After seeing André off, Langdon answered three trivial questions at Teabing's doorstep, and then William and the other two heard a voice: "Welcome to Château Villette, Professor Langdon."
As they entered Château Villette, William saw an old man with white hair, holding two canes, standing on the manor's staircase, saying to them, "Welcome to Château Villette. I am the owner here, Sir Leigh Teabing."
Langdon said, "Long time no see, Teabing. Let me introduce you. This is Sophie, and this is William Devlinshire."
"Sophie, William, this is Sir Leigh Teabing."
Teabing descended with his cane, shook hands with Sophie, and then said to William, "The famous Devlinshire. William, I've met you before, when you were only five or six years old. Henry and I used to often have afternoon tea together when we were in England."
Hearing that Teabing was well acquainted with his maternal grandfather, William quickly shook Teabing's hand and said, "Hello, Sir, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Teabing smiled at William, then turned to Langdon and asked, "Earl Grey tea?"
Langdon smiled and nodded, saying, "With a slice of lemon, please."
"Okay, I'll take you to the dining room. We'll have a drink and something to eat. It's almost dawn now."
They arrived at the dining room. After the three had their tea, Teabing said, "You've come to me late at night, so it must be something very important. Tell me, what can this old cripple do to help you?"
Langdon said to Teabing, "We want to ask you about the Priory of Sion."
"The Keeper or the Cipher War?" Teabing asked.
Langdon wasn't sure whether to confess to Teabing what had happened today. After a moment of hesitation, seeing Teabing waiting expectantly for him to speak, he decided not to tell Teabing. "I'm sorry, Teabing, for our abrupt arrival, but we've encountered some inexplicable things, and we need your help to find clues and unravel some secrets."
"You? Inexplicable things?" Teabing immediately understood: "It seems you've found something yourself, without me. Langdon, we're friends. You know I've always been searching for the Priory of Sion. What you've done isn't very friendly."
"Alright, my mistake. But I've come to you now, haven't I?" Langdon said.
"Never mind, since it's come to this, I can only accept your apology. But Langdon, next time you have a chance to uncover secrets, remember to call me. The Priory of Sion, how should I put it?" Teabing pondered for a moment and said:
"The Priory of Sion, formerly the Knights Templar, was founded by the remaining members of the Knights Templar after their massacre over 600 years ago.
Its members are mainly scholars, professors, artists, and some nobles." Teabing looked at the ring on William's hand.
"For example, the Devonshire family, they have been members of the Priory for generations."
Teabing turned to William and asked, "William, why is the Devonshire family, who never participates in any Priory activities, here now?"
"I don't know. I'm here to find answers. I found some letters among my grandfather's belongings.
He told me to find Professor Saunière, but Professor Saunière was murdered before he could tell me anything," William said.
"Alright, it seems your grandfather took all the secrets he knew to his grave to protect you.
The Priory usually consists of four people: a Grand Master and three elders.
They are the main guardians of the Holy Grail, and only these four know where the Grail is."
Teabing looked at his butler and said, "Thank you, Remy, you're dismissed."
The butler left after hearing this, and Teabing continued, "Members of the Priory are spread all over the world."
Langdon said, "Philip Hulse declared in 1967 that this was a lie."
"Ha, that's what the Priory wants you to believe.
In modern society, many ancient secret organizations have to use every means to deceive the public to protect their secrets.
Langdon, you can't be fooled by these little tricks."
Teabing chuckled, teasing Langdon, and after a moment of laughter, continued, "The Priory has only one mission: to protect the greatest secret in the history of this world."
Sophie smiled and said, "The source of God's power in this world?" They had heard Langdon talk about this.
Teabing immediately said, "No, that's a wrong statement.
What the Priory truly protects is the source of the Church's power in this world—faith, not God."
William asked, "What does that have to do with the Holy Grail?"
Teabing said, "Yes, the Holy Grail, William.
To understand the Holy Grail, you need to first understand the Bible.
The Bible wasn't faxed to us from heaven by God.
What we know as the Bible today comes from the pagan emperor Constantine."
"Constantine? How is that possible? In my understanding, Constantine was a Christian," Sophie said.
"No, he was a pagan his entire life.
He was baptized on his deathbed.
From ancient times, his people had always worshipped gods and goddesses of nature.
However, during Constantine's reign, there were increasingly large-scale conflicts between Christians and those who worshipped nature gods and goddesses.
Constantine was a pragmatic man.
As tensions grew, he decided to unify all religions in his country, establishing only one religion, Christianity.
Because at that time, Christians constituted the majority of the population, to prevent his empire from falling apart, he held a very famous Christian council, the Council of Nicaea."
Teabing paused for a moment, waiting for William and Sophie to think, then continued, "In this council, different Christian factions fiercely debated and voted on which gospels to adopt, the date of Easter, the content of the sacraments, and the divinity of God."
Sophie said, "I don't understand, why was it necessary to establish the divinity of God?"
Teabing said, "My dear Sophie, up until that council, God was considered by many believers to be a great prophet and a profoundly influential man.
At that time, he was still just a mortal, a mortal who could die."
Langdon smiled and explained, "Some believers thought God was human, while others thought he was divine."
"Didn't they say God was the son of the Creator?" William asked.
"Haha, he wasn't even the great-grandson of God," Teabing scoffed.
William laughed, "So, God's divinity was voted into existence?"
"Yes, William, you must remember, in that era, gods were everywhere.
It was Constantine who infused divinity into God, allowing him to perform miracles on earth and resurrect him.
He turned God into a deity, and under Constantine's rule, there was only one religion, so Christianity essentially defeated all other religions and gods," Teabing said.
At this, Langdon interjected, "No, I disagree with you.
I believe Constantine did not create God's divinity; he merely used law to endorse a belief that was already widely circulated and accepted by the public."
"That's just a difference in wording," Teabing said.
"No, it's not the same; you're twisting facts to support your theory," Langdon retorted.
"But the fact is, for many believers, God was sometimes divine, sometimes human," Teabing said angrily.
"But more believers firmly believed he was divine," Langdon said.
Teabing said exasperatedly, "Nonsense, they even issued formal decrees to establish his divinity, and what's ridiculous is that there are even ambiguities within Christianity regarding the Council of Nicaea."
Sophie saw that Langdon and Teabing were about to start an argument, which reminded her of her grandfather's death, so she quickly said, "How many people have died over these thousands of years just because of the debate over whether God is divine or human?"
After a moment of silence from Teabing and Langdon, Teabing said, "Because there is only one supreme God in this world, some people use the name of God to commit slaughter."
Teabing's words left everyone speechless, as history had already proven him right.
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