Exploring the River

After reaching an agreement, Shen Luo entrusted his horse to Yu Dadan and his wife, then poled a small boat out toward the middle of the river.

Before he set off, Yu Dadan carefully reminded him of everything once more, afraid that something might happen to him. Shen Luo naturally did not dare take it lightly, and he carefully memorized the conditions of each stretch of river, along with the matters requiring attention.

The woman even added clean drinking water to the boat, then brought out several flatbreads and some dried meat from the house, wrapped them in sackcloth, and insisted that Shen Luo take them with him to eat aboard the boat.

Unable to refuse such kindness, Shen Luo accepted the bundle with a smile.

The black-canopied skiff drifted downstream with the rushing current. Shen Luo stood at the bow with a bamboo pole in hand, but rather than propelling the boat, he used it to probe for submerged reefs on either side of the vessel.

Before long, the skiff passed around clusters of reeds as tall as a person and entered a vast reed marsh.

According to Yu Dadan, this stretch was the most turbulent section of the entire Luan River. When the boat first entered it, it was not moving particularly fast, but the farther downstream it went, the more sharply its speed increased, until Shen Luo had no choice but to start probing the riverbed with his bamboo pole to slow it down.

He was truly inexperienced at handling a boat. On calm waters, it would not have mattered much, but amid such rapids, even though he was fully focused, he could not avoid being knocked about.

Bang, bang, bang!

The little boat swayed wildly from side to side, repeatedly crashing into hidden reefs beneath the surface. Startled ducks and geese darted from the reed beds on both banks, while waterfowl took to the sky.

Whenever he encountered large whirlpools or submerged reefs, he had to use all his strength to pole the boat away. Otherwise, if it was drawn in, a moment of carelessness could overturn the vessel.

Shen Luo was soon drenched in sweat and seeing stars, yet the rushing water gave him no chance to rest. He could only grit his teeth and hold on.

Along the way, he paid especially close attention to both riverbanks, watching for places where the channel narrowed. But the reeds in the river were tall and dense, obstructing his view, so he could not see clearly enough to judge accurately and could only infer from changes in the current as best he could.

After all, where the river channel narrowed, the current would also speed up.

Shen Luo drifted on like this for seven or eight li. He did not come across any rocky shoals along the way, though there were quite a few sandbars in the middle of the river.

His boat plunged straight between two long, narrow sandbars.

The sandbars were covered in green reeds, forming a natural waterway between them. The moment the skiff entered, its speed suddenly increased, and it shot forward.

With a muffled bang, the little boat suddenly jolted violently as it burst out of the reeds.

Shen Luo staggered and nearly fell headfirst from the bow.

Bracing himself with the bamboo pole, he steadied his footing and looked ahead. To his surprise, the bow had struck a rocky shoal dozens of zhang across. Fortunately, the boat was made of sturdy timber and had not been damaged.

Unlike the sandbars he had seen along the way, this rocky shoal was covered in fist-sized grayish-white pebbles and mud. Yet where the bow had collided, there stood a brown river reef far larger than the other stones.

Not only was the rock jagged and strange in shape, but only about two chi of it protruded above the water, while most of it remained submerged.

By sheer coincidence, the boat's bow had become wedged in a groove in that strange rock. Fortunately, it had not been damaged.

Shen Luo studied both riverbanks for a moment and found that the river channel had clearly narrowed considerably here. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"A narrowed river channel, a rocky shoal, and submerged river reefs. It looks like this is the place," Shen Luo murmured.

According to Yu Yan, their ancestor had found the Nameless Heavenly Scripture beneath a rocky shoal. This place matched the description perfectly.

He had thought he would need to search for quite some time, but unexpectedly, he had found the place without much effort.

Shen Luo tossed the bamboo pole onto the rocky shoal, bent down, and tied the rope at the bow to the river reef. After giving it a hard tug to make sure the boat would not drift away with the current, he dropped onto the deck and lay back.

After poling the boat all the way here, he was already utterly exhausted. At that moment, let alone entering the river to search for the scripture, he did not even have the strength to jump down from the bow.

Shen Luo rested for a long while and ate some dry rations before finally catching his breath and standing again.

He took a bundle of thumb-thick hemp rope from the cabin, firmly tied one end to the river reef, wrapped the other end twice around his waist and secured it, then jumped from the boat onto the rocky shoal.

The rocky shoal was roughly oval and ran in the same direction as the current, long and narrow from east to west and somewhat narrower from north to south. The river reef stood at the western end of the shoal. Standing beside it, Shen Luo peered into the river.

The water was dark and gave off a faint muddy, fishy smell. White foam churned near the shoal, while whirlpools of varying sizes floated across the distant surface. He could not see anything beneath the water.

He steadied himself slightly, extended one foot, and carefully stepped toward the water.

But the loose stones by the water's edge suddenly slipped downward under the slightest pressure.

Shen Luo abruptly stepped into empty space and fell into the river with a splash.

The water here was quite deep, swallowing him whole. The rushing current slammed him hard against the enormous rock behind him. He could not help opening his mouth, gulping down several mouthfuls of river water mixed with mud and sand.

In his panic, he hurriedly struggled around, grabbed the huge rock, and climbed upward. When he raised his head above the surface, he sucked in a sharp breath, then began coughing violently.

Cough, cough...

It took Shen Luo quite a while to recover. He wiped the river water from his face, still shaken.

This place really is dangerous. But if it weren't, the Nameless Heavenly Scripture wouldn't have remained here for so long without anyone finding it. His desire for the Nameless Heavenly Scripture only grew stronger.

This time, he took a deep breath, pinched his nose, and plunged beneath the surface. One hand held onto the massive rock behind him as he slowly felt his way downward.

After entering the water, he gradually opened his eyes, only to find the river water somewhat murky. He could not see much at all, let alone far into the distance. He could only use the river reef as support and feel his way toward the riverbed.

To his surprise, the riverbed here was quite deep. By the time his feet touched the mud and sand below, the breath he had been holding was already running out.

Suppressing the suffocating sensation, he struggled to widen his eyes and look toward the riverbed beneath the rocky shoal. Through the haze, he vaguely saw what seemed to be mud pits and stone hollows of indeterminate depth, but he could not make them out clearly. He quickly reached out to feel around.

But after only a short while, holding his breath for so long left his head spinning and his chest tight. He could only cling to the rock and slowly climb back to the surface.

Shen Luo gulped down air, his chest heaving violently.

Once his breathing calmed a little, he plunged headfirst into the water again and sank toward the riverbed.

This time, to remain at the bottom longer, he descended much faster. The moment he reached the riverbed, he immediately began feeling around underwater.

The riverbed was dim, and silt swirled through the water, making his eyes of little help. Shen Luo could only grope about like a headless fly.

Before long, his breath ran out, and he could only return to the surface once more.

After recovering slightly, he hurriedly plunged back to the riverbed and searched all around beneath the rocky shoal.

After several trips, Shen Luo surfaced for air, exhausted and freezing. Even his lips had turned faintly bluish-purple.

Clinging to the river reef, he tilted his head slightly and looked westward, only to find that the sun had begun to set.

One more try...

Shen Luo's eyes sharpened. He took another deep breath and sank once more, diving toward the riverbed.

He had already felt through nearly every mud pit and stone hollow beneath the river reef, so he swam around the rock toward the southern side of the rocky shoal, keeping his palm against the riverbed as he felt deeper inside.

This time, when his right hand squeezed through a small hole and reached within, his fingertips suddenly touched something completely unlike stone.