They, in turn, recorded the tribes' migrations and beliefs. But now, these patterns were either treated by tourists as "ordinary scenery" or gradually forgotten by the younger generation as weaving skills ceased to be passed down. Muhammad led Soka, Karen, Marco, and the other youths up the Inca Trail toward Machu Picchu. Standing at the top of the terraces, the Inca scholar Cusco pointed to the ridges and said, "Look, the curves of these spiral terraces match the sun's path on the winter solstice exactly, while the zigzag patterns correspond to the direction of water flow during the rainy season-every pattern is a code for the Inca way of 'living in harmony with nature.'" Marco rubbed the bronze badge he carried with him, recalling his experience revitalizing murals in Florence with the "Golden Ratio Palm Technique." "Perhaps we could turn the terrace patterns into 'practical wisdom for everyday life'? Just as we turned geometric patterns into martial arts, we could let everyone understand their meaning through practice." Everyone responded enthusiastically to the suggestion, and the "Inca Pattern Revitalization Plan" soon began, with the blending and reinvention of experiences from different civilizations evident everywhere: 1. Linking the wisdom of martial arts and farming: letting terrace patterns "live through practice." Lin Xiaowu gazed at the spiral patterns of the terraces and discovered that their spiraling upward paths closely matched the "Flowing Cloud Step" of "A Deadly Secret"-the footwork had to adjust to the rise and fall of the terrain, combining the stability of terraces with the flexibility of flowing water. Based on this, he devised the "Terrace Wave-Treading Step": starting at the center of a spiral pattern, each stride corresponded to the width of a terrace ridge, while turns imitated the angles of the zigzag patterns. This could both help the youths walk steadily among the terraces and let them directly experience the connection between the patterns and the terrain. Cusco added from beside him, "When the Inca planted potatoes, they sowed along the paths of the spiral patterns to make the most of the sunlight." So the vanguard team joined the local youths for a "pattern-based farming experience" in the terraces-the youths used the "Terrace Wave-Treading Step" as they sowed potatoes along the spiral patterns, and Karen even made a point of using a soapstone fragment to carve Great Zimbabwe's Bird Pattern beside a terrace ridge. "Let the 'guardian' patterns of different civilizations protect this land together." 2. Continuing the culture of weaving and patterns: bringing traditional skills "within reach." Soka recalled Angkor's "pattern-rubbing kits" and proposed turning Inca Textile Patterns into "materials for creative work." He worked with local weavers to make "pattern-printing templates" using natural plant dyes-diamond and bird motifs were carved into wooden boards, and the youths only needed to lay the templates on woolen fabric, transfer the patterns with dye, and do some simple weaving around the edges to finish a small Inca-style tapestry. Kino, a fifteen-year-old Inca boy, had thought weaving was "too much trouble," but after printing his first Bird Pattern tapestry, he was thrilled. "So I can make textiles like Grandma's too!" He even took the initiative to ask his grandmother to teach him traditional weaving techniques, weaving the path of the "Terrace Wave-Treading Step" into the tapestry's border to create a "footwork pattern"-when the tapestry was spread out, the zigzags along its edges echoed the terrace patterns perfectly, making it a unique work of cross-cultural fusion. 3. A dialogue between past and present through digital technology: letting patterns "tell stories spanning a thousand years." Lina and Nikos upgraded the "Pattern Tracking" technology and developed the "Terrace AR Guide": scanning the terraces with a phone brought up animations of Inca people farming-they sowed along the spiral patterns and stepped along the zigzag patterns to channel water; scanning the diamond patterns on textiles brought up a map of Inca tribal migrations, marking how the patterns changed along the migration routes.
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