His body is still far from fully recovered. He can barely walk at the moment. He's far from being able to mobilize his inner energy. However, his senses have almost fully recovered. This can be considered one of his innate abilities.
He reined in his warhorse, carefully sensing the changes in the surrounding air currents. Then he turned around and found Daenerys.
"We need to adjust our direction slightly."
------------
Chapter 234 City of Withered Bones
Dani is playing with her little dragon. This is probably the only time of day she can smile.
The three little dragons were very thin and small. They wobbled as they crawled. They were clearly malnourished. There was no other way; food was scarce in Karasa, and meat was especially rare.
More importantly, these little dragons were incredibly voracious. They needed to eat three times their own body weight in food every day. Whenever Lu Xuan witnessed this, he could feel that he was in a truly magical world. And dragons, in particular, were truly magical creatures.
Seeing Dani roast some meat specially prepared for the little dragons until it was charred, and then feed it to them, Lu Xuan stepped forward and offered his suggestion.
Why change course?
"First of all, it's not about changing course. The area we're in now has probably been untouched for thousands of years. There's no road to speak of. We just need to make a slight adjustment to our direction. To the northwest, the wind is blocked by some obstacles. We might be able to find a valley or ruins there that can shield us from the sun."
Lu Xuan wasn't lying; he could indeed discern subtle changes in airflow. The feeling of wind blowing across a plain is different from that of wind blowing through a city, mountains, or rivers. Subtle variations in wind direction, humidity, and temperature allow one to glean much more information from the wind. Of course, this assumes one has the same extraordinary abilities as Lu Xuan.
"Sir Lu, how confident are you?"
"...I have no confidence. All I know is that there are a lot of obstacles in that direction, but I'm not sure what they are. Khaleesi, you are the leader of this team. We are all under your protection. We offer our opinions, but making the decisions is your responsibility."
Daenerys was taken aback. Although she was the last Targaryen princess, she had never truly received a royal education, and almost no one had taught her how to be a queen. Hearing Lu Xuan's words, she trembled slightly, then took a deep breath and said...
"Then let's adjust our direction as you said."
The change in direction didn't cause much of a stir. In fact, they had changed direction more than once in the past few days, but in the end, they still didn't see any human settlements.
But this time, everything was different. Because a day later, they vaguely saw some dark figures.
"Look ahead, there seems to be a city there."
A city nestled in the wilderness appeared before them. This discovery nearly drove everyone mad. However, when they finally reached the so-called city after exhausting almost all their strength, they discovered it was nothing more than a desolate and abandoned place.
"It's much better than we imagined. There are still quite a few intact buildings in the city where we can rest, at least to avoid the sun," Lu Xuan said, encouraging everyone. Daenerys, who was standing nearby, also came to her senses.
“Ago, Lacaro, take a bunch of people in to explore and make sure it’s safe.” Dani finally stepped forward. Just like Lu Xuan had told her yesterday, she knew she needed to make the decision now.
Two Blood Oath Guards, leading five or six men, entered the abandoned city. They soon returned on horseback.
"Kalish, no danger detected, the city is deserted."
"Very good, let's enter the city."
The group slowly passed through a section of dilapidated city wall and entered the abandoned city.
The once-imposing city walls are now mostly ruins. Inside, a maze of narrow, winding alleyways crisscrosses the city, suggesting it was primarily a military defensive city. As far as the eye can see, all the buildings are a ghastly white.
“Vistoron…” Daenerys murmured the perfectly fitting name. In Dothraki, the name means “City of Bones.”
"Having people search the city's core area might lead to the discovery of a well."
"If there's water, why would a city be abandoned?" Jorah held a pessimistic view on this.
"We have to give it a try. There could be many reasons why a city was abandoned. Look at the city's structure; it was originally supposed to be a military city. Perhaps its military objectives have been achieved. Or, as you might think, the Red Wasteland has spread here, forcing us to abandon it. But we have to give it a try, don't we?"
Ever since Lu Xuan helped Lacasa find clean water, most of the centaurs have become much more friendly towards him. Although they are savage, they are not stupid; they know this man is a friend of the centaurs.
Not long after, Aka galloped back, and thanks to his superb horsemanship, he was still able to ride at a fast pace through the narrow alleys.
"Kalish, we've found a well. There's still water in it, but we need a rope."
Jorah turned to look at Lu Xuan in surprise, only to see that the other party had a calm expression, as if he had expected it.
Lu Xuan certainly wasn't a prophet. This city didn't even appear in the TV series. In the original novel, although it was mentioned quite a bit, it was only a transition and barely mentioned again later. He couldn't be certain whether there was water here. However, he judged that there was a high probability it might exist.
At this moment, Jorah leaned closer, looked into Lu Xuan's eyes, and asked.
"You knew there was water here all along? You've been here before?"
"...Of course I've never been here. Looking at the surrounding environment, it's possible that no one has set foot here for thousands of years. These are just some simple guesses. A city primarily for military purposes must have a groundwater supply. Otherwise, relying solely on water sources outside the city would make it easy for the enemy to target it."
Moreover, I didn't see any signs of a riverbed nearby. Therefore, the possibility of an underground well is even higher. Such wells, if used excessively, might temporarily dry up. However, they might recover after a period of time. Over a thousand years, if a well still exists here, it should have recovered by now. You see, these are all simple common sense.”
Jorah: "..." He was internally screaming: Is this really that simple? Why didn't I think of that? Is it because I'm too bad at the game?
The city of bones offered much more than just that. Because of the presence of groundwater, the soil was more moist. The abandoned city was overgrown with various weeds, attracting many animals to settle there.
With herbivores come carnivores. Over thousands of years of evolution, a small ecosystem has formed within the city. Of course, for the centaurs, all of this simply means a large amount of food has appeared before them.
------------
Chapter 235 A Bunch of Novices
In an iron wok, solidified mutton fat melted rapidly under the high temperature. Lu Xuan added the rabbit meat to the wok and stir-fried it. He waited until the rabbit meat was slightly browned, or to be more precise, until a caramelized layer appeared. Then he added water and simmered it slowly.
Then, in another pot, I sautéed some mushrooms and wild vegetables in mutton fat. When the rabbit meat was about 60-70% cooked, I added the vegetables and continued to simmer.
It was a very simple, large-pot dish. But for these centaurs, it was already dazzling. Eating? Why was it so complicated? Isn't it just roasting or boiling? Why so many steps?
He cooked himself a large pot of stewed rabbit. He had a centaur maid deliver a portion to Daenerys, and then he ate and drank heartily alone in a corner.