Chapter 78 Chapter 76

Langdon saw that Sophie was still in the throes of describing the experience of witnessing the "divine marriage".For his part, he was amazed to hear her story.Sophie not only saw the whole process of the ceremony with her own eyes, but also saw her grandfather was a participant in the ceremony from beginning to end... the master of the Priory of Sion.This is a very intelligent group of people.Da Vinci, Botticelli, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau... and Jacques Saunière. "I don't know what else I can tell you," Langdon said softly. Sophie's eyes glowed green, full of terror. "He treated me like his own daughter."

Langdon finally understood the emotion in Sophie's eyes as they talked—remorse, distant and deep.Sophie Neveu had been avoiding her grandfather until now, but now she had learned to see him in a new light. Outside the cabin, dawn's footsteps are getting faster and faster, and the pink mist is spreading from the starboard side of the plane.And the planet below them was still pitch black. "I said buddy, do you want something to eat?" Teabing returned to them again, quite complacent.He brought some cans of Coke and a box of old biscuits.As he distributed things to them, he apologized desperately for not having much. "Our fellow monk hasn't confessed yet," he sings, "but give him a little more time." He took a bite of the biscuit and looked at the poem: "My dear, what's going on No?" He looked at Sophie. "What is your grandfather trying to tell us? Where is the cornerstone, the cornerstone that the Templars sang about?"

Sophie shook her head, but said nothing. As Teabing pondered the poem again, Langdon opened a can of Coke and turned to face the window.The secret rituals and codes yet to be deciphered came back to his mind. "The cornerstone of Templar praise is the key to this door." He took a long sip of Coke.A cornerstone of Templar praise.Coke is still hot. The veil of night was quickly lifted by dawn, and Langdon witnessed the change of day and night, and he saw the sparkling ocean below the plane.When you get to the English Channel, you don't have to wait that long. Langdon hoped that the dawn light could light up his chaotic thinking, but the brighter the outside of the cabin, the more confused he was about the truth.He seemed to hear the rhythm of iambic pentameter and the repeated singing of people, the voices of "divine marriage" and sacred ceremonies, echoing with the roar of the plane.

A cornerstone of Templar praise. The plane landed again.At this moment, a flash of insight suddenly flashed in Langdon's mind.He slammed down the empty Coke can. "You won't believe it," he said, turning to the others. "This cornerstone of Templar praise—I see what it is." Teabing looked at the plate: "So you know where the cornerstone is?" Langdon smiled. "I don't know where it is, but I know what it is." Sophie leaned over to listen. “I think headstone is literally a stone, not a gravestone,” Langdon explained, filled with the familiar joy that comes with someone making academic breakthroughs.

"You mean stone?" Teabing asked after him. Sophie seemed equally bewildered. "Sir Ray, didn't the church slander the Templars as heretics during the Inquisition's wanton suppression of heretics?" Langdon said, turning around. "That's right, they listed a lot of crimes, such as sodomy, urinating on a cross, engaging in ghost worship, and so on and so on." "Isn't the blind worship of gods mentioned in these charges? Specifically, the church accused the Templars of secretly holding a ceremony of praying to the stone statue...and this stone statue is a pagan god..."" You mean God Baphomet!" Teabing cried out, "My God, Robert, you're so right! You're talking about the stone that was praised by the Templars!"

Langdon quickly explained to Sophie, telling her that the god Baphomet is the pagan god in charge of reproduction, and is associated with human reproductive ability.The head of Baphomet is in the shape of a sheep, which is a universal symbol of vigorous vitality.The Knights Templar gathered around its head statue, chanting prayers, in order to express their respect to the god Baphomet. "God Baphomet," Teabing said with a sneer, "this kind of ceremony is to celebrate the magic of creating life through sexual union, but Pope Clement made everyone believe that the head of God Baphomet is actually the head of the devil. The pope used Baphomet's head to make a big fuss, using it as an important breakthrough against the Templars."

Langdon agreed.Modern people believe in a horned ghost called Satan, whose history can be traced back to the worship of the god Baphomet. The church tried to degrade this horned god, which symbolizes vitality, as a symbol of evil.The church has clearly succeeded, though not across the board.On the table of Americans celebrating the traditional "Thanksgiving", you can still see the vigorous vitality of various long-horned things with pagan colors.The horns filled with flowers and fruits, symbolizing abundance, are a tribute to the vitality of the god Baphomet, which existed after the god Zeus was fed by a goat.This goat has a broken horn, but its horns are filled with fruit like a conjuring.God Baphomet also appeared in the group portraits, and some jokers stretched out two fingers behind their friends' heads, making a V-shaped gesture.Of course, how many of these pranksters realize that their playful gestures are actually advertising the vitality of the person they are mocking?

"Yes, yes," Teabing said excitedly. "God Baphomet must be the one mentioned in the poem, the cornerstone praised by the Templars." "Okay," Sophie took the words, "but if God Baphomet is the cornerstone praised by the Templars, then we have encountered another dilemma." She pointed to the key on the cipher box. dial. "The word Baphomet has eight letters, but we're only looking for five-letter words." Teabing laughed even wider. "That's where the Etbash yard will come in handy, my dear."