Oracle Controversy
In this land, the shadow of theocracy is far older and deeper than the sunlight of kingship.
The next day, before the sky of Thebes was fully bright, a repressive undercurrent was already surging between the palace and the temple.
The oracle Panebus, an old man who had served in the Temple of Amun for fifty years, had a wrinkled face that was as sharp as an eagle.
He joined forces with several old priests who also had white hair and beards and were of high status, and with lightning speed, blocked the Pharaoh's way outside the palace meeting hall before all officials met.
"His Majesty!"
Panebu's voice was hoarse but full of unquestionable power. The golden scepter in his hand slammed heavily on the ground, making a dull sound.
"Princess Ding Wei, you have arbitrarily altered the thousand-year-old sacrificial rituals. This is a blatant blasphemy against the Supreme God Amon! The gods have unleashed their wrath. If you do not punish me, all of Egypt will suffer divine punishment!"
The group of old priests behind him echoed in unison, their stern faces engraved with the inviolable majesty of divine authority.
They held high the papyrus scrolls in their hands, on which were listed Ding Wei's crimes of "heresy".
Ramses' young face was instantly covered with frost, and his golden eyes were burning with anger, almost burning the old men in front of him to ashes.
"How outrageous! Everything the princess does is to pray for the kingdom's well-being. How can this be considered blasphemy? You, a bunch of you who are taking advantage of your age, are you trying to challenge this Pharaoh's authority in the name of God?"
The Pharaoh's pressure was like a mountain, and several younger officials were so frightened that their legs went weak.
However, Panebu remained unmoved. He stared directly at Ramses with his cloudy eyes and spoke word by word, "We dare not. But the divine might is like a prison, beyond human power to contend with. To prove the princess's innocence and appease the gods' wrath, we request that a 'divine judgment ceremony' be held for the princess!"
When the words "divine judgment ceremony" came out, everyone in the room was shocked.
This is a ritual so ancient that it is almost cruel, and it is only used in major religious disputes that shake the foundation of the country.
If she fails, what awaits Ding Wei will be a miserable ending of retreating to the harem, being completely deprived of all power, and never being able to interfere in politics again.
"Absolutely not!" Ramses was furious. He almost ordered the guards to drag these stubborn old guys out.
"I will prove the princess' innocence. It's not your turn to point fingers!"
At this tense moment, a cold and firm voice came from behind Ramses.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to accept the judgment of God."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ding Wei wearing a simple white linen robe, walking out calmly.
There was no fear on her face, but instead a calmness that seemed to show that she knew everything.
"Wei!" Ramses grabbed her hand, his eyes full of worry and confusion.
Ding Wei shook her head soothingly at him, then turned to Panebu, her eyes as clear as stars. "The Oracle is right. The majesty of the gods cannot be desecrated. But if the gods are truly omniscient and omnipotent as you claim, then they will see through my heart and clear my name."
Her words were powerful and she easily took over the banner of "divine power" held high by Panebu and others, and turned the tables on them.
Yes, if the God you believe in is omniscient, how could he wrongly accuse an innocent person?
Panebu's eyelids twitched violently. He didn't expect Ding Wei to accept the challenge so straightforwardly.
But he quickly regained his composure and sneered, "The princess is indeed courageous. Then, the ceremony will be held on the full moon night three days from now in the main hall of the Temple of Amun."
Ding Wei nodded slightly, but her heart was already in turmoil.
She knew that this was not just a trial against her, but also a long-planned political strangulation.
Theocracy, the giant beast that had been lurking over Egypt for thousands of years, finally showed its sharpest fangs to her.
If you want to completely break its grip on royal power, you have to confront it head-on and tear its hypocritical cloak to pieces!
The news of the divine judgment swept across Thebes like a storm.
On the night of the full moon, the Temple of Amun was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was suffocatingly solemn.
The ceremony is divided into three stages, each of which is extremely dangerous.
The first level is to walk barefoot across a ten-meter-long charcoal road.
In the second level, drink the psychedelic holy water extracted from the black lotus core of the Nile River, and interpret an obscure oracle in a hallucination.
The third and most mysterious stage is to spend a night alone with God in the completely sealed Holy of Holies of the temple until dawn the next day.
Ding Wei knew very well that the first two levels tested people's will and knowledge.
Fo Tan Road is not a dangerous place as long as you insulate your feet in advance.
As for the psychedelic holy water, she can rely on the "self-suggestion method" in modern psychology to forcibly maintain a part of her consciousness awake.
The real killer move is hidden in the third level.
There was no way that enclosed temple could simply be a place for her to stay quietly for a night.
In her mind, the prophecy left by Queen Nefertiti in her dream resurfaced: "The wind rises from the east."
wind?
Where does the wind come from in the closed temple?
Unless... there is an unknown vent or secret passage!
And the direction is in the east!
Ding Wei used the excuse of visiting Princess Hathor, who was implicated and confined to a side hall because of her, to reveal all her guesses.
Hathor's beautiful face was filled with worry after hearing this, but she didn't hesitate. "Sister, I can't influence the temple's decision, but my mother was once a priestess of the Temple of Amun. Perhaps I can find a clue among the dusty drawings in the archives."
Hathor used her identity as a princess to avoid being seen and searched the ancient archives of the temple for a whole day and night.
Finally, she found the key mark in the corner of an architectural drawing marked with text from the Old Kingdom period - there was indeed an extremely hidden stone door inside the east wall, and behind the door was the passage leading to the underground maze!
After receiving the news, Ding Wei immediately asked her most trusted maid to make several special gauze masks overnight.
The lining of the mask was made of simple activated charcoal, which she instructed her maid to make by crushing the charcoal and wrapping it in linen.
She concluded that the enemy was likely releasing some kind of hallucinogenic or poisonous smoke into the temple.
In addition, she hid a small bottle of vinegar made from sour fruits in a secret pocket of her loose white robe.
If the toxin in the holy water is alkaline, this bottle of vinegar will be her life-saving straw.
The night of God's judgment attracted everyone's attention.
Ding Wei took off her shoes, revealing a pair of feet as white as jade.
Under the cold gaze of Panebu and others, she took a deep breath and stepped onto the charcoal road burning with blazing flames.
A shocking scene happened. She walked calmly, each step landing steadily on the red-hot charcoal, without even a trace of pain on her face.
After completing the whole journey, the soles of her feet were completely unharmed!
The priests were in an uproar.
They naturally didn't know that before coming, Ding Wei had repeatedly smeared the soles of her feet with moist river mud, forming an invisible heat-insulating protective film.
The second level follows.
The waiter brought a glass of holy water with an eerie blue glow.
Ding Wei took it and repeated to herself in her mind: "I am awake, I am Ding Wei, everything here is an illusion." She closed her eyes and drank the holy water.
A feeling of dizziness instantly swept through her brain, and countless bizarre scenes flashed before her eyes.
But with her strong will and the weak neutralizing effect of the bottle of vinegar in her stomach, she maintained the last bit of clarity.
When Panebu read out the difficult and illogical oracle, Ding Wei caught a few recurring syllables in the chaotic illusion, and combined with the metaphors of ancient Egyptian mythology, she gave a perfect interpretation in an equally mysterious language.
Panebu's expression changed completely.
The oracle he quoted was a fragment, and even he himself could not fully explain it. He just wanted Ding Wei to look ugly in the hallucination, but he didn't expect that she could answer fluently!
"Now, it's the third level." Panebu's voice was so cold that it seemed to come out of the cracks in the ground.
Ding Wei was led into the dark sanctuary of the temple by two priests, and the heavy stone door slowly closed behind her.
Absolute darkness and deathly silence instantly swallowed her.
Without any panic, she immediately groped along the wall and soon felt a very weak air flow in the corner of the east wall.
The vent was indeed there, but it was blocked from the outside with rocks and soil!
She immediately took out the prepared mask from her bosom and put it on, then quietly retreated to the center of the temple, sat cross-legged, and waited for the real "divine punishment" to come.
Time passed minute by minute, and at midnight, something strange happened!
The ground beneath her shook slightly, and a square tile slid silently to the side, revealing a pitch-black hole.
Immediately afterwards, several tall men dressed in black and wearing jackal masks on their faces filed out of the cave. Their movements were swift and silent, like ghosts from the underworld.
The leader whispered hoarsely, "Those who blaspheme will be punished by God himself. Come with us, princess."
They talked about divine punishment, but the hands they extended were shackled. It was obvious that they wanted to kidnap her secretly and create the illusion that she was "taken away by God"!
Ding Wei has been waiting for this moment!
She stood up suddenly, a sharp cold light flashed in her eyes, and at the same time, she threw the small bag of sulfur powder that she had already clenched in her hand towards the nearest brazier!
With a "sizzling" sound, the yellow powder ignited when it came into contact with fire, and a pungent smoke spread instantly.
Taking advantage of the other party's obstructed vision and difficulty breathing, Ding Wei used all her strength to let out a clear shout, the sound penetrating the thick stone wall:
"If the gods wanted to punish me, why would they be so sneaky and covert?"
This cry was like thunder, exploding in the silent night sky of the temple.
"boom!"
The door of the temple was knocked open by a huge force, and flames rushed in instantly. Ramses rushed in with a golden battle axe in his hand, leading a team of elite palace guards!
Under Ding Wei's instructions, he had already set up a tight net outside the palace, waiting for a signal to take action.
The scene before him made Ramses' eyes bloodshot.
Those so-called "messengers of God" panicked in the smoke and flames. The mask of one of them fell off in the chaos, revealing the terrified face of the oracle Panebu!
The criminal was caught red-handed, and the evidence is irrefutable.
The guards pounced on them like wolves and tigers, capturing all the priests who were pretending to be God's messengers.
Under the threat of the Pharaoh's wrath and torture, Panebus's psychological defenses collapsed instantly.
He confessed with tears in his eyes that it was the second prince Anubis who found him and promised that after the success, he would help him ascend to the position of high priest, completely control the temple, and compete with the pharaoh.
At dawn, Ramses stood on the steps of the Temple of Amun, and in front of all the nobles and priests, he personally threw the decree of the "Divine Judgment Ceremony" into the fire basin, letting it turn to ashes.
"From today onwards, the temple shall not arbitrarily decide the fate of any member of the royal family!"
The Pharaoh's voice resounded through the heavens: "If the gods truly have words, they should have consulted me first, the Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, the incarnation of Horus!"
Ding Wei stood quietly beside him, the faint light of morning light shining on her calm face, as if coating her with a layer of sacred glow.
She knew that this night, she had not only won a trial, but also had shaken the cornerstone of theocracy that had been deeply rooted and had held Egypt in check for thousands of years.
However, things are far from over.
Panebus is just a chess piece, the real player is Anubis.
The lights in the palace meeting hall were bright, but the atmosphere was more solemn than the coldest winter night.
The guards escorted the shackled Anubis to the center of the hall. His once noble prince's robe was now filthy, but on his face, which was somewhat similar to Ramses', there was no trace of fear or regret.
Under Ramses' scrutiny that was enough to freeze the Nile, and under the gazes of the civil and military officials in the court who were either terrified or contemptuous, Anubis slowly raised his head.
He looked around and finally fixed his eyes on Ding Wei. A strange sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth, as if he was mocking everyone's naivety.
Behind this smile, there seems to be a bigger and more terrifying secret hidden, which is far more thrilling than a failed coup.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
