Chapter 231: Su Luxi (30)
Chapter 231: Su Luxi (30)
Thousands of years ago, the barrier the Creator erected between the two realms ensured no mortal could cross to the realms of the gods. It still stood in place, unseen, but faithfully keeping the mortals away from entering the other side. It was even blocking those eligible to ascend and become deities, to the woes of many supreme magician who should have been able to enjoy divine power and enjoy an extremely long life.
However, through a means outside of the Creator's knowledge, a magician barely at the grandmaster level managed to sneak into the gods' realms. Right now, a meeting between a goddess and a mortal was taking place, which could be considered a miracle and against the law.
The place remained looking out of this world, with glowing white clouds or smoke drifting all over and fireflies glowing and floating everywhere like thousand charms.
Amidst that were two people hugging. Why was the goddess letting the young man hugged her? Even if she was his messenger in the mortal world, how could she tolerate this great disrespect? A deity should be untouchable and unreachable to mortals!
In no time, although the girl was bewildered and a bit taken aback by the weird words said by the man, she recovered and escaped from the other. With her brain back to normal, she returned to her haughty self.
Even if she was a Goddess in house arrest, she was still a divinity! Gods were high and mighty. She was one of them. At least, she had to act the part. And she did so by disappearing from Jiang Li's embrace and reappearing high above him, with crossed arms as she looked down at him from a throne conjured on the spot.
"I didn't imagine that a mere servant like you can reach this place. Congratulations! Even though you're slow in both mind and ability progress, I have to admit you finding me is quite an amazing feat!" She said after clearing her throat, a playful smile hung on her lips.
After pretending to inspect him from head to toe, she clicked her tongue and shake her head. The action caused her long straight hair to sway behind her too.
"How sad... but you only come in your spirit form."
"Would you have liked it more if your prophet appeared here as another deity?"
Jiang Li looked up and then upon seeing the Goddess was on the opposite side, deep into the room, he walked in.
A tinge of worry flashed across her eyes. Earlier, she only realized another person was in the realm when he was standing outside of her room. She attributed it to her lack of divine power. Was this man aware that he was in mortal danger as that old bastard was wary of him even when he was in the mortal realm? Had the Creator found out about him already?
She had no way of knowing. Unconsciously, she wrapped the whole room from inside out with her remaining mana, trying to isolate it from the outside.
Then with a mocking smile, she replied to the white-haired man, "Dream on, my prophet. The current realm of the gods could barely support me and the other deity. Even if you managed to ascend, there is no available source of divine power for you. Not to mention, your curse will... Eh?"
The smug face she had disappeared in a flash.
"Gone?" She muttered.
Her beautiful eyes stared wide-eyed at the man who had just arrived directly below her, looking up at her. The other person obviously wanted to go up, but in this world, magic power could not be used. Or even if it was possible, the strongest magic a mortal or ordinary spirit could cast here would be barely enough to boil water, fan one's self, or wash one's hair.
The Goddess slowly floated down, thankfully. Dumbfounded by her findings, she inspected him and kept flying around him. "W-who healed you!? Did the Saintess do? Was she given two wishes by the old bastard instead of one?"
Why did the girl lose her cool all of a sudden? The way she raised her voice just now showed her dislike of the Saintess. Her eyes too, was nowhere near what a perfect and pure goddess should have. As of now, she looked like she was both aggrieved and bitter.
'What did I conserve my power for then? I even spent days searching my memory for that curse-breaking ceremony.' The girl wanted the breaking of the curse to be the miracle for tomorrow. Or, at least, that was the excuse she gave herself.
"I healed myself." The man said, tilting his head a bit.
"Lies!" The woman angrily refuted. "There's no way for a mortal to escape from the curse. It will first eat away half of the heart and then slowly invade the bones and the other important organs. The cursed one will become invalid in no time and would have only seven or so years to live... It's that fatal since it's the old bastard's curse to all the very very exceptionally gifted people... and those with potential to speak with me, the only other remaining god."
For a moment, the light surrounding the woman dimmed. It was like she got tired of something, maybe of pretending she was that tough and could control her emotion. Her lips tugged downward. Her sad expression made him extend his hand to pat her.
"That trespasser already used her wish on the crown prince."
"You speak as if you're not a trespasser."
Jiang Li watched her reappear seated on the queen-sized bed on his left, his hand left hanging in the air. He withdrew it calmly then shrugged.
The mirror next to it showed real-life situations in the mortal world. For example, just now, what flashed was an image of Rome visiting the female lead and standing separated from her bed with gauze curtains.
The blonde woman looked at them briefly too, but then quickly lost interest.
"Nevermind." She crossed her arms while giving him a side glance. "I'll just consider it as you being an anomaly since from the beginning, your soul is not from this world. Who summoned you here anyways?"
Jiang Li smiled but did not answer.
The Goddess harrumphed. Seeing her like this was a new experience. While Ye Xinya also had some degree of haughtiness in her bones due to being born to a wealthy family, she was not this arrogant. If the soul was the same, it was fascinating how the same people could have different personalities. Or was it that in every world, there were only certain traits that stood out?
Suddenly he heard her ask, "You've been investigating him so much, even so, there is a chance you are summoned by him. Are you a spy?"
"Is that how you see me?" Eyes glued to the mirror, he asked.
"Not really. You rarely left your wheelchair and home. And you have no dealings with the bald heretics."
The man frowned a bit. But it was because he noticed the speed of events unfolding in the mirror seemed fast-forwarded. The time in this place moved faster than in the mortal world? Based on the images, at least twice as fast?
The discovery made him knit his brows.
While he knew it was normal for there to be some differences in the time between the two realms, it was not a good thing for the mortal world's time to be a lot faster than the god's realm. He could only stay here until he woke up which translated to only two hours.
Two hours. What could he do with her in just two hours?
While the man was worried about the duration he could be with the girl, the Goddess reluctantly opened her mouth. "... By the way, why are you not as pious as my other believers? You don't pray to me. And your faith in me is barely comparable to a mid-ranked priest. When you talk to me too, it is as if you're very familiar with me. I'm sometimes doubting if you're treating me as your goddess!"
Her voice contained a bit of resentment. Even the woman couldn't understand why when she hardly cared about the other believers' devotion to her, she wanted the prophet to be more devoted to her and think more of her.
Hearing her tone, Jiang Li grinned and replied, "You're my goddess though. How do you want me to show piousness? I can only be here for two hours. Tell me your requests. I know how to sing, dance, tell jokes or even striptease."
"Huh? What again?"
She looked to be doubting her ears and was gaping at him. Apart from her glowing skin and clothes, where does she resemble a divinity?
The rich expression on her face made him want to tease her more.
"Earlier, I said you can tell me your requests. I can sing, dance, tell jokes, and... Ooops, I forgot. There's no use repeating the last one. After all, for sure..." The man paused, briefly glancing at the mirror, he laughed. "Yup, for sure you have already seen everything."
Since she loved peeking, there was a chance she also did that while he was at the bath, right?
Like a cat with her fur standing up, the woman roared in indignation. "You! Nonsense! I'm a Goddess! Why would I do such indecent thing too, to a m-mere mortal!"
"For seven years, you never did?"
"Never!'
Seeing her blushing, he found that she was still as lovely when teased. The rogue couldn't help but nod and add, "Hmm. I see. Well, maybe you really didn't. Only, I remember speaking with you numerous times inside the bathroom. So you make do with the sounds of water and leave everything else to the imagination?"
"..."