If it hadn't been already midnight, Ye Qingxuan would have definitely rushed to Elder Caligula's house to take Elsa out and ask her how to get in.
But Elsa only has a five-minute memory, so I’m afraid she can’t tell clearly, right
Just why are the twin snakes emblem here
There is even one on her wrist...
Ye Qingxuan held his pocket watch and thought for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out. He suddenly became frustrated: The cruelest thing in the world is that the door is right in front of you, but you can't find it and can't get in.
Sighing sadly, he looked back at the broken statues on the ground and shook his head slowly.
"After so many years, people in Romulus have probably forgotten all about it, otherwise the place would not be in such a state of ruin, and even the holy fire would be extinguished."
He shook his head and turned around, about to leave, but his body froze in place.
Holy fire…
Holy fire!
The Romulans originated from the oasis of Thebes, established the City of Seven Wolves, and opened up their own empire.
At that time, I don’t know how many ethnic groups from all directions came here, integrated into Romulus, and brought their gods into the empire. Therefore, the temple of Romulus is called the Pantheon.
However, the folk beliefs of the Romulus people have always maintained a relatively primitive ancestor worship - they believe that the souls of their ancestors reside in the family's flames, so the family fire must always be burning. People from the same family must be worshiping the same family fire, and this connection is closer than blood ties.
The patriarch of a family also performs family fire sacrifices, and each family even has different prayers and rituals.
When a bride of a family gets married, a musician must stand in for the spirit of the ancestors to witness before the family fire. From then on, the girl breaks away from the family fire and joins the family fire of another family.
Therefore, the holy fire in the temple, which represents the location of the gods, must not be extinguished.
Even in this temple, the saint's body originally played the role of "fire watcher". When he revived, he absorbed the holy fire and turned it into his own power, so the flames no longer existed.
"Then... I'll light another one for you!"
Ye Qingxuan turned around and came back, stood in front of the fire altar, cleaned away the ashes, directly broke the rotten chair and threw it in, rubbed out the flames, and threw it in.
Then in the darkness, the fire lit up.
Ye Qingxuan took off the Eyes of Silence and stared at the temple in front of him.
Amid the faint firelight, a certain solemn atmosphere seemed to appear above the broken statues of the gods. Hundreds of years ago, the Romulus came here and opened it as a cemetery for heroes. They also built residences for gods here and burned slaves and sacrifices as sacrifices.
When the flames burned again, the gods seemed to have returned from the darkness, staring at Ye Qingxuan with their broken bodies, and at the foreign worshipper.
In front of the weak firelight, Ye Qingxuan only felt a tremor in his pocket watch. After taking it out of his pocket, he saw the pair of snake emblems slowly light up, then quickly extinguished, and even the dark emblems disappeared.
The mirror-like pocket watch case reflected the light of the holy fire, and there seemed to be some small depression on it, thus casting a rectangular outline on the wall.
Traces of light drifted on the wall with the fine adjustments of Ye Qingxuan's wrist, and finally moved between the two statues, like a door.
A door…
Ye Qingxuan looked blankly at the pocket watch in his hand, then at the light and shadow door on the wall, and put away the pocket watch, but the outline of the door still stayed there.
"Is this okay?"
He walked over doubtfully, pushed it, and opened it.
It works!
He stared blankly at the open door and the brightly lit space behind the door for a long time before stepping into it.
Behind the door, in a secret chamber, a statue holding a flame stands. On his platform, there is also a line of dark golden writing engraved on it, which is made of lapis lazuli and brass. Immortal for thousands of years.
In the light of the fire, the teachings from the ancient priests shone brightly.
"Disteminoremquodgeris, imperas"
-Because you fear the gods, you rule the world.
Just in front of the lecture, someone abandoned a worn-out robe. The robe was covered with dust, but Ye Qingxuan could tell at a glance that it was the clothes worn by King Huang.
He abandoned this thing here, just like abandoning the glory and throne that countless people dreamed of.
But before Ye Qingxuan had time to take a closer look, his attention was already attracted by the things next to the robes.
Suddenly, he wished he had never been here.
He would rather he had not discovered the secret behind this door, and would rather he had never been to this place.
I felt regret from the bottom of my heart and almost wanted to run away!
He looked at the thing blankly, as if falling into an ice cave, trembling all over, and almost fell to the ground.
Faced with so many powerful enemies, so many terrifying monsters, and even when fighting natural disasters, he never hesitated. Ye Qingxuan once thought that nothing in this world could make him lose his composure.
But looking at it, Ye Qingxuan felt a sense of fear from the bottom of his heart.
"What the hell... is this?!"
…
…
Late at night, on top of the Holy City.
The heavy and sad bell rang, spreading in all directions.
Outside the Holy Spirit Hall, several archbishops in red robes looked solemn, staring at the fire in the hall like a candle in the wind from a long distance away.
In the sad tolling of the bells, they sighed softly and lowered their eyes.
The Holy Spirit Temple is the most important place in the Holy City. It can be said to be one of the cores. It is even more important than the Pope's Palace. There is no heavy security here, not even the guarding knights are seen, only the priests in gray come and go.
Enshrined in this hall are all the saints who placed their consciousness in the ether and transformed into the Holy Spirit after death. Those holy spirits sleep in this palace, delaying their own decay, waiting for the moment when they need to step onto the battlefield.
Compared with the world, human consciousness is, after all, too small and short-lived.
When the delayed death finally arrives, the bell will ring to announce the passing of the Holy Spirit.
This is the sixth time in a century.
Outside the hall, several archbishops whispered softly.
"Is it going to finally go out?"
"Although he is a saint, after all, it has been six hundred years. The number of people is limited, and nothing can escape."
"But he is different."
Someone sighed, and everyone stopped talking.
In the temple, what is about to be extinguished and perished at this moment is the great musician who single-handedly created the Romulus era six hundred years ago, and the eternal emperor of the Romulus people.
—Holy Spirit Aeneas.
In the temple, someone pushed open the door and entered.
The traveler from afar passed the long sarcophagi on both sides, and finally stood in front of the altar. On the altar, in the weak flames, the blurred face of the Holy Spirit slowly raised his head and stared at the coming face.
The visitor no longer looks like he used to, and he no longer looks as handsome and feminine as before. Only his long hair still shines like gold. In just a few months, he had aged like a middle-aged man. He looked weathered, but still fat.
Only the emblem of the two intertwined snakes on the cane still shines.
He smiled when he saw the Holy Spirit in the fire.
"Hermes?"
In the flames, Aeneas looked at him, his eyes suddenly clear: "Long time no see."
"Yeah, long time no see."
Hermes sat next to the altar, leaning against the stone pillar, and said softly: "I'm here to see you off."
"Thanks."
Aeneas nodded, Hermes lowered his head, took out his pipe from his pocket, and lit it. Unfortunately, the pulley lighter was filled with water and could not be lit. After working on it for a long time, he sighed helplessly and cursed.
Aeneas put his fingers on the pipe, and the faint embers lit the tobacco.
"Thank you." Hermes grinned, took a big breath, and let out a long breath: "I've been riding in the carriage for several days. I'm really exhausted."
Aeneas looked at him, hesitated, and asked softly:
"Are they... okay?"
"Of course."
Hermes said lightly: "It's a good thing to be alive these days, right? Besides, as a group of homeless refugees, it would be nice to have a piece of land for them to stay. What about you? Stay here and follow It’s like being in jail, if you don’t want me to take you out for a walk.”
"Before you came, I had a dream."
Aeneas said: "What a coincidence I saw you coming when I woke up."
"It's a good thing to have dreams. What did you dream about? Tell me."
"Dreams about my house fire."
He sighed softly, "I dreamed that I left here, returned to the home fire, and reunited with my ancestors. But when I woke up, I felt scared: I had done so many wrong things, and I didn't know what they would say to me. What."
"Don't worry, you did a lot of right things." Hermes said, "If there is an afterlife, you will definitely enjoy blessings."
"Is there really an afterlife?"
"No."
Hermes shook his head: "You have lived so old, Aeneas, don't you understand? Human beings are what you see, 70% are water, the bones are calcium, and the body is It's blood that flows, and you breathe when you're alive. Dead? There's nothing left."
He pointed at his head and said softly: "There is no little person called 'soul' here, Aeneas, I'm sorry, and there is no world after death."
"That's right."
Aeneas sighed softly, seeming to calm down: "Thank you."
"You're welcome, this is what I should do. You are the first person I know, and I have the responsibility to witness your death. But I didn't expect that this day would come so late, six hundred years late."
"It's almost here, it's almost here... In the blink of an eye, it will be six hundred years ago."
Aeneas smiled and closed his eyes.
In the flames, the Holy Spirit was half-kneeling on the altar, lowering his head to the person in front of him:
"I once embarked on the road of destiny due to the guidance of the gods, and achieved great achievements due to fate. Now, six hundred years have passed, and the traces I left on the earth have disappeared, and I am about to disappear. - From beginning to end, you Witness me.”
Hermes lowered his eyes, "Aeneas, you have also witnessed me."
"People like me are called heroes and emperors because they have power and have done something while they are alive. Unfortunately, what I can do is limited after all. I have lived for six hundred years in vain, but I always hope to be able to do something for those who have been displaced. What can people do, but unfortunately I can’t do anything now. I hope you can guide them, Hermes, just like you guided me back then."
"All things have a destiny, Aeneas, it is fate that guides you." Hermes smoked his pipe and said softly: "I will take care of them for you. Don't worry, there is an old man with a good mind. In the future, they I’m afraid it won’t be too bad.”
"It would be great."
Aeneas smiled happily. In the flames, his dim figure swayed, gradually dissipated and turned into ashes. In the ashes, that old face gradually shattered, this was the last farewell:
"goodbye."
"Well, goodbye." Hermes closed his eyes.
The flames went out and the embers flew up into the sky like birds.
Hermes stretched out his hand, caught the falling ashes, and held it tightly.
"goodbye."