Strange Tale of Qingluan

The two calmed down and began to concentrate on finding the exit.

I went around the box, and then around the terracotta figurines. I searched for a long time, but nothing was found.

Su Zhongming became annoyed, and shouted: "There is no clue here! I have searched for what should be found, and even tried turning the pottery figurines once, but there is still no trace of the exit!"

Li Xuan looked around and said, "The layout here is different from other tombs, and the method of opening the exit should be different."

Su Zhongming said again: "I don't know what's going on with the senior sister, I hope she won't go to the No.18 tomb before us..."

Li Xuan replied: "She should be trying to find an exit just like us."

Su Zhongming hoped so with all his heart.

Li Xuan walked around the room slowly again, and said, "Do you think there is something different here?"

Su Zhongming said bluntly: "It's too easy! Boxes! You see, the boxes in the previous tomb were lined up vertically, but the boxes here are like eight trigrams." After a pause, he added, "But, We have already moved the box before, there is nothing special about it..."

Li Xuandao: "This is exactly what I find strange."

Su Zhongming became strange: "Didn't it be said that it was auspicious and auspicious to put it like that..."

Li Xuan affirmed: "It does have an auspicious meaning." The words suddenly changed, "But, I always feel that there are other intentions in this arrangement."

Su Zhongming walked into the gossip array made of boxes, thought for a while, and then said: "If this is just an ordinary gossip diagram, you must try it according to the gossip, but you and I don't understand metaphysics."

Li Xuan shook his head lightly: "It must not be gossip. In Shaole Kingdom, the main thing is the melody! However, the melody only has seven notes, and there are eight boxes arranged in the gossip array, one more."

Su Zhongming thought for a while, and replied: "No, maybe you're right? Maybe it's really the rhythm?"

Li Xuan repeated: "There are only seven notes in the melody - Gong, Shang, Jiao, Bianzheng, Zheng, Yu, Biangong, and these boxes just happen to have one more."

Su Zhongming bit his fingertips lightly, thought for a moment, and suddenly figured out something, then blurted out: "If it is really arranged according to the seven notes of the melody, then there must be a mechanism to open the exit hidden in the extra box!"

Li Xuan also thought about it carefully, and felt that these words were not unreasonable, so he simply said: "Open the box again!" After saying that, he also stepped into the gossip array formed by the boxes, holding the sword, and together with Su Zhongming , Pry off the lids one by one.

Su Zhongming pried off four box covers, and Li Xuan pried off three box covers. In a blink of an eye, there was only the last box that had not been opened.

The two looked at the last box, and looked at each other again. In the end, Li Xuan took a step forward, put the point of his sword into the gap of the box, and with all his strength, pried open the box cover, and then took a closer look. , the bottom of the box is almost empty, only a calligraphy and painting.

Li Xuan picked up the calligraphy and painting and unfolded them, but he saw that the ink was clear, and there were couplets written - Gongshangjiao changed, Zhengyu changed, and there was no shortage of high and low, and the dragon gate opened.

Su Zhongming only glanced at it, and then came to a conclusion: "Maybe, it's the way to open the exit!"

Li Xuan replied: "The key is, can you understand the meaning of this couplet?"

Su Zhongming thought about it carefully, frowned slightly, and shook his head slightly.

Li Xuandao: "In my opinion, the key to this couplet is the meaning of the words 'high and low, no lack of subtraction'."

Su Zhongming frowned, and repeated: "High and low, no shortage, less and less..." After thinking for a while, he was curious, "What exactly does this refer to?"

Li Xuan rolled up the calligraphy and painting again, put them in the bottom of the box, and replied: "My intuition tells me that the answer must be related to the rhythm!"

Su Zhongming said helplessly: "Nonsense, of course it has something to do with the rhythm! But what does the next couplet refer to? This is the key to finding the exit!"

Li Xuan replied while thinking: "The things in this tomb are high and low. If it is related to the seven notes of the melody, I think it should be that the high and low things should be arranged from low to high, just like the arrangement of seven notes. "

Su Zhongming listened, nodded, and scanned the furnishings in the tomb again. When he turned around and looked at the boxes from a distance, he discovered the strangeness, and couldn't help saying happily: "Xuan, look! Let's When I first came in, I didn’t notice the size of those boxes perfectly! You see, only the four boxes placed in the southeast, northwest, and north are the same size, and the other eight boxes happen to be high and low, big and small!”

Li Xuan then generously said: "Then let's try it out and arrange the boxes from low to high, from small to large."

Su Zhongming was slightly stunned: "How to arrange? Could it be...you and I, move the boxes from here to there?"

Li Xuan said: "It can only be like this."

Su Zhongming almost collapsed: "This is so tiring, and these boxes look so heavy..."

Li Xuan had no choice but to hand him the torch in his hand, went to the box alone, blew into his palms, rubbed his hands, and then started to move the box.

Su Zhongming watched the man work hard to move the box, and gradually felt ashamed, but since he had taken care of the torch, he could only stand quietly and wait.

After a long time, Li Xuan finally arranged the boxes from low to high like a ladder, and the shape of the boxes happened to be shorter and thinner, and the tallest box happened to be the biggest.

Li Xuan straightened his waist, wiped the sweat from his forehead, returned to Su Zhongming's side, took his own torch, and immediately, a stone slab moved slowly in the center of the eight trigrams array, and the exit appeared in front of him immediately.

Su Zhongming showed joy, and hurriedly walked to the underground entrance, lit the bottom with a torch, and saw a steep and deep stone step, and he didn't know where it ended.

Li Xuan urged: "You go down first, I will follow behind you."

Su Zhongming turned his head: "That's impossible!"

Li Xuanqi said: "Why not? We finally found the exit, why are you hesitating?"

Su Zhongming didn't want to twitch, but at this moment he had to twitch: "The tomb of the dead! It's pitch black. I'll walk in front. If something pops up suddenly, just...just..."

Li Xuan knew it, slapped his buttocks with a palm, and only laughed at "coward" to take the lead.

Su Zhongming curled his lips, and complained a little, "You're too hard..." Then he quickly followed Li Xuan's pace and walked down the stone steps cautiously.

At the end of the stone steps, there was a long passage as expected. The two of them walked straight forward and turned a corner. The road in front of them diverged into two forks, the left and right. The dragon head stone carving as big as the stone wall is connected to the stone wall, and the dragon head stone carving is very delicate.

Su Zhongming stopped and asked, "Where are you going? Left or right?"

Li Xuan looked ahead carefully, did not make a choice, but only pointed to the top of the faucet, and reminded: "Look, there is an oil dish and a wick on top of the faucet."

Su Zhongming glanced at it, and said disapprovingly: "Maybe it's just that the people in the palace forgot to take it away after placing the coffin? The left and right roads should both lead to the tomb. We have to choose one first, don't worry about the oil pan."

Li Xuan didn't answer, just stepped forward, lit the oil dishes above the left and right faucets with torches, the flames ignited, illuminated the stone wall, and devoured the lamp oil in the dishes bit by bit.

Su Zhongming was a little bored, but he could only accompany Li Xuan quietly. After a while, the lamp oil burned out, and Su Zhongming finally got impatient, and opened his lips: "I said, let's..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Xuan interrupted: "Look at those two oil dishes!"

Su Zhongming looked intently, and was immediately stunned.

I saw that the two oil dishes were raised slightly, and suddenly, a piece came out of the dragon's mouth!A non-ordinary piece, a bit thick, passed through the two of them, and accurately fell into the groove of the stone wall behind them. Immediately, the quicksand overflowed, and quickly and accurately fell into the crack in the ground below. , Boulders suddenly fell from the top of the forked roads on both sides, sealing the forked roads tightly, only the stone wall between the two dragon heads rose slowly, revealing a dark passage.

Then Li Xuan opened his lips: "If we choose a fork in the road, no matter whether we take the left or the right, we may fall into a trap, but the road in front of us is probably the safest one."

Su Zhongming was stunned, and only asked: "You, how do you know that the real exit can only be found by lighting the oil lamp? You seem to understand..."

Li Xuan rubbed his head lightly: "Don't think too much, it's the first time for me to visit this royal tomb just like you. Just now you asked me where to go, I saw the oil dish, My intuition told me - neither side of the fork is a real exit."

Su Zhongming guessed: "It seems that you were instructed by the ancestors who rest here?"

Li Xuan replied: "Maybe." Then he urged, "Let's go."

Su Zhongming quickly followed his pace and walked down the stone steps again.

Walking and walking, the front suddenly opened up, like a big hall, with a square pool in the center, and a stone platform in the center of the pool. The water overflowed from the small holes on both sides below the stone platform, flowed into the pool, and overflowed through the small hole at the bottom of the pool. It flows out of the small hole again, it is running water, and the crisp sound of water flow makes people forget that this is the inside of the royal tomb.

The two walked forward along the passage across the pool, to the stone platform in the center, and found the mechanism at first sight, and the key to activate it was the three circular grooves on the stone platform.

Li Xuan shone around the stone platform with a torch, but found nothing that could fit into the groove.

Su Zhongming opened his lips: "The thing that can open the exit should not be here."

Li Xuan simply said: "Look around." After saying that, he began to search around the pool carefully.

Su Zhongming followed suit, tapping every stone brick on the stone wall.

After tossing for a while, both of them were at a loss, so they got together, and Su Zhongming sat down at the entrance of the passage across the pool, as if giving up, and blurted out: "Let's go back and find another way? "

Li Xuan replied: "I can't go back. Entering the royal tomb is like going to the battlefield. I have no choice but to go forward and find a way out."

Su Zhongming was helpless, but could only smile wryly, and stretched out a hand to Li Xuan: "I'm thirsty, give me the water bag."

Li Xuan generously tore off the water bag hanging from his waist, and generously handed it to Su Zhongming.

After pulling out the stopper and leaning back slightly, Su Zhongming gulped down the water. The moment the cool spring water flowed through his parched throat, he calmed down a little.

Inadvertently, he glanced at the courtyard, the stone wall of the courtyard seemed to be torn apart by a red line under the light of the fire, but he was afraid that he had an illusion, so he rubbed his eyes, and when he looked again, he was sure that he was not an illusion, so he patted Li Xuan's shoulder beside him.

Li Xuan asked strangely, "What are you doing?"

Su Zhongming pointed to the patio above his head and said bluntly, "That red line!"

Li Xuan immediately looked along his fingertips, and couldn't help blurting out when he saw it: "Great! That might be a clue!" After saying that, he raised the torch and walked forward along the red line, looking for the end point.

Su Zhongming stuffed the mouth of the handbag tightly with a plug, and then began to search for the end point of the red line, approaching the stone wall opposite the pool, but the red line did not extend to the middle of the stone wall, which was very strange.

Su Zhongming wondered: "Just, that's all?" His shoulders slumped a little, regretful, "I thought it would be some kind of important discovery..."

Li Xuan calmly looked at the end point of the red line, and then at Su Zhongming. Without further ado, he pulled Su Zhongming below the end point of the red line, walked a little further, and determined the position where Su Zhongming's body intersected with the end point of the red line, opened his lips and said : "Your foot, move a small step."

Su Zhongming was puzzled: "But, why is that? Don't play tricks, okay?"

Li Xuan only lightly said: "You listen to me."

Su Zhongming curled his lips and took a small step sideways.

Li Xuan watched from a distance. At this moment, Su Zhongming's body intertwined with the end of the red line on the stone wall of the courtyard to form a perfect right angle, and the position of Su Zhongming's feet was the key.

"Don't move!" Li Xuan ordered, and quickly walked to Su Zhongming, squatted down, and pressed a stone slab under Su Zhongming's feet with one hand.

Su Zhongming moved away, and also squatted down, looking at the stone slab: "Could it be that there are clues under here?"

Li Xuan replied: "I don't know, but let's give it a try." Immediately handing the torch to Su Zhongming, he drew out his Changwu sword and pried open the stone slab held by his hands. Under the light, an iron ring came into view.

Su Zhongming couldn't help blurting out happily: "It seems that we are lucky!

Volume Six - Lovesickness