The ideal is plump, and the reality is skinny.

Ji Mo carved another horizontal line on the flexible bark, and once again carved a "positive" character, and two orthographs had been carved on the palm-sized bark.

"Ten days. Ao Bai, we have been in the dense forests of the Sicilian continent for ten days. Ji Mo was half-lying on the white dragon's body, and raised the bark in his hand to show him.

When it was dawn, they exhausted themselves to find a deep part of the river, and after stopping to roughly sort out a cave, they snuggled up and began to rest.

Last night, the husband and wife stumbled along a small stream and swam slowly, there were a few sections of the water that were too shallow, they had to turn into human forms and go ashore to pass Guò, not to mention that they bumped into a few nocturnal beasts on the way, and inevitably clashed After finally subduing them and escaping, they encountered a very steep waterfall, but fortunately Ao Bai became more and more proficient in the power control of water and ice, they did not have much effort to go up, if they really had to rely on two legs to climb up, I don't know how much time they would have to delay.

The river is located on a flat terrain, a wide basin, deep and full of fish and shrimp, Ao Bai can finally turn into a dragon shape and stretch his body.

"Well, it's been ten days." The white dragon licked his partner's shoulders in distress, as time passed, the raised scar on it never dissipated and flattened as he expected, and it was a foregone conclusion that it would become a permanent scar.

Ji Mo touched his dragon horn and comforted him, "It's okay Ao Bai, I don't have any pain at all, a few scars on the man's body are the hero's medal." ”

The white dragon still blamed himself guiltily: "You don't have to comfort me, it's all my fault, if I hadn't been busy catching the clams and neglecting you at that time, the eagle wouldn't have had a chance to attack you." ”

"Okay Ao Bai, that's none of your business at all, I originally asked you to catch the clams, have you forgotten?" Ji Mo said sleepily, leaning against the white dragon's chest with his eyes closed, fumbling to put the bark and sharp stones back into the shark yarn bag.

"Ji Mo, are you sleepy?" The white dragon quickly stretched the dragon's body, making the mermaid sleep more comfortably.

"Well, I'm sleepy. It's been ten days, and we're still wandering around the streams and rivers of all sizes, could it be that we're getting the wrong direction? In which direction is the sacred lake? Ji Mo quickly fell into a state of confusion, and muttered worriedly.

The white dragon hooked his head to look at the mermaid in his arms, blinked his eyes, and said with some certainty: "I feel that we should not be far from the holy lake, because the current has become more and more concentrated recently, and the flow direction is also the same. Since it is a sacred lake in the minds of the terrestrial orcs, I think it must be very large, and the fresh water near here is converging in the same direction-"

Then, his calm analysis was interrupted by the sound of the merman's long, steady breathing.

"Ji Mo? Ji Mo? Did you fall asleep so quickly? The white dragon couldn't help but lean over and lick the mermaid's cheek, but the other party didn't react at all, which shows how heavy he slept on.

"It must be because I've been too tired to travel lately, not only to swim, but also to walk, and to be wary of beasts and orcs on land, alas~ You sleep."

After Bai Long looked at his sleeping partner, he gently let go of him, swam out to observe the situation outside, and only after making sure that it was normal did he return to the temporarily dug cave, and after checking the water curtain, he dared to go back and circle his mermaid to sleep.

I'm also a little tired.

The time of slumber passed very quickly, and when the white dragon opened his eyes again, it was already dark, and it was time to cheer up and hurry.

But Ji Mo was still asleep, and he didn't even flick his tail.

"Ji Mo, Ji Mo, wake up, it's dark." The white dragon had gone out to swim around in the darkness of the night, and after sleeping in dragon form for a whole day, his mental state was completely restored, and he was now returning with enough food to patiently tell his mermaid to wake up and eat.

Hmm~~~ Don't make noise!

The mermaid's brows were furrowed, and he rolled over angrily and unceremoniously slapped the white dragon with his tail.

"Do you still want to sleep?" Bai Long didn't care, he changed directions and leaned over to ask.

The mermaid did not move, and snored pleasantly.

"Alright then, I'll call you later." The white dragon muttered to himself, he slowly turned into a human form, stretched his hands and feet and other joints, gently swam to the side to eat fish and shrimp quietly, and from time to time glanced at the mermaid sleeping with his back to him.

After a while, Ao Bai swam out of the cave to take a look: it was already dark, and he was really about to start his journey.

So, he swam to Ji Mo's side again, this time directly picking him up and putting the shrimp meat to his lips: "Ji Mo, wake up, I caught your favorite shrimp." ”

The mermaid was furious, he felt that he had been forcibly woken up in the middle of the night when he was sleeping soundly, and his tail was constantly flicking around, desperately trying to struggle down and continue to sleep.

"Ji Mo, it's dark, it's really dark." Ao Bai said helplessly, thinking to himself, even if you don't want to hurry, you have to get up and eat something, right?

――What? Is it dark?

The life of more than ten days and nights has been reversed, so that Ji Mo has become accustomed to saying good night at dawn, and the husband and wife hugging him to sleep, but when it gets dark, he has to get up quickly to eat fish and shrimp, and hurry to take advantage of the night lifestyle.

"Is it dark? How can it be so fast? Ji Mo struggled to make a fuss for a while before forcing his eyes to open a thin slit and asked tiredly.

Ao Bai put down the food, hugged the mermaid and gently rubbed his cheek to help him wake up, "Well, are you still sleepy?" It doesn't matter, you eat some fish and shrimp first, I can swim with you, and then you can go back to sleep. ”

Ji Mo scratched his itch and squinted his eyes and said, "Hey, what's the matter, I've already rested, I guess it's because I walked too much last night." ”

Tut-tut~ A large section of the stream last night was so shallow that they couldn't swim at all, and they could only rely on their legs to grope their way through the starlight and moonlight, tired and half dead.

"Eat, it's all what you like." Ao Bai stuffed the food into his partner's hands.

"I'm sorry Ao Bai, next time you don't have to wait for me, just push me awake." Ji Mo ate the fish and shrimp without much appetite, feeling that he had already reached his throat before he had eaten it.

"Although we are in a hurry, we are not in a hurry to leave until dark." Ao Bai looked at the mermaid's obviously listless appearance, and was a little worried.

Ji Mo eats very little, he has always felt sleepy all the time recently, and he feels that if he is allowed to sleep, he can sleep for three days and three nights.

They're a little unlucky tonight.

Ji Mo's state tonight was exceptionally poor, although he wasn't very good a few days ago, but today he was a mess.

The mermaid's night vision is very weak, usually he swims closely behind Ao Bai, the dragon's night vision is very strong, he can accurately avoid the sharp dead branches, rotten wood, beast bones and other obstacles in the dense forest and river.

"Hey~" Ji Mo screamed again, he was in a sleepy trance just now, and he didn't notice Ao Bai's turn, and hit a branch straight up, and a cut was made on his arm, oozing blood.

Ao Bai hurriedly turned around, picked him up without saying a word, ignored the opponent's objections, and cautiously navigated this section of the unusually turbulent and narrow river in Guò.

"Ji Mo, are you uncomfortable? Don't lie to me. ”

The mermaid said ashamedly: "I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just very sleepy, I'm sorry Ao Bai, I have to trouble you like this in the water." ”

I'm just a humanoid baggage, the hind legs of a dragon specially tugging......

Ao Bai nodded, "If it's just sleepy, then it's no problem, you sleep, please call you again if you have something." ”

Ji Mo hurriedly said: "No, no, no, I'll wait until dawn before sleeping." ”

Although he said so, he also thought so in his heart, but not long after, Ji Mo's forcibly opened eyes slowly closed, although he struggled to wake up several times, but unfortunately Ao Bai's chest was too thick and secure, and he finally did not overcome his sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep in the shaking.

"What the hell is wrong with him? Today he had slept all day, and I called him very late at night, so why was he so sleepy? Ao Bai thought worriedly as he nimbly shuttled under the water of the dense forest river.

The sky was bright, and he hurried to swim and swim, and Ao Bai suddenly felt that something was wrong: the smell of land orcs? How is it that there is even water?

Ao Bai stopped, not daring to go any further, he listened intently and looked at the water at the same time: it was still very quiet outside, only the usual chirping of birds.

He knew that his silver-white hair was very, very conspicuous in the river of the dense forest, so he would never come out of the water unless he was sure it was safe.

There was a bush of lush aquatic plants in front of him, Ao Bai swam over, and quietly floated up to observe the surrounding environment through the cover of aquatic plants, and the first thought that came out of the water was: Oh no, did you actually swim to the tribe of the terrestrial orcs?

It is a very smooth section of the river, deep enough, with very empty green meadows on both sides of the river, and sparse jungle trees nearby.

"Ao Bai~" At this time, Ji Mo woke up in the cold morning breeze of the cold season, and he looked around suspiciously, "I'm sorry I actually slept until dawn?" ”

"Shh~" Ao Bai covered the mermaid's mouth, lowered his voice and said: "Be quiet, we seem to have swam near some land orc tribe, and there is a strong orc smell on the shore." ”

Ji Mo forcibly cheered up, and he took Ao Bai's palm away, "Isn't it?" So unlucky? I don't know if this is the small river outside the orc tribe of the Eastern Continent that Xitu said. ”

Ao Bai nodded solemnly, "I guess it should be, the smell here is closer to Xitu's, and it is completely different from the Eagle Clan." ”

Ji Mo's heart was beating fast, he pulled the aquatic plants and tried to stretch his neck to look around, and when he saw the traces of beast skeletons, wooden thorns, and burned charcoal ashes remaining on the grass in the distance, he immediately concluded:

"Don't guess, there must be an orc tribe around here, they can hunt, they can make zuò tools, and they can also make a fire to barbecue meat and eat cooked food! Ao Bai, let's swim away immediately, find a place to hide, and come out when it's dark, didn't Xitu say that Ao Yang just jumped into the river outside the tribe and disappeared? Hope is the river. ”

Ao Bai nodded, "Okay, let's go downstream, it's going to be bright soon." ”

With extra excitement, the Arowana quickly left this section of the river, found a bend formed by the deep impact of the river in the far downstream, and temporarily dug a cave to hide, just as they were about to go out to catch some fish and shrimp to feed their stomachs, Ao Bai suddenly dragged Ji Mo back to the hiding place, raised his hand and pointed to the river bank outside.

Ji Mo nodded silently, and the husband and wife hid at the bottom of the river and waited quietly.

Not long after, a muffled voice could be heard from the riverbank a few meters away.

"Alas~ Higg doesn't know what to think." It was a clear man's voice.

"Only he knows that he is the patriarch, and he will not listen to our words for a long time." It was a low, worried voice.

Ji Mo's eyes lit up, and he tried to prick up his ears and listen carefully.

"It's been a long time since he's been married to Kari and I haven't seen him smile."

"It's his own choice, and although the beast god hasn't said what kind of punishment the orcs who abandon their partners will get, it's not that there isn't any."

"On several occasions I heard Kari and Higg arguing, and the priest often went to their house."

Kari? Ji Mo and Ao Bai glanced at each other, and they were sure in their hearts: this is the vicinity of the orc tribe in the Eastern Continent, Kari is the female of the patriarch, and the patriarch is the beast father of Xitu. They continued to listen:

"Really? I don't know, I live far away. ”

"Alas~ everyone who lives nearby heard it, but they just pretended not to hear it. Kari's female...... Alas~ you know that too. ”

"Forget it, we can't handle it. It's not early, why haven't the other warriors come over yet? ”

"Wait, we're up early. It is estimated that it will take a lot of time to set off to the Crocodile Valley this time, have you brought jerky? ”

"Bring it, my partner filled me with a full amount of jerky."

"Pearls are not so easy to change, I hope I can find the dragon fruit this time, and exchange more pearls before the cold season comes."

"I hope even more that every time I go to the Crocodile Valley, the warriors can return to the tribe safely."

"Well, they're finally here, let's go."

"Rui, do you remember to ......"

“…… Well, know ......"

The Arowana at the bottom waited until there was no movement outside at all, and then they let out a surprise conversation.

"Wow~ It seems that we haven't gotten lost, at most we just went around in a big circle." Ji Mo breathed a sigh of relief and said that he had obviously heard Xitu say that he could go back and forth in one day from the tribe to the Sicilian Sea, probably because they took the waterway this time and only relied on their own analysis to swim, so they went around in circles in the dense forest rivers and streams that extend in all directions.

Ao Bai hugged the mermaid and said happily: "Great, let's look around after dark to see if we can find the traces left by Ao Yang, maybe we can find the holy lake by swimming." ”

Ji Mo asked with some concern: "But it's been so long, the smell left by Ao Yang in the water should have been rinsed clean a long time ago, right?" ”

"Well~ it should be like this, but I hope I can find the scales he left behind or the stones that the dragon's horns rubbed against or something." Ao Bai said expectantly.

Ji Mo said with even more interest: "Those two orcs just now said that the crocodile beast valley, the poisonous dragon fruit, and the pearl exchange? It turns out that they still have collaborators who exchange pearls? Guess who? Ao Yang? ”

Ao Bai was more concerned about the fruit, "It should be, Ao Yang has lived in the dense forest on the land for so long, and it is not surprising that he has any deals with the Eastern Continent in private." If it's really the same strength, it's not worth fighting all the time. Ji Mo, what do you say is that poisonous dragon fruit? Could it be the same as what we found out—"

His inquiry was interrupted again by the mermaid's small snoring, "Ji Mo? Ji Mo? Why are you asleep again, are you sick? ”

It's a pity that the dragon can only be in a hurry, because he has no one around him to turn to, except for Ao Yang, who is far away in the holy lake where he doesn't know where it is.

Ao Yang: He should help me, right? We are all sea orcs and dragons, and I can help him deal with the terrestrial orcs who attack him, and I will be happy to invite him to the Sicilian Sea for a guest or even a long stay......

Ao Bai didn't have much confidence in his heart, and he was completely forced to go ashore this time.

*****

"Mother, father, I didn't expect Higg to be such an orc...... "Kari cried out loud with a middle-aged female in her arms.

The female's expression was very heart-wrenching, pitying, and angry, and before he could speak, another middle-aged male with a burly figure and a calm face in the room scolded angrily:

"What's the use of crying? What did the beast father tell you in the first place? Higg and Qingzhe have been together since childhood to adulthood, and they will naturally become partners and have cubs, even if Higg doesn't like Qingzhe anymore, he won't ignore him, not to mention that they still have a cub Xitu! ”

"Don't talk about Kamon, isn't Kari also pregnant with Higg's cub? How can a female be blamed for such a thing? It's all the sins of Higg. The middle-aged female choked up with Kari in her arms again.

Kari wiped his tears and said with a resolute face: "Beast father, mother and mother, you don't have to worry about me, I was able to snatch Hig at the beginning, and now as long as I don't let go, he will never go back!" Qingzhe, Qingzhe, hehe~ Since he has already taken Xitu to the Holy Lake, where can he come back? Our tribe does not welcome females and cubs who do not believe in living with dragons! ”

Carmon was stunned for a moment, and then became angry: "Kari! What are you doing here? Could it be that you have spread all those rumors in the tribe lately? How can you do that? No matter what conflicts you have with Xige and Qingzhe, Xituke is still a cub, he is the future tiger warrior of the tribe, if you slander him and his mother and father like that, he will hate you when he grows up in the future! ”

Mu Yan hurriedly spoke for Kari again: "Okay Kamon, what Kari said is also the truth, Qingzhe is a female who volunteered to go to the holy lake to accompany the evil dragon, no matter what, it doesn't sound good." ”

Kari snorted and sneered, "Every time I quarrel with Xige, he opens his mouth and closes his mouth to say that Qingzhe made sacrifices for the tribe and went to the holy lake without fear of danger or something, so isn't it my current fulfillment of his great spirit of sacrifice?" What am I doing wrong? You can't hide such a great female, because no one will praise him if you say it. ”

Since you're gone, stay in the Holy Lake forever, your cub is there anyway, don't think about coming back and affecting my life and Higg's life!

Carmon scolded for a while, but when he saw his beloved female child holding her big belly and crying silently and her partner sparing no effort to protect her, his anger suddenly leaked.

"Alas~ I'm old, you can toss it yourself."

That's my only female child, after all, alas......

*****

Ao Bai and Ji Mo excitedly sneaked along a deep dark river, they had patiently waited until after dark before swimming out of their hiding place, groping along that section of the river inch by inch, and sure enough, they found the entrance to an underground dark river at the bottom of a hidden cliff.

"Hey~ I feel that Ao Yang should live quite comfortably and safely now, there are many streams and rivers on the mainland, and there are underground dark rivers connected, anyway, he is a dragon, as long as he hides in the water, what kind of land orcs can't help him."

Ao Bai nodded in agreement, "I found a lot of scales that he shed along the way, which means that Ao Yang often comes down to swim, exactly like I thought." ”

Ji Mo teased his partner and teased himself by the way: "Hmm~ I'm the same as you think, when I was in the Sicilian Sea before, I imagined that Ao Yang was hiding in a lake all day long, and the outside was full of land orcs waiting for him to slay the dragon as soon as he came out, and Ao Yang never dared to leave the holy lake for his life......"

When he said this, the mermaid and the white dragon looked at each other and smiled very knowingly.

"Ao Bai, wait a minute, after we see Ao Yang, don't be impulsive, we have to explain our intentions as soon as possible, and strive to get his help - of course, if he is unwilling, then we have no choice, we can't help it."

Ao Bai perfunctorily agreed, he thought that we worked so hard to find him, how could we return in vain? In any case, you have to let Ao Yang nod and help.

After a while, the water of the dark river slowly became colder, and the terrain gradually rose.

"Ao Bai, I think this should be the Holy Lake!" Ji Mo swam out with his tail flexibly, looking at the vast clear water that suddenly opened up, and said happily.

The sacred lake is a huge funnel shape, deep enough, clear enough and wide.

No wonder Ao Yang can live for so long and so steadily.

Ao Bai then swam out of the narrow outlet of the dark river and followed the mermaid.

At this time, on the shore of the lake, Qing Zhe was busy making barbecue and soup, he looked at the sky, and felt that Ao Yang and Xitu, who had gone out to hunt, should be back soon, so the movements in his hands were even faster.

Suddenly, there was a bang on the surface of the lake in front of him, and something came out.

Qingzhe stood up vigilantly: What is it? Ao Yang went hunting and came back with his prey in human form.

Ji Mo and Ao Bai were also stunned, they didn't find Ao Yang after swimming around just now, so they wanted to come out and take a look, who knew that they saw a strange one that had no orc breath but was contaminated with the breath of a dragon...... Person?

After staring at each other for a moment, Qing Zhe said nothing, his face turned pale, and he quickly ran in the direction of the wooden house: Beast God, another dragon? He's the dragon, isn't he?

Ao Bai subconsciously sent out a water rope to tie up Qingzhe and drag him to the shore of the lake, he thought about explaining his intention and not letting people run away.

Ji Mo said amicably: "Ao Bai, let go, don't scare him!" Hey brother~ You don't have to be afraid, we have no malicious intent-"

Before the mermaid's words were finished, Ao Yang, who was returning from a distance with the prey he had captured, saw a roar from a distance, and quickly ran over and jumped into the holy lake, and Ao Yang instantly turned into a strong and fierce dragon