RPAGF Chapter 2104 - 1538: Blood Sacrifice to the Chief Divine, with the Bronze Rite!
Chapter 2104 - 1538: Blood Sacrifice to the Chief Divine, with the Bronze Rite!
July, Central America, 17 degrees north latitude. Mixteco Plateau, ancient city ruins. "Black City and Temple of Heaven," Tilantongo."Nunu, Huaxi, Ande Huih (Ñuu Tnoo-Huahi Andehui)! "Eight Deer Claw" comes from the Divine Realm, unifying all Mixteco Tribes, then returns to the sacred Black City of the Divine Realm, offering to the Temple of the ’Nine Wind Gods’ and ’Rain Divine’!..."
Mixteco Chief God Priest Yun Tian Andiwei, wearing the Chief God’s black ceremonial dress, looked solemn. He held the Chief God Hummingbird’s golden emblem in both hands, standing at the forefront of many High Priests, with the Elder Priest Xiulote clearing the way behind him. With immensely complex emotions, he stepped into the center of the entire Tilantongo Black City, the ten-thousand-square-meter plaza, and ascended the towering 26-meter-high, over 50-meter-base, located on the over 2,000-meter-high plateau hill, the "Temple of Heaven."
"By the Chief God’s witness! The Pyramid Temple of Heaven is the grandest and most sacred Mixteco ancient temple! It has a base of eighteen people’s height and thirty-six people’s length and width, constructed entirely of intricately carved stones. The outer walls are covered with colorful plaster murals, depicting the brave deeds of deities, ancestors, and warriors... The wave-like carved patterns are the wind patterns of the ancient ’Nine Wind Gods’ and the cloud patterns of the old ’Rain God’..."
"One, two, three... Thirteen!... Stone steps lead directly from the base to the altar at the top, consisting of 13 levels of steps, symbolizing the ancient Mixteco myth of the 13-layer Heaven! At the top of the Heaven is the sacred place of sacrifices, the connection with the Divine Realm. This connection to the Divine Realm has persisted since the Second Era, thousands of years ago, to this day... And today marks the powerful Chief God’s entry into the ancient Temple of Heaven, the moment of divine radiance enveloping the entire Land Amidst the Clouds!"
Yun Tian Andiwei loudly chanted, using the oldest Mixteco Highland language, informing the Cloud Ancestors on the Pyramid Temple about the epochal cycle of "new god taking over" and "fusion in the clouds." This was his greatest role, as the representative of Mixteco priests, conducting the "ceremony of divine alternation in the clouds," completely breaking apart the faith in the hearts of the Mixteco Tribespeople.
Upon hearing his utmost effort, the declaration resonating throughout the Pyramid in Mixteco language... thousands at the base of the Pyramid, Mixteco chiefs, chieftains, bonfire storytellers, and surrendering warriors forced to attend, all showed genuine sorrow. Their cloud faith in their hearts was being shattered by the Mexica’s sacrifices, conversion, and sacred ceremonies time and again!
"Alas... oh Cloud Ancestors!... Rain God and Wind God... will be completely departing from us..."
"..."
Yun Tian Andiwei looked towards the base of the Pyramid Temple of Heaven, where thousands of Mixteco Tribespeople bowed and gazed in despair, a veil of hopelessness wrapping around the hearts of the Mixteco people.
Further afield, outside the entire military formation, the two legions, sixteen thousand Mexica elite warriors, including four thousand Jaguars and Eagle Warriors, four thousand Tonsured Guards, all set their positions in the Black City, gazing at the top of the Pyramid where the grand ceremony was to take place. Enthusiasm and anticipation overflowed on the faces of the warriors. A full eight hundred Mixteco Divine Descendants and Nobility sacrifices were also encircled by the Alliance warriors, awaiting the moment to ascend to the altar atop the Pyramid!
"Eight hundred divine descendants... Alas! This time the Alliance’s southern expedition almost netted every Mixteco divine descendant, nobility, and priest, thoroughly annihilating the divine race heritage—a divine war indeed ending the lineage!"
"Chief God! The only solace is that I surrendered early, during the Alliance’s eastern expedition against the Tlaxcalan, I yielded to the Kingdom of the Lake. Afterwards, I served the ’Divine Revelation Prophet,’ participating in compiling the Gummy People epic of tribe origins as a Mixteco inheritor... If I waited until this southern expedition and was captured, I fear I wouldn’t escape the fate of this sacrifice!..."
Yun Tian Andiwei looked towards the blue row of eight hundred sacrifices, within were many familiar "Divine Descendant Nobility," "Elder Priests." Ten years ago, they all stood equally high, as the generational ruling "Cocoa Trees" of the clouds, governing the tens of thousands of "Ant People" below. Until the upheaval seven years ago, he was captured during the first southward raid by the Black Wolf General at the Cloud Temple, pledged loyalty to the Divine Revelation Prophet, becoming the first surrendering "Cloud Priest Elder"...
Now, seven years have passed! The Mexica Alliance descended southward with all their might, thoroughly conquered the clouds! All once high-seated "Cocoa Trees" have been chopped down completely by the Mexica’s Bronze Axe! Only he not only preserved himself but also became the Chief God’s Fourth Level Grand Priest, personally appointed by the Divine Revelation Prophet to participate in this grand festival declaring the Mixteco Alliance’s demise!
"You will see flowers, you will hear songs, but they are all merely short-lived realities, fleeting away!"
"Ca tiquittaz in xochitl,ca tiquittaz in cuicatl,zan oc ye nelli,zan oc ye nelli!"
Reflecting on fate’s impermanence, Yun Tian Andiwei sighed inwardly, silently reciting a profound Nava proverb, feeling a deep sense of emotion.
Ah, the fate of a person, always so unpredictable! Who would have thought, he, a man in his forties, originally well-settled in the Cloud Temple... upon a stealthy raid by the Mexica, couldn’t evade in time and became a prisoner of the Kingdom of the Lake, the first captured Cloud Priest Elder, ridiculed by the entire Cloud Priesthood!
Then what? He helped the Mexica appease the conquered Mixteco tribespeople, conducted the "cultural assimilation, integration into one Gummy People" theoretical framework, transformed into a Mexica High Priest. Whereas the "old friends" who ridiculed him were all packed, becoming the sacrifices he directly participated in, about to sacrificially offer to the Chief God in his ceremonial festival...
You see, this unpredictable life, can it truly rely on self-striving of wild grass? I say, it all hinges on the progress of history! These choices surpass effort vastly. Following the right person is most crucial~~
"What is life? Only dust, only gold, only fractured stones, only torn wings."
"Tlein zan tlechtli,zan teocuitlatl,zan oc tezoatl,zan oc atlapalli."
Yun Tian Andevi shook his head and immediately recited two lines of poetry in Nahuatl. This was how the Mexica people complained about fate, "Life is like gold and stone, shining brightly only for a while, shattered into pieces more often." And right now, what’s truly about to shatter is waiting down below! He must quickly commence the opening ceremony, let the Grand Festival begin...
"Praise you! Honorable Divine King! At the summit of the highest Temple of Heaven, please raise high the golden emblem of the Chief Divine, engrave it upon the stele of the Ancient God, and declare the death of the Rain Divine!"
As the Chief God Priests ascended the pyramid with ceremonial steps, an ancient stele appeared before the crowd. This stele, erected four hundred years ago, stands about 2.5 meters tall and weighs over a ton, standing at the highest point of the altar in the Temple of Heaven.
It’s said that this is the most sacred symbol left behind after "Eight Deer Claw" unified the Mixteco Tribes! The stele is carved with images of the Rain Divine Dzahui blessing a bountiful harvest, which is also a memory of the most prosperous era of the Mixteco people. And at this moment, Divine King Avit stands with his hands behind his back, looking up at the highest point of the stele, at those carved "Mixteco Graphic Texts" or the "eternally enduring Divine Runes"!
"May the Chief Divine protect us! The emblem of the Chief Divine will be raised by the chosen great Divine King, engraved upon the stele...From now on, Chief Divine Huitzilopochtli will be the sole Supreme God among the clouds! The tribes amidst the clouds will merge into the alliance, becoming the citizens of the alliance. They will return to their ancient origins, forged into a unified Gummy People!..."
This is the most divine and solemn step of the ceremony, as Xiulote steps forward, replacing Yun Tian Andevi, loudly reciting the "Political Declaration of the Unification of the Gummy People" in ancient Totonac Nahuatl! Then, eleven Mexica Grand Priests echoed in Nahuatl, followed by hundreds of Chief God Priests, and finally repeated in Mixteco, resounding throughout the entire Black City!
"May the Ancestors protect us! The Chief Divine watches over us! At this moment, the Land Amidst the Clouds becomes the divine realm of the Chief Divine! And the Rain Divine Dzahui of the Mixteco will be devoured by Him!..."
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of warriors and captives, Divine King Avit took the offered golden emblem, raising it high. The brilliant golden glow, at the top of the pyramid of the Temple of Heaven, deeply impressed itself into the eyes of the people, connecting with the divine realm in their hearts. Then, Divine King Avit pressed down forcefully, imprinting the golden hummingbird emblem at the center of the stele! Right on the head of the Rain Divine Dzahui, whose face had long been hollowed out, transformed into a hummingbird-shaped face!
"May the Chief Divine protect us! He has devoured the Rain Divine Dzahui! The Mixteco Alliance perishes at this moment!"
"Come, drive in the Divine Nails!..."
"Clang, clang, clang!..."
Four War Priests raised copper hammers, vigorously driving the bronze long nails into the golden hummingbird emblem, then deeply into the sacred stele of inheritance. Until twelve bronze long nails had completely fused the golden emblem with the holy stele, the image of the Rain Divine Dzahui on the stele disappeared, transformed into the Chief Divine hummingbird!
"Woe! Woe! Ancestors! The Rain Divine... the Rain Divine is dead!..."
"Ah... the Chief Divine has devoured the Rain Divine!..."
At this moment, thousands of Mixteco tribespeople looking up could no longer bear the despair and pain in their hearts, collapsing to the ground in tears. Some even used their fingernails to stab their eyes, cut their cheeks, letting the blood flow freely. Under this blow to their spiritual belief, the previously feigned conversion could no longer be maintained!
The ancient inherited divine spirits, originally formless and elusive, existed only in people’s hearts. But if a grand ceremony is held, in a manner people believe in, killing it within their hearts... then the divine spirit will truly perish along with the lost faith in people’s hearts!
"Ancestors! The Grand Festival of the Mexica is about to begin..."
"Sacrifice... death... ah! The soul’s destination, the Divine Kingdom..."
At this moment, the Mixteco divine descendants about to be sacrificed were even paler and completely collapsed. Because, from this moment, their lives in the most sacred place amidst the clouds, officially stepped into the countdown on the high platform. And if the Rain Divine was truly dead, then where would their souls in their hearts end up? Could it be that they would fall into the abyss of endless suffering? This destiny of the soul concerns the infinite future after death, more important than the death of life itself!...
On the Temple of Heaven, Xiulote, clad in heavy obsidian divine armor, slowly put on a turquoise divine mask. And as the mask concealed his solemn countenance, his voice also became ethereal, like drifting down from the clouds.
"Praise the Chief Divine! All twelve bronze fire basins, ignite the blazing Sacred Fires!"
"Carry up the Bronze Tripod! Collect the sacrificial blood..."
"The Chief Divine descends! The holy victorious grand sacrifice thus begins!"