Shen Yuan Ring

As darkness fell, the bandits finished loading their goods.

The bright moonlight spilled onto the calm river surface, and several small boats glided slowly, making the river shimmer and sparkle – a truly beautiful sight.

However, Ji Daoyi had no time to appreciate such a beautiful scene.

Half an hour passed,

Ji Xiaohu caught up with Ji Daoyi and his group by following the signs along the way.

"Little Tiger, how's it going over there?"

“It was easy. Those people were just ordinary people. I took them all down with a few punches and kicks. In the end, I didn’t even have to interrogate them much. They were all eager to tell me what they knew.”

"What did you find out?"

"Just as we guessed, the Sanhe Gang is the bandits we're looking for! As for what they're transporting, they don't know either, but they are indeed going to deliver this batch of goods to the Sanhe Gang tonight."

"Is there any other information? For example, where is it being delivered to?"

"The rest of the peripheral members don't know either. As for where the live goods are delivered, it seems to be at the confluence of three rivers. They say to just follow the river and you'll know when you get there."

For a typical peripheral member, asking this many questions is already quite an achievement.

Of course, if these peripheral members knew about the Sanhe Gang's hideout, they would probably have wiped them out long ago, leaving no room for Ji Daoyi and his group!

With the rendezvous point mentioned by Ji Xiaohu, Ji Daoyi planned to split them into two teams. One team would continue to follow the goods, while the other team would go directly to the rendezvous point to scout it out and see who was making the rendezvous.

after an hour,

Ji Daoyi followed the boat to the confluence of the three rivers, where Ji Zihan and the other two were already waiting.

The confluence of three rivers forms a huge lake, where whirlpools appear from time to time. Legend has it that anyone who falls into a whirlpool will die.

As soon as Ji Daoyi arrived, he saw a large ship taking over the cargo from a small boat. The ship was moving very skillfully, clearly not for the first time.

"So, did you see which direction that big ship came from?"

"When we arrived, the large ship was already there, it hadn't moved at all, and it wasn't lit up. The torches were only lit after the small boats approached."

"Everyone, take a break first. I estimate they won't be able to unload all that cargo anytime soon, so there's no need for everyone to keep an eye on them. I'll call you when the time is right."

If it weren't for the faint moonlight, Ji Daoyi would have had a hard time seeing these people in the dark.

Several more hours passed, and the cargo from the small boat was finally moved onto the deck of the large ship.

After the small boat had completely left, the large ship threw all the cargo unloaded from the small boat into the river!

"Wake up, everyone!"

Hearing Ji Daoyi's soft call, everyone opened their eyes.

"Look, they've sunk all the goods they just received into the river!"

"Not only that, look, some people have jumped into the water! There are far fewer people on deck now!"

"The big ship is moving!"

"Xiao Hu, you stay here and keep watch to see if anyone comes ashore. We'll follow that big ship to see where it came from and whose ship it is. Once we know the situation, we'll come back here."

The next morning,

Ji Daoyi and his group returned to Sanhe Huijiang, where Ji Xiaohu was still waiting.

"Little Tiger, has anyone made it ashore?"

“I didn’t see them unless they came ashore from somewhere else, but this is the closest they’ve come to shore.”

(They didn't even make it ashore, so how could they possibly escape underwater? Even the best swimmers couldn't stay underwater for that long, especially considering all that cargo sank. Could there be something else going on underwater?)

While Ji Daoyi was still pondering, Ji Xiaohu asked them about the progress of their tracking.

"That big ship is rented. It has been rented three times this month. Each time it goes out in the evening and returns in the morning. The owner is very generous."

"Did they say who rented it?"

"All I know is that the Xiang family acted as guarantor, and the person who rented the boat is of average appearance with nothing special about him!"

"Could it be the Xiang family? But that doesn't make sense. The real Sanhe Gang should be the group that jumped into the water last night, and those who went back might have been invited."

While the group was still discussing, Ji Daoyi suddenly took a deep breath, looked at everyone with a very heavy expression, and said, "Do you all believe me?"

The other four nodded without hesitation.

"Since everyone trusts me, let's build a raft ourselves and go to the confluence of the three rivers to see what it's like!"

"Brother Dao, there are whirlpools over there. Our raft is no match for their pull, and we might even get caught in them."

"I know, but the answer I'm looking for might be right here in this whirlpool! Of course, I won't force you. If you're willing, come with me to take a look; if you're not, stay on the shore and meet us."

Seeing that Ji Daoyi had said so, everyone stopped talking and got straight to work!

Making a raft was not difficult for the group; they finished one in less than fifteen minutes.

Several people boarded a raft and arrived at the middle of the river!

"Brother Dao, look, that's a vortex!"

Following the direction Ji Xiaohu pointed, a small whirlpool was constantly rotating, as if there was a bottomless pit in the river, and the river water kept pouring into it, trying to fill it up.

As Ji Daoyi looked at the vortex, he instantly sensed a faint fluctuation of Yuan energy within it!

Ji Daoyi's heart stirred. If there was truly a universe within this vortex, then the Yuan energy fluctuation just now must have been transmitted from the underwater space through the vortex. However, when he sensed that trace of Yuan energy fluctuation again, he could not find any trace of it.

He thought he was just feeling dizzy and misinterpreting things, so he turned to ask the others, but they all shook their heads and said they didn't feel anything.

(Maybe I'm just dizzy and misperceiving things!)

The group continued paddling the raft towards other areas, and perhaps by some mysterious force, the whirlpool suddenly widened.

Wang Dan exclaimed, "Quickly, row away! The whirlpool is getting bigger!"

At this moment, Ji Daoyi also sensed that trace of Yuan energy fluctuation, which came from this vortex!

He hurriedly shouted, "Wait! Sensing, did you feel any Yuan energy fluctuations in the vortex just now?"

"There really is a fluctuation of Yuan energy. Dao Yi, your perception is too strong! You can even detect such a slight fluctuation!"

"If you're an alchemist, you can do it too!"

"But what does this fluctuation of Yuan energy have to do with the bandits we're looking for?"

Ji Daoyi smiled mysteriously. He didn't explain, because it was all just speculation, and he couldn't explain it clearly anyway, so he decided to try it out himself.

Ji Daoyi took a step in place, then leaped into the air, heading straight for the vortex.

The people standing nearby were stunned and shouted in unison, trying to dissuade him from doing something foolish!

The incident happened very suddenly, and the whole process took no more than five seconds, so the people had no time to stop it!

"Since Brother Dao has already jumped, I believe him!"

Then Ji Xiaohu also jumped into the whirlpool, and the remaining three looked at each other before jumping in one after another.