Song Siyuan carefully observed these puppets, and then looked at the solidified candles and paper talisman ashes scattered on the ground. Her eyes lit up: "This is not for sacrifice. Sacrifice will have candles and incense burners. Of all the things we saw, there was no incense burner at all." There are only traces of talismans and seals all over the floor, so I suspect it’s to summon spirits.”
She paused and explained: "If you want to sacrifice, you need a god and a name. If you want to curse, you need more birth dates and pinheads. Neither of these two things appeared. There is a high probability that it is not the other two. So, if we Think of the puppets as containers, are these rituals containing something?”
"Beifu Yin soldiers."
Yue Qingshan retreated.
Song Siyuan's eyes lit up: "Second uncle is right, I suspect that this is summoning the souls of Beifu's evil soldiers."
She was very curious about this point and reminded: "It is recorded in the local chronicle of Xiangyang that all the soldiers of the Beifu were folded along the river. When Liu Yu was looking for the underworld, didn't he just want to sacrifice the souls of the heroes of the Beifu? These puppets are soldiers of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The styles and carvings are all different, so there is no guarantee that they will not look like real dead corpses. A large number of puppets appear in the temple, which is similar to an ancestral hall where the dead are stored. It is possible that they can be used to recruit heroic souls."
"Okay, let's continue to look at other temples and see what the situation is like in other temples."
After that, they left the hall and went their separate ways, walking up the plank road to the grotto in all directions, and came to other hanging halls. Apart from the different murals in the halls, these Beifu soldier puppets were indeed of the same style, even the ones in the hall. The furnishings are almost the same.
By now, their suspicions were clear. These things were probably the soul summoning hall left by Beifu soldiers. As for the scattered talismans and candles, they were mostly traces of the rituals at that time.
"Come here quickly, this palace is different from other summoning halls."
Tan Yanqiu's words were heard from the mountainside of the canyon, and everyone began to gather in his direction.
When we walked into the palace, we found that the layout of this palace was indeed different from other palaces. There was no longer a puppet shrine in the palace, but a huge stone tablet standing there.
This stone tablet is about the same size as a screen. It is two meters high and four meters wide. It is square and rectangular. It stands on a huge base that is half waist high. The material is very similar to the copper-veined black stone they saw, and there are finely carved dragon carvings around it. , with characters from the Southern and Northern Dynasties engraved on three parts of the wood, and then inlaid with certain metals. The color has not faded off for nearly a thousand years, and is as clear as ever.
If you look carefully, you will see that each of these words is about the size of a fist, arranged horizontally and vertically, compactly, and densely distributed on the surface of the stone tablet. The text with words takes up two-thirds of it, and the last part is a very strange seal script.
This talisman seal is not made of paper, but a thin sheet of gold wire. It looks like a huge flag half a person's height. There are auspicious cloud patterns on the top and bottom. The outer frame is decorated with dragons and phoenixes. In the middle, a bright gold piece is nailed to the end of the stone tablet. The gold piece There are some strange symbols drawn on it, and the cinnabar-red curves form a whole, which makes people very confused.
"Come to the Beifu Heroic Soul Hall Monument!"
Song Siyuan had done some research on ancient characters, carefully observed the characters carved through seals, and said after careful consideration.
"What does the inscription on this mean?" Yue Guanchao didn't know the situation, so he had to ask Song Siyuan, the most knowledgeable person here.
The hall was dark and unclear. Song Siyuan picked up a flashlight and carefully illuminated the inscription. The gold inlays were particularly bright under the light, and the black stones all shone with gold. She read the words: "In the third year of Shi Weiyong's lunar month, Sui Ciren Xu, Emperor Wu cast a monument of merit and virtue on the heroic souls of Beifu..."
She read the contents of the inscription carefully, and when she read the end, she already understood the meaning of these words. She explained to everyone: "This stone tablet is called "The Stele of Commemorating the Beifu Yinghun Hall", and the content mainly records Liu Yu's ascension to the throne. After proclaiming the emperor, he built the history of the Beifu Tomb here. At the same time, he also wanted to use these puppets to accommodate thousands of deceased souls in the Beifu, so that they would not be reincarnated after death and guard the rivers and mountains forever. Anyway, they would drain out the water and get rid of the praises and virtues. This is what it means. .”
"Actually!" Song Siyuan changed the topic: "Actually, this is more like a soul summoning ceremony, which is equivalent to absorbing the souls of all the dead Beifu soldiers into these puppets in the hanging palace."
Having said that, Yue Guanchao observed these inscriptions: "Is it not recorded where the tomb of Beifu is?"
Sun Daqiao waved his hand and said jokingly: "This will definitely not be recorded. Since Beifu's tomb is the place where heroes' souls are buried, how could it be casually recorded on the inscription? When Liu Yuxun built the tomb here, it means that no one will ever discover this place. Well, we will have it for a while."
Ban Nu said: "Why do they build these things on the stone wall? Is it just for the sake of strength? Maybe there are other reasons. In my opinion, this kind of cantilevered building is strong, but it consumes a lot of man-hours and effort. If there is no other reason, , it would be easier to build on flat land.”
"Furthermore, the surrounding mountain walls are full of such palaces. So much effort has been expended. Is it really just to accommodate these puppets?"
Her words had a hint, and Yue Guanchao's eyes lit up: "Senior Ban, what you mean is that there are other functions here?"
"But what's the use of this? Is there any secret passage or mechanism here?" Yue Erpao scratched his head and shook his head around.
"It's not a problem with the agency. Come out with me and have a look."
Ban Nu took them out and stood on the covered bridge looking towards the valley: "I think if these hanging halls must be built, it must be to monitor these ghost people. We have passed through many hanging halls just now, no matter which one You can clearly see the villages in the valley from the hanging hall."
She paused, and a bright light flashed in her eyes: "There are hanging halls on all sides. Could it be that the Beifu soldiers also have the intention of monitoring the Guifang people?"
No one has thought about her guess yet. When Yue Guanchao heard Ban Nu mention this, he also felt that the setting up of the Xuan Palace does have some surveillance implications. In fact, this is a forbidden area for ghosts. The feeling of shock just now was... Pressure from construction.
Song Siyuan nodded: "Judging from the corpses of the Beifu soldiers in the cold and warm cave, there must be conflicts between the Guifang and Beifu soldiers. Otherwise, the Beifu soldiers would not be chased by the Guifang people. Considering the current situation, these hanging palaces It is most likely a surveillance building, and its structure is close to that of a surveillance fortress.”
While they were talking, there was a sudden sound of movement in the hall. Yue Guanchao noticed the strange sounds in the hall, and quickly picked up the dagger and walked in.
"What's wrong?"
Song Siyuan turned on the flashlight and illuminated the dark hall. Yue Guanchao took the opportunity to observe the space in the hall, trying to find the sound of movement. Unfortunately, except for the stone tablets and murals, there were no special objects in the hall, let alone any living things that caught the eye.
When the two of them noticed this situation, not only were they uneasy, but they broke out in a cold sweat!
"The feeling of being watched on us just now may be that thing hiding in the dark."
Yue Guanchao spoke cautiously, and a drop of water fell on the ground with his head, making a startling "ding-dong" sound. The two of them picked up the flashlight and looked at the caisson. When they saw the situation clearly, their heartbeats almost missed half a beat.
Hiss, on the corner of the pillar under the caisson, there is obviously an old and white face floating in the corner!
…
