After the sun sets, Yecheng, which is not lively, is crowded with pedestrians on the streets of the city at this time. The scorching heat of these days will only cool down after the dark curtain falls, and unlike the lights of Longhu City, Yecheng is quiet.

At this time, in a mansion compound in the city, more than a dozen subordinates were in a hurry to get water in a basin, and there was no whispering among the subordinates, their expressions were solemn, and their movements showed that they were a little anxious.

In a house directly east of the mansion, a middle-aged man coughed on the couch, and the person in front of the bed hurriedly handed over a towel soaked in hot water. The woman sitting on the side of the bed took it and carefully wiped the sweat from the man's face.

The woman was distressed while wiping, her husband, who had an elegant face, was appointed as the commander of Yecheng County in the court, and she was full of spirit, and she said that Q would definitely settle the evil things in Yecheng, and give the people a stable life. The husband rejected the old woman's fallacy that claimed to be the blessing of Hebo Temple: to contribute an eighteen-year woman as "Hebo's marriage". How do you know that the water flow of the Zhanghe River has dropped sharply since that day, almost drying up, and the husband has mined the water source, but it still does not work, and he is tired of heavy work and heart disease, and finally he can't hold on. The day before yesterday, the witch came to the door and said that if she didn't choose a woman to "marry" Hebo, Zhanghe would disappear forever......

The man on the bed coughed heavily, as if he was about to cough out his internal organs, and the woman hurriedly helped her husband who had woken up and patted her back to straighten out her breath.

The gentle-looking man opened the towel cloth from the palm of his hand, the blood he coughed up was shocking, his face was pale, he handed the towel to his wife, and said weakly: "Madam, has the old man been here in the past two days?"

The lady took the cloth, saw the blood and her heart trembled, and she choked up and said, "Husband, you ......"

Xi Mengbao, the new county magistrate of Yecheng, gently patted the back of his wife's hand and said, "Don't get in the way, Lang Zhong didn't say that he was just depressed, and he would be fine after a few days of rest." ”

Madame wiped her tears with a handkerchief: "Elder Ting didn't come in the past two days, it's just, it's just ......"

Xi Mengbao hurriedly asked, "Just what?"

"It's just that there are many fewer people in Yecheng, and now there are no more people left in the city......"

Hearing this, the new county magistrate sighed, his face full of guilt. "It's me Xi Mengbao, I'm sorry for the people!"

The woman fell on the edge of the bed and wept like rain.

As the largest river in the territory of the Great Chu Dynasty, the Yellow River, its tributary, the Zhanghe River, was extremely abundant a few years ago. At that time, the only way was that the entrance of the river was blocked, and Simon Bao led people to investigate, only to see that the river at the entrance was surging, and there was nothing wrong with it, but all the way downstream, the water flow decreased, and when it arrived in Yecheng, it was less than two in the past, no matter how Xi Mengbao opened the ditch, it was still the case.

rejected the old witch's "tribute girl" policy, and the temperature in Yecheng has risen sharply these days, and the Zhanghe River is also about to dry up.

Xi Mengbao, as an official of the Great Chu court, of course knew that this kind of anomaly was not the "wrath of Hebo", but he was afraid that there was a monster in the Zhanghe River. This self-proclaimed "Ting Lao" of Hebo Temple Zhu must be the same as that monster!

Xi Mengbao's eyes were gloomy, what kind of "river woman marrying"! It is just a statement that harms the people! A woman who is 18 years old is in the flowering season, how can she watch the scourge of monsters!

But what can be done? No one from the Ordinary Academy has come to investigate, and there has been no news from the imperial court.

Xi Mengbao's eyes were glazed, looking in the direction of Longhu City. The day after tomorrow, it is time to "get married", and from whose family should this woman be chosen......

At the same time, outside the city of Yecheng.

Ye Chengzi closed the city gate, Ah Qing and Xian'er were not interrogated and went out of the city easily, and the city gate armor remembered that this brother and sister from Longhu City told them to pay attention to safety.

Ah Qing and Xian'er mobilized their spiritual power when there was no one around, and quickly ran in the direction of the Zhanghe River, and the two of them were like low-altitude swallows at night.

In the past two years, Ah Qing's spiritual power cultivation has not fallen, and Gao Yangyue's "Eighteen Steps Back to the Peak" is insisted on practicing every day, and now he is quite familiar with the control of spiritual power.

After Xian'er's hair was blown by the wind in the rapid movement, in order to take care of Ah Qing's mortal level cultivation, she deliberately slowed down a little, but seeing Ah Qing following closely by her side, her breathing was steady, and she was slowly speeding up at the moment.

If someone finds the two of them at the moment, they will definitely exclaim the immortals.

"Can Xian'er still perceive the water attribute spiritual power that Fang just said?" Ah Qing asked Xian'er beside him with a light footstep.

"Hmm. Xian'er replied.

Ah Qing didn't speak again, his expression was serious. Although he can't perceive the water attribute spiritual power that Xian'er said, according to the current situation, it should be in the direction of the Zhanghe River. After entering the city, I didn't find the master, and I think this is because the master deliberately disappeared.

The figures of the two quickly scurried through the forest, and in the fields they passed by, the crops were dry and yellow, and even some of the fields were dry and cracked.

After walking for more than ten miles, Ah Qing and Xian'er stopped.

The so-called "Zhanghe", a tributary of the Yellow River, appeared to be a small stream, with a slow and low flow. However, the dry and wide riverbed on both sides also shows the original "abundant" scene that the shopkeeper of the "Rifle Inn" said.

There is no moon tonight, and there are no stars in the deep darkness of the night, and it is pitch black at the moment. A Qing rose into flames in his palm, and the fiery red light imprinted on the faces of the two. The crops on both sides of the Zhanghe River have dried up, and there are no lights in the houses nearby.

Ah Qing jumped down first, his feet hard and heavy on the bare riverbed. Ah Qing's eyes and fingers rubbed the soil of the riverbed, and carefully perceived. Xian'er also jumped down, standing beside Ah Qing, looking at Ah Qing's movements with a smile, this child who cried under the peach tree every day when he was a child, now he uses twelve points of seriousness in everything he does, no matter how others shout at him when he is cultivating, he will ignore it, and after returning to his senses, he will apologize and say that he is too embarrassed.

Ah Qing twisted his fingers around the dirt and stood up and said, "I also sensed that there were remnants of spiritual power in this dry riverbed. Let's take a look upstream. ”

Xian'er nodded, did not speak, and acted as well-behaved and sensible.

A Qing left palm flame rose, swaying in the dark night. The two walked upstream along the riverbed. Along the way, the bare riverbed gradually shrunk, the water volume of the river gradually increased, and after walking for two miles, the sound of turbulent water could even be heard, but the two of them had already left the boundary of Yecheng.

Ah Qing wondered: "This is very strange, why does the water flow start to decrease as soon as you enter the boundary of Yecheng?"

Xian'er saw that A-Qing had been scratching her head, and sneered: "You ask me, who do I ask?" Xian'er's face under the flames was cute and moving.

Ah Qing rolled his eyes, jumped his figure, and stood in the middle of the Zhanghe River, where the floodplain of the Zhanghe River was about half a mile wide. Ah Qing leaned over the surface of the river with his palm, mobilized his spiritual power to perceive underwater, and suddenly raised his head for a long time.

Seeing this, Xian'er was like a dragonfly, and came to Ah Qing's side and asked, "What's wrong?"

Ah Qing said in a deep voice: "There is a very obvious water attribute spiritual power down here. ”

After that, Ah Qing held his breath, poofed and sank, and dived to the bottom of the river. Ah Qingshui's nature was exercised by the stream in Xintao Village when he was a child, and his spiritual cultivation is naturally much more comfortable than ordinary people underwater.

The flow of the Zhanghe River carried a large amount of sediment and rubbed against Ah Qing's face. Ah Qing squinted his eyes, his vision was dim, and in an instant, his left hand emitted a bright light, and the light attribute spiritual power wrapped his palm in the river and emitted light to explore the way. Ah Qing swam back along Fang Cai's spiritual perception, and this direction was the boundary interface of the Zhanghe River through Yecheng.

The fairy jumped up and down on the surface of the river with her hands behind her hands.

The depth of the Zhanghe River is about four zhang, which is different from the terrifying depth of more than 50 zhang at the bottom of Longhu, Ah Qing can clearly see the aquatic plants swimming at the bottom of the river, and there are also fish and shrimp swimming through Ah Qing and fleeing quickly, this feeling is a bit wonderful.

Light work, standing on the surface of the river, the light source under the river, this is the knowledge of the use of spiritual power that Ah Qing learned in the academy, and he has never had the opportunity to experiment in the past, this feeling of free use of spiritual power is handy, and he has entered the academy for two years, which is the biggest change in Ah Qing's whole person.

At the interface between the Zhanghe River and Yecheng in Ah Qing's memory, that is, the place where the water flow began to decrease, Ah Qing saw a strange scene: the water flow rolled up in a whirlpool, the aquatic plants in the river were swept into the water roll and rotated downward, and something seemed to be absorbing the river water at the bottom of the river.

Ah Qing swam towards the whirlpool, and the closer he got closer, the more he could feel the suction of the water scroll.

Ah Qing's pupils shrank, and what appeared in front of him was a toad the size of an adult man's head at the bottom of the river, opening its mouth, and it was from this that the water scroll rolled up, absorbing the river water. The toad closed his eyes, the surface of his skin was covered with large and small pimples, and the whole body was dark green in the light of the light attribute spiritual power in Ah Qing's hand, and the river water continued to converge into the toad's mouth, and the water attribute spiritual power that Ah Qing and the two sensed came from here.

Xian'er was bored on the surface of the river, kicking the river water and splashing the water, seeing that Aqing was motionless at the bottom of the river, she thought about it and dived into the river with a "poof".

Xian'er swam to Ah Qing's side, her pink hair swaying in the water, and the pink eyes on her white face were very bright in the light in Ah Qing's hands in the water. I was also stunned when I saw the toad that didn't know if it was dead or alive.

"This toad is so big!" The two spiritual power transmitted, and Xian'er exclaimed.

Ah Qing looked at Xian'er with the same eyes as an idiot: "The water of the Zhanghe River flows into the realm of Yecheng is where the flow of water begins to decrease. ”

The fairy's eyes are bent into a crescent moon.

"You see it's still sucking in the river?" said Aqing.

"Is it dead or alive?" asked Xian'er suspiciously, disgusted in her heart, this toad was so ugly.

"Judging from the perceived water attribute spiritual power, it should be a dead thing. Aqing said.

Xian'er swam forward, her skirt swaying left and right in the river, and Ah Qing did not squint.

Xian'er approached the toad, patted it lightly with her hand, and tried to move, but suddenly the bottom of the river shook, and the toad's whole body emitted an obscure green light, unmoved, and still continued to absorb the river water.

"I tried, but it didn't work, this toad couldn't move, as if it was placed here, and it was cast into a spiritual array. If Grandpa Lin is here, he can easily move away. Aqing said.

"Go up first. Ah Qing spoke, ran up first, swam to the shore, and then Xian'er followed.

Ah Qing, who had gone ashore, turned around and looked, his face was flushed, and he hurriedly turned his gaze away.

Xian'er was stunned for a moment, and then she realized that her dress was close to her body when she had just come out of the river at this time, her chest was snow-white, and her figure was completely exposed in front of Aqing.

Xian'er once explained to Ah Qing about her age, because when she first had her intelligence, she saw the child's Ah Qing, so she thought that she was the same age as Ah Qing, and her body and appearance were also the appearance of a fourteen-year-old girl, green and developed.

Xian'er scolded: "Don't hurry up and make a fire to roast!"

Ah Qing reacted and hurriedly went to pick up some dry branches and weeds, and the flames rose. The two of them sat around the fire and dried their bodies.

Xian'er stroked her wet hair and said casually: "This toad should be a spiritual weapon." ”

Ah Qing let out an "um".

Spiritual weapons, owned by spiritual cultivation, are refined by spiritual power, and have special functions, such as the black and white chess pieces on the fairy's body, which are spatial spiritual weapons. The spirit weapon is extremely expensive, and the production method must be supplemented by the spirit array, the spirit array is the real reason that determines the function of the spirit weapon, but the spiritual cultivation of the spirit array is extremely rare, and the spirit array is a secret art that has been passed down since ancient times.

Lin Yanqi, the gatekeeper of the Ordinary Academy, was in this ranks, and when Ah Qing first hooked the aura of heaven and earth, he fell into a daze, and it was Lin Yanqi who used a formation to isolate the space.

Of course, spiritual artifacts fall into the hands of ordinary people who are not spiritual cultivators, and they are no different from ordinary objects.

"The owner of this spiritual artifact deliberately placed this object at the bottom of the Zhanghe River to swallow the river water, and the control is entirely up to the individual. As a result, Yecheng's crops did not have sufficient water sources, and the people did not have a harvest. ”

"But!" Ah Qing's expression was solemn: "How should we explain the matter of "Hebo marrying"? From three years ago to now, three women have been tributed, why is this? Are the three women alive or dead?"

"I really can't understand why the people behind this scene reduced the flow of the Zhanghe River, but asked women to make tribute. Ah Qing's tone became heavier and heavier, and his brows furrowed.

Xian'er stretched out her hands on the fire and roasted, and from time to time the fire had burning branches and leaves making a "sizzle" sound. What Ah Qing said was also what Xian'er thought, why did the person behind the curtain want a woman to pay tribute? Xian'er said, "Is that witch the person behind the scenes?"

Ah Qing shook his head and said: "According to what the shopkeeper said, that witch should not be the person behind the scenes, but she must be a tiger to fight. ”

"Are we going to visit the prefectural order?" asked Xian'er.

Ah Qing nodded and shook his head: "If we go over like this, the county commander who is seriously ill in bed will definitely not see us." ”

"Then let's say we're academy students?" said Xian'er tentatively.

"Besides, let's go back first, and inquire again in the city tomorrow. I don't know where Master is now. Ah Qing stood up, his body was almost dry, but Xian'er's hair was still a little wet.

The two poured out the fire and galloped all the way back to Yecheng before the city gate was closed.

When I returned to the inn, I saw that the shopkeeper was waiting for the two to come back, and it didn't close. Ah Qing explained that he had been walking around the city for a long time, and he had forgotten the time, and Xiao Er looked suspicious. Xian'er went upstairs to bathe first, and Ah Qing naturally waited downstairs, chatted with Xiao Er for a while, and finally yawned and went upstairs back to the room.

Xian'er helped Ah Qing lay the floor, and she was already asleep, breathing softly and sleeping sweetly.

Ah Qing washed lightly and rested.

......