Chapter 54: Repaying a Debt of Gratitude

  For some reason, Qing Xia suddenly wasn't in such a hurry to get to Bai E County. She bought a map and carefully calculated the route, finding that even on horseback, it would take no more than a month to reach Bai E County. But Yang Feng had set a deadline of two months for herself, and her heart suddenly felt a twinge of unease, which slowly crept up from within. She gritted her teeth and forcibly suppressed the unease, but her footsteps slowed down gradually.

  The Western Wilderness is a strange and unique landscape on the continent, Qing Xia knew that this land was once his home, the Huaxia Continent. However, history took a sharp turn with Qin Er Shi, and many things were turned upside down. The great Han Dynasty that drove out the Tartars no longer existed, nor did the brilliant Tang Dynasty. Many things had undergone earth-shaking changes.

  Firstly, the place names here have long been changed beyond recognition, and Qing Xia has to work hard to combine each piece of land with her memory map, just like when she first learned a foreign language. Secondly, the change in regime led to changes in the territory, with four countries waging war against each other for years, restraining and depending on each other. Under the impact of the war, the towns in the central area of the four countries shrank smaller and smaller in one strategic siege after another, until they finally disappeared, leaving no ruins or broken walls, all buried deep underground by the passage of time.

  On the once prosperous streets, towering trees and withered wild grass grew, fertile land turned into a desolate wilderness, warriors' flesh and blood and women's and children's bleached white bones also became the best fertilizer for these wild grasses.

  Qing Xia walked on the desolate grassland, feeling a wave of panic in her heart. This shouldn't be the case. In the Central Plains, when did such a vast grassland appear? It's really ironic to say that this is a mockery. At this moment, she even began to understand the father of this body, war was like a man-eating monster, swallowing the blood and tears of the entire world. She had been trying to escape from that golden cage with all her might, but after finally escaping, she suddenly discovered the coldness of reality.

  As for war, she had seen too much of it; she thought her heart was already numb, but actually it wasn't.

  Qing Xia sat on the withered grass, lit a small bonfire, and her horse lay beside her, dozing off comfortably, occasionally letting out a snort. Qing Xia took out her water bottle, tilted her head to take a sip, broke open some stale dry rations, barely filling her stomach, and prepared to rest.

  Her hand reached back and suddenly touched something cold and hard. Qing Xia frowned and looked, and was shocked to see a piece of white bone that seemed to be shrouded in a gloomy aura. Qing Xia's eyebrows furrowed tightly, this was a slightly yellowish white leg bone, looking very slender, and the length was also very short, it should belong to a child between ten to twelve years old.

  A glance around revealed several more segments of disordered white bones. It seems that this child was abandoned here after death, and later gnawed by wild dogs and wolves, resulting in its current appearance.

  He pulled out the dagger from his boot, dug a shallow hole with two or three strokes, and Qing Xia was about to put the child's white bones into it. Suddenly, another dark skull appeared in front of Qing Xia.

  It turned out that this was actually another deceased person's burial site.

  A wave of sadness surged up in her heart, Qing Xia held the child's bones, and for a moment she was stunned.

  "Quick!" A low, muffled cry suddenly rang out. Qing Xia's vigilance was triggered and she swiftly picked up the silver sword that had been placed beside her. This was something she had bought in Xiangyang County, although she didn't know how to use a sword. Since Qing Xia had dressed up as a man, she had also bought this sword just for show.

  About two hundred cavalrymen galloped past the official road in front of Qing Xia, although there were many people, but the sound was very small, as if intentionally suppressing. At a glance, it was a regular army that had undergone rigorous training and strict military discipline. Although these men wore brown short shirts, rode tall horses, and wore single-colored bird feathers on their heads, they looked fierce and strangely dressed, similar to the legendary Nanjiang Lüdan people. However, Qing Xia could still see at a glance that they were definitely from the regular army supported by the imperial court.

  Fortunately, the wild grass on the barren land was dense, and before Qing Xia, for safety, they deliberately kept a distance from the official road. Moreover, her horse seemed to have a different spirit, as if it knew that the approaching person was not good, and it lay down on the ground with its eyes wide open, making no sound.

  "Wait!" A low shout suddenly rang out, and a horseman rushed from the south to stop in front of the crowd of over 200 people, saying in a deep voice: "It's just ahead, twenty miles away. Including drivers and servants, there are less than thirty people."

  "En." The leading man in brown clothes nodded and responded calmly, "Are there any other idle people around?"

  "There are two groups of merchants following behind, but the little ones have already made arrangements. Within three days, they will definitely not be able to pass through Pan Yun Marsh. Yesterday, apart from them, there was only one young man dressed as a martial artist who left the city. Please rest assured, sir." The soldier who reported the news looked very efficient and quickly said in a low voice.

  The leader of the adults nodded slightly and asked again: "Is the path clear?"

  "Don't worry, adults, I've made signs all along the way and won't get lost."

  "Alright." The leader said in a low voice: "Let's go."

  The crowd heard and followed quietly behind, over 200 horses galloping away, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

  Qing Xia's eyebrows furrowed tightly. She knew very clearly who they were referring to, and now she was just thinking about whether she had the ability to save him.

  Large-scale melee combat was never her forte, although she was agile and nimble, as a woman she was naturally inferior in terms of physical strength. Against soldiers who had undergone regular training, head-on confrontation would only allow her to barely hold her own against three people, and she had to end the fight quickly, once it became a war of attrition, it would be her own downfall.

  Even the bravest warriors can only fight against dozens of people. As in the movies, where one person's martial arts skills are exceptionally high and they single-handedly take on tens of thousands of soldiers, such a person does not exist in this world.

  For a secret agent, hiding in the dark is always much safer than being in the open. Once you stand out in front of people, it means you may not live for long. Nan Chu's failure was due to Zhuang Qing Xia having already alerted Chu Li early on.

  Perhaps there is a more circuitous way.

  A sharp glint flashed in Qing Xia's eyes as he quickly stood up, grasped the reins and smiled, saying: "Brother, let's go."

  Long-term chaos and desolation, coupled with the location on the southern border of Xinjiang, where rain is frequent, after hundreds of years of brewing, surprisingly gave birth to dozens of large and small swamps in the central plains. This is also the reason why this small area of Xihuang Pampas has to wind its way through hundreds of miles. If there were no local guides, it would be easy to get trapped in these man-eating swamps.

  From this, Xia Qing can more easily determine that these people are absolutely not local barbarians and have no idea what kind of enemy Zhong Bo and his party offended to be worth such a grand assassination attempt.

  Xia Qing was familiar with the treacherous terrain and had no problem dealing with this swamp. With her exceptional eyesight and superhuman memory, she quickly modified the markers left by the scouts, then hid in a dark place to watch as the group rushed off in the wrong direction. Xia Qing patted her hands together in satisfaction, standing up from the grass thicket. Even if these people didn't get lost and die in the swamp, it would still take them three to five days to find the correct path, which was enough to repay Zhong Bo's debt of gratitude for saving her life.

  After resting for half the night, when she woke up in the morning, she only felt refreshed and clear-headed. She had been walking for less than half a time, and suddenly saw Zhong Bo and others' slow horse team again. She was originally ahead of them, because she wanted to lead those villains onto the wrong road, so she walked in the wrong direction, and ended up falling behind.

  Hearing the sound from behind, Zhong Bo poked his head out of the carriage and saw Qing Xia. He smiled faintly and greeted her, saying: "It's Tang young lady, how did you end up behind us again?"

  "The terrain is complex here, I took a wrong turn." Qing Xia smiled and replied. At this time, she was dressed in men's clothing, her forehead was smooth and clean, her hair was not as long as the women here, reaching down to her knees, her movements were quick and neat, her voice was clear and crisp, looking like a handsome young man.

  "Old sir, this place is located in the southern border, bandits and thieves are rampant, you'd better be careful."

  Zhang Bo was taken aback for a moment, his eyebrows slightly raised, and he nodded and said, "I see, thank you for reminding me, miss."

  Qing Xia smiled and rode forward, when passing the third horse carriage, suddenly heard a faint cough sound coming out. Qing Xia slightly turned her head to take a look, only to see the thick green canvas curtain gently swaying with the movement of the horse carriage, that white figure occasionally flashing through the gap, the sultry heat even from such a distance, could be felt.

  "Old sir, I'll take my leave first, we'll meet again."

  With a shout, Qing Xia galloped away on her horse. Some things can only be hinted at and not explicitly stated; if they are intelligent, they will naturally understand.

  At noon, we finally arrived at the first river crossing on the Western Xikang Plateau, the Galong River.

  It can be calculated that the Jialing River should be a branch of the Yangtze River, but it has some deviations from several major rivers in modern southern China. These are not surprising, as every modern person can understand the butterfly effect, and there have been such large deviations in history here. Political changes have had a huge impact on the geography of mountains and rivers here, especially the opening of several canals that should not have appeared in history has changed the hydrology of the entire continent.

  On the vast water surface, calm and waveless, it's not the rainy season now, the river water is relatively shallow, but the deepest part still has more than ten meters deep. Qing Xia stands on the riverbank, straining to look forward, hoping to wait for a ferry that the villagers call "Tong Nuo".

  It took two hours, and finally when the boat arrived, the sound of horseshoes behind him rang out again. Qing Xia had to turn his head back, smiling wryly and greeting: "Old sir, people who don't know must think I'm following you guys around like a sticky rice cake, but I have to say, we really are fated."

  Zhuang Bo and Wei smiled: "Miss Tang wants to cross the river?"

  "Yes," Qing Xia shook her head and said, "We've been waiting for more than two hours already, the sky is almost dark. You guys just arrived and they came too, it's really 'better late than never'."

  "Hehe," Zhong Bo smiled and said, "It's not that we came at the right time, I've walked this road dozens of times before, I know the ferry comes every evening, it's just that I forgot to tell you, miss."