"So, what happened to Weiying in the end?" Song Siyuan said this, and she had probably guessed the ending of this woman.
"You just come with me."
Without saying much, Banshu led them up the verandah, around the verandah and up the steps. When they reached the highest level, they could already see the magnificent and simple palace at the end of the square.
As they walked around the verandah and entered the main hall, they could hear the crisp echo clearly as they stepped on the steps, and the pictures inside the hall also came into their eyes clearly.
Chaoyuntai is half temple and half palace. The main hall has been converted into Wushan Goddess Temple. A giant screen stands on the back wall of the hall from the ground to the roof.
The screen is made of wood, with seven evenly spaced leaves. The picture is rich and colorful, depicting thousands of snails in Wushan Mountain. The Goddess Peak stands tall like a flock of chickens in the middle of the picture. The mountains are rugged and steep, with delicate cistanches. The sky is full of cirrus clouds, the glow is extinguished, and a red sun rises from the sky. Thousands of golden lights are emitted from the clouds, and everything is alive with the red sun!
In front of the screen is probably the statue of the Wushan goddess that Ban Shu mentioned.
This statue is much smaller than the screen. Its vertical height is two-thirds of the screen, about five or six meters high. The whole body is carved in stone, and brass is poured on the outside. Although it is a stone sculpture, it has the feel of a bronze statue.
The land of Jingchu is steeped in witchcraft and worship, and the statues of gods are completely different from the statues of gods in Han Dynasty. They are completely different styles.
Most of the gods in Han Dynasty, as long as they have serious titles, look like emperors and empresses. They are adorned with jewels, sit upright, full of compassion, and are kind and serious. Their high status and high character are just written on their faces. Although He looked solemn, but lacked a trace of anger.
This statue is closer to the concept of wild gods and shamans in the southwest. Its graceful figure forms a concave and convex curve. The upper body wears a grass-colored dark green half-arm that is close to the curve. The light pink haze-colored skirt reaches the top of the feet. It can be seen that there is a red hanging around the waist. The blue, green and white colors are intricately layered and the folds are ethereal.
On the outside of the snow-white arms, three green ribbons can be seen forming a ring around the head, ethereally curved on the left and right sides of the wrist, flowing like water. A half-arm-wide floral brocade falls from the shoulder, wraps around the arm and falls to the skirt, and interacts with the three wrist-thick ribbons. Intertwined to create extremely dynamic lines.
Everyone looked at her head again and saw that the Wushan Goddess' hair was in a snail bun, her black hair was completely tied up, standing in the center of her head like Wushan, and there was a round hair crown as big as a copper basin at the back of her head.
In the gold jewelry circle, you can see the sun, moon and stars are exquisitely carved, and the branches of flowers are overflowing from the side, integrating with the golden crown circle. The hairpins on both sides are tied behind the head, with red ribbons trailing down, and there are two crabapples. The flower hairpin is placed at the corner of the forehead. It does not look so magnificent, but it is exceptionally beautiful, refined and strange.
Yue Guanchao looked at the face of the statue of the Wushan Goddess. Her face was almond-shaped, with slender phoenix eyes and extremely long eyeliner. Her willow-shaped eyebrows were gentle and charming. The peach rouge between her eyebrows was smeared to the tips of her eyebrows and the ends of her eyes. A little red could be seen between her eyebrows, and she had a delicate nose. She has bright red lips, peach blossom earrings with tassels hanging from both sides of her ears, and strings of five-color gemstone beads hanging around her neck and on her snow-white arms.
The overall shape is mostly patterned with vegetation and flowers, and decorated with sun, moon and stars. The hand gestures pinch out the flower print on the heart, which is a bit close to the flying apsara in Dunhuang murals. The statue is probably a combination of the image of a goddess from Buddhism and Taoism.
There is very little sunlight in the main hall that can shine through. On the red-painted pillars on both sides, there are many candlesticks with flowers and plants lighting the lamp heads, illuminating the flames. Very close to the Wushan Goddess, there are also bronze tree lamps standing. The candles flickered on and off, causing the statue to sway with dim light and shadow.
In the vague shadow, they felt that the goddess was not a cold statue. For a moment, they even felt that every sway of the light was the goddess breathing.
"Why does the Wushan Goddess look like this? Isn't she the true god of Wushan?"
As a Taoist priest, Xu Xiake is very familiar with the water and land paintings of Buddhism and Taoism. Most of the goddesses and immortals are dressed in jewelry, and at the worst, they are gentle and serious. The shapes like this, which often use gauze clothes, are mostly the fragrant gods in the water and land paintings.
"The Wushan Goddess is a very special righteous deity. She was born in an era when Taoism had not yet emerged, and even Buddhism had not yet emerged. It was Buddhism and Taoism that later absorbed the Wushan Goddess into the belief system. Before that, she was not God, but a ghost!”
"ghost?"
Everyone seemed to have thought of something.
Ban Shu nodded towards them: "The goddess of Wushan is called Yao Ji, and she is the daughter of Emperor Yan. When she was alive, she was just an ordinary person. She had neither merit nor cultivation. She was a complete human being. She died because of a serious illness and could not be treated. Ordinary people turn into ghosts after they die."
"It can be said that Yao Ji was a remnant soul after death. It was God who took pity on her and died unmarried, so her soul was sealed into the Yao grass, allowing her to use the spiritual power of the Yao grass to preserve herself, and at the same time rely on the Yao grass to survive. Practicing with Yao grass may also be a blessing in disguise, Yao Ji and Yao grass merge into one, becoming the soul of the mountains, rivers and vegetation!"
"But!" Ban Shu changed the topic: "Even so, Yao Ji is not a god, she is just a ghost with divine power."
"Mountain ghost?"
Song Siyuan's eyes lit up. She felt very familiar when she saw it just now. When she thought about the mountain ghost statue in the ancestral land of the witch coffin, she clearly had the same feeling.
Ban Shu nodded towards her: "Yes, in ancient times, the Wushan Goddess was a mountain ghost. If it was in the Yanhuang era, she was one of the ten witch gods worshiped by Chi You, a mountain witch. Although Chi You was driven out of the river plains by the Yanhuang tribe, The belief in mountain witches remains.”
"This land was once ruled by Chi You, and then returned to Jingchu. It has been infiltrated by witches for thousands of years. From mountain witches, mountain ghosts, and now Wushan Goddess, the names may have changed many times, but in essence they are all representations of what Wushan Goddess represents. Sacrifice of mountains, rivers and vegetation.”
"The Southwest is rich in mountains and rivers, and there are many vegetation between the mountains and rivers. For the Southwest, belief in the Wushan Goddess means belief in thousands of mountains and rivers. For thousands of years, political power has rotated, but the mountains and rivers have not changed. Of course, people in the Southwest believe in Wushan even more. goddess."
After listening to Ban Shu's words, Song Siyuan couldn't wait to see the women who were enchanted by the Wushan Goddess. She asked anxiously: "Then, where are the women who were enchanted by the Goddess of Wushan after they died?"
Ban Shu didn't speak, and turned his gaze to the carved corridor doors on the left and right. As the corridor doors were pushed open, everyone walked into the corridor bridge on the left and entered the tower along the corridor bridge.
Compared with the main hall, these towers have become lighter and more flexible. There are many windows on the roof of the hall, and there is a patio in the middle. It can be seen that the sunlight enters the flower window and falls into the hall, gathering colorful spots in the courtyard.
Most of the corpses of the Luo Shennu they were looking for were concentrated in the two towers, but it seemed a little different from what they imagined.
Yue Guanchao thought that these fallen goddesses were stuffed into coffins and kept intact in the temple. However, he did not expect that the way the corpses were disposed of was completely different from what he thought, and it had already surprised them. \\
In the tower, flower beds several meters wide are distributed around the walls. Most of these flower beds are filled with soft soil, and camphor branches grow luxuriantly. It looks like a green velvet curtain is woven along the flower beds. For thousands of years, the camphor trees have continuously drawn The branches are long, the leaves are stretched out, and the thick tree body is covered with vines!
These corpses were directly leaning against the trees and covered with vines, blending in with the camphor trees!
"Why are all these goddesses tied to trees?"
Song Siyuan approached the flower bed and looked carefully at one of the prosperous camphor trees. The tree twisted and tilted backwards, completely supporting one of the fallen goddesses, and sending her into the arms of the trunk like a cradle.
If you look carefully, the Luo Goddess seems to be asleep. She is wearing a veil similar to that of the Wushan Goddess. Her skin is white and delicate, and her eyebrows are charming and lively. The vines penetrate her body from everywhere, intertwining into a fine vine network, covered with weeds and densely covered with moss. , green grass threads stretch out from everywhere, shaking constantly.
Even more strange are her eyes, ears, mouth and nose!
Although the appearance of these fallen goddesses is the same as before, they are no longer alive. Many vines have penetrated their eyes, ears, mouth and nose, and the vines are full of exotic flowers and plants, as if their faces are covered. The flower-covered mask only revealed a pair of eyes, as if they were closed forever in a deep sleep.
"Why is this happening?"
Song Siyuan became curious about the status of these goddesses. If these fallen goddesses were corpses, the earliest corpses would be at least two thousand years old. It is indeed very strange that they can maintain their posthumous appearance after thousands of years. If you include the protrusions from their bodies. The vines and exotic flowers and plants seemed a bit strange.
Ban Shu nodded: "The Goddess of Luo is indeed different from ordinary people after her death. She needs to use trees to raise these people. After they die, vines will emerge from their bodies and penetrate into the soil. At the same time, they will also cling to the ancient trees, and The ancient trees coexist so that they can maintain their appearance even in death.”
"But is this still called death?"
Yue Guanchao looked at these fallen goddesses and said that death is actually similar to eternal life, but they can never wake up.
Ban Shu glanced at the many fallen goddesses wrapped in vines: "They are indeed dead, and they have no breathing. These vines are produced from the body, and they will also consume their flesh and blood when they grow. They seem to be a complete The skin bag is mostly filled with vines, leaving only the bones and skin bag."
"For you, the right way is to return fallen leaves to their roots and rest in the soil. Southwest people have hanging coffin burials, cave burials, and tree burials. They don't necessarily have to bury the body in the soil. As long as it can return to nature in different forms, it is considered a funeral. Yes, these fallen goddesses represent the people's belief in the mountains, rivers and vegetation, so it is reasonable to bury them in trees, as their flesh and blood can be used to make their last contribution to the mountains, rivers and vegetation in the southwest."
"Of course, you are right to say they are dead. It is normal to say they are not dead. At least these camphor trees will react."
After that, Banshu picked up the flute from his waist and played the sound in the open space. The sound of the flute was sad and gentle, but within a moment, the camphor tree was swaying, and countless flying insects were flickering from the treetop flowers.
"Boss Hua, why are you still crying?"
Sun Daqiao asked curiously when he saw Hua Yuxiu shed tears.
"Yes, really?"
Hua Yuxiu wiped her cheek, and sure enough, there were tears on her hands. She immediately frowned: "I'm obviously not sad. Why don't I feel the tears? It's like... it's like these tears are not mine!"
These words made everyone surprised. Song Siyuan asked curiously: "If it's not your tears, then whose tears are these?"
