In the second year of Xuantong, early autumn.

Behind the 10,000 pines and cypresses of Yongning Mountain in Xiling, the Taihang Mountains are layered with color gradients. The mountains are full of autumn light, pleasing to the eye. The manufacture of tomb beasts in Emperor Guangxu Town has reached the third link. With the special approval of the mausoleum superintendent, Qin Customs took his only son up the mountain to find the most important raw materials.

There are wolves in the mountains, and maybe bandits. Both father and son carried shotguns on their backs, waist knives, and daggers stuck in their uppers. Qin Customs first taught his son to use these weapons, the shotgun was a front-loading smoothbore shotgun, and the war had long been eliminated, but it was okay to scare the bear blind.

On the first day of going up the mountain, Qin Beiyang personally shot a rabbit with a shotgun. They lit a bonfire in the mountains, roasted the rabbit and ate it, although there was no salt and other ingredients, it was the biggest meal after arriving in Xiling.

Qin Customs told his son that he must not be slack in choosing stones, and if he is not careful, he may cause death. A good-looking stone may not be easy to use, but also depends on the hardness and texture, all based on experience, many people have never really started after doing it all their lives. In addition, the size of the stone, the original state often weighs tens of thousands of catties, and must be divided into two, and then divided into four, and so on, otherwise it cannot be transported. He pointed to the stones on the road and explained each of its properties and uses. Taihang Mountain is rich in high-quality stone, and the Fangshan white marble used by the Ming and Qing dynasties comes from the rest of the veins.

This road is rugged and steep, climb up the cliff halfway up the mountainside to overlook, several emperor's treasures, and turn into a few small points. Qin Beiyang pondered the majesty of these monarchs when they were alive - the wrath of the Son of Heaven, ambushing millions of corpses and shedding thousands of miles of blood. But compared with the eternal and unchanging vast world, it is just a leaf that grows in spring and falls in autumn.

After seven days of searching in the mountains, we turn a mountain beam and enter a deep canyon where a rushing mountain stream hides. Qin Beiyang took off his clothes and jumped in to take a bath, the spring water was cold to the bone. He stayed in the mausoleum for a long time, and he was not afraid of the cold, but felt happy.

After rinsing, the ten-year-old boy was shirtless, lying on a big rock basking in the sun, and suddenly felt a panic in his vest, and there was a stream of heat, rising from the ground, similar to the underground palace Jinjing.

Qin Customs dragged his son down from the rock and observed the terrain here, but saw a ridge, winding to this point, straight into the big rock, and clapped his hands together: "Isn't this a dragon vein?" ”

"This is the grave beast material we're looking for?"

"Where the emperor's mausoleum is near, there must be a dragon vein near the left. Where there are dragon veins, there are many spirit stones. Lao Qin put his vest on the rock, and suddenly felt his heart beat faster, and his qi and blood pulses were abnormal, "The spirit stone can absorb the qi of heaven and earth, store it in the stone body, and it can be emitted under certain conditions, what we feel now is the power of the spirit stone." For the selection of stone, the spirit stone is equivalent to the heart of the human body. ”

"The heart of the Grave Beast?"

Qin Customs was noncommittal, he carefully tapped under the rock, and found a natural stone crevice. The father and son dug with tools for a long time, opening an opening that allowed one person to enter and exit. A putrid smell came to my face. Lao Qin asked his son to stay outside, he shrunk his tall body and struggled into the cracks in the ground.

After a long time, his father didn't make any moves, and Qin Beiyang was anxious. He also carefully examined the so-called "dragon vein", and did not feel anything special.

"Daddy! Daddy! ”

Seeing that it was getting dark, Qin Beiyang first stuffed two shotguns, scimitars and various tools into the cracks of the stones, and then drilled into them like loaches.

It's a cave. Lighting the candle, he did not forget to put on his weapons and tools, and walked carefully inside. That strong air current, silently injected into the body, made people hot and uneasy. The front is getting narrower and narrower, and there are many gravel on the ground, which should be the traces of my father's passing.

There was a deep nest at the end, and he saw his father kneeling on the ground and kowtowing. And in the corner of the stone wall, a broken skeleton lay down.

Qin Customs looked back in surprise: "Beiyang, why did you come in?" ”

"Who is this?"

"Look at the inscriptions on the stone walls."

Qin Beiyang lit it with a candle, engraved a few lines of small characters, and read them out one by one-

Yu was ordered to build a mausoleum, make a tomb beast, look for a spirit stone here, trapped in this cave, exhausted, waiting to be killed. If you see it in the future, you can take the spirit stone and bury it here. On March 10 of the fifteenth year of Wanli, it will be Shaofu Qin Tuoshan

"This Qin Tuoshan, isn't it, the ancestor of our Qin craftsman?"

"Not bad." Qin Customs also dragged his son to kneel down together, "I have seen the name of this ancestor in the family tree, which records that Tuoshan Gong was the Dingling of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, looking for the spirit stone of the tomb beast, and disappeared in Taihang Mountain, and can only be completed by his son-in-law." Beiyang, you are his tenth generation direct descendant, hurry up and kowtow! ”

Qin Beiyang kowtowed three times in a daze: "More than three hundred years ago, our ancestor Qin Tuoshan, who came up the mountain to look for spirit stones, was unfortunately trapped in this cave, and carved this text before he died. What is the last one that will be Shaofu? ”

"That is the yamen that manages the construction of the mausoleum, and our family has served in this yamen for generations, and it has been included in the internal affairs government in this dynasty."

"Daddy, what I'm concerned about now is, where is the spirit stone?"

"Look!"

Qin Customs removed the ancestor's skull, revealing a rock half-hidden underground. This stone is quite strange, the whole is brownish-black, like a huge piece of asphalt, covered with irregular streaks, and the semi-metallic dull luster. The outcropping part of the ground has shell-like fractures that form many fine grape shapes. Qin Beiyang gently tapped it with a tool and found that its hardness was very high, and most of it was metallic. Suddenly, he felt his wrist tingle, as if there were ten thousand strong lights passing through, and he took a few big steps back one after another.

"Daddy, although this spirit stone is spiritual, we are mortal in the flesh, I'm afraid it will be difficult to approach!"

"Our ancestor Tuoshan Gong, in order to find this stone, turned into dry bones, how can my generation be greedy for life and afraid of death?"

Lao Qin vigorously chiseled a small piece of spirit stone, which simply weighed about five catties, and carefully wrapped it in a blanket.

"Just a small piece?"

"Well, the power of the spirit stone is powerful, three or five catties are enough. If we were to mine the whole stone down the mountain, we would probably die halfway through. Beiyang, you already know the location of the spirit stone, and if you create a new tomb beast in the future, you can mine here. Remember not to be greedy, lest you harm yourself. ”

The father and son brought dozens of stones, built a small grave for the bones of their ancestors, and bowed down again to say goodbye.

Qin Customs didn't let his son get close to the spirit stone, let him go first, and he followed behind, holding the stone carefully. Crawling out of the cracks in the rocks, it was already dark. The two did not dare to go down the mountain in the dark, so they lit a fire by the mountain stream and took turns to stand guard with shotguns for the night.

The next day, back to the Xiling construction site, Qin Customs sent the spirit stone into the underground palace.

This is only the first step in the selection of materials. The tomb beast made by the Qin family is composed of three parts: one is the core spirit stone; Second, other stones, such as white marble, multicolored stone, and the most common granite, especially need a high-quality natural magnet; The third is metal materials, usually bronze, and a few use high-quality steel, which is commonly forged by Japanese Japanese swords.

The overseer of the mausoleum ordered the stone to be transported to the underground palace. The bronzes were cast on the ground of the mausoleum according to the design drawings. The tomb beast should guard the tomb owner underground for 10,000 years, the raw materials must be immortal, although the bronze is heavy, but the iron is rusted and corrupted when it enters the soil, only the bronze can be more than 3,000 years and complete, but there is a layer of cyan patina on the surface after being unearthed.

Qin Beiyang asked puzzledly: "Daddy, isn't our ancestral business a stonemason, and we are also good at how to cast bronze?" ”