The mountain ghost blows out the lights

Shen Yuansi's funeral was not grand.

It's not that the Shen family treated him harshly, it's just that the Shen family has always had this tradition, no matter whether it is the head of the family or the clan members, there is no need to make any arrangements after death, and there is no need to pay too much attention to it.

They seem to have their own understanding of life and death, and their acceptance is much higher than that of ordinary people. Although they will also feel sad for the death of their relatives, they are generally very measured—not to mention for most of them. He said that the benefits brought by Shen Yuansi's death were enough to offset that little emotion.

But this time, no one stopped Shen Lianxing from going to the astrology building to accept the test.

The Shen family was not close to Shen Lianxing, they didn't know him well, they didn't know how far he could make the prosthetic limb with his ability, and they didn't know that he had found Jianmu and could actually make the prosthetic arm function like a human hand.

Making organs or anything else, the most important thing is fineness.As long as many things are slightly different, they will go a long way, but in their view, Shen Lianxing, who only has one hand, obviously can't do this.

Shen Lianxing's failure in the test seemed to be a foregone conclusion, and all the Shen family had to do was wait patiently.

They have been waiting for so long, and now there is no shortage of time.

Therefore, Shen Fan didn't show much displeasure when he brought the two of them up to the astrology building.

He even pretended that those things never happened before, and told Shen Lianxing worriedly: "I don't know what kind of test the Patriarch gave you? Lian Xing, no matter what, you must pay attention to safety on the road."

Shen Lianxing didn't give him any face at all, and said simply and directly: "Thank you, this is my own business, don't bother you."

Shen Fan: "..."

He finally realized that what he did would not work in Shen Lianxing's life, so he shut his mouth honestly.

……

The Astrology Building is one of the buildings with the longest history in Smokeview City.

It was built in the east of the city, not far from Jin Yusi, and a few of them even passed that alley on the way.

It's just that mortals can't see Jin Yusi of course, Shen Fan didn't look sideways, Shen Lianxing looked back, the two ever-burning lanterns at Jin Yusi's gate had been taken off and replaced with two ordinary red lanterns.

Even in the daytime, the lantern is still on, the light is not very obvious, I don't know if it is waiting for someone to go home.

Shen Lianxing looked away and stopped looking at it.

"I have notified the high priest in advance." Shen Fan seemed to be a talkative person by nature, and after being quiet for a while, he couldn't help saying, "The key to the astrology tower is in the hands of the high priest. Where is the test?"

The High Priest is the priest of the Astrology Building, who is responsible for the ceremony of asking for the destiny, which has been passed down from generation to generation, and has a very respected and high status in Yanjing City.

Each term is hand-picked by the predecessors, without a name, since the day they become priests, their names are no longer important.

They are just the high priests of Yanjing City.

Shen Lianxing glanced at Shen Fan.

Now Shen Fan is almost being ridiculed by Shen Lianxing, and he is very vigilant when he sees Shen Lianxing: "...What?"

Why are you looking at me again, what did I say wrong?

"It's okay." Shen Lianxing said slowly, "I was just thinking..."

"As the representative of the Shen family, you followed the high priest to the astrology building so many times, and asked for instructions on the 'Mandate of Heaven' so many times. Haven't figured out until now, where did she and the Patriarch put the test?"

Priests were supposed to be Shen Lianxing's job, but Shen Lianxing didn't believe in that, and never went, but the rest of the Shen family went very diligently, and I don't know if they really believed in this, or to please the high priest.

Although not as good as Shen Lianxing, Shen Fan is also a very talented child of this generation, and of course he has also been to the astrology building.

As long as he has the slightest desire for the position of Patriarch, he will definitely try to get that test.As long as he got something, whether it was tampered with or forged, as long as Shen Lianxing failed, his chances of becoming the head of the family would be greatly improved.

Shen Fan: "..."

Sure enough, he guessed right, when his younger brother opened his mouth, he definitely didn't want to communicate with him in a friendly manner.

Shen Lianxing smiled again, and took the initiative to moderate: "I'm just joking, second brother, don't mind."

At this time, I learned to call my second brother.

Shen Fan was very depressed, but he couldn't refute - because he really did this.After the divination ceremony was completed, he asked the high priest about the Patriarch's test, but the high priest didn't tell him.Later, he looked for it by himself, but he couldn't find it. After careful investigation, it was his fault.

No one is a saint, the world is bustling with people, isn't it just for the sake of fame and fortune?Shen Fan felt that he did nothing wrong.

Shen Lianxing brought it up at this time, I don't know if he knew about it a long time ago, or if he really just said it casually.

Shen Fan drooped his shoulders, turned a winch in front of the astrology building, and opened the door.

The craftsmanship of the Astrology Building is excellent, and the materials are also carefully selected. In addition, the Shen family has never stopped maintaining it, so it has not been damaged so far, and the parts in it have always been running smoothly.With almost no sound, the door slid open to both sides, and the first thing I saw was a narrow wooden staircase.

There is another door next to the stairs, the door is carved with flowers, the workmanship is excellent, it seems to be a flying bird, passing through the stratus clouds, flying to the overlapping green hills in the distance.

Shen Lianxing was also brought up to the Astrology Building by Shen Yuansi, so of course he knew what it looked like.Yan Jinping, on the other hand, has passed by many times, but has never been in. In addition, this is something completely outside his domain, so everything he sees feels fresh.

He took two steps forward, raised his head and looked carefully at the internal structure of the building.

The parts hanging on the outside of the astrology building are already very complicated, but the inside of the building is even more complicated. Except for the necessary load-bearing walls, the rest of the place is filled with many unknown gears, hinges, bearings, and brackets.They operate separately and interlock with each other, and are connected together in many different ways.

They are obviously things that shouldn't appear in a building, but in the astrology building, they produce a strange harmony.As if they were not manufactured, but grown directly from this building, copper, iron and wood are interlaced to form the complex bones of the astrological building.

This building has such a structure, and it has persisted for so many years without falling down. No wonder some people call it a miracle.

It's useless to just listen to the rumors. Only by approaching it personally and observing it at close range can you truly feel the uncanny craftsmanship.

——Is this really human-powered?

No matter who it is, when they come for the first time, they will definitely make such exclamations.

Yan Jinping held his breath and raised his head intently.

Although the whole building is extremely tall, it has only one floor in total.A spiral narrow staircase in the middle leads to the top of the building around a pillar that should be made of copper. On the top is a huge part connected by chains and organs extending in all directions. I don't know the specific purpose, but each part of it is Spinning and beating non-stop.

It's like the metal heart of the building.

There are a few scattered windows on the walls, and the windows are not covered with paper, but transparent glass.The sunlight came in from the window, sprinkled on the stairs, and flowed along the edge of the stairs, illuminating some floating dust in the air, but the amount was very small, floating lightly, driven by the movement of people walking back and forth.

"Jin Ping." Shen Lianxing stood at the carved door and called him, "Let's go."

"This building is clean."

Yan Jinping withdrew his gaze and followed him into the door: "Although the place is big, there is not much dust."

The door was beautifully made, but the space inside was small, only enough to accommodate about ten people standing, and flowers were placed on a small table—or fake flowers made of silk.

"The astrology building has a special person to clean it." Shen Fan followed in, closed the door, pulled a lever behind the door, and explained, "After all, some mechanisms are sophisticated, and if too much dust accumulates, it may affect their operation."

Of course, it's not that fragile, but the Zodiac Building is a signature facade of the Shen family after all, it's dirty, what does it look like?

They still have this awareness.

The pull rod drove the mechanism, and there was a slight shaking sound from somewhere above the heads of the several people, and then the room shook and slowly went up.

……

It may be due to the consideration of user experience, the room rises steadily and slowly, and the astrology building is high, it took a long time to rise to the top, and a small door was opened above it, which was the room they used for the ceremony of inviting destiny .

The high priest came early and was already waiting on the roof.

Several people pushed open the door, and what they faced was a daubed face.

Only the face, the rest of the man was completely covered by a gray cloak, I don't know what's going on inside.

There is also a thin hand like an eagle's claw, protruding from the gap in the cloak, tightly holding a cane made of dead vines.

The owner of the face is actually quite old, but there are not many wrinkles, and the eyes are a very light amber color.From the forehead to the chin, red and blue paints are used to paint all the messy roads, covering all the facial features, and the shape can be seen individually, but there is no way to connect those eyes and noses together , clearly saw the person, but couldn't tell what the other person looked like.

No gender at all.

Yan Jinping: "..."

Who is this again, Shen Honghong has become a genius?

Shen Lianxing, on the other hand, had seen the virtues of the so-called 'High Priest' for a long time, so he was not surprised at all, and stepped aside expressionlessly, letting Shen Fan stand in front.

Shen Fan was very respectful, bowed his hands to this face, lowered his head and said, "High Priest."

The high priest nodded: "Yes."

It can be heard from the voice that it should be a woman.

The high priest seemed to have been standing here waiting, but now that people came, he stopped talking nonsense, glanced at Shen Lianxing, and without asking who Yan Jinping was, turned around and beckoned the three of them to come over.

Behind her was a round table, the top of which was so huge that it almost covered half of the room. It was slightly sunken in the middle, and then bulged, forming a smooth hemisphere.

A grid was drawn around the edge of the table, and some symbols were engraved. On the hemisphere, there were some small dots that seemed irregular at first glance. Some of them were connected by lines, but they were not shaped. Transparent stone, maybe crystal.

Yan Jinping secretly asked Shen Lianxing: "...What are the paintings on it, spells?"

"I don't know." Shen Lianxing also lowered his voice, "Don't you know him?"

"I don't know this." Yan Jinping said, "Don't talk about these pictures, even this is the first time I've been here, so how do I know what these things are for?"

He didn't know everything, and he was curious when he saw these for the first time.

Shen Lianxing shook his head and said, "I've only been here a few times, I've never participated in the sacrifice, and I haven't seen how they use it."

Now this time is not suitable for chatting, so he said again: "...I will talk to you after I go out."

Shen Yuansi hated astrological activities and never participated, even with Shen Lianxing - but for some reason, Shen Yuansi had a good personal relationship with the high priest, and they used to keep in touch with the high priest from time to time, until Shen Yuansi fell ill, this friendship was temporarily interrupted.

"Astrolabe." The high priest raised his crutches, rubbed the end of the crutches against the purple stone set in the center of the table, and said softly, "Is Shen Yuansi dead?"

This is what Shen Fan told her before, Shen Lianxing nodded and said: "Yes, it has been buried."

"It's a pity..." The high priest shook his head, and with a sudden force in his hand, he slammed down with a cane, knocking the stone down deeply.

The table made a 'click' sound, and then the tabletop split open, revealing a piece of paper inside.

The author says:

Shen Fan: I don't need to get close to you!

Yan Jinping: Hey, another one who looks strange, really knowledgeable.