There was a line of text on the porcelain vase without punctuation, and the monkey couldn't understand it even after reading it for a long time: "Young Master Duan, what does this text mean?"
"It's a message left by the feng shui master who designed this place. This formation is used to counter tomb raiders, and the person who set up the formation naturally had to leave their name."
I recalled the history of the Jin Dynasty and said, "The feng shui master here is named Ashiyi. He was a disciple of Wuqinze, the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty. Those who are capable can pass through here smoothly, while those who are mediocre can only die here."
Song Laosan frowned: "Wu Qinze? Did the Jin Dynasty have a prime minister with that name?"
"This name has appeared in history before, and it holds a significant position! Feng Shui is also known as 'Qingwu Technique,' which is related to a famous feng shui master named Qingwuzi in ancient legends. This person was also known as Qingwu Gong, Qingyi Wugong, etc. According to legend, he was most skilled in site selection and tomb selection, and he wrote celestial books such as 'The Book of Tomb Selection' and 'The Burial Classic of Master Qingwu.' A sentence in 'The Book of Tomb Selection by Master Qingwu' is widely circulated: 'Burying at the horn of a dragon will bring sudden wealth and honor, but will later lead to the extermination of the entire family.'"
I paused for a moment: "According to the 'Baopuzi·Jiyan', Qingwuzi was a disciple of Peng Zu, lived for 471 years, and had a body that was half human and half god. When Liu Xiaobiao, a scholar of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, annotated 'Shishuo Xinyu', he quoted the preface written by Wu Qinze, the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty, when he annotated 'Qinglong Xiansheng Zangjing', saying that Qingwuzi was a person from the Han Dynasty."
However, the entire History of Jin does not record a prime minister named Wu Qinze. A prime minister who did not exist cannot be used to interpret this book. Therefore, some scholars have analyzed that Wu Qinze may have been a fabrication by later generations.
The fact that his name appears in this tomb suggests that Wuqinze was a real person. By the late Jin Dynasty, the political system had completely collapsed. It was not impossible that someone like Hushahu, who committed regicide, could be released, and a prime minister could be erased from historical records.
Legend has it that Wuqinze's mastery of feng shui was unparalleled. At the age of thirty, he famously said, "Heaven has granted me talent, but not longevity; I fear that at thirty-six, the Eastern Star will fall." Later, he indeed died at the age of thirty-six, and on the night of his death, a magnificent meteor shower occurred in the east. If this Ashiyi is truly a disciple of Wuqinze, then he is certainly from a prestigious lineage and would be a formidable opponent.
The monkey encouraged us, saying, "What's so difficult about this? We even managed to open the tomb of the demon monk designed by Li Chunfeng. How could this little tomb of the Prince of Ze be a challenge for us?"
"That's not how it works. As the saying goes, it's easy to draw a dragon or a tiger, but difficult to draw its bones. The Demon Monk's Tomb was designed using rigid blueprints, while this Ze King's Tomb was designed with the personal involvement of a feng shui master and can be fine-tuned at any time."
I looked at the characters on the porcelain bottle, not letting my guard down: "The fact that Ashiyi can write in both Jurchen and Chinese characters shows that he is not afraid of anyone coming to this place. On the contrary, he seems to be challenging the best people in the world. A conceited person must have the capital to be arrogant."
Although I was wary of this place, I didn't lose face. I raised my hunting rifle and smashed it down on the porcelain jar in front of me with the butt.
"Splash!"
The porcelain jar shattered under my blow, and a stream of liquid immediately flowed out.
The masks we were wearing weren't very effective at filtering out odors, but after the porcelain jar in front of us shattered, there was no strange smell in the air. Song Laosan shone his flashlight on the ground and said, "It must have contained water, because the porcelain jar was sealed properly and didn't evaporate."
Seeing that I had broken the first porcelain bottle, the monkey interjected and asked, "Young Master Duan, you just said that as long as we break the right porcelain bottles, we can find the correct path. Now that we've found the entrance, can we just walk in a straight line from now on?"
"It's not that simple."
I dragged out the remaining part of the porcelain vase and placed it on the gold tray.
At this moment, the porcelain vases in front of me and on both sides are all painted with Bagua patterns. They look very similar, but upon closer inspection, you will find that each pattern is missing a part.
The area directly in front of me is the Xun position, the area to my left is the Dui position, and the area to my right is the Kan position.
Xun corresponds to the southwest, Dui to the southeast, and Kan to the west.
In the Bagua diagram, the right side of the Xun position is the Kan position, but the left side is not the Dui position, but should be the Qian position corresponding to due south.
In other words, the two directions on the right are correct, but the direction on the left (兑位) is incorrect.
This put me in a difficult position, because I didn't know whether the formation set up by Ashiyi was meant to guide me in the right direction or in the wrong direction.
After a moment's thought, I waved for everyone to step back and smashed the porcelain vase on the left.
Water started flowing out again.
You made the right bet!
Seeing the second porcelain vase break, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at the directions, the left side is the Li position, which represents due east, and the front is the Qian position, which represents due south.
The right side is now empty.
Now both directions are correct, and the right side is empty, with no reference points at all.
I've never been particularly interested in Bagua and Qimen Dunjia since I was a child. Back when I was breaking the Black Cloud Water Formation at Changwei Group, at least I had a reference point. But this little devil that Ashiyi set up to cross the Stele Forest didn't even leave a single formation eye, completely hitting my blind spot in knowledge.
Just as I was at a loss, the monkey interjected, "Young Master Duan, I think we should go first."
I looked at him: "Why?"
The monkey replied, "Think about it, we've already smashed two porcelain vases. If we go to the left again, we'll have smashed three, right? This formation isn't a match-3 game. Ashiyi can't possibly make all these porcelain vases fake, can he?"
I shook my head: "You're oversimplifying formations. There are many factors involved in setting up a formation, one of which is psychology. Breaking a formation requires strict adherence to logic, not speculation. When it comes to matters of life and death, there's no room for carelessness."
"Xiao Duan, I think we should go to the left."
At this moment, Song Laosan squatted down and shone his flashlight on the bottom of the bottles on the left and in front of him: "Look closely at these two bottles. The bottle in front is no different from the other bottles, but the bottle on the left is a little different. There is a ring of obvious air bubbles around the bottom edge, which means that this bottle is not from the same kiln as the other bottles. Is it possible that after the feng shui master arranged the other bottles, another batch was brought in when setting up the passage?"
After hearing what Song Laosan said, I immediately went back to check the other two bottles, and then squatted down to think about it.
The monkey asked excitedly, "Young Master Duan, will Third Master's method work? If these bottles are really made differently, wouldn't that mean we've found the key?"
I waved my hand and stood up again: "The bottle that Third Master found is just an isolated case and cannot represent the production process of this batch of bottles, but you are right, we should go ahead."
Song Laosan was particularly puzzled by my decision: "Xiao Duan, even if the bottle I found is an isolated case, it is enough to show that this bottle was not delivered in the same batch as the other bottles. My statement is at least traceable. The direction the monkey chose is simply untenable. Why did it go ahead?"
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