Chapter 365: Holy City and Chessboard

Heliopolis, the holy city where the Egyptian gods lived on earth.

This is a city on earth and also belongs to the realm of gods. It used to have many names, such as the City of the Sun, the Home of the Gods, the Capital of the Gods, and even the capital of the thirteen gnomes (city-states) of Lower Egypt.

Io, who accidentally fell to Hermeneu in the past, also married the god of the underworld Osiris here instead of Isis, and then was demoted to a sinner and died under the witness of the gods.

For thousands of years, there has almost never been a lack of traces of gods here, and the gods of Egypt enjoy the offerings of mortals here.

It is like an Olympus closer to the human world, where gods and humans live together... until the incident a few years ago, everything was stopped.

First, the supreme god Ra summoned Shu, who was in charge of the atmosphere and wind among the nine pillars of gods, to the Golden Palace of the Sun, and then not long after, the remaining gods left one after another.

At first, no one took it seriously, even the servants stationed and serving the gods thought it was just a gathering among the gods. They waited for the return of the gods in the city, but day after day, they were greeted by only silence.

No god ever came back, and from that day on, the hometown of the gods seemed to be abandoned. The traces of the gods gradually disappeared, and only the empty temples still stood on the ground.

Not only the gods, but also the traces of people. At the beginning of the incident, the priests tried to use grand sacrifices to call back the attention of the gods, and even the pharaoh came here to worship in person.

But when hope and disappointment intertwined again and again, there are fewer and fewer people in the holy city now.

After all, no one will respect the priests and temples abandoned by the gods, which is completely proof of their dereliction of duty. Moreover, in the Egyptians' concept, the pharaoh is the highest priest, a ruler with both secular and non-secular meanings.

Since the gods are gone, even those who are truly pious have mostly gone to Memphis to serve the pharaoh. This withered holy city is becoming less and less populated.

"So, Abu, that's the truth. The truly pious ones have left. They have abandoned everything in the world and are still pursuing the footsteps of God. In contrast, those who stayed are not very pious, such as me."

"Over the years, I often thought that I was already a devout believer... But now it seems that this is just an illusion. Many people think that I was born to understand the greatness of God, but in fact, the only reason I came to Heliopolis is because serving the gods is the best way out for ordinary people."

"I don't have noble blood or extraordinary family background, so when I knew I had the opportunity to be a servant of God, I agreed almost without hesitation - and it turned out that my choice was quite correct."

"In just a few decades, I became the most admired mortal by God Ra, and also the most prestigious priest outside of the Pharaoh. Even if it weren't for this incident, I would still be one of the most powerful mortals in Upper and Lower Egypt."

"You see, this is the importance of choice."

In the empty hall, the trinity of the sun god is more than 100 meters high, like a hill, reflecting the mortals kneeling in front of it. How small is it.

But at this moment, whether it was the kneeling priests or the apprentices serving the teacher, they did not even look at the statue.

Just as Kasim said just now, he has never been a devout believer, and his students are the same.

"So teacher, why do you still stubbornly stay here?"

"The gods have abandoned this city and no one knows when they will come back... What's the point of staying here with some stones? Pharaoh has invited you to Memphis more than once. Although he just wants to use your reputation to stabilize people's hearts, you still have honors..."

"Then what?"

Interrupting his student's words, Kasim asked lightly.

"Then?"

The young man named Abu was a little puzzled. He didn't understand what his teacher meant.

"Yes, then."

"You see, no one knows when God will change his mind, but I know that people will learn to get used to it. In the first ten years after God left, people still missed the days when God was there. In the second ten years, people still missed him. In the third and fourth ten years, in the eyes of many young people, God was just a symbol, because they had never seen the real God, and the right to interpret this symbol would only belong to the Pharaoh."

"But the Pharaoh is going to die."

Qasim spoke lightly while bowing devoutly, just like every time in the past.

There were no spectators in the empty hall, but if anyone saw this scene, they would probably only think that he was a true believer.

"Teacher..."

The rest of the words were a little hard to say, and Abu was a little afraid.

Although God left, the majesty left by God was not enough to dissipate in just a few years. He was still a little lacking in courage to discuss such things in the once sacred hall.

"It doesn't matter, you are still young."

Without looking back, the priest seemed to know the reaction of the students behind him.

"These are indeed not things you should consider yet, but you should write them down now until you can understand them."

"The Pharaoh is about to die, but I am actually very old. If the gods can come back, then it is the best choice for me to stay here. But if they can't come back... I will not leave at this time and use the reputation I have accumulated throughout my life to stabilize the situation for the Pharaoh."

"On the day he dies, I will walk out of here. I will not leave alone. I will receive the 'oracle' and then tell the people of Upper and Lower Egypt that God is dissatisfied precisely because of Pharaoh's arrogance, so Those who belong to God should belong to the priests, and those who belong to the city should belong to Pharaoh.”

"At that time, the successor of His Majesty Ramses II will have to face a choice - the turmoil of the god's departure has not subsided, and the nobles who are dissatisfied with him may use this as an excuse to oppose him at any time. You said, when that happens One day, did he have the guts to declare that I was a false oracle and then attack me?"

With a low laugh, Kashim's worshiping movements were still standard.

"If it's Ramses, I think he dares, but for Merenptah, I don't think he has this ability."

There was silence in the hall for a moment, and Abu didn't know what he should say. He was shocked by his teacher's plan to separate the royal power from the divine power so that the pharaoh no longer had any religious significance... This was really shocking.

If he hadn't known about his special identity, Abu would have thought that the teacher was going to kill him to silence him.

But he knew very well that in this kind of matter, the teacher might kill the student to silence him, but the father would not kill his son to silence him.

Yes, they are not only master and apprentice, but actually father and son. So although Abu was a little nervous, he was nervous for his father.

The exchange was temporarily terminated, but Cassim was not in a hurry to instill these things into his heir immediately. After all, there was still plenty of time, so he just continued to perform his own worship.

As time passed by, the sun shone into the hall, and the direction of the shadow slowly shifted.

The sacrifice to the god Ra was so complicated that the time recorded in later generations was probably between 11 o'clock and 13 o'clock at noon. But Qasim didn't feel bored at all, he just continued little by little.

However, when the ceremony was coming to an end, Abu's exclamation broke the silence in the hall.

"...Teacher, look, what is that?"

Frowning slightly, Kasim ignored it and finished his last bow. Then he looked up to find the reason for the student's exclamation.

He planned to take the opportunity to educate the other party again, no matter what he saw, he should stay calm and think about the problem in the calmest way...

"--This is!"

His pupils shrank, and power seemed to burst out of his old body.

In front of Qasim, the statue that had been silent for several years began to glow.

The gods seemed to communicate with the statue of themselves again, and the next moment, the entire hall lit up.

"Oracle, this is a true oracle!"

He raised his hands high, and a stream of light fell on his palms. At this moment, all previous plans were forgotten by Kasim.

No matter what the oracle said, he is now the only priest who has received the oracle since the god left, and he is also the most devout believer of the god!

"Abu, join me in worshiping the god Ra!"

With a low drink, Qasim looked pious.

Having served the gods for so long, he knew the gods well. He was certain that before he lowered his will, God Ra most likely didn't know what he was saying here, but he might be able to see what he was doing.

Therefore, as the most devout believer of the gods, he felt extremely proud at this moment.

······

Rumble——

The sky is higher than the sky, and the earth is heavier than the earth.

It's hard to say where exactly this is, or to explain it from another angle, this is probably a place similar to the "Source Sea" of Khaos.

This is the most critical place in the world, just like the human heart and brain, or the medulla that makes blood.

For any world, this is the most tightly protected place, and even the most powerful of the local gods can only perceive changes through will. Every wave here represents the rise and fall of the world's laws.

However, at this moment, if anyone can compare the past with the present, then he can see that this most precious place has changed greatly, and the entire 'sea' seems to be divided into two.

Black and gold are intertwined, ocean currents collide, they are intertwined and distinct. It was like the most magnificent spectacle, but also the most terrifying thing in the world.

Because this means that the world has been completely invaded, and the strongest shell has been shattered. Regardless of whether he can successfully repel the outsiders, he is destined to be seriously injured.

"Rashen, you just..."

Standing on the rolling waves, golden waves surround you. A sense of closeness continued to come from it, but Hermione's Pluto and God of Agriculture, Osiris, felt insecure at all.

In the original myth, he married Isis and once ruled the world and the gods for the god Ra. Then he was jealously killed by his younger brother Set, the god of deserts and storms. Finally, after resurrecting from the dead, he went underground and became Herme. The main god of the underworld.

However, in this world line, he was angered by Ra simply because of "Isis, the God of Sin", and was thrown directly into the underworld. As a result, he had a good relationship with his younger brother Seth, but he was dissatisfied with the god Ra.

But dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction. When the great changes in the world suddenly hit a few years ago, the gods were forced to leave the human world and follow the connection of authority to come to the source sea, which symbolizes the core of the world, in their true form. All dissatisfaction was put aside. All that remained in his heart was fear.

Although this golden liquid is the 'blood' of the world, it seems to bring him a feeling of closeness and desire, but Osiris knows that for any god, there is only one outcome for direct contact with the source of power.

Being assimilated by the source force, losing personality and consciousness.

"Osiris, I just tried to communicate with the outside world. It was very difficult, but I barely succeeded."

"The source of evil came to Memphis, and the foreign offensive became more aggressive, but this also caused his losses to be greater. I found a flaw - the person who caused all these changes, he must die, only When he dies, we have a chance to breathe!”

Clenching his fists, on the rolling golden ocean, the Sun God with the head of an eagle and the body of a human body looked at the end of the 'sea'.

Ra didn't know what was special about that mortal, but he was certain that the crazy and reckless erosion in the foreign land was caused by him.

Killing 800 enemies and damaging 3000 yourself, even in a world where there is only instinct, one should not do such a thing. Although a world's gain is enough to make up for this loss as long as it finally wins, if the price of gaining more gains is only a little time, then why should a world say no?

The other person's world just refused, and the power of the interface targeted that mortal and continued to penetrate this world. La didn't know what would happen if the two came into contact, but whatever the enemy wanted to do, he had to stop it.

"Not only that mortal, Your Majesty, but also Him..."

Shu's voice came from his ears, and the Sun God Ra knew what the other party was talking about.

Opposite the intersection of black and gold, there is darkness like an abyss. And just when the foreign offensive surged, and La took the opportunity to convey the oracle to the world, in the boundless darkness, something seemed to have made some move.

As for the results of this action...

Sharp eagle eyes scanned the surroundings. For some reason, La suddenly felt that the surrounding environment seemed to have changed.

The intersection of the black and gold oceans began to intersect with each other. The two were no longer on the left and right of a 'wavy line', but became me in you and you in me.

The expansion of the contact surface brings greater mutual losses, but this is not what La really cares about. But with the changes in the power of foreign lands and this world, the rules of Yuanhai seem to be slowly shifting.

In front of his eyes, a 'chessboard' seemed to come into being from scratch, and gradually spread across it.

Everything in all things is connected by this, and he, the sun god Ra, is a chess player, but he is also a chess piece... The fate of this world and his own lies in the square inch of black and white in front of him.