The Affairs of the Martial World - Vol 2: Chapter 9

Zhu Que asked everyone to split up to search. He casually pushed open the door to a room, which revealed a bedroom inside.

The bedroom had a wardrobe, bed, and desk. Zhu Que tried to open the wardrobe, but inside was just a pile of dust and dirt. When he opened the desk drawer, there were a few thin pieces of cloth that turned to dust at a touch. The desk was engraved with strange symbols, similar to the patterns painted on the outside wall, likely also local script, but still unreadable.

On the desk was a rusty iron box and a square copper mirror covered in verdigris. Zhu Que opened the iron box and found a jade hairpin inside, intricately carved and exceptionally beautiful. Since it was an ownerless item, Zhu Que naturally took it without hesitation and placed the hairpin in his bosom.

Just as he wanted to take a closer look at other parts of the room, he suddenly heard a distant scream. He couldn’t tell who it was, but it was definitely a man’s voice. Zhu Que immediately dashed out of the room, searching for the source of the sound.

Others also rushed out of the rooms, running towards the direction of the screams. Along the way, Zhu Que saw those who followed: Fuying, Shui Mingyue, Zhao Qiankun, the Mu brothers, and the monks of White Horse Temple, but there was no sign of Feng Yichuan. It seemed that the one who had just screamed was him.

The crowd passed through the archway, searching in those few rooms. Shui Mingyue was the first to discover it; indeed, it was Feng Yichuan lying on the ground in a room on the right. A large amount of blood was flowing from his chest, and he had already lost his breath.

A few of them looked into each other’s eyes and saw the fear reflected in them. Fuying said nervously, “From now on, we can’t separate; otherwise if we end up alone, it might lead to unforeseen dangers.”

At this point, Mu Qingshan suddenly interrupted him as if he had just realized something, “The camel in the front yard!”

Everyone hurried back to the front yard, and upon seeing the scene, Fuying was so furious that he began to curse. Although the camels were still there, all the water bags on the camels had been slashed open by sharp objects.

The ground beneath the camels was marked with water stains, clearly indicating that the culprit had acted hastily and had not left long ago. Moreover, it was precisely because of the short time frame that everyone woke up early; otherwise, it was likely that even the camels would have been killed, leaving nothing for them.

Without water, a person could not survive more than three days in the desert. And here in the ancient city, no matter which direction you go, reaching a place with water within three days was difficult.

The assailants knew this, so they chose this moment to act. Otherwise, just a few days after leaving Welltown, with this person’s ability to move under the sand, they could have easily punctured their water bags at night. The reason they didn’t act then was that they could still turn back to replenish their water.

It was now absolutely impossible to go back.

They seemed to have fallen into a desperate situation because of this. Even the three monks of White Horse Temple were somewhat unsettled.

Zhu Que, however, does not think so. In his view, as long as a person was not truly dead, there was still hope for life.

Mu Qingshan also said, “We still have six camels. If it comes to the worst, we can kill the first camel and drink its blood, which might allow us to survive a few more days. Who knows, by then, we might find a water source.”

Shui Mingyue heard that they were going to eat camel raw and couldn’t help but feel a wave of nausea.

Zhu Que said, “Unless absolutely necessary, we cannot kill the camel. I’ve heard that camels have an instinct that allows them to find water by intuition when they are thirsty.”

Mu Qingshan said, “I have also heard about this matter. The key is that these camels have towering humps; by the time they get thirsty, we will be dying of thirst.”

Zhu Que said, “It’s too early to talk about these things now. The water we have should last us for two days if we conserve it; it could even last three days. It’s getting late, and it’s not wise to rush on. Let’s rest in the hall of this palace; there are some tables and chairs we can use to start a fire. As long as we stick together, I doubt that the murderer will dare to act. Tomorrow, we can search here again to see if there’s anything useful.”

That night, they rested there, even bringing the camels inside to prevent further harm.

The night passed peacefully, though everyone still carried worries in their hearts.