Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Of course, for Helios, these things could not harm him. He had never been here in the past, so naturally, he felt no change in this place. He was only here to search for Mother Earth, and indeed, he found no trace of Gaia here.

Previously, the God of Sun had already visited the Fields of Truth, and there, he had successfully met Hades and the long-missing Persephone. However, contrary to his expectations, the bride who had been forcefully taken did not seem excited or joyful upon seeing him, quite the opposite, in fact.

Throughout the conversation, Helios always felt that the other party was a bit... disdainful? Nevertheless, the God of Sun had still completed half of his mission for this trip.

He conveyed the opinions of the pantheon gods and the Divine King’s tactful advice. Zeus had no intention of convicting Hades because of this, but the incident indeed affected the interests of all deities.

And, unexpectedly again, Hades was quite agreeable to this matter.

Although Zeus had agreed to his conditions first and now came bearing the guise of ’mediating conflict’ afterward, Hades still readily stated that Persephone was here to be the Queen of the Underworld, not a prisoner, so if she wished to leave, he naturally would not hinder her.

But the next moment, Hades revealed another truth. Because the marriage of Zeus and Hera was the ’exemplar for the gods’ and his ’model to learn from,’ he had also shared divine authority with his own Queen of the Underworld. However, the price for the Goddess of Agriculture accepting the scepter was that her origin would henceforth be connected to the Underworld.

So, no matter what, she must spend half her time in the Underworld from now on; that is a rule that even the Primordial Deities cannot violate. Whether Demeter accepts it or not, this cannot be changed anymore.

’Marriage’s exemplar’… While listening to Hades’s narrative, although Helios did not know whether the truth about the authority was true, he did indeed sense the clear sarcasm therein, as the marriage of King Zeus and Hera was also quite ’complicated’ in the legends.

It is said at first, Hera was unwilling to accept Zeus’s advances, always avoiding his pursuit, until one day when the Divine King transformed into an injured little bird in a downpour, stirring up the goddess’s boundless compassion.

Hera held the bird in her arms, soothing its injured wings, but the next moment Zeus reverted back to his original form. The inescapable goddess ultimately fell into the hands of the Divine King and thus had to agree to his proposal.

"Sigh—but I must say, being able to share a portion of their power, Hera and Persephone are indeed very fortunate," he said.

"By comparison, Amphitrite, the Sea Empress, falls far short of them," he added.

Shaking his head slightly, since he had already completed half his task, Helios was not in a rush to bring the news to the Goddess of Agriculture.

Compared to ending the disaster that was affecting the earth, he was more eager to first avert the calamity that was about to befall his own head. Thus, looking at the entrance to the Abyss and hesitating for a moment, the God of Sun still stepped into it.

No matter whether Mother Earth had entered or not, he had to search first. Moreover, this action would also give Apollo some trouble.

After all, a brief entry and exit from the Abyss might not cause too severe a disruption to the Sun, but a little irritability was certain, and most importantly, all of it was very ’natural.’

A disconnection of authority leading to uncontrollable consequences and active interference are completely different. As long as there were no ’man-made factors,’ upon returning, Helios could easily claim that it was the Sun’s intrinsic rejection of Apollo. Although this might not dispel some of King Zeus’s thoughts, it should, at the very least, buy some time.

"I hope all goes well…" he muttered to himself.

With one step forward, Helios’s figure immediately disappeared into the twisted spacetime.

No one saw this scene, as another deity entered Tartarus… with one exception. That was Gaia, who, because Helios had mentioned her, suddenly had a premonition.

...

Spacetime shifted, and light warped. In just a fleeting moment, everything before him had drastically changed.

Stepping into the Abyss, Helios thought he would see an endless chaos of spacetime and face immediate rejection from the realm, but to his surprise, there was none of that.

Layer upon layer of boundaries overlapped and then separated, with matter arranged within them. The suppressing force was quite weak, as if it had temporarily been diverted elsewhere… Looking at the interior of Tartarus before him, the God of Sun was genuinely taken aback.

"So this is the Abyss? It seems rumors really cannot be trusted," he said.

Legends of the Abyss were not so benign, he thought as he shook his head. Helios did not linger in place.

Whether Gaia was there or not, she would not be at the entrance. He still needed to venture deeper inside in order to find any possible traces of Mother Earth.