Tomb Raider's Notes of Qilin City Lord

Chapter 65 Wu Xie’s encounter ([-])
065 Chapter 65 Wu Xie’s experience ([-])

Master Liang roughly speculated: "This bronze tree should have been used for sacrifice at that time, but the focus is not on the bronze tree itself, but on the ravines on the tree."

He pointed at the ravines and said: "Look, Uncle Tai's blood just flowed along the bronze branches into the twin snakes on the bronze tree, all the way down. If this was not planned in advance, it would be impossible. It runs so smoothly. The bayonets on these bronze branches also have traces like bleeding troughs. They must be sacrificial vessels used for blood sacrifices."

Wu Xie still had questions and asked: "Blood sacrifice? How is this kind of blood sacrifice performed?"

Master Liang said in detail that although the sacrifices in the Western Zhou Dynasty were not as brutal as those in the Shang Dynasty, human sacrifices were still inevitable. The various sacrifices were just in different ways. For example, people were buried alive to sacrifice to the land, and people were burned to death to sacrifice to the land. God of Fire, people were thrown into the river and drowned to sacrifice to the God of Fire.

The bronze sacred tree like this originated from the ancients' understanding of the solar halo phenomenon, and can be regarded as a vivid portrayal of the mythical consciousness of ancient ancestors of the continuity of heaven and earth, the connection between heaven and man, the unity of man and nature, and the intercommunication between man and god.It reflects the ancestors' worship of the sun and the sun god, which has the special function of communicating with spirits, gods, and the sky in the mythological consciousness. It is a ladder that communicates between humans and gods, and up and down the heaven and earth. A bronze giant like this one reaches the sky. Trees may be sacrificed to trees such as Fusang and Ruomu from the east and west poles, or they may be Jumang, the god of trees. Usually, these gods use blood sacrifices, and most of the time blood is poured into the ground.

When being sacrificed, people must be nailed to these bronze branches, and the blood of the corpse is drawn out and merged into the twin snake paths on the tree.If the blood does not condense halfway, it will inevitably flow all the way to the roots of the bronze tree buried deep under the rock, symbolizing the dedication of blood to God.

So you see that the ravine between the twin snakes is so ridiculously deep. It is precisely because it is a blood-drawing groove and is made into patterns that appear to be used for decoration.

After hearing this, Wu Xie couldn't help being shocked and said: "This is too cruel. Such a huge project and such a miracle can only be used as a tool to kill people. It is really stupid. Moreover, such a large-scale sacrifice , no matter how powerful a country is, it cannot hold it for a long time."

Lao Itch didn't seem to take Master Liang's words seriously and said to Wu Xie: "Old Wu, let me tell you, don't believe him at all. How could there be so many people in China to kill for your fun at that time? I see The people bleeding here are probably pig heads, sheep heads, etc. If we climb up a little bit more, we might even see a few thousand-year-old pork stuck in the flesh. Besides, it doesn’t matter if it’s a human being. After a person dies, he bleeds very quickly. It will clot. Don’t worry. It’s so high here that the blood will dry up if it doesn’t flow to the bottom. Besides, people don’t like your blood. In the past, people were so natural. They ate pesticide-free food and drank it. The water is pollution-free, how are you doing now? If your blood comes out, the elderly will definitely get food poisoning if they drink it, so this is just something to fool people."

Wu Xie's forehead popped out when he heard this. He was really angry and cursed: "Holy shit! Why are you talking so much nonsense? Why is my blood poisonous? Can you please calm down?" …”

When Master Liang saw this, he hurriedly tried to smooth things over and said, "You two little brothers, let's judge the situation. In this situation, let's not make any wisecracks. You see, these branches seem to be getting denser and denser. If this continues, it won't be possible to climb up." It’s good to climb.”

Lao Itch said angrily: "This place is originally sparse and dense. It's easier to climb when it's dense. Could it be that you still want to make it as sparse as possible? Each one is more than two meters apart. We are here tens of meters apart." A stack of arhats coming from high in the sky?"

Wu Xie said to Lao Chu: "Don't jump to conclusions first. I think something is wrong. Turn on your flashlight."

Lao Itch turned on the flashlight and checked the situation above. The bronze branches on it gradually became denser and denser. Seven or eight meters up, they were as dense as thorns. It was quite dangerous to continue going up. Lao Itch asked them to stay where they were. Don't move, climb to the outside of the branch first, and then throw the rope down from above. Wu Xie and Master Liang grabbed the rope with one hand as an assistant and climbed up bit by bit.

After climbing a long way up, the bronze branches here are almost so dense that there is nowhere to intervene. Going further up, it may be difficult to even find a place to put your feet. If your feet slip or a sudden gust of wind blows, you really can't say it. Okay, I’m going to go down and accompany Uncle Tai.

Lao Itch seemed not to be tired, so he climbed up very quickly. Wu Xie was so tired that he had no strength to speak. He kept encouraging himself not to fall behind, and always reminded himself to be careful where he steps.

After climbing for a while, Wu Xie found that the surrounding environment was different. At the beginning of this section, natural stalactites and some dissolved rock curtains appeared.When passing through this section, the rock wall began to shrink. On the rock walls on both sides, there were some caves of different sizes that were not too deep and could see the bottom. There seemed to be something in a few caves. That thing was for a flashlight. Once you take a photo, a certain reaction will occur.Wu Xie suddenly began to feel a little uneasy.

At this time, Lao Itch and Master Liang had stopped. Wu Xie was looking at the cave until his head hit Master Liang's butt, and then he realized what was going on.

Then they looked up and saw a dozen corpses above them, the kind of monkeys wearing masks. These corpses had been blown into corpses by the hot wind blowing down from above. They were weird and twisted, with their hands and feet stuck in the dense Inside the branches, that weird mask was still on his face, as if he was staring at them silently, as if he would be resurrected at any time.

Suddenly Master Liang said to them: "Wait a minute, I think the posture of these monkeys is a bit weird. I seem to have seen it somewhere. Let me take a closer look."

Lao Itch didn't take it seriously, and even said to him, "You're the only one in trouble. You have to look at everything. Be careful. The monkey down there will think your posture is weird later."

Master Liang carefully climbed up to the nearest mummy and took its mask. The dry facial skin immediately cracked, and Master Liang easily tore off the mask.He looked closer at the mummy's face, turned around and said to them in horror: "Two... two little brothers, this... doesn't seem to be a monkey, this is... a human face.

Wu Xie took a closer look and saw that the teeth of this ferocious-looking mummy could clearly be seen. This corpse was indeed the real one!

Lao Itch was stunned for a moment and looked at Wu Xie and said: "Lao Wu, didn't you just say it was a monkey? This... this... it is clear that it is a human."

Wu Xie couldn't figure it out and stammered: "I...I don't know. The mask I broke just now was indeed a big yellow-haired monkey. This...this...really confused me. Could it be that I saw it?" Did you lose your sight?"

Master Liang waved his hand and told them not to touch the body. He turned the mask over in his hand, looked at it carefully, and turned to them and said: "It seems that you have to open your mouth to wear this mask. You don't put it on voluntarily, but this The thing is indeed man-made, and the patterns on the mask are roughly the same as the patterns on the tree, which must be related to the person who cast the copper tree."

Lao Itch took the mask and looked at it with great interest for a long time. While looking at it, Master Liang thought, suddenly his face changed and he shouted: "Throw it away, throw it away! Oh my God, throw it away! This mask may It's alive!" After saying that, he slapped the mask off Lao Itch's hand, and the mask quickly fell into the darkness, hit a branch, and shattered into pieces with a snap.

Old Itch startled him, and he almost lost his grip and asked him: "What's wrong with you? What do you mean the mask is alive?"

Master Liang said regretfully: "I'm so ashamed. Why are you so stupid? I'm such a fool. I'm so stupid. Why didn't I think of it earlier?"

Lao Itch urged impatiently: "If you have something to say, say it quickly. If you have something to say, say it quickly. If you have anything to say, just say it, okay?"

Master Liang sighed and told them in detail that this bronze tree and the sacrificial method of blood sacrifice were mainly used in the sacrificial activities of ethnic minorities during the Western Zhou Dynasty.The ethnic minorities at that time were completely different from those now. Most of these ethnic groups have disappeared or integrated into the Han people.Large-scale blood sacrifices have only been found sporadically in some ethnic minority sites. Unfortunately, due to the loss of language and writing, there is no more detailed information.

At that time, the sacred places of worship of ethnic minorities were very sacred. Not only were they guarded, but the priests would also perform some kind of magic to protect their gods from harassment.In the legends of ethnic minorities, they are all very mysterious. Until now, they have been deified and turned into omnipotent voodoo techniques in novels.

The origin of voodoo is very early, especially the voodoo before Qin Dynasty, which is almost the same as the superpowers today. All voodoo originated from insects, and voodoo at that time was called the art of insects.These masked monkeys and mummies may be the products of this ancient voodoo technique. That’s right, they should be chives.

This mummy might be that of a hunter who was hunting here at that time. Unlucky enough, he came across a dormant chigus, and was struck by this ancient evil spell.

Of course, there is no record of this kind of thing at all, and I don’t know if it is true, but what I see before my eyes is an indisputable fact. This is definitely not an ordinary thing, so be careful and guard against it.Wu Xie remembered that before he came, the old man had mentioned similar things in the information he had given him. At that time, he didn't take it seriously. He just looked at it briefly. Now he turned around and saw that the strange mummy was still hanging there motionless and pale. The mask seems to be smiling but not smiling, as if it is waiting for us to approach.

Lao Itch looked extremely ugly after hearing these words, and asked Master Liang: "What you said is too scary. If the Chi Gu is attached to it, it will be fine if it is pulled off immediately. There will be no hidden dangers, right?"

Master Liang said: "I haven't been hit either. I know it's difficult to get rid of Chi Gu. I think it's attached, but I'm afraid it won't be easy to get rid of. We still give priority to prevention. We try not to get close to these mummies. You Come to think of it, a veteran like Uncle Tai also fell from here, it doesn’t seem like he made a mistake, so we have to be careful.”

Wu Xie asked Lao Chu: "As we are doing now, how long will it take to climb? If the top is full of such dense branches, we will probably be exhausted and we won't be able to reach the top."

Lao Itch said: "It will become sparse up there. When I climbed, I only had a small flashlight and the lighting was very poor. I didn't notice these mummies at all, and there were no monkeys to attack. So now I don't know what I climbed to." There is a place, but you won’t end up somewhere else if you climb up.”

Wu Xie said to them: "In short, it is not suitable to stay here for a long time. Let's get past this period first. I'm afraid there is a Boss Wang above. If we encounter him by then, I don't know what will happen."

Lao Itch said: "Lao Wu, wait a minute, I will fire a flare to see if there is any ambush above." He took out the signal gun, pointed it straight upward, and fired a shot.

The flare flew straight upward without hitting anything. Wu Xie's heart skipped a beat. This kind of bullet could at least hit a height of more than 200 meters. Could it be that there were still more than 200 meters to climb... He felt weak. With a wry smile on his face, he thought, if that were really the case, it would really be fatal.

As the signal flare started to burn, I looked up. Not far up, the branches did become sparse again. I couldn't figure out why it was designed like this. Looking from the bottom up, I could vaguely see something.

Lao Itch stared at it for a while and said: "It seems that Boss Wang is not ambushing up there. Maybe Uncle Tai came in here alive alone. Alas... what are those things?"

When the signal bomb fell more than sixty meters away from us, we saw a lot of protrusions on the bronze trunk of that section.Take a closer look, my God!The entire length of the bronze tree trunk, which was a full ten meters away, was covered with densely packed parasitic masks... Wu Xie's scalp felt numb when he saw it, and his head was cold to the soles of his feet. Those masked faces were attached to the bronze tree, illuminated by the flowing light. , showing an expression of pain, melancholy, ferocity, or a sinister smile. It was so weird that it made Wu Xie's hair stand on end.

When Master Liang saw this scene, he trembled and said: "Two... two brothers, this... this... these are all alive. Those chinchillas are attached under the masks. What should we do? How can we get there?"

"Don't panic".Lao Itch comforted: "Look at their reaction to the signal flares. These things must be afraid of light and heat. Let's light the torch and walk up slowly. They don't dare to touch us."

Wu Xie didn't think so, and shook his head and said: "The temperature and brightness of the flares are very high, of course they are afraid, but the torches are different. Look at those monkeys just now, they all ran away when they encountered the flares, but you used the torch to scare them, They are just retreating. I guess if you go up with a torch, not only will you not be able to get through, but you will also be surrounded, and it will be difficult to escape."

Lao Itch asked Wu Xie impatiently: "What do you think we should do? I know you have many ideas. Do you have any ideas? Tell me quickly."

Wu Xie pointed to the rock wall dozens of meters away and said to him: "There will definitely be sacrifices if we break through. We might as well go around and swing to the opposite rock wall first. There are so many holes on it, it is not difficult to climb. We can also You can take a good rest.”

Lao Itch looked at the direction Wu Xie was pointing and shouted, "Are you kidding? This...is so far away? How can we swing there?"

Wu Xie asked him: "Don't we still have a rope? Take it out and see if it is long enough. If this trick doesn't work, then you have to wait until next time. Remember to bring a flamethrower."

Lao Itch took out the climbing rope that he had taken off Uncle Tai. Wu Xie took a look at it and said, "Oh, they are really willing to spend money to buy equipment. I heard that the special forces use this rope. It is about ten millimeters in diameter. It can be used." It should be more than enough to withstand an impact of almost three tons and support the weight of the three of us, but the total length of the rope is only a dozen meters, and there is still a long way to reach the other side."

Lao Itch asked Wu Xie: "What should we do?"

Wu Xie squeezed the rope and smiled and said: "This is a double-stranded rope of [-] centimeters. Let's split the two strands of this rope and connect them into one. That's enough." After saying this, he was actually thinking.

Master Liang timidly asked: "Little...Brother Wu, can you do this? The rope is so thin, won't it break? Don't do anything random..."

Wu Xie smiled and said seriously: "This reinforced nylon fiber with a diameter of eight millimeters can be used as an auxiliary rope for mountaineering. As long as there is no strong fall, it will not break easily. This is what foreign mountaineering magazines say You said, you won’t lie to us.”

Lao Itch also said vaguely: "You said it was a secondary rope, we only have one, this... this..."

Wu Xie also smiled helplessly and said: "This is the only thing we can do now. Let's believe in high technology. We will never be so unlucky."

Wu Xie connected the rope, and Lao Itch took out a kettle from his backpack, tied it with a sailor's knot, and dropped it on one end to use as a heavy object. He threw it hard against a stalagmite on the opposite side several times before successfully wrapping it around it. Above, when pulled, the rope tightens and is fixed very firmly.

"Okay," Lao Itch said, "It's finally done, Lao Wu, let's not talk about the rope, are the rocks on the other side reliable?"

Wu Xie smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know either. It depends on God's will." He thought to himself that if the stone was really unreliable, he would probably swing back to the side of the bronze tree. If he was lucky, he would be half dead when he hit the tree trunk. If you're not lucky, haha... just insert the branches on the tree into a sieve, otherwise you will die.

This side of the rope was tied to a bronze branch. Lao Itch asked them to watch carefully as he tied a knot, saying that when they passed by, they could untie the knot on the other side.This knot was so special and complicated that Wu Xie was dazzled by it.

When everything was ready, Wu Xie confirmed that both sides were strong, and then he asked them to start climbing. He found that they were looking at him with a look that said they would not be the first to climb, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go up first.

Before Wu Xie went up, he planned to go into battle lightly. Lao Itch was still uneasy about the caves on the opposite side, so he gave him his pistol, so that he could block it if there was any emergency.

Wu Xie sighed, patted the two of them on the shoulders, then turned and climbed toward the rope.

(End of this chapter)