Tomb Raider: I Can Hear Antiques Talk

Chapter 168 Xia Niang Temple

While leading the way, Xu Er turned his head to greet the two of them, pointed to the rather out-of-the-ordinary house and said, "Here we are! That's Xia Niang Temple!"

According to Liang Baofu's description before, the temple where the ghost mother statue was enshrined by the bridge visitor seemed to be a roadside earth temple, the area was only square meters in Xiao Ran's imagination, after all, the ghost mother statue was not that big.

But at this moment when he came to the front, Xiao Ran discovered that the size of this Xia Niang Temple was really unusual. It covers an area of ​​nearly square meters, with a width of five rooms, just like the main hall in a big temple in the capital.

Many tiles on the roof have fallen off, exposing the beams and rafters inside the house.The forehead on the temple gate and the scattered eaves pillars on both sides are all natural logs, which have not been chiseled and modified, but present the original curved posture, like several wild pythons and dragons connecting with each other.

Xiao Ran vaguely remembered that he had heard an explanation when he visited the museum before.This rough style can be seen as a typical Dayuan shape.

Xiao Ran wondered how the cultivator who advocated building the temple persuaded the magistrate at that time.This building specification is only for an inexplicable ghost mother, or according to the locals, it is Xia Niangniang, which has obviously exceeded the limit.

Could it be that this ghost mother is really so magical?

When Xiao Ran walked to the gate of the temple, he saw a stone-carved Voldemort tiger with blurred faces on the left and right sides of the steps.It's just different from most of the ground tiger sculptures he has seen, these two ground tigers have raised foreheads and wings on both ribs.Although it was severely worn, it still reminded him of the big wild cat whose scalp was drilled by bugs.

He felt sick for a while, and looked up at the top of the temple gate, where a crooked plaque covered with a lot of dust hung there, and he could vaguely tell that the words on it were "Kai Shi Yu Min".

What a big tone, those who didn't know thought it was Pangu and Nuwa.

Xu Er rushed into the temple early on, and stood in front of a broken stone platform, waiting for Xiao Ran.Xiao Ran led Liu Shengli into the temple, and found that the temple was six rafters deep and very spacious.Six equally naturally twisted log pillars support the top of the entire temple like a giant python swallowing the sky.

This temple has no back door, nor any utensils and decorations, and it must have been swept away by the latecomers who came again and again.

There is a stone platform in the middle of the temple. Behind the stone platform is a female clay sculpture with six hands and four legs sitting cross-legged. The six hands are symmetrically stretched out at different angles. Although her face looks kind and friendly, Xiao Ran feels that she is more like a spider essence.

On the walls of the temple, there are discolored reliefs covered with cobwebs and dust.

This kind of extravagant architecture, coupled with this many-handed and many-legged god, was enough to be called a prostitute in ancient times.Perhaps it was because the Mongol Yuan enslaved too many ethnic groups, and for the convenience of ruling, they turned a blind eye to all kinds of worship.Even if the ruler knows about the messy temples built in such poor villages, he doesn't bother to take care of them.

Xiao Ran walked around the wall, carefully identifying the reliefs on the wall, the more he looked at it, the more strange he felt.The first relief from the right is Xia Niang, the ghost mother, descending from the sky. The sun, moon and stars in the sky are covered by clouds, and the water and the ground are on the left and right sides below. All kinds of birds, animals, fish, snakes and lizards are watching her.

In the second relief, the ghost mother Xia Niang is actually squatting by the water's edge, stretching out her hands to make people with mud. Behind her, far away from the water's edge, some formed small figures are building houses and lighting fires.

In the third relief, fire descends from the sky, a huge hole reveals several vicious eyes, and black air entangles around the hole like arms and legs, as if a huge monster is about to fall from the sky.The villains below fled with their heads in their arms, or buried their corpses and cried bitterly, or knelt on the ground with their hands facing the sky, while the ghost mother Xia Niang raised her arms and flew into the sky, flying towards the huge hole without hesitation.

In the fourth relief, the ghost mother Xia Niang sits cross-legged in the air. On the ground below, countless small people are building some large buildings. It looks like a conical building with steps on all sides, and many people worship under the building. .

The next few sets of reliefs record scenes such as reconciliation of floods, division of Kyushu, and creation of characters. They all seem to be familiar myths and legends to Xiao Ran, but the protagonists have all turned into ghost mother Xia Niang. It seems that these great events that created the world It has become her gift to this land and nation.

Xiao Ran felt disgusted for a while, and then connected to the story of the ghost mother god told by Da Jinya before. He felt that if it wasn't true, someone must have deliberately integrated this Xia Niang with the well-known religion and mythology.This was a common technique when new sects were established in ancient times, and it was intended to make it easier for the people to accept and worship them.

But it was the first time he had seen such a bold approach to forcibly place these heroic myths about the birth and development of the nation on an unfounded god.

He walked all the way to the last relief, and saw Xia Niang suspended in the air, and the people under her feet raised their hands to look up. In the air, there were people flying cranes and boats beside the sun, moon, stars, clouds, rain, thunder and lightning; under the land, there were still people. Hidden in the air bubbles of different shapes, swim with various dragon fish and crabs in the water.Beside Xia Niang, big and small human figures with six hands and four legs like her also flew in the air like gods.

Xiao Ran looked at the painting carefully and couldn't help being a little surprised.This seems to be prophesying that people will soar in the sky in a car and dive into the deep sea.He somewhat admired the bold imagination of the people who carved these murals, but ascension to the sea has always been a fantasy of human beings of all nationalities since ancient times, and it is reasonable.

It's just that there are so many people like Xia Niang who seem to be flying from afar. Does it mean that the so-called "divine race" is coming?Or could someone become a god like her?After all, ordinary human beings with four limbs also appeared in this relief, indicating that these two different existences coexist side by side.

Xiao Ran shook his head, it was useless to think about it.After reading the mural, let's put the broken statue back first.The moment he turned around, he saw something familiar on the ground.

It was some unfiltered cigarette butts, and a squashed cigarette case.Xiao Ran saw this brand of cigarettes on the table in front of Qiao Ke when he and Da Jinya went to Liang Baofu's house for the first time.

It seems that the three bridge travelers have indeed been here before, and they also visited these inexplicable reliefs like him.I don't know if it was from these reliefs that they found the inspiration for making up random stories, grafting and interpreting the people and things related to Futou Village, Xianiang Temple and Xu Er.

Xiao Ran carried the cloth bag and walked to the stone platform.Xu Er pointed to a circular mark in the center of the stone platform, and said that the ghost mother statue had been placed here before.

Xiao Ran looked at the round mark and felt a little strange.In the middle of the circle, there seemed to be some vertical and horizontal lines.He held the ghost mother statue and looked at the bottom. Although there were no lines, there were some grooves of different shades.Previously, he was only interested in studying the shape of the ghost mother statue, and this was the first time he saw what it looked like below.

Xu Er sniffed at the side, and said with a smile: "Xiao Rangang... is also quite dishonest, looking down, I can't see her butt..."

Xiao Ran glared at Xu Er, Liu Shengli also imitated Xiao Ran's usual appearance, and slapped Xu Er on the head, Xu Er quickly shut up.

Xiao Ran put the bronze statue on the circular imprint and looked carefully, but there was no strange phenomenon, so he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, so he turned around and was about to leave.

The voice of yaojiu suddenly came: "Old Xiao, that thing in your pocket is interesting."

(End of this chapter)