The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3084 Unable to Climb Up
The two old men didn't have to wait long before dawn broke over the entire lake, and in a short time, the whole valley turned into daylight.

The two elderly men standing behind the building heard a click, and a small button appeared.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing exchanged glances, both thinking to themselves, "Just as I suspected," the button in the recess appeared during the day. It seemed the mechanism of the iron chain bridge over the lake was designed to appear during the day and revert to its original state at night.

However, what the two couldn't understand was why the suspension bridge had to revert to its original state at night. Did it mean that once opened, the suspension bridge couldn't remain on the lake surface and had to be submerged?

Unfortunately, the two of them couldn't figure it out, so they had to work hard again to get the entire suspension bridge's mechanism working.

The action of summoning the unicorn was repeated once again. The entire action was the same as before: just press the button, and within a short time, the unicorn would leap out of the lake.

However, this time, after the strange beast emerged, it had some difficulty climbing onto the lake shore.

The lake is about ten meters above the shore, which is an obstacle for the unicorn to climb onto the shore.

The unicorn leaped out of the lake several times, but each time it failed to reach the shore. It could only roar anxiously in the water, as if to say that if it couldn't get up, it shouldn't blame itself if it couldn't activate the iron chain bridge mechanism.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing were speechless at the sight of this situation. They hadn't expected such a problem to arise today, which was truly frustrating.

However, to cross this lake, a unicorn is needed; otherwise, the suspension bridge cannot be activated.

So, after thinking it over, Qian Ying called Qian Wantong over and asked him to arrange for someone to make a ladder so that the martial artist could go down and get the unicorn horn from the head of the unicorn beast.

Either of them could have used their weapons as footholds, inserted them into the cliff face, and descended to the lake, then easily retrieved the unicorn.

However, they also had a vague sense of danger. Although they didn't know where the danger came from, they were certain that it came from the lake.

To avoid taking any risks, it's best to be cautious and not risk going down into the lake to retrieve the unicorn horn under these circumstances. It's better to find martial artists to retrieve the horn, while the others guard the shore. In case of any danger, they can intervene promptly to cover the martial artists' quest for the horn.

Although the two didn't exchange a single word, they made the same choice, even achieving a state of perfect understanding, comprehending each other's thoughts with just a glance. Indeed, when it comes to survival, these two old foxes are highly competent.

Of course, it wasn't that no one in the entire martial arts team noticed it, but Qian Ying didn't tell everyone. She only told Qian Wantong, so some of the other martial artists, being oblivious, were still watching the situation from a distance.

After all, some of the martial artists in the group are intelligent, and they can understand it after a little thought.

Qian Wantong immediately went to find people to make them. Although the task was somewhat difficult, since there was nothing but Gobi Desert along the entire lakeshore, the team had made many defensive structures on their way from the canyon, all made from shrubs and branches.

Therefore, one can dismantle a defensive structure and use the trees, shrubs, branches, and ropes to make a rope ladder. In this way, one can descend the cliff along the lake shore, which is only about ten meters high.

The crafting process took time; with the martial artists' help, it took several people over an hour to complete it. Since none of them were professional carpenters, their pace was somewhat slow. It was for this reason that the unicorn, seemingly impatient from waiting, howled a few more times before disappearing into the lake.

"Elder Qian, should we call it again?" Zhou Zixing asked Qian Ying after seeing the strange beast disappear.

Qian Ying shook her head and said, "No need. Let's call out again after Qian Wantong has finished making the ladder. If the beast doesn't appear, then we'll start making a raft to cross the lake. Judging from the rate at which the lake's water level is dropping, if we don't hurry, the lake's water level will definitely drop by more than twenty meters after today. At that point, crossing the lake will be quite difficult."

“But if we build a raft to cross the lake, we don’t know what’s going on on the other side. What if…” For a moment, Zhou Zixing didn’t know how to put it.

After all, yesterday they had arranged for Ouyang Nan and his team to cross the lake and scout out the situation on the other side. Some things happened yesterday, and no one knows exactly what happened; they only knew from the signal flare that there was danger, then the danger was over, the team was safe, and so on.

However, what dangers have occurred on the other side? Will the main force encounter the same dangers when they cross? Furthermore, the situation on the other side is unknown. If we want to find out, it would be best if Ouyang Nan's team returned and reported back.

“I know what you’re saying, but look at how fast the lake is sinking…” Qian Ying pointed to the lake and continued, “Time waits for no one. If we delay any longer, it will become increasingly difficult for us to cross the lake.”

It's important to understand that the lower the water level, the more difficult it becomes, whether it's people reaching the lake or building rafts to cross. Therefore, the best course of action is to cross the lake today, no matter the circumstances. Otherwise, tomorrow will be even more difficult.

As for the danger on the other side, Ouyang Nan's team encountered it, but they resolved it, didn't they? As for the main force crossing, if they encounter danger, then they'll deal with that danger. He didn't believe that Ouyang Nan's team could handle it, but the main force couldn't.

Besides, in this valley, where can you go without encountering danger?
Furthermore, there was something Qian Ying hadn't voiced: the entire lake's drop seemed related to that looming danger. What if the danger surfaced once the lake level dropped to a certain point, preventing them from crossing? Wouldn't they be stranded here?
As for whether Zhou Zixing knew, Qian Ying guessed that Lao Deng probably had some guesses as well, but didn't say anything. After all, things based on feelings are highly uncertain, and if it didn't happen, but still caused unrest in the team, that would be bad.

"Elder Qian, do you think the reason why this unicorn can't get up is because the beast did it on purpose?" Zhou Zixing asked, speculating.

"Well, what should I say?"

“When we were fighting the beasts, they could jump several meters high. And when they leaped out of the lake, they also jumped several meters high. So, could we use their claws to climb directly onto the shore?” Zhou Zixing said.

It's well known that the claws of these strange beasts are incredibly sharp; they know this all too well from their battles with them. For a beast's claws to climb up would be absolutely effortless.

But they didn't know why the unicorn didn't climb up.

Qian Ying thought about it and realized that what Zhou Zixing said was indeed true. According to him, it was quite possible.

However, while the unicorn's behavior was strange—whether it couldn't climb up on its own or was just being cunning—it was no longer important. Time was of the essence; the priority was to find a way to obtain the unicorn's horn.

The rope ladder was ugly to make, but after testing, it worked perfectly. As long as it was placed on the shore and secured with wooden wedges, people could climb down the rope ladder without any problems.

After inspecting the rope ladder and testing it, Qian Ying gave the selected warriors tasked with retrieving the unicorn horn a series of detailed instructions. The main point was that once they were down there, before the beast and the unicorn separated, they must hold onto the unicorn horn tightly to prevent it from falling into the lake.

The lake is so deep that if the unicorn falls in, there's no point in even trying to find it again. Therefore, obtaining the unicorn is a very important task.

Seeing the martial artist nod to indicate that he understood and would carry out the mission carefully, Qian Ying finally felt a little relieved.

Everything is ready, so let's leave it to fate. If something unexpected happens, then we'll start building a raft to cross the lake.

Without thinking further, Qian Ying went back to the back of the building and pressed the button in the recessed hole again. After the building made a sound, the unicorn appeared again in a few seconds, leaped out of the lake, and came to the lake shore, howling once more.

The unicorn says it can't get up there! It really can't get up there.

Qian Ying waved his hand, and Qian Wantong immediately led his men forward, threw down the rope ladder, and then secured it with wooden wedges. Then, a martial artist with a rope tied around his waist descended the rope ladder.

The unicorn beast that emerged from the lake saw people coming down, but it wasn't Qian Ying. Although it was puzzled, it didn't attack the martial artist. Instead, it looked up at Qian Ying on the lake shore.

When Qian Ying saw the unicorn looking at him, he nodded. Although he didn't say anything, he guessed that the unicorn should understand what he meant.

Sure enough, after the warrior went down to approach the unicorn, the unicorn approached the warrior, and then, as the scales on its head slowly writhed, the entire horn began to detach from the unicorn.

As the warriors descended and approached the enormous head and blood-red eyes of the beast, a sense of fear involuntarily crept into their hearts. This had nothing to do with their own strength; it was mainly due to the fear they felt towards the gigantic creature.

Suppressing his fear, he grabbed the unicorn horn with both hands. He absolutely couldn't let the horn fall into the lake; if it did, they would have to find another way to cross it.

The martial artist was able to free his hands and hug the several-meter-long horn by using the rope around his waist. Fortunately, he was a martial artist at the eighth level of the Acquired Realm, so hugging such a horn was not a problem.

People on the shore pulled on the rope, while he, holding the unicorn horn, climbed the rope ladder step by step. After going up a few meters, the tip of the horn was grabbed by the martial artists on the shore, and with everyone's combined efforts, they finally managed to get the unicorn horn safely up.

The moment the unicorn reached the shore, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.