Zhao Tong felt something was wrong. The mural seemed to have changed somewhat compared to the first day he saw it.
He has a photographic memory. No matter how big the mural is, how complex the picture is, and how many thousands of lines there are, he will remember every part of it after seeing it.
When he just walked past, the corner of his eye glanced at the scene of ships fighting against the waves and rolling up thousands of piles of snow. He remembered that the number of lines in the white waves was different from the one he saw on the first day.
There are countless waves, each drawn by hundreds of lines, and one of them, which originally had ninety-nine strokes, has now become a hundred strokes!
Zhao Tong frowned. Did he see it wrong that day? Or did I remember it wrong? But it shouldn't be!
Or maybe the island is humid, and some lines lose their color when wet, but now they appear again when they dry?
This is possible. It is the wooden house on the island where I live now. Due to the humidity, the color of the wooden boards on the wall is different from the bottom to the top.
The weather has been sunny these past few days and it hasn't rained. Maybe the areas that were previously blurry in color due to humidity will reappear now that they are dry.
Zhao Tong was suspicious, but he followed Wu Song inside without stopping.
There are many small stone rooms along the way, each of which can accommodate one person to lie down. Although simple, it is convenient for resting.
When we got to the deepest point, there was a small stone room, which was where Wu Song rested last night. In order not to attract attention, only Zhao Tao and Wu Song walked in, while Du Bo and Du Bo were outside pretending to think about the opportunity for the mural. Keep your eyes on the wind.
There is a carved natural stone bed in the stone room, and there is a stone table and nothing else.
Wu Song pointed to the wall on one side of the stone bed and whispered: "Sir, the noise came from this side last night."
Zhao Tong nodded and went out to measure the distance. The wall was facing the other side of the mountain. There was no stone chamber nearby, so the sound must have come from the heart of the mountain on that side.
Wu Song came closer at this time, put his ear against the stone wall, listened for a moment and said, "There is no sound now."
Zhao Tong also walked over to listen. His martial arts skills were better than Wu Song's, and he was also more proficient in identifying objects by listening to sounds. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to feel carefully.
There are still sounds in the wall, but they are the noise of the mountain wind, the tremors outside the mountain, and the hum of the sea water flowing under the island. There are no other special sounds.
But it was impossible for Wu Song to lie, let alone be a servant. The day was no quieter than the night. Zhao Tong was fully focused, his body seemed to have grown on the wall, and he did not move for half an hour.
Wu Song felt a little uneasy at the moment, but he couldn't be mistaken after thinking about it. After all, what he heard last night was not a single sound, but intermittently and lasted for a long time.
Suddenly Zhao Tong raised his eyebrows and his expression changed. Wu Song immediately looked over, knowing that Zhao Tong had discovered something.
Zhao Tong listened for a moment longer, then slowly moved away from the wall, then took a few steps back and looked at the stone wall with a complicated and confused look on his face, and remained silent for a long time.
"Master?" Wu Song couldn't help but whisper.
Zhao Tong looked at him and nodded, saying in a very low voice: "There is someone on the other side of the mountain!"
Is there anyone on the other side of the mountain? Wu Song's eyes widened immediately, which meant that he heard correctly last night, and the impact sound was indeed made by a person.
Zhao Tong stood there and took a deep breath. Just now, he hadn't heard anything unusual for a long time. When he almost gave up and wanted to come back at night, he heard a trace of human voice.
It was not the sound that came directly from hitting the mountain wall, but a sound similar to a human roar.
Normally, in this kind of mutually isolated space, if you want to hear the sound from the other side, it will be more obvious through the method of propagation through objects, such as impact. Unless a single sound is very loud, it will not be extremely difficult to penetrate.
Although Zhao Tong only heard a faint sound, he could imagine how loud the roar must have been on the side that made the sound.
He pondered for a moment, and there was no doubt that the stone palace was not the only place in the mountain that was empty. There were caves on the other side of the mountain, and there were people inside.
But what exactly is that place over there? Zhao Tong was extremely confused. The island owner of Hero Island and the disciples and envoys lived in a row of wooden halls, and some other islanders lived in wooden houses. No one lived in a cave.
And the impact and roar were obviously not made by a person in a normal state. Could it be that he was imprisoned there, or was it something else?
"Get out..." Zhao Tong put his hands behind his hands and walked outside. It was enough to confirm that there was indeed someone on that side. He couldn't stay here for long.
If the other cave opposite is really some kind of secret place on Hero Island, I'm afraid there will be people monitoring it in the stone hall here.
The four of them walked back to the central hall. Zhao Tong raised his head and looked at the mural. His steps suddenly stopped and a strange expression appeared on his face. The mural actually changed again.
When I came in before, I saw a wave with ninety-nine lines turned into a hundred lines. Now it is still the same wave, but it has changed into ninety-eight lines.
If the reason for the increase in lines is that the cave is damp and the color is lost, then why did the lines become less after a short time?
Could it be that the moisture suddenly rose and was soaked and hidden by water vapor?
This is a bit ridiculous!
Zhao Tong stared at the mural without moving. The mural was divided into three parts. What he was looking at was the side of the ship beating the waves. The waves on this side had the most ink, with hundreds or even thousands of them. He carefully watched the strokes of each wave. line.
Most of the waves had about a hundred lines. He looked at them one by one and found that a few waves were different from the ones he saw on the first day.
But what does this mean? If it wasn't moisture, it would be that the stone used for the mural was special, or that special pigments and inks were used, so it wouldn't be too strange.
However, the question arises, why do painters use special stones and pigment inks to paint?
It’s weird to see murals on this isolated island in the sea. Wouldn’t it be even weirder if special stone pigments were used?
It is probably impossible to say that there is no purpose in doing such a complicated thing. Is there really some kind of martial arts hidden in this mural?
Zhao Tong was very confused at this moment. He looked to the side and found that almost all the people watching the ship waves were staring at those ships.
Because there are many people painted on the ship, everyone holds a weapon in their hands and assumes various postures, some are chopping waves, some are sparring, and some are practicing by themselves.
This scene was so attractive that it even attracted everyone's attention, even Du Bo and the other three were looking at it.
Zhao Tong said: "Why are you looking at the people on the boat?"
Du Bo wondered: "Young master, since it contains martial arts, what else do you care about if you don't look at the people on the boat?"
Zhao Tong thought for a while, and it seemed to make sense, and then said: "It's impossible to use those people's postures and moves, so why are you still watching?"
Wu Song said: "Young master, it is precisely because it is impossible to use it normally, so the secret is hidden. If you can understand it, it will definitely be profound."
Zhao Tong's mouth twitched, is this the truth? It seems to be true.
He turned to look at the mural again, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong. The lines of the waves were still changing, more or less, and they were not as many as he had seen that day.
Others do not have photographic memory, and it is impossible to remember all the lines in each wave. Moreover, there is no point in memorizing lines in the first place. Almost no one does it. If he does not have photographic memory, Even if I forget, I won’t deliberately remember it.
He looked at the ship and the little man on it for another moment, but this time he didn't notice any unusual changes, just like the first time he looked at it.
Zhao Tong couldn't help but touch his chin. The lines changed. What did this mean? Suddenly, something moved in his heart, and he looked at the largest wave.
This wave is not rolling on the sea, but rising high into the sky, competing with the fisting sun, as if it is going to split the sky and split the earth.
This wave... Zhao Tong found that this big wave was a little different. Although the number of lines in this wave had not changed, something seemed to be wrong.
No matter how you look at it, it's exactly the same as it was at the beginning. Not only the lines, but also the twists and turns of the brush strokes, the depth of the colors, and the details of the painting have not changed at all.
What exactly is wrong?
Zhao Tong frowned and looked at the waves carefully. No matter how he looked, he couldn't see any clues.
He couldn't help but rub his eyes. He was about to speak to Wu Song next to him, but he was suddenly stunned. Wu Song's eyes were on the ship, and the ship was far away from the big wave...
Zhao Tong hurriedly looked at the big wave again. This wave was so huge that several sea ships were under this big wave. As long as the waves hit it, no matter how strong your ship's hull was and no matter how powerful the people on board were, they would be knocked over by the big waves. No human power could do it. anti.
Zhao Tong's pupils shrank sharply, and he finally saw something was wrong. The distance was the distance!
On the first day, the distance between this big wave and the ship was different from what it is now.
Right now it seems... so close!
The big wave is pressing down, and it may only be as close as a hair's breadth, but it is still close. At least the proportions of this part of the picture have changed slightly.
What is the principle? Zhao Tong thought to himself secretly, there are many ingenious methods in the art of painting.
For example, there is a painting called "Returning from the Storm". The background is mountains, there is a river in front, there are boats in the river, there is a wooden bridge on the river, and there is a child in the middle of the bridge. The child is holding an umbrella.
This painting is hung in the hall. Whenever it rains heavily on a cloudy day, the umbrella in the child's hand will be opened and held over his head. After sunny days, the umbrella will be tucked under his arm.
This painting may be applauding to outsiders, but to those who are good at painting, it is nothing more than a small skill.
The secret is on top of the rice paper and paint, the rice paper is double-layered and the paint is special.
On cloudy days, the air is moist and watery, and the rice paper is also moist. The special paint used in the painting of the umbrella will soak into the other layer of the rice paper, while the paint from the umbrella in the other layer will soak into this side instead. Come on, this means that when it rains outside, the child in the painting becomes holding an umbrella. But after a sunny day, the inside and outside are dry, the soaked paint will be absorbed back, and the child becomes holding an umbrella.
This kind of painting generally can only withstand two or three changes, and then the paint will smudge and the picture will be blurry and blurry. Therefore, there are no handed down works and can only be used as fun works because they cannot be preserved for long.
There is also a kind of paper that is obviously snow-white, with no words or paintings on it, but if you spray it with a sip of water and wine, a landscape will slowly appear. After a while, some will disappear, and some will not disappear and will always exist. , all because of the special paint pigments.
Zhao Tong didn't think there was anything strange about the increase or decrease of the wave lines on the mural, or the slight changes in the position of the waves, but what was the purpose of the painter doing this?
This mural is no bigger than a small piece of rice paper. It is not a small project to use stones and paints. There are definitely some secrets hidden in it.
Zhao Tong was not in a hurry to go back, but stood there with Du Bo and the other three to watch. He looked at almost every inch carefully, comparing it with the pictures in his memory from the first day.
Then until noon, his expression became more and more solemn. In the afternoon, his expression was sometimes cloudy and clear. In the end, he closed his eyes slightly and began to meditate.
When the sun was about to set, he called the three of them out of the stone palace together, and then went to the wine shop to have a good meal and drink before returning to the wooden house.
When night fell, Zhao Tong left Bai Zhan, who was the worst in martial arts, to look after the house. He took Du Bo and Wu Song with their faces covered in black scarves and headed straight for the back mountain in the center of the island.
He wanted to find out what secrets there were on the other side of the mountain, and why there were people there, making crashes and roars.
The three of them did not take the normal central avenue, but took a detour, went straight up the mountain from their residence, and then went from the mountain to the island.
Wu Song had gone up the mountain to hunt wild beasts and worms before, and the path was quite familiar. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the center of the mountain from the side.
This mountain is shaped like an ingot. The front is the entrance to the Chance Stone Palace, which is polished and neatly polished. The back is different. Although the terrain is gentle and not steep, there are many trees and branches. It seems that no one has been here for a long time.
Wu Song whispered at this time: "Master, something is not right."
Zhao Tong said: "What's wrong?"
Wu Song said: "Although this place seems messy, with trees and grass growing randomly, but if you look closely, it seems that there are traces of man-made manipulation. It is not inherently like this."
Zhao Tong nodded, and Wu Song added: "I will let my subordinates explore the road. Since someone is deliberately covering it up, follow the route he covered and you will find the entrance to the back mountain."
Zhao Tong smiled and said: "Erlang is so good at doing the opposite!"
When the Wu Song brothers were in their hometown in Qinghe County, except for a few acres of mountainous land that no one exploited, they lived a hunting life, and they were considered half-hunters.
I saw him carefully moving forward to look for it, and after a while he came back and said: "Sir, I have it!"
Zhao Tong said: "Where is it?"
Wu Song said: "The person who did this cover was not an experienced person, and there were too many holes left. My subordinates searched backwards and saw that there was a place with thick grass branches at the foot of the mountain, but there was a roaring mountain wind. It should be the entrance of a cave, which was hidden. Get up."
Zhao Tong thought: "Is there someone to guard it?"
Wu Song said: "It's hard to say. If you can't see it from the outside, you won't know it from the inside."
Zhao Tong said: "Go over and test it out."
Wu Song hurriedly said yes and led the way. After a while, he arrived at the foot of Yuanbao Mountain. Then he pointed to an unattractive place in the distance and whispered to Zhao Tong: "Sir, the entrance to the cave should be behind the tree and grass. "
Zhao Tong thought for a while and felt that it was not easy to step forward rashly, so he picked up a small stone on the ground and threw it diagonally upward with his arms.
He used his strength just right, not hitting it directly, but throwing it into the air and falling.
Just after the pebbles fell, a person popped out from behind the grass branches. He was too far away to see his face, but his movement was very fast.
Then he looked up and saw that the stone was falling from above. The sound it made was different from hitting the branch directly horizontally, and there was no impact like that.
Above was the hillside. The man looked at the hillside for a moment, then turned back. But just a few breaths later, he suddenly came out again and looked up at the hillside. Naturally, there was no movement on the hillside, so the man turned back again.
But not long after, he unexpectedly appeared again, and this time there was one more person. One of the two went directly up the hillside to check. After a while, he found nothing, so he went back cautiously and never came out again.
Wu Song reached out and wiped the cold sweat from his head: "Master, these people are too careful!"
Zhao Tong narrowed his eyes slightly: "The more careful you are, the more secrets you have. Let's talk about it when we go back!"
The three returned to the wooden house, guessing what was in the cave, but they didn't have much clue. After all, the heroic island owner could summon the opportunity to open the rivers, lakes and green forests at this time, which proved that there was nothing hidden on the island that was too scary for people to see. , otherwise so many people would come to the island and be sparse, they would probably be discovered.
It's just that the reaction of the cave guards was a bit too intense, and it made people doubt that there was some huge secret in the cave.
The next day, Zhao Tong continued to go to the stone hall with the three of them to view the murals, and did not return to the wooden house until evening, looking a little confused.
On the third day, he went to the Stone Palace again, this time for a shorter time, and came back in the afternoon.
For six consecutive days, he went to the stone palace every day, but he always left alone, and he did not explore the caves behind Yuanbao Mountain.
Until the early morning of the seventh day, when he went to the Stone Palace again, he still looked at the picture of waves on the sea, but as he looked at it, a smile appeared on his face.
After pondering for a while, he turned around and walked out of the palace. He did not go back to the wooden house directly, but went to the beach.
Although it was a cloudless day, there was a breeze blowing from the sea. There were not many pedestrians on the beach. There were only a few sea boats floating near the island, and two small rafts tied to the convex rocks on the beach. One of the rafts was lying inside. There was an old island guest who was sleeping.
Zhao Tao looked at the sea. The sea was not calm at the moment. Because of the sea wind, although there were no huge waves, there were many small waves, and the water surface kept rising and falling.
He untied a raft and pushed it into the sea. At this time, the old island guest woke up and asked in surprise: "Hero, where are you going?"
Zhao Tong said calmly: "Look at the opportunity to gain some insights, look at the sea."
The old island guest said "Oh" and then said: "It's windy today, heroes, be careful and don't stay away from Hero Island, otherwise the sea wind will blow it away and it may be difficult to return."
Zhao Tong said: "I know."
He pushed the raft into the sea, held a three-foot-long pole in one hand, and swung it out with a slight swing.
The raft didn't go far. It left the shore and just floated casually beside the island. Zhao Tao stood on the raft and looked into the distance. He saw the sea and the sky connected, long and far away, infinite and boundless, which made people feel broad and magnanimous. .
There was no joy or worry on his face, and he felt the state of drifting with the current under his feet, the water was huge, and his body was as small as an ant, as if his whole person was completely controlled by the sea water.
A small wave hit him and immediately wet all his clothes, but he stood motionless on the raft. The sun gradually set, and there were more and more fine small waves, which kept beating the raft towards the shore. It seemed like roots had taken root on the raft, integrating with the logs under its feet and the sea water. The waves could not push the raft to the shore.
At this moment, it seems that the sea water is him and he is the waves.
Countless small waves seemed to be endless, and he was one of them, rising and retreating in the sea water, rising again, and retreating again...
Before I knew it, the sun was setting.
The small raft had floated to the other side of the island. Zhao Tao looked at the red half of the sky and let out a long breath.
He has realized the opportunity in the stone palace mural. Although it is only one of the three paintings of wave fighting, he is sure that this is indeed a kind of martial arts.
It was not what he had expected before, thinking that the old island owner was self-righteous and just making random assumptions.
Seeing the waves surging and rolling, he couldn't help but let out a long roar, and then said to himself: "The endless sea is boundless!"
At this moment, Zhao Tong's martial arts finally reached the level of a master.
Then he pushed the raft towards the island, jumped ashore, clapped his hands and was about to leave.
But at this moment, a black spot on the sea attracted his attention. It was a small boat rowing from a distance.
The boat went straight to the island. Not far away, Zhao Tong saw clearly that there was only one person on the boat, a shirtless and muscular man, who was rowing hard.
The man also saw Zhao Tong, his eyes wary, as if he was hesitant to dock.
Zhao Tong squinted his eyes. After looking at this person, a happy look appeared on his face. He raised his left arm and made a strange gesture. When the boat saw the gesture, it immediately accelerated and rushed towards the island.
In a matter of ten seconds, the boat approached the shore, and the people on the boat ran over, but they were a little confused when they saw Zhao Tong's appearance. Just when he was about to ask, he heard Zhao Tong say: "Zheng Guang."
"Ah?" The muscular man who got off the boat was immediately stunned, and then he fell to the ground with a "plop": "Zheng Guang, a common man, pays homage to His Highness Thousand Years Old!"
Zhao Tong nodded, and just when he was about to wake him up, a high-pitched eagle chirped from the sky, and then a large brown and white eagle flew over from the sky.
Not far away, there was a girl in white and orange skirt, chasing the eagle in the sky while whispering: "Maha, Maha, come back..."
As the girl was running, she suddenly saw Zhao Yu and the two of them, and couldn't help but stop. She saw the two of them standing and kneeling, both looking at her with unkind expressions.
She was stunned immediately...
(End of chapter)
