Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

"Cruel enough?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked up subconsciously and met Ryan's eyes.

This time, no one spoke, but the invisible information still emerged in Hercules' mind.

The dome's painting seemed to have a double image, and another vortex opposite to it was born in the swirling vortex.

Hercules saw life, killing and flesh and blood in it; he also saw deception, lies and civilization.

On the nine-layer interface, there was a king with red eyes and wings sitting; in the endless void, there was an ancient snake hissing around the atrium.

And in the central axis of the nine-layer interface, Hercules seemed to see a winding giant tree.

Order and oath are its branches, and blood and body become the source of its power.

At this moment, intuition told Hercules that he could also achieve his goal here, and there were laws to follow and traces to follow.

This interface hidden in Tartarus never rejects the desires of anyone in the world, as long as he can afford the same price.

"Here... it is also harvesting faith and souls?"

"This is not strange, after all, the gods harvest with blood and kingdoms, and the devil harvests with desires and contracts. What is the difference in essence?"

Spreading his hands, Ryan asked casually:

"In fact, you can still refuse the latter, but you can't refuse the former as long as you are still alive."

"Just like now, the gods will not respond to you, but the devil can, so do you want to refuse?"

"..."

A longer silence than the previous two times, Hercules didn't know how to deny it.

Should he refuse?

Of course he could refuse.

But compared to the difficulty of the first two methods, the third one is so simple.

Killing, sacrifice, and accumulating enough "costs".

Not only the soul, but also the essence of flesh and blood in the present world is also meaningful to Purgatory. After all, the Abyss is different from the spirit world. Although it is chaotic, there are also materials there.

Just kill. With the power of Hercules, he can become a guest of honor in various countries and start slaughtering openly.

Killing the soldiers of the enemy country, using their lives to exchange for status and reputation, and using their flesh and blood and souls after death to exchange for their own wishes, what's wrong with that?

The gods are the same. They take everything from mortals before and after death, and call it shelter...

"No!"

Suddenly startled, Hercules took a step back.

All the previous thoughts seemed to turn into real voices echoing in his ears, and he looked at Ryan in front of him solemnly.

Did he do it, or was his mind not strong enough?

Hercules didn't know, but what he knew was that he was indeed tempted.

He can refuse now, but he doesn't know if he can refuse in the future.

"Why, the third method, do you still want to give up?"

"..."

Silent, Hercules is not a strictly 'just' person.

If it's just killing a few people, then he might really agree.

But to achieve what he wants, Hercules may need to stir up a sea of ​​blood.

It's not difficult to come back from the dead, but it's difficult to live without dying.

It's extremely difficult for a mortal to achieve true 'immortality'.

After all, there are too many things in this world that can take the life of an immortal, and even Hercules himself can't ignore the attack of divine power.

"If I agree now, maybe nothing will happen now."

"But when I slaughter countless lives, will I really remember to pay this price just to resurrect one person?"

Step--

Take a step forward, and golden light appears in Hercules' eyes.

Three questions, three thoughts, his divinity at this moment is like a cluster of short and illusory flames.

It burns flesh and blood, burns bones, burns spirit, and also burns itself.

It seemed like something was burned, and it seemed like nothing was left.

But for some reason, Hercules felt relieved.

"Heh."

"Pursue supreme power."

"Devour the wisdom of the wise."

"Cold and ruthless heart."

"The will of Zeus flows in your blood. You can be influenced by him once, so why can't you have a second time?"

With a faint smile, even if he didn't see it with his own eyes, Ryan was sure that the person Hercules wanted to resurrect had something to do with Zeus.

Because the only people in this world who could influence him were Hera, who had fed him, and Zeus, who brought him divine blood.

And true demigods always have to abandon these natural influences.

"Ah, warrior from Thebes, it seems that you are not satisfied with your previous three methods."

"What a picky young man, but it doesn't matter. As I said, there is little in this world that I don't know."

It seemed a little distressed, but Ryan didn't disappoint Hercules in the end.

He raised his hand for the last time and stroked the dome of the temple slightly.

The shadows of Tartarus and Purgatory also disappeared, as if everything in this world was gone.

However, feeling the gradually extinguished "flame" in his body, Hercules seemed to see something else.

"That is..."

All tangible things are gone, but all intangible things are born because of it.

Faintly, in the empty dome, Hercules felt like he saw another world.

It corresponds to all material things, but it also contains all possibilities in the world.

"What's this?"

Hercules asked.

Standing on one side, Ryan replied with a smile.

"Natural is what you want, the last solution."

"Since you don't want the first three, there is only one way left for you."

"You are going to the spirit world, the real spirit world."

"It's not smuggling, it's not a mission with anyone, it's just for what you want."

"You will go all the way west, find the right entrance under the Odiers mountain that once supported the sky and the earth, and then start a great adventure."

"adventure?"

"Yes."

Still smiling, Ryan opened his arms as if embracing the world.

"Ancient legend, the beginning of all things, spirituality and matter are born at the beginning of everything."

“Everything in the material world comes from this, and the spiritual Lord pulls up the seven-layer curtain and overlooks the world from the top of the mountain in the spiritual world.

"And if you can follow the right path, pass through God's curtain on the human world, and finally reach the top of the Holy Mountain..."

"Then whatever your wish is, it will definitely be fulfilled."

"...Lord of the spiritual world...?"

Reciting the name silently, Hercules felt that although it was difficult, it was not impossible.

He didn't know how to impress an ancient god who was born at the beginning of creation, but if it was just to meet him, then he felt that he could still accomplish it.

What's more, compared to going to someone else's house to steal, he would rather meet and talk to the owner directly.

So looking at the illusory dome, Hercules said seriously: "Thank you for your wisdom."

"If I can really accomplish what I want, I will definitely fulfill my promise."

"No rush."

Shaking his head slightly, Ryan turned around, facing away from the young hero.

In front of him was a broken statue of Demeter, which was somewhat ironic in the temple that originally belonged to her.

"It is not an easy task to pass through the seven spiritual realms."

"Your strength may be enough, but your experience, knowledge, wisdom and skills are far from enough."

"You need to train yourself, but a few trials alone are not enough to make you perfect."

"You also need a mentor, someone who can really check for your mistakes and fill them in."

"Then where can such a person be found? In the starry sky, the sea, or in the mountains and the netherworld?"

"Just east of Athens, near the middle of the sea."

Pacing slowly, Ryan's voice seemed to be a little more playful.

"This guy has what I want, and he's definitely going to help you."

"You won't doubt him because you know he won't harm you."

"As for his name, you have already guessed it, right?"

"...Yes, you are right.

"I've already guessed it."

There will be no one else. There is only one person in the East China Sea who meets these requirements.

At the beginning of the era, the creator of bronze humans, the stealer of heavenly fire, and the prophetic Titan god.

Prometheus, who is still imprisoned and tortured in the Eye of the Sea, is a warning to the world.

······

Wow——

"hiss--"

In the dim and dark void, a giant snake was crawling.

The time and space of the abyss is infinite, but in front of the big snake, nothing is absolute.

In just a few swings, the snake in the atrium came to the nearest place between hell and underworld, and then swung forward.

The barrier of time and space was penetrated, and the huge body came to the outside world.

But it was only a moment. With the overflow of power, the big snake returned to the barrier before a few glances came over.

He can't leave the abyss in a short time... Fortunately, this is nothing to him.

One is ten thousand, ten thousand is one.

The serpent's will is present in every ounce of his strength, and the same is true for the ounce of strength he left behind.

Transformed into a small black snake, the small incarnation swims in the underworld.

Swimming through rivers of fire, swimming by the banks of the Acheron River.

It came to the human world, to the East China Sea, and to that huge whirlpool.

At the end of the Second Age, another collision between the sun and the sea created this wound.

It is like the Guixu in the legend of later generations. Thousands of waters are tilted, but the bottom is not visible.

But when you are really inside it, ordinary things cannot appreciate its enormity.

This whirlpool that spreads thousands of miles is so huge that all living things will only think that they have come to a sea area with an increasingly turbulent flow speed.

Standing above the whirlpool, the dark little snake looked down.

However, perhaps because this is the trauma caused by the sun, all light and heat from the outside world cannot get close to this place.

Even if he knew that the creator of the bronze human being was locked here, the little snake could not see any relevant images.

"hiss--"

"It's really troublesome. Wouldn't it be better to just turn him into my dependent?"

"Let him kill and kill in the human world. What if he follows the rumors of later generations and 'proves the Tao through killing'?"

The snake's letter was swaying in the air, and the malice in the snake's eyes almost overflowed.

Although they are essentially the same person, this does not mean that Orochi's thoughts on things are the same as other parts.

In addition to the unified understanding of 'self', the snake in the atrium also has many ideas of its own.

For example, he once thought about creating a Hercules to suppress the gods.

Anyway, he is already qualified to become a god in his destiny, so he will not be sanctioned by the rules of this world.

Then it is possible to go further by suppressing the gods.

Anyway, he is the son of Zeus, and gods and laws are closely related.

Suppressing gods can also be regarded as suppressing the corresponding laws.

If Hercules finally suppressed them all, did he use "tyrannical" means to obtain the "qualification to be king"?

Then maybe in the future, after the throne of the king of gods collapses, Hercules can inherit Zeus's legacy and become the "god of kingship".

"Although there are risks, it is worth a try... What a pity."

The snake's head swayed slightly, revealing a human-like regretful expression.

I don't know whether it was regretful that Hercules did not take this "correct path" or regretted not seeing the killing.

In short, the snake in the courtyard wandered here for a while, and finally went downstream.

Ryan told Hercules that he could come here to release Prometheus.

But telling alone is meaningless, because it is the power of the king of gods that locks Prometheus.

So if you want to solve it... naturally it's not that easy.

PS: I had something to do yesterday, so I added a paragraph to the end of the previous chapter title this morning, saying that I would post it in the evening. But now it seems that this is not very intuitive, and many people didn't notice it, so I will post a separate chapter next time.

In addition, although this "evening" is indeed a bit late, I still update in the evening, right? Emmm. In fact, it's so late mainly because I'm coding the second chapter. After all, I have something to do today, so this one is posted in advance and now it's posted directly.