1000 years ago, Gulan City had an inexhaustible source of water. That was the Yellow River, the mother river of Yan Huang. Gulan City was built on the Yellow River.
However, with the changes of the times and the continuous advance of desertification, the Yellow River had changed its course 20 to 30 times. The nearest channel of the Yellow River was 300 kilometers away from Gulan City.
Since Huo Qubing built a stronghold 3000 years ago, Gulan City had been inextricably linked to the Yellow River. 3000 years later, it had completely lost contact with the Yellow River. It had to be said that this was a very ironic thing.
After the large-scale desertification and the loss of irrigation from the Yellow River, the water sources around Gulan City became extremely scarce.
The map in Gu Xuanyuan's hands was drawn 10 years ago. According to the information from 10 years ago, there were 24 large and small water sources within 200 kilometers of Gulan City. These were the traditional oases.
However, the desert was ever-changing. There had never been an oasis that had existed for more than 50 years.
Therefore, this map drawn 10 years ago might not be accurate. Among the 24 oases, it was estimated that at least seven or eight oases had disappeared and were replaced by new oases.
Therefore, Gu Xuanyuan was not sure that the oasis she was heading to next was still at the location shown on the map.
The only thing worth rejoicing about was that Gu Xuanyuan did not know about the changes in these oases. Lu Xihua and the others also did not know about the changes in these oases. Therefore, they would definitely do the same as Gu Xuanyuan and follow the path closest to the oases.
The oasis closest to Gulan City was named Bank Oasis. The reason for this name was because this oasis used to be the ruins of a "China Credit Union 24 Hour Self Help Bank" by the Yellow River. Later on, this place gradually became an oasis. Therefore, it was simply and crudely named Bank Oasis by sword bearers who passed by.
When Gu Xuanyuan arrived at this Bank Oasis, she found that it was just as she had feared. This oasis had lost its greenery and water source. It had once again become a desert. Only a few withered old trees seemed to be crying to passersby about how beautiful this place used to be.
"There is food residue here!"
However, Gu Xuanyuan was not completely oblivious. She found some food residue near an old tree. Obviously, someone had eaten a meal here while leaning against the old tree.
Without a doubt, the two people eating were Lu Xihua and the Mu Xue Sword Spirit.
This once again aroused Gu Xuan Yuan's deep suspicions and worries. This bank oasis was roughly 30 km away from Lu Xihua and the rest's campsite.
According to common sense, after Lu Xihua and the others finished their breakfast, they set off from the ruins early in the morning.
If they had driven a maglev flying car here, it would have taken them less than half an hour to travel the 30 kilometers.
When they found out that the Bank Oasis had disappeared, they would inevitably look for the next possible oasis. In any case, they would not waste three to four hours in this Bank Oasis. They would wait until it was lunchtime to have lunch here.
There was only one reason for this, and that was that Lu Xihua and the others had lost their maglev flying car and could only rely on their own feet to reach the bank oasis. Looking at it this way, 30 kilometers was exactly a three-to-four-hour journey for the sword bearers, and it would be lunchtime when they arrived at the bank oasis.
This situation even more clearly confirmed Gu Xuanyuan's previous guess. Lu Xihua and the others had lost their dimensional pockets, and at the same time, they had also lost the maglev flying car stored in the dimensional pocket.
'It's only been two to three days since they ate here. If Lu Xihua and the others lost their maglev flying car, they definitely won't be able to travel too far and can only move between the nearby oases.'
It stood to reason that after understanding this, Gu Xuanyuan should be very happy. This meant that Gu Xuanyuan only needed to explore all the surrounding oases to have a high chance of finding Lu Xihua and the others.
However, there was a precondition. The precondition was that Lu Xihua and the others were lucky enough to not encounter a powerful Meteor Rank Yuan Bandit. Otherwise, if they lost the hovercraft that could allow them to escape, it would be a huge question mark whether they could even survive around Lan Province.
As a result, Gu Xuanyuan's original plan was completely changed.
Originally, Gu Xuanyuan planned to chase along the road and find Lu Xihua and the others in Xinjiang.
But now this plan had completely changed. Gu Xuanyuan needed to carry out a large-scale search around Lanzhou. Things in this world were really unpredictable!
Thinking of this, Gu Xuanyuan once again sped up her pace and quickly headed to other oases, wanting to find traces of Lu Xihua and the others.
However, the heavens seemed to intentionally increase the difficulty of Gu Xuanyuan's mission. Gu Xuanyuan searched for a total of ten oases along the way, but these ten oases had all dried up and turned back into deserts. Gu Xuanyuan's search was also fruitless.
Finally, when Gu Xuanyuan found the eleventh oasis, a touch of green finally appeared in front of Gu Xuanyuan.
This oasis did not dry up like the previous ten oases. It still maintained its original appearance. There was a small pool of water with an area of about one hectare, and there were some trees growing nearby. It was a rare piece of green in the desert.
"Life detector, activate!" Gu Xuanyuan did not say anything and immediately took out a life detector from her dimensional pocket.
This was a life detector that Gu Xuanyuan had specially asked Sword Immortal Ling Xu for in order to find the location of Lu Xihua and the others. All traces of life within its detection range could be detected by this life detector.
It was a pity that this detection range was still a little too short. According to the range of life within a diameter of ten kilometers, there would be no response beyond this range. If this detection range could be a hundred kilometers, then Gu Xuanyuan's work would probably be much easier. She would only need to quickly make a few rounds around Liao City and she would be able to find Lu Xihua and the others.
What Gu Xuanyuan did not expect was that the moment she took out the life detector, a pleasant surprise occurred.
The life detector began to emit a low and urgent beeping sound. This meant that the life detector had already found a living life nearby. However, this life signal was very weak, and there was the threat of death at any time.
"Could it be Lu Xihua and the others?"
Gu Xuanyuan did not say anything and directly sprinted in the direction indicated by the life detector. In the end, she discovered a person lying face down on the shore of the pool. Most of his body was submerged in the pool, and only his head was exposed.
"It's not Lu Xihua!" After seeing the head clearly, Gu Xuanyuan sank into disappointment.
This person had short hair. Whether it was Lu Xihua or Mu Xue's sword spirit, they both had long hair. If she was not mistaken, this person was not Lu Xihua.
Although she was very disappointed, Gu Xuanyuan still sprinted towards this person and prepared to save him from the water.
After all, this was a human life, Gu Xuanyuan could not just leave him in the lurch.
"It's actually him!" She had to admit that fate was truly full of surprises.
When Gu Xuanyuan pulled this person out of the water and flipped him over, she was shocked to find that this person was actually a familiar face. He was the only descendant of Zhe Tian Jiandi who fought with her in Changyang Mountain, the last descendant of the Yi Clan, Yi Wenjun.
"How could it be him?" Gu Xuanyuan did not expect to meet Yi Wenjun here at all.
More than three years ago, after Yi Wenjun provided Guhan with the evidence that allowed Guhan to turn the tables, Guhan did not have much contact with Yi Wenjun other than having a meal with him.
This was because not long after that, Guhan went to Yan Jing City to participate in the Eighth Academy Assembly, then went straight to Shanhai Pass. He stayed in Shanhai Pass for three years, and did not see Yi Wenjun in Yuzhang City.
If she had not suddenly seen Yi Wenjun, Gu Xuanyuan would have almost forgotten about this person.
"I don't know why he's unconscious!"
Gu Xuanyuan placed Yi Wenjun into the medical pod. The medical pod activated its automatic examination program, and after a series of scans, the examination report was displayed on the screen.
"The patient's body is very healthy, but because he has not eaten for a long time, his vital signs are weak. He only needs to inject a certain amount of glucose to alleviate the symptoms.
However, there is a magical energy that belongs to Yuan Kou in the patient's brain, suppressing his central nervous system, so he is in a coma.
The medical pod does not have the ability to treat this, and only by removing the magical energy in the patient's brain can the patient wake up. "
"As expected, he became like this because he was attacked by Yuan Kou."
The medical pod's diagnosis was very clear, he had fallen into a coma after being attacked by Yuan Kou's magic.
This was a problem that the medical pod could not solve, and Gu Xuanyuan could only find a way to remove the magical energy in Yi Wenjun's brain to wake him up.
But here came the problem, ordinary swordmaidens did not have the ability to remove magical energy, and only a few Confucian or Martial Swordmaidens who had the ability to purify could use their own skills to treat Yi Wenjun.
Obviously, Gu Xuanyuan did not have such a swordmaiden.
"Forget it!
I'll put him in the hovercraft first, and we'll talk about it after we find Lu Xihua and the others! "
Just as Gu Xuanyuan was about to temporarily give up on treating Yi Wenjun, a familiar voice rang in Gu Xuanyuan's ear.
"I say, Guhan, why are you so stupid?
There's a ready-made swordmaiden here, and you actually don't have the ability to remove any magical energy? "This was the Xuan-Yuan Sword's voice, and the Sword Empress began to cry out in surprise again.
"Lady Xuan-Yuan Sword, you mean to say that you have a way to treat Yi Wenjun?" Gu Xuanyuan said with some surprise.
"It's not that I have a way, it's the Immortal Slaying Sword in your hand," the Xuan-Yuan Sword said proudly.
"Your Immortal Slaying Sword is a connate treasure that can even kill deities. You only need to put a bit of Immortal Slaying Sword Qi into his nostrils, and all magical energy will immediately disperse. The moment they touch the Immortal Slaying Sword Qi, they will melt like snow. Who asked the difference in innate levels to be so great?"
Hearing the Xuan-Yuan Sword's words, Gu Xuanyuan placed the tip of the Immortal Slaying Sword at Yi Wenjun's nostrils, and then slightly stimulated a bit of sword qi that resembled green smoke into Yi Wenjun's brain. Not long later, just as the Xuan-Yuan Sword said, Yi Wenjun's eyelids moved, and he slowly opened his eyes.