Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

"...Bi Luo City."

The candle was flickering, and the night breeze brought Weiliang into the room. The tattered book found in Zhao Yuan's parcel was spread out on the table, and it was turning to the chapter of Bi Luo City.

Qingping lowered his eyes and said: "Master Yuan, is there really such a city in this world?"

Yuan Sui took a sip of cold tea and said, "I didn't really believe it before, but according to recent investigations, there must be some, but it's not as exaggerated as what is said in this book."

Last night when Qingping interrogated Zhao Yuan in the punishment hall, Yuan casually listened in the dark. According to what Zhao Yuan said, when she was young, she accidentally saw a painting in the room where she worshiped her ancestors.And in the misty clouds, a city hangs in the clouds, and below the city is a raging river, which is as majestic and magnificent as ordinary people can imagine.

This painting has no title and postscript, and I don't know who made it, only a small seal was left in the corner, and it was this seal that gave Zhao Yuan a little chance.She imitated the seal and took it to the antique market for more than half a month. Finally, a painting owner told her that this seal was a copy of the private seal of a man in the mountains. Now her paintings are hard to find and are not seen in the market.And because of the technique, it is extremely difficult to imitate, and those who are not monopoly on ancient paintings and characters are unlikely to be able to recognize them.

An idler named Yue Jin disappeared after she was dismissed from office, so why did her paintings appear on the Zhao family's incense table for offering sacrifices to ancestors?

Later, Zhao Yuan secretly looked through the family tree and found that their branch moved to Yunzhou Feng County in the 30th year of Qingjia. The person in charge of the relocation was named Zhao Jin.This is also the person who bought land and built a house here, and the name on the land deed was also Zhao Jin.

Yue Jin and Zhao Jin seem to be very similar, could they be the same person?

Yuan Sui took out a stack of papers and said, "Yue Jin and Zhao Jin are indeed the same person. In the fifth year of Tongfeng, Yunzhou Huaxuan Bookstore published the book "Qingjia Weizhi". It was originally commissioned by the bookstore to print about [-] copies. But I don’t know why it was later sold by the bookstore. It’s just that when the imperial court rectified the bookstores, all the bookstores that had published obscene words were shut down, and Huaxuan Bookstore was among them, and "Qingjia Yizhi" was also banned. The court's ban was slightly relaxed, and it was deleted and reprinted by later generations."

Seeing her pick out a few pieces of paper and put them on the table, Qingping lowered his head to look at them, Yuan Sui said: "Lord Li also knows that during the reign of Emperor Taiping, countless people were convicted of writing crimes, and some people said that this book slandered the imperial court. Suspected, it was listed as a banned | book, and the ban was not lifted until this dynasty after a hundred years."

Some story books will ask the artist to make some small paintings to be inserted in the story, and there are many eclectic pictures among them, so as to attract people to buy them. "Qing Jia Yi Zhi" is also unavoidable, Yuan Sui picked out the pages with paintings, Qingping had a faint idea, thought about it and said: "The paintings printed in this book were drawn by Yue Jin himself ?”

With this explanation, the case of being cheated by the bookseller that Yuan Sui investigated in Hezhou before has already come to light.

The reason why booksellers spend thousands of dollars to buy the old edition of "Qingjia Yizhi" is because the book contains pictures drawn by the idlers in the mountains.

Yuan Sui nodded and said: "That's right, Yue Jin drew a few pictures for this book, and all of these pictures are in the chapter of Biluocheng."

Although the paintings on the book were drawn by Yue Jin, they were only printed on paper after all, and they were not real paintings. Why did they attract booksellers to spend a lot of money?

Qingping couldn't help but make a bold guess: "Should we read the stories in the old version of the book with this painting? Mr. Yuan, I dare to speculate that the first chapter of Biluocheng is the knot of Chenhe, whether it is Yue Jin and her friend. Transformed from the story? If you say that, Ye Qiu in Biluo City is Yue Jin himself?"

Yuan Sui's expression was slightly condensed, and he said: "Master Li, "Qingjia Yizhi" was indeed published by Yue Jintuo Bookstore, but the author of this book was her friend Wu Yi, and Ye Qiu was Wu Yi. At that time There are many gods in the state, and there are countless people who sacrificed their lives to practice in the temple, and Aunt Wu Yi was among them, but Yue Jin was different, she was arrested because she was good at calligraphy and painting."

Qingping was slightly startled: "Could it be..."

Yuan Sui said firmly: "The painting that my lord saw in Zhaoye was also painted by Yue Jin. This sect took Yue Jin away because they must want her to forge ancient scriptures. Yue Jin is not only good at calligraphy and painting, but also good at painting and calligraphy. Distinguishing gold and stone, if you want, you can also forge ancient calligraphy and paintings, and turn new things into old ones, which is exactly what the temple needs. If this religion wants to recruit believers, it must make some god-given things in private, so as to deceive believers."

Qingping cut off the candle wick so that the candle wouldn't burn too fast. She cleared her mind and said, "If you want to make a fake, you must have the original. If you want to imitate, you must have the original. In other words, these people caught Yue Jin to make a fake, there must be something real to imitate, otherwise with Yue Jin's ability, it may not be possible to fabricate it out of thin air."

Yuan Sui turned his head to look at her, and said, "Then what is this 'original work'?"

The two fell into deep thought together, Qing Ping looked at the crowded table, and suddenly said: "The missing girls from Zhaoye are all between 14 and [-] years old, and the people who played the dragon girl at the Wanghai Banquet are all at this age. As your lord said before, Yue Jin is very good at portraits, and the later God Academy used his paintings as evidence to secretly search for girls who are similar to the ones in the paintings. But I don't understand, why is it at this age?"

Yuan Suidao: "The portraits of young girls painted by Yue Jin are highly skilled. Looking at the people in his paintings, you can always find similarities in the faces of girls between the ages of twelve and 15. It seems that after this age, women's The facial features will change greatly, and they will no longer resemble the person in the painting."

Qingping nodded, and suddenly understood the mystery of this painting.Yue Jin's ability to draw portraits to this extent, apart from her superb technique, is ultimately due to her observation of the faces of people of this age level, and she selected the common features of everyone for painting.It is precisely in this way that people will have an illusion that the faces of girls of this age can always find similarities with the portraits in the paintings.

In fact, there was no miracle at all, it was just a coincidence, she was no different from those people.Although it sounds unbelievable, it is true.

Qingping had the desire to look for a mirror to look at her face, but the government office was not likely to be a place to keep this thing, she sighed softly: "Since this religion regards the people in the painting as gods, why do they kill those who are related to the gods?" Looks like a girl?"

The candle on the table was about to burn to the end, Yuan Sui took out a new candle and put it on, and then said: "Master Li once sent an envoy to Xirong, as far as the Golden Tent, I don't know if you feel that the legend of the dragon god in Chenzhou has nothing to do with the Golden Tent Something close?"

Qingping thought about it carefully and said: "There are indeed similarities. If it is said that Jinzhang took the opportunity to preach in Chenzhou a hundred years ago, it can be said in the past."

Yuan Suidao: "Golden tent spreads teachings widely in various countries, and the patriarchal scriptures passed down depend on the people's conditions. They attempt to unite politics and religion, steal their foundations, and conspire against them in the name of preaching. This religion once vainly tried to enter our country. The preaching failed, so he supported the royal court of Xirong to covet the territory of our country. The national war 300 years ago was started by the golden tent controlling the royal court, but he did not expect the false defense in the rear. Destroyed, this allowed Wang Ting to regain the upper hand and gradually suppress the Golden Tent."

Qingping's fingers trembled when he heard the words, and suddenly thought of a certain possibility.If the Golden Account was suppressed by the royal court in Xirong, if they want to regain power, they must reduce the power of the royal court.However, the royal court seats are all controlled by powerful tribes, and there is no way to intervene. What's more, the royal court has swarmed up and plundered almost all the resources of Xirong. territory.

Only when Wang Ting is defeated by a more powerful opponent can the Golden Account take back its power logically.If the Golden Tent is not obstructed by Wang Ting, what will it do next?

Qing Ping smiled suddenly, leaned on the table with his hand on his chin and said vaguely: "Master Yuan, why do I always feel that these cases seem to be led us away on purpose?"

A ray of light suddenly shone into the dark room, illuminating the intricate and beautiful murals on the wall.I don't know what kind of paint these murals are painted with. As soon as the torch is close to it, a faint golden light can be seen floating. Wearing Xiaguang, holding orbs, stepping barefoot on the waves.Looking at his face, the eye sockets are deep, the bridge of the nose is straight, but the pupils are very strange green, shining in the flickering firelight.

Someone touched the portrait's eyes and said in a low voice, "It really is a green stone."

There was no answer around, so she continued, "This is the shrine where A Yuelai was enshrined 300 years ago."

She slid her finger across the face of the person in the painting, and slowly moved the torch downward, only to see a person lying on her stomach in the waves, looking up at the standing dragon girl.Compared with the exquisiteness of the main portrait, her appearance seems to have been drawn by hand. The artist used rough and simple lines to sketch at random, obviously without much effort.

"...I have already stood up, so I don't want to fall down again."

Several people held torches and stepped back, revealing this huge mural, the Tianyin surrounded by colorful ribbons surrounded the dragon girl, holding necklaces, crystals, amber, coral, and pearls, as if to worship the dragon girl, and finally The people in the waves below are always alone and seem to have been forgotten.

Her eyes are hidden in the darkness, like the blue of the night when it is the darkest.After standing and looking at it for a while, she said: "Destroy this place, don't let Chibaiyin find it."

The autumn wind is rustling, the maple leaves are dyed red by the frost, and the branches protrude from the wall, falling on the steps in front of the courtyard.

"The matter you mentioned does indeed involve the doctrine of the Golden Account, the Fazong."

Chen Qi knelt and half-kneeled to pour tea for the old man in front of him, then sat down on the futon and asked, "Master, what is the difference in the teaching of the Golden Tent?"

The silver-haired old man nodded slightly, and said, "Why not? According to legend, in the scriptures of the Golden Account, Bi Shu and Ah Yuelai have no subordination. share divine power."

Chen Qi bowed respectfully and said: "I still don't quite understand, if Bi Shu and Ah Yuelai are not affiliated at all, then why does the current Golden Tent doctrine say that Ah Yuelai is a divine attendant who followed Bi Shu's reincarnation?"

The old man picked up a white chess piece and put it on the board, then picked up a black chess piece and placed it next to the white chess piece, and then said: "Look, Bi Shu and Ah Yuelai are just a way of dividing power in the gold account, two checks and balances, Take control of the gold account together."

She took four more black and white chess pieces and placed them on the chessboard: "The two parties have different interpretations of the Golden Tent Doctrine Fa Zong. Those who focus on Bi Shu regard Bi Shu as the main god. If A Yuelai is the main one, it is natural The dispute between regarding Ah Yuelai as the main god and the main god following the gods is the biggest disagreement in the Golden Tent."

Chen Qi smiled and said: "Ah, I understand, just as there can't be two majesties in the same country, there can only be one main god in the golden tent, and the other is her subordinate god. By distinguishing subordinates in this way, the gains Powers are also distributed according to this."

The words were puns, and the old man couldn't hear them. She said leisurely: "Your Majesty, there can only be one lord of the world. As you just said, the current golden account is respected by Bi Shu, so Ah It's just a decoration for a month."

Chen Qi said: "Why is this so? Didn't the scriptures of the Golden Tent already divide the powers of the two gods? Could it be that Bishu's faction won the power and Ah Yuelai's faction fell, so they became obedient gods?"

"The origin of it is not something that you and I can just speculate here." The old man sipped his tea and said, "The temples in Chenzhou are inseparably related to Ah Yuelai's faction."

Chen Qi recalled what Chu Jun had said, and said, "But this disciple learned from his mouth that the Dragon God enshrined in Chenzhou Divine Academy is Bi Shu, and Pu Yu is A Yuelai. Isn't it true that it took ten lives to achieve the god position?"

The old man smiled: "The predecessors of these two gods were both in the shape of dragons, and they escaped from the sea. Even so, how do you distinguish between them? The person who said this must be the sect with Bi Shu as the god-lord. If you can't tell the difference Qing, let’s think about it this way. Today’s Jinzhang regards Bi Shu as the god, while the Shenyuan in Chenzhou has always honored A Yuelai. The faction that entered our dynasty to establish teachings and give alms, presumably was fighting for power After the defeat, Ah Yue came to join his party."

Chen Qi took out the ancient painting from the wooden box and presented it: "Master, this is something I got by chance when I visited Xirong earlier, and there are some ancient scriptures along with this painting..."

The old man looked at her kindly and said: "Occasionally? What in this world can be called accidental? The so-called accidental is just the inevitable result of countless. How do you know that everything that seems accidental is actually a coincidence?" Is no one manipulating behind the scenes?"

Chen Qi suddenly realized that the former emperor was obsessed with cultivating Taoism, and seeing that his lifespan was dying, news of Mingdan came at this moment. How could she not give it a try... Yuehe was ceded, and then the national war resumed, Yunzhou Occupied, and then Xirong was defeated, but Daiguo was also seriously injured. At this time, who is sitting firmly behind the fisherman?