Chapter 751: The Great Migration of Xi Niu and Hezhou

The sky was filled with yellow sand. Although it was cloudless and the sun was scorching, the vast earth was dim.

Braving the wind and dust, a group of travelers struggled to move forward across the Gobi Desert.

After all the water from the five lakes and four seas has been drained, the only weather on the vast land that will experience a sandstorm is when the daytime temperature drops below 40 degrees Celsius.

The people in Xiniu Hezhou who are still struggling to survive can only reach the nearest Buddhist temple before the Buddha appears to save all living beings by trekking hard in such weather.

It stands to reason that the temperature would drop at night, which would be more suitable for traveling than heading out in a sandstorm. But the problem is that night is also a good time for the magic mosquitoes to come out of the ground to look for food.

These monsters from the abyss are better adapted to the dark environment than humans. If they encounter the devil mosquitoes in the middle of the night, even if there are monks protecting the team, they are destined to be sucked dry of blood and the entire team will die.

The evil mosquitoes hide during the day and come out at night. The temperature is too high during the day, and travelers who lack water cannot walk far under the scorching sun. They can only go against common sense in travel and move forward in the sandstorm.

Fortunately, Hezhou in Xiniu has always had a hot climate and a large area of Gobi desert landforms. The indigenous people here are far more drought-resistant than the people in Jambu Continent, and have developed the ability to survive in the desert through the hardships of life.

Originally, Xiniu Hezhou was a poor and mountainous area with barren land and scarce resources, but now it is reversed with Nanzhanbuzhou.

The continuous snow-capped mountains in Xiniu Hezhou were not affected by Wen Rui's drainage of water from all over the world. During the drought, they became the best water storage tanks, allowing the people of Xiniu Hezhou to have a chance to breathe and save enough food and water for the long journey.

When Lingshan passed down the Buddha's edict and called on Western believers to seek refuge in nearby Buddhist temples, people thought they had finally found hope to survive. They became more devout in worshiping Buddha and abandoned their homes one after another, embarking on the journey of their last worship.

Amid the wind and sand, people who were struggling to move forward could not tell the direction at all. They could only silently recite the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" in their hearts, seeking spiritual guidance from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Normally, chanting this mantra may not be so effective, but this time it seems that Lingshan has increased the bandwidth of the faith channel for all living beings, especially in guiding the way. It really responds to every request, like a navigation system, guiding believers to reach the Buddhist temple with their eyes closed.

"Everyone, hold on. We finally waited for a sandstorm with the right wind speed. We must travel farther today! Besides, no matter how thirsty we are, we cannot drink water. The demon insects underground will smell the water vapor and find us, and pass the message on!"

At the front of the group of travelers, a sturdy middle-aged man dressed as a chief turned around and shouted loudly to the person who was following closely behind him holding a rope.

The whistling wind was too noisy, and the only way to convey information in the sandstorm was to shout at someone close to your face.

The human voice sounded so low amid the sound of the wind, and it took a long time for this sentence to reach from the front of the team to the back.

Precisely because Xiniu Hezhou still has relatively abundant water sources from snow-capped mountains and glaciers, and humans and animals have not been dehydrated and taken in under the strict defense of the Western Church, the invasion direction of the demon mosquitoes soon turned here.

Several underground blood rivers have penetrated deep into Xiniu Hezhou. Countless devil mosquitoes are lurking beneath the earth, following the smell of water and blood, searching for living creatures on the ground.

Many Western Christians had been hunted by mosquitoes that followed moisture when they set up camp at night on their way to Buddhist temples to seek refuge. The later travel teams summed up the lessons of their predecessors and had to be extra careful on their journey.

It is an important rule that drinking water is prohibited during the march. Only by finding a campsite, setting up a lotus tranquil formation, and chanting the "Vajrasattva Hundred-Syllable Mantra" a hundred times, can you cover your breath, avoid the senses of the evil mosquitoes, and drink water, eat, and rest safely.

At the end of the group of travelers was a dark-skinned, thin woman who was carrying a huge bag that looked much heavier than her weight. She was holding a child in one hand and gritting her teeth, trying hard to keep up with the group.

According to the team's marching rules, everyone should be tied together with ropes around their waists to avoid being left behind in the pitch-black sand. But this woman had no rope around her waist, so she could only grit her teeth and follow the back of the person in front of her, fearing that if she was a step slower, she would be ruthlessly abandoned by the team and get lost in the wasteland that was like a red-hot hell when the sandstorm ended.

"Mom, I'm thirsty... I can't stand it any longer, just let me drink some water..."

The woman was holding a boy and a girl. The boy was about six or seven years old, and the girl was about eleven or twelve years old. The one who was speaking was the boy she was holding with her right hand.

The child was already very weak, and he shouted with a hoarse voice, but only his voice could barely reach the woman's ears.

The woman gritted her teeth, stopped for a moment, hugged the boy tightly in one hand, gritted her teeth again, and quickened her pace to catch up with the team.

She hugged the child tightly and put her face close to the child's ear. The woman's voice was equally hoarse: "Bear with it a little longer. Amma will hold you. You won't be so tired or thirsty. When you get to the camp, everyone will have finished the ritual of removing obstacles, and then you can drink water."

But the child could hardly lift his eyelids, his breath was getting weaker and weaker, and he could only murmur: "Just drink a sip, people who die of thirst will fall into the scorching hell, I am so afraid of the heat..."

Seeing that the child was about to die, the woman fell into great distress.

Her hand unconsciously reached for the water bag in her arms.

Just as she was about to unscrew the stopper of the water bag, another pair of small hands suddenly reached out and tightened the loose stopper.

"Zhuoma, your brother is dying of thirst!" the woman shouted hysterically, "Are you just going to watch him die?"

The one she scolded was the girl holding the other hand.

Unlike the skinny and dark woman, the girl was a rare beauty. Although she was only eleven or twelve years old, she was graceful and elegant, with picturesque features.

"Mom, let's stop first and wait until the team is far away before giving my brother some water."

The girl's tone was very calm. She did not deliberately raise her voice, but she conveyed what she wanted to express accurately to the woman's ears through the sound of wind and sand.

"We can't stop. If we fall behind, we will all die!"

"It's better for us to die than to bring harm to the entire team."

The girl's eyes were as calm as water, and she even showed a comforting smile: "It is better to die doing good than to live doing evil. If the good thoughts in your heart are not extinguished, you can be reborn in the way of goodness without the need for Buddha to save you."

"You are just a human-skinned magical instrument embryo. Do you really think you have Buddha nature?"

The woman cursed with great disgust: "Your brother is the reincarnation of a wise master. He cannot die. He must be present when the Buddha appears. The Buddha will recognize him and help him recover his past life memories! He is my only chance to escape from the sea of suffering and enter paradise!"

The girl did not get angry despite the harsh words she said. She smiled sweetly, suddenly snatched the water bag from the woman's arms, broke free from her hand, and ran in the opposite direction of the team.

(End of this chapter)

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