bit stealing game

Chapter 56 Temple of Set

I spread my arms and stuck myself at the entrance of the hole, so that I didn't completely fall in. However, my arms were almost broken by the impact just now.

"What's wrong?"

Lou Shiqi and He Rongchuan heard the noise and ran back. They were shocked when they saw that my body was half buried in the ground, and they hurriedly came to pull me out. The entrance of the hole trembled as they approached.

"Don't get too close, the soil is loose!" I yelled.

The steps behind me paused, and then they moved over cautiously. The two of them grabbed my arms, one on the left and the other on the right, and then pulled me out.

The three of us retreated far away, and after all the floating soil sank, a man-made hole appeared.

I gritted my teeth and thought about who would be so wicked as to drill a hole at the base of the wall, wouldn't I be afraid that the sand would not be able to bear the strength and the whole wall would collapse?

"Did you also step out of the temple like this last year?" Lou Shiqi looked at the entrance in front of him and marveled, and did not forget to make sarcastic remarks. "I have seen it."

I was a little confused when I heard what he said. I thought that I had offended the Egyptian land master or something, and he wanted to drag me underground at every turn.

After a while, everyone heard the sound and came over.

After asking about the situation, Patrick looked at the scene on the stone pillar attentively and suddenly clapped his hands: "It's a Senet game!"

We have all heard of Senet. But wasn’t that what Thoth and Kongsu played when they made a bet? The moon god Kongsu also lost the power of the full moon for this.

Seeing Patrick immersed in the murals, Jacqueline had no choice but to suppress her desire to see what was going on, and explained to us: "Actually, Senet is a general term for a type of clearance game, which usually appears as a companion in tombs.

"As for the entrance that appears," she said, she couldn't help but glance at the game scene and then at me. "Did you just follow the instructions painted on it?"

I nodded awkwardly and added, "But I'm not done yet, I'm ready to leave."

"That's right." Jacqueline suddenly realized. "Actually, what is painted on this pillar is just a common expression of Senet. There are no specific rules, and it is incomplete. You should have just unlocked it by mistake.

This game triggered the entrance."

Everyone was a little speechless for a while. They thought I was too boring and would go to hopscotch when I saw the underline.

Li Yuan looked at me and then asked Jacqueline: "What if the solution is wrong? What would happen if she solved it wrongly?"

I shuddered after realizing it. Although it is a chess game, after all, Senet is not like our Chinese Go. This is a matter of life and death. If I make a wrong move, it will be really unthinkable.

No one answered Li Yuan.

Later, I looked through Old Blake's notes and found that regarding the Temple of Set, he briefly mentioned that someone knew how to play the Senet game, but did not write down the specific method.

Fortunately, if you fail to clear the game, the penalty is just that you can't find the entrance, not a wrong entrance.

Everyone's eyes first glanced at me, and then they used their eyes to consecrate the sudden entrance.

Ya Nuo looked at me funny: "Yu, you are really unexpected."

I said nothing.

Someone used a flashlight to shine down and discovered that there were steps underneath the seemingly bottomless hole.

If I hadn't been quick-sighted and hung myself in the air from the beginning, I would have actually fallen on the steps.

Lou Shiqi looked at this situation and glanced at me. If there weren't so many people, I would have wanted to punch that smiling face.

However, now I can only smile awkwardly and turn to study the hole that appeared out of thin air with everyone.

It can be seen from the ground that there are twelve steps, and the height between each step is about 20 centimeters. At the bottom, there is a corridor leading directly to the front. Going further in, the light cannot shine in.

Although we still can't see the true identity of this thing underground, we know that the Temple of Set we are looking for this time is probably buried there.

From this point of view, if the destroyed statue of the god is still standing in its original position, it can indeed be regarded as the pioneer of this underground building.

Without saying much, Buswell walked into the passage first. Morgan asked Alex to stay outside and followed him in. Meng Weiqing glanced at Teacher Bai, and when the latter nodded, he also turned on his flashlight and walked down.

The villagers standing nearby seemed to have known about such a place for a long time. They didn't show any surprise, and they didn't stop anyone from going down. It was just the solemn expression on their faces that made people feel bad.

Jacqueline stepped forward and talked to the man in Arabic for a while, then came back and said to us: "This man told me that someone also came to the temple below twelve years ago. There should be no danger inside, but the specifics are

He doesn’t know what the situation is.”

Karl couldn't hold himself back for a long time. Seeing that Meng Weiqing and the others had not come up after going down for a while, he was a little anxious. He shouted: "Bruce! I'll go down and take a look first." After getting a response, he dived in.

Bruce, who was called, continued to look at the mural of Thutmose III playing chess with the Sun God, and then gently touched the sacrifice in the hand of the Pharaoh in another sacrificial scene.

Showing some deep expression.

Noticing my gaze, he withdrew his hand and stuffed his slightly pale hand back into his thin leather gloves.

"Then I'll go down and take a look." After Bruce said this, Jacqueline followed him.

Patrick was still studying the stone pillar with the Senet game painted on it, and almost pressed his face against it. However, he was pulled out by Jacqueline, "There might be more murals underneath." and he quickly stepped on it.

steps.

The few remaining people looked at each other.

Arno said: "Shall we go down and take a look?" Li Yuan and Alex nodded, and Rhea's eyes also lit up.

Remembering the team leader’s instructions, Lou Shiqi and I both looked at Teacher Bai.

Teacher Bai thought for a while and said: "Su Shang, can you stay up there with Rong Chuan? If Professor Luo comes later, help me tell him about the situation. Xiao Wang and I will go down and take a look."

Rhea was a little reluctant, but still said: "Okay, then hurry up and come up."

I'm a little surprised.

Rhea is obviously very interested in entering the Temple of Set, but she is willing to listen to Teacher Bai's arrangement and wait. After all, a willful person can put the overall situation first, which really makes me admire her. And Teacher Bai

Call her Su Shang. I heard Lao Zhang’s sister call her this name once. It seems that Rhea and 279 have a close relationship.

Teacher Bai took the lead, and Lou Shiqi walked down behind him. Arnold and Alex nodded to us and disappeared at the entrance of the cave.

I looked at the steps extending underground.

If there really is a temple down there, it would be much more difficult than digging a temple in the Valley of the Kings. After all, when building an underground building in the desert, it is a miracle that the sand did not collapse the underground structure.

Li Yuan patted my shoulder and motioned for us to go down and take a look.

I grabbed him. Then I walked up to the local people who were watching indifferently and asked, "Excuse me, what's going on with that?"

I am referring to the disfigured statue. Because my Arabic is too poor to express it, I can only use body language instead.

Although there is no evidence, I think it is nine out of ten that this is the nameless god. If the person who destroyed it is still in the village, or someone knows the clues about the facial features of this nameless god, it may be able to help us determine where this is.

sacred.

The local people looked over and told us in English: "The people who built the mosque destroyed it, but they left long ago. People here feel it is unlucky and rarely come here."

Indeed, these are some basic operations of religions in the past.

When Christianity arrived in Greece and Rome, it also destroyed other people's temples first, because monotheism and polytheism are incompatible. And the Koran requires that there should be no idol worship, so it is normal to see undisfigured statues of gods in places with mosques.

However, the true identity of the nameless God in Mount Lu, which we have been searching for to no avail, was actually destroyed for religious reasons. This is really ironic.

Li Yuan and I exchanged glances, and both saw the helplessness in the other's eyes.

He turned on his flashlight and walked into the entrance ahead of me.

When I thought that one of the temples that Thutmose III hid in the [Temple of Horus] records was down there, I took a deep breath and stepped on the steps I had not stepped on just now.

Dare to ask where the road is, the road is at your feet.

After going down the steps, there is a corridor directly ahead.

There is not much space at the entrance, so Li Yuan had to move forward to give me a place to stay.

The corridor was a little wider, but it was too tight to allow Li Yuan and I to walk side by side. There were murals on the walls on both sides and above our heads, but most of them were commonplace scenes, so we didn't stay much longer.

As we stepped on it, we discovered that the corridor had some slopes, and it went downwards as we walked. After about a dozen steps, the road under our feet suddenly turned to the left. We followed the turn, and the flashlight illuminated the end of the passage not far away.

The falcon-headed Horus is painted on the stone wall at the end. He stands sideways like the images that appear on all ancient Egyptian murals, with his hands stretched forward, as if he is showing us the way.

In the direction of His finger, there is an open door. On the left and right of the stone door are the images of Osiris and Amun.

I walked in and knew I was in the right place this time.

There is a whole other world underneath this earth.

The main hall in front of you is at least three or four meters high, about ten meters wide, and more than twenty meters deep. The walls and ceiling are painted with colorful intaglio carvings, and even the ground is carved with patterns.

The settings of ancient Egyptian temples are nothing more than several types - those that worship the gods, those that praise the achievements of the pharaoh, and those that vouch for the pharaoh's birth. The characteristics are huge statues of gods, statues of pharaohs with murals, and the last one emphasizes the gifts given by the gods.

Pharaoh His glory.

However, this temple does not completely conform to any of them.

And this hall is not full of painted pillars. Logically speaking, such a high ceiling requires at least a few load-bearing pillars, but strangely there are none here.

The murals on both sides are the experiences of Thutmose III under the guidance of Hades and Sun God, which are completely the follow-up of the two mural walls on the ground.

Thutmose III followed Osiris and Amun through the trial and boarded the golden ship of the sun respectively, and finally the two parties converged on the scene on the wall in the middle.

On the wall facing us, Seth, the god of the desert, stood in front of the sun god and Hades, fighting with Apep, the big snake that swallowed the Styx. Thutmose III, holding tribute in his hand, also stood in front of the sun god and the god of the underworld.

On the ship. Above this battle, the Eye of Horus watched everything silently.

In front of the stone wall, echoing the mural, an altar with the idols removed is held up by layers of lotus petals. If you stand directly in front of the altar, the tribute in the hands of Thutmose III on the mural looks like a gift.

When we arrived at the altar, it was the same as before.

This point is similar to the structure of [Temple of Omniscientity] and [Temple of Horus].

Under the altar, there are long steps. On both sides of the steps are two statues as tall as one person. Each statue depicts two images. Thutmose III stood next to Seth, and both people and gods looked towards him.

Step forward with your left foot.

In the language of ancient Egyptian statues, this is a fighting posture.

The statue is tall and solemn, and looks particularly inhumane and oppressive under the limited light.

I walked around behind the statue on the left, and it was indeed full of inscriptions.

Jacqueline, who had already seen the statues on both sides, translated it. The general idea was that Thutmose III asked Seth for help. The young and energetic pharaoh went deep into the desert guarded by Seth, the god of strength, to find something.

Then God and Pharaoh faced off against a common enemy.

"But I'm not very sure what this word is." Jacqueline pointed to the cuneiform text next to Seth's name, "What is Seth's name?"

Patrick also looked at it for a long time and said hesitantly: "It seems to be the Bone of Seth."

Bones of Seth?

The Bones of Seth also appeared in the murals of the Temple of Horus below the China-Egypt archaeological team's construction site, but these two people probably never went in to see it. The French archaeological team before World War II seemed to have only left Horus.

There were rubbings of the Zodiac on the ceiling of the Temple of St., so Jacqueline did not know about the inscription on the Bone of Seth.

I was just thinking about whether to mention it when I heard the two of them discussing what the Bone of Seth might be and why they had never seen any relevant records.

I think it's right. The description of the Bone of Seth is more like unofficial history, and there is no mention of it in any documents.

In addition, I actually have some doubts myself. No one talks about the Bones of Seth in the Temple of Set. Even the ancient Egyptians were not so shy about taboos.

With this hesitation, the opportunity to strike up a conversation was missed.

Except for the idol, everything seemed familiar.

Except for the main figure in the middle of the mural, the upper and lower spaces are filled with various sacrifices, sacrifices and prisoners of war.

Li Yuan and others had also finished reading the murals in the hall, and were standing at the edge of the altar base with solemn expressions. I walked up and saw a string of Arabic covering the inscription that should have been engraved here.

Buswell read out in English: "Your blood as a sacrifice."

The airless room suddenly felt chilly.

Arno shrank his neck in discomfort, and Alex couldn't help but take a step back. As she stepped back, she bumped into Li Yuan. Li Yuan helped Alex's arm, but his eyes did not leave the altar.

I walked down the steps.

Lou Shiqi raised his head, looked at the tall statues of Seth and Thutmose III in front of him, and asked, "Isn't Seth a bad guy? Why do we need to build a temple for him?"

"In addition to the god of the desert, Set also has a title called "Lord of Strength" (great of strength). In some pyramid texts, it is mentioned that the power of the king is the power of Set, so it is very likely that Thutmose III

I am here to borrow Seth's power. But if you ask for something, you have to express it, right? Generally, the pharaoh's filial piety to the gods is to build temples."

I looked at the mural behind the altar again and continued: "And at the beginning of ancient Egyptian mythology, when the sun god Ra traveled to the underworld at night, Set was guarding him, and the one who killed the big snake Apep was always there.

They are all Set. When you look at the mural, what is painted is Set poking Apap with a weapon, causing it to spit out the water in its belly, so that the Sun Golden Ship can continue to sail through the night. There are also these gods

The position on the Sun Gold Ship is also particular. Under normal circumstances, the jackal-headed Seth stands behind Osiris, and behind himself stands Horus. However, when facing danger, the God of the Sky

Horus will stand in front."

Lou Shiqi looked at the mural wall above.

The gods all looked forward, looking directly at their powerful enemies, without taking a single glance at the mortals below.

"But Horus didn't appear here, only one eye was exposed. Is that dangerous or not?" He turned around and looked at me.

Where do I know where to go? There are so many strange places in this temple that it is even puzzling in itself.

Why did Thutmose III build such a temple in a remote desert? It was out of the way, and it was not the only way for Egypt to communicate with the outside world. Was it to suppress evil?

What danger is there in this hall that makes the gods on the murals feel like they are in danger?

Without waiting for my answer, Lou Shiqi did not go into details. "I heard that in the murals of the Philae Temple, it was said that the gods drained Seth's blood for fear of his resurrection. Where is this statement?

Coming?"

I was asked.

"Lou'er, you asked the wrong person about why. I only know that it is a legend. But I don't know who spread it. I can't guarantee whether it is true or not."

Lou Shiqi nodded without asking for any explanation, and soon asked, "Then this altar requires people to sacrifice blood. Who is it trying to resurrect?"

The moment I heard the question clearly, I couldn't help but be stunned.

This is the third time that [your blood is used as a sacrifice] appears. And it is unnecessary to write it again in Arabic.

As expelled priests, why on earth did Hassan and others try their best to find this place?

The Egyptians said that dripping blood on the altar was to verify the ancient bloodline. But what was the purpose of verifying it later?

Could it be that it was really to resurrect something, as Lou Shiqi said?

(End of chapter)