Tomb Raider's Notes of Qilin City Lord

Chapter 490 Siguniang Mountain ([-])
490 4 Chapter Ninety Siguniang Mountain (Fifty)
While listening to what the girl said, Zhang Qiling raised the flashlight in his hand and shined it in the direction of the large metal furnace on top of the octagonal tower placed in the center of the tomb. The flashlight light fell straight on the octagonal furnace made of black metal. The top of the tower.

I remember that the decoration on the highest point of the tower is called "Tasha". The material is usually made of metal or jade. It is the most prominent mark on the tower and is a very important part of the entire tower.

The phase wheel type pagoda is the most common. It is a series of cylinders made up of several rings of different sizes, which are connected to the brake rod. It means reincarnation and perfection. The number of rings is an odd number, which means is the number of layers of the phase wheel, and the number of layers of the phase wheel also means the level of the pagoda. The more phase wheels, the higher the level.

The Tasha here also has rings stacked on top of each other, but the rings are strung on a carved cone. I saw three rings on the Tasha, which is as many as the Tasha. The wheel has the smallest number of phase wheels. I don’t know if this means that the level of the tower is relatively low, or because the top of the tower is too small and there are not too many phase wheels on the tower brake.

In addition to these, there is also a carved multi-faceted metal carving on top of the ring. The patterns on the carving are not very clear, but they seem to be symmetrical patterns with intertwined lines.

There is also a small ring on the carving, and the chain wrapped around the stove is still passed through the ring.

I said: "Brother, this Tasha is a composite Tasha. I heard that the Tasha itself is a complete small pagoda, a "tower on top of a tower." This Tasha is also wrapped in chains so exaggeratedly. It seems that here The head is not that complicated."

Zhang Qiling continued to move the flashlight downward, shaking it up, down, left and right, and finally the light fell on the eaves of the tower on one of the first floors.

The eaves of the tower have three floors, and they all look the same. At first, I thought that the tiles on each floor of the eaves would have tile-shaped patterns carved directly on the metal. However, the tiles on the eaves of the tower are actually made of It is paved with metal tiles one by one, with a very strong sense of layering. The black metal tiles are polished very smoothly, and the light reflected by the flashlight always feels like a chill.

The design under the eaves of the tower is purely carved, with the appearance of a solid wooden building, like the walls of a pavilion and tightly closed carved wooden windows. Even on these three floors, there is no door shape.

The light moved to the corners of the eaves again. Under each corner of the eaves of the octagonal tower, there is a bell-shaped small green gadget with multiple corners hanging. This is a very common decoration on the tower. It makes a sound when shaken. It is a small thing that can repel birds and act as a "bird scare" to protect the pagoda. In ancient times, the sound it made could also be used to measure the wind direction, that is, the copper bell.

When I saw the bell, I took a deep breath. It wasn’t a problem that there was a bell, and it wasn’t a problem that it was a bronze bell. The problem was that it was a bronze bell from my brother’s house.

I said: "Actually, it's quite normal to have bells on the tower."

I paused and continued: "There are a lot of bronze bells here, octagonal, three-layered, 24 of them. However, the bells are much smaller than those I have seen before. They are only as big as a small longan. So they are different from those I have seen before. Are those the same?”

Zhang Qiling moved the flashlight upward and said, "Look at "Zanjian"."

I repeated "Zanjian?" and looked up.

The top of this Tasha is the small ring with a chain on it, but if you look at the top, it should be the bud-like metal carving on the phase wheel.

Zanjian is a traditional Chinese architectural expression technique. It is one of the double-slope roof shapes. It is mostly used in small buildings, such as towers, pavilions, pavilions, etc. The roof is steep, without a main ridge, and several vertical ridges intersect at the top. Covered with a treasured roof, the top of the tower should be considered a structure with vertical ridges, octagonal and triple eaves.

I asked him: "Is there a problem there?"

I asked the question, but my brother didn’t seem to intend to continue. He had already used a flashlight to observe the things scattered on the ground around him. Although he didn’t explain what he saw, I already knew one thing, that my brother It means that there is something fishy in Zanjian.

We began to look at the fragments of funerary objects scattered on the ground around us. A large number of strange-shaped bronze fragments were around the base of the octagonal tower furnace.

We looked closely at the bronze fragments and found that many were exactly the same shape.

Some are as long as branches, piled up and overlapping on the ground. From a distance, they look like scattered firewood. The thin ones are as thick as my fingers, and the thick ones are as thick as my wrists. The branches are covered with cloth. It's full of ravines like a maze map.

There are some abstract outlines around the branches, and there are some curvatures on the surface. The whole thing is hollow carving. We looked at the ground around us and saw that there were still a few of these fragments still attached to the branches. It looked like this thing should It must be the blades. There must be dozens of such fragments at least, and they are relatively scattered.

We looked at the partial fragments where the branches and leaves grew together. We also found objects like flesh worms wrapped around them where the branches and leaves were connected.

If you look closely, there are obvious fish scale-like textures on the strip-shaped object. The shape is also very abstract, and the lines are clearly drawn.

I looked at the small abstract thing that looked like a flesh worm and said, "A flesh worm with scales, a big head, and a pointed tail, this must be a snake."

Near these things, there are some open-mouthed, flat-bottomed, somewhat deep bronze boxes, as big as the slightly curved palm of my hand. Each of the few I saw in front of me contained a thick layer of black stuff. , the surface was a little black, like some solidified substance. I gently pulled the box with my toes, and it felt a little heavy. The black stuff inside was indeed a paste-like object.

Zhang Qiling knelt down to pick up a bronze box and looked at the contents inside. I followed him and leaned in to take a look.

I waited for him to look at the thing for a while, then I called him, raised my hands slightly and spread them out, gesturing at the branches stretching, using my hands as the bronze box containing the black paste, with the palms facing towards It was slightly bent into a bowl shape and held on both sides of the body. He tilted his head unconsciously and said: "These fragments should be related to each other. There are branches and boxes for storing things. It should be a lamp. If it is combined It should be quite tall. In ancient times, there were lamps with many branches, so this one should be." After saying that, I looked at him and blinked his big eyes.

My brother looked at me and paused for a moment, then said to me in a soft tone: "Land lamp." I said "Oh" and nodded. He looked at me again and then put down the bronze box in his hand.

When I saw the bronze box he put down, I pointed my head in that direction and said, "This is a lamp. There should be lamp oil in the oil box. Old lamp oil will become darker, but will it be the same color as ink? Is it possible?" Is there something else mixed in it, so it’s very dark? Also, why is there no wick in the oil box of the lamp?”

Zhang Qiling naturally discovered this problem, but it didn't seem to be the issue that concerned him most. His eyes quickly focused on the stone base under the stove on the top of the octagonal tower.

This time we came to the base to check. I followed my brother and walked half a circle along the edge of the octagonal base. I found that on the ground corresponding to each corner of the octagonal base, there was a square for placing things. The stone slab is not very obvious because of the bronze fragments pressed on it.

Zhang Qi Lingjiao looked at the stone slab on the ground, then touched it with his hand, paused for a moment, without any explanation, reached out and picked up the thickest bronze branch lying on the ground, with branches and leaves, and started playing with it.

He carefully looked at the ravine on the branch, then looked at the fractures on it, and then kept searching among the bronze fragments near the branch he had just picked up, looking for other fractures that matched the fractures on the branch in his hand. One part, while comparing, sorted the fragments that had not yet found the connection points in front of them.

I seemed to understand what he was going to do, so I asked him, "Do you want to restore the light?"

He said to me: "There should be eight lamps. Under the stone is the mechanism. It is needed."

Obviously my brother's intention is to restore these lamps, then return the lamps to their positions and put them on the stone slab again, so that the mechanism here can be opened.

I paused for a moment and said to him: "Well, brother, please spell out the rough outline of this and let me know what it should look like. I will help you repair them later, and I will sort out those first." As I said that, I pointed to the broken pieces of the chandelier on the ground not far away.

He paused slightly, probably because he felt that the tomb was unsafe and there were too many hidden dangers. Even though he knew that I was very careful in my work, he still didn't want me to leave him too far.

So he said to me: "Don't leave my sight."

I pointed to the bronze fragment on the other corner in front of him and promised him: "Okay, I'll be right in front of you and won't go far." After that, I moved towards the other corner within his sight. direction.

I followed his example in sorting out the messy piles of bronze fragments, but I was not as good at it as he was. The progress was very slow at first. Some of the fragments were stuck together by the bronze rust. I could not break them apart again and again. Afraid of getting damaged.

I saw that my brother was able to separate them without much effort. They were really sticky, so he put the bronze lump on the backpack on the ground, threw it a few times without thinking, and then gently broke it off. Opened, it looks like the pieces are not damaged yet.

I looked at the bronze lump in my hand and thought about his method. It is indeed effective, but it only works with the right strength. This method is simple and effective, but it is not suitable for me to use. However, this method can pull and smash walnuts. The methods seemed somewhat similar, so I thought I would try the method of smashing walnuts.

You can't just put it on the ground and smash it. Metal is harder than wood. Using wood as a cushion for these bronzes can protect them. Thinking about it, I thought it was quite reliable, so I took out an A5 notebook-sized piece from my bag. No. When I got a 2cm thick wooden board, in order to avoid damaging the metal surface as much as possible, I took a hammer with a soft rubber head like the one used to make jewelry.

When I was ready, I immediately placed the bronze lump on the wood and carefully tapped the metal joints with a hammer, testing the strength little by little.

After hitting it many times, the rust stains began to fall off, and the bronze fragments gradually began to loosen. I added a few more times, and the two parts of the bronze fragments were finally separated successfully.

I kept typing and sorting it out like this, working very seriously. Although the efficiency was not as good as that of my brother, I still sorted out a lot of pieces in a short time.

Unknowingly, Zhang Qiling had arranged the bronze fragments in his hand on the ground in the order of combination, like a jigsaw puzzle, just barely connected. After placing the last fragment in his hand, he stood up and came to me. .

After that, we sorted out the bronzes on the other corners together. As we were playing with them, my physical strength began to decline. When I stopped when I was tired, I suddenly remembered that something seemed to be missing.

I looked at my brother who was carefully sorting out the bronze fragments, then looked at our deserted surroundings and said, "We have been here for a while, and the road from the door to here is not very far. Brother Bai Hao is right behind us, isn't he?" Well, why hasn’t he followed us yet? Besides, Sister Liyue and the others are a little far away from us, so it’s time for them to follow us.”

After listening to my words, Zhang Qiling remained calm and collected, but I seemed slightly panicked.

He continued to sort out the bronze fragments, and then said to me: "Every time the tomb door is opened, the tomb chamber behind the tomb door will change..."

I opened my mouth blankly for a moment and then said: "They also followed but went to another tomb? That means the tomb can move."

Zhang Qiling said: "It may spin."

(End of this chapter)