I was really frightened when I saw these two things out of the blue, and I took a step back.
The boy in the audience raised his eyebrows and immediately asked, "Who are you?!"
Immediately afterwards, the girl added, "What are you doing here?"
The boy and girl echoed each other, and they cooperated very well. They pointed their thumbs at my nose, their faces were flushed, and they looked very energetic. Their posture was indescribably arrogant, which made people feel very excited.
After I recovered, I was also a little angry. Under the influence of the evil spirit, my temper was much more irritable than usual. I was too lazy to talk to the ghost children, and immediately took out the Baipi knife.
The ghost old man quickly pulled me from the side, shouted "Hey", and was about to speak, but was interrupted by the boy and girl again.
The boy suddenly jumped up and shouted at me, "You thief, how dare you act rashly in front of the gods?!"
The girl then shouted, "Don't you know that the gods are hard to offend? If you make a mistake, you will be doomed forever?!"
"Fuck you, look at the knife!!!"
I was really fed up with these two people. They didn't even give me a chance to talk. I waved my arm to get rid of the ghost old man, strode into the Three Gods Temple, and swung the knife to chop off the boy's head.
Although I was furious, I knew in my heart that there were probably no living people in this mountain now. These two things could only be ghosts. They could guard the Three Gods Temple. I was afraid that they were not ordinary characters. I didn't think that this knife could cause any harm to the other party at all. Instead, I kept some strength and was also on guard against the girl.
However, the facts were completely beyond my expectations. The boy did not dodge, but continued to make noises at the door. I chopped it on the head with a knife, and with a "pop", it was "split" in half.
I didn't expect such a situation. I was a little confused, staring at the two "corpses" on the ground. There were colorful powders in their stomachs, like some kind of paint, but they exuded a fishy smell. Apart from that, there were only leather and some wood.
"This..."
I turned my head to the side in amazement and found that the girl was still staring at the door and making noises.
For a moment, all the energy I had held back was gone, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It turned out to be a puppet, some kind of puppet mechanism!"
"Oh my... the treasure of our ancestors, you just chopped it off with one knife!!"
The old ghost ran in with a heavy heart, and when he saw the two "corpses" on the ground, he covered his eyes with his hands, looking as if he couldn't bear to look at them, and was extremely dissatisfied with me: "You, you, what can I say? Why are you so irritable! Ma Liuzhi is a bastard, but the Three Gods Temple is not a bastard. Every blade of grass and every tree are things passed down by our ancestors, you..."
I spread my hands and said that this matter was not my fault. Who told him not to say it earlier? These two things look exactly like living people, and the situation in the mountains is like this. Anyone would think that they are monsters. If they don't kill them, are they waiting for the New Year?
It would be fine if I didn't mention this. Once I mentioned it, the old ghost became even more annoyed and said that I didn't give him a chance? As soon as the door opened, they started quarreling. He couldn't stop them even if he wanted to!
He also told me that these two dolls have existed for a long time, and can almost be traced back to the Three Gods Temple. They are all the property left to them by their ancestors. They are considered the guardian boys in the temple. He saw them when he came here to worship when he was an adult. To be honest, this thing is really a bit creepy. It looks like a living person, but its behavior is extremely weird. It is easy to make people think of bad things. The villagers are all afraid when they see this thing, but they all turn around and run away without saying a word. Who knows that I am like this, I will do it if I don't agree with you, and I will chop with a knife.
I don't care whether it is ancestral property or not, but I am quite interested in this doll. I squatted in front of the two "corpses" to take a closer look.
"This is really alive."
After watching for a while, I couldn't help laughing.
This puppet is similar to the living servants made by our ritual officials. My father used a boning knife and soul-shaping shears to transform sheep into humans. This corpse is also the same. If you look closely at the skin, it seems to be sheepskin, but it is polished very finely. If it weren't for the texture on it that is not like human skin and the touch is not that elastic, the color is really similar to that of a human. The internal organs in the stomach are very complete, even the intestines are there, completely imitating the human body structure, but these things are sewn out of wood and leather.
Obviously, the secret of making this thing vivid should be in those colorful powders.
I picked up a little powder and sniffed it. It was very fishy. It should be mixed with some meat and fish, like a weird witchcraft product.
According to the ghost old man, this kind of puppet appeared a long time ago and is an ancient product. To be able to do this, there is no doubt that it should be a top-level puppet mechanism.
Throughout the dynasties, there are not many people and factions who master this mechanism. You can count them on your fingers, and soon I have a guess.
"If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the legendary Yanshi puppet."
I sighed. It was a blessing to see the lost art of the craftsmanship here for two thousand years.
The Yanshi puppet, as its name suggests, is related to a man named Yanshi.
This was an ancient strange man. When King Mu of Zhou went on a tour to the west, he crossed the Kunlun Mountains and arrived at the Yanzi Mountains. On his way back, Yanshi once presented him with a magical puppet.
It is said that this puppet can sing and dance. Shake its head and it will sing, and pull its hand and it will dance.
King Mu of Zhou once thought it was a living person. As a result, when the performance ended, the puppet blinked and waved to his concubines. King Mu of Zhou was furious and thought Yanshi was deceiving him. Otherwise, how could a puppet seduce people? So he wanted to kill Yanshi. Yanshi was afraid, so he dissected the puppet and found that it was full of leather, wood, and some strange powders.
It is because of this incident that Yanshi became one of the most famous skilled craftsmen in history, and was once as famous as Mozi and Lu Ban!
Unfortunately, there are very few records of his life. The only record of him is "Liezi", and it is mentioned in "Liezi·Tangwen". People who understand know that Tangwen is Liezi's own words, not adapted by later generations, and it is highly credible!
Yanshi, Mozi, and Lu Ban are collectively known as the three masters of mechanical arts.
When I was studying, I learned the story between Mozi and Lu Ban. The two had a discussion on skills. When Lu Ban took out the wooden magpie he made, that is, the mechanical kite, Mozi replied like this-this wooden magpie is not as good as a wheel axle that an ordinary craftsman cut out in an instant. Once the wheel axle is installed on the axle, the car can carry fifty stones of things; and what is the actual use of your magpie? Things made by carpenters are called clever if they are beneficial to people, and they can only be called clumsy if they are not beneficial to people.
Since then, Lu Ban has been convinced by Mozi.
From this, we can also see the difference between Mohist mechanical art and Luban mechanical art.
Luban mechanical art is a clever art, which can be said to be ingenious and novel, so novel that as a modern person, I feel like I am watching an alien performance.
However, Mohist mechanical art is a hegemonic art!
This hegemonic art has nothing to do with the Legalists, and even less to do with the emperor's mind. Instead, it means that the mechanical art of the Mohists returns to its original simplicity, is simple and ingenious, and has almost reached the pinnacle of the use of mechanics. A mechanism is placed there, and you know where the mystery is, but there is no way, and you even have to pay the price of blood, which gives people a very domineering and powerful feeling. Therefore, Mohist mechanical art is also a hegemonic art!
The mechanical art of the great wizard in the Donghu ancient tomb has a bit of the feeling of Mohist mechanical art.
As for the mechanical art of Yanshi...
In the industry, people call it a trick!
His mechanical art is cunning and changeable, and it is difficult to guess. People say that Yanshi's mechanical art has a certain relationship with witchcraft, which is a combination of ingenuity and witchcraft.
Unfortunately, Yanshi himself did not leave many legends, and people know very little about him. However, Yanshi met King Mu of Zhou in Sichuan, which means that he was from Sichuan. Someone once went there because of his reputation. It is said that Yanshi passed down his mechanical skills.
Unfortunately, his descendants were also the kind of people who were so low-key that they could not say a word. They only left a book that talked about several Yanshi mechanical skills, telling the world that there was such a person in the world and defending their status, but since then, they have never appeared again.
Therefore, it is generally recognized in the industry that this art has been lost.
Well... it has been lost for two thousand years, since the book appeared...
The puppet in front of me looks like a puppet in Yanshi's mechanical skills, but the function is different.
This kind of puppet is naturally incomparable to the living servants of our ritual officials. One is like a living person, and the other just looks like a living person, but is actually like a clockwork machine that can only do a few fixed things. The difference is obvious!
If it is really the Yanshi mechanical art, it will be very interesting.
The Yanshi mechanical art is spread in Sichuan and Shu. The Ran people who came here at that time also had a certain relationship with the ancient Shu Kingdom, and even came directly from Shu. But... the Yanshi mechanical art, which has always been only heard of but not seen, appeared in the Three Gods Temple here...
It is hard not to make people associate it!
"Can we discuss this later?"
The ghost old man said with a dark face: "Can we find Ma Liuzhi's bed first? There is a debt collector behind us. Others collect debts for money, but he collects debts for his life. If Ma Liuzhi really catches up, we will be finished?"
"You don't understand."
I shook my head, feeling like I was playing the lute to a cow, and sighed: "If one of the descendants of Yanshi really came here with the migrating Ran people, and this three-god temple was designed by him, then all the mechanisms here belong to Yanshi mechanism technology. Each mechanism technology has its own characteristics. If you grasp this characteristic, it is easy to crack, just like the current garbage classification. Only after separation can you think of recycling!"
The ghost old man blinked, quite cute...
Well, they have been trapped here for many years, and they probably don't even know what garbage classification is.
This is the most feared communication, not to mention people like me who are dumb, even if it is replaced by an insurance salesman, it will be useless.
I simply ignored him and thought carefully about the book left by the descendants of Yanshi. I happened to have read it.
It tells the core idea of Yanshi's mechanical art - they believe that there is no mechanism in the world that cannot be cracked, and the only thing that cannot be cracked is one's own inner blind spot. Therefore, if the mechanism is to be hidden, it must be impossible for people to find it. To achieve this, it must be impossible for people to think of it...
In short, in one sentence - the most conspicuous place is often the place that is most easily overlooked. This kind of place is the best place to design a mechanism! !
This is a vivid interpretation of the word "weird" in Yanshi's mechanical art.
So, in this place, where is the most conspicuous and easiest to be overlooked?
I looked around and my eyes fell on the statues of the three gods in the shrine...