Exploration

  Qiuqiu glanced at her son.

  The child's face was expressionless.

  "This... I told you before, this hole was made by Da Bai, so..."

  So the size of the cave entrance is not for people to enter and exit.

  Dàbái is a fairly large rabbit, but after all, it's still a rabbit, not a wild boar or bear. The entrance to the burrow is just barely acceptable for Qiūqiū, slightly narrow, but for Shí'ér, it's a bit too small. If he wants to get in, he has to crawl on all fours - no way, no way, just thinking about it makes Qiūqiū feel that this would be really uncool.

  But she was also a bit curious, if the child really crawled on all fours, what would it look like?

  It's really awkward for someone with such... um, style to go digging rabbit holes.

  "Or else..."

  The boy looked at her calmly.

  Qiu Qiu could only pretend not to see, letting the child feel at ease and crawl back, rubbing his nose and saying: "Actually, after I built my foundation, I also grew a bit taller, but in order to save some trouble, I've been maintaining this shape all along."

  At that time, Qiuqiu didn't want people in the sect to have any other opinions about her, and she didn't expect to take advantage of the rabbit hole incident.

  Qiu Qiu looked at the child, her eyes slowly widening, and her mouth slowly opening into an O shape.

  The figure of the child slowly shrunk at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even his face and facial features changed.

  After blinking her eyes, Qiuqiu's familiar little brother was back again.

  Little Dragon Girl! So lovely and intimate!

  With a temperament so beautiful and looks so beautiful, how can it be a boy? It should obviously be a girl.

  Qiu Qiu smiled and tugged at his sleeve: "A little smaller, a little smaller."

  He glanced at her with a blank expression, and Qiuqiu lowered her head, gesturing with her hand: "Just a little bit is fine, it's best if it's about the same height as me."

  When they first met, Xiao Er's height was already higher than hers. Qiu Qiu firmly refused to admit that she was looking at Xiao Er's pseudo-pretty boy appearance, she just thought about today's schedule! It was clearly a public-minded thing, and there was no personal selfishness mixed in it.

  Under the eager, passionate and expectant gaze of Xia Qi, his figure and face shrunk by a small half again.

  Qiu Qiu's eyes widened into perfect circles - Ah, so cute!

  It's so cute and adorable, it makes you want to scream with delight!

  The child still had no expression on his face, with black hair tied up in a bundle at the top of his head with white silk ribbon, and the rest hanging down to his shoulders. The clothes on his body also shrank accordingly. The pale blue robe he wore made him look like an exquisite porcelain doll.

  Qiu Qiu, with his paralyzed face and cold demeanor, grabbed Xiao Er's hand.

  The feel is different now! It's obviously much softer!

  Pinch, I pinch. I pinch again...

  The cold air on his body was released outward in an exponential manner, as if it didn't cost a dime.

  If it were a younger version of Dier, Qiuqiu would definitely have some reservations. But the juvenile version of Dier only makes Qiuqiu feel so cute and adorable that she's blushing all over her face.

  "Let's go in." Qiuqiu saw the good and collected it, eating all the cheap things at once. That was killing the chicken to get the eggs, don't think about having a next time.

  You should look far ahead and make long-term plans, after all, a steady trickle of water can eventually become a mighty river.

  Qiu Qiu let out Da Bai and Er Bai, these two came out and first rubbed against Qiu Qiu. Similarly, they also went to rub against Fu Er before leading the way into the hole.

  Qiu Qiu took out a pearl to serve as lighting, and the two of them naturally held hands. In such a place with low visibility, holding hands didn't seem awkward at all. One was a young boy and the other a loli, hand in hand they looked just like little friends going on a spring outing. What was originally a very serious expedition had become like this? It's not serious at all anymore.

  It seems like something is slightly off... Hmm, focus, focus. Don't think nonsense.

  The road isn't very long, and Autumn feels like it seems shorter than the last two times she came back.

  Unlike her, the child was very attentive to his surroundings, especially after the cave became wider and he even felt around on the stone wall for a while.

  Qiu Qiu was very curious, what's so good about this road? Qiu Qiu only found that the stone wall had embedded fluorescent stones for lighting, and nothing else appeared.

  "The stone wall is very smooth, indicating that it was not done hastily." The child rubbed his fingers together and looked at the dust on top. There wasn't much dust, only a thin streak.

  "There's less dust accumulated inside the cave compared to outside, and it's also slower. With all the twists and turns in here, this place was probably almost completely sealed off before the big white (person) cleared a path through. It must have taken hundreds of years for this layer of ash to accumulate."

  Autumn sighs as if in admiration - this is truly professional!

  But why would Qiuqiu have such strange thoughts as "This kid really has the makings of a grown-up" and "This kid will probably grow up to be a great tomb raider"?

  The attitude of the rascal is undoubtedly professional and authoritative. But when a young face and a cute boy's face say the same thing, it's completely different! For an adult, that's majestic and very authoritative, but for a cute boy to say that... hmm... Qiū Qiū was taken aback, and followed the rascal as he continued walking forward.

  It's really unscientific, she didn't realize that she was actually a lolicon before. From picking up the child to becoming smaller, her line of sight always couldn't help but wander on the child's face and body, and she didn't think much about serious things anymore.

  A faint light appeared in front, different from the glow of phosphorescent stones. It looked like it was gradually getting brighter and slightly white, just like the first dawn of morning.

  "Autumn said softly: 'We're here.'"

  Qiu Qiu had never tried taking others in and didn't know if it was possible. She had experimented with Da Bai and other birds and beasts, but had never used a human subject before.

  The child stood there, slightly tilting his head, gazing at the serene lake outside the stone cave, the hanging moon that was about to fall onto the lake's surface, and the ancient tree by the lake that had been growing for who knows how many years.

  Qiu Qiu understands the feeling of picking up now.

  She was also shocked at that time.

  After passing through the long, narrow and cramped stone cave, suddenly seeing such a beautiful, open and quiet place is indeed breathtaking and intoxicating.

  Qiu took a step forward, and the dense spiritual energy immediately enveloped her, as if seeping into her body through every pore.

  Qiu Qiu couldn't help but take a deep breath, she stood still for a moment, turned around and stretched out her hand to the child.

  Their hands touched in mid-air and then clasped together.

  The child's hands went forward first, then the whole person took a step forward.

  Come on in!

  He himself was somewhat surprised, he lowered his head and took a look at the feet trampling on the green grass, before raising his head again.

  The fourteen of them looked at each other and suddenly turned the tables, pulling Qiuqiu forward.

  Qiu Qiu followed him in a daze.

  She didn't know which direction to go in or where to start exploring this wonderful place. But as she wandered, stopping and starting, she always had a clear sense of direction.

  After walking for a while, they were almost at the lake shore. The child stopped and said softly: "It's here."

  "What?"

  "The person who painted this should be standing right here."

  The words "being picked up" reminded Qiuqiu, who turned around again and suddenly came to her senses.

  Yes.

  Although Qiu had known that the painting was of this lake when she first saw it, she hadn't carefully considered the angles and distances.

  The child is really clever and has inferred this without a single mistake.

  Was the person who painted this standing in this very spot?

  Qiu Qiu looked down at the place where they stepped with a slightly reverent heart.

  To borrow a phrase from an old textbook, they are advancing on the footsteps of their predecessors.

  Why do I still feel so awkward?

  It's a very serious matter, but Qiuqiu found it strange why she couldn't be serious.

  It seems like after reuniting with her son, she has been a bit fearless.

  No matter how bad things get, she won't lose hope as long as he's there.

  This is no good. Qiuqiu has given up on herself. How can she be so spineless? She clearly said that she wanted to be self-reliant and strong, but as soon as there's someone to rely on, she immediately relaxes her expectations of herself.

  He slowly raised his hand, just like that day when he was looking at the painting, his hand made a grasping motion as if holding a brush, slowly outlining, one stroke, then another.

  Qiuqiu watched him paint with such concentration, but didn't know what he was experiencing. She followed suit and started drawing too. However, the things she drew were still the same old stuff. Qiuqiu just casually painted along, and the most she could manage to draw were circles. This was easy to do - one stroke made a circle, another stroke made another circle. Big circles surrounded small ones, each one next to the other.

  "Let's go."

  The child suddenly stopped moving forward, and Qiuqiu quickly followed. Dabai and Erbai jumped at their feet, animals don't have so many worries, they just know that the spiritual energy here is abundant, staying here is unspeakably comfortable, and it's very beneficial.

  What will be here?

  Yeah, Autumn thought of the previous life she had seen, once there is such a secret realm, it's always necessary to give some good stuff, right? Such as what kind of rare and precious magic weapon, what kind of long-lost divine law, or what kind of rare and special lingzhi, ginseng, eating which can instantly increase thousands of years of cultivation. That's right, there are also lost secret skills and mental methods, practicing which can instantly dominate the immortal world.

  That's a bit too much of an exaggeration.

  He walked to the tree, turned his head and looked at where they had just stood, bent down and grabbed a handful of soil in his hand. The mud by the lake was moist and soft, but also carried a faint fishy smell unique to the lake water.

  The little boy's eyebrows moved slightly, he walked around the tree in a circle, Da Bai and Er Bai were restrained by Qiu Qiu and didn't dare to move, obediently squatting on one side, their four long ears standing straight up.

  This space is not large, and it's a completely enclosed place. Except for the lake, in front of them was the stone cave they came from, and behind there was only a vast expanse of grassland, surrounded by a large area of bamboo forest and shrubs. In addition to this, there were some autumn flowers that couldn't be named, densely blooming all around, these flowers had a rich fragrance, faintly floating in the air. Autumn sniffed her sleeve, she even felt that the fragrance of the flowers had stained her clothes and hands.

  The child walked around the tree again, this time looking more carefully than before.

  He bent down again and grabbed a handful of dirt, but this time he got something else besides dirt.

  PS：

  Uh-huh