Stern and Anne walked along the grotto corridor for half an hour, seeing a large area of the dilapidated palace interior along the way. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 The stone carved window lattices of the info grotto cast a large amount of sunlight, and the graceful fairy reliefs on the wall are torn by the roots of the vines.

Soon they came to the corner of the cloister, and on the right they reached a gatehouse in the grotto. Judging by the architectural style of the Khmers, this should be the back door corresponding to the front door when they first entered the cave.

The gatehouse where they were located formed a cross-shaped pattern of four passages, one of which was the cloister they had just walked through, and another similar cloister opposite. Two outer passages intersect it, one leading to the main building of the grotto, a tall tower temple on which various trees have now collapsed into ruins, and an approach road to the outside of the grotto, which has a steep staircase looking out.

"That's what the professor left behind?"

Stern looked at a pencil on the ground, pointing straight out of the gatehouse like an arrow, whether it had been dropped here intentionally or accidentally, but it was clearly the professor's sketching pencil.

"Yes, Donnie and I stumbled by here while we were looking for water."

"Do you think this pen fell off too much?"

Anne knew what Stern meant, picked up the pencil casually, and said unequivocally: "I know, maybe the professor is just trying to lead us to the temple of reincarnation, or maybe he is worried that we won't find our way to the temple of reincarnation?" After all, there is a large area of ruins, cloisters, and we probably don't know which way to go without clear instructions. ”

With that, Anne stepped out of the threshold of the gatehouse and descended the stone steps.

Stern thought it made sense, so he didn't ask any more and followed. Along the way, he saw the dilapidated seven-headed snake Naga railings on both sides of the Shinto, as well as stone statues holding the serpent's railings at intervals, according to Anne, the god Shura on the left and the Asura on the right.

A little further away from Shinto, towering tropical trees have begun to occupy the once inhabited land, with powerful roots encroaching on buildings on both sides, occasional glimpses of small stupas, and bushes underneath the forest, which looks like it will soon be a primeval forest again.

And because there is a Shinto road paved with huge stones under their feet, it is relatively easy to walk for the time being. Seeing the staggering Hydra railing, Stern suddenly remembered the dream he had when he was unconscious in the tarantula's lair, the boat with the Hydra head on the bow. Taking advantage of the fact that it was safer now, he asked Anne about his doubts.

"Annie, I would like to ask you what might have been symbolized by the Hydra in ancient Khmer culture?"

Anne was a little surprised as to why Stern could suddenly ask this question: "Why did you ask this all of a sudden?" If I'm not mistaken, I've hardly ever seen a hydra-headed naga in Khmer architecture, usually with five or seven heads. ”

"No, no, no, I'm not asking about their railing architecture, I'm saying what does a snake symbolize if it has nine heads? For example, there is a hydra on a ship with a head decoration. ”

"I don't know exactly what the culture of the ancient Khmer people represented, but the earliest Hindu culture of the Khmer is said to have been brought by the Brahmins of ancient India. If it is Brahmanical religion, then I can tell you that among the various gods in India is a dragon god called Shasha, whose image is often depicted by Hinduism as the king of Naga with a thousand snake heads. It often revolves around the god Vishnu in Hindu mythology, and it is this serpent king Shasha who lies on the sea of milk. The other is the snake god Po Suji, that is the snake king of the Naga snake clan, in the Indian creation myth 'stirring the milk sea', it uses its body as a noose, coiled around the mandala mountain, and the two ends are held by Shura and Asura respectively, constantly stirring the milk sea to obtain immortal nectar. So many of the reliefs that we see in various temples are engraved with the story of Bhashuki stirring the milk sea. As for the hydra, it is rarely seen, and I can't think of what it symbolizes, but if the professor is there, he might be able to tell you. ”

"Okay, I see." Anne said a lot, but never answered Stern's question, so he had to continue to ask the next one: "Then why do you think the professor has to find the temple of reincarnation, and what are the very important secrets in the temple of reincarnation that he can find at the risk of his life?" ”

Stern had always had doubts about the professor's purpose, but every time he wanted to ask the question, there were always surprises, and the other time he had already put a gun to the professor's head on the night he entered the grotto. But he deliberately ran away while they weren't paying attention. After all the perilous adventures that followed, Stern became more and more curious about the professor's ultimate purpose, especially now that they were on their way to the temple of reincarnation, and before he reached that place, he had to make sure to find some useful clues.

And for now, Anne, who is standing next to him at the moment, is the best source for him to get clues.

Anne seemed to have expected that Stern would ask this question sooner or later, thought for a while, and asked Stern with a solemn expression: "Sergeant, I don't know the real purpose of the professor's search for the Reincarnation Temple, and at first I also believed that he just found the Reincarnation City for investigation. However, since entering the Reincarnation City, I believe you have also seen the professor's abnormal behavior, but I still can't figure out why the professor is so obsessed with the Reincarnation Temple. ”

However, based on so many days of observation, I have also been wondering why these brahmins have gone to great lengths to build a temple here, so I can tell you some of my opinions. ”

Stern saw that she was about to say something about the temple of reincarnation, so he waited for her to speak.

But Anne asked him first, "Do you believe in the idea that people have reincarnation?" ”

"What's going on? It seemed to be darkening all of a sudden. ”

But before he could respond to Annie's question, Donnie muttered something in the back. Then he saw that his surroundings had indeed darkened, and when he looked up at the forest, a bolt of lightning struck them in front of them, and then a muffled thunder struck the upper canopy. The rainy season in Cambodia began again, and within a few minutes the rain fell to the ground.

Stern had a bad heart, it was really fate that he shouldn't have asked this question, and he appeared at this juncture every time. So I didn't think much about it, and quickly looked for a place to shelter from the rain.

Eventually, Kansa saw a small, well-preserved grotto in the dense forest less than 500 meters in front of them, and immediately pointed in the direction of Stern.

Stern followed Kansa's point and saw a grotto building hidden in the woods, just in time to go in and take shelter from the rain, so he beckoned Anne and Donnie to trot all the way through the rain and mist, muddy and muddy Shinto to the small grotto building.