Paintings of Terror

"The writing date of "Shan Hai Jing" cannot be tested, but this book has already been mentioned in "Historical Records". There is a saying that it was written by Chu or Bashu people from the middle and late Warring States period to the early and middle Han Dynasty. Earlier, it was made by Yu or Boyi." Shao Lingdao, "In the Song Dynasty, epigraphy and stone studies rose, and the retro style prevailed, and there appeared many antique or imitated utensils. So I mean, we may be able to learn from them. It is possible to delineate the origin of the whole thing, at least from the Warring States Period to the end of the Qing Dynasty, but we may focus on the Warring States Period, the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.”

"The analysis makes sense," Ke Xun said, "but I still can't explain why the inexplicable power generated at that time wanted to get the "Shan Hai Jing" on our bones, in order to let us help pass this wonderful book on to the world go down?"

Everyone: "..."

"I don't think so," Shao Ling said, "In the next few days, let's hurry up and look up the historical materials related to the "Shan Hai Jing" and the bizarre events that happened in the Warring States, Han and Song dynasties—although it may There's little hope of finding a clue, but it's always worth trying."

There was no objection from the crowd, and they bid farewell to the great-grandmother, and went to the hotel where they were staying, and took every time to check online.

The time for the next painting to be painted is just in time for the first day of the Lunar New Year, and there are still a few days before that day. After discussing with each other, they decided not to return to their respective cities, so as not to waste time on coming and going On the way, they simply flew directly to Ke Xun’s home, stayed there until two or three days before entering the painting, and then collectively flew to K City, where the next art museum is located, and then stepped on the site first, prepared all the materials for investigation, and then entered the painting on time.

Of course, it would be great if we could decipher the behind-the-scenes driving force of the entire painting incident before then, and terminate this terrible incident in time.

The plane to Z City took off in the afternoon, and it was already seven or eight o'clock in the evening when everyone arrived in Z City. Ke Xun took them to a restaurant for dinner, and then sent a few girls to the hotel Ke Xun had booked. The next group of men went to the home of Ke Xun and Mu Yiran.

Shaoling and Zhu Haowen all brought their own laptops. Luo Yu bought his laptop before boarding the plane. Mu Yiran gave his laptop to Qin Ci, and Ke Xun used his computer. Channels and online platforms collect information about the "Shan Hai Jing" and the bizarre events that happened during the Warring States Period, Han Dynasty, and Song Dynasty.

Mu Yi then assisted Weidong to draw the skeletal picture taken on the mobile phone on paper.

Wei Dong continued to paint until midnight, and when he finally finished, everyone stopped what they were doing and came over to watch together.

"Seeing the pictures on these bone phases intuitively now, I can be more sure that the style of these pictures is definitely different from the ancient version of "Shan Hai Jing Tu" circulating on the market," Shao Ling said, "The ancient pictures we can see so far , is a picture book handed down in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Earlier, Zhang Sengyou, a painter of the Southern Dynasties, and Shu Ya, a painter of the Song Dynasty, painted ten volumes of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". pass down.

"And if you go back further, it should be the oldest version of "Shan Hai Jing Tu". Lu Xun once pointed out in "A Brief History of Chinese Novels" that "Shan Hai Jing" is an ancient witch book, and the witch book is It is a prayer book used by wizards, so its author is Wu. This version of "Shan Hai Jing Tu" written by Wu should be the most original and earliest version, but it has long been lost.

"Looking at the style of these pictures on our bones, it is simpler and more simple than the lines in the Ming and Qing editions, and there is a sense of mystery and strangeness that is extremely profound because of the extreme simplicity. So I think, we The pattern on the bone phase should be earlier, at least it must be the version of the Nanliang or Song Dynasty, and it may even be... the most original version."

"What does it mean to pray for relief?" Ke Xun asked.

"Literally speaking, it is praying and resolving disasters. It belongs to Taoism's spell," Shao Ling said. Fires, floods, droughts, winds, earthquakes, unfavorable years, etc.”

"Wait a minute..." Wei Dong said, "Aren't the "Shan Hai Jing" talking about mountains, rivers, waters, rare animals and so on, and there are Taoist magic in it?"

"Rather than Taoist magic, it is more appropriate to say witchcraft." Shao Ling said, "There is a considerable part of the content in "Shan Hai Jing". It is written on the witch map or words used in ceremonies such as sacrificial offerings.

"The original version of "Shan Hai Jing" was actually just a map. There was no written text at that time, and the shamanism was only passed down orally.

"The later text versions were all written descriptions based on the map, just like sentences such as 'Each hand holds a fish' are all describing the content of the map."

"I always thought that the "Shan Hai Jing" had texts first, and the pictures were matched by later generations," Ke Xun said with a new expression on his face, "It turned out that there were pictures first, so the original version If it is the real original, that is to say, "Shan Hai Jing" should actually be... a painting?"

The three words "a painting" were like enlightenment, which made everyone excited.

Just now, they only focused on analyzing the origin and content of "Shan Hai Jing", and everyone couldn't think about it for a while. Now, hearing Ke Xun's words, the thinking in front of them seems to have been broadened all of a sudden.

"So "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is the source of the entire incident?" Zhu Haowen looked at the drawings, "If it is also a painting, then is it true that all the mountains, rivers, beasts, and monsters recorded in it are... ..."

"Are they all the scenes of the world in the painting "The Classic of Mountains and Seas"?" Qin Ci answered his words, and the two looked at each other, seeing the indescribable emotions in each other's eyes.

Luo Kuo shivered even more firmly, and squeezed to Ke Xun's side.

"A painting that appeared in ancient times can expand a world in the painting. There are more than 40 strange countries, more than 500 mountains, more than 300 waterways, and more than 400 spirit beasts in the world in this painting. It also includes geography, astronomy, meteorology, plants, animals, geology, oceans, minerals, properties, witchcraft, religion, medicine, folklore, economy...even science, philosophy and anthropology and other fields of data and organizational structure, "Shao Ling raised his eyes and looked at everyone, with the same unspeakable emotions as Qin Ci and Zhu Haowen, "This is simply... This is like another big world like the one we are in now, different from ours. Any painting that has been developed before has a larger volume, a more magnificent and rigorous world view, and it has a logical and rigorous coordinate axis. It is mature and perfect whether it is viewed horizontally or vertically. The world of the world is almost boundless and has no end."

"In other words, it is like another universe in the multiverse theory," Zhu Haowen said, "and the frame, or scroll, is the time-space door leading to this other universe."

"I have a chilling thought." Ke Xun said.

"You say, which one is real, the world we live in or the world in the picture in "Shan Hai Jing"?"

Ke Xun's words made everyone gasp in their minds.

"If the coordinates of all art museums are linked together to form a signature, does that mean that the world we live in is actually... a painting?" Ke Xun didn't mean to take care of everyone's fear, and licked With some dry lips, they continue to drop conjecture bombs on everyone's nerves, "If our world is a painting, then what are we? The 'real' outside this painting What is the world like?

"What is the 'human being' who lives in the 'real world' and created us?

"We have always thought that we are the spirit of all things, the top of the biological chain, and the master of the world, but in fact, maybe we are just a bunch of...a bunch of symbols created by the real 'spirit of all things'?

"Then according to the fate and life trajectory they set for us, from birth to death, no matter how we struggle and think, we will always be in their routine, always on this track, and we will never be able to get off the track and escape from this. Dimension..."

Luo Kuo's eye circles were red, but it wasn't because of fear, but an inexplicable sadness that rose from his heart and swept his whole body.

——It turns out that we are just a bunch of symbols.

In that "real world" we are not even the lowest creatures...

Our joys and sorrows, our memories and longings, all the things we have tried our best to bid farewell to, are all just a bunch of symbols, ridiculously sad and humble.

Luo Kuo buried his head in his knees and cried bitterly.

"You, don't scare the child..." With a pale face, Wei Dong patted Luo Kuo's shoulder with trembling hands.

"So," Zhu Haowen's voice was also slightly dry, "is the painting "Schrödinger's Cat" a hint to us from one of the two competing forces that we speculated before?

"It implies that outside our world, there is a consciousness that is higher than our material world, so for us, consciousness creates matter.

"And we are to that kind of high-level consciousness body, which is equivalent to two-dimensional creatures to three-dimensional creatures. In our two-dimensional world, we can't see three-dimensional creatures, we can only feel their projections...

"It's like a saying in the scientific community - high-dimensional creatures are like gods to low-dimensional creatures. The force they exert on the low-dimensional world is very incredible and The unimaginable is something only God can do, because low-dimensional creatures can never imagine the appearance of high-dimensional creatures, their attributes, or abilities, just like we can never imagine four-dimensional space, ten-dimensional One-dimensional space looks normal."

"If our destiny has already been set by that high-level consciousness body, then what is the use of all the efforts we are making now? Anyway, the result is doomed, and the damned will die. What else do we have to struggle with?" ?" Wei Dong said in a daze.

Ke Xun rubbed his face with his hands, and laughed: "I was wrong, and it's all my fault, spreading pessimistic thoughts. Brothers, this is just a conjecture. There may be thousands of possibilities for the event of entering the painting, and this is just one of them." .

"Come on, my family has said that the conscious body is also a kind of spiritual power. Spiritual power is different from matter. It has no upper limit. No one knows how strong one's mental power can be. If we compare on the spiritual level, we may not necessarily lose.

"Let's pause for a while, let's all relax, so what, why don't we watch a movie together? It happens that the female compatriots are not here, and here I have the latest blockbuster European and American hunk porn, the kind with the FBI warning at the beginning ..."

Everyone: "..."

Wei Dong: "Go away! You ruined the good sadness!"

Ke Xun got up: "Take a break, I'll give you some supper for the whole night, Ke's is delicious, and the precipice will make you sleep well all night, with spring dreams again and again."

Everyone: "..."

Ke's delicious supper is hot golden and fragrant mutton and millet porridge, sprinkled with chopped carrots and shallots, and dotted with a few bright red goji berries.

Gold, orange, green and red, the bright colors and the steaming white heat immediately dilute the sadness and depression shrouded in everyone's hearts. Even Mu Yiran, Qin Ci and Shao Ling, who have always been quite self-disciplined in their living habits, couldn't help picking up the Spoon, broke my habit of not eating after eight o'clock in the evening.

"Is there any dry food?" Wei Dong may have been frightened, and he suddenly had an appetite, so he ordered food on the spot.

Ke Xun went into the kitchen and heated up a dozen milk buns the size of pigeon eggs.

Luo Kuo sniffed his nose while sucking his tongue scalded by the porridge, Ke Xun sat beside him and tilted his head to look at him: "Looking at your talent, a few words can make you cry—oh shit! You Snot! It's about to drop into the porridge! Can you blow it first?!"

"What are you afraid of, I..." Luo Kuo raised his head and sniffed again, "Anyway, I am a symbol, and my snot is also a symbol. If I drop it into the porridge, just treat it as a symbol."

Ke Xun: "..."

A hot porridge meal in the middle of winter made everyone relax physically and mentally. After eating, they all sat on the thick carpet on the living room floor and continued to sort out clues about "Shan Hai Jing".

"I think we can put aside the idea of ​​'advanced consciousness' and 'painting outside the painting'," Mu Yiran said, "otherwise our thinking will easily be bound here. No matter whether we are just in a painting of a high-level world or not" symbol', we should all try to survive in our own world and find a way to crack it."

"You're right!" Ke Xun said.

The author has something to say:

Previously, Xingyue made some unscrupulous replies to the question of the perspective of this article in the comment area - I really didn't expect the perspective problem to be a very serious problem... [You newcomers (authors) are really annoying and troublesome! ——Little braid Liu Yufei's words. 】

So here I would like to make it clear to everyone again: ★This article is the main article, and there will be no mutual attack in the main text, side stories, and serious small theaters (unless it is for funny and nonsensical jokes). ★

Once again, I lament my luck to have you gentle, tolerant and kind readers, thank you for your understanding, tolerance and care for me, a reckless and ignorant newcomer in the circle, and hug you hard~~!