Unorthodox methods, cultivating immortality relies on rich women

Chapter 180 The Two Diagrams of Heaven and Earth

After an unknown amount of time, Professor Gu straightened up, let out a long breath, and said, "This should be the character '冬' (winter). I've only seen scattered fragments of it on unearthed pottery shards before, never the complete form."

Upon hearing this, Bai Yukui's face lit up with joy, and she subconsciously took half a step forward: "Professor Gu, are you sure?"

"Are you sure? Who can be 100% sure about these ancient scripts? This is just my personal opinion."

Professor Gu was not arrogant or conceited; he answered Bai Yukui's question very carefully.

Then he ignored Bai Yukui and continued to study with his head down.

"Wait a minute, here—and here—"

He carefully unfolded the animal hide again, found another set of symmetrical holes, and gently folded it horizontally.

Several previously scattered lines were perfectly pieced together, this time forming a clearly structured character.

But this word stumped Professor Gu. He looked at it from left to right for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out.

"This should be the character '至'," Shen Qingzhou said.

"You know him?" Professor Gu looked up in surprise.

"I guessed," Shen Qingzhou said with a smile, pointing to the animal hide. "These two characters, one on the left and one on the right, together spell out 'Winter Solstice,' don't they?"

Professor Gu nodded immediately upon hearing this, his eyes shining brightly. "Yes, what you said makes a lot of sense. Legend has it that this diagram was used by Emperor Zhuanxu to determine the twenty-four solar terms, so the words 'Winter Solstice' should be correct."

Professor Gu became more and more excited as he spoke, “These lines and these holes, when folded and pieced together, form the ancient characters for the twenty-four solar terms. These ant holes are not caused by insects at all; they are folding and positioning points specially carved out by the ancients. This is not a star map; it is a set of ancient characters.”

He was so excited that he was incoherent, repeatedly stroking the two words that were spelled out, and muttering "unbelievable" and "unprecedented" over and over again.

But as he continued, he stopped, frowning as he stared at the lines and holes filling the drawing.

"Currently—that's all I can confirm at the moment."

Professor Gu adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath to calm his excited emotions, and said, "The folding logic of this diagram is too complex. It requires trial and error, and it's quite time-consuming."

Bai Yukui smiled upon hearing this.

"Professor Gu, you're overthinking it. We live in the age of technology."

She smiled and waved, and the wall next to her slowly opened, revealing a huge projection screen, which displayed a holographic scan of the [Ant Aperture Star Map].

"What we can't do, we can leave to computers."

Professor Gu suddenly realized, but seemed a little disappointed.

With the help of a computer, the rest was simple. Soon, all the positions of the twenty-four solar terms on the entire star map were found.

The twenty-four solar terms correspond to twenty-four directions. With the Big Dipper as the core, its handle rotates clockwise, and each 15° corresponds to a solar term, forming a system of "the rotation of the Big Dipper and the movement of the stars to determine the solar terms".

The winter solstice is due north.

By folding all the pieces together and piecing together the 24 images corresponding to the 24 solar terms, a complete and brand-new Ant Hole Star-Fixing Chart is formed.

"The ancients were truly ingenious. I racked my brains but couldn't come up with such a solution," Old Chen remarked from the side.

Shen Qingzhou glanced at him sideways and asked with some curiosity, "Why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here?"

Old Chen was very unhappy that Shen Qingzhou looked down on him.

"Because you're a useless old man, and if something really happens, you might even hold us back."

"Nonsense, I was invited by Miss Bai. This old man has more experience than you, and I have family-inherited skills—"

Alright, now that you've heard this far, you don't need to listen anymore. It turns out that Bai Yukui was attracted to his tomb raiding skills.

Moreover, since he was also one of the insiders, we decided to invite him as well.

Shen Qingzhou suddenly leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Do you think Bai Yukui might be planning to lure you to a deserted place and kill you to cover it up?"

Old Chen rolled his eyes at him. "Childish."

But in reality, he was also secretly having doubts.

"But what use is just a star map?"

Professor Gu stared at the brand-new star map on the big screen, somewhat puzzled. This star map had no markings or text, so how could it be used for positioning?

Bai Yukui did not answer the question, but instead gestured for Ma Chenggang to draw the curtains.

Zhao Changming understood and immediately brought over a cold light flashlight.

Bai Yukui then took out the [Gold-Inlaid Galaxy Mirror].

Amidst the curious gazes of the crowd, she covered the [Ant Hole Star Chart] onto the [Gold-Inlaid Galaxy Mirror].

Next, move the flashlight behind the [Inlaid Gold Galaxy Mirror].

The cold white light instantly pierced through the back of the lens, and thanks to the special craftsmanship of the translucent mirror, the gold-inlaid star trail pattern on the back of the lens was completely revealed. It then passed straight through the dense ant holes on the animal hide and was precisely projected onto the entire white wall opposite.

But this is not the ultimate secret of the [Ant's Hole Star Chart] and the [Gold-Inlaid Galaxy Mirror].

Bai Yukui reached out and folded the animal hide according to the directions of the twenty-four solar terms.

Thus, the originally scattered points of light, guided by the folded animal skin, miraculously converged into a clear and complete landscape map! The direction of the mountains and rivers, the veins of the rivers, and the key passes were all clearly visible, and even the subtle undulations of the terrain were clearly revealed by the light and shadow of the points of light. It was not a projection, but a perfectly replicated ancient geographical map.

"How could people in ancient times have such ingenuity?" Professor Gu exclaimed in disbelief upon seeing this.

Old Chen, who was standing to the side, also dropped his joking demeanor, squinted and stared intently at the map on the wall, his fingers unconsciously calculating something in his palm, muttering in a pretentious manner, "To find the dragon and divide the gold, look at the winding mountains, each winding is a barrier—this is a top-notch dragon-finding map—"

Standing next to him, Shen Qingzhou couldn't help but glance at him sideways. This old man was really showing off. Who was he trying to talk to?

Bai Yukui did not stop, continuing to fold the animal hide according to the twenty-four solar terms. Every time the folds changed and the ant holes overlapped, the projection on the wall would refresh.

Meanwhile, Ma Chenggang, standing next to him, was holding a camera and taking photos to record the location of the Lesser Cold in the northeast, then projecting a second map.

The Great Cold corresponds to Northeast China; this is the third image.

The Beginning of Spring corresponds to the northeast, fourth picture —

Once the last map corresponding to the heavy snowfall was projected, Bai Yukui raised her hand to signal Ma Chenggang to import the photos she had just taken into the computer.

As the projection switched, twenty-four star charts and twenty-four geographical maps were placed side by side, filling the entire giant screen.

The entire room fell silent instantly.

The twenty-four star charts represent the heavens, determining star positions, dividing the seasons, and identifying the directions of the celestial sphere; the twenty-four projected maps represent the earth, defining mountains and rivers, marking passes, and revealing geographical features.

Up and down, heaven and earth, perfectly aligned, those seemingly chaotic ant holes have now become anchor points connecting the coordinates of heaven and earth.

When put together, they form a complete map of celestial and terrestrial positioning.

"So that's how it is—so that's how it is—Emperor Zhuanxu established the celestial calendar and divided the four seasons. This is not just a star map for determining the solar terms; it's a complete coordinate system that corresponds to heaven and earth and can define the nine provinces—"

Professor Gu was visibly agitated, standing there gesturing wildly as if he were about to faint.

Old Chen also came to his senses, clicked his tongue, and moved closer to Shen Qingzhou, lowering his voice to say, "Goodness, whose grave are you looking for, making such a big fuss?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingzhou turned around and looked at him in surprise. It turned out that he didn't know what Bai Yukui and the others were looking for.

Shen Qingzhou didn't answer him, but instead turned her attention back to the big screen.

But they quickly frowned, as did Bai Yukui.

Because there are more than one place marked on a map.

But now is not the time to consider that.

Bai Yukui waved her hand, and a high-definition satellite map immediately appeared on the large screen, overlapping with the geographical map projected by the [Inlaid Gold Galaxy Mirror].

Then the two images instantly become three-dimensional, and the "Ant Hole Star Map" appears in the sky, corresponding to the star positions of the twenty-four solar terms, in order to adjust the overlapping position of the two images.

It has to be said that modern technology is incredibly convenient.

However, Shen Qingzhou also realized that there was another person in the office.

Meanwhile, in the inner office, a young woman was typing furiously in front of her computer, but her attention wasn't entirely on the screen; she kept glancing at the security camera next to her.

And the surveillance footage showed Shen Qingzhou.

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