Volume 8 Chapter 25 Relief

We had brought almost everything we could use, and had also prepared a few buckets of mud. We didn’t dare to light a big bonfire, so we made a small pile of charcoal. At dinner, Fatty didn’t dare to cook the canned food inside, so he set up the stove outside the ruins.

We estimated that the snakes would definitely start to move after the fog had lifted, so we weren’t panicked at dusk. I helped Fatty cook, and the oil bottle looked up at us to keep watch.

But Fatty was very quick, so I couldn’t really help him. After opening the can, I just stood there, staring blankly.

Fatty was annoyed by this, and said that I was just like Lin Daiyu, always thinking about things. There’s nothing in this world worth thinking about, and you’ll die anyway, whether you live recklessly or not.

I was a little surprised to hear that Fatso could use such a literary word as “fetters.” When I thought about it, I realized that he was actually saying “dick eggs,” and I couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Fatso call out to me, “I said, naive, what is this little brother doing?”

I snapped back to reality and looked up to see that the Mung Oil Bottle in the temple was using something to wipe the stone wall above him.

The Mung Oil Bottle ignored me and continued to work, probably because he didn’t hear me.

I had almost finished my work here, and I was also interested, so I put down the can opener and climbed up. I went around the temple corridor to his side and saw that he was using the charcoal from the campfire to rub the walls, as if he wanted to print something. I asked him why, and he pointed to the stone beside him, “I just found it.”

The wall was painted black in a large area, and I blew on it with my mouth and found that there were reliefs on these stone walls that had almost been ground flat.

“It’s basically invisible in daylight, but when you apply the carbon powder, it casts shadows and you can distinguish it,” he said, and then picked up another piece from the campfire to apply it.

The black carbon black was applied to the rock, and the light and shadow changed. I shook it a bit and found a suitable position, and the relief on the stone appeared. At first glance, I saw a large number of snakes. It was difficult to distinguish, and the shadows moved, and the snake shadows were as if they were alive.

Muyoubing continued to apply the black paint, and we saw ancient reliefs appear on the rocks here. After so many years, they were still vivid and lifelike, and appeared as if by magic under Muyoubing’s application of the black paint.

After he finished, he couldn’t stand up straight, so I immediately helped him. After looking at it, he said, “This is about the snakes.”

“What is it about?” I asked. Because I couldn’t see very clearly.

“I can’t understand it at once,” he said. “I have to think about it slowly.”

I was very interested in this, and I hadn’t seen much of the historical relics here. Not knowing anything about this place was the most direct cause of our current situation, so I moved my body to find the best angle and worked hard to look carefully.

I looked at them one by one, but I didn’t understand anything. I didn’t know what they meant at all. There were many things expressed on the reliefs, some seemed to be sacrifices, and some seemed to be a ceremony.

I looked at them half guessing and half pondering, and felt that several seemed to be talking about the ancestors here, who worshiped these poisonous snakes with crests. They threw one clay pot after another into some holes, just like the stone pagodas with square holes that I saw on the road. A large number of poisonous snakes began to burrow into the broken clay pots. There was a sacrifice presiding over the ceremony, and many people were kneeling around.

It turned out that these sacrifices were for the snakes here. Could it be that the people here worshiped these poisonous snakes as gods? However, this is not surprising. Snake worship is very common. The ancients did not know the toxicity of the snake, but only that they would die after being bitten. Looking at such a small wound that caused death, they would think it was caused by magic. Many ethnic minorities in China worship snakes.

These crested snakes may like to eat the eggs of the king of the dead tortoise, but the eggs of the king of the dead tortoise should be extremely toxic. Which is more poisonous, the snake or the king of the dead tortoise?

The reliefs on the sides of the censer depict many figures holding spears, fighting with the ancestors. Many of them have been pierced by spears, as if they were in a war.

The situation seems to be unfavorable to the Xiwangmu Kingdom, because the Xiwangmu are clearly outnumbered. The Xiwangmu Kingdom is composed entirely of infantry, while the other side has cavalry. The enemy commander is at the back of the army, sitting on a chariot pulled by eight horses. The figure of the Queen Mother of the West is not visible in the relief. All the reliefs are exquisitely detailed, with even the facial features carefully carved, vividly lifelike, and clearly the work of top-notch artisans.

“This is a war…” Mian Youping muttered.

“It seems that the country of the Queen Mother of the West has been invaded, and the other side is a more powerful civilization, possibly Loulan or the Northern Xiongnu.” I said. “These people can’t tell the style of the clothing, but the weapons look similar to those of the Central Plains, so they should be the army of Loulan. The one on the chariot should be the king of Loulan.“

After saying this, I felt that it made sense, but Mian Youping didn’t pay attention to my words, but touched the commander on the chariot with his hand and frowned.

I thought to myself, what’s wrong? He suddenly pointed at the enemy leader with his finger and said to me, ‘I know this person.’