“I’ve seen it, but I’ve never climbed it.”

Centipede Ladder, as the name suggests, is a wooden ladder with several short logs protruding from both sides of a thick log.

"Many caves rely on it to go up," Fan Jinshi explained: "I am most afraid of climbing the centipede ladder, so how can I bring my children up there."

"It doesn't look very stable." Huang Yongyu imagined it for a moment, then shook his head.

"Many years ago, Lao Chang led people to climb into a high cave. When he was about to retreat, he discovered that the centipede ladder at the entrance of the cave had fallen.

The cave is too high from the ground, so those who can’t reach the sky and can’t get down to the ground are trapped in the cave.”

"What should we do?" Zhang Lu asked anxiously: "There is no one outside?"

"Look at how many grottoes there are in Mingsha Mountain. We are so far away when we go out for work. Who knows which grotto we will stay in."

"Then call someone quickly."

"Except for us, few people pass by here."

"How was it resolved later?"

"There was nothing I could do. The longer I waited, the more panicked I became. Then I became really desperate, so one of my colleagues took the risk and climbed up the 80-degree cliff to the top..."

"Fortunately, there was no danger." Shao Bolin sighed.

I took a class in Dunhuang and developed eighteen kinds of martial arts!

"Later, when we gained experience, we tied the ladder to the entrance of the cave."

"So, the people's wisdom is forced out."

"That's right." Fan Jinshi smiled and nodded:

"However, the several grottoes you want to see have steps, so please be careful."

Just as a group of people walked up the steps, several veteran cadres in the distance walked out of the lounge.

At this moment, the scorching sun gradually moved to the west.

Going up the stone steps, the slope is dotted with grottoes of different sizes.

There is a strange temptation in the dark grotto.

After climbing a few more steps, Fan Jinshi suddenly turned on the flashlight in his hand:

"Here we are, inside is Cave 85 "The Story of Lady Deer Mother"."

Following the guidance of the flashlight, Jiang Shan and his party looked over.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the photo in his hand: "So that's it!"

When the picture in his hand turned into a real object and was displayed in front of his eyes, Jiang Shan suddenly felt an inexplicable excitement: "Murals from the Tang Dynasty?"

"This cave is close to the painting style of the late Tang Dynasty, and further ahead is this one," Fan Jinshi pointed to the photo in her other hand:

"The "Female Donor Figure" in Cave 61 is better preserved."

In just a few steps, Cave 61 arrived.

Jiang Shan raised the photo in his hand: "This is really it!"

A row of female believers wearing hats and red clothes stood with their hands folded.

Due to the erosion of wind and sand over time, the pigment around the eye frames has oxidized to black.

In the dark and quiet atmosphere of the grotto, it is quite the scene of a ghostly wedding.

Jiang Shan curled his lips when he saw this: "Do you usually dare to enter the cave alone?"

"Huh?" Fan Jinshi didn't react, and then smiled: "Oh, this cave is actually not bad."

"Well," Huang Yongyu believed, "there must be something uglier than this."

"I was scared when I first came here, but I'll be fine once I get used to it."

Zhang Lu couldn't help but sigh: "Can you remember the contents of each cave mural? You have such a good memory!"

"Actually, it's nothing," Fan Jinshi's flashlight beam slowly moved on the mural: "If you stay there for a long time, you can even touch it with your eyes closed."

Keep walking forward, this time the road is longer.

"Here we are," the flashlight beam entered first: "The Deer King Bunsen in Cave 257 of the Mogao Grottoes is what you call the Nine-Colored Deer."

Dun means great; Huang means prosperous.

The murals in Cave 257 give Jiangshan a "secret" feeling.

The picture "The Deer King Bunsheng" is known as the earliest Chinese comic strip.

Perhaps because this story is too long, the walls of the cave are densely covered with rows of red murals from top to bottom.

Each line is a chapter.

"This is the earliest comic strip." Jiang Shanmao leaned over and looked at it carefully.

Huang Yongyu: "Oh?"

Shao Bolin quickly held up his glasses and moved closer.

Compared with the murals, the nine-color deer shape designed by Meiying Factory is more friendly to the people.

Huang Yongyu and Shao Bolin were fascinated by it: "It's really telling a story."

"The four auspicious beasts of Dunhuang murals," Fan Jinshi's voice sounded in real time:

"The nine-colored deer in Cave 257 of Mogao Grottoes, the blue bird and winged horse in Cave 249, and the treasure-keeping dragon in Cave 25..."

"Can you take us over to have a look?" Huang Yongyu was itching: "I didn't expect that the murals in Dunhuang are so exquisite."

Fan Jinshi smiled and said: "You can see the other murals in a while, but it is a little difficult to guard the dragon."

"Is Cave 25 far away?"

"It is not a mural from Mogao Grottoes, but from Yulin Grottoes."

"oh,"

The group of people nodded, as Lao Chang had said before entering the cave.

Dunhuang is huge, but the Mogao Grottoes are the best preserved and have the most user-friendly steps.

As expected, the old saying goes: if you want to get rich, build roads first.

"Shou Baolong," Jiang Shan had seen before: "The name sounds interesting."

"Indeed, the treasure-keeping dragon is very cute. It is a little dragon holding a treasure box."

"If I have a chance," Huang Yongyu suddenly became interested: "I still want to take a look."

"It should be fine tomorrow," Fan Jinshi pointed to the side:

"But Cave 285 next to it is even more exciting. Do you want to go over and take a look?"

"Please," Jiang Shan stepped aside and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Fan."

"Haha, believe me, you will definitely like it."

When Jiang Shan walked into Cave 285 of Mogao Grottoes.

For a few breaths, he felt that time around him had stopped spinning.

The flying sky covered with square domes floats in the sky as if it comes alive.

Running around and flopping around at will.

For a moment, sight, smell, and feeling... were completely immersed in the small world wrapped in murals.

The feeling of dialogue between the past and the present is simply wonderful.

The crowd looked up like a pilgrim.

Shao Bolin sincerely sighed: "This is really a treasure house of art!"

"Ah," Huang Yongyu was hit by the oncoming murals: "I feel like they are all spinning around me."

"I feel the same way."

"Me too," Jiang Shan, as a traveler, suddenly felt frightened: "Standing here, I feel like a grain of sand."

"It's still the kind that can't be found when the wind blows," Huang Yongyu added.

"Did these people have their eyes gouged out?"

Comrade Zhang Lu, who only cared about taking pictures, didn’t have as much to do as them!

After regaining consciousness for a second, Jiang Shan quickly picked up his camera.

Compared with the Mogao Grottoes scenic area where photography was strictly prohibited in later generations, Fan Jinshi was still shining a flashlight on him at this moment.

"Yes," he explained while lighting the cave: "This cave is very big, and the most exciting thing is the story "The Fate of the Five Hundred Robbers" in the middle."

"Are they robbers?"

Shao Bolin pointed to a group of little people with painful faces and twisted postures on the mural.
To be continued...