Only those who are familiar with this place know that in addition to the three floors above ground, Ouyang Ancient House also has a basement, and this floor has been used as a database since a long time ago. At this moment, in the underground database, Dong Muya was looking for something from the rows of shelves up and down, and finally her eyes were locked on an album on the higher shelf. There were three strange symbols clearly marked there. She pulled out the book, flipped through it in her hand, then quickly jumped off the ladder and returned to the desk at the end of the database.
Several dictionaries have been piled up on the table. These dictionaries are specially used to interpret the talismans, and the person who wrote these dictionaries was the previous manager of this underground database. The old man named Li Xun has been a servant of the Ouyang family for generations. Later, his grandfather took over the place from the previous generation of database administrators. Three generations of people traveled to many places to answer the undeciphered talismans and oracles in the past data. In the end, Li Xun compiled and completed these thick and heavy dictionaries.
Li Xun is an extremely stubborn old man. He has been obsessed with studying various records about the divine realm and the demon realm all his life. Sometimes he does not leave the database for ten days and a half, and even eats and sleeps here. In that era when transportation and information were still underdeveloped, he went through many hardships to find many books in the database from all over the world. Many of the Chinese and foreign ancient books that were difficult to understand were also conquered by him one by one. He even did not hesitate to pay for them. Learned many languages of the world.
About twenty years ago, he felt that his life was coming to an end. Because he was focused on this database, he never married. When he saw that no one would inherit his hard work for many years, Dong Muya suddenly appeared in front of him. in front of. At that time, she was only a little girl of eight or nine years old, but she had extremely excellent memory and understanding abilities. The most different thing between her and other peers is that she is not afraid of these things that are beyond common sense, but is very fascinated. When he told her the story of the holy realm and the demon world, the light that flashed in her eyes brought him Unprecedented hope. Although Li Xun was not sure whether Dong Muya would still be willing to manage this database as an adult, he still put all his life's research into this database that carries generations of loyalty to the Ouyang family. The library was handed over to Dong Muya.
In those years, Dong Muya spent most of his time after school and even weekends in this database with his teacher Li Xun. No one expected that at such a young age, she would be so firm in her beliefs. She had been working hard for many years and showed no signs of remorse. In fact, the reason why she can continue doing it so persistently is that apart from her personal interests, she also has a little-known secret. As an ordinary person, only in this way can she get closer to that person's world, and that person is Ouyang Hongye.
Li Xun is a strict teacher, and Dong Muya is also an obedient and diligent student. She used her talent and enthusiasm to dispel his previous worries, and quickly mastered the classification and query methods of various materials, as well as the use of dictionaries. , all this made him feel extremely gratified.
After graduating from college, Dong Muya, who excelled in academic studies, chose to return to Yongchuan and inherit the database hidden in the underground of Ouyang's ancient house, despite the opposition of her parents and the persuasion of her friends. In fact, her role as a Chinese teacher at Yongchuan Middle School was only for outsiders. A cover-up, or a means of survival. She was born into a wealthy family and was the only daughter in the family. The family business started from Yongchuan and was developed by her father to Shanghai. Her father expected her to take over his business, but he never expected that she would refuse so simply, even if her parents forced her to do so. Severing ties with her also failed to retain her. She escaped from her home in Shanghai and returned to Yongchuan to work as an ordinary middle school teacher. As a result, she cut off contact with her parents for many years.
Being disobedient and far away from her parents was painful and sentimental for her, so she could only pour all her experiences into this database. She used her vacations to travel around the country to continue her teacher's unfinished search and research. Over the years, she also used modern technology to classify and archive the solved documents and materials on the computer, making it easier to search. Even Ouyang Hongye was amazed. She has completely become the master of this database. No one has ever been as familiar with everything here as she is.
As soon as she returned to the human world from the Demon Realm King's City, Xia Qiu's cell phone in her pocket began to vibrate continuously. When she saw on the screen that it was a call from her father, she hesitated but picked it up.
"Hello!"
"Hey, Xia Qiu, it's dad."
"Um."
"Why have you never been able to get through to your cell phone?"
Her father's voice sounded deeper than usual, and although she couldn't hear the emotion in it, she could still feel his displeasure.
"The signal may not have been very good at my friend's house before! Is something wrong?" Xia Qiu lied, trying to sound calm.
"I heard from your grandparents that you always come home late recently. Although they didn't say anything to you, they are older, so don't worry them too much!"
"knew!"
Xia Qiu responded. She knew that her father would not get angry with her because they were not close enough to get angry with each other casually. His relationship with her was much stranger than that of an ordinary father and daughter.
After hanging up the phone, she was in a dilemma. Now she had to make a choice. Going on a journey to find the magic rune meant that she had to leave home temporarily, but before that, she had to find a reason that her grandparents would accept. .
"Are you okay?" Ouyang Xiaoleng could see Xia Qiu's uneasiness on her face.
"I'm thinking about how to explain it to my family. You see, if we want to find the talisman, we have to leave here for a while." Xia Qiu thought about whether she should tell her troubles, but she felt that she should trust him, because at this time She couldn't solve this problem on her own.
Before Ouyang Xiaoleng could speak, Qianqi on the side couldn't help but take over the words: "Of course I have to use that at this time!"
"What?" Xia Qiu was confused.
"Isn't the fox's best skill at confusing humans? Just let him convince your family!"
"You..." Ouyang Xiaoleng was about to get angry at Qian Qi's teasing suggestion, but then he thought about it, maybe this was really the best way so far. Although he has never tried this technique and is not proficient in it, it is still easy for him to control humans and lower-level demons as a demon fox.
"But I don't want to deceive them!" Xia Qiu was still hesitant.
"Time is tight, let's try this method first!" Although Ouyang Xiaoleng was still somewhat resistant to this low-level trick, but seeing Xia Qiu in trouble, he decided to accept Qianqi's proposal.
"Will this method cause any harm to them?" Xia Qiu asked with concern.
"No, it's actually like hypnosis. I will make them accept my ideas. Don't worry! I'll go to your house first, and you and Qianqi will go directly to Ouyang Ancient Mansion to find Dong Muya!" Ouyang Xiaoleng said He stood up and disappeared into the evening breeze.
After arriving at Ouyang's ancient residence, Xia Qiu and Qianqi told Dong Muya about the changes that had just happened in the demon world. After hearing this, Dong Muya let them rest temporarily in Ouyang's ancient house, while he spent the whole night searching for information to answer the prophecy mentioned by Yan Ming.
There are many records and explanations of the talismans, but most of them cannot be verified. Some of them have been denied by the teacher Li Xun and his previous administrators. It is not difficult to find among the thousands of records that match what Yan Ming said is related to water, but trying to find "it feels like there is water, it should be a place surrounded by water" is like looking for a needle in a haystack. generally. His guidance is too general. There are countless such places. What method is used to find him in the crowd
The book she just found is the oldest among all records. The entire book is written in the language of the gods. Half of it has been deciphered by Li Xun, and the answer to the other half still cannot be found. The records on it were all about the legends about the talismans in Yongchuan and its surroundings. The teacher Li Xun once told Dong Muya that he bought this booklet from Europe at a high price. At that time, he only roughly understood that it was about the talismans around Yongchuan. The legend aroused his great interest. Although he had no idea how this book ended up in Europe, he still bought it with the permission of the head of the Ouyang family at that time.
After many years of research, he found that this album was indeed a treasure. He even thought that the person who wrote this album might be from the divine world, because the symbols of the divine realm written by hand in this not heavy album were better than any other. Ancient books are more complex and comprehensive. She opened the book, looked at the contents while comparing it with the dictionary, and then wrote down some potentially useful information, symbols and their page numbers in the notebook next to her.
The yellow light in the database cast a warm light. At this time, Dong Muya was wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt, with the sleeves rolled up to half of her arms, and her hair was combed casually behind her ears. She had already laid down before Xia Qiu and the others arrived, but she couldn't fall asleep. She always wondered what would happen tonight. Sure enough, after tossing and turning for a while, the phone rang. The highly tense nerves at this moment made her completely awake. Strangely enough, for her, collecting information and searching for information were actually the two most addictive things for her. She had never been to the demon world in person, and so had her teacher Li Xun. , but they know that place better than most people in the demon world, the past, present and everything that will happen there.
A string of symbols caught Dong Muya's attention. When she took it apart, she found that the symbols she could translate were Yongchuan, Hubo, and Difu. She then continued to read the annotations below, which gave her the answer better than the line of symbols above. For more content, Dong Muya translated them one by one, then connected them and adjusted them slightly, and suddenly felt that these symbols were like two poems.
First song:
From noon, lean on the green lakeside and borrow three inches of sunlight to go to the middle of the green water
Walking lightly, there were ripples of light
Second song:
It takes ten steps to forget the past life, but it still hurts my heart.
It’s not until you’re thirty that you know you’re gone without a trace, and at forty you can foresee the next life.
If you find yourself on the path to hell at fifty, just move forward and don’t panic
Everything I want is here, but I'm afraid the road back will be bleak
Dong Muya first determined the meaning of the first poem based on his literal understanding. Noon is the period from 11 to 1 o'clock, and starting from noon means starting at 11 o'clock; by the green lakeside, the lakeside here should be It's the lake in the Yongchuan Forest; the word "borrow" in "Three Inches of Sunlight", Dong Muya guessed, means to stretch out your hand, and start walking towards the center of the lake from where you can get three inches of sunlight after stretching out your hand.
Then comes the next song. At about ten steps, you will forget the past. At twenty steps, you should start to suffocate. If you continue to go to thirty steps, you will feel dead. At forty steps, you will have the hallucination of the afterlife. At fifty steps, you will have the illusion of the afterlife. You can see the entrance of Huangquan. The "thing you want" refers to the earth talisman, which should be hidden in the underworld. Even so, the last sentence clearly states that it is unknown whether he can return to the human world after obtaining the talisman.
Dong Muya then stood up in a panic and walked towards a row of shelves, skillfully pulling out a thick book on the shelf, which was a book about the legend of the underworld. She had read that book when she first started studying with Li Xun. Most of the records in it were undocumented. The whole book ended abruptly with the chapter heading to the Kingdom of Underworld, probably because those who had embarked on this journey would never return. It is probably because no one who seeks the path can turn back.
According to legend, someone once went to the Kingdom of Underworld in order to save his dead lover. However, because he could not complete the questions asked by Yama, the Lord of Underworld, his soul was lost forever and his body became the slave of Yama. This is completely consistent with the meaning described in that poem. In any case, the country of hell is a world where there is no return. It is different from any realm of gods, demons, and humans, and is not under the jurisdiction of any realm. It is like a black fire purgatory, where sinful gods, demons, and demons are imprisoned. They will never be released and fall into the underworld. There are also souls who have done all kinds of evil in their lives, and they will suffer there and linger there forever.
Dong Muya looked through the catalog to see how to successfully escape from the underworld. Although she was sure that no book had such records, she still hoped that she was just blinded by memory. There must be some. Information she had missed. She read those ancient books over and over again, and was pushed to the edge of disappointment again and again. She knew that if she told Ouyang Xiaoleng, Xia Qiu and Qianqi the records about the magic symbols in the poems, they would rush to the underworld without hesitation. , but what if they never come back? How should she explain to Ouyang Hongye? How could she make herself face it calmly? The stimulant-like pleasure she had when searching for information completely disappeared. She only felt a chill sweeping through her body, her hands and feet were cold. She slumped in a chair, clutching her knees with both hands, not knowing what to do. good.
Qian Qi finally set foot on this place called the human world for the first time in seventeen years. It happened to be another clear golden autumn night with a bright moon in the sky. It was so beautiful that it was breathtaking. He was originally a person who was full of curiosity about the unknown world, but when he came to the human world for the first time, he just had to complete such an important mission as finding the talisman, so he wanted to stay in the courtyard of Ouyang's ancient house for a while no matter what. Breathing the air of the human world still made him a little uncomfortable, because demons were originally extremely sensitive to various messages in the breath, and the air of the human world contained too complex messages, many of which he had never experienced before. Passed. He had seen the moon in the human world in paintings, and the night sky here was different from that in the demon world. The dark blue night sky made the world seem to be in the deep sea, and seemed to contain infinite mystery, which fascinated him deeply.
Xia Qiu waited anxiously for Ouyang Xiaoleng's return. He did not talk about how to hypnotize her grandparents, but calmly nodded to her. Knowing that everything was going well, her tightly clenched heart finally relaxed, and she went to the room to take off the fancy clothes she wore for the election meeting and put on her own clothes.
She was arranged to rest in the room opposite Ouyang Xiaoleng. When she changed her clothes and walked out, she saw him sitting in a chair in the half-open door opposite, reading something. Although she had been to Ouyang's ancient house several times, she had never entered his room. She was even more curious now, so she walked over and knocked on his door.
Ouyang Xiaoleng looked up and saw it was her, and responded: "Come in!"
This was the first time she walked into Ouyang Xiaoleng's room. Unexpectedly, it was no different from an ordinary boy's room. The color scheme of the whole room was black, gray and white, which suited his personality. But needless to say with Du He, even compared with girls, he obviously has too many clothes. The exquisite and simple walk-in wardrobe clearly shows Ouyang Hongye's doting on him. Proportionally proportional to the huge wardrobe is the bookcase that occupies the entire wall. Because he rarely contacts other people and has almost no friends of the same age, he spends most of his free time reading and painting. There was already a thick stack of drawing books piled up on the bed, and the one he was holding in his hand was also one of his own.
"Can I take a look?" Xia Qiu asked tentatively. She had seen his paintings before, and she was still deeply impressed by the Manzhu Shahua he painted at that time.
"Um!"
He hesitated for a moment before handing her the drawing book in his hand, and pointed to the beige single sofa beside the bed. As soon as she sat down, he walked out of the room.
She couldn't wait to open the painting book in her hand, and she could tell at a glance that the first picture was Yongchuan Forest. The scenery there was all too familiar to her. Although it was just a casual drawing with colored pencils, it captured the soul of Yongchuan Forest very accurately. On the lake surrounded by emerald green pines and cypresses, the golden spots reflected by the sunlight seemed to be alive; the picture below is a tree There is a huge banyan tree, and the boy sitting on the tree seems to be looking at the girl under the tree. The composition is as beautiful as a fairy tale; the next few pictures are all manjus and sandals, which shows Ouyang Xiaoleng's affection for this kind of words. favorite.
As she was flipping through the pages, a piece of drawing paper suddenly fell out of the notebook. She leaned over to pick it up and found that the drawing on the drawing was not someone else but herself. In the painting, the corners of her mouth are slightly raised, the faint pink color on her cheeks reveals the breath of spring, and her eyes are calm and firm. She couldn't help but think of when she had shown such an expression? And when had Ouyang Xiaoleng observed her face so carefully
She felt that she looked better in the painting, and the thought of her looking like this in his eyes made her cheeks heat up, and her heartbeat echoed throughout the room.