Chapter 58
Arrows streaked across the night sky, heading towards the sacred mountain. The blue-haired deity stood atop the opposite peak, nocking his bow and arrow.
Three arrows flew one after another through the air, drawing nearly overlapping arcs and heading toward the same spot. Each impact created subtle ripples in the air, yet they failed to tear a gap in the air.
Suddenly, Artemis sensed the inconspicuous vent. She drew the Silver Feather Bow to its fullest extent once more, and the divine power at her fingertips spread along the bow, causing the cold metal to gleam with a silvery-white luster.
He exerted all his strength on the rocks at the foot of the mountain.
A sharp "rip" sound pierced the night sky, and the void beside the rock seemed to be torn apart like a vortex, with a crack about an inch wide, through which faint light leaked out.
"Are we helping her or harming her by doing this?"
The little penguin stood on Artemis's shoulder, its voice tinged with a hint of embarrassment and hesitation.
Artemis lowered her eyes, gently tapped the little penguin's head with her fingertips, and said with a hint of helpless teasing, "Didn't you give her the name tag? Did I have the right to refuse?"
Lina was speechless. When she gave the things to her, she thought that Li Jia was just a mortal after all, and that her family would give her something to show off, and that it could save her life in a critical moment.
But to everyone's surprise, Li Jia came to Artemis with the name tag, asking her to help break the barrier of the sacred mountain with the Silver Feather Bow.
The little penguin quietly shrank its neck, praying repeatedly in its heart: Please let everything go smoothly, sister, and please don't cause any real trouble.
Artemis's bow and arrows have been with her since the day she was born. She and Apollo each ruled over a different element: the sun and the moon, respectively.
They are the only two divine bows in the world.
The "Help Guide for Difficult and Complex Diseases" contains only four words: Self-contradictory.
The divine authority of the sacred mountain is above all others, including the gods, who must bow to it.
But who made that rule?
Who gave you permission?
What would happen if the arrows shot from the divine bow were used to fight against the mountain's own barrier?
Li Jia was willing to give it a try.
Use your spear to break your shield.
Clearly, the result is a lose-lose situation.
“Li Jia”.
A clear, crisp female voice came from the earpiece on her wrist.
"The Silver Feather Bow can only break through the outer layer of restrictions. The defenses inside the sacred mountain will gradually strengthen as you get closer to the temple. Hera's divine star radiance is rapidly dissipating. This is all I can do to help you."
There is a mutual restraint between the gods and the sacred mountain, and no one dares to challenge the absolute authority of the sacred mountain.
Li Jia understood Artemis's meaning, thanked her, and stepped into the sacred mountain alone.
Li Jia held the Judgment Sword in her hand. The divine sword sensed Li Jia's emotions, and the flames on its blade burned even brighter. Li Jia touched the hilt and smiled: "Let's go together to rescue your master. Once we find her, you should be returned to your rightful owner."
"I'll take you up."
The girl's tone was flat and emotionless, still her usual cold and sarcastic remarks.
"You're awake? Looks like I couldn't hide it from you after all."
Li Jia scratched his head, gave a lazy smile, and said.
"With your half-bowl dose, you can only fool that drunkard Winslow at best."
"Go ahead. The road to the sacred mountain is full of ferocious beasts and evil spirits. Go forward with confidence and I will help you deal with them."
As she spoke, Doreen drew two knives hanging from her waist. The blades gleamed coldly in the moonlight, pointing them at the lion-bodied, goat-headed chimera that had just emerged from the shadows in front of Li Jia.
The chimera's roar shook the surrounding leaves to fall, but Doreen had already rushed forward, her two short swords drawing sharp arcs as they clashed with the beast's claws, sparks instantly filling the night sky.
Li Jia watched her retreating figure, took a deep breath, turned around, and stepped into the void gap, where the light grew brighter and brighter.
We need to hurry, we need to be even faster.
At the summit of the sacred mountain, clouds and mist swirl around.
A majestic temple stands atop the mountain. On the judgment platform before the temple, a woman kneels on the ground, her white dress covered with dark brown bloodstains. Her limbs are tightly bound by golden chains, and the restrictions emanating from the chains are constantly absorbing the red starlight within her body.
That was the most primal power of the gods, disappearing from the silver serpent divine mark on her collarbone at a visible speed. She lowered her head, her golden hair obscuring her face, making her expression unreadable.
In just two more days, the divine radiance within Hera will be refined and depleted, her divine will will be completely stripped away, and her remains will forever guard the Ember Prison beneath the divine mountain.
The secret will never be revealed.
"Good news or bad news, which do you want to hear first?"
Gabriel's voice broke the silence. He crouched down, a mocking smile on his face, his gaze falling on Hera's lowered head.
Hera ignored it. To her, neither good news nor bad news could change the impending outcome; it would only add to her troubles.
Gabriel wasn't annoyed at all; instead, he laughed even harder: "Cheer up! The good news is that your little lover has already entered the sacred mountain and is heading here along the path. He'll probably see you soon."
Gabriel's words stunned Hera, her eyes filled with disbelief: "How did she get in? How could the restrictions of the sacred mountain not stop her? Are you all just sitting around doing nothing?!"
Anxiety instantly overwhelmed her. She struggled violently, the golden chains digging into her wrists until they bled, but she didn't care.
Gabriel looked at Hera's out-of-control state, his smile deepening, but his tone was tinged with cruelty: "The bad news is, even if she breaks in, she can't do anything. She can only watch helplessly as your will is taken away and you become a skeleton guarding the Ember Prison."
She reached out and gently brushed the bloodstains on Hera's cheek with her fingertips, saying softly, "I wonder if it hurts you more to see her suffer, or if it hurts her more to see you die?"
"Why?"
"I have already promised you that I would use my bones to suppress the demon beneath the sacred mountain, so why won't you let her go?!"
"You can sit high on the summit of the sacred mountain, but that's only because you've stripped away the desires in your hearts and stored them underground. Does that mean those in power are always right?"
Gabriel paused, then stood up, spread her wings, looked down at Hera, and said with a half-smile, "Whether the superior is right or not is unimportant."
Her wings trembled slightly, and a few feathers fell onto Hera's bloodstains, instantly turning them brown: "The important thing is that no one can question our rightness."
"Clearly, your little lover is unwilling to accept the ending we have chosen for you. She refuses to obediently be her God-King. She is openly challenging divine authority and openly provoking the sacred mountain!"
Hera looked at her and said coldly, "You're not afraid of her challenging divine authority, you're afraid she'll discover the secrets of the Ember Hell!"
"So what if we find it?"
Gabriel straightened up, his tone full of disdain: "When she comes, she will only become a skeleton under the Ashes of Hell, just like you."
A clear sword cry rang out from afar, accompanied by the screams of a malevolent spirit. A familiar figure appeared at the foot of the stone steps of the judgment platform.
Li Jia rushed forward, gripping the Judgment Path, his forehead covered in dust, but his eyes brightened the moment he saw her.
"Your Majesty, I have found you."
Gabriel turned around and saw the Judgment Dao burning with fire in Li Jia's hand, and the smile on his lips faded.
She raised her hand and summoned more golden chains, which wrapped around Li Jia: "Now that you're here, you're not leaving."
Li Jia swung her sword, severing the chains that were rushing towards her. The sword's light illuminated her eyes. Li Jia raised the hilt of her sword, the tip pointing directly at Gabriel, and said firmly, "Not only am I leaving, but I will also take my wife with me!"
"If you know what's good for you, make way for me."
Hera watched as she approached the judgment seat step by step, her face pale, her eyes, which had been devoid of sorrow or joy, now uncontrollably reddening.
She struggled with all her might, the chains digging painfully into her shoulder blades, her voice trembling with brokenness: "Li Jia, don't come any closer! Go back! You shouldn't have come here!"
But Li Jia didn't stop; she kept getting closer and closer.
She knew that this time, she couldn't let Hera face it alone.
The flames of judgment surged in her hands as she stepped onto the stone steps of the judgment seat, walking towards Hera.
Even if what lies ahead is the authority of the sacred mountain, unknown dangers, or an abyss of no return, she will bring Hera back.
Gabriel watched this scene, a ruthless glint in his eyes, and a golden blade of light condensed in his palm: "Since you insist on dying, then I will grant your wish!"
The light blade shot towards Li Jia with a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air, but was blocked in mid-air by a sudden burst of red starlight.
Hera used the last of her divine power to erect a thin barrier in front of Li Jia, the starlight flickering at her fingertips like candlelight swaying in the wind.
Gabriel's expression changed drastically: "Impossible! How can you still use divine power?"
Seeing the opportunity, Li Jia grasped the Judgment Sword and leaped into the air, the blade blazing as it slashed straight at the golden chains binding Hera.
With a loud clang, the chains snapped, and Hera collapsed to the ground, her gaze fixed on Li Jia, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Li Jia helped her to her feet, her eyes bloodshot: "Do you think you can keep the secret by trapping me here?"
She reached out and grasped Li Jia's hand, the flames of judgment intertwining with her divine starlight, illuminating the judgment seat: "You promised me you wouldn't hurt her, but you broke your vow."
"oath?"
Gabriel suddenly laughed, his voice full of sarcasm: "The rules are nothing but lies that trap you fools. Your divine power has reached its limit."
"You originally had two more days, but now you'll be a pile of bones in less than a quarter of an hour. It's just a pity that your little lover went through so much trouble to find you."
Gabriel clapped her hands, praising the deep love between the couple. She paused, then deliberately revealed the cruelest truth: "Your wife willingly became the vessel to suppress the demons beneath the sacred mountain, not just for you. Once she gives up, countless evil desires will surge forth from the earth, causing widespread suffering and devastation. She will destroy the world you live in now and everything else."
"She is not Hera, the goddess of marriage, but a demon."
These words struck Hera like a hammer blow.
She abruptly released Li Jia's hand and used all her strength to push her down the stone steps. Black flames erupted around Hera, twisting and climbing up her cheeks.
That once divine, jade-like face was gradually replaced by a demonic face covered in fangs. Black wings pierced through the skin on his back, spreading out with a bloody scent: "Don't come near me, leave me."
"Go home, Li Jia."
Li Jia smiled upon hearing this: "Wherever you are, that's where I am, that's where home is."
She met Hera's startled gaze and spoke, word by word.
"demon."
"I am in control."
As soon as she finished speaking, countless divine powers suddenly surged from all around, frantically pouring into Li Jia's body. Her entire body became somewhat transparent in the white light, and six pairs of pure white wings slowly unfolded behind her, with tiny starlight still clinging to them, making her look like a seraphim fallen to earth.
Gabriel's pupils widened, and she stood there stunned. She had never seen anyone wield such immense divine power in such a short time.
Unless, Li Jia used some forbidden exchange.
With all her might, she embraced the black flames, her voice still gentle: "Your Majesty, I love you."
Hera couldn't hear what she was saying; she could only see Li Jia's mouth opening and closing.
"Your Majesty, Li Jia loves you very much."
She couldn't hear the systematic punishment, Li Jia murmured repeatedly.
Hera recognized her words from her lip movements. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, her vision was instantly clouded by a thin mist, and the next second, warm liquid streamed down her cheeks.
Li Jia gently wiped away her tears.
His gaze fell on her face, slowly sweeping over her eyebrows and the corners of her eyes, as if trying to etch every inch of her features into his heart.
“Your Majesty, Li Jia has lied to you about many things, but loving you is the only thing I do, it’s just my instinct.”
"As long as my heart is still beating, this love is for you."
"Of course, I'll still love you even if I stop dancing."
Li Jia suddenly leaned closer, his breath coming in short gasps, and his lips gently touched the corner of her lips, like a feather brushing against her, soft and trembling.
Upon hearing this, Hera abruptly raised her head, as if realizing something in horror, and exclaimed, "What are you going to do? What did you exchange with it?!"
"You want to drag her down to the bottom, but I'll do the opposite!"
After Li Jia finished speaking, he grasped Hera's right hand and intertwined their fingers. Countless divine powers poured into her body like madmen. Hera could feel her originally depleted soul being repaired and reversed.
"Your Majesty, you are free."
Li Jia's voice grew softer and softer until her body completely turned into a phantom, leaving only two rings lying quietly in Hera's palm.
"Your Majesty, please don't forget me, and remember to take me home."
"Please live on for my sake."
As Li Jia disappeared, the hourglass necklace slipped to the ground, cracking the bottle and causing countless golden sands to gush out, instantly spreading across the entire trial platform.
That wasn't sand; it was an overwhelming expanse of starlight, some as white as shining stars, some as pale gold as morning light, and some as blue as nebulae. Even the wind carrying it carried glitter, weaving a winding Milky Way across the sky.
The system's mechanical beeping suddenly stopped, the numbers on the screen jumped wildly, and finally settled on a single line of text:
"The favorability rating of the target has no upper limit."
Hera gripped the ring in her palm. Starlight fell on her demonic wings, making the jet-black feathers glow softly. The black wings gradually lost their darkness in the light, and new white feathers sprouted from their roots. Finally, they unfolded into a pair of pure white wings adorned with stardust.
She looked up at the Milky Way, and Li Jia's voice seemed to still echo in her ears: "Remember to take me home, and live on for me."
"Go home," Hera murmured.
The woman regained her composure, and a strange phenomenon suddenly appeared on the sacred mountain, alarming all things in the world. Doreen and Winslow arrived at this place guided by the power of Hera.
"His Majesty!"
Winslow and Doreen wanted to ask something more, but Hera waved them away.
Let's go.
"To the underworld."
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