The old drunkard immediately grabbed his only possession, "Don't beat my idea, I know that you Orientals always want to get some benefits from us old fellows!" ”

Zhang Fan smiled and didn't insist. Greenwing blinked, thoughtful......

…………

After a day's walking, the expedition came to a vast swamp. It is an endless river of grass less than half a meter deep, and the aquatic grass is abundant, and the most common plant here is the sawgrass reed called crasedge, which is up to three meters high, covering almost all of the swamp. Hundreds of species of birds and wildlife inhabit the area.

Zhang Fan knew that this swamp was described in detail in the book demon's information. There are indeed Indians here, which are a little different from Zhang Fan's imagination, not the appearance of wearing feathers on his head. It's just like the natives of other places, but it looks like the yellow people of the East, with a broad forehead and a flat nose, much like the Mongols. In fact, the Mayans of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula looked a lot like these Indians.

The old drunkard knew Indian and spoke it fluently, and perhaps the old man had lived in the area for a while. The Native Americans were disgusted by the Caucasian race, Caterina and Captain Hook. But when he saw Zhang Fan's green wings, the two yellow and black entourage, they behaved very friendly. This made Captain Hook even less fond of the expedition.

They came to their place of residence on rafts and canoes of the Indians. These Indians were inhabited by higher mounds in the Everglades, and on top of the mounds they built a kind of dwelling without four walls, called 'chiki'. A thatched roof is built on a high platform with logs as a frame, which is very airy. They also grow corn, beans, melons and pumpkins on small plots of land on higher ground, and it is truly a miracle that they are able to live in such a place.

These Native Americans called this large swamp of abundant water and grass 'Pameoki,' which means grassy waters. Katerina can't wait for the old drunkard to ask about the whereabouts of the Fountain of Youth. However, it seems that these indigenous Indians are very secretive about this miraculous spring, and even show fear.

The old drunkard told the truth, in fact, the first time he came here, he only came here, because he was suffering from malaria, and did not follow the expedition deeper, so he saved his life. What he meant was that the expedition ended there. In fact, the old guy has already brought several expeditions here, and that's it.

Then some expeditions went deep into the swamp and were never heard from. But more often than not, they lost their troops and retreated. No matter how it ends, the old drunkard will only stop here, and he will not go in if he is killed. And these natives are also very protective of this old guy, and it is not easy to hurt or force him here.

The old drunkard asked Caterina for thirty gold pounds to lead the way, but of course he refused. Captain Hook even angrily hooked him by the collar with a bloody iron hook, and asked him to spit out the crate of rum he had drunk! The Indians immediately surrounded him with weapons in hand, and Caterina saw this, and immediately dissuaded Hook.

Zhang Fan, who had been silent on the side, suddenly walked up at this time and stopped Caterina and Captain Hook. Nodding slightly to the old drunkard, he took out a bag of gold coins and handed it over, "You deserve it." If we make it back alive, I'll give you another case of rum. There are ten gold pounds here, and you may be able to get the Indians to send us two canoes, or a raft. If there was more food, it would be appreciated......"

The old drunkard's one-eyed eyes narrowed into a slit, "You are truly a generous nobleman, and your request will be satisfied." I think the gods here will bless you too...... But if you can add ten more gold pounds and a bottle of gold rum, I can have my 'king' show you the way." It's really been to the Fountain of Youth......"

"I've killed you, a liar!" Captain Hook shouted angrily when he saw that the old drunkard was not greedy enough.

However, Zhang Fan didn't seem to care, and trusted this drunkard who seemed to be an old liar, and happily paid ten gold pounds, and asked Caterina to give him a bottle of golden rum. This made Captain Hook disdain and walked away. He really couldn't get used to the triumphant face of this old liar.

The old drunkard greedily grabbed the gold pound and put it in his pocket. It's a pity that the pocket of the coat is actually broken, and the yellow gold pounds are rolling all over the ground. The old guy's legs and feet were not good, and he was so anxious that he shouted, Zhang Fan possessed him and picked him up, took off his coat, put it on him, and put the gold pound in the pocket of his new clothes.

The old drunkard nodded in satisfaction, turned back and muttered a few words to the red-eyed crow on his shoulder. The crow seemed to have a little temper, and it looked a little disdainful. But it flew up, hovered in the air for a while, and landed on a stand for hanging lights on a raft on the water. This crow is indeed somewhat psychic.

The Indians prepared two canoes and a raft for the expedition, and roughly pointed the expedition in a direction to the southeast of the Everglades. The old drunkard stood on the mound, leaning on the slender wooden staff, muttering something as he drank, and looked at the distant expedition with one eye, flashing with a cunning light.

…………

The water in the swamp is not deep, but the silt is deep. The deeper you go, the more you lose your vision, and it seems to become eerie. Gradually, sparse shrub forests appeared, and there were more and more tall trees. The creatures here are also becoming less and less friendly, with swamp crocodiles, lizards, venomous snakes, and even jungle pythons being spotted.

What makes it even more unbearable for everyone is that there are more and more poisonous insects, mosquitoes and flies. Fortunately, the black entourage was also indigenous, and this kind of field activity was commonplace, and they smeared the mud on their bodies to protect themselves from poisonous insect bites. Zhang Fan and the four of them naturally couldn't do this, so Caterina took out an ointment with a rich spicy aroma and asked everyone to apply it on their bodies. This is a special ointment that she bought from the Ottoman Empire at great expense, and it is said to have a powerful effect on evil spirits!

But it seems that this function has not been brought into play, or this is originally a beautiful haode wish. The sky gradually darkened, and Zhang Fan actually saw a strange ghost......

Shadowy gray-blue ghosts floated around, as if they were ownerless souls. But if you look closely, you can see that there is a corpse in the area where they are located. If it is a normal death or a soul that has been killed, it should go to samsara and drift away. But the ghost hovered around his corpse and did not leave.

There can only be two reasons for this situation, the first is that the grievances suffered by the death before death are too great and they are unwilling to leave. Second, he was imprisoned by a corpse by spell and could not leave. If it's the first type, then these ghosts should be terrible ghosts, and they should have pounced a long time ago. Since they all seem unconscious, it should be the second possibility.

But what's the use of keeping these ghosts? If it is a spirit fox, there is also a imprisoned ghost, as a character in the spirit fox fantasy world. But these ghosts are clearly unconscious, are they imprisoned by some kind of natural spell?

Just as everyone was frightened, a strange figure lurked in the swampy woods and patrolled not far from the expedition. From time to time, there is a pair of yellow-green vertical pupils, flashing greedily in the shadows.

"They are all members of the Spanish expedition!" Captain Hook picked up a skeleton leaning against the roots of a tree, and saw that there were many bits and pieces scattered on the skeleton, and there were telescopes, kettles, flintlock muskets, badges, and the like that could prove its identity.

Captain Hook's actions aroused the indignation of the ghost near the corpse, and it howled and rushed towards Captain Hook, startling everyone to put on a defensive line. But the ghost had passed through Captain Hook's body, and it didn't hurt him in the slightest. Although it was a false alarm, Captain Hook's behavior still caused serious dissatisfaction among everyone.

Zhang Fan stretched out his hand and muttered a Buddhist mantra, and the colorful Buddha light emanated from his hand, and the ghost was shrouded in the Buddha's light, dispelling the obscure curse of its bondage, and with a smile of relief, it drifted away into the sky.

In the deep and gloomy swamp woods, this Buddha's light is like a lost street lamp. But it also attracts evil peeps. The strange gaze hidden in the shadows, with disgust and greed, quietly approached.

The perceptive native suddenly sensed that there seemed to be movement behind him, but after issuing a warning, he turned around and did not notice it. But the crow that led the way suddenly "croaked" at a dense forest! "Shouted twice.

The starlight in Greenwing's eyes flickered, and he found that in the dense forest, a dotted shadow hovered faintly in the forest swamp. Sometimes it winds and wanders in the trees, like a giant python, and sometimes it winds and sweeps over the sparkling water, like a giant bird with a long tail. The body seems to be very large, but it is unusually light, and the movement is silent!

"A strange creature, like a giant serpent, can fly. Either the defense is strong, or I'm able to block my weak spot detection! Greenwing teleported. A feeling of a thorn in her back made her quickly arm herself. "Do you want me to go and meet it first?" Greenwing didn't like the feeling of being watched, and wanted to force the monster out.

"Don't risk it, there are so many dead creatures here, we guess we've already broken into its territory. This may well be the root of the mystery that many of the expeditions seeking the Fountain of Youth never returned. Zhang Fan stopped Green Wing and quietly took the doll that summoned Dornier in his hand. Be ready to jump into battle at any time.

Due to the warning of the black aborigines, the expedition team took out the guns and loaded, all short-barreled shotguns, one load, together with a total of five bullets in the chamber, the maximum range of 150 meters, the effective range of 60 meters, is the only weapon in close combat!