After reaching an agreement, Shen Luo handed the horse over to Yu Dadan and his wife to take care of, while he pushed the small boat towards the middle of the river.
Before setting off, Yu Dadan did not forget to carefully warn him, fearing that something would happen to him. Shen Luo naturally did not dare to neglect this, and carefully noted down the situation of each section of the river, as well as the things he needed to pay attention to.
The woman even added clean water to the boat, and brought out a few pancakes and some jerky from home. She wrapped them in linen, and insisted that Shen Luo take them to the boat to eat.
Shen Luo found it difficult to refuse such hospitality, so he accepted the package with a smile.
The small boat with a black awning floated down the river. Shen Luo stood at the bow of the boat, holding a bamboo pole in his hand, but he did not push the boat. Instead, he went up and down to explore the reefs on both sides of the boat.
Soon, the small boat went around a clump of reeds that were as tall as a person, and entered a reed marsh.
According to Yu Dadan, this section of the river was the most turbulent section of the river. When the boat first entered the water, its speed was not too fast, but the further downstream it went, the faster it became, so much so that Shen Luo had no choice but to use the bamboo pole to explore the bottom of the river to slow down the boat.
It was just that he was unfamiliar with the fact of pushing the boat. It was fine on the calm water, but in this kind of turbulent current, even though he was completely focused, he still could not avoid bumping into things.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The small boat swayed to the east and west, constantly crashing into the reefs under the river, startling the geese and water birds on both sides of the reeds to fly away.
When encountering some large eddies and reefs, he still had to use all his strength to push the boat away, otherwise, if he was caught in it, the slightest carelessness would cause the boat to capsize.
Shen Luo quickly became so tired that he was sweating all over and seeing stars, but under the pressure of the water, he could not rest, so he could only grit his teeth and endure.
Along the way, he paid special attention to the two sides of the river to see if there were any places where the river narrowed, but because the reeds in the river were tall and dense, his vision was affected, and he could not see clearly. He could only judge based on the changes in the water as much as possible.
After all, where the river narrowed, the speed of the water flow would also increase.
Shen Luo drifted like this for seven to eight li. Along the way, he didn't encounter any rocky beaches. However, there were quite a few sandbanks in the middle of the river.
His boat plunged head-on into two long and narrow sandbars.
The sandbar was covered with green reeds, as if a natural waterway had been created. The moment the boat entered the waterway, its speed suddenly increased, and it rushed out.
"Bang!" A muffled sound was heard. When the boat rushed out of the reeds, it suddenly shook violently.
Shen Luo staggered and almost fell from the bow of the ship.
He supported himself with the bamboo pole and steadied himself. Looking forward, he saw that the bow of the boat had crashed into a rocky beach with a radius of several hundred feet. Fortunately, the boat was made of sturdy wood, so it wasn't damaged.
Unlike the sandbanks they saw along the way, the rocky beach was full of fist-sized grayish-white pebbles and sand. However, at the place where the boat collided with the bow, there was a brown reef that was much larger than the other rocks.
This rock was not only rugged and strange, but it was also only two feet high above the water surface. Most of it was hidden under the water.
Coincidentally, the bow of the boat was stuck in a groove on this strange rock. Fortunately, it wasn't damaged.
Shen Luo looked at the two sides of the river for a moment. He found that the two sides of the river narrowed a lot at this point. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Where the river narrowed, rocky beach, underwater reef … it seems to be here," Shen Luo murmured.
According to what Yu Yan said, their ancestor had found the Nameless Heavenly Book under a pile of rocks. The place before their eyes seemed to fit the description perfectly.
He thought that he would need to search for a long time, but he didn't expect that he wouldn't need to spend too much effort.
Shen Luo threw the bamboo pole onto the rocky beach and bent down to tie the rope that was tied to the bow of the boat to the reef. He tugged hard to make sure that the boat would not float away again. Then, he sat down on the cabin and fell backwards.
He had been pushing the boat all the way, so he was already exhausted. At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to jump off the bow of the boat, let alone go down the river to find the Heavenly Book.
Shen Luo rested for a long time and ate some dry food. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief and stood up again.
He took out a bundle of hemp rope as thick as a thumb from the cabin. He tied one end to the reef and wrapped the other end around his waist. Then, he jumped off the boat and came to the rocky beach.
The shape of the rocky beach was almost elliptical, in line with the direction of the water flow, it was long and narrow from east to west, slightly narrower from north to south. The reef stood at the west end of the rocky beach. Shen Luo stood next to the rock and looked into the river.
He saw that the river water was dark and had a faint smell of mud. There were white waves on the rocky beach nearby. Whirlpools of different sizes floated on the surface of the river. He couldn't see the situation under the water at all.
He calmed down a little. He stretched out a foot and carefully stepped into the water.
As a result, the rocks at the edge of the water loosened. He suddenly slid down with a little force.
Suddenly Shen Luo's foot missed a step. 'Splash!' he fell into the river.
The river water here was quite deep. His whole body was buried in the water. Then, he was suddenly swept by the rapid river water. His back hit the huge rock. He couldn't help but open his mouth and choke on a few mouthfuls of river water mixed with mud.
In a panic, he struggled to turn around. He grabbed the huge rock and climbed up. He stuck his head out of the water and took a deep breath. Then, he coughed violently.
"Cough, cough …"
Shen Luo recovered after a while. He wiped the river water on his face. He was still in a state of shock.
"This place is truly dangerous. However, if that wasn't the case, the Nameless Heavenly Book wouldn't have been here for so long without anyone finding it," Shen Luo thought. His desire for the Nameless Heavenly Book grew even stronger.
This time, he took a deep breath. Then, he pinched his nose and suddenly sank into the water. He held the huge rock behind him with one hand and slowly went down into the water.
After entering the water, he slowly opened his eyes. He found that the water in the river was a little turbid. He couldn't see too much clearly. He also couldn't see too far. He could only rely on the help of the river reef to reach the bottom of the river.
What surprised him was that the riverbed was quite deep. When his feet stepped on the mud and sand at the bottom of the river, the breath he held was no longer enough.
He resisted the feeling of suffocation and tried to open his eyes wide to look at the bottom of the river. He vaguely saw that there seemed to be some muddy caves and stone caves. He couldn't see clearly. He hurriedly stretched out his hand and groped around.
He only groped for a little while. Holding his breath for a long time made him dizzy. His chest felt stuffy. He could only hold the rock and slowly climb back up to the surface of the water.
Shen Luo sucked in big mouthfuls of air. His chest rose and fell violently.
When his breath calmed down a little, he plunged into the water again and sank to the bottom of the river.
This time, in order to stay at the bottom of the river for a little longer, he sank much faster. Once he reached the bottom of the river, he immediately groped around underwater.
However, the bottom of the river was dark. There was also mud and sand floating up. His eyes couldn't help much. Shen Luo could only grope around like a headless fly.
After a while, his breath was exhausted. He could only return again.
When he recovered a little, he hurriedly plunged into the bottom of the river and groped around under the rocky beach.
After a few trips, Shen Luo floated up to the surface to breathe. He was tired and cold. His lips were a little purple.
He held the rock and slightly raised his head to look at the sky in the west. He found that the sun had begun to set.
"Let's try again …"
Shen Luo's eyes narrowed, and he took another deep breath. His entire body sank down again, diving toward the bottom of the river.
He had almost touched all the muddy caves under the river reef. He went around the rocks and swam toward the south side of the rocky beach. His palm touched the riverbed.
This time, when his right hand squeezed through a small hole and reached inside, his fingertips suddenly touched something that was completely different from the stone.
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