Farewell to her companions for the time being, Xia Qiu walked all the way up the road in the center of the city to the fourth floor of Qingyang City, and the sign gate of the seven-tone gate that she was responsible for opening happened to be on this level.

She also got the same spherical compass from Dong Muya as everyone else, and at this time, the fourth layer was silent, and only her own shadow was by her side. The buildings on this floor are denser than any other, with small brick-red houses one after the other.

Looking out the window, the rooms are all very similar, and they are all dusty or cobwebbed because they have not been inhabited for a long time. The spiders on the spider's web, with a black background and red and yellow patterns, have a body the size of a fist and extremely long legs, and at a glance they know that they contain highly poisonous, probably because these houses have been empty for too long, so now they are the owners of this place.

She followed the trail southwest to an angle of about two hundred and ten degrees, where there was an empty field, and the buildings on both sides seemed to have been cut off out of thin air, and she suddenly left the open space.

In the center of the clearing, there was a circular pool of water that was more in harmony with the surrounding landscape, and she stepped forward to find that the water filled with it was clear but bottomless, and on the edge of the pool stood a square stone monument.

The inscription on the stele reads, "Those who are gifted with abilities can enter the wonderland, those who are pure can save their lives, and those who are pure in heart are fortunate to see their true faces, and the three can be solved together." ”

These words are not difficult to understand literally, and they basically correspond to the conditions described in the conjunct to be able to open the floodgates of signs. But she didn't quite understand whether she should enter the pool or not, and she couldn't figure out why the hya hadn't said anything about it. Is it deliberately concealed from them? Or is there something unspeakable?

She didn't know what would happen if she entered the pool of water in front of her alone, but after so many adventures, she couldn't let herself stop there. The Gate of Signs was still waiting for her to open, and the Array of Wonders was waiting for her and her companions to crack it, she mustered up the courage to take a deep breath, then pinched her nose and jumped into the pool.

The water was so cold that her body shivered as it sank. After getting used to the underwater sensation, she opened her eyes and looked around, the edge of the pool was fading and she felt as if she was in an open water.

The pale green water was empty, and the endless loneliness made her forget to hold her breath, and at some point, she began to breathe normally, and strangely did not choke on the water. Suddenly, the sinking feeling turned into an upward feeling, and she was lifted up by buoyancy and came to the surface of the water.

It was still the same pond as before, and it looked no different from the fourth layer of Qingyang City she had just seen, if it weren't for the bustling Demon Spirit Clan constantly passing in front of the pond, she really thought she was back to square one.

The demon spirit clan in front of her was dressed in simple clothes, and their appearance was similar to that of the chorus, they were stocky, their upper limbs looked slightly long, their hair was thick, their noses were flat, their cheeks were slightly bulging, some were carrying bamboo baskets, some were holding dustpans, and their faces were a little melancholy, and they looked like they had just returned from working in the herb fields.

When the soaking human maiden suddenly appeared in front of them, they were really startled, and they stopped almost at the same time and gathered around the edge of the pool, staring at her without blinking.

"It's human!" A little boy from the Demon Spirit Clan jumped up and ran to the edge of the pool, pointing at Xia Qiu and shouting happily.

The tension was dissipated by the child's innocent words, and everyone no longer looked at her as if they were monsters, and the little boy grinned at the missing two teeth, and then, as if suddenly remembered, pursed his mouth, and then stretched out a hand to her and pulled her up from the pool.

At this time, a woman from the Demon Spirit Clan also stepped forward and said, "How can you do it in such a cold weather, your clothes are soaked?!" Come back with me and change your clothes, I'll talk about it later! ”

The little boy let go of Xia Qiu's hand, ran to the woman and grabbed her arm, turned around and winked at Xia Qiu while shaking it, and said, "This is my mother!" ”

Xia Qiu inexplicably felt an indescribable intimacy in the mother and son, which made her have no defense against them, and she followed behind them without thinking about it. The Demon Spirit Clan on both sides had changed from surprise at the beginning to full of novelty, and they made way for the mother and son of the same clan to lead Xia Qiu away.

She was taken into a small house not far away, where the boy's mother brought her clean clothes and told her to change them in the back room, while she boiled some water on the stove outside, made a pot of hot tea, and when she came out of the room to change clothes, she poured a cup and handed it to her.

The little boy had been waiting impatiently outside, and now he had 100,000 in his stomach why he was anxious for Xia Qiu to answer, and it was extremely difficult for him to wait for a while and a half, and as soon as he saw her come out, he immediately leaned over and asked, "Sister, where are you from?" How did you get to that pool? ”

"I ......" Xia Qiu didn't know how to answer his question, she couldn't be sure if the world she was in now was real, and she didn't know how to calculate the time in the demon world, but she thought about Dong Muya's previous mention that the Ape Red Demon led the Demon Spirit Clan to build Qingyang City more than seven hundred years ago, why not ask them how long this city has been built now, so that they can calculate the approximate time here, so she asked, "How long has this city been built?" ”

"It's been more than five hundred years." The child folded his fingers and replied, then looked at his mother with some uncertainty, and was relieved to see her nod silently.

Listening to this child's words, Xia Qiu's heart suddenly tightened, more than a hundred years ago, the ghost hidden may have already begun, no wonder she looked at the city just now, there were no children, most of them were elderly. Although the demon lived much longer than humans, the little boy's mother looked like she was fifty or sixty years old, and she guessed that she might be a few hundred years old.

The child's mother saw the strangeness on Xia Qiu's face, and asked tentatively, "Do you know what we are doing here?" ”

Xia Qiu didn't want to hide it, so he nodded and responded: "Yes!" Maybe you won't believe it, but I'm from the world more than 100 years later! ”

The child's mother was still holding a teapot in her hand, and wanted to refill Xia Qiu's cup, but when she heard her words, she was stunned for a moment, and the teapot in her hand fell to the ground and shattered.

She asked incoherently, "What has become of this place more than a hundred years later?" The children...... I mean, are there still young people? ”

"There is only one one left called Kui, and the rest are ......" Xia Qiu looked at the mother's sad gaze and couldn't bear to say more.

"I don't know what curse the Demon Spirit Clan has suffered, and all the children will not live to be ten years old!" Speaking of this woman's voice, she was a little choked, she touched her son's little head and continued, "Xiao Ye's brothers and sisters have not been spared, alas, it seems that Xiao Ye is also ......"

"Do you believe what I say?" Xia Qiu was a little incredulous that she believed herself so quickly.

"You can come to the demon world as a human being, and you know the hidden things of ghosts, which shows that you are different from ordinary people! I also want to ask you about the Demon Spirit Clan who left Qingyang City? Didn't their descendants survive? The child's mother still had a hint of luck and continued to ask.

Xia Qiu shook his head, silently looked at the little boy who still didn't know what it was like, but he came over and grabbed her hand and asked, "Sister, play with me for a while!" ”

"Hehe, because there are too few children in this city, Xiao Ye is very happy to see you!" The child's mother shook her head with a wry smile.

Xia Qiu suddenly felt that no matter what world she was in, mothers would always be the same, even if they were tormented and tormented by the pain in their hearts, they were so kind when facing their children.

The little boy was slightly shy when his mother said this, and buried his head in her stomach for a while. Such a healthy and lovely child may not be long before the ghost hides his life, this reality makes Xia Qiu's heart twist, but he can only let that heartache stagnate in his body and not let them flow into tears.

The conversation with the mother and son just now made her forget her mission to get here for a while, and then she suddenly remembered, so she asked, "I came here to know about the Seven Sound Gate!" ”

As soon as she heard her talk about the Seven Sound Gate, the child's mother became a little defensive, because for the Demon Spirit Clan, the Seven Music Gate was a secret that was absolutely not allowed to be told to outsiders, and she was hesitating how to refuse her, but a person called outside and walked in.

Xia Qiu raised his eyes and saw that the person was none other than Heyin, although he looked slightly younger than now, there was no obvious change.

"Daddy!" The little boy shouted as he threw his hands out on Heyin.

"Hinge!" Heyin rubbed his son's hair vigorously, then turned his gaze to Xia Qiu's body and asked, "I heard from others just now that a human suddenly appeared in the city and was brought home by you, so I rushed back, is that her?" ”

"Yes! She is from the world more than a hundred years later! The child's mother couldn't contain the look of surprise on her face as she said this.

Heyin became interested when he heard his wife say this, and listened to her retell the conversation with Xia Qiu just now, and asked with a complicated look in her eyes: "Your name?" ”

"Summer and Autumn!" Xia Qiu on the side answered him.

"Well, you really got here from that pool?" The chorus still wants to be sure again.

"Hmm!" Xia Qiu nodded, looking at him questioningly, suddenly seeing him more than a hundred years ago made her a little unacceptable.

"Then I think you need to stay here for now." The chorus said calmly.

"I need to know about the Seven Sound Gate, and if you can't tell me, I'll have to hurry back and think of something else." Xia Qiu didn't understand the meaning of the conjunction.

"I'll show you there, and you'll know!"

After the chorus finished speaking, he led Xia Qiu to walk back in the direction of the pool, and the hinge followed them. When they came to the pool, the chorus pointed to her and said; "Look!"

Xia Qiu leaned forward and saw that the pool was shallow, at most it could not reach her waist, and she was shocked. This meant that the passage connecting to her world was gone, and while her companions were busy looking for a way to open the Seven Sound Gate, she was trapped in the city of Qingyang more than a hundred years ago. Could it really be that she was blinded by the chorus, as previously suspected? What was his purpose in tricking her here?

She looked up at the chorus in front of her, and from his facial expression, it seemed that he was so calm, and indeed it seemed that he had just met her, but maybe it was another ploy of his, she was trapped in layers of fog as if she was trapped in a world that did not belong to her, and for a moment she didn't know where to go.