Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

Chapter 579 Three Questions

Leaving Olympia, the group continued to travel west.

At the extreme speed of Star Shuttle, the distance of one fifth of the continent did not take them too long.

On a sunny afternoon, the foundation of the ancient pillar of heaven is already in sight.

The breath of vicissitudes and destruction came to his face, making Ande feel a little depressed about it.

Obviously, even after nearly ten thousand years, there are still some immortal rules here.

“Is this the Audils Mountain? It’s a little different from what I thought.”

“It’s not so much a broken mountain, but rather a high wall with no end to see.”

Looking into the distance, you can also feel the invisible pressure.

In Hercules’s eyes, there is no sacred mountain in the distance, only a “high wall” that does not know its height, distance, and length.

According to records, this is the fallen mountain of the sacred mountain. Just from a human perspective, it is impossible to understand its “mountain” shape in any case.

“It’s good to call it anyway, whether it’s a mountain or a wall, it’s all falling down.”

“As the only peak in the world that still belongs to the earth rather than the ancient mountain **** Uria, the fall of Mount Odirs may also be an inevitable result.”

“The only thing that makes me feel a little regretful is that the traces at the foot of this mountain were also destroyed with the collapse of the sacred mountain… There was once a human tribe here, that tribe, that golden civilization you long for.”

“Is it the Golden Age… I don’t know if they are really as righteous and perfect as recorded.”

A little sighed, the great hero had some questions.

Dionysus said silently about this, while Prometheus just smiled.

“Of course.”

“It’s just… what they have is not justice but perfect, but perfect justice.”

Perfect justice… nothing in this world is perfect.

If so, it probably only exists in books or in the dreams of living beings.

…

Looking at the mountain and running to death, although Kaos does not have this sentence, similar sayings are not uncommon.

From the moment she saw the “high wall” shrouded in the clouds, Hercules walked forward for a long time.

Perhaps because the great divine power once had an unreserved confrontation here, the speed of the Star Shuttle was no longer so fast near the broken pillar.

It was not until that evening that Hercules finally felt the mysterious order that was different from other places.

This is a short valley, although the ‘mountain’ here is more like a natural barrier formed by gravel falling when the sky pillar collapses.

At the entrance of the valley, a huge scale that seemed to be carved from stone was placed here, blocking the only direction to enter and exit the valley.

“Huh? What is this for?”

Highlights raised his eyebrows slightly, and Dionysus couldn’t help but ask curiously.

On this stone scale, he vaguely felt a unique force of rules, but it was by no means transformed by a magical weapon.

Its existence seems to be screening the quota of entrants… Looking at the stone statue that Chiron once mentioned, the great hero explained:

“This is an ‘equivalent balance’, a strange thing created by the power of the artifact [Golden Balance] and another divine object of unknown origin.”

“As for its function, it is the same as the name, it is a tool of equivalent exchange.”

“Put what you have on one end of the scale and give it to the goddess, and the goddess will turn the equivalent divine power into crystallization and hand it over to you.”

“So… is this considered the ‘ticket’ collected by His Highness Themis?” Dionysus continued to ask.

“No, this is not a ticket.”

“On the contrary, this is the last life-saving talisman for those who come here to verify the challenge of demons.”

Shake gently, the great hero takes a step forward.

He had no intention of exchanging here directly over the balance. As for whether Dionysus should exchange, it was his own decision.

“For thousands of years, countless people have come here to challenge Sphinx. Some of them are for status, some are for fame, and some are for strength… but none of them succeed.”

“And the end of the loser is to be digested by the Sphinx’s realm and become a dead soul that falls under its order.”

“It is the cruelest challenge to take life as a bet. But losing life under a fair contest is something that the goddess of justice will not stop.”

“But perhaps out of his own justice, His Highness Themis still gave the challenger a chance, that is, to dedicate himself to the goddess before entering the valley, and replace it with equal divine power with a balance of justice.”

“When everything about the challenger belongs to the goddess, he will not be able to lose his life again even if he fails… In order to make up for Sphinx’s loss, the divine power containing order will also become a more delicious food for the demons.”

“As for those challengers who escape from death, they will spend the rest of their lives implementing the goddess’ teachings and fulfilling their mission on the earth… So Dionysus, you can make your own decisions whether to leave something here.”

“This… is such a generous god.”

I felt a little moved, but I didn’t expect that someone would use his divine power to replace mortals. Although both sides are indeed equivalent in a sense, Dionysus affirms that this equivalent is definitely not the same in the sense of matter and energy.

But shaking his head, Dionysus finally rejected the proposal.

As an immortal in the substantial sense, he does not need to sell himself to other gods.

“I’ll forget it. With you in front, I still have the confidence to answer one question correctly.”

“As for the career of pacific warriors, there is no need to do so.”

“Although I admire their spirit very much, if I want to let me do it myself, it would be easier to kill me.”

A big stride and crossed the balance stone carvings. Subconsciously, Dionysus looked back at this unique strange object.

Equivalent replacement… It is right to measure the power of the [golden balance], so what is this exchange conducted?

Maybe there is nothing, if it can only be replaced by divine power.

But if it could be replaced with other substitutions… Dionysus was really curious. If he mortgaged some of his qualities that belonged to the gods, could he exchange something interesting from it?

…

“Huh…”

“…”

Keep alert all the way inside. As she traveled through the valley, Hercules had guessed more than once what the Sphinx looked like.

The majestic body, the aura of tyranny, the powerful force, and the rationality that is strongly maintained under the constraints of the goddess of the law… all of these may exist.

After all, in his past experience, almost every big demon who inherited the bloodline of Tifeng is like this.

Although their strengths are different, their cruelty is no different.

Even more than him, the great hero believed that Dionysus must have thought so in his heart… However, all this ended when he truly saw this legendary wise demon.

Looking at the big demon lying on the ground in front of him, the corners of his eyes twitched slightly, Hercules felt that all kinds of fantasies collapsed at this moment.

“this…”

I don’t know what to say, but on a flat ground near the water source in the valley, the huge snoring sound was deafening.

On the demon’s huge body as big as a hill, the great hero could not see any trace of his muscles.

Compared with the male lion in the wilderness, the huge lion body in front of me is not only a change in size and proportion, but more of a circle of very obvious fat.

What made him most bizarre was that it seemed that the Sphinx finally felt something until he got closer and opened its eyes reluctantly.

“Huh…”

“Huh…huh…?”

“…Is someone here again? It’s really a good dream to disturb me… Come on, let me see… Well! Boy, what are you watching?”

The eyes were full of laziness, which seemed to be awake but not awake. Sphinx’s tall head leaned over slightly, looking at the tiny human in front of him with some dissatisfaction.

Three gods, one human, interesting.

These gods don’t seem to be coming to cause trouble for it, otherwise, based on their divine power level, the projection of the [Sword of Evil-killing] left by Themis has already reacted.

So are they all here with this human being? What a rude guy.

“Hmph, what are you looking at? Have you ever seen such a mighty and majestic demon like me? I really have no knowledge at all… Forget it, just say it, are you here to do something, or are you more straightforward? Or are you new here?”

“…I’m really sorry, this demon.”

“But what is the ‘old rules’, so what about the new one?”

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Looking at the demon in front of him with a very different style, Hercules still apologized for his rude gaze.

But the Sphinx’s subsequent words caught his attention, “Old Rules”… Why, it turned out that it had no deal with other humans.

And in front of him, Sphinx didn’t care what this human was thinking.

It just lay back on the ground and said boredly:

“New… Well, I’ll try my best to explain it to you.”

“Speaking of this, you are also a human being, so you should understand your kindness more… Seeing the stone balance outside, right? Do you think I’m going to die for a lifetime? It was true five hundred years ago, but since a ‘smart’ human hero came, it’s no longer dangerous here.”

He spoke slowly, Sphinx briefly told what was going on here.

Listening to the Sphinx’s explanation, Hercules couldn’t help but feel that his understanding of the world was still too shallow.

Thousands of years ago, the initial human beings besieged Sphinx simply because it was a demon.

Only as heroes who were favored by the gods died under its hands, hatred began to be born. Even though the goddess of justice ended this meaningless dispute, the hatred continued.

From that day on, almost every day, humans traveled thousands of miles to this valley. They bet on life and demons for various reasons, but in the end they only gain death.

Gradually, a generation died. Those who held hatred also sought kindness and fell before Sphinx.

But as time goes by, when latecomers learn about this past from history, it is difficult for them to find any reason to kill it.

The gods are no longer interested in this demon restricted by the goddess of justice, and all those with hatred are killed or injured, and only the Sphinx has become more and more famous.

Gradually, the only people who came to find Sphinx were left with heroes who pursued reputation and interests and tried to become famous overnight – but they still could not defeat it.

Until that day, a man named Oedipus and his friend appeared before it.

As if fate shifted, although as fate shifted, the human hero who killed Sphinx in his original trajectory killed his king and father first before he met it, resulting in a human tragedy of killing his father and marrying his mother, he still easily answered Sphinx’s two questions correctly.

The Sphinx felt fear for the first time. It couldn’t help but let go of its arrogant heart and try to understand the weakness of this human being.

So it lied that it could give him a reward before answering the third question, after all, no one could answer two of its puzzles in the past.

It allows Oedipus to ask it two questions in turn, and he will try his best to give the answer.

Oedipus agreed. The king who was abandoned since childhood told his story, wanting to know who his father was and why his kingdom was not protected no matter how he sacrificed the gods, but instead caused natural disasters… Sphinx answered him.

The atrocities of killing his father and marrying his mother are unacceptable to all gods and men. As long as he is still alive for a day, Thebey will never have peace.

“In despair, Oedipus committed suicide… Haha, this is humanity.”

“End your life because of some mistakes that are not subjectively created by yourself, which is something that even the demons cannot understand – but he died, but his friends do not.”

“He witnessed our confrontation with his own eyes. He knew that I could be defeated, but he was equally clear that Oedipus could defeat me, but he could not.”

“So he decided to make a deal with me, a deal that everyone is good for.”

“He brought me tribute, and I can deliberately let him answer two questions correctly after he answered one wrong.”

“In this way, he gained fame, almost surpassing the Sphinx… and I no longer need to worry about the next Oedipus appearing.”

“Because he is the first, but he will never be the last… From then on, facing this visible benefit, even humans themselves will not want to see Themis’ bet win.”

Havenly and leisurely, Sphinx had a faint sarcastic smile on his lips.

He looked up slightly, as if he was looking at the [Golden Balance] floating above this valley.

This artifact can bind demons, but it cannot bind human greed.

“Look, this is humanity.”

“Superficial and cunning, despicable and ruthless.”

“So young hero…what are you going to do?”

“Is it to answer my three questions and try to end my existence… or to be the same as your predecessors. Carry a lot of honor and return to this extremely sinful world.”

(This chapter ends)