Paintings of Terror

"If Jiuding is the ultimate weapon to suppress demons and ghosts, how did they disappear and where are they now?" Qin Ci said, "I think the two words of the master mentioned in this posthumous note are very noteworthy. : "Jiuding is still there, but not here" and "knowable but not visible, visible but not obtainable". This clearly alludes to the place where Jiuding disappeared, but these two sentences are so obscure that people can't figure it out through."

"Jiu Ding is still there, but not here... What does 'here' refer to?" Luo Wei asked.

"Not in this place?" Li Xiaochun guessed, "Didn't it mean that Jiuding was in the Zhou Dynasty at that time, and then flew into Surabaya, so of course it is not in the same place."

"...So what the expert said was nonsense?" Wei Dong looked at Li Xiaochun speechlessly.

"Then what do you mean by that?" Li Xiaochun asked back.

"I was thinking that it might mean not being in the world." Wei Dongdao, "I remember reading certain magical stories when I was a child. For example, the sword used by the protagonist is a divine sword. When the protagonist completes a certain After the task, the sword turned into a dragon and flew into the sky, and there has been no trace since then. There are many stories like this. Maybe when the life cycle of the Jiuding is up, it will turn into something and go to the sky. After all, the Jiuding is an artifact. Well, it is impossible for artifacts to stay in the human world forever, so the expert said that they still exist, but they are no longer in the human world and have returned to the sky."

"I think Dongzi's thinking is right," Ke Xun said, "but the idea of ​​going back to the sky is a bit ridiculous. Where is the sky? Mars or outer space? I think it's impossible for this to happen. There is a Lingxiao Palace above the Nine Heavens, and there is a Jade Emperor leading the immortals. I think it is right that the Nine Cauldrons are not in the human world, but where they went is hard to say."

"Could it be underground?" Wu You said, "Could it be that the ghosts in the underground stole Jiuding? After they stole it, there would be no infrasound waves to affect them anymore, so they tried to steal Jiuding."

"Please, sister, Jiuding was still resonating with infrasound waves at that time, there is no way for ghosts to come up from the ground, so how can they steal them?" Li Xiaochun said.

"Perhaps we should start with the phrase 'Knowable but not visible, visible but not obtainable'," Zhu Haowen said, "These two sentences have two meanings.

"Knowable but not visible, I think it should mean 'although we know they still exist, but we can't see them with the naked eye'.

"As for 'visible but unobtainable', I think it refers to people with superpowers like Dawu or this expert. They can see where the nine tripods are, but they can't get them, or tell them. The specific location of other people's Jiuding."

"Hao Wen'er's statement is reliable," Ke Xun nodded, "Then what we have to think about next is what are the places that these people with superpowers can see but can't tell?"

Everyone was lost in thought, but no one could come up with an answer.

"Eh?" Ke Xun patted Wu You on the shoulder, "Hasn't this expert opened his eyes, you should have the most say!"

Everyone also reacted, and quickly looked at Wu You.

Wu You was at a loss for a while: "I, what kind of expert am I, I can only look at the bones, and I can't see anything else!"

"Don't worry, you can try to use the method of looking at the bones to look around this place," Yue Cen said, "Maybe you can use this method to observe the rock platform tonight."

"That's right, we actually overlooked this point and forgot that Wu You still possesses such an ability," Shao Ling nodded, "We might as well give it a try tonight, maybe there will be breakthrough discoveries."

"Okay..." Wu You agreed nervously.

"The whereabouts of Jiuding, let's put it aside for now," Hua Jiqiu said, "There are more new clues appearing on these posthumous notes, which are related to ourselves, for example, the origin of the bones."

"Yes, the key is in the first posthumous note, the message from the senior who called himself 'Yu'." Shao Ling turned the note to this page and pointed it out to everyone. "It is this expert, After the loss of Jiuding, he was the first to discover the underground ghost's attempt to break out of the ground and return to the human world. He also came up with a way to replace the role of Jiuding, turning the "Mountain and Sea Map" on Jiuding into a bone phase and injecting it into the human body. body."

"This expert is really awesome," Wei Dong sighed, "If it wasn't because he found out about this matter by watching the stars at night, and spared no effort to find a way to deal with it, our world would have been ruled by demons and ghosts long ago."

"This posthumous note comes from around the beginning of the Qin Dynasty," Mu Yiran said, "It was not long before the Jiuding was lost. Fortunately, that era was the era when alchemists traveled everywhere, and it was also the era when Taoism prevailed and a hundred schools of thought contended. , the abnormal movement of the ghost was caught by this expert, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."

"What's the matter with the nine tripods, five yangs and four yins mentioned by this expert?" Ke Xun asked.

Gu Qingqing flipped through her notebook clatteringly, stopped at a certain page, and read: "'Yu cast nine tripods, the five are based on the method of responding to yang, and the fourth is based on the number of yin. Make the craftsman use female gold as the yin tripod , taking Xiongjin as the sun tripod. The tripod is always full to account for the rest of the weather. When Xia Jie came into being, the tripod water suddenly boiled. And at the end of Zhou Dynasty, the nine tripods were shaken. All should be a sign of perishing.'——This is I saw it from "Supplements of Relics" when I checked Jiuding's information before, so I copied it down."

"'Nine Cauldrons Xianzhen'!" Wei Dong clapped his hands, "Conforming to our previous speculation, there really is a resonance!"

"Five yangs and four yins are to correspond to the number of yin and yang." Ke Xun stroked his chin, his eyes swept over the faces of his companions, "It seems that the number of males and females who entered the painting was predetermined from the very beginning. , not counting the four dimensions, people with nine tripod bones are destined to have five men and four women in the painting, no wonder Sister Cen has such an experience from a very early age, and she is destined to let you be in the painting, no matter whether you are There is no way to escape."

Yue Cen smiled: "Perhaps from a certain point of view, I should feel honored for this, which means that I am quite recognized by Huatui."

"Yes, it means that we are the strong ones who survived the screening." Everyone also smiled bitterly.

"I am more concerned about this sentence," Qin Ci continued to point to the page on Shao Ling's notebook, "'Seek the map of the Nine Cauldrons, and get the power of its witchcraft', does this sentence mean that the Nine Cauldrons The "Mountain and Sea Map" cast on the tripod itself has the power of witchcraft? But we speculated before that the "Mountain and Sea Map" cast on the body of the tripod was to change the frequency of resonance, and the "Mountain and Sea Map" that was separated from Jiuding was just It’s just a picture, what kind of witchcraft can it have?”

"This is indeed a problem," Shao Ling said. "Our previous speculations were more scientific explanations, but the "Mountain and Sea Map" that appeared later has the power of witchcraft, and it is very easy to transform the map into bones and implant it into the human body." It is difficult to explain it with scientific things. We can only think that the power of gods and ghosts does exist in this world. Whether it is witchcraft, bones, or painting events, only the power of gods and ghosts can do it. thing."

"I still think that what you said can be explained by scientific principles," Zhu Haowen said, "It's just that none of us are scientists, and the limitations of knowledge and cognition prevent us from finding a scientific basis. "

"Brothers, whether it's science or gods and ghosts, I don't think that's the point," Luo Wei said, "The point is what this expert said later, sacrificing one's life to seal ghosts, it's so desperate ..."

Both Shao Ling and Zhu Haowen paused, Shao Ling lowered his head, stared at his notes, avoided Luo Yu's words, and said: "This expert speculates the reason why Jiuding can suppress demons and ghosts from a metaphysical point of view, the so-called "Three talents" refers to heaven, earth, and people. Jiuding is the transformation of nine heavenly pillars, made of copper produced underground, and finally needs to be sacrificed by people. The combination of the three talents produces divine power, and then assists the "Shan Hai Tu" "'s witch power to suppress the ghosts.

"And when Jiuding was lost, he came up with a way to replace Jiuding, which is to add four dimensions and implant the bones into the human body. It still needs the combination of the three talents to achieve a small part of the effect of Jiuding.

"But this method can't generate infrasound again, so I speculate that the function of the bone phase may be just a seal, so that the ghosts cannot break out of the ground for a while, and the Jiuding has a striking effect, and the blow and seal can be used from the Xia Dynasty to the Warring States period. During the long period of time in the final period, the demons and ghosts were firmly suppressed underground, and there was no need to use human sacrifices in the middle.

"Bone phases only have the function of sealing, so there is no way to suppress demons for a long time, so every 100 years, the power of bone phases will weaken or even disappear. Therefore, this expert said that after a hundred years, when the spiritual consciousness is exhausted, demons and ghosts will come back. I think , The bone phase has the characteristic of being passed down once every hundred years, which was set up by this expert, and because of this, thirteen people who should be robbed will be drawn into the painting every 100 years."

"It is mentioned in the posthumous note," Zhu Haowen continued, "the place marked on the "Mountain and Sea Yin Jing Tu" drawn by this expert for his disciples is the place where the illusion of painting occurs. It seems that this "Mountain and Sea Yin Jing Tu" Yin Jing Diagram" is actually the place covered by the whole 'light' characters."

"That's right." Everyone nodded.

"That's really a coincidence," Ke Xun said, "it's equivalent to the so-called 'weakest point where yin and yang connect' in these posthumous notes. The power of witches and curses of demons and ghosts, so the expert chose this word to suppress demons—is it too coincidental? It’s just like... For example, it’s like the location of the underground oil production in our country happens to be a "oil" The words are the same, why is it so coincidental that they are exactly one word when connected?"

"Your question, I think I can try to explain it," Mu Yiran looked at him, "Also, we have a real answer to the mystery of the order of the four-sided rock paintings that we have not been able to solve before."