"Is the name I gave you too flashy? Do you want to change it? Isn't Xiao Hong nice enough?"
"Like a bell!"
Zhuang Rui didn't expect that as soon as he said that, the red horse suddenly reared up and neighed loudly. Zhuang Rui, who was originally holding the red horse, was caught off guard and fell off the horse while holding its neck.
"Damn, so he was unhappy with the name?"
Zhuang Rui finally understood and couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Even Guo Jing's Akhal-Teke horse in 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' can be called Little Red. Surely your bloodline isn't purer than that horse's?"
"Luffy..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the red horse showed a hint of disdain in its eyes and proudly raised its head high. However, it did have the right to be proud. In other words, have you ever seen a horse that could kick a prairie wolf to death with one hoof?
"Okay, okay, we won't call you Little Red. I'll definitely give you the coolest name later, okay? But we can't let you down right now, you have to take me for a spin first..."
Zhuang Rui used the same tricks that the strange old man used to lure the little girl.
"Whoosh..."
Red Horse nodded.
"Can you really understand?"
Zhuang Rui's eyes widened. He now realized that this horse was not only intelligent but could also understand his words. He couldn't help but wonder if he had used too much spiritual energy yesterday and helped the red horse develop its intelligence.
"Alright, why worry about all that? Let's just get on and talk about it..."
Zhuang Rui grabbed the horse's neck, flipped himself up, and mounted again, shouting, "Giddy up!"
This time, the red horse didn't let him down. As soon as Zhuang Rui shouted, it let out a long neigh and lunged forward. Fortunately, Zhuang Rui was prepared, and apart from a sudden jolt in his heart, he remained pressed tightly against the red horse.
The red horse's long neigh was the signal for the herd to set off. After the neigh, a hundred or so horses responded in unison, trotting their hooves and following closely behind the red horse.
A red figure galloped ahead, leaving hundreds of horses in the dust behind. In today's world, where wild horses are almost extinct on the grasslands, this scene is truly spectacular.
"Faster, faster..."
Riding on the red horse felt completely different from when we arrived. The red horse, now in better physical condition, was even faster than before, covering at least ten meters with each stride.
The man and his horse seemed to float in the air, feeling the surrounding scenery constantly receding, a strong wind rushing past their ears, and an indescribable exhilarating feeling rising in their hearts. Zhuang Rui was completely bewildered.
Looking up at the white clouds floating in the blue sky, which seemed to slow down under the speed of the red horse, Zhuang Rui was overjoyed. He leaned down and shouted loudly in the red horse's ear, "I've thought of a name for you, it's called Chasing Wind." This name was not just something Zhuang Rui came up with on a whim, but there was a famous horse in history with this name.
According to the "Notes on Ancient and Modern Times", Qin Shi Huang had seven famous horses: the first was Zhui Feng, the second was Bai Tu, the third was Nie Jing, the fourth was Zhui Dian, the fifth was Fei Pian, the sixth was Tong Jue, and the seventh was Chen Fu.
The Chase the Wind is ranked first among these seven horses, and for thousands of years it has been used to describe the extreme speed of a horse.
"Luffy..."
Seemingly quite satisfied with the name, Chasing Wind suddenly stopped, raised its front hooves high, and let out an excited, loud neigh.
Chapter 1145 Reunion, Wizard
"Hey, why isn't anyone taking a picture of me? I look so cool..."
Zhuang Rui's appearance at this moment was indeed quite impressive. Because the entire body of the horse Zhui Feng was upright, Zhuang Rui's body also stood up, his feet gripping the stirrups and his hands tightly holding the reins. If he were to carry a large sword on his back, he would look like a man with a sword at the ready.
Once Chasing Wind landed on its hooves, Zhuang Rui teased it in the ear, "You little rascal, you're so picky about names. Luckily, I'm learned, otherwise I might have named you something like 'Little Flower'..."
This was the first time Zhuang Rui had ever seen an animal go on strike because it disliked its name. Zhui Feng's level of understanding and human-like intelligence was clearly no less than that of the white lion and King Kong. It seemed that the animals in the park would have another companion in the future.
"Luffy..."
Zhui Feng let out a long hiss in dissatisfaction, as if protesting Zhuang Rui's words, and then began to trot.
When Zhuifeng runs, its movements are different from other horses. Whether it is galloping at breakneck speed or trotting gracefully like a dance, its back is always very stable, and Zhuang Rui can hardly feel any bumps when sitting on it.
"Hey, can we run a little faster? Chasing Wind, your speed doesn't quite live up to your name. You're not even as fast as Little White..."
Zhuang Rui was a little dissatisfied when Chasing Wind slowed down. He had just enjoyed the feeling of being on a cloud, but less than half an hour later, he had fallen from the cloud. He should have named Chasing Wind later.
Zhuang Rui knew that Zhui Feng could understand him, so he deliberately said something to provoke Zhui Feng. As the saying goes, it's better to provoke than to ask. Sure enough, as soon as Zhuang Rui finished speaking, Zhui Feng neighed in dissatisfaction.
Seemingly venting its dissatisfaction, the red horse ran even faster than before, its speed so great that even the wind speed on the grassland at this moment probably couldn't keep up with its current speed.
An hour passed, but Zhui Feng's speed showed no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, he ran with increasing vigor, like a red lightning bolt traversing the vast grassland.
"Holy crap, this...this is way too insane!"
When Zhuang Rui started running, he secretly pressed the stopwatch and used his spiritual energy to make some marks on the road ahead.
Although Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy was being depleted quite a bit at the moment, he could still explore a distance of one kilometer in a straight line. Therefore, he used one kilometer as a marker to measure the speed of chasing the wind.
In the first kilometer, Chasing the Wind took only 57 seconds, and in the second kilometer, Chasing the Wind's speed increased instead of decreasing, taking only 55 seconds.
In that entire hour, Zhui Feng covered a distance of 72 kilometers, which is a full 144 li (approximately 62.5 kilometers). Zhuang Rui, sitting on the horse's back, was so shocked that he almost fell off.
It's important to know that in major horse races around the world, if a horse can reach a speed of 55 kilometers per hour in a 2.5-kilometer race, it can basically secure a victory.
In short-distance sprint races like the 400-meter dash, the fastest horse can only reach a speed of 70 kilometers per hour. However, it's important to note that this refers to "short distance." In other words, even the fastest horse in the world cannot actually run 70 kilometers per hour because it cannot maintain that explosive power indefinitely.
But Chasing Wind did it. Not only did it easily reach a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, comparable to a train before it was upgraded, but it also seemed quite relaxed. Zhuang Rui touched its neck and found that it hadn't even broken a sweat.
"A thoroughbred, this is a true thoroughbred..."
Riding on the back of Zhui Feng, Zhuang Rui was filled with excitement. The ancients described a thoroughbred horse as traveling a thousand li in a day and eight hundred li at night, which adds up to 1,800 li, or 900 kilometers. If it were on Zhui Feng, it could complete this in just over ten hours.
At this moment, Zhui Feng also got carried away and ran wildly in the direction he came from, and his speed increased with each run. However, Zhuang Rui could feel that Zhui Feng's body was gradually getting hot, which meant that he was expending a lot of energy.
Two hours passed quickly. At first, Xiaobai could keep up for a while, but in just twenty minutes, it was left far behind by Zhuifeng, not to mention the Mongolian wild horses whose endurance was greater than their explosive power.
Along the way, Zhuang Rui encountered several herdsmen, but as soon as they met, Zhui Feng galloped past, leaving them only with his back to them.
"Chasing the Wind, alright, slow down. You're the best in the world, aren't you?"
After running for three hours, Zhuang Rui patted Zhui Feng's neck. After running continuously for more than three hours, Zhuang Rui felt sorry for Zhui Feng. He had just expelled the toxins from his body yesterday, and today he was doing such a lot of exercise. Zhuang Rui was afraid that something might happen to him.
In addition, Zhuifeng's speed was too fast, and Zhuang Rui was afraid of missing Batel and the others who were searching for him. He had completely lost his way on this vast grassland, so he simply told Zhuifeng to return to its original place.
Zhuang Rui has now figured out a bit of Zhui Feng's temperament. This dog loves to hear praise, and every time Zhuang Rui says something nice to it, Zhui Feng's ears always stand up very straight.
Sure enough, after hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Zhui Feng slowed down and began to jog across the grassland with elegant, dance-like steps, occasionally turning his head to snort at Zhuang Rui with a smug look.
"Look at how smug you are..."
Zhuang Rui couldn't help but laugh when he saw Zhui Feng's appearance. Although he couldn't tell a horse's teeth by its teeth, judging from Zhui Feng's behavior, it should be quite young, just like a mischievous child.
"Hmm? What place is that?"
As Zhuang Rui rode on horseback, he suddenly saw a hill in the far distance, which was rare on the vast grassland. Zhuang Rui even wondered if he and Zhui Feng had run away from the grassland.
After seven or eight minutes, Zhuang Rui got closer and closer to the small hill. He found that the small hill in front of him was about eighty meters high and only three or four hundred meters wide. It was more like a raised platform than a mountain.
Zhuang Rui chased the red horse at night. He didn't know if he had passed through this area, but after seeing what appeared to be a figure near the small hill, he rode over there anyway. Zhuang Rui hadn't spoken to anyone for two days and was feeling quite stifled.
"This...this is a grotto? How come there's one in the middle of the grasslands?"
After getting closer to the hill, Zhuang Rui was somewhat surprised. It was actually a hill formed of red sandstone. Although the hill was not large, the rock walls were extremely steep, and there were many caves of various sizes scattered on the steep cliffs.
"Since we're here anyway, let's go take a look. Maybe it's some kind of historical site. Oh... why did I forget to ask those people what this place is?"
When Zhuang Rui was still two or three kilometers away from the hill, four or five horses galloped past him at a distance of about twenty meters. It seemed that two of them pointed at Zhuang Rui and said something.
Because Zhuang Rui's attention was drawn to the small hill, and the other horse was moving very fast, by the time Zhuang Rui came to his senses, the other horse had already passed him by.
"Whoa...whoa, let's go..."
Upon seeing Zhuang Rui, the man at the front excitedly grabbed the reins of his galloping horse, turned it around, stood up straight on the horse, and shouted, "Zhuang Rui Anda, is it Zhuang Rui Anda?"
Hearing the familiar voices, Zhuang Rui turned around and was stunned for a moment. The people who came were Batel, Timur, Peng Fei, and Wuyun Qiqige.
There was also an old herdsman who seemed to know Batel very well; he had just been pointing at Zhuang Rui and saying something to Batel.
"Brother Timur, it's me! Haha, I've finally found you..."
Zhuang Rui laughed and jumped off Zhui Feng's back. When his feet touched the ground, he felt a little weak. If he hadn't been holding onto Zhui Feng, he probably would have made a fool of himself on the spot.
When he arrived, his body was constantly nourished by spiritual energy, so Zhuang Rui didn't feel anything. However, after running for more than three hours, he really had to push himself to the limit, and he was somewhat suffering from the aftereffects of riding a horse.
"Damn it, no wonder eight out of ten Mongolians have bowlegs. It turns out they can even change my fully grown bones?"
After Zhuang Rui helped Zhui Feng walk a few steps on the ground, he always felt an emptiness between his legs, and it seemed as if his two feet were walking in circles.
"Zhuang Rui'an, you...you're injured? How did you hurt your face? Quick, lie down, let Uncle Bateng take a look..."
When Timur ran up to him, Zhuang Rui felt a little confused. It was true that he had internal injuries, but it seemed that he couldn't have hurt his face by using too much spiritual energy.
"Brother Timur, what are you saying? I'm perfectly fine, please, please don't hold me down..."
Timur, standing nearby, didn't care about anything else. He immediately helped Zhuang Rui lie down, saying, "Zhuang Rui, Uncle Bateng is the most famous great wizard for hundreds of miles around. You're lucky to have met him. No matter how badly you're injured, it won't kill you..."
Timur glanced behind him as he spoke, his face full of respect, indicating that he held this great shaman in high esteem.
"But... I'm really not hurt..."
Zhuang Rui pushed Timur's hand away in frustration. He knew about Mongolian sorcerers, also known as shamans. In the past, they were powerful beings who could directly "communicate" with the Eternal Heaven and were highly valued by Mongolian emperors and nobles.
However, with the decline of the Mongol Dynasty, shamans have fallen from being powerful beings who could receive the will of the Eternal Heaven to ordinary witch doctors who treat their people and even their cattle, sheep, and horses. Although they no longer have the glory they once had, they are still highly respected by their people.
Chapter 1146 The Ferghana Horse
"But Brother Timur, I'm really not injured at all..."
Zhuang Rui never imagined that he would meet this legendary professional witch doctor, let alone be dragged by Timur to have him examine him, which made him feel both amused and exasperated.
"Brother Zhuang, your face is covered in blood, and you still say you're not injured? Who hurt you? I'll go and cripple him..."
Peng Fei rushed over at that moment, shoving Timur, who was much stronger than him, aside with a murderous look on his face.
Peng Fei was a little frustrated. Why was everything always peaceful when he was with Zhuang Rui, but whenever his brother went out alone, something always seemed to go wrong? In the end, it was because he, as the bodyguard, wasn't doing his job properly.
"Your face is covered in blood? Are you talking about me?"
Zhuang Rui was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. He reached out to touch his face, but as soon as he raised his hand, he froze, because his hands were covered in bright red blood.
"What...what...what's going on?"
Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded when he saw his hands covered in blood. He quickly touched his entire body and found that his neck and clothes were covered in red. However, when he put his hands to his nose, he did not smell the stench of blood. Instead, he smelled a faint fragrance.
"It's not blood..."