Everyone was shocked.
"You mean—this rock face comes from another world, and it records historical events that happened in that world, and the great shaman of that world was performing rituals using their own world's shamanistic practices?!" Hua Jiqiu was very shocked by this deduction.
"So this explains why the carvings on the rock face are all in ghost script!" Wei Dong added, equally shocked.
"This is just a guess for now," Mu Yiran said. "I think we should consider this from two perspectives. One is that these rock carvings come from the human world and are part of a ritual performed after the Great Flood; the other is that these rock carvings come from another world and are part of a ritual performed by people from that world. And they seem to have succeeded, triggering a medium connecting the two worlds. This medium is the 'third space' between the human world and the other world, which is represented by paintings—the world within those paintings that we entered before."
"Yiran's speculation makes a lot of sense," Ke Xun continued. "And it's very possible that some capable people or great shamans in the human world discovered this. They didn't want people from the other world to intrude into the human world, so they sealed this medium with that huge 'light' character. If people from the other world want to come to the human world, they can only try to destroy the seal of this light character."
"All the paintings we've entered are located on the Light Seal," Mu Yiran continued. "I think the coordinates of the art museum where these paintings are located are likely influenced by the power of another world. They are constrained by the seal and cannot directly break through it to enter the human world, but they can still invade the human world with a portion of their power, affecting the coordinates of the art museum and constantly attracting and filtering people to enter the paintings."
"Every time we get a signature, we break a little bit of the seal," Ke Xun continued. "Until we've broken the seal almost completely, and followed the clues provided by each painting to find the altar of this other world, we won't be far from completely breaking the seal."
"Our skeletal structure comes from the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' on the Nine Cauldrons," Mu Yiran continued. "Now that I think about it, the ghostly script that can be extracted from our skeletal structure is not a unified entity with the ghostly script on this altar. I am more inclined to believe that these are two independent sets of ghostly script with witchcraft power. The ghostly script on the rock wall is a spell used by the other world to connect with the human world, while the ghostly script on our skeletal structure comes from the Nine Cauldrons and is used to suppress and seal the opening of the other world."
"In other words, these two sets of ghostly script are diametrically opposed," Ke Xun said. "It's like a spear and a shield, an enemy and our army. Because the other world uses the power of ghostly script to attack the human world, the human world uses ghostly script in return to block this power."
"So the human ruler Yu the Great cast nine tripods using the most precious metals from the nine provinces of the human world," Mu Yiran said. "They were engraved with shamanistic dance patterns composed of ghostly script. Ghostly script represents the power of shamanistic incantations from another world, while shamanistic dance represents the power of shamanistic incantations from the human world. The two were creatively combined into one, using the combined power of shamanistic incantations from the other world to suppress and strike back against invading forces from the other world."
"This was originally very effective, but unexpectedly, the nine tripods later disappeared," Ke Xun said. "However, for some reason, the runes on the nine tripods could be projected onto the bone structure of people. Thus, from then on, these people depicted in the images became substitutes for the nine tripods, serving the same function. But since the bone structure of people is not the original nine tripods, this process is restarted every hundred years or so."
"This is roughly the reverse speculation on this matter," Mu Yiran said. "If anyone has any questions, please ask and we can discuss them together."
Everyone: "..."
Wei Dong: "Did you two rehearse beforehand?"
Ke Xun: "The question about single dogs who don't understand what 'mutual affection' means is PASS, next."
Shao Ling: "So you believe that the world depicted in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* doesn't exist at all, just like I said before, the descriptions of gods, ghosts, and strange beasts in later *Classic of Mountains and Seas* are all errors caused by people describing pictures with words. Some strange dance movements or strange costumes are..." The blurring and confusion caused by visual effects or the passage of time led later generations to mistake normal humans or animals for gods, ghosts, and monsters. Is the true content of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* simply a book of witchcraft?
Hua Jiqiu: "But the countries, mountains, rivers, and geographical environments described in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* clearly form a vast world structure."
Zhu Haowen: "To be honest, if we hadn't encountered this incident involving the depiction of the painting, I wouldn't believe in mythology. As for the countries, geography, and customs described in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, I believe they are later additions, not the original content of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*.
If you randomly pick a passage from the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, such as 'Red creatures grow on trees, eating them causes heart pain,' 'Eighty li further west is Mount Fuyu, its sunny side has much copper, its shady side has much iron,' 'Yellow body and red tail, its voice is like that of an infant,'…"
"The original version of the *Shan Hai Tu* was cast on the Nine Tripods, which were cast during the time of Yu the Great in ancient times. So, Wei Dong, if you were to draw on the tripods, how would you represent the concept of 'eighty li'? How would you represent 'its yang side has more copper, its yin side has more iron'? And how would you represent 'eating it causes heart pain' and 'yellow body with red tail, its voice like an infant'?
"And, what was the standard of measurement for eighty li during the time of Yu the Great?"
Wei Dong: "...Uh...If you don't let me annotate it with words, I can't draw the concept of 'eighty li' and the difference between copper and iron, unless you allow me to use chemical symbols."
"Heartache and such, I might be able to draw it in the form of a four-panel comic strip, but I doubt that would be allowed on the Nine Tripods.
"As for the yellow body, red tail, and the sound of an infant, it's even less likely that it could be cast on the Nine Tripods, unless the images on the tripods are still colored and can make sounds...
"Moreover, as Mr. Shao also said, the style of rock carvings in this era is very simple, like simple line drawings. I seriously doubt whether people in that era could have drawn those complex gods, ghosts, and monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas."
Mu Yiran: "But we cannot deny that the Classic of Mountains and Seas that has been passed down in later generations is not the real Classic of Mountains and Seas. Historical research has also proven that the Classic of Mountains and Seas that has been passed down to us today is a new version that has been misrepresented, processed, added to, artistically embellished, and even imagined by later generations. What we have come into contact with is the original version without any additions, modifications, distortions, or misrepresentations."
"As for whether the mythical era of ancient times truly existed, even Sima Qian said in the Records of the Grand Historian, 'I dare not speak of the monsters in the Classic of Mountains and Seas,' so we cannot presume to make any judgments."
"But, after removing all the ornate and complex texts and embellishments added later, the simplest and most unadorned images may be the essence and original form of this masterpiece."
Hua Jiqiu finally nodded: "Xiao Mu is right."
Qin Ci: "If these four rock paintings depict events that occurred in another world, then 'all living beings' are the living beings of that other world." Wei Dong
: "No wonder these creatures are so strange and unimaginable; perhaps this kind of imagery represents the common state of creatures in another world."
Qin Ci: "My question is about the depiction of the Great Flood. There are traces of a Great Flood in the human world, so how could a Great Flood have occurred in another world as well?"
Mu Yiran: "Regarding that Great Flood, from a theological perspective, the basis is probably the theory that Gonggong angrily struck Buzhou Mountain, causing the sky to collapse and the earth to sink, thus triggering the Great Flood.
"From a scientific perspective, some believe that the Earth's climate underwent drastic changes during that period, with large-scale glacial activity, which led to the Great Flood."
"But one thing is worth noting: in the historical memory of that period, there are legends about a great flood almost all over the world. The ancient Babylonian version says that 'the flood, accompanied by a storm, submerged all the high mountains on the continent almost overnight'; the ancient Mexican version says that 'the sky approached the earth, and in one day, all people perished, and the mountains were also hidden in the flood'; the Native American version says that 'a great flood occurred, and the surroundings became pitch black, and mankind was completely wiped out'; the Mayan sacred book says that 'this was a devastating destruction, a great flood, and people drowned in the sticky rain that fell from the sky'; and the mysterious, controversial, and speculative legend of Atlantis is also said to have sunk in the great flood; the most famous of these is the biblical account, which states that Noah's Ark was prepared for the great flood."
"This prehistoric flood is perhaps the most legendary and mysterious catastrophe in human history. So many countries and cultures around the world have memories and records of this flood, which seems to strongly suggest that such a devastating disaster did indeed occur in ancient times, almost causing the extinction of all humankind.
"So the question is—where did this flood, which covered almost the entire globe, come from? How did it happen? What kind of geological and climatic changes could cause different geographical environments around the world to experience this flood simultaneously?
"From a scientific perspective, there is still no conclusive answer. However, from a theological perspective, it is not impossible that this disaster, caused by an ancient war of the gods, affected a different world buried deep underground."
"Or perhaps, as everyone has speculated, this flood might be a witch's prayer from another world, intended to destroy all living beings on Earth and thus provide them with an opportunity to invade."
"Is it possible," Ke Xun said, "that the flood only has two destinations: either it flows into the sea or it flows underground. A flood of the scale of the prehistoric Great Flood could very well cause the same catastrophic destruction to the underground other world, or even more severely than to the human world. After all, we are above ground, and the flood either flows into the sea or underground, while they were already underground. When the flood falls, they have nowhere to go.
"They can hardly survive underground, so they think about finding another way to survive, a new territory where they can continue their race."
"At that time, the human leader, Yu the Great, had almost tamed the floods, and the earth had regained its vitality. The other world, through their great shamans with 'observational power,' observed that there was another world above them. They decided to use ghost script and the power of shamanic prayer to open the barrier between the two worlds and bring their 'living beings' to the human world.
"How could we possibly let a foreign race that wanted to seize our territory come up? Thus, the story of casting the Nine Cauldrons to seal the passage between the two worlds came about."
"This speculation is also quite plausible." Qin Ci nodded.
"I also have a speculation." Yue Cen stretched the lamb wool blanket he was wearing to keep warm and spoke slowly, "I believe that the patterns made of ghost script on the 'Shan Hai Tu' on our bones are not only images of shamanic dances, but also images of creatures from another world."
"I don't think the story of casting tripods with images of other worlds is just empty talk. The claim that Yu the Great carved images of gods, ghosts, and strange beasts on the tripods so that the people could recognize them and effectively deal with or avoid them to ensure their safety is true.
"However, I suspect the images used to represent other worlds on the nine tripods are not gods, ghosts, or strange beasts from the human world, but rather creatures from another world.
"Perhaps Yu the Great, as the leader of humanity, and his high shamans, after discovering the other world's intentions, would use their shamanistic powers to observe it and have its images cast on the nine tripods.
"Fearing that creatures from another world might enter the human world through other means, they cast these images on the tripods to raise the vigilance of their people.
"Besides this, I believe that casting the nine tripods with images of other worlds was not merely for posting wanted posters or sealing the passage between the two worlds.
"They may have had a more important function and purpose—have you ever heard of idol curses?"