Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1682 Priest
The high priest had been wearing the classic Egyptian Nemean turban – which is basically a shirt draped over the head and left to hang down naturally.

Now he's taken off his hood indoors, and his bald head is practically sparkling, smoother than a stone in water.

"Are you surprised?" The high priest looked at Shangluo. "My hairstyle is a basic requirement for priests. All priests in Egypt should strictly maintain a shaved head."

This is why in the movies about ancient Egyptian mummies that Shangluo had seen before, the high priests with divine power were all bald—that was very realistic; Egyptian priests had to be bald.

"But this is too shiny."

"I washed it with lye." Lye is a natural mineral that dissolves in water and becomes alkaline. "Sometimes I feel like I'm being washed in lye, like a piece of tender beef."

Upon closer inspection, Shangluo could indeed see it. Not only was her scalp very smooth, but her exposed face and hands were also remarkably smooth.

"Please come in, gentlemen." He led Shang Luo and Victoria in, and then invited Victoria to his seat.

Victoria didn't find it strange and simply sat down.

“Oh, you may not know this,” he explained to Shangluo. “Theoretically, there is only one High Priest of Amun, and that is the Pharaoh himself. Her Majesty Victoria is the successor of Ptolemy, so she is undoubtedly the High Priest of Amun. This position should rightfully belong to her. However, you may sit here.”

"Judging from your tone, it seems you know me?"

“We have met before,” the high priest replied, “and more than once.”

"where?"

“Yaru,” the high priest replied, “but you probably didn’t recognize me then—I have my own house in Yaru. I was there watching you when you blew a hole between Yaru and reality that day.”

"Wait a minute." Shangluo realized something. "You...you're not alive?"

“Of course not. How could the priesthood of Amun be passed down from living people to the present day? Let alone such a complicated priestly ritual. Even a dish of beef would be distorted after two generations. The only way to pass on ancient sacrifices is to let the ancients continue them themselves.”

"Wow, you're from ancient Egypt, and you can still accept these commercialized rituals?"

“There’s nothing strange about that,” the high priest explained. “During my lifetime, Egypt had already experienced a tremendous cultural shock—the Greeks introduced their culture, and Ptolemy Pharaoh hoped to unite our two cultures. I was born in that era and was already accustomed to accepting foreigners into our ceremonies. That’s why the temple was willing to bestow the title of ‘Son of Amun’ upon Alexander the Great. It’s a tradition. After all, truly xenophobic people were rejected as early as when Ptolemy entered Egypt.”

Flexibility and adaptability are the secrets to the survival of Egyptian culture after the complete decline of Egyptian civilization. The Coptic people integrated their language and script into Orthodox Christianity, preserving even their own alphabet and thus being able to decipher many ancient Egyptian documents. This is a remarkable achievement for a people who had long lost their nation.

After all, it's better to live a wretched life than to die a glorious death. "But how did you all survive?" Shang Luo asked in surprise. "Is it really that simple to go from Yalu to the mortal world?"

"It's not simple, my King of Rome. But as you can see, we live on—because Thebes is a city of a hundred gates and a thousand pillars, a crossroads of all directions. On the other side of the Nile lies the resting place of the pharaohs of the past. On this side of the river are temples and the dwellings of mortals. The boundary between the living and the dead is not so clear; we can return from the world of the dead simply by crossing the Nile."

"You look perfectly normal?"

“That’s natural,” the high priest replied. “I have spent countless years in Aru. As you know, Aru is the ideal place for us to go after death—a fertile land where you can reap a harvest simply by cultivating it. As the name suggests, you reap a harvest only by cultivating it. Even I, in Aru, had to cultivate the land myself to reap a harvest. I love farming, and so do all the Egyptians. Who wouldn’t love such a stable and pleasant life? Now I’m just working in a different place, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

He looked at Shangluo and said, “You find it strange that I’m distributing the food, right? But I haven’t violated any ancient rules—the god Ameng is supreme and would not eat such mundane things. So, since ancient times, the offerings after worshipping Ameng have been shared by everyone. It’s perfectly reasonable for me to share some with the tourists.”

He didn't find this lifestyle strange at all; in fact, he enjoyed it—he was even ready to open a branch in Cyprus.

"Unbelievable," Shang Luo said in a deep voice. "So, have you seen those Dragon Tooth Soldiers?"

“I’ve seen them.” He pointed to the opposite bank. “Those Dragon Tooth soldiers are all over there. They have their own things to do, and I have mine to do, so naturally I don’t need to bother with them. After all, they came here for the Pharaoh.”

What are they doing there?

“They’re not doing anything,” the high priest replied. “They just live there—there’s nothing strange about that. In Cairo, and in many other places, the local people also live in ancient tombs. These tombs were originally built by human hands, and if they can still provide shelter for people after the civilization has perished, then it’s not a waste that they built these wonders here. Do you want to take them all back?”

"I think so."

"Then you may have to put in some effort. You may have a hard time distinguishing those Dragon Tooth Soldiers from the crowd."

"How to say?"

“They have already crossed the Nile,” the high priest replied. “Look at me, I didn’t originally belong to this world. But after crossing the river to the world of the living, I look no different from an ordinary person. They have crossed the river to the world of the dead, and they are no different from the dead. It’s not an easy task to distinguish them. Especially when they return to where they came from—after all, have you ever wondered how these Dragon Tooth Soldiers came to be?”

Shangluo shook his head.

"Alas," the high priest sighed. "Mummy powder is a valuable ingredient for alchemy. Now that I've said this, things should be clear. Who dug them up back then, and who used their bones to make medicine? It was all the alchemists' own doing."

(End of this chapter)