In the early spring of the desert, a few tough weeds sprout on the gravel-covered ground, bringing a touch of life to the land.

Towards noon, a man and a rider rushed from east to west, breaking the long-standing silence in the desert.

The man on horseback was dressed in a black linen robe and carrying a purple wooden box, which was none other than Pei Xia. Riding under his crotch is a black pure-blooded horse named Xuanji, after a long run, Xuanji is now oozing countless black-purple beads of sweat, its hot sweat exudes wisps of mist, and the mist is also quickly left behind by itself, and then forms a vague afterimage.

After climbing over a bare mountain pass, Pei Xia finally strangled the "Xuanji". He flipped off his horse and let it go to the vicinity to nibble freely on the scattered young grass. He removed the purple wooden box from his back and opened it. Pei Xia pressed the two mechanisms carved on the wooden box, then pulled out a hidden compartment in the wooden box, and carefully took out an artifact from it.

It is a compass that is made with precision.

The magnet of the compass was polished into a two-headed needle with a concave hole, Pei Xia carefully took out the magnetic needle, and gently placed it on the thimble of a compass engraved with directions, the magnetic needle slowly shook on the thimble, and finally the two heads of the magnetic needle stayed in the north and south respectively.

Pei Xia pulled out a drawing from the box, and after he had made some notes on the drawing with a graphite strip. He sat down on a stone with peace of mind, took out a piece of hard as a stone from his arms, and gnawed on it.

Continuing on, he tried his way around the sandy terrain where it was difficult for horses to travel, and he followed the oasis of the Kardor desert all the way west. After traversing two oasis tribes and spending countless nights of hunger and cold, he arrived beyond the Sinwa Oasis.

Leaning over a rocky mountain, Pei Xia saw that the current Sinwa Oasis had lost its former prosperity, and the trade scene of herds of cattle and sheep was completely gone, only a few Khaldons were still living in the oasis, and the oasis was full of white marching tents, and there were many horses around the camp, and the two watchtowers fluttered with the Eagle Banner of Asol, and it was obvious that this oasis had been transformed into a huge military base by the Asol people.

"It seems that the reconnaissance work of the Yaoshan Governor's Mansion has not been done enough, and this is not an invasion at all, but an occupation. If this continues, I am afraid that the other oases of Caldo will also be encroached upon by them. Pei Xia thought to himself, "Sinwa's location is extremely important, after occupying this place, whether it is the desert in the south of Kaldo or the desert in the east, it is basically under the control of the Azars. Not only did they choke the throat of the Khaldos, but they also plunged a knife into the chest of the Khaldos. ”

After thinking for a while, Pei Xia opened the wooden box again, he carefully drew the record of Xinwa's scene on the paper, and then he slowly climbed down the hill, rode the "Xuanji" and quickly bypassed Xinwa, and continued to walk west.

After a few days of speeding westward, Peisha came to the eastern gateway of Asol, the city of Apoli Twilight.

He led his horse, hooded with his head, and he and "Xuanji" looked like a down-and-out homeless man holding his donkey because of the long journey. Even the only household item, the purple wooden box, was wrapped in a dirty futon and placed on horseback.

The walls of Apolli Twilight have been expanded several times, but they are still not tall and are not protected by a moat. On its tawny walls, only sparse guards patrolled back and forth. Pei Xia knew that the Azars were different from Ilo, they had a vast land and plenty of horses, and it was not very necessary for the Azars who liked to fight in the wild and plunder other countries. Despite this, a tall castle-like palace in Dawn City is still particularly eye-catching. Far away in the fields outside the city, you can easily see its distinctive golden spire.

Pei Xia slowly walked to the gate of Dawn City facing east, and although he looked extremely unobtrusive, the guards quickly stopped him. The guards spoke in Asor, pulling down Peisha's hood. Pei Xia opened his hands and gestured to the soldiers in a friendly way that he was not carrying a weapon. After saying a few words, the guards saw that Pei Xia didn't seem to understand, so they searched him and turned out the purple wooden box that he had placed on horseback and wrapped.

Pei Xia knew that the guards were pointing at the wooden box and shouting, they were about to open the wooden box themselves, he squatted down and pretended to wipe the carving on the wooden box, and at the same time, his other hand quickly and covertly pressed a small mechanism on the side of the wooden box. Because of the mechanism, when he opened the wooden box, he actually only opened one of the compartments of the wooden box. The soldier looked into the wooden box, and saw that the box contained some small dough and a small noodle figure, as well as a few wooden gadgets for the dough kneader.

The figure of the noodle man is the image of a child Ilo herding sheep. The child is swinging a sheep whip in his hand, which is lifelike. Pei Xia smiled and held the small-faced man in his hand to show the soldiers, and the Yasuor soldiers were quickly attracted by this novel gadget. A soldier of Azor snatched the beautifully crafted figure from Pei Xia's hands and passed it around with others to admire it. From the eyes of the soldiers, Pei Xia could see that they all loved this interesting gadget. One of the soldiers even gave Pei Xia a thumbs up.

After Pei Xia sent the little noodle man to a guard captain, he smoothly entered Twilight City.

Entering the city, Pei Xia first bolted the "Xuanji" to an inconspicuous bolted horse pile, and then he carried the wooden box through the crowd and entered a small restaurant called "Distant Valley".

At this time, there was not a single guest in the restaurant, only a gray-bearded old man Azor, sitting on a cushion on the side of the counter, as if he had woken up from sleep.

Pei Xia sat down in an empty seat, and after quietly looking around, he suddenly said in Asor's language: "I just want to eat a bite of soufflé, on the top of that deserted mountain." ”

The old man obviously heard Pei Xia's words, and he suddenly became energetic. He got up from the bench, walked over to Pei Xia, looked at him carefully, and then replied in the same Yasol language: "The soufflé is burning with fear. ”

Pei Xia knew that the code had been matched. He whispered in Ilo instead, "Please take me there." ”

I don't know if the old man understood Pei Xia's Yiluo language, but he turned around slightly and motioned for Pei Xia to follow him to the back kitchen.

With Pei Xia's help, the old man removed a large wooden box in the corner of the kitchen, and under the wooden box, a secret door to the cellar was revealed from the floor.

Pei Xia did not hesitate to lift the secret door, he took an oil lamp lit by the old man, and carefully lifted it into the darkness.

Climbing down a steep wooden ladder, Pei Xia came to a small space, he found that there were old stone walls all around him by the faint light of the oil lamp, he searched carefully on the stone wall, and at a picture of an eagle with its head turned sideways, he found a triangular slot in the eagle's eye.

Pei Xia opened the purple wood box, took out a three-edged copper rod with a handle, inserted it into the slot in the eagle's eye, and then turned it vigorously. With the turn, a small stone door was slowly removed. Pei Xia looked at the entrance of the cave, leaving the wooden box in place, he raised the oil lamp and leaned in.

It was a long and narrow passage, and Pei Xia crawled forward in the dim light for a long time, only after pushing open a stone door again, he saw a strong beam of light coming in from overhead.

Pei Xia found himself at the bottom of a dry well, and the light was shining through the well.

A bucket was half-hung in the air, and he reached out and pulled the dangling bucket, and instead of descending, the bucket was immediately taken up by a force.

Pei Xia watched the bucket quickly rise to the wellhead and be tightened by the wheel, he smiled and muttered in a low voice, "Carving insect skills." ”

He sat down the well and waited for a long time, only to see a person stretching out his head from the well, against the light, Pei Xia did not see the appearance of the person. The bucket was put down again, but the man never reappeared.

It wasn't until midnight that another sound came from the wellhead. Pei Xia, who was already a little sleepy, looked up, a figure swayed, and then descended along the barrel rope and quickly fell to Pei Xia.

Without waiting for Pei Xia to speak, the man immediately went into the dark passage first.

"Come in and talk." In the dark passage, the man said in a deep voice.

When Pei Xia also returned to the secret passage, the man asked in a low voice, "Who asked you to come?" ”

"Ruler."

"You're a member of the recital?"

"Yes."

"Has Mr. Nangong cut down a lot of trees this year?"

"He's been in a wheelchair for five years." Pei Xia knew that the other party was testing herself.

"Well, what do you want to know about coming here?"

"Does Azor have any plans to continue eastward?" Pei Xia asked directly.

"Yes."

"And how far do they plan to go east?"

"To the sea to the east."

Pei Xia made two squeaky sounds from the tip of his tongue, expressing surprise and disdain, and then he continued to ask, "How much do you know about their plan?" When to get started? ”

"The exact timing is unknown, and it is impossible to judge, but the pre-war preparations for their eastward march have already begun."

"Azor's invasion of the Sinwa Oasis is to prepare for the next step of crossing the desert and continuing eastward?" Pei Xia asked.

"Yes."

"With the current strength of Athore, how long can Caldo resist?"

"If Randy, the western power of Yasol, can maintain a defensive posture so that Yasol can draw troops to the east, the Khaldo will not be able to resist for long."

"Hmm." Pei Xia continued to ask, "If the western front of Azor is deadlocked, what will happen to the east? ”

"It's hard to say, if the Khaldons can unite, maybe they can stand up to the Eastern Legion of Yazor. But that is unlikely. ”

"Well," continued Pei Xia, "tell me about the strength of Azor in the East. ”

The man stretched out his hand from the darkness and handed Pei Xia a small roll of parchment, "I have recorded the strength of the troops. ”

"Okay." Pei Xia took the parchment scroll, put it into the placket, and continued, "The following question is the purpose of the ruler asking me to come to you. ”

"I know that you are helping the Yiluo Imperial Court to ask the previous question, please tell me your question."

"What is Azor doing when he captures a large number of people from the occupying powers?"

"Go near their capital and do a big project."

"Well, what kind of big project?"

"Many of the people of Azore say that they are building a new capital, but from a secret letter I stumbled upon from the Eastern Lord of Asor a year ago, they are building a giant tower."

"The Tower? What kind of giant tower? ”

"I don't know, I've been trying to gather information about the tower this year, but I've achieved very little. It can be determined that it is a giant tower, and this project is very large. ”

"Do you know how long it's been since it started?"

"The exact time is not clear, but for the tower, there is another point, it is located near Hesa."

Pei Xia was silent for a while, and asked, "Is there a description of the construction of the giant tower in the historical myths or religious beliefs of Athore?" ”

"As far as I know, no. The Assor people started as nomads and did not attach much importance to architecture. As for the oracle sect and the advent sect they believe in, they have always just built some temples. ”

"What else do you have to say about that tower?"

"That's all I can get here about the tower. If you want to know more, I'm afraid you'll have to go further west to Hesa. However, I advise you not to go any further west, for the hinterland of Azor is no better than here, where the Ilo caravans occasionally visit, and the Ilo are not uncommon. But if you go further west, you, an Ilo, will arouse their suspicions. ”

"Hmm." Pei Xia thought for a moment, "Tell me how to go to Hesa if I continue west?" ”

"You want to go to Hesa alone? No, you'd better not go, if you die because of this, not only will Mr. Nangong not get any news, but even the deployment of the eastern troops of Asuor, which I have worked so hard to write, will not be able to be handed over to the Yiluo Imperial Court. ”

"I can go back to Yaoshan Pass first, you can rest assured." Pei Xia said firmly: "If I only tell the ruler such limited information about Yasor's project, my trip will almost be in vain. ”

The man was silent for a moment in the darkness and said, "Well, if you're going to Hesa." From here, you have to go south and see the rolling mountains, then turn west, and wait until you pass through the khan steppe with herds of cattle and sheep, and finally follow the river and climb over the mountains to reach the "Land of Listening". Hesa was on that great plain. On the way, several large cities must be paid attention to bypass. ”

"Okay."

"There's one more thing I have to tell you. The other day, I was approached by a man who claimed to be a member of the recitation. ”

"What?" Pei Xia was a little surprised, and then asked, "Who is it?" ”

"I never ask for the name of the person who comes. That doesn't make sense. "But I can tell you that he is a Huron who speaks the Ilo." ”

"Hurons?" Pei Xia felt even more incredible, so he continued to ask, "I'm in the Elomo Recitation Society, how can there be Huron people..." How can you be sure that he is the one of our recitals? ”

"He, like you, also knows Mr. Nangong. Because he looks like a foreigner, I even asked a few more questions, just in case. ”

"He answered everything?"

"Yes, he not only knows that Mr. Nangong broke his legs five years ago, but also knows that Mr. is Linglong Mountain, and he also knows that Mr. He is designing a new weapon."

Pei Xia shuddered, "That person, he came here and asked you something?" ”

"He didn't ask me anything. Instead, he came to reveal information to me. ”

"What did he say?" Pei Xia asked urgently.

"Beware of poisonous snakes with four eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't understand. He just told me to tell the people who came here to the recital. I think the reason why he didn't make it completely clear was because he was deliberately wary of me. I don't want to ask. ”

There was a noise at the mouth of the well, and the man said, "I have to go." ”

The secret door was quickly closed after Pei Xia entered, and it was pitch black in the passage, Pei Xia hesitated for a moment and groped his way back to the entrance.