"Don't stop investigating the clues in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*," Ke Xun said. "Also, the coordinates of the art museum; these are likely crucial to breaking through the final barrier."
Shao Ling nodded: "Continue your work from yesterday. Give me the information on the Qin Dynasty."
"I can help…" Gu Qingqing raised her hand.
"Okay," Shao Ling then looked at Fang Fei and Wu You, "If you two don't have any other plans, come and lend a hand."
Fang Fei and Wu You agreed.
After dinner, the girls didn't rush to leave but instead used the time to work together to investigate the clues.
Everyone was engrossed in their computers, laptops, phones, and books. The only sounds in the room were the clicking of keyboards and turning pages.
Ke Xun opened his Weibo and found that there were already over six thousand comments, thousands of reposts, and hundreds of private messages. Checking them all would be extremely time-consuming and exhausting, so he simply sat by the window, facing the dark night view outside, feeling the slight chill seeping in through the window cracks to perk himself up, and then opened the comments.
Most of the comments were either infatuations about his looks or jokes, while the serious answers to the questions were mostly the same. Later, even Chinese knots and the red thread of fate (the Chinese god of marriage) came up. Although Ke Xun thought it was all nonsense, he still wrote down everything related to ropes.
He kept scrolling through the comments until his eyes started to ache. He glanced at the time and realized it was already past 10 PM. He looked at Fang Fei and the other two girls, still researching with Shao Ling, completely oblivious to the time—they were really dedicated.
Ke Xun stretched and was about to tell the men to escort the three girls back to the hotel to rest when a comment scrolled past his eyes. He quickly looked closer and saw it read: "The *Huainanzi* (淮南子) states in its chapter on astronomy: 'The center is earth, its emperor is the Yellow Emperor, its assistant is Houtu, who holds a rope to control the four directions.'" This meant that Houtu held a black rope to assist the Yellow Emperor in managing the affairs of the four directions. The black rope was a woodworking tool; whether it possessed supernatural powers, he didn't know.
Ke Xun quickly noted down the ink rope, then scrolled down and found that this netizen with the ID "Killing People by Writing Papers" had posted more than one comment, and several more. "
Killing People by Writing Papers": The *Taiping Yulan* says, "Popular belief says that after the creation of heaven and earth, before there were people, Nuwa molded people from yellow clay. Due to the heavy workload, she couldn't keep up, so she used ropes to drag people out of the mud and lift them up. Therefore, the rich and noble are the people with yellow clay. The poor and lowly are the people with ropes."
Ke Xun: "..." So the three of us with rope-like bone structures are the poor and lowly?
Further down—
"Killing People by Writing Papers": If you want to know what the most powerful rope in Chinese mythology is, actually using ropes to manage the four directions and creating people isn't the most powerful. The most powerful rope is the "Earthly Belt." "
Killing People by Writing Papers": What is the Earthly Belt? The *Liezi* (Chapter 1, "Tang Wen") states: "Later, Gonggong and Zhuanxu vied for the throne. In anger, Gonggong struck Mount Buzhou, breaking the pillar of heaven and severing the earth's support." This "earth's support" refers to the ropes that hold the earth together. Ancient people believed the sky was round and the earth was square, with large ropes at each of the four corners of the earth supporting the pillars of heaven; hence the name "earth's support."
Ke Xun stared at those few sentences for a while, then got up and went to Mu Yiran's side, handing him a list of all the rope names on his phone: "Yiran, I think the most plausible ones are the Earthly Belt and the rope Nuwa used to create humans. And if I had to choose, I think the Earthly Belt is the closest. What do you think?"
Mu Yiran's gaze flickered slightly as he stared at the phone screen, then he looked up at Ke Xun: "Nuwa only had one rope to create humans, but there are four Earthly Belts. Right now, the three of us have rope patterns on our bodies, so maybe the other rope pattern will appear on one of the other three people outside of us. Therefore, I also think 'Earthly Belt' is the most likely."
Ke Xun scratched his hair and said, "The rope that holds the earth together, that's just too damn..." "...It's too grand. We're just ordinary people among billions. To have something like this on our bodies feels like...an unbearable weight."
Mu Yiran ruffled his disheveled hair and said, "Maybe it's just an image, like a tattoo, just a symbolic expression. Just like the door gods we paste on our doors are just two pictures, not two real gods. It's the same principle. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. What we need to know is what role this bone structure will play, or what it means."
Ke Xun looked at his phone screen and sighed, "That's why they say the power of the masses is great. I didn't expect the answer to come like this. Should I ask the masses some more questions about the Classic of Mountains and Seas?"
"Sure." Mu Yiran looked at him and smiled slightly, "Looks like you're more capable than any of us."
"Don't you know whether I'm capable or not?" Ke Xun leaned his face close to Mu Yiran's, their noses touching, and whispered.
"That's ambiguous." Mu Yiran glanced at him, raised his hand, pinched his chin, and gently shook it from side to side.
Ke Xun quickly kissed him on the cheek, then sat up straight again, casually remarking while typing a new Weibo post on his phone: "If four people's bone structure is Earthly Dimension, then nine people's bone structure is the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*. So why are our four bone structures Earthly Dimension instead of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*? There must be a reason..."
"Nine people are the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*..." Mu Yiran's gaze suddenly sharpened, and Ke Xun quickly stopped what he was doing and looked at him.
"I've thought of a possibility," Mu Yiran mused.
Perhaps because their last few sentences were a little loud, everyone paused their work and looked over.
"Regarding the origin of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* illustrations, besides the 'Witchcraft Illustrations' theory, there is another explanation," Mu Yiran slowly said, "Legend has it that in the early Xia Dynasty, Yu the Great divided the land into nine provinces, ordering the governors of these provinces to contribute bronze. This bronze was then used to cast nine tripods to symbolize these nine provinces.
Yu the Great sent people to draw the famous mountains, rivers, scenic spots, and strange creatures within these nine provinces, and selected skilled craftsmen to carve these drawings onto the nine tripods.
Because each tripod encompassed the mountains, rivers, famous places, plants, and animals of a province, these nine tripods were equivalent to encompassing all things in the world. Therefore, from then on, 'Nine Provinces' became synonymous with the Chinese nation, and 'establishing the tripods' and 'asking about the tripods' became symbolic terms for the ruler of the world.
Therefore, some scholars believe that the ancient illustrations of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* originated from the carvings on the nine tripods, and that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* illustrations are a remnant of the nine tripods."
"If the nine individuals whose bone structures bear the inscription of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* are indeed the one depicted, then perhaps we can determine which version of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* their bone structures belong to—Yu made nine tripods, each engraved with mountains and seas. The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* in our bone structures is the most original version, the Yu version."
The crowd was both astonished and bewildered,
exchanging bewildered glances. In this vast river of history, each individual is but a grain of sand, a drop of water, humble and insignificant. Yet, at the origin of that grand and turbulent river, in that mythical era beyond the reach of imagination, there exists an ancient artifact capable of stabilizing the universe, suppressing mountains and rivers, and engraving spirits and deities, intricately connected to these insignificant beings.
This was truly unexpected… For a moment, everyone felt the same overwhelming sense of dread that Ke Xun had just experienced.
"Really… really could this be?" Luo Yi still found it hard to believe that such an unimaginable thing would befall him.
"It's almost certainly true." Shao Ling took a slight breath. "…It's truly a case of 'being too close to the forest for the trees.' If Mu hadn't thought of this, I wouldn't have made this connection. I also have some relevant information in my memory."
The Zuo Zhuan records this in detail, roughly stating that Yu had people carve images of all things, ghosts, evil creatures, and the demons, monsters, poisonous insects, harmful beasts, and spirits of rivers, lakes, mountains, and forests onto nine tripods, so that the people could recognize them and be prepared. This would allow them to ward off evil spirits, drive away demons, and send away ghosts when encountering such things during their travels. The ancients also believed that these nine tripods were imbued with various deities and possessed supernatural powers.
The Ming Dynasty scholar Yang Shen also argued that the Shan Hai Jing Tu (Illustrations of Mountains and Seas) was a remnant of the Yu tripods. He said that the images on these nine tripods contained the wonders of mountains, water, grass, trees, birds, and beasts; once the nine tripods were completed, they were used to observe all nations.
The Qing Dynasty scholar Bi Yuan pointed out that the illustrations on the Nine Tripods are those containing country names, mountains and rivers, and deities and monsters from the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, while others, such as the *Classic of the Great Wilderness*, were added by later generations.
"Therefore, this further confirms that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas Illustrations* is a super-painting, unlike any other painting we have ever entered, equivalent to a vast world. It can 'view all nations,' and its world contains mountains, rivers, plants, birds, beasts, and monsters completely different from our own.
"Most importantly, and most surprisingly, the *Classic of Mountains and Seas Illustrations* is not painted on paper or silk; it is 'painted' on the nine tripods.
"If the *Classic of Mountains and Seas Illustrations* on the Nine Tripods is the origin of the entire process of entering the painting, then the first group of people who entered the painting must have entered these illustrations on the nine tripods. As for how they entered, it may be related to the fact that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas Illustrations* are shamanistic illustrations."
"The Nine Tripods were made of bronze, and bronze was considered a 'divine artifact.' The ancients believed it could communicate with the gods. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, bronze ritual vessels were used to worship gods and ghosts, to emphasize sacrifices, and to practice witchcraft.
"The ritual vessels made of bronze consisted of food vessels, wine vessels, water vessels, musical instruments, weapons, and so on. When in use, these items had a strict order of arrangement, and this order was the rule to be followed when practicing witchcraft."
"So, can we assume that these nine bronze cauldrons were activated by divine power during the performance of sorcery, thus expanding the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' inscribed on them into a real world existing within the 'painting'?"
Shao Ling's analysis left everyone gasping for breath. Ke Xun felt like he was about to suffer from oxygen poisoning, coughed twice, and said, "Mr. Shao, your analysis makes perfect sense. Let me clarify: Yu inscribed all things of the Nine Provinces on nine bronze cauldrons because bronze is a divine artifact that can communicate with gods and spirits. During sacrifices or sorcery, these nine cauldrons were activated by divine power, which materialized the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' inscribed on the cauldrons... That's not right. The 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' existed first, and then Yu inscribed it on the cauldrons. Even if the cauldrons were activated by divine power, it's impossible for them to materialize another world of the Nine Provinces, because—Yu and the cauldrons were already in the world of the Nine Provinces and Mountains and Seas!"
Shao Ling was also stunned, and then felt that Ke Xun was becoming more and more like a logical genius.
This question caused everyone to ponder for a moment. As time passed, Ke Xun noticed that Luo Jin had started yawning incessantly, so he suggested continuing tomorrow and first sending the girls back to their hotel.
Luo Jin was left at home to sleep, while the rest of the group went out to see them off.
The snow outside was already quite thick, and snowflakes were still falling heavily. The streetlights in the neighborhood cast a pale yellow light onto the flat snow surface, like an old sheet of Xuan paper spread across the earth.
"I have a question," Wei Dong said, his breath white as he spoke, "How big must a cauldron be to depict all things in the nine provinces? I've always thought that the stories in the Classic of Mountains and Seas are all myths, and the nine cauldrons were probably made up in mythology as well. It's not surprising that something in mythology could depict all things in the nine provinces, but now… it seems that mythology has been proven to be reality. So we have to consider the practical issues. This cauldron must be as big as a building, right?"
"No one knows how heavy the nine cauldrons made by Yu were," Shao Ling said, "but because the nine cauldrons symbolized the supreme power of the world, many monarchs in later generations thought of recasting a set to demonstrate their imperial power.
"The Zizhi Tongjian records that Wu Zetian recast the nine cauldrons. The largest one was 18 feet tall, and the others were 14 feet tall. The nine cauldrons used a total of 560,700 catties of bronze."
"As for the Yu Ding, I think it would be even heavier and more magnificent than Wu Zetian's Ding. You must know that in the Xia and Shang dynasties, the Ding was a symbol of power, status, and wealth. The number of Ding reflected the level of status, and the weight of the Ding marked the extent of power. When enjoying ritual sacrifices, only the Son of Heaven, the ruler of the world, could enjoy the nine Ding. Yu the Great unified the nine provinces, and with such heavenly power, the nine Ding representing this power must have been no small thing.
"The *Strategies of the Warring States* mentions these nine Ding. One Ding would require 90,000 people to pull, so nine Ding would require 810,000 people to pull—of course, this is an exaggeration, but its true weight must not be underestimated."
"Then where are the nine Ding made by Yu now?" Ke Xun asked. "Since we can't figure out the problem of the initial painting incident, why don't we go to the nine Ding to investigate ourselves?"
Shao Ling smiled wryly: "If we could go, I would have said so already. The nine Ding made by Yu disappeared as early as the Warring States period."
Author's Note: Wei Dong
: Wow! Snowflakes are still falling from the sky~ Hmm? Besides snowflakes, it seems like there's something else flying in the sky?
Ke Xun: That's the imagination of our dear readers.
Wei Dong: Why have everyone's imaginations taken flight?
Ke Xun: Because the author has praised them to the skies!