blueteamnovel Chapter 111 The Stone Statue Weeps
Chapter 111 The Stone Statue Weeps
Qin Xiaochuan stood in front of the two stone statues.
The stone statues are all over two meters tall. The two figures are dressed in ancient costumes, standing hand in hand, gazing at the lake. Yang Yun's statue has his left hand outstretched, with the bell that Lao Liu mentioned tied to it. Because they have stood here for too long, both statues are covered with moss, but now they are withered.
"Should we pay our respects to them?" he asked.
"After all, he is a hero who has helped control floods for thousands of years, so we should pay our respects," Han Kexin said calmly.
He thought so too, so he put his hands together, bowed three times to the stone statues of the two people, and when he looked up, he saw Han Kexin walk straight to the bell.
"Auntie, let me shake it. I want to see if the stone statue will shed tears," Xiaoying exclaimed, grinning.
Han Kexin had no choice but to pick her up, and the little girl grabbed the bell string and shook it hard.
The clear sound of bells echoed through the silent mountain forest. Qin Xiaochuan stared intently into Liuwa's eyes, but after nearly a minute, he saw no tears fall.
"It seems they've allowed us to search for the source of the witchcraft," Guo Shiyi said with a smile.
"I reckon they'd allow it no matter who tried to shake it," he said dismissively. "I don't believe this statue can actually shed tears."
"Not necessarily." Han Kexin shook her head. "There is indeed a record of this in this book. It says that a scholar from the Tang Dynasty who liked to travel around happened to see Liuwa shedding tears here, and he even wrote a poem to express his regret." As she spoke, she opened the book she had brought out from Changsheng Temple.
Qin Xiaochuan remembered what Lao Liu had told them and asked in surprise, "It's not Li Bai, is it?"
"It wasn't written by Li Bai, but by an unknown person named Xiao Xiaosheng."
He took the book, which said that after seeing Liu Wa shed tears, Xiao Xiaosheng wrote this poem in front of the stone statue with melancholy. The poem is as follows:
Obstacles encountered in the search for ancient sites
Xiao Xiaosheng
Visiting historical sites in the early morning
Clouds and dawn, warbling birds sing
Mountain scenery encroaches on the green of the lake
Water pipes are incorporated into wood weaving.
To analyze the case of creation
Try to solve the mystery of mending the sky
Helpless in Kiyomitsu
When the beauty weeps
"The poem is nice, but it doesn't match what we see in front of us," he said. The poem describes a scene where the mountain scenery and the lake are intertwined, but what they see here is the lake far away at the foot of the mountain. There is no sense of the artistic conception of "mountain scenery encroaching on the green of the lake, water mist entering the wood".
"Perhaps it's because the water level was much higher back then, so he saw a different scene," Guo Shiyi explained from the side.
"That makes sense," he nodded. Just then, he suddenly thought of something very important and said to her, "If that's what you're saying, then if we want to find the legendary land of witchcraft, we can't limit our vision to what we see now. We also need to connect it to the situation here thousands of years ago."
Upon hearing this, Guo Shiyi frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "That's right, that's indeed how it should be considered. This is precisely the point that people easily overlook."
"That's right. When Liuwa brought Yang Yun back to the village, the water in the sacred lake was about to overflow. So, could the method to enter the Land of Witches be related to the lake?" Qin Xiaochuan discovered that once a breakthrough was found in any problem, the line of thought could easily be extended.
"That's very likely," Han Kexin affirmed. "Ever since Liuwa and Yang Yun diverted the water from the Sacred Lake into the River of Tears, no one has entered the Land of Witches. That supports your idea."
"I suspect that Liuwa and Yang Yun deliberately diverted the water from the Sacred Lake into the River of Tears, partly to relieve the flooding of Changsheng Village, and partly to prevent others from entering the Land of Witches," Guo Shiyi said thoughtfully.
After this discussion, Qin Xiaochuan suddenly felt that the mysterious land of witchcraft was not far away from them. So he stood in front of the stone statue and imagined the water in the sacred lake rising to his feet. As the water level rose, the lake became very wide, and the surrounding mountains appeared very low. A mysterious door seemed to be hidden in the middle.
He thought and thought, for a long time, even imagining that the water was about to overflow and flood the surrounding mountains and forests, making the sky seem very low and the white clouds clearly reflected in the lake—but it was all in vain. In the end, almost all he could think about was water, vast expanses of lake water.
"Sigh!" He sighed helplessly. It seemed that solving this age-old problem was not as easy as he had imagined.
He looked at the others, who were also at a loss, as they had very few clues at the moment.
"Auntie, you still haven't told me why this stone statue is crying." After a moment of silence, Xiaoying's childish voice suddenly broke the peace.
"That's just a legend, it's not true. Didn't you just ring the bell? No tears came out at all," Han Kexin said helplessly.
"But you just said someone saw the stone statue weeping," the little girl persisted. It seems children are indeed very curious, but her question was truly difficult to answer.
Han Kexin initially looked at Xiaoying with a helpless expression, but then suddenly frowned and said, "Alright, since you want to know, then your aunt will help you find the reason."
Hearing her say that, everyone else was stunned and looked at her in disbelief. Could this really be the reason?
But Han Kexin ignored their thoughts and carefully examined the two stone statues for a while before saying to Guo Shiyi, "Get me a stool."
Guo Shiyi looked at Han Kexin with some confusion, but still used her spiritual power to create a simple wooden stool as instructed.
Han Kexin stood on the stool, carefully observed Liuwa's eyes, then looked at Yang Yun's left hand with the bell, and finally glanced at Liuwa's hair, which was covered with moss. A mysterious smile finally appeared on her face.
"Xiaoying, would you like to see this stone statue shed tears?" Han Kexin asked Xiaoying mysteriously.
"Yes, I want to!" the little girl said happily.
"Then let me show you." As she spoke, an ice block appeared in her hand. She held her hand above the stone statue of Liuwa, and the ice block began to melt, turning into streams of clear water that flowed from her hand onto the statue's hair.
When the ice in her hand completely melted, the stone statue of Liuwa was almost entirely soaked with water.
"Alright, go and ring the bell again," Han Kexin said to Xiaoying with a smile.
"Okay!" Xiaoying jumped up and down with joy. Qin Xiaochuan picked her up so she could reach the string of the bell.
"Ding, ding, ding." Amidst a series of crisp bell sounds, a miraculous scene unfolded: everyone truly saw clear tears flowing from Liuwa's eyes.
"What's going on?" Qin Xiaochuan's eyes widened, thinking he was seeing things.
"Actually, the principle is very simple," Han Kexin said. "When the craftsmen made these two stone statues, they designed a mechanism inside. If you look closely at Liuwa's eyes, you can see extremely tiny gaps in her eyelids, and there must be a small water storage system in her hair. This bell is the switch that controls the water output of this system."
Han Kexin looked at them and said, "Now you understand, right? If it rained a few days ago, Liuwa's hair would have stored a small amount of moisture. When someone shakes the bell, it's actually turning on a mechanism, and the moisture in her hair will flow out through her eyelids."
"Impressive!" Qin Xiaochuan gave her a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart. At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh. It was actually a very simple design, but it had fooled countless people for thousands of years.