Now I know that the murals here were not painted by the ancestors of the tribe in front of me alone; they also involve another tribe that is even more mysterious than them.
Much of their current knowledge and some of their weapons and tools were taught to them by that tribe, which suggests that the tribe was already quite civilized, and that they had clearly interacted before.
Some murals depict the two tribes working together to hunt large animals, suggesting a friendly alliance between the two tribes.
The reason I was able to accurately determine that they were two tribes is because of one major difference.
The people of our tribe simply used red lines to outline human figures, while the people of another tribe deliberately dyed them blue to distinguish them.
I think this is most likely the mysterious force that the high priest mentioned, which exists in the western region. I just don't know why they left here and went to a more remote part of the west.
As more of the murals came into view, I saw the "demons" the high priest spoke of, and the several clashes that occurred between them.
The "demon" in the painting is a humanoid creature, but it is significantly larger than the average native.
One has to admire the person who painted these murals. To show the strength of the humanoid creature, he deliberately painted the people of both tribes shorter.
If you look closely, you'll find that these murals are like the comic books we read as children, with several panels forming an illustrated story.
The figures and proportions in these images are all precisely proportioned; for example, some birds in the images are composed of a small dot and two short horizontal lines.
For larger animals, the comparison is made by comparing the animal's shoulder height when it is on all fours with the height of a human.
There are some exceptions, such as a beast in the painting that is bulky and much taller than a person when standing. It is obviously a bear or similar ferocious beast, as its standing posture and paws are its best identifying features.
The "demon" in these paintings is not only larger than the natives, but I also noticed that these "demon" have a pair of horns painted on their heads.
This puzzled me a bit. Are there primates with horns here? However, I found the answer to this question in some of the following footage.
The image depicts a group of indigenous people hunting an animal. Five or six indigenous people are shown holding spears and confronting a four-legged, wolf-like creature.
The animal in the picture is clearly a ferocious beast, but the indigenous people have a greater numerical advantage. In the next scene, the indigenous warriors wound the animal with spears.
Then came the scene of six people chasing the animal, but what happened next sent chills down my spine and made my heart tremble.
Because what followed was so familiar to me, I had even experienced it myself!
The creature in the video was moving very fast, leaving the six people chasing it far behind.
Two short images are used here, with the distance between the person and the animal gradually decreasing to a small dot, to indicate that the animal runs much faster than the native.
Then a single image appeared before my eyes, showing only the wolf-like creature in a tall, dry forest.
The scene deliberately adds leaves to some trees in the distance, while the area where the mysterious animal is located is just a lonely tree trunk.
This method of contrast, commonly used in murals, made me realize that this was a dead tree.
Then the mysterious animal in the picture is gnawing at the base of a dead tree, and several pictures are used to show that it is gnawing at more than one tree.
The next moment, the animal disappeared into the dense forest, but from the perspective of the animal in the picture, it could see the dead forest.
The six natives also tracked them all the way here, but in the footage, as soon as they entered this deadwood forest, the trees they touched immediately began to lean noticeably.
The next scene shows four or five natives trapped under a tree, and an animal hidden in the shadows runs out and attacks the people trapped under the tree trunk.
At first I thought it was a creature like a dire wolf, but upon closer inspection of its proportions in the painting, it does look a bit awkward.
Although its head resembles that of a wolf, its body proportions are significantly larger and its limbs are more robust.
By now, do you know what that thing is? That's right, the wolf-like creature should be the Sand Beast I encountered.
When I first explored the eastern hills, I poisoned several Sand Beasts, but in the end, the most cunning Sand Beast leader escaped.
What happened next was almost exactly as depicted in the murals; I was also taken to a forest of dead trees.
If I hadn't been extra careful, I probably would have ended up like those indigenous people in the picture, dying tragically in the Northwest.
Fortunately, I managed to use my firearm to kill the opponent instead of being chased by it as shown in the video.
Finally, the mural depicts only one person escaping from the woods, and the scene ends there.
However, in the last picture, a close-up of the sand monster was added. That is, a pair of shorter horns were drawn on the sand monster's head.
Having dealt with the Sand Beast a few times, I naturally know that this animal does not have horns on its head, and in addition, the Sand Beast was not depicted with horns in the previous scenes.
The horns were painted on the head of the sand beast after it killed the five people.
So the meaning here is that this animal is evil and dangerous, and its intelligence may even surpass that of humans, just like the demons that the natives talk about.
There are many other examples like this in the picture. For instance, the giant ant, whose name I later learned from the locals, was also depicted with horns, indicating that these animals are very dangerous.
Some larger bears, however, do not have antlers painted on them, suggesting that the indigenous people's criteria for judging the danger level of animals are not based on size, but on a comprehensive assessment.
However, the only creature in all the murals that could truly be called a "demon" by the natives is probably that tall, humanoid creature.
Because the horns painted on its head are the most exaggerated of all animals, much longer than those of cunning beasts like the Sand Raptor.
Judging from the proportions of this animal's limbs, its upper limbs are significantly longer than those of humans, suggesting it is some kind of wild animal, such as an ape.
In many of the images, these gorillas are seen holding wooden sticks and spears, and some are even seen fighting with torches against the natives.
Seeing this sent a chill down my spine. I initially thought the Sand Beast was cunning and treacherous enough, but it turns out it only ranks in the top ten.
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