Section 26: The Altar of Luoji Mausoleum
Listening to the perfect piano sound, one song after another was changed, and it was really the same as the old village chief said, without a single song repeating.
As I walked, the old man spoke to me and said, "Today is strange. In the past, the sound of the piano was not so long. Why do I feel like I was playing it specifically for your arrival?"
After hearing what the old man said, I couldn't help but shivered all over, probably because this old man told me one sentence.
After experiencing so many bizarre things in the past two years, I began to believe in these fantasy and unpredictable things more and more. Especially after I personally tried to travel to Pudong by my soul, I felt that all superstitious things were very likely to exist.
Until we climbed up the hillside and arrived at the altar in front of the tomb gate, the sound of the piano continued to linger back and forth between the peaks.
Guo Qianqian stared at the tomb gate and listened for a while, then turned to me and said, "Xiao Han, the sound of the piano did not seem to be directly transmitted from the tomb gate. I don't feel anything from here."
I replied, "The tomb gate is a tomb passage. There may be other tomb gates behind the tomb passage. Even if the sound of the piano comes from the underground palace, it sounds natural tone from here. The location of this tomb is so particular, there must be a unique world in the tomb. There should be many ventilation holes, so the sound coming from those vents is much stronger than from the tomb gate."
"Oh!" After hearing this, Guo Qianqian walked to the bronze tripod on the altar and looked back and forth.
I then asked the old man and said, "This altar should have been hidden in the mountain before, right?"
"Yes!" the old man nodded and replied, then pointed to the collapsed place on the outside of the altar and explained: "In the past, they were all inside the mountain. I remember that there was a big pine tree growing on the walls of the outside. I guess they were buried in the pile of gravel below when the collapse."
I thought about it and came to Guo Qianqian and checked the tall copper tripod together. The dust inside the tripod was stained with rain and became soil again, and several green grass grew on it.
Then I took out the archaeological shovel and shoveled the ash in the cauldron. Then I analyzed and said, "Let's see, these ash do not seem to be formed more than two thousand years ago. Judging from the dust traces, the age has increased from the outside to the inside. If I guess correctly, there should have been people here to burn incense and worship for more than two thousand years."
After saying that, I asked the old village chief and said, "Have you ever heard of the old custom of worshiping here?"
"Impossible!" The old village chief shook his head and replied, "I have lived here for the rest of my life, and I have never heard from my ancestors say that someone worships in the mountains. Luo Ji is our goddess, and we are most concerned about her affairs. How could I not know if there is such a custom?"
I nodded, then slowly retreated to the tomb door and looked at this strange altar from afar.
There is a large bronze tripod in the middle of the altar, and eight copper bottles and incense burners are placed more than ten meters around. Although it doesn’t look like a Bagua diagram, it is probably another way of decoration. I have only learned the Yin-Yang Bagua Technique, and obviously I can’t understand the meaning of this kind of fiddling.
I called Wen Yuan to my side in private and asked him quietly, "What does this altar mean? Do you know it?"
Wen Yuan looked at the copper incense burners in the corner [31 Novel Network], thought for a long time and shook his head and said, "I don't know, the formation of the ancient Xuanwu Sect is unfathomable, and I don't know much about it."
I muttered, thinking, "During the Zhou Dynasty, the Nine Cauldrons represent the nine provinces and the world. What does this cauldron and eight furnaces mean?"
Wen Yuan laughed happily after hearing this, "Oh, uncle, why did you get the things here together with the nine tripods of the Zhou Dynasty? That's not the same thing. This Luo Ji is just a famous poet in Ba State, and this Xun Lin's father is just a general in Jin State. They have not become kings or emperors, so they can't involve the country and the world."
"Okay, that's right." Sometimes my mind gets swelling when I think too much, so I can only put it aside for these things that I can't figure out clearly.
Then, accompanied by Wen Yuan, I walked over to study the half-exposed tomb door!
The collapse of the mountain caused a lot of gravel to accumulate in front of the tomb door, burying the lower half of the tomb door. This is another large tomb door made of bronze. Unlike the Western Zhou tomb door, the door frame of this tomb door is actually bronze, embedded deep in the surrounding mountain walls. The door frame is carved with countless petals, interspersed with strands of silk and satin, and the style looks very luxurious and elegant. The tomb door is carved with a wonderful woman. She is sitting in the pavilion with her hands on a guqin, indicating that she is playing. A lotus pond is surrounded by lotus flowers and lotus leaves fill the pond. The pavilion is connected to the garden in the distance by a bridge, and the garden is covered with people and is looking towards the pavilion.
It turned out that this place was like the legendary inside the Shoujunting Courtyard. I didn’t expect that there would be such a huge pond in the courtyard. The owner of the tomb was so happy that the realm was beyond my imagination.
Above the tomb door is an ancient eaves carved. There is a horizontal plaque in the eaves, with three clear large Jin style characters written on it: "Luoji Mahal".
After reading these, I said with emotion: "It seems that Xun Linfu has a lot of thoughts on this tomb. Just looking at this tomb gate is so exquisite that it is hard to describe! A few people came to dig out all the gravels below and prepare to open the tomb gate later."
"Open the tomb door?" The old man was shocked after hearing this and asked me hurriedly: "Didn't you say you would destroy the tomb of the goddess Luo Ji? Why are you going to open the tomb door again?"
I replied: "The location of the tomb is now exposed. People all over the country know that the Loji Mahal is here, and many tomb robbers will come to visit in the future! We are the archaeological team of the Cultural Relics Research Institute. The purpose of coming here is to conduct protective excavations of the Loji Mahal and prevent the precious cultural relics inside from being stolen by criminals."
The old man said anxiously: "Isn't that the same? You will still open the tomb door and disturb the goddess Luo Ji. That would be a great sin."
I pulled him to the side and comforted him carefully and said, "Don't worry, the old village chief, we are representing the country to come for archaeological excavation. Even if Luo Ji knows about it, she will understand my approach. It's okay, stand behind and watch, it's safer there."
"Oh!" When the old man heard the word "country", he didn't say anything more. Although he was unwilling to do so, he had to listen to my arrangement and retreat to the altar, standing there and looking at the tomb door.
After a while, the tomb door was cleaned up, and even the dust on the ground was cleaned by Chen Liang.
Team doctor Jia Hesheng laughed at Chen Liang and said, "Chen Liang, you are really here to visit Luo Ji's grave, haha."
Chen Liang held the broom and replied, "What do you think, Luo Ji is a goddess, and the goddess naturally likes cleanliness the most. We must respect the owner of the tomb, do you understand?"
After hearing this, I immediately said, "Okay, stop talking. You all retreat and let Wen Yuan and I study how to open the tomb door."
When we heard that we were going to do our job immediately, everyone seemed serious and took a step back, paying attention to Wen Yuan and me together.
After the tomb door was cleared out, a tomb door inscription was exposed below, and it read: "I have been playing the piano to keep you for thirty years, and the strings fill the mulberry fields and the vast sea; I am devoted to my life's beauty, and I wish to be buried with you."
After reading this tomb door inscription, I said to me with emotion: "This poem should be written by Xun Lin's father himself. It seems that after he built the tomb for Luo Ji, he buried himself and Luo Ji here. The relationship between the ancients was really magnificent. Although he could not marry Luo Ji when he was alive, Xun Lin's father would rather accompany her to bury her in the Luo Ji Mahal after he died without caring about his reputation and status."
Wen Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, the nobleness of the ancients is beyond our understanding. The times change and the world is getting worse, and everything in the past cannot be returned."
After listening to Wen Yuan's inexplicable sigh, I knew that this kid's educational level was definitely not what he said, "Is there any person who has not graduated from elementary school and who has not graduated from elementary school?"
At this moment, I didn't have time to think about his life experience, and focused on how to open the tomb door.
The poem on the tomb door is relatively concise, without the style and demeanor of a great writer, especially the third sentence "It is devoted to the beauty of a lifetime". Wouldn't it be better if it is written as "It is the word "It is?"
Soon I noticed that maybe I used this word specifically for the sake of the mechanism? Thinking of this, I looked at this line of poems seriously and found that each word seemed to be a mechanism button embedded in the tomb door. Then I keenly picked a word from each of the four lines of poems and pressed the four words "Fuck the strings as the king" in turn.
As expected, it was as I thought, and there was a crackling sound in the tomb door. After a while, the bronze tomb door began to move upwards. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!