"This ...... I'm skeptical-

And as I said, I am even more convinced that the forces of nature are forever above God and Jesus. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 But you must know that during the Angkor Dynasty, if we use the dialectical point of view and the theory of sociology, Brahmanism, like Catholicism today, was a religious system that ruled the society at that time, and they practiced the divine right of kingship, which was able to control the minds of the common people at the bottom of the society at that time. In that era of lack of development of science and technology, there were indeed many strange phenomena in nature that could not be explained by the knowledge they had at that time, and these strange phenomena were likely to be used by some rulers at that time to win people's hearts. Although, from all the information we have now, it is impossible to explain their actions at that time. And those things you call 'ghosts'......"

At this moment, Stern felt some slight movement behind him, he was afraid that there really was some ghost, so he immediately reacted and took a small step forward to the cat's waist, reached out and took a torch, held the dagger on his waist in his right hand, turned around flexibly, took out the torch and gestured forward, making a defensive move.

But he saw Professor Morrill walking forward in the sparse moonlight, and seemed to have heard their conversation, so he said in a flat tone: "There are no curses in this world, ghosts and ghosts. ”

Then he went to the fire and explained the curse to Stern.

As Anne said, the rulers of the time used this very vicious curse to protect the religious sites from being destroyed by outsiders. But one thing I am sure of is that as the most powerful religious power in Indochina at the time, these Brahmins did master some unknown techniques. Because in the pre-Angkorian period and even as early as the Funan Ancient Kingdom, many cultures of ancient India and China have been transmitted here with the exchange of commodity trade. ”

"What about the large number of strange creatures and stone statues found in those temples in Siem Reap? They can't just make something out of nothing! ”

"Yes, the popular theory in our archaeological community to study the remains of Angkor Wat is that the advanced and splendid civilizations of these two great countries converged here in the Indochina Peninsula, and it is very likely that some strange civilizations that we have not yet been able to verify have been left behind. Because when I was studying the history of ancient India and ancient China, I found that these two countries have their own subtleties in terms of mythological systems, and they each have many strange creatures, and they are very keen to describe some human-like creatures as images with many hands and legs, the most typical is the ancient Indian seven-headed snake Naga, the Chinese dragon. But so far we have not found evidence of the existence of similar creatures, so we do not know what they were created on, whether they actually existed, and whether they still exist in the world. ”

Stern listened blankly, but the professor continued his lecture regardless of whether he understood or not.

"Perhaps these creatures existed in ancient times when there were no records, and they may have been used by humans as a tool to conquer other clans and tribes during that period, such as the snake handlers and the mysterious professions of elephant trainers that still exist in India and there today, and we still see them today. However, there must have been many more such domesticated animals in history as some kind of tool or as a weapon, but they have been lost and we have not been able to see them again, and it is possible that they are still active in some corner of the world that has not yet been conquered by modern civilization. ”

The professor looked at Stern, and then said, "Of course, we don't know if some creatures that are too powerful or rare will be passed down as part of ancient mythology. Perhaps they have become extinct or retreated to some hidden corner because they are no longer adapted to the changing climate. So Sergeant Stern, we may have to be more careful from tomorrow onwards, because it is likely that the Brahmins will use them to protect this place. ”

After hearing this, even though he didn't understand much of what the professor said earlier, Stern began to feel a faint sense of unease in his heart.

The campfire continued to burn, driving away the damp and stuffy air of the tropics and the annoying tropical mosquitoes. He was a little caught up in that painful memory again...

After listening to what the professor said, Anne asked him if he had found anything on the other side of the city wall, and if it had anything to do with this Sanskrit text.

The professor handed Anne a few drawings and said to her, "Yes, it can be said that it has a relationship, I found a civilization from China on the other side of the city wall. It is likely that they were also involved in the construction of the city. ”

Anne took the drawing from the professor's hand and looked at it by the light of the fire. It was found that the content of the first three drawings was that the professor used sketches to draw the reliefs on the city walls on three sheets of paper in a row, and the artistic style of the reliefs was similar to that of the Angkor civilization. It shows three or five soldiers in short armoured skirts walking in front, followed by many naked men, either driving oxen, horses, or elephants, most of them carrying huge chests.

In the middle of the picture shows a particularly tall elephant riding an elephant with a wooden stick-like object sitting at the neck of the elephant, and behind it is a wicker chair with an awning in which a strange person sits. He is said to be strange because, first of all, his dress is very different from the other people depicted in the drawings, this man wears a robe and a crowned hat. If you look closely, his appearance is a little different from the others.

"Is this a Chinese?" Anne asked the professor as she pointed to the stranger.

"Yes, this person is the physiognomy of the Chinese around the eighth century AD, and when I was painting, I noticed that his relief paintings were relatively complex, as if to show his difference. However, he was not a member of the royal family, because the characteristics of the costume did not correspond to the characteristics of the Khmer people at that time, and even the king did not need to wear much clothing in this tropical environment. ”

"So this is the Tang people? The characteristics of his costume are very similar to those of his time," Anne said, thinking of the Tang Dynasty in China.

"As far as I know, this is the clothing characteristics of the Tang Dynasty people, so you are right. During the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century, China controlled the northern part of the Indochina Peninsula, and there were many Tang people who traded with the city-states of the peninsula, so it is not surprising that Tang people visited during this period. But I wonder how this Tang man could have been carved on such an important relief by the Khmers? As he spoke, the professor sat down on the stone next to Anne and took out the remaining three relief sketches for Anne.

Stern, who was on the side, heard their conversation and muttered how there are people everywhere...

Anne and the professor seemed to hear Stern's words, but ignored him and continued their discussion of the next three.

The professor continued: "You can look at the next few pictures, here is a continuation of the first one. However, the Khmer people of that period had to spend a lot of manpower to make reliefs, so they generally only carved mythological stories related to religion or particularly important events, but I couldn't understand what they wanted to record or praise in this painting. ”

Anne saw that the next three paintings were a little strange, the first one was supposed to be a large tall forest, but the professor only drew the main trunk and then forked some trees, indicating that the trees were very tall, and then there was a "man" in the middle of the trunk, standing in a strange posture in the trunk.

The second one is even more bizarre, with large expanses of tall grass and several twisted snake-like objects falling from the sky.

The last one is more normal, and the whole painting is a temple building. There is a wide five-story square tower-shaped building in the middle, with five lotus pagodas on the top floor, and a number of small pagoda buildings on the next floor, and increasing layer by layer on the next floor, about dozens. In front of the tower is the temple gate, along the temple gate extends out of the city wall to enclose the square tower, outside is around the city wall on both sides of the moat flowing over, outside the moat is neatly arranged densely facing the central building sitting stone statues, the number is very large. This is a painting from the outside, and the tower-shaped building rises far above the wall, which shows that the temple is very grand.

Anne told the professor about her findings: "The first two are indeed a bit weird, and I guess the craftsmen may be describing some natural landscapes or something, and the third picture is probably our destination this time, which is a Brahmanical temple in the pre-Angkorian style." Do you think this has something to do with the altar mentioned in Sanskrit? ”