Because she couldn't see the city with her own eyes, and couldn't ask anything from Chou Chou, Qingyan hid her doubts in her heart for the time being, and would ask again when she actually went to a city or county. .
In this way, they wandered for nearly half an hour, and Chou Chou suddenly said to her: "There is a village ahead, more than 20 miles east from the current location, next to the roadside. This village is really hidden. I only noticed it when I saw the farmland.”
"Why did you find out now? Can't your consciousness be able to detect twenty kilometers?"
Chou Chou explained: "That village is not like an ordinary village. I looked along the farmland and searched nearby for a while before I found it."
Qingyan heard what it said and asked again doubtfully: "The location of the village is so hidden? Is it in the valley?"
At this moment, the carriage suddenly jolted violently, causing Chou Chou to be thrown into the air. Qingyan also held on to the frame of the carriage beside her to steady herself.
Chou Chou used his consciousness to look outside and found that this section of the road was extremely bumpy, so he simply climbed onto Qing Yan's lap and sat on it.
Then he said to her: "That's not true, that village is not on the ground, but underground."
Qingyan wrapped her hands around it, blinked curiously and said, "Is it underground? Did you dig a dungeon?"
Chou Chou shook his head, "Have you forgotten the kind of yard you saw in old photos? Your parents took you to play there later."
Qingyan thought for a moment and added her previous guess, and then quickly remembered, "Are you talking about the pit courtyard?"
Chou Chou nodded, "Yes, it's that kind of courtyard. There are a dozen households in total. The courtyard is quite neat, but it's a little far away from the main road, six or seven miles south of the road."
Qingyan said with some confusion: "Then we are now in the Southern Song Dynasty? I remember that the village chief said that their place can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty.
At that time, my parents took me there to play, where they secretly exchanged cattle and sheep in the 1960s.
The village chief took us to see the ruins of a courtyard with a history of several hundred years. It was well preserved and I even took photos inside. "
Chou Chou: "Not necessarily. It may just be that their detailed records from the Song Dynasty have been preserved, and there are also other places in Dikeng Yard. It may not necessarily have appeared from that time."
Chou Chou was right. This Dikengyuan can be traced back to the Yangshao culture six thousand years ago, but they didn't study it specifically, so they didn't know.
Qingyan felt it made sense when she heard what it said, and nodded: "Then it doesn't matter which dynasty we are in now. No wonder you can't find it. That Yuanzi is hidden underground. It's night again now, so most people probably can't see it. .
I heard my dad say before that the courtyard is a good place to hide from the chaos of war. Not only is it far away, but it is close. Unless there are noises coming from inside, most people won’t notice that there is a courtyard there. It looks like a flat river. .
But you said there are fields nearby, so the yard should also be exposed, right? "
Chou Chou shook his head, "The distance between the field and the yard is not close. Those people probably built the village far away from the road to avoid the war. There is also a distance of nearly two or three miles between the field and the yard. .
For cover, several thatched houses were built near the fields, giving people the impression of being farmers there.
There should be people living there during normal times or when harvesting grain. It looks like there are people living there. Even if someone discovers it, they will probably think that the villagers have left temporarily. "
"This is the wisdom of the ancients..." Qingyan said with emotion.
Chou Chou nodded in agreement.
"But if this is the case, how can we go to their village? They have already deliberately avoided it, and if we come to them, aren't we exposed?"
Qingyan was confused again. If the village found out, it would be nothing, and they would have no way to contact him.
Chou Chou comforted him: "Don't worry, since there is a village, other villages or towns shouldn't be too far away. Let's go further. It's still early before dawn anyway."
Qingyan also thought it was reasonable. She raised her hand and looked at her watch again. It was just one o'clock. If we were in the northwest, the daybreak was late but still early.
They still followed their previous plan. As soon as they found a town, they could find a secluded place to rest and wait until dawn tomorrow before slowly moving on.
We walked forward for more than half an hour, during which we found several more villages, both on the south and north sides of the road. They were either on the roadside, in a forest several miles away, or on the edge of a mountain. The place inside.
Those people probably wouldn't be able to get out easily, so there wasn't a path into the village like they found before.
It's right to think about it. Since you are living away from the world, it is definitely best not to let people find out the clues.
Most people nowadays are self-sufficient. They can provide food and clothing by themselves. Except for ironware and salt, they can make most everything else by themselves.
No matter which dynasty, iron tools and salt will never reach the hands of the people, either under the control of official uniforms, or in the hands of some powerful families.
Ordinary people can only buy or exchange, but there is no other way.
After walking forward for another ten minutes, Chou Chou said happily: "Finally we saw the town!"
Qingyan hurriedly asked: "Is it a city or a small town?"
"Wait, I just saw the edge, I have to get closer."
As the carriage continued to move forward, the scenes over there came into Chou Chou's consciousness one by one.
"It's a town. There's no city wall outside. But it's bigger than the towns I've seen before. It's probably the largest town around here. There are probably hundreds of households in it. The houses are very densely built. There are also some villages not far away from the outside. , there is farmland, and it occupies a large area.
There are two main streets in the center of the town. There are many shops, as well as inns, teahouses, and taverns. They are quite complete. "
The more Qingyan listened, the happier she became. This was actually better. Going into the city would be more troublesome. Not only would you have to check your luggage, but you would also have to pay the fee for entering the city. Most people don't have anything important to do and rarely go to the city.
If you are driving a cart with a load, you have to pay extra. If you are carrying goods, you have to pay more, which is a bit like tolls or stall fees in later generations.
This kind of small town is different. It is generally open to the public, and you can come and go at will. Even if it is specifically for the villagers who have opened a house, they can buy or sell things there without paying any fees.
In Qingyan's understanding, the smaller city should be the county seat in later generations. After all, adding the word "city" after the county can indicate that there is a city.
Then larger cities should be cities, and larger cities should be at the provincial capital level. For example, Handeng, which they went to before, should be equivalent to an ordinary city, and Xingtang Mansion should be equivalent to provincial capitals or municipalities directly under the Central Government. After all, It has special meaning.
Now that I have a goal, it seems that the road is not so bumpy, and it is faster to get on the road.
At the original speed, it would take several hours to cover a distance of about twenty kilometers.
Now with a destination, Chou Chou also made Big Bear speed up, and they were halfway there in less than an hour.
Chou Chou began to look for a place to sleep outdoors along the way. After all, it was not easy to stay in an inn when entering the town at this time.
Although it is said that you can usually get in and stay at an inn by knocking on the door at night, after all, guests may not always be able to arrive before dark, and most of them will be manned 24 hours a day.
However, Qingyan is obviously a single woman, so it is not convenient to go and stay alone. If she encounters a bad inn, or there are bad people in the inn, it will be troublesome. It is better to go there the next morning, by the way. You can also buy some things.
Find a place outside in the evening to rest for a night and feel better.
After walking for a while, Chou Chou said to Qingyan: "There is an abandoned cave dwelling not far ahead. Why don't we go there to rest for a night? The cave dwelling is quite big inside and the doors and windows have been removed. You can remove it." All the carriages are rushing in."
In Chou Chou's opinion, it was empty and clean, and there were no people around. It was the most suitable place for them to rest.
"Is it also that kind of pit courtyard?" Qingyan asked.
Chou Chou shook his head, "No, it's just a separate cave dwelling dug on a slope. I don't know what it was used for before. It's just a single room.
The door faces south. Our road is north of the cave house. The location is quite secret and will not be easily discovered. "
"That's good. Let's go there quickly. I'm already sleepy."
Because of the increased speed, the road here was too bumpy and I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.
Chou Chou made Big Bear speed up even more, heading towards that location, and walked east for more than ten minutes. Chou Chou pointed to the wasteland on the side of the road and said: "Just walk two miles south from here and you'll be there. Even though there are so many weeds, the land below is actually quite compact, with fewer potholes than the road."
Chou Chou let the carriage go a few steps further, turned right at a relatively flat slope, and headed south.
There was no need to look at the road anyway, so Qingyan chatted with Chou Chou again, "Chou Chou, when you return to your heyday, how far can your spiritual consciousness cover?"
Chou Chou: "I haven't tried it, but before I was injured, just like Xiangxiang, I could directly cover a province."
"Is that your peak period?"
Chou Chou shook his head, "Of course not, we have just returned to adulthood. After all, we have only been cultivating for a few decades. If we really reach the peak period, we can probably directly cover several countries."
"Can't it cover the entire earth?"
Chou Chou smiled and said: "How is it possible? The rules of heaven cannot make us that strong. According to Taoism, everything has yin and yang, there is negative and positive, and they are all mutually reinforcing and restraining each other. If any existence alone reaches the extreme Without the opponent's restraint, it is not far from destruction.
Just like me and Xiangxiang, we are also alien beasts. The other alien beasts have all been silenced and relics. Why is it not just me or Xiangxiang who is left alone, but the two of us who happen to be enemies?
It's just for checks and balances, so that we can keep each other in check.
Even though we have been fighting since childhood, we will fight each other until one party rebuilds, but we have never beaten one party to death.
Even after rebuilding, one side will not be seriously injured and the other will still be in his prime. That is impossible. Basically, both sides will be injured, and then both will retreat together. This is a kind of balance. "
Qingyan nodded, "So that's the case, so there should be people who practice in the future generations? Why can't I practice? Is it because my talent is not good?"
"That's not true. It's because the spiritual energy of later generations is thin and has already entered the Age of Ending Dharma, so it's not possible to practice. And it's not that there are no practitioners, there are still some, they just haven't been born.
There are some so-called secret places in China, but they are not open to ordinary people. Have you not discovered that there are many places in the world that humans cannot explore? Even satellites cannot explore them, and there are several of them in China. "
Qingyan nodded, "I know, my parents and I have been to Shennongjia, but we can't go inside and can only wander around the outside. Is that the so-called secret realm? Are there experts in it?"
Chou Chou nodded and shook his head, "Yes and no, some are man-made secret realms, where monks are inside and have set up formations to isolate them.
Some are naturally formed, which is what later generations call magnetic field interference. In fact, the landform or the mountains, rocks and trees inside are located in the right position, directly forming a natural hiding formation or isolation formation.
Some people get lost as soon as they enter, or the high-tech products they bring malfunction and lose signal when they enter, all because of these reasons..."
Listening to this, Qingyan became a little excited. She and her parents had just walked around and looked at the places she went to before. Even if she had some speculations and curiosity, she had not studied them carefully. If she had the chance again in the future, she would have to look for them carefully. , if you can meet an expert, you can try to learn from him.
Thinking again that Chou Chou said before that the spiritual energy here is richer, he said with expectant eyes: "Then will there be monks in this time and space? Didn't you say that the spiritual energy here is much richer than ours? Will we encounter it? Some people cultivating immortals? Or some other strange beasts? After all, we are not in the same time and space, so maybe different strange beasts will appear."
Chou Chou shook his head and said: "I don't know about that. My current cultivation level has not recovered yet. It is equivalent to returning to my childhood. I can't sense it at all. Even if I have it, it is impossible to enter like me and Xiangxiang." crowd.
If we hadn't met your parents, we would probably be recovering in seclusion in some kind of deep mountain forest or space. "
Qingyan nodded, and she could only put this question in her heart. Anyway, she still had hundreds of days, so she could search slowly.
In this way, they have a goal for the next trip. Afterwards, they can go to some famous Taoist temples or temples. If there are any eminent monks or powerful cultivators there, they can also pay a visit.
Of course, you have to let Chou Chou hide in the space in advance. If you really encounter that kind of power, it will be bad if it is exposed.
The strength of the two of them was acceptable among mortals, but probably not enough in front of those experts.
