Chapter 101 Heaven and Earth Have One Power
June 13th, 3:30 pm
When they got down to the ground, Xiao Ping gently grasped Shen Kuo's feet and glanced at him. Although the light was not very bright, Shen Kuo could sense Xiao Ping's complex emotions that flashed across her... like sadness, farewell, love, and expectation.
Her mouth was not moving, but she was clearly saying: Take care of Yong'er for me.
Shen Kuo realized that this departure of hers should be a farewell forever, no matter what the final outcome would be.
She disappeared. She was going to carry out her final plan. Although there was no plan at all.
Shen Kuo continued to hide behind the stone statue, while the Maitreya people in the water in front began to busy themselves with plugging the holes in the wall. Now the purpose of the wooden barrels wrapped in sheepskin was clear, which was to hit them with wooden hammers to make them tightly plug the springs, and then tie their bottoms to the nearby stone walls with hemp ropes to prevent them from being washed out by the water.
Wrapping sheepskin may be to reduce water leakage caused by the rigid connection between the wooden barrel and the stone wall. He has seen this kind of thing in the shipbuilding workshops in Jiangnan. There are always some gaps between the wooden boards, and water seepage is inevitable. It needs to be filled with soft things such as lime, hemp stems and tung oil. Here they take advantage of it and use sheepskin to plug it. This sheepskin is very useful. Not long ago, he saw a sheepskin raft made of sheepskin bags in the Yellow River. It can carry people and cargo and appear and disappear in the Yellow River.
Yong'er, who was wearing a white skirt, sat on the open stone coffin to avoid getting her skirt wet. She still had no expression on her face and looked calm. It was unclear whether she was afraid or not. If she was afraid at all, the Saint's magic of splitting herself would be broken.
When Shen Kuo saw her like this, he thought she was just like the time when he saw her in Yujing Garden. She looked at everyone coldly, as if she was looking at a dead person. In Xiaoping's words, she had been playing the role of the fox fairy Yong'er for a long time and was a little lost in it and couldn't extricate herself.
As for why she insisted on saying one more word and delaying the time until dusk, Shen Kuo was not sure. Maybe she was just struggling before death, at least to let the person who wanted to kill her soak in the water for a while longer? But another possibility was that she still had hope of escaping. At least after she saw Lao Liu, she should have known that her sister was nearby, and delaying for a moment would definitely be beneficial to her.
This sentence did help her in some way. Now it depends on whether Xiao Ping can prepare in time. The string of the harp is broken and has not been repaired yet. I don’t know if it will be repaired in time. In addition, I don’t know if she has the same white clothes as Yong Er. Of course, her hairstyle needs to be changed. No matter how you calculate it, time is tight.
Here, Jia Ma Chang Biao was a little impatient. There were few places above the water in the tomb. Only Yong'er and the leader could each occupy a good spot. He, like everyone else, was still soaking in the water.
"Master, if we delay any longer, water will flood into the sarcophagus. Why not make a judgment early?" Chang Biao said.
"However, the laws left by the late leader cannot be changed. If they are changed, they will not work." Yong'er, who was waiting to die, said while sitting on the coffin, still calm and composed.
"How long will it take?" the leader asked behind the curtain.
"A little more (about 24 minutes)." someone replied.
"Everyone is waiting. You should all be quick and stop the water. We are all waiting for the Saint to prove her innocence."
"Master, we have chiseled open the emperor's abandoned tomb this time, but unfortunately water keeps seeping in, and we are unable to find all the characters of the Thirty-Six Celestial Beings on the lower stone wall. What a pity." An old man said.
"Hahaha..." the leader laughed sweetly, "It doesn't matter, just find the words on the 72 Earthly Fiends in the Heavenly Book, and the rest can be deduced by analogy, it's not difficult to know." Shen Kuo was sure that she must be a woman, because after she relaxed, she no longer spoke in a male voice.
"The leader has obtained the magical powers of the previous leader and the Saint Lady, so he can naturally reverse the process. You don't have to doubt it." Chang Biao supplemented.
It seems that Chang Biao and the leader know the underlying logic of the operation. The so-called heavenly book text is just a formality and does not need to be collected in full. However, the followers of Maitreya are still confused, which is also Yong'er's only hope. As long as the followers think that her clone is successful, even if the leader and Chang Biao know that there is a trick, they can't do anything to her.
In this high-end game between liars, the only rule of victory or defeat is to see how many people you can deceive. The game began when the former emperor asked Wang Qinruo to forge the heavenly book and pretend it was the will of heaven. Whether it was Yan Shu who later decided to join this game of pretending to be a god with the hat monster, or the Maitreya sect who later made up nursery rhymes and prophecies also participated in this gambling game. No one can escape from this out-of-control game. Even if you can see that your opponent is cheating, you can only play with him instead of exposing it, because even if you expose that all this is a mechanism, an illusion, a trap, and a set game, no one will believe it.
In this game, stepping into the hole you dug yourself is the most common ending.
Yong'er had been sitting on the coffin in a daze, her feet treading rhythmically in the water, as if she was thinking about something, and she didn't seem afraid at all. The silk cloth was no longer on her arm, and some red scars were slightly visible. Shen Kuo thought: It was indeed her who was scratched by . Fortunately, the wound had almost faded, and she shouldn't be discovered because of this flaw later.
"It's time!" Chang Biao said with relief. The water was already above his knees.
The leader stood up and said: "Since the time has come, please respectfully invite the Saint to enter the coffin."
Yong'er finally woke up from her daze and jumped in. Twelve Maitreya followers were divided into six teams, carrying three thick wooden pillars on both sides of the stone coffin lid. The twelve people shouted together, moved the heavy stone coffin lid onto the stone coffin, and then pushed the lid forward together.
With a rumbling sound, the coffin lid was pushed to the end and Yong'er's face disappeared under the coffin lid.
After finishing all this, everyone carried the leader out. But the leader was careful and remembered something.
"Go and pull out the barrels that are blocking the spring, so that the Saint can prove herself quickly. We sisters can also meet soon."
"What a vicious woman." Shen Kuo thought to himself.
Several strong men went up and cut the hemp rope that fixed the wooden barrel. Then they used a wooden hammer to hit the barrel. The barrel soon loosened. Even without anyone doing anything, the sheepskin-wrapped barrel was washed out by the water and fell into the pond below. In a blink of an eye, seven or eight springs around it started to hiss and water began to bubble out. The speed at which the water level rose suddenly increased several times.
“Hehe, Yong’er, are you still in there?” The leader said to the sarcophagus with a sweet smile, “I’ll prepare some wine and food outside and wait for your clone to come out.”
The group carried the leader outside, and they were in such a hurry that they didn't even take the torches stuck on the stone wall with them. They entered the tomb passage in the dark. They passed by Shen Kuo's side, but fortunately there were no torches, so they didn't see Shen Kuo in the shadows. When the last person passed by, Shen Kuo also quietly came down and secretly followed the group of people. He wanted to see if they would block the tomb door.
No one cared that there was one more person at the end of the messy queue, everyone was in a hurry to move forward.
I only heard someone in the darkness ahead asking the leader: "Leader, Yong'er used water and fire to create a clone in the past, and it always took only a moment. Maybe it's already waiting up there."
"Hahahahahaha..." Although he couldn't see it, Shen Kuo guessed that the vicious female leader was laughing so hard that her body was shaking. From the sound of her laughter, it seemed that she didn't believe in the idea of a clone at all, because she herself was the one pretending to be a ghost. She should know very well that escaping from the bottom of the water is one thing, and escaping from under thousands of pounds of rock is another.
"That would be best, that would be best, we can also believe that this sister is innocent. I hope she is waiting for us outside now. From now on we can have no grudges against each other." The leader replied.
It sounded like she was very sure that Yong'er couldn't get out at all.
Then I heard a melodious piano sound coming from a distant place, it was clearly the "Song of the Ten Stages of Bodhisattvas".
The leader must have been stunned, and the whole team stopped. Shen Kuo almost bumped into the person in front.
"Master, listen, the master of divination, Yong'er, has escaped outside." said a happy voice.
"Impossible, how is it possible? Maybe there is someone playing the piano nearby?" Chang Biao said in panic.
"But it is clearly the song of the Ten Stages of Bodhisattvas of our religion. In the past, Yong'er also played this song when he split himself into two bodies."
"Let's go out and take a look." The leader was calm, with only a little panic in his tone, and only Shen Kuo could detect it. "Hurry up, don't use the sedan chair, Chang Biao, carry me out."
A group of people hurried out of the tomb. When Shen Kuo followed them to the door, he saw that the sedan chair and the carriage on it had been thrown on the ground. It was obvious that the leader was in a hurry to see something that was impossible to happen.
In a blink of an eye, everyone was out of the tomb.
"Close the tomb door." Chang Biao shouted.
Shen Kuo was standing inside at the moment. He was confident that he could escape from the tomb by blending into the crowd, because the crowd did not carry torches and could not see him clearly. If he got out like this, it would mean that Xiao Ping had successfully infiltrated the Maitreya Sect, and he was able to escape. But he stopped, stopped inside the exit. Because this was not the ending Xiao Ping wanted.
With a loud bang, a huge rock fell down, blocking his way out. He turned back without hesitation, he didn't want a compromise ending, he wanted the most perfect ending.
When he walked back to the tomb, the place was still bright with torches on all sides, but the water was knee-deep. The stone coffin sat on three steps, which was very high. At this moment, the water only submerged the bottom layer, which meant that there was still time. The three pieces of wood inserted horizontally on the coffin lid were also kept, which would greatly save Shen Kuo's time.
He walked to the side of the sarcophagus and turned his face to the edge of the gap.
"Can you hear me? I'll get you out right away."
"Hmm? Is it you?" An uncertain voice came from inside, but it didn't seem to be entirely suspicious. It can be seen that Yong'er still had a fluke hope that someone would save her, but she was not sure.
Shen Kuo jumped back into the water, concentrating and holding his breath for every step he would take. After he closed his eyes, the sound of water around him disappeared, and in an instant he seemed to be in a trance, his thoughts racing back to the time fourteen years ago when he was standing in front of the Yellow River.
In the light, the handsome and tall monk in white was standing there.
A child's voice shouted, "Master, can you lend me the land transport spell?"
The monk was stunned when he heard this, and suddenly laughed: "No, no, no, no magic is needed, just borrow a little levitation power."
"The power of levitation? I've never heard of it."
The big monk came over and looked at him for a while.
"Have you ever been to school?"
“Yes.”
"Have you ever heard of the story of Cao Chong weighing an elephant?"
"I've heard of this." Shen Kuo nodded seriously.
"I use the same strength. If a boat can carry an elephant, it can also carry an iron ox."
When Shen Kuo opened his eyes, he had regained all his confidence: "If it can carry an iron ox, what does a mere stone coffin cover matter?"
He walked around quickly, collected the fallen barrels, and quickly used the hemp ropes that had been used to tie the barrels to fix them under the three wooden stakes. He felt that eight barrels might not be enough for buoyancy, so he took off the sheepskin bag that was wrapped around it, blew it up, tied the mouth, and tied it to the wooden stakes.
He only had one chance. Once the water flooded to the level he wanted, it would also mean that the water would seep into the stone coffin from the gap in the coffin lid, and Yong'er would drown in a moment. So he not only had to be quick with his hands, but also could not be careless.
"Master Huailiang. I can do well even without you by my side." He suddenly shouted.
"How are you? I heard the sound of water all around." A muffled voice came. Even though Yong'er was usually cold and aloof, now that she was trapped inside, she was anxious to ask about the progress.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out in a moment."
"How many people do you have with you? Why did I only hear your voice? Who were you talking to when you were shouting just now?" Yong'er asked.
"I am the only one here. I called out to an old friend, but he is not around."
"Oh, sir, I appreciate your kindness." Yong'er said lightly, sounding heartbroken.
"Although I am alone, I have the power to rise. The master once said: If you can move with ingenuity, then heaven and earth can share the power."
Yong'er didn't answer, obviously too lazy to talk nonsense before she died.
The water slowly rose and finally touched the bucket and the leather bag. Shen Kuo clearly heard a clang, the sound of the sarcophagus lid loosening. He pushed hard, but it didn't move. He had to wait a little longer.
By this time, the water had already flooded the gap in the coffin lid and began to seep inside.
"Sir, please go."
Wing-er said.
"Let's go! Your sister entrusted you to me. She asked me to take care of you for the rest of your life."
In order to cheer up Yong'er, he did not hesitate to make up Xiaoping's words. Xiaoping had said something like entrusting him to her, but she never told him to take care of Yong'er for the rest of her life.
The coffin lid finally loosened and seemed to be able to be pushed open, but he had to wait a little longer. He was thoughtful and considered all the possibilities. If he only pushed open a corner and the water poured in directly but Xiao Ping could not be saved, then it would be a disaster. So he waited for the water to cover more of the surface of the wooden barrel and the sheepskin bag to increase buoyancy.
"Hold your breath, it will only be for a moment."
Yong'er still didn't say anything. She guessed that it must be like a rainstorm inside, with torrents coming down from all directions.
Seeing that the time was almost right, he shouted and pushed the lid of the coffin. The lid, which weighed over a thousand pounds, was pushed more than a foot away. The water outside immediately poured in, and a white hand stretched out from inside and grabbed Shen Kuo's hand.
He pulled hard, and Yong'er, who was also slender, got her head out. She took a deep breath, looked at Shen Kuo as if she was reborn, then hugged Shen Kuo and let him pull her out.
"How is my sister?" The first thing she asked was her sister. Obviously, smart people don't talk too much nonsense. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Shen Kuo and roughly understood the situation. All this was obviously related to the song she played on the hilltop.
"Your sister has become a saint in your place."
They both emerged from the water together.
"My sister is in too much danger. Should we go and save her?"
"I'm afraid we're not out of danger ourselves."
"Not out of danger yet?"
"The tomb door outside is sealed, but I haven't figured out a way to get out yet. If I can't get out within a moment, and the water level rises a few feet, I'm afraid it will be a disaster."
