Paintings of Terror

"What do you mean? It's such a big tripod, you can just disappear if you don't see it?" Wei Dong asked in surprise.

"The Jiuding is an artifact passed on to the country. The ancients who believed in gods and ghosts believed that whoever owns the Jiuding will be able to rule the world and become the lord of the world that the destiny belongs to." Shao Lingdao, "In "Supplementary Notes", it is said: 'The saints of later generations, because The traces of Yu have cast the tripods from generation to generation. Therefore, these nine tripods became rare national treasures that monarchs of all countries wanted to possess in the Warring States Period when the world was in chaos.

"As for the whereabouts of Jiuding, it is said that the Zhou royal family was in financial distress at that time, and the debts were high. After Jiuding was melted down, it made money to pay off the debts. Some said that the Zhou family's national power was declining. The King of Zhou sank Jiuding into Surabaya for fear of causing trouble. Lied to the outside world that Jiuding was missing, which also triggered the famous historical event of Qin Shihuang fishing for the tripod in Sishui.

"But the most miraculous thing is the record in "Historical Records of Justice". It is said that King Qin Zhao plundered nine tripods from the Zhou royal family and returned to his country. One of the tripods suddenly flew into Surabaya, and the other eight tripods disappeared later. After that, Qin Shihuang sent thousands of people into the water to search for the tripod, but in the end they found nothing. Since then, the Jiuding has disappeared in the world.

"From ancient times to the present, so many people have searched for the whereabouts of Jiuding for so many years, but they all ended in failure. We only have ten people. If we want to find Jiuding out of thin air, unless God gives us a golden finger."

Everyone was silent for a while, only the sound of crunching and stepping on the snow filled their ears.

"Goldfinger, we have it." Ke Xun suddenly smiled.

Everyone looked at him together

"I've always felt that only people like Yiran and Mr. Shao who are talented and outstanding can survive all the way in the painting." Ke Xun took a few steps forward, then turned to look at everyone, While walking backwards, he smiled at the hot white air exhaled from his mouth and nose, "And an ordinary rookie like me may have cooled down early when he entered the first painting.

"Then why am I still alive? Of course, I have a protective body. But, what about Dongzi? What about radish? Everyone? Why do people who are obviously more capable than us die in the painting, but we can survive?

"It wasn't until today that I suddenly realized that we have always thought that we might be the most unlucky people in the world. This incident of entering the painting did not choose others, but chose us. Let us experience this terrible situation of life and death. Who can be more unlucky than us? Bad luck? But if we think about it from another angle--

"Maybe, we are actually the luckiest group of people in the crowd, so we can continue to survive in the world in the painting by chance. If it is replaced by people who are not so lucky, it may be like other people who have died in the painting , was prematurely selected by the death rules, and became the first and second experimental subject to verify the death conditions.

"It's like I encountered Yi Ran in the first painting I entered, why would I be grouped with him when I was grouped with a cloth tape? Without him, I would have died the first night. So It is my luck to meet Yiran.

"And, have you noticed? There are so many paintings, except for the kills that we can handle with our own ability, we are not the first to be selected for those deaths caused by force majeure. The painting "Restart", let me ask first, who among us has a mosquito-sucking physique?"

Wu You, Fang Fei, Qin Ci and Wei Dong raised their hands.

"Look," Ke Xun spread his hands, "We stayed in the primeval forest for so long on the first day, why no one was bitten by mosquitoes? Instead, Xiao Kai...became the first person to be bitten by mosquitoes, except for Tian Yang He Tang was the second person to be bitten by mosquitoes, and we were still spared.

"--This shows what?

"It shows that we are very lucky people! It shows that besides selecting the real strong, the behind-the-scenes force of the painting is also selecting the hard-fated and lucky darlings of heaven—this is the golden finger that God gave us. !

"So, with so many lucky people getting together, maybe we can really find the Yu-made Jiuding that has been lost for thousands of years!"

Ke Xun's words were like enlightenment, and everyone was shocked like an epiphany - yes!Fortunately or unfortunately, everyone has never tried to use reverse thinking to think about this question.

Maybe everyone has been making a mistake, that is, being blinded or suppressed by negative energy and setbacks, optimism and positive thoughts, like the god of good and evil, like black and white, yin and yang, many things are One body with two sides, turning our hands is joy, and turning our hands is sadness, but once we are blindfolded by our hands, we habitually close our eyes and accept the darkness obediently, but forget that as long as we try to open our eyes, what you can see at the first sight What I saw was a warm and powerful palm.

"I suddenly have infinite motivation now." Wu You waved his arms.

"I'm also full of confidence." It was the first time Gu Qingqing said such encouraging words without being so shy.

"I feel like throwing a snowball into the sky can knock down an airplane." Weidong clenched his fist and raised his arm to show off his muscles, but unfortunately only the soft and fluffy sleeves of the down jacket were displayed.

"But it cannot be denied that being sucked into the painting is still very unlucky," Captain Ke has always said Zhang Chi. No matter how lucky we are, this kind of lucky value still cannot resist the power behind the painting, but don’t forget, if there are two forces playing behind the scenes, at least one of them is on our side. , and found the "Shan Hai Jing Tu", I think we will definitely allow us to find Jiuding."

"No matter what," Shao Ling said, "Everyone go back tonight and have a good rest. Let's continue to work harder tomorrow. I feel that we are already at the door of the decryption door. We are just short of the last threshold, and the truth will be revealed after crossing it. "

"Oh! Do it!" Ke Xunwei Dong Wu You cheered.

The flurry of snow danced a few rounds in the air, and then rolled in all directions in an instant.

The next morning, the participants gathered again in the living room of Ke Xun's home.

Ten copies of the chain of clues summarized by Shao Ling were printed out and held in everyone's hands. The corresponding clues behind "The Picture of Burning Rhinoceros at Sea" were changed to "Nine Cauldrons Lost in Qin Shi".

"In addition to this chain of clues in our hands, what we know now is: me, Mu, and Ke Xun. The Jomon bone phases on the three of them are presumed to be 'Diwei', and the bone phases of the others are the version of Yu on the Nine Tripods" "Shan Hai Jing Tu", "Shao Ling wanted to sit upright on Ke Xun's lazy sofa, but he couldn't get up, so he had to collapse on the sofa in a special Ke Xun style, "and the problem we urgently need to solve Yes: Where is Jiuding.

"If the legend about one of the nine tripods flying into Surabaya is true, it may be very difficult for us to find the nine tripods. There are 100 tributaries in Surabaya, and there are five first-class tributaries with a drainage area of ​​more than [-] square kilometers. Among them, the carpet search, not to mention how much financial resources it will cost, even in terms of manpower, it is difficult for us to meet the demand.

"What's more, Qin Shihuang used the national power to search for the tripod. We only have ten people. If we try to search for the tripod in a proper manner, I am afraid that all the work will be useless. We don't have manpower, let alone time.

"So if you want to find the tripod, you may have to try your luck as Ke Xun said. But even if you try your luck, it must be within a certain range. This range is that we must first delineate a place where Jiuding may be as small as possible. area, and we need to be at least [-] percent sure that they are sinking in Surabaya."

"Actually, I thought about it last night," Ke Xun said, "Jiuding can be regarded as a real object that has been proven by historical facts, but what about Diwei? According to common sense, this thing cannot exist, but since this whole thing This is not in line with common sense, so let’s say that the dimension of the earth exists, so where can we find it? The ancients believed that the earth is square, but the reality is that the earth is round. Where can we find the four corners of the earth? And if Diwei is impossible to find, or does not need to be found, is it also impossible to find Jiuding, and also does not need to be found?"

These words stunned everyone. Indeed, some inferences yesterday can explain Jiuding but not Diwei. If Diwei is not established, then Jiuding, which is also a bone phase, should not be established.

"I want to know why there are thirteen people required," Zhu Haowen said. "If the source of the incident is the "Shan Hai Jing Tu", wouldn't it be fine if only nine people were included in the painting? Why are there four more people representing Diwei?" People enter the painting? Does this mean that the dimension of the earth is an indispensable thing, and can it play a certain role in conjunction with Jiuding?"

"This idea makes sense." Ke Xun nodded.

"We said before that the role of Diwei was mentioned in "Liezi·Tang Wen Pian", "Mu Yiran said, "Gonggong clan and Zhuanxu fought for the emperor, and they touched the mountain of Buzhou in anger. The pillar of heaven was broken, and Diwei Absolutely. Therefore, the sky is tilted to the northwest, and the sun, moon, and stars are there. The earth is not full of things, so all the rivers and rivers are flooded.

"From this description, we can know that if one or two of the earth's dimension is broken, the earth will collapse, which shows that the function of the earth's dimension is to keep the earth stable.

"And Jiuding, engraved with all phenomena of Kyushu, its weight cannot be estimated. The ancients believed that they had supernatural power and were blessed by witchcraft. One tripod represented the land of one state, and Jiuding represented the world. , is the land of the world.

"Diwei and Jiuding are both related to the earth. Diwei is to maintain the stability of the earth. Jiuding and Dingding are probably used to suppress the land."

"That's right!" Ke Xun's eyes lit up, "This coincides with the clue in "Broken Earth" that 'the power of darkness is about to break through the ground and come out into the real world'—maybe this Jiuding is used by witches to suppress these people." What about an artifact of power! What do you think?"

Everyone nodded again and again, Wei Dong said: "This is connected! The thing may be like this: the dark power was originally suppressed by these nine tripods, but during the Qin Dynasty, these nine tripods suddenly disappeared and were suppressed on the ground. The power that came under him was just about to move and wanted to rush to the world, at this time——this time—”

Speaking of this, Wei Dong suddenly opened his eyes wide in horror, and looked at the people in front of him: "At this time... the power of the Nine Cauldrons is needed to suppress that force again, but the Nine Cauldrons are gone, so... that's why there appeared Or, the bones of those who entered the painting are the mountain and sea patterns on the Jiuding...so...so, we people are actually...actually...the tripod? We—we are the ones that disappeared—the Jiuding?"

The crowd has been deciphering clues in the past few days, and their nerves and cognition have been shocked by the new inferences repeatedly. They thought that after several times of baptism and tempering, their nerves were strong enough, but they were still caught by the new ones again and again. The reasoning was so shocking that my mind went blank for a while.

It wasn't until a long time later that Mu Yiran said: "It's okay to say this, but I have another speculation. Why the Jiuding disappeared is unknown. Since it is assumed that the function of the Jiuding is to suppress evil, then at the beginning The person who blessed the cauldron with divine power or shamanic power must be a shaman.

"If that dark force really took advantage of the disappearance of the Nine Cauldrons to break through the barrier and invade the human world, perhaps the shamans specially selected people for the mountains, seas and Jomons on the bones, and then imprinted them on the bones with shaman power to replace the function of the tripod. To suppress that force.

"So, maybe everyone is not the body of the tripod and the dimension, but just inherited a seal similar to the imprint, which can play the role of the nine tripods and the dimension."

"...I feel much better after my brother-in-law said that..." Luo Que patted his chest hard, and let out a long breath.

"Of course, these are all speculations for the time being," Mu Yiran said, "And, if the bone phase seal works, what is the reason why batch after batch of painters have been painting continuously for thousands of years? So, we still We must try our best to find the whereabouts of Jiuding."

"But then, what is the relationship between the world of Shan Hai Jing and that dark force?" Zhu Haowen asked suddenly.

"I think it's hard to answer this question based on our current clues," Shao Ling said, "There is a saying that the images in "Shan Hai Jing Tu" are actually things related to witchcraft.

"For example, in the "Overseas South Classic", the Yumin Kingdom, the Long Arm Kingdom, and the Jiaoshan Kingdom, the people of the Yumin Kingdom in the picture are the images of wearing feather clothes, and the people of the Jiaoshan Kingdom are crossing their legs. The people of the Long Arm Kingdom are probably just A gesture of extending the arm is exaggerated.

"The original version of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" engraved on Jiuding disappeared in the Qin Dynasty, or some rubbings may have been handed down for some years, but in the process of being handed down, it is easy to be misinterpreted or misunderstood by later generations. Only then did the text version of "Shan Hai Jing" gradually have many serious images of gods and ghosts.

"However, it is very possible that the images of these characters in Yumin Kingdom, Cross Shin Kingdom, and Long Arm Kingdom were just ordinary people or witches at the beginning, and the images carved on the tripod are actually ordinary people or witches performing witchcraft activities. They wear special costumes, dance witch dances, and gesticulate in the movements of performing rituals. These exaggerated images and movements have gradually become out of shape after hundreds of thousands of years of transmission, and they have been passed down as the people of a certain country who look like ghosts and ghosts.

"So, there may be such a possibility - the world of "Shan Hai Jing Tu" may not exist, all its images are symbols of witchcraft, with supernatural power, what really exists is the The dark power hidden under the earth, the real function of "Shan Hai Jing Tu" may be to suppress evil and seal it, and this whole incident of entering the painting may be an opportunity set by that dark power to break through the shackles.

"I think the picture frame is the enchantment that separates the two worlds of black and white. The world inside the picture may be what that dark force shows us, the appearance of that world."