After entering the Yaoshan Pass, Asana found that on the east side of the pass, there was a larger town connected to it. From the main road to the customs, the market area in the center of the town is bustled with merchants and goods from all over the desert and surrounding countries. From the colourful gems from the Cardo, the animal skins of the steppes of Yandi, the woolen fabrics of Dimi, the spices of the southern jaura, and even the metalwork of Yasol can be found here. Merchants of different colors and creeds traded with each other here, and the long-time Ilo people were happy to help translate languages with confusing accents.

Kutseya was fascinated by the variety of products, especially the intricate handmade products. While Gong Xiyang was taking the caravan to the hut and distributing the severance pay to the fellow caravanserais, Kutsya walked up to Asana and whispered to her, "Sala, can I take a look around?" ”

"Kutthea, we're going to do it together." Asana said, "Let's go together." ”

Hearing Asana's answer, Kutsya looked very excited, and she smiled and took Asana's hand. When Yao Ping saw Kutsaia's eyebrows curled by laughter, he only felt that she was as beautiful as the bright moon in the desert night, and he couldn't help but feel a wave in his heart.

At the bazaar, Yao Ping and Nur followed behind the two beautiful Cardo girls. For a moment, he even felt like Noor, their guardian.

In front of a Zhanluo booth with a thick beard and a light green turban, Asana and Kutsya stopped in unison. What attracted them to stop and stay was the colorful and different shapes of Zhanluo sachets placed on the stalls. Kutthea excitedly picked up one sachet after another and put it to the tip of her nose to smell it. Even Asana, who has always been cautious and even cold about many things, couldn't help but pick up a diamond-shaped sachet.

The Jaura merchant introduced Yao Ping to his goods in the broken Ilo language, hoping that he would convey it to the Lady of Khaldo.

Yao Ping nodded as if he didn't understand, and then translated to Kutseea and Asana: "These are all made with spices from Zhanluo, and it is difficult to buy them elsewhere unless you arrive in Zhanluo." He said he was the only merchant who shipped the spices to Ilo to sell. ”

"Is Jangela far from here?" Kutsaya asked Yao Ping.

Yao Ping turned to the Zhanluo merchant and asked, "Is Zhanluo far away from here?" ”

"Don't you know?" Kutsaia asked Yao Ping with a smile.

Yao Ping smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "I heard that it is far away. It can only be reached by detouring from the place where the Gamels lived. ”

Asana: "Where do the Gamirs live?" Is it the place that the Athollians call "the land that can never be conquered"? ”

"The land that can never be conquered, it's a strange name, it's the first time I've heard of it." Yao Ping said: "In short, the environment in Gamir is harsh, and there are very few Yiluo caravans to go. ”

"Help me ask this Chanla merchant if he got here bypassing Gamil and via Azor and Caldor, or if he arrived here directly through Gamil." Asana said.

Yao Ping translated Asana's question to the Zhanluo.

"Athore, Caldo." Yao Ping explained to the Zhanluo merchant that it took him a long time to figure out what he was talking about: "I feel that he is talking about these two places. After all, they don't call Asol or you as we do to you. ”

Asana nodded and continued, "Okay, then I'll ask him again how he got through Athore. ”

Yao Ping continued to ask the Zhanluo merchants. It wasn't until the merchant began to get impatient that Yao Ping didn't understand how the merchant had passed through Asol.

"He doesn't want to answer our questions anymore, he just wants us to buy his goods." Yao Ping said helplessly.

"Okay." Asana also began to find it difficult to ask for any valuable information from the mouth of an ordinary businessman, so she gave up continuing to ask and said to Kutasya on the side, "Which sachet do you like?" ”

"Sara, are you going to give me a sachet?" Kutathea asked, surprised.

Asana nodded.

"Let's do it." Kutsaya excitedly raised a round blue lotus sachet in her hand and said, "The fragrance of this sachet is very unique, this is obviously the first time I have smelled it, but it feels so familiar." Smell and see, too. ”

Asana took Kutsaia's hand in the sachet and leaned in to sniff it. She smiled and said, "It really smells good, and I love it too." ”

Asana eventually bought four of the same sachets, gave one to Kutsya and kept one for herself, and gave one to Nur and Yao Ping.

Yao Ping took the sachet with a smile, put the sachet close and sniffed it, and a strange and dreamy fragrance flowed through his nostrils.

"What kind of floral scent is this?" Yao Ping asked the Zhanluo merchant in surprise.

"Lotus Flower."

In the evening, Gong Xiyang and Yao Ping brought five Dimi horses rented from the Yaoshanguan stables.

Yao Ping led one of the maroon horses to Asana and said, "From here until we take a boat, or even directly to Luochuan, there are post roads, and we don't need to ride camels anymore." ”

Asana nodded in understanding.

Yao Ping thought that Asana would ask about post roads and post stations, because in Yao Ping's impression, many of the Khaldo people living in the Gobi and desert had no concept of post roads at all.

"I don't know if you can ride a horse skillfully?" Yao Ping straightened the saddle and asked again.

"Kutsea and I are both more skilled in horseback riding, you don't have to worry."

"Oh, okay." Yao Ping handed the reins of the horse to Asana. As he was about to turn to leave, Asana stopped him and asked, "How long will it take to get to Luochuan after you call Yaoshan Pass?" ”

Yao Ping thought for a while and said, "Actually, it's relatively fast to go to Luochuan from here. Because if you go, we can take a boat from Tianshu Prefecture to the Yundu, down the Yiluo River, and go directly to the Suzaku Waterfall. After bypassing the waterfall, continue to walk the waterway, and go down the river through several castles before arriving at Nakcheon. The whole trip should be a little over a month. When the weather turns cooler, we should be able to get there. ”

Asana: "What if you come back here?" How long will that take? ”

Yao Ping: "If you come back, because you are going up against the Yiluo River, you can't take the waterway." If you only take the land route, it will be much slower, and it will take more than two months. ”

Asana nodded, and she approached the horse, reaching out and gently caressing its neck.

Yao Ping looked at Asana, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Although I know that there is something important for you to rush to Luochuan, but I think that since you have traveled a long way to Luochuan, the capital of my Yiluo country, it is better to stay there for a few more days, enjoy the scenery of the mountains and rivers of our Yiluo, taste more flavors and delicacies, and then come back." ”

"If I could, I, would." Asana whispered.

A few days after entering Yaoshan Pass, the desert scene of barren rocks and flying sand gradually disappeared, and there was some more green vegetation on both sides of the post road, and a gurgling stream flowed down from the mountain not far away. Asana let go of Kai, and with a long roar, it rushed into the clear blue sky and soared wildly.

At noon one day, a group of people rushed to a folk post to settle down, Gongxi Yang by the way "Kai" caught a hare disemboweled, put into the pot of the folk post stove room to stew. When Yao Ping was in the stove room to help him put the hot rabbit soup into the clay pot, Asana suddenly approached the stove room quickly and whispered to the two of them, "Someone is following us." ”

"Huh?"

Asana quietly pointed out the window of the stove room.

Yao Ping and Gong Xiyang stretched out their heads to look out the window together, and saw eight big men wearing hats, carrying Pu knives, getting off their horses in front of the tethered stake and tying the reins and walking towards the post house.

"God, these people aren't good birds at first glance." Gong Xiyang said in a low voice, "If they follow us, they will definitely rob us of our money." ”

"Asana Sala, are you sure they're following us all the way?" Yao Ping asked softly, "Maybe it's the same road?" After all, there is only one way to the east in this area. ”

"For a long time, whether we were walking fast or slow, they always kept a certain distance from us." Asana said.

"If so, then they should be following us." Yao Ping turned to Gong Xiyang and asked, "Uncle, what should we do?"

"Listen to me, when this happens, we can't go any further, we have to keep going, and if we get to a place where there is no one, they will kill them for money. Let's rest in this small folk post first, see if they go, if they don't go, let's not go. Gong Xiyang said, "Although this is just a people's post, but after all, it is also on the edge of the post road, and no matter how evil they are, they will not dare to kill them rashly." ”

"Well, I'll tell Kutasya and Nur as well. Let them be careful. ”

Eight big men entered the hall of the inn, and they sat down at two tables behind the table where Kutseya and Nur were sitting, and one of the first of them called out to the second child of the post station and asked for a large amount of food and pastries.

Yao Ping found Kutsya and Nur and pretended to be calm and said to them in Khaldo: "Kutseya, Nur, those people sitting behind our desk don't understand your language, do they? ”

Kutsaia said easily, "I don't understand. Yao Ping, Nur had already told me just now, and he, like Sala, had already found out that they were following us. ”

"Oh, that's good." Yao Ping looked at Nuer, and then continued: "I think they must be eyeing us and trying to rob us of our money, in this case, we had better stay here, even if we have eaten, don't be busy on the road, they shouldn't dare to do it easily on the side of the post road." ”

Kutseya nodded, and Nur stared blankly at the people behind Yao Ping.

Gong Xiyang brought the rabbit soup into the house, and he put the rabbit soup on the table with a trembling voice.

"Where's Sara?" Yao Ping asked him in Caldo.

"She's gone to release her falcon." Gong Xiyang also said in Khaldo, but there was nervousness in his tone.

"How did you go and release Kai?" Yao Ping said, "Didn't you say that you should not leave first for the time being?" ”

"That's what I said." "But she's afraid that if they make a move in this house, the falcon will be in the way." ”

"Huh? Over here? Yao Ping looked around the inn slightly sideways, and then said: "Although there are no other travelers here, at least there is a shopkeeper, a man, and a shopkeeper, how can it be..."

"She just said that the reason why they didn't do it in the field is probably because they think our horses are fast and are afraid that we will run away." Gong Xiyang said as he raised his hand and gently wiped the sweat oozing from his forehead.

Yao Ping also felt a chill in his heart, and sighed: "If it is really like what she said, then we are really finished." ”

Asana released Kai and pushed through the main entrance of the hall. She sat down at the table in full view of the group. Noor gave her a handful of rabbit soup, and after taking a sip, she praised, "I didn't expect that rabbits would make soup like this, it would be so delicious." ”

Yao Ping had no intention of tasting the rabbit soup, and after giving Asana a look, he asked her in a low voice, "Sala, what do you say we should do?" ”

Asana said calmly: "If they really want to hurt us, we can only defend ourselves. ”

"Self-defense? Kutsya and I didn't even have weapons, and Noor's scimitar and bow and arrows were already in the remote mountain pass. How to defend themselves, they can all be one person and one knife. Yao Ping said.

"Gongxi, give me your short sword." Asana said to Gong Xiyang.

Gong Xiyang hurriedly untied the short sword at his waist and secretly handed it to Asana from under the table. Asana, on the other hand, handed her cutlass to Nur.

"Well, there's only two weapons, Sala."

"Trust Noor." Asana just replied softly to Yao Ping, and then she savored the rabbit soup.

Seeing his uncle's face, which had turned a little pale from fear, Yao Ping didn't speak again, and he began to eavesdrop on the conversations of those behind him.

Their words were thick in dialect, and Yao probably deduced that they were only talking about the journey, though he speculated that they might have deliberately talked about inconsequential topics so as not to alarm them.

"If you think it's dangerous, let's do it first." After putting down the soup bowl in her hand, Asana suddenly said to the nervous Gongxiyang and Yao Ping.

Yao Ping couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when he heard Asana say this, and he hurriedly said: "No, Sala, I think we should find a way to escape." ”

"Or let's give them the money and beg them to keep us alive." Gong Xiyang said to Asana.

Asana didn't speak again, but clenched the short sword in her hand, and several people fell silent.

In the hall, as the eight big men saw Asana clenching her dagger and they also ended their words, the whole atmosphere fell into a strange silence. The shopkeeper looked at the scene in front of him and sensed that something was wrong, so he hid in a panic and went into the stove room.

Shortly after Xiao Er fled, the silence in the hall ended quickly, and one of the leaders of the robbers stood up. He said to Yao Ping, who was facing away from him, and Gong Xiyang, who was facing away from him, and "We don't kill our own people. You two Ilo go. ”

When Gong Xiyang heard this, his heart was overjoyed, and he immediately got up and ran out of the door. However, he saw that Yao Ping did not react. He anxiously pulled Yao Ping, but saw that Yao Ping insisted on not leaving, so he had to run out of the door in a hurry by himself.

"You want to die with these thieves?" The leader said viciously to Yao Ping.

Yao Ping slowly stood up from his seat and turned around, he raised his courage and said: "A few heroes, can you let us go, we are just businessmen running errands." ”

"Let you go, let them go." The leader said and slowly pulled out the Pu knife in his hand. The other seven men also pulled their knives out of their scabbards.

"We'll give you all the money, you can do it well, and let you live." Yao Ping's voice was pleading.

"Do you think Lao Tzu is short of money?" The leader laughed dryly, "Since Lao Tzu said to let you go, why don't you get out of here?" Do you want Lao Tzu to slaughter you and the thief together? ”

Yao Ping realized at this moment that the big men in front of him were not ordinary robbers, but a group of people who had a strong hatred for the Khaldo people or the foreigners outside the Yaoshan Pass.