Tang riddles

The road in the hermitage is not easy to walk. The starting team, including the children, has a total of 23 people. They brought a lot of luggage, and they hiked into the mountain on donkeys raised by the locals that can walk the mountain road.Two strong men from Qianyumen carried a simple bamboo chariot on their bodies, and carried Shen Jin away, with Qianhe accompanying him.Shen Jin holds Huang'er in his arms and is responsible for taking care of the child.Because the adults were not in the villa, it was impossible for the children to stay alone, so they were brought into the mountains together.There are still two empty chariots for such a walking chariot, in case of emergency.

Crossing the desert, crossing the snow-capped mountains, walking through the grasslands, and experiencing all kinds of dangers, the mountain roads in the mountains of the Shu area seem relaxed and leisurely.While admiring the pristine and magnificent scenery in the mountains, a group of people walked into the misty miasma by stepping on the wet and soft land under their feet.

The miasma here is not poisonous, simply because the terrain here is a valley depression, the water vapor is not easy to dissipate, and the thick fog formed after gathering.But because of the special surrounding cross terrain, it is easy to get lost.This kind of terrain reminded Shen Sui and Hu Tuo of the terrain that surrounded Zhoujia Village on the edge of the hanging coffin burial cliff in Jiangling.It only needs to set up a landmark in a special place, and it will make people unconsciously go around in circles.Because in the process of identifying the way, people will always look for landmarks unconsciously, and vice versa, landmarks often become places that confuse people.

Although the miasma and complexity of the terrain in the hermitage are obviously higher than those in Zhoujia Village, it is not difficult for Qianyumen, who has mastered various formations and mechanism techniques, to decipher it.Moreover, Shen Sui once found a similar labyrinth album at home, and it was when she was in Jinling during those years when she was in Jinling, she found it by flipping through the book.I didn't understand what it was at the time, but later I realized that it was actually the maze of the family's former hermitage.Since there is no one living there, this album is not a big secret, it is kept in the library of Jinling old house, and anyone in the family can see it.

Thinking about it now, the maze around Zhoujia Village was probably set up by Yixu at that time, and was later broken by Anayi.

There is also a very conspicuous signpost in the hermitage, that is, there is a mirror-like lake outside the entrance.This lake does not occupy a large area, and it can be circled around it in a quarter of an hour, but this lake can confuse people's sense of direction. The surrounding mountains seem to look exactly the same, covering the sky and the sun, making it impossible to distinguish the direction at all.It seems that no matter which direction you go, you will eventually return to this lake.Therefore, the locals call this lake the lake of the dead, and believe that the bottom of the lake is connected to hell, and it is a place to summon the dead to return.When a living person approaches, their soul will be sucked away, and they will linger here unable to return until they die.It is said that when a descendant of the Yin family returned to his hometown after leaving the mountain, he accidentally attracted a man with a heart.However, this person did not seem to be able to enter the gate of the hermitage in the end, and was trapped around the lake, wandering and wandering, until he threw himself into the lake.

I'm afraid there are really countless dead souls in this water, so the name "Lake of Dead Souls" is well deserved.

The brothers of Qianyumen had already been familiar with the path, and Shen Sui and his party, led by the brother who had explored the way earlier, passed through the complicated jungle terrain and saw a hidden cave.Pushing aside the thick covering of vines, a group of people passed across the mountainside, and when they saw the light at the entrance of the cave, they suddenly became enlightened.The sight in front of me is shocking!

The entrance of the cave is located on the cliff, and there is a gravel path overgrown with weeds winding down the edge.Looking from the cliff to the distance, the opposite mountain is full of terraced farmland, but it has long been deserted, with a lot of weeds and trees growing on it, some of which are not obvious, and only the terraced hillside can be vaguely recognized .In the farmland, there is a turbulent waterfall hanging down, which converges in the deep pool at the bottom of the hillside. On the edge of the pool, you can also see the waterwheel, and you can vaguely identify the artificially dug canal to bring the water from the waterfall into the field.This is probably the most natural irrigation canal.

Just under the large farmland, you can see large tracts of houses buried in the weeds.The buildings made of wood and bamboo may be because the valley is relatively humid. The houses are all stilt houses to avoid moisture, and livestock can be raised under the houses.This type of house is very common in this area of ​​the Southwest.

However, after all, it has been abandoned for a long time, and the ground of these houses is covered with weeds, which almost spread to the middle of the house.It looks like a large house floating on the grass.

Looking farther away, you can see a large area of ​​houses closest to the waterfall, and there is a strange and tall stone platform.The multi-storey stairs have been stacked more than ten meters high, and the top floor has a wooden ring-shaped high-rise building. The style is very old. It is obviously not the current architectural style. It may be the building in the early Spring and Autumn Period, but there were no blueprints left at that time. , no one knows what the building was like at that time.But now it seems that there are already prototypes of later buildings, characterized by relatively primitive building materials, and the beams and columns are made of large sections of unmodified log mortise and tenon joints.

They watched for a long time before walking down the cliff from the cave they came in.Along the gravel road, all the way into this mysterious and ancient deserted village, a feeling of novelty and inexplicable fear gradually emerged.Walking through the weeds that are so tall that they can almost bury a person, looking at the abandoned wooden and bamboo houses on both sides, a kind of ancient atmosphere blows over us.They couldn't hide their curiosity and tried to enter one of them.The door is made of two pieces of wood, which were simply hung up, but now it has rotted into a pile of rotten wood on the ground, leaving only the upper part still hanging on the door frame. It can be seen that the owner closed the door properly when he left the house. It's a feeling that I don't intend to come back at all.

The house is almost empty, the furniture is basically rotten, the floor is quite dangerous to walk on, and many places have collapsed with big holes. Except for the relatively strong wooden pillars of the main structure, it is almost impossible to get down in other places.Zhang Ruohan even saw snakes crawling in the grass from the hole under her feet. She had always been afraid of these things, her face was pale, and she kept grabbing Shen Sui's sleeve.

Later, they found an old stove built with stones and mud at the back of the house. This was probably the place for cooking food. There were even some small pottery pots on the stove, which were probably The seasonings are stored, but the contents inside are a dark mass, exuding a musty smell, and it is already impossible to identify what seasoning it is.

Because it was inconvenient and dangerous, Shen Jin held the child, and several Qianyumen brothers including Qianhe did not come in.After Shen Sui and the others inspected the room, they also quickly walked out from the rear.It can be seen that the people here live a relatively primitive and simple life, but they should be considered wealthy and comfortable back then.Villages do not use well water, but draw water from waterfalls and pools.This valley is not wide, and the village is completely built around the waterfall, and the distance from each household to the deep pool of the waterfall is about the same.

These houses are all similar, and their destination naturally becomes the tall stone building built beside the waterfall.

"This should be the residence of the direct descendant of the Yin family." Zhang Ruohan said to Shen Sui as they approached the tall building on Shitai.

"I'm afraid it is." Shen Sui said, "Although most of the houses seem to be relatively equal and have similar conditions, there are still differences, especially the Yin family's direct branch, which is the most important blood of the family. status can be seen.”

"I think there are at most 500 people living in this village. In this way, the Yin family is still incomparable with those wealthy families outside." Xiong Niang interjected.

"That's natural. The big families of the Shandong Hao family, the five surnames Qiwang, and the Jiangnan clan are all people who live in the vast land of the outside world. They can get in touch with more resources and more opportunities. Naturally, they develop rapidly. doubled. Although the Yin family is ancient, they have always avoided the world, kept away from the outside world, and maintained a very balanced level of life, old age, sickness and death. Naturally, there is no expansion phenomenon. However, even if the development is so slow, the Yin family has reached the Nanliang period. , still had to go out of the mountain, the big reason is the lack of supplies, this valley can no longer support this secluded village." Shen Sui continued.

Zhang Ruohan nodded, and said: "Because more and more people began to wander in the mist outside the village, the sense of crisis in the village became more and more serious. At that time, I must have felt that this place was about to be exposed and could not be hidden. If so, how about Move out first."

"It seems to be that when a disciple from the clan returned from a trip, he accidentally brought back a caring person, right?" said the bride.

"Well, but nothing happened in the records. I'm afraid this person either left or died outside. In short, he couldn't come in. Even if he got in, he might not be able to go out again." Shen Sui said.

Hearing these words, Zhang Ruohan's spine shivered, Shen Sui felt her fear, and said with a smile:

"Maybe I will stay and live here. After all, there are not only Yin and Yi families here, but also many outsiders who have been living here and become the son-in-law or daughter-in-law of Yin and Yi families."

Really just stay and live?Or was left forever in some other way.This is probably a riddle that no one will ever be able to solve.However, in the end, they have no right to criticize the moral issues.Survival and morality are often not things that should be measured together.The so-called granary is real and knows etiquette, and food and clothing are sufficient to know honor and disgrace, this is the truth.People who have no food to eat and no clothes to wear, or people like Yin whose lives will be coveted by the outside world at any time after revealing their secrets, in order to survive, they will do anything.There is nothing to blame for making any choice, because others have no position to criticize.

A group of people began to climb the tall building on the stone platform. The construction of this building obviously took a lot of effort. Although it was close to the water, the main structure of the house was almost not damaged because the wood was made of precious oily cypress wood.The area of ​​the stone platform is limited, but the interior of the building is very spacious.In particular, there are many, many rooms in the pavilion-style building. It is conceivable to see the descendants of the direct branch at that time, but there are still a lot of them.

The pavilion has nine floors and is a very special ring-shaped building. It is somewhat similar to the Tongtian Temple in Luoyang built by Emperor Wu, but it is different.The main difference is that a patio is opened in the center of this nine-story pavilion, which communicates with heaven and earth.There is even a sacrificial altar in the courtyard, which is indeed a scene that only appeared in very old clans.This reminded Shen Sui of the nine-story pavilion of the cult's underground main altar.She always felt that this was not a coincidence, maybe as the designer of the construction of the main altar, Yin Yuyue actually came back here, saw the nine-storey building above the stone platform, and imitated it underground in Loulan.

After the group entered the pavilion, they came to the altar first, and saw a small stone tablet on the edge of the altar, engraved with a very complicated and obscure script, which has not yet fully evolved into seal script, and it is very difficult to read. .Fortunately, there are not many words, and even a blind guess can guess what is written.

"Ordered by the sky, benefited by the earth, and controlled by people. Heaven and earth can be named, but people are not." Shen Sui read out these words softly.As soon as she finished speaking, everyone fell into silence.An indescribable feeling of resonating with the ancestors made everyone's scalps tingle.Especially the sisters Shen Sui and Shen Jin, as direct members of the family, felt even more deeply.

Everyone walked around the altar, and Shen Sui soon found nine stone carvings on the side of the altar.Nine different scenes are described on the screen.One is the scene of a large group of people trekking long distances, and the first female leader is particularly conspicuous; the other is the scene of opening up wasteland and planting crops, with a woman who teaches planting as the protagonist; the third is the scene of building an altar, with A man is the protagonist; the fourth is the scene of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, with an elderly woman dressed like a wizard as the protagonist; the fifth is the birth scene, the strange thing is that there is no man in the scene, all women, The woman who is giving birth is accompanied by another woman, and there are phoenix patterns engraved around it, which symbolizes the birth of blood.The sixth is a scene of a large group of brave and skilled hunters hunting in the jungle, including men and women, lively and lively. The strange thing about the scene of yarn weaving is that there are also men and women spinning and weaving, which is not the normal division of labor between men and women in the outside world, and the leader is also a woman.

The eighth is the medical scene, but this scene is very special.Because the way of medical treatment is to take blood from a female member first, and then apply it to the wound of the patient or make a decoction and then feed it.After looking at this picture, Shen Sui was stunned for a long time before looking away, but inadvertently found that Qin Nu was also staring at this lithograph just like her.Shen Sui didn't make a sound to disturb.

The ninth is the scene of the death funeral. The dead seem to have been sent to the back of the waterfall, and the funeral is also presided over by a woman.

Below the nine stone carvings, there are a few words engraved, after Shen Sui carefully identified them, he read: "Great Bless the Nine Sages Picture."

"These nine pictures cover the whole process of our ancestors moving here and living hard..." Xiongniang sighed.

"The protagonist in the nine pictures should be the nine sages." Zhang Ruohan said.

"Well, I once saw the words "Nine Sages" in a book handed down by the family, but the records are already very vague." Shen Sui said.

They quickly finished visiting the altar and the nine-storey pavilion. There was already nothing here, and there was nothing meaningful left. Except for the stone tablet and the depiction on the altar, they could not get any more information.

Finally, they planned to cross the waterfall and enter the cave behind the waterfall to have a look.It's a pity that Shen Jin and the child couldn't get in, so they stayed outside.Zhang Ruohan didn't go in either. She accompanied Shen Jin outside and took over the task of taking care of the children.

Seeing Shen Sui leading a few strong young men into the waterfall, Zhang Ruohan shook her body gently, coaxing the sleeping little Huang'er, and said to Shen Jin:

"Qin Nu, how does it feel to come to the place where our ancestors used to live in seclusion?"

Shen Jin thought about it thoughtfully, and finally just shook his head without speaking.

The author has something to say: the next chapter is the end of this volume.The next volume will be the last volume of the main text.