The mission's change of course was a major event.
Normally, a westward envoy should follow a pre-planned route and head straight to the Kunlun Mountains. Changing course arbitrarily is more like an expedition than an envoy.
But now that things are like this, Gao Benrong is afraid that if they continue on, they will all die before they reach Kunlun Mountain.
So he pondered for a moment and said, "Okay, how confident are you that you can find that underground river?"
Uncle Zhuang also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Ninety-nine percent! There are only a handful of large oases in this desert, you can count them on one hand."
"And before I can get in, I need to cut down trees and build a boat, otherwise swimming alone won't be enough."
Uncle Zhuang is quite reliable, and has a very strong memory.
After turning left and right, they found the oasis and began felling trees. They even went out of their way to hunt down some ferocious beasts, using their bones and hides to build a large ship.
There was a large lake in the oasis. Gao Benrong dived into the lake and broke through the bottom layer, causing the water from the upper layer to pour down.
Beneath that great lake was indeed a magnificent and enormous underground river, with a rapid and turbulent current.
The group placed the horses and the huge bronze box on the boat, and then boarded the boat one by one. They immediately followed the swift current westward at an incredibly fast speed.
The underground river was pitch black, with only some moss growing on the top rock walls emitting a faint green glow.
There were also some faint lights in the dark river. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be fish of various sizes. Most of them had no eyes, their skin was white, and they emitted a faint glow.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At this pace, they could complete the journey that would take three months in about ten days and reach Kunlun Mountain smoothly.
Gao Benrong said in a deep voice, "This underground river is not absolutely safe either, everyone should be careful."
There is no day/night cycle here, so please estimate the time yourselves and rest on time.
Cultivators like Cheng Kuo have incredibly strong physical bodies; they can go for days without eating, drinking, sleeping, or sleeping without any problems.
Although they all focused their power on their physical bodies, it was precisely because of this that their bodies could withstand such torment.
But the soldiers still needed rest, and some of them were wounded.
Yang Cheng also estimated the time. He did have a watch and a mobile phone, but he couldn't take them out in this world.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Apart from the rushing water, there was almost no other sound in the underground river. Although it was dull and desolate, everyone was in a pretty good mood.
At least this place won't be like the ground, where a ferocious beast with evil abilities and powerful strength will suddenly appear from time to time.
The general guess was that there were no ferocious beasts in the underground river because the place was too barren, containing only some fish.
Whether a ferocious beast eats humans or something else, it needs a large number of living beings to sustain its life.
Not to mention that some kinds of evil spirits and demons can only be born after a large number of people have died.
Along the westward journey, many small kingdoms and tribes have lived and thrived in this area throughout history, but later perished due to various circumstances, which also gave rise to evil spirits and demons.
It's normal that there aren't any evil spirits or demons coming from this underground river, as it might not be visited by a single person for hundreds of years.
Yang Cheng shook his head slightly as he looked at how optimistic those guys were.
If there are no unforeseen circumstances, they will indeed be able to reach Kunlun Mountain smoothly.
But that's just a hypothetical.
At this moment, a soldier suddenly said, "Lord Gao, I... I have a colleague who has gone missing."
Gao Benrong was stunned: "Missing!? Impossible! They count off every day during shift change, and we've never heard any noise. How could someone be missing?"
Zhuang Shucheng and the others were also completely baffled. They hadn't heard any other noises, and even Yang Cheng hadn't noticed anything unusual.
Gao Benrong counted again, and it was the same as before: including the seriously wounded, there were 217 survivors, not one more and not one less.
After counting, Gao Benrong looked at the armored soldier with a suspicious gaze.
The armored soldier looked as if he was about to cry, and hurriedly said, "Sir, I really didn't lie, he's gone missing!"
That colleague's name was Gu Feng. He was my neighbor. We joined the army in the same year and were selected for the Imperial Guard in the same year. We were just chatting a moment ago, and now he's gone!
At this moment, several more armored soldiers spoke up. They confirmed that there was an armored soldier named Gu Feng, with whom they had trained. Indeed, that person was not on the ship at this time.
In an instant, Gao Benrong and the others felt a chill run down their spines.
They didn't miscount the number of people; it's been the same people for all these days.
But now there's suddenly one less person, yet the number is still correct. What does that prove? It proves that there's suddenly an extra person on the ship, replacing Gu Feng, and they haven't noticed at all!
But the most troublesome thing right now is that they simply can't find out which of the extra people is who.
These three hundred elite armored soldiers were all selected from the best of the army guarding Haojing.
Some were from the royal guard, while others came from the surrounding military.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, most of them do not know each other, and there are very few who are closely related, such as the missing Gu Feng and the armored soldier who reported the incident.
In this way, they have no way of proving who actually has more.
Just then, Yang Cheng suddenly looked at Gao Benrong and asked, "Lord Gao, what were you so panicked about just now?"
Gao Benrong was taken aback: "When did I panic?"
Yang Cheng frowned slightly.
He clearly saw Gao Benrong suddenly panic, and even his blood and qi energy subconsciously erupted, but then he quickly subsided.
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