Absolute Gate

Chapter 73 God of the Boundary Between Life and Death
"I'm hungry..."

"Cow...you can eat it!"

Yak swayed his body and pounced on the dissected cow, licking the blood and tearing at the beef.

But he has bad teeth and can't chew raw beef no matter how hard he tries.

Unfortunately, he was extremely hungry at the moment, and in the end, he even pulled out one of his teeth to manage to get a small piece of meat, which he then swallowed whole.

“His internal organs have all grown back, and his basic bodily functions have now been restored. He is starting to feel hungry.”

As Wu Zhong spoke, seeing his famished, raw meat-eating appearance, and his miserable state of being hungry and unable to eat, he quickly took out some chocolate from his bag, carefully unwrapped it, and handed it to him.

Yak had blood all over his mouth. He licked it off and reached out to take the chocolate.

Looking at the dark substance, he seemed to have an idea and smeared it directly on his eyelids.

"Hey, hey, this isn't eyeshadow, buddy!"

"This is chocolate, it's food!"

He amused both of them.

"Food?" Ark realized he had misunderstood, blinked innocently, and tentatively took a bite of the chocolate.

With that one bite, he jolted awake, his body stiffening as he turned to look at the two of them, his eyes shining: "Delicious!"

He stuffed the rest into his mouth with a whoosh, even eating the packaging.

"You can't eat the wrapper!" Wu Zhong snatched the wrapper back from his mouth.

Having tasted the deliciousness, Yak abandoned the raw beef and, with his mouth full of blood, approached the two like a zombie: "Chocolate! Chocolate!"

Wu gave him all the snacks in his bag—biscuits, milk tablets, and beef jerky—which he ate with great relish.

At the same time, Wu Zhong ordered Yang Chunsha to clean up the scene.

The two cow carcasses were buried, and the bloodstains were covered up with earth magic.

“Come with us, Ark…”

"Ark?"

After everything was restored to its original state, they prepared to leave with Ark.

However, Yak stared blankly at the sun-kissed sand and asked, "Are you a new god?"

He was clearly terrified by Yang Chunsha's ability to manipulate soil and rocks.

Yang Chunsha chuckled: "Oh, I've become a god? Weren't there any enlightened beings in your time? Hmm, or perhaps angels?"

Yak tilted his head blankly. He understood every word of Yang Chunsha, but he didn't know what it meant.

Their ways of thinking, understanding, and worldviews are too different, so even if they can speak the same language, it will be difficult for them to communicate for the time being.

Yang Chunsha thought about it and realized it made sense. The primitive stone slab was ancient, but it was only about three thousand years old. Compared to the people in front of him, it was still very new.

“Let’s leave here first, I’ll take you to get something to eat,” Wu Zhong said, holding his hand.

As soon as Yak heard about food, he immediately went with them.

As he walked, he surveyed the surrounding temples and recognized the ram-headed lion sculptures lining the Avenue of the Sphinxes. His eyes instinctively revealed disgust: "Is this Amun's city?"

Seeing this, Yang Chunsha said, "Yes, the ram-headed sphinx represents the god Amun. You hate this place? You are hostile to this place? You don't believe in the sun god Amun?"

Ark stared blankly: "The sun god, it's Ra!"

The two looked at each other in bewilderment. Ancient Egypt had two sun god beliefs: Ra in the north and Amun in the south.

This boy clearly belongs to the former group, representing the faith of the lower Nile, which is not aligned with that of Thebes upstream.

Of course, eventually these two beliefs merged to form the sun god 'Amun-Ra'.

Wu Zhong asked, "This is Thebes. You were buried in their temple. You should recognize these temples, right?"

"Thebes?" Ark was completely baffled; he had never heard of the name before.

Wu Zhong was stunned and said, "This is the upper reaches of the Nile, the Karnak Temple in Thebes. You don't know where this is?"

"Has the environment changed a lot? These buildings didn't exist when you were buried alive?"

Yak looked around, observing the terrain and buildings.

The world has changed so much; there are modern buildings and even a mosque in the distance. It would be strange if he didn't recognize them.

However, he was still able to tell where it was from the style and design of the ruins.

“Waset…this is Waset,” Yak murmured.

Yang Chunsha looked it up and said, "Oh, he's talking about Thebes, but that's the name of the ancient Egyptians. The name Thebes is the Hellenized name, which is a name from a long time ago."

“Waset is destroyed, ho ho, Amon is dead, ho ho,” Yak laughed.

He could tell that this was the temple of Amun, which had become ruins, with crumbling walls and broken pillars everywhere, so it was easy to guess what had happened.

Wu Zhong scratched his head. Seeing how happy he was, he didn't tell him for the time being that the god Ra was also gone, and that it had been destroyed and absorbed by the belief in the god Ammon even earlier.

Even the entire ancient Egypt is gone, having undergone Hellenization, Romanization, and now it's all green.

"Who are you? Or rather, are you a god?" Wu Zhong asked.

Yak answered earnestly, "I am God."

The two were shocked. It was truly a god; he had admitted it himself, and it seemed perfectly natural.

"What kind of god are you?" Wu Zhong pressed.

Yak paused for a moment: "I don't know what kind of god I am, but people all say I am a god."

Wu was speechless. What the hell was this?

Yang Chunsha rephrased her question: "So what are your special characteristics? Or rather, your divine power?"

Jacques said in a serious tone, "Only by getting infinitely close to death can one feel the true meaning of life."

"Tsk..." Wu Zhong didn't expect him to suddenly go for abstract ideas.

"You're quite philosophical, so what exactly are your abilities?"

Ark was stunned: "Only by getting infinitely close to death can..."

He repeated it again, and when he saw that the two still didn't understand, he got impatient.

Yak was seen searching for stones on the ground. He picked one up, saw it was sharp, and was about to stab himself in the neck.

While stabbing himself, he kept muttering, "Only by getting infinitely close to death..."

"Alright, alright!" Wu Zhong was startled and immediately snatched the stone away, saying, "Stop! That's enough, you don't need to do that. I think I understand now."

He speculated that Ark must possess some kind of immortality, allowing it to approach death infinitely, but without actually dying.

Although he recovered from his near-death injuries very quickly, he was only out of the brink of death.

In other words, his special ability only ensures that he doesn't die, and doesn't even help him fully recover from his injuries.

So, does that mean the gods of ancient Egypt were too weak?
No wonder he was buried alive and suppressed in the foundation, unable to rise for thousands of years, suffering endless torment.

However, besides that, he also has a potential super-powerful host body.

If this power also awakens, then combined with immortality, it seems to be extraordinary.

Wu Zhong pondered for a moment, then led him to the place where the car was parked in the desert.

At this moment, Yak's body was very weak, and he was so thin and emaciated that he weighed only forty pounds.

Disheveled and covered in black blood, he looked exactly like a skeleton.

Wu found him a spare set of clothes from the car, but the pants wouldn't fit at all. Even tying the belt tight didn't help; they just kept falling down. So, he ended up just wearing his underwear.

Fortunately, the oversized white T-shirt on her upper body was like a skirt, which was enough to cover her up.

"Um!"

Yang Chunsha started the car and sped across the desert.

Yak was initially quiet, but the sudden noise from the car startled him, causing him to jump up and sit on the back seat, his head hitting the roof.

Wu Zhong reassured him, "Don't be afraid, it's a car. You should know what a car is, right?"

Yak quickly calmed down; although he was amazed by the modern inventions, he seemed to be a worldly person.

He sat up straight, looking completely at ease: "The car? I know, it's been blessed by divine power. I saw the power of Ra."

As he spoke, he pointed to the headlight beams, giving him a knowing look.

"..." Wu Zhong was stunned. Glowing light means you have the power of the sun god? That makes sense.

Yak then asked Wu Zhong curiously, "Are you also a new god?"

"Me?" Wu Zhong smiled. "I am your true ancestor, but you can just call me brother."

"I gave you my first embrace to save you, and I transferred a power to you. You should be able to feel it, right?"

“Otherwise, with your current emaciated appearance, you probably wouldn’t even be able to walk.” “You now belong to my End Clan. If I die, you will die too.”

Wu Zhongxian told him about the Mad Blood Clan, but to his surprise, Ark misunderstood it as a change of pantheon.

He was extremely agitated: "I cannot submit to your pantheon and betray Ra!"

Wu Zhong pressed down on him with his large hand, the immense force rendering him unable to move: "Calm down, I am a human being."

“You were buried in that temple for four thousand years. Times have changed. This is no longer your era, and you are no longer a god.”

"This is the age of humanity."

Yake seemed to understand, but was also astonished by the four-thousand-year time span.

He murmured, "Four thousand years... four thousand years... have I been buried for four thousand years?"

"Why hasn't Ra come to save me after so long?"

"Impossible! You're lying to me! If Ra disappears, the sun will never rise!"

He looked out at the dark desert and seemed to think he had guessed something right.

Then he cried out, "The sun is gone! It's eternal night! It's eternal night now!"

"Eternal Night my foot!" Wu Zhong pressed him down, completely suppressing him with his power.

But Yak struggled fiercely, even believing that Wu Zhong was blaspheming the gods, and even bit Wu Zhong.

Wu finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Even gods bite, right? Don't you know whether you yourself are a god or not?"

"If you consider yourself a god, why do you need to believe in others?"

"What gods and gods? They're all long gone! You're the only god left in ancient Egypt."

"But the sun will rise as usual tomorrow!"

As he spoke, Wu Zhong took out a tortoise shell and tapped it on his body to keep him in line.

In an instant, Yak was shaken to his core and released his grip.

Seeing that he was in a daze, Wu stopped talking to him and told him to calm down first.

With the faith-disrupting effect of the tortoise shell, even the most fanatical Ark will become indifferent to blasphemy.

Yang Chunsha drove the car into the city and arrived at the hotel.

Although Yak didn't shout any more along the way, his trembling pupils revealed his inner horror.

The reason he doesn't express it may not be because he is particularly composed, but simply because he is introverted.

It's fortunate that Thebes' skyline is relatively flat, mostly consisting of low-rise buildings; otherwise, if it were in a metropolis, this so-called god would surely be unable to hold back.

"Go take a shower first!"

Although Ark's face was thin and dark, his clothes were not unusual. The two men led Ark into the room and immediately made him take a bath.

Taking a bath was quite a hassle. Yak soaked in the hot water in the bathtub, drinking the water from the showerhead while washing, saying it must be 'Isis's tears'.

Wu Zhongzhen was truly amused by this country bumpkin god.

Although the faith of Yak has collapsed, he will not become an anti-faith; those are two separate matters.

He once lived entirely in the ancient theocratic era, and even if some things were disintegrated, they were still cultural factors for him, representing his worldview.

It's like a modern person traveling to the future; even without faith, they would still believe that sunlight is produced by nuclear fusion.

"Eat whatever you want, it's on me. You're too thin, eat more."

After helping him take a shower, Wu Zhong had the hotel send over a lavish food cart.

Yak ate quietly, his face full of surprise at how delicious the food was, but he didn't utter a sound.

“I looked it up, and there’s no god named Aq in ancient Egyptian mythology, but there are two gods with similar titles.” Yang Chunsha walked over with her phone in hand.

"Oh? Which two?" Wu Zhong asked curiously.

Yang Chunsha said, "One is Anka, the god of life in Lower Egypt."

“Anka? That sounds familiar.” Wu Zhong tilted his head.

Yang Chunsha showed him the picture: "Look, this is it. The Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol is the famous symbol of life. It represents eternal life force, vitality, and regeneration."

"The top is a perfect oval or teardrop-shaped ring, representing eternal life."

"The horizontal arm in the middle connects the ring above and the column below. It represents the horizon, the dividing line between the human world and the underworld, between life and death."

"The vertical column below symbolizes the path of life flowing down from the sacred realm into the mortal world, and also resembles a plant rooted in the earth, representing growth and stability."

Although Wu Zhong was not very familiar with ancient Egyptian mythology, he recognized this symbol, which was quite famous.

Even on this trip to Egypt, I saw this symbol in the murals of many ruins along the way.

Ancient Egyptian gods were often depicted holding an amulets of life, as if symbolizing that the gods possessed eternal life.

The gods would place the Ankh symbol near the mouth and nose of the pharaoh or mortal, signifying that the breath of life was a gift from the gods.

The pharaohs in the murals also often hold the ankh symbol, signifying their power to rule over life.

"This symbol is so famous, it actually refers to this guy in front of us?"

"Eternal life force? That's fitting, though the name is different."

Wu Zhong sat on the sofa, watching the skinny Yak devour his food.

Yang Chunsha said, "The initial sounds of words like 'A,' 'Ya,' and 'An' change due to different accents, which is a common problem in phonological languages, just like Alex and Alex are the same name."

“Ankh is pronounced as ‘Ankh’ in modern times, but who knows how this god was called in ancient times? It’s impossible to know now, as ancient Egyptian civilization has long since died out.”

Wu nodded: "That's right. This boy has immortal life. Perhaps the ancient Egyptians named him after his characteristics to represent vitality."

"Does he really have the ability to give life to others?"

Yang Chunsha tilted her head and said, "I don't think so. I feel that apart from being immortal, he's quite ordinary."

"Perhaps he has simply been deified. Through cultural and religious influences, people have come up with the concept of a god of life, believing that he can give life to others."

“Even other gods use his name to show off, and everyone carries an Anka amulet, saying, ‘Look, Anka has endless life. Buy the amulet and you will receive blessings.’”

"But actually it won't work. Otherwise, if life could truly be granted, then the pharaohs wouldn't be buried in tombs, and even the other Egyptian gods are gone now, aren't they?"

Wu Zhong completely agreed that the gods of ancient Egypt may have truly existed, but they were all humanoid calamities or calamity possessors.

In the end, only one God of Life survives to this day; where are the others?
"You said there are two very similar gods, so what is the other god?"

Yang Chunsha scrolled through her phone: "The other one is very unknown, called 'Ake' God."

"He is a god in the Upper Egyptian pantheon, the 'god of the horizon,' symbolized by two lions back to back."

"He guards the horizon at sunrise and sunset, and is the protector of the boundary between the sun god's journey through the underworld at night and his emergence during the day."

"That is also the boundary between life and death, the boundary between the human world and the underworld, so he is also regarded as the guardian of the entrance to the underworld, the god of the boundary between life and death."

"However, some niche sources refer to them as 'twisters,' but I don't know what that means. Anyway, the ancient Egyptian civilization has been cut off."

Wu Zhong was stunned: "Huh? The horizon again? The dividing line between the human world and the underworld, between life and death... Isn't that the same thing that the line in the middle of Anka represents?"

Yang Chunsha nodded: "Yes, both Anka and Ak have the meaning of the boundary between life and death."

"It's just that Anka has a broader meaning, while Ak only means life and death."

"Therefore, Ak is also considered a minor god who guards the entrance to the underworld."

Wu recalled the situation when he dug up Yak; he was buried in the foundation of the temple, unable to live or die.

"Could that be the so-called space between the human world and the underworld, between life and death?"

"I get it now, damn, so this is how they 'deify' someone who guards the entrance to the underworld? Is this how the Thebans 'god' people?"

"Burying the enemy god alive and then bestowing upon him the title of 'God Between Life and Death' is a truly hellish joke."

Hearing him say this, Yang Chunsha suddenly realized: "Thebes belongs to the Amun pantheon, which is hostile to the Ra pantheon."

"Later, Thebes was destroyed by the Ra faith and unified into the Amun-Ra pantheon."

“Ark had a great loathing for Amun and a deep hatred for Thebes. Although he did not remember, it was clear that he was captured by these people.”

"The enemy emptied his internal organs, mummified him, and buried him alive in the foundation, so that he would 'eternally guard the horizon,' 'become the embodiment of life and death,' and 'guard the entrance to the underworld.'"

The two looked at each other, feeling sorry for the carefree boy who was eating and drinking without a care in the world.

It was so hellish; you could feel the brutal, bloody struggles that took place during the shifts in ancient beliefs.

Anka and Ak are probably both Ak.

It's just that one is the glamour of being sought after and becoming a symbol of life culture.

The other was the horrific aftermath of defeat...

……

(End of this chapter)