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墨書 Inktalez
I looked at the light shield, where a dark object, about the size of a palm, was faintly visible. Just as I was about to reach out to grab it, Zhengyang shouted, "Stop! Do you want to lose your hands?" I quickly withdrew my hands and asked in confusion, "What? Is this thing that evil?"
Zhengyang nodded seriously. "This light shield is called the Return Light Shield. When the Heart Lamp is extinguished, the residual flames that fail to burn out transform into 'returning light.' If you touch it with your hands, they will turn to bones!"
"What? Is there any way to break it?" I looked at Zhengyang, while Big Mouth Lee and Bald Qiang were clearly at a loss, staring blankly at him.
The term "returning light" is easy to understand; in the human body, yin and yang mutually constrain each other. Returning light means that the yin does not gather and the yang floats outward. Once a patient exhibits this symptom, it signifies that their death is near. The principle of this Return Light Shield is also based on the yin not suppressing the evil spirits, forming a luminous barrier shaped by the floating Killing Intent. This kind of excessive Old Yin can only be countered by Old Yin itself. Only the white bones from the Rest Gate can pierce through this layer of light.
With that, I wrapped a bone from an arm in white cloth and murmured, "I apologize for any offense; please forgive me!" I extended the bone toward the shield, which surprisingly parted like a curtain, creating a gap. In an instant, Zhengyang swiftly pinched it out.
"Run!" Zhengyang shouted. I dropped the bone without caring about anyone else's separation from their bones and took off running after Zhengyang. Big Mouth Lee and Bald Qiang followed closely behind us as we sprinted for about seventy or eighty meters. When I turned back to look, that area emitted a faint glow, gradually forming into a spherical shape, resembling a lightning ball that crackled with sound.
The glowing sphere continued to expand as if it were going to fill the entire cave. The corpses within the Eight Gates Formation emitted piercing howls. It seemed like it was about to explode with immense power.
We stared at the glowing sphere, our hearts racing wildly. However, something strange happened; the sphere suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, collapsing lifelessly before emitting a series of popping sounds and then falling silent. The corpses inside also fell down and became motionless!
This was utterly unscientific!
The thunderous noise was simply unbelievable!
We stood there for a while in shock, staring blankly at it. At that moment, Zhengyang spoke up: "Hmm! Initially, I was curious too. Logically speaking, if such an array is completely broken, it should release an immense force—at least equivalent to a 50-kilogram explosion radius similar to that of a bomb with a 50-meter damage radius. When I sensed a surge of power rising, it seemed there was insufficient follow-through capacity, leading to its failure."
"Zhengyang, are you suggesting there's an energy source inside?"
"Theoretically speaking, that's correct; there’s no such thing as perpetual motion machines in this world. Everything consumes energy to operate. This applies to science as well as these supernatural events. The driving force behind this array could be an eye of Killing Intent or some other energy source."
"Do you think it's that Heart Lamp? Once the Heart Lamp is extinguished, the array would be destroyed!"
"On the surface, it appears so; however, that's not entirely accurate. The Heart Lamp is also powered by an energy source. If I'm not mistaken, this Black Stone should be that energy source." Zhengyang held up the Black Stone and examined it closely under the light with a serious expression. "Hmm! This looks very similar to your meteorite; take a look."
I took the meteorite from him; one side bore mysterious symbols while the other side was smooth as glass. Clearly, it originated from the same source as mine. I pulled out my meteorite from my backpack and aligned its edges with his; they fit perfectly together. "Wow! How amazing! We even found its sibling!" My remark made them all laugh.
"Let's find a way out first! Staying in a place like this for too long can drive anyone insane!"
"I'm fine; back in my day when I participated in missions, I spent over a year in places like this!"
"Then let's go back the way we came; it's better than this cursed place in the desert!"
"No way, Uncorrupted Bones has sealed off our path. There are too many things in there!" Zhengyang replied. It was only then that I noticed Uncorrupted Bones. This old fellow had hardly spoken, and I had almost ignored him.
Cackling! Uncorrupted Bones let out a strange laugh. "Kid, I see you're quite wicked. You might end up causing more trouble than this old man!" I immediately felt displeased and thought, "What? Can I be more wicked than this ancient demon?" I asked, "What do you mean?"
"If you want a way out, follow me!" Uncorrupted Bones finally spoke. After all, he had lived here for over a thousand years and needed my help; he wouldn't harm me. Besides, there was no retreat now, especially with someone as formidable as Zhengyang around. What was there to fear? Let's just ride this donkey and see how the script unfolds.
We passed through the ruins of the formation and reached the end of the cave, where we found an ice wall. The surface was as smooth as a mirror, crystal clear, allowing us to see three or four meters deep. The ice emitted a faint blue light, and I couldn't tell how vast this glacier really was. I carefully circled around it and asked, "Old man, where's the door?"
"Don't rush! Take another careful look!"
I stared intently at the glacier; its surface was flawless like a mirror, with not even a hint of a crack or bubble visible. "Could this old fellow be playing tricks on us?" I often approached these supernatural beings with suspicion; after all, humans and spirits are worlds apart.
In such a perilous environment, survival meant protecting my own life first. All other morals could wait until we were in a safer situation. "Hey! Stop keeping me in suspense!"
"This ice block wasn't formed naturally!"
"How is that possible?" We all exclaimed in unison. Dong Tong, who had been silent behind us, couldn't hold back any longer.
"I remember that a thousand years ago, a monarch was buried nearby. To protect the body, they specifically carved out an entire iceberg to place in the tomb. Look closely at those ice blocks!"
Thanks to his reminder, we indeed discovered something unusual within the ice blocks. There were extremely fine gaps between them that were nearly impossible to notice without close inspection. My goodness, were these all stacked blocks of ice? Just how monumental was this project!
I had read some materials about ancient Ice Storage. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were officials responsible for ice collection known as "Ling Ren." The Book of Songs also mentions ice collection: "On the second day, ice is cut; on the third day, it is stored in the cool." This must be what it referred to.
Enjoying cold drinks in summer wasn't just a modern privilege; ancient nobles could have it too. Departments like the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeology Institute conducted field investigations at the Shangjialing site from the Warring States period in Qianyang County and discovered extensive rammed earth and ceramic well circles. Ancient texts referred to these as "Ling Yin," used by our Ancestors for food storage and Ice Storage, similar to modern refrigerators.
The conditions for ancient Ice Storage weren't as good as they are today, but they had their methods. Every deep winter, ice collectors would enter deep mountains to harvest solidly frozen ice from pristine pools, cutting it into blocks. They would transport it using manpower or animal power into secluded valleys with year-round shade or dig deep wells lined with straw to stack the ice and cover it with insulating materials. Despite their meticulous preservation efforts, two-thirds would still melt by midsummer. Only nobles with unlimited manpower could enjoy such luxuries.
According to records from the Great Qing Code: at that time, there were five cellars within the Forbidden City containing 25,000 blocks of Ice Storage. At Jingshan Gate, there were six cellars with 54,000 blocks; outside Desheng Gate were three cellars with 26,700 blocks. Scholars have estimated that the volume of 5,000 blocks of stored ice is equivalent to that of a modern five-story building with four units—truly astonishing!
The ancient processes of Ice Storage, Retrieve Ice, and Ice Distribution appeared to be quite sacred.
During Ice Storage, black livestock and black millet were offered in worship to Sihan. Sihan is the water deity, and it is said that everything he uses is black. When retrieving ice, a bow made of peach wood and arrows made of thorns were placed inside the ice chamber. The word for peach sounds like "escape," symbolizing the transformation of misfortune into fortune; thorns are believed to ward off evil spirits. In the Ice Distribution ceremony, the court allocated different amounts of ice to the royal family and officials based on their ranks, and those who received the ice regarded it as an honor.
The main purpose of Ice Storage was to create cold drinks and food during the summer. It had become common practice by the Zhou Dynasty for the court to use ice during summer banquets. In ancient times, wine had a low alcohol content, and when temperatures rose in summer, it would continue to ferment and turn sour. Therefore, nobles and ministers would drink chilled wine at summer feasts. During the Tang Dynasty, when Yang Guozhong was in power, he once hosted a banquet at home in summer, using large blocks of ice carved into mountains surrounding the banquet table. Those seated inside still wore thin cotton clothes while drinking, achieving an effect that rivaled modern air conditioning.
As for using ice for corpse preservation, that was unheard of. Generally, ice could only preserve things for about three or four years before completely melting away. Yet according to Uncorrupted Bones, this ice had lasted for over a thousand years without melting. What an enormous undertaking that must have been.
My doubts were not unfounded, so I straightforwardly asked the Old Man, “How can these ice blocks be preserved for so many years?”
“Young man, you must learn some manners. The preservation of these ice blocks relies entirely on this formation. To be honest with you, this Royal Tomb was also set up by that Taoist.”
What?! How long had that Taoist lived? From the Western Han to the Tang Dynasty—over a thousand years! This old fellow must be talking nonsense. “I don’t care how you do it; there’s a wall right in front of us. Are you telling us to walk through it?”
“Calm down, young man; difficulties are only temporary. I have a way to get in!”
“Stop talking nonsense and just tell me your method…”
What followed from Uncorrupted Bones shocked us all; if it hadn’t come from his mouth, I would have dismissed it as nonsense. Although it came from the lips of this ancient being, his methods still left me astonished!
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