Kongque River slowly dries up.

However, based on some scattered information, we can basically judge that the Kongque River did not really dry up, but turned underground and became an underground river, called the Duzi Underground River.

The underground river we discovered under the Kunlun Rift Valley before, based on its flow direction, is likely to be a source of the Duzi Underground River.

Now, we are also walking on the ground along the flow of the Duzi Dark River. As long as we follow this line, we will definitely have a chance to find the legendary Jingjue Ancient City..."

However, when the fresh energy passed, the group's energy slowly disappeared.

After all, at first glance, except for the sand dunes, it was still sand dunes. Along the way, we ate and slept in the open air, ate dry food, drank cold water, and could only endure the sweat.

Want to take a shower in the desert?

Unless you are lucky and find a pond in the oasis.

Otherwise, no one would have the luxury of using water stored in a water bag to take a bath. Even when washing their face, they would just soak a towel and wipe it. How would they dare to put half a basin of water and pour it on their face to have a good wash like they do at home.

The same goes for camel riding.

It was refreshing at first, but as time went by, I started to feel soreness in my back and legs, and extremely tired.

The ultraviolet rays in the desert are also very strong, and it is extremely cold at night.

At that time, I will miss having a sip of hot soup at home.

What's even more worrying is that the water consumption is much faster than imagined. I thought I was well prepared, but I didn't expect that the reserved water has been almost used up.

During the lunch break that day, Hu Bayi walked up to An Liman and prepared to have a good chat.

An Liman raised his head and said, "It's not too late to go back now."

Hu Bayi smiled and asked: "Old man, how many times have you led people halfway before leading them back?"

An Liman replied: "To tell you the truth, you are the ones who have persisted the longest. Go back and don't lose your life in vain."

"Old man, I didn't expect water to be consumed so quickly. You are a living map of the desert. You must know where to find water sources."

An Liman said: "I know what you are doing in Jingjue Ancient City. Legend has it that there are a lot of gold and silver treasures there, but no one has ever actually found them.

In fact, the journey we have taken along is not really a desert..."

"Oh?" Hu Bayi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and subconsciously looked around.

Isn't this a real desert?

So what kind of place counts?
"Let me tell you, after crossing the river bend, there is the Black Desert. That is the real desert."

"Old man, what is Black Desert?"

An Liman replied: "Many cities and treasures are buried in the Black Desert, but no one has ever been able to bring them out.

Even if you only bring one gold coin, you will get lost in the black desert and be buried in the sand forever..."

Hu Bayi smiled: "Isn't this statement too weird?"

"This is how God punishes those greedy guys... Go back, go back..."

However, how could Professor Chen and others turn back because of his persuasion?
We have already stepped into the desert, no matter how dangerous it is, we have to brave it.

Early the next morning, the sky was full of sunrise.

Hu Bayi couldn't help but said: "The morning glow does not show up, but the sunset glow travels thousands of miles. It seems that the weather is about to change."

An Liman sighed: "Yes, the wind is going to blow, it's going to be very, very strong..."

After hearing this, Hu Bayi hurried back and unfolded the map with Professor Chen and others to look at the terrain.

"Our current location should be here. Continue to the south. Here...this should be the ruins of Xiye Ancient City. We have to rush over and find a place to take shelter from the wind."

"How strong is the wind?" Shirley Yang couldn't help but ask.

"It's hard to say, the desert wind can sometimes blow away a sand dune..."

The ancient city of Xiye is not a legend, it is a ruins of the ancient Western Region country that has been discovered a long time ago.

Judging from the map, it is not very far from where the group of people are.

"Well, everyone hurry up and pack your things. We need to get to the ruins of Xiye Ancient City as soon as possible..."

……

(End of this chapter)