Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 341: First Level - Nine Stars of the Big Dipper

In the early years of the Tianjian period, Buddhist monks went to India to receive the Buddha's relics, which were then divided into nine parts and enshrined in the nine Buddhist temples in the nine provinces. The Daming Temple in southern Yanzhou was one of them.

In Daming Temple, there is a white pagoda that houses Buddha's relics. It was originally made of wood, but it was burned down two years ago. Fortunately, it was rebuilt with the donation from Prince Yuzhang.

The new White Tower was built using mysterious mechanical techniques in just one year, and the people of Guangling marveled at it as a miracle.

At this time, there was no one else in the tower, only Ren Yuan and the Buddha statue were staring at each other quietly.

Ren Yuan looked at the compassionate and wise face of the Buddha, and wondered if He knew that He was being used.

"I guess I don't know..." Ren Yuan was actually fantasizing whether he could file a complaint with the real Buddha and ask him to help expose the fake.

But he soon realized that even if the Buddha had existed, he had already passed away long ago, and now there were just people using his name to do evil.

Instead of relying on Buddha, it is better to rely on yourself...

Ren Yuan laughed at himself and went up to the second floor.

Then you can see that the space inside the second-floor tower is much larger than a normal tower. It is very spacious and lofty, making you feel as if you are in a huge palace.

Ren Yuan knew that this was the effect of mechanical engineering. He looked around in amazement and saw that the dome was embedded with glass lamps of the Big Dipper, the ground was covered with a star map of Purple Palace, and twenty-eight copper pillars represented the twenty-eight constellations.

He could roughly tell that this mechanism was testing Zhou Tian Yi Shu. Although Ren Yuan was a Taoist priest, he had never met a famous teacher, and what he learned from his senior sister was just so-so...

Fortunately, he had external help. Ren Yuan took out a jade pillow calmly, lay down on the ground, and fell asleep...

Only then did A-Yao show up and silently protect him.

Originally, she would be harmed by the Buddhist power of salvation as soon as she entered the temple, but now she is so powerful that the Buddha's light cannot hurt her at all.

~~
Thousand miles on the ship.

The passengers gathered together, even Zuan was there, and when he saw Ren Yuan appear, he asked with a smile: "Did you explore the tower smoothly?"

Ren Yuan then told everyone about the situation in the tower and said with a smile, "I am here to ask for help from outside the venue."

"Aren't you the leader of the Taoist sect?" Xiao Yuhuan asked bluntly, "Do you still need to ask others for help?"

"I was forced into this position. I've only been to the Taoist temple once, but I was given the title of leader." Ren Yuan said with a wry smile, "I can only say that I have only a limited understanding of this aspect."

"Why bother with all that? Just use your magical powers to reach the top of the tower and find out what's going on." Chen Baxian said carelessly.

"If you don't follow the rules to unlock this kind of delicate mechanism, there will definitely be serious consequences." Chen Lingzhi said, "Even if A Yuan has great magical powers and can't hurt him, it will alert the people in the temple and there will be no way to end it."

"That's right." Ren Yuan glanced at Zu An, a temporary passenger, and said, "Sima Zu's intention is obviously to let us break through the formation layer by layer."

"He is just a madman obsessed with this." Zuan said in a muffled voice: "He doesn't care about his relatives in this regard."

"Then let's follow the rules." Ren Yuan said, smiling at Chen Lingzhi: "Let's ask Lingzhi for help."

"My pleasure." Chen Lingzhi extended his hand generously.

Ren Yuan then pulled her Yin Spirit back into the tower.

A Yao, who was silently guarding Youxian's pillow, saw Ren Yuan and Chen Lingzhi holding hands, and her face immediately became unfriendly. The two quickly separated. Chen Lingzhi nodded and smiled at A Yao, then used her celestial eyes to carefully check. She was in charge of divination and stargazing for the Gou Chen Division, and lived in the Hun Tian Terrace all day, which was a professional match.

After observing silently for a while, Chen Lingzhi smiled knowingly and said to Ren Yuan and A Yao with confidence, "The other party used the 'Nine Stars of the Big Dipper' as the core and the twenty-eight constellations as the surface to form the Purple Palace star map, but they tampered with the positions of the constellations."

As she spoke, she pointed to the bronze pillar representing Jiao Su and said to Ren Yuan, "Jiao Su corresponds to due east, but it is actually three degrees and six minutes west."

He pointed to the second bronze pillar and said, "Kangsu has deviated one degree and two minutes to the south."

Ren Yuan then invited the Six Dings and Six Jias to restore the bronze pillars one by one according to the position indicated by Chen Lingzhi. When the last bronze pillar was in place, there was a sound of gears turning, and the floor tiles under the twenty-eight bronze pillars sank three inches.

Looking at the Purple Palace star map underground, it was finally restored, shining brightly, and complementing the Big Dipper on the dome.

"Is the formation broken already?" However, Ren Yuan scanned it with his mind, but still could not find the passage to the next level.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Chen Lingzhi smiled faintly and said, "This is just the activation of the formation. The next step will be the dangerous time."

She pointed to the seven glass lamps on the dome and said, "The Big Dipper has nine stars, seven are visible and two are hidden. We still have to find the hidden Zuo Fu and You Bi."

"I see." Ren Yuan nodded. He knew this.

It is said that in ancient times, there were seven stars in the Big Dipper in the sky. In addition to Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang, there were also two stars, Dongmingxing and Yinyuanxing, also known as Zuofu and Youbi.

But then two stars disappeared for unknown reasons...

"The time when Zuo Fu and You Bi disappeared from the records seems to be around the Battle of Kunyang." Ren Yuan suddenly said softly.

"That's right. In the fourth year of Emperor Dihuang and before the first year of Gengshi, the nine stars of the Big Dipper were all hanging high in the sky. After that, the officials of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau never saw Zuo Fu and You Bi again." Chen Lingzhi nodded slightly: "But Zuo Fu and You Bi did not disappear, but disappeared."

"Well, there are very obvious signs before a star dies. If it suddenly disappears, it must be because it disappeared for some reason." Ren Yuan nodded, and then he felt guilty again. He obviously shouldn't use the astronomical knowledge of later generations to explain the celestial phenomena in this world.

Chen Lingzhi praised: "The captain has a good idea."

"Hurry up." A Yao urged impatiently from the side. From the moment she entered the tower, the Ziwei Sword in her body began to stir, making her inexplicably irritated.

"Don't be in a hurry." Chen Lingzhi said slowly, "Look carefully at the dome. Besides the seven lights, what else is there?"

Ren Yuan looked carefully and saw that besides the seven colored glass lamps, there were rows of criss-crossing colored glass lamps, but they were not lit and therefore inconspicuous.

"The lamp representing the Fuxing is on the left, and the lamp representing the Bixing is on the right. Now we have to find these two lamps and light them." Chen Lingzhi paused and said, "But if we light the wrong one, it will definitely trigger the mechanism. Even if it doesn't hurt the two great supernatural powers, it will definitely alarm the monks chanting outside."

"Which two lamps are they?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Let me calculate it." Chen Lingzhi counted with his fingers: "Fuxing is located at one and a half degrees northeast of Tianshu, and Bixing is located at two and a half degrees southwest of Tianxuan. But it varies slightly with the seasons, and needs to be deduced and corrected according to the Dayan Calendar..."

"What a waste..." A Yao muttered in a low voice.

Chen Lingzhi muttered to himself for a long time before he flicked his fingers and two sparks popped out, lighting up two of the glass lamps.

As the lights came on, the dome creaked, a hole appeared, and a wooden ladder slowly and considerately descended.

"Miss Lingzhi was successful as expected. Thank you very much." Ren Yuan smiled and bowed to express his gratitude.

(End of this chapter)