Shao Xuan knew that this river was very big, but he didn't know it was this big.
Sail, paddle, Chacha pulling the canoe, these three methods alternated. Other than a short break, the canoe continued to move forward.
According to the sun and the moon at night, Shao Xuan always judged the direction and tried his best to keep the canoe moving in a straight line. Although they encountered a lot of trouble along the way, and even encountered a group of crazy fish fighting, forcing them to take a long detour, it wasn't to the extent that they couldn't see the end of the river.
"After today, it will be fifteen days," Shao Xuan said to Chacha, who was resting beside him, as he still couldn't see the end of the river in front of them.
Chacha, who was resting at the side, responded listlessly. In addition to the excitement and novelty at the beginning, countless frightening things had happened one after another. It was so scared that it had recently lost a lot of feathers.
Shao Xuan was also tired. He hadn't had a good rest for fifteen days straight. Although his recovery was very strong, he couldn't withstand long-term exhaustion. Moreover, Shao Xuan was most worried that if they continued to move forward, they wouldn't have time to return. After all, according to the original plan, they would return if they couldn't find the other side in fifteen days. But now, he felt that they should still move forward.
"Chacha, do you think there's a mainland in front?" Shao Xuan kicked the bird beside him. This river was already beyond his imagination. If they continued to walk forward, he would even believe that they could reach the sea.
Chacha, who was grooming its feathers, raised its head and replied, then looked forward. It could feel the aura of a mainland in front of them, but it didn't know how far it was.
Shao Xuan actually had the same feeling. He felt that if they continued to walk forward, they would reach the other side of the river. But that was too risky. Even if they reached the other side, what if the river was already falling rapidly and they couldn't see the top?
What should they choose?
Continue forward, or go back?
Shao Xuan closed his eyes and felt the totem in his mind.
The totem flame in his mind started to roll, and the direction in which the flame was drifting was towards the front, and it was rolling quite violently.
Opening his eyes, Shao Xuan adjusted the sail. "Keep going."
"Ah —" Chacha answered weakly. It began to miss its life in the tribe. However, when it thought about the new land that Shao Xuan had mentioned, it became excited again.
After traveling for another eight days, Shao Xuan felt the totemic flames in his mind surging more violently, but at the same time, the river water was flowing faster. Shao Xuan had seen such a situation before. When this happened, the river level would drop sharply. Back in the tribe, they might still see a few rocks that were originally in the water, but the next day, they would see a muddy slope.
Chacha flew in the sky, pulling the boat.
While Shao Xuan was pondering, Chacha shouted from the sky.
Shao Xuan looked up at the sky. Chacha's cry meant that there was something in front of them. It was very likely that it was the river bank.
Chacha landed, and Shao Xuan jumped onto its back. Then, he let Chacha take it up into the air to take a look.
It was not easy to see on the canoe, but in the air, they could see a very thin black line in the distance. If they did not look carefully, they would not have noticed it.
Chacha was still holding the rope in its claws, so it could not abandon the canoe and fly up alone. If it did, the canoe would be washed away by the river.
Even if they could not fly higher to observe, Shao Xuan was already excited.
After drifting on the river for more than twenty days, Shao Xuan had no confidence if he still could not see the end of the river. Even if the totemic flames were rolling fiercely, if they could not reach the shore before the river level dropped sharply, they would still die.
Now that he could see the border, the pressure in his heart was greatly reduced. He felt that the exhaustion from the past twenty days had dissipated, and he felt much more relaxed.
"Okay, Chacha, we're almost there! Put in more effort! "
Shao Xuan returned to the canoe, and Chacha continued to pull.
The river flowed faster and faster, and the number of piranhas in the water gradually decreased. He did not know if it was because of the change in the river, or because of other reasons. At least in the past two days, Shao Xuan did not encounter any other threats from the fish in the river. It was only the wind, the direction of the wind, and the speed of the river that slowed down the canoe's progress.
The "black line" at the border became more and more obvious. Looking at the sky, Shao Xuan hoped that they could reach the shore before sunset. There were too many unknown variables at night.
As they gradually approached the river bank, Shao Xuan discovered that the river bank looked like a mountain, because the river level had dropped too much.
Fortunately, although it felt like they were sailing at the bottom of an abyss, they had finally reached the end of the abyss.
This was a new place. Shao Xuan suddenly felt an indescribable excitement in his heart.
The river bank was similar to the one in the tribe. Near the shore, there was a steep slope.
However, not far from there, there was still water flowing down. That should be a tributary, and the water flowing out of that tributary flowed into the river. But now that the river level had dropped, the water from that tributary flowed down the slope.
The closer they got to the shore, the stronger the wind became. The wind carried with it the stench of mud and the smell of decay.
Shao Xuan looked at the height of the shore and the steep slope. He thought that the canoe would not be able to reach the shore.
After more than twenty days of sailing, although they had used very strong and corrosion-resistant trees, they had been hit and bitten by large fish during the voyage, leaving behind many crisscrossing marks. There was even a hole at the bottom. Shao Xuan used something to plug it. This canoe had already completed its mission.
Shao Xuan carried the remaining things on the canoe onto his back. After Chacha landed, he jumped onto Chacha's back. One man and one eagle flew towards the river bank.
Without the eagle to pull the damaged canoe, it floated downstream along with the rapid flow of the river. Soon, only a small shadow was left, and then it disappeared from Shao Xuan's sight.
The wind became stronger. Without a certain direction, Chacha almost fell into the mud several times.
"Let's go, buddy! Put in more effort! "Shao Xuan held on tightly to the eagle's body and shouted.
Chacha flapped its wings with all its strength and flew upwards.
While flying, Shao Xuan suddenly said, "Wait, let's go over there and take a look!"
Although it didn't understand why Shao Xuan wanted to go over there, Chacha still turned and flew in the direction Shao Xuan pointed.
Soon, Shao Xuan saw a figure trapped in the mud and being dragged down by seaweed.
"Help … me!" That person was still shouting. His voice was a little hoarse. It was obvious that he had been shouting for some time, but no one came over. Moreover, he didn't seem to have much strength left. Every time he shouted, he would gasp for breath.
That person didn't sound very old. His body was covered in mud, and nearly two-thirds of his body had been pulled down. There were also seaweed sticking out of the mud and wrapping around him.
Chacha couldn't get close, so Shao Xuan let Chacha hold on to the rope. He tied the other end of the rope and jumped down.
"Give me your hand!" Shao Xuan said.
Seeing Shao Xuan jump down from the eagle's back, the person was stunned. However, he quickly pulled his arms out of the mud with all his strength.
Shao Xuan grabbed his arms and pulled them up.
The seaweed was too tight. If Shao Xuan pulled them up forcefully, they would probably break the person's arms.
Shao Xuan freed one hand and let Chacha go down a little more. He took out his stone knife and quickly cut the seaweed sticking out of the mud.
When Shao Xuan pulled the person up, the person who was trapped in the mud gathered the last of his strength and tried to break free from the seaweed still tied to his legs.
Shao Xuan noticed that although this person's face was covered in mud and he couldn't see clearly, his irises were yellowish-brown. His pupils were vertical like blades, giving off a fierce, cold and merciless vibe.
I wonder which tribe he's from, Shao Xuan thought.
Before Shao Xuan left, he went to the shaman's place for training and read almost all of the shaman's hidden scrolls. Shao Xuan knew too little about the person in front of him, so he couldn't match this person to the one recorded in the scrolls.
When the person was finally pulled out of the mud, Chacha began to fly up quickly.
When he finally flew up and his feet touched the ground again, he suddenly felt a sense of fulfillment. This was solid ground, not the swaying surface of the river.
The feeling of being rooted and solid was indeed more reliable.
Chacha also stood on the grassy ground and stepped on it a few times.
As for the person who was rescued by Shao Xuan, he looked like an underage child. However, he was very vigilant against Shao Xuan, even though Shao Xuan had just saved his life.
The person didn't say anything, so Shao Xuan didn't ask. After calming down, he began to pay attention to his surroundings.
There were traces of human activity around. There weren't many, but he could see some. There were also mountains in the distance, and this area was mostly muddy. There were many potholes and pools of water. The natural depressions on the ground formed pools of different sizes. In addition, Shao Xuan also saw traces of claws and teeth on some of the rocks beside the pools. Those weren't made by humans …
In the water?
However, Shao Xuan didn't feel any danger from these pools, and neither did Chacha. Either the creatures in the water were very good at hiding, or there weren't any dangerous creatures in the water at the moment.
The person who was rescued by Shao Xuan lay quietly on the ground, panting. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes kept glancing at Shao Xuan and Chacha.
Finally, the child couldn't help but ask.
"Who are you? Why are you in our tribe? "He asked.
"Your tribe? Which tribe are you from? " Shao Xuan asked. Seeing that the other party was still very vigilant, he said, "My eagle and I came from a faraway place by boat. However, the river level dropped too quickly, so we quickly went ashore. The boat was washed away just now, and I don't know how far it has gone. "
"How long have you been in the river?" The other party didn't believe Shao Xuan's words, and looked at Shao Xuan suspiciously. He seemed very puzzled that Shao Xuan didn't know his tribe.
"More than twenty days," Shao Xuan said.
The other party's eyes widened, and the pupils in his tawny eyes were still narrowed.
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