541 Discovering the temple Part 2 (1/2)
Lex repeated her instructions, so that everyone would understand something. The moment she felt danger, everyone would have to flee immediately. If the temple was located, they could always come back again if they did not get the opportunity to get the seeds of the divine trees this time around. As long as the God's Ring could unleash its power, it would be akin to the Goddess of Myers having one more life.
Saleen remained silent for the whole night, he did not rest. Instead, he was helping Eleanor craft the sixth divinecherry arrow. The power in the badge had been fully consumed by him. The next time he ran into trouble, he would have to rely on Lex's God's Ring. Saleen's Crystal Finger could kill a sorcerer, but Saleen knew that his life would be in peril if he tried to kill a grade-8 sorcerer. Even if he did not die, he would lose all his offensive abilities.
If possible, Saleen would never use the Crystal Finger again, unless he had already become a sorcerer and possessed sufficient magic chords and mental strength to feed his own consumption.
The temple was only three miles away, but Lex slept very peacefully. At the central region of the desert, almost all the magic beasts had disappeared, and no more sandstorms were appearing. All the mages consumed a portion of magic liquid, ensuring that their bodies were in tip top condition. On the other hand, the swordmasters drank large amounts of Restorative Water, and began altering their rations.
Within the Qin army, the mages would blend food for the high ranking commanders and grand swordmasters. Large amounts of magic medicine were added into the food, which could repair any injuries and raise the ability of the physical body.
Such food was not expensive, at the very least, Lex could afford it. The storage was a hassle though. Even if the food was placed in the God's Ring, its maximum shelf life would only be six days. The mages had blended six days' worth of food. After entering the temple, the swordmasters would not need to excrete. This food was almost as pure as a magic nucleus.
This also meant that for the next six days, no one would need to remove their armor, they could maintain a state of combat readiness.
When the sun was just rising, it was the best moment in the Purgatory Desert. The temperature was increasing slightly, but it still remained below freezing. Lex separated the team into two parts, then they advanced northeast. Leading the pack was her own team of mages protected by the swordmasters. Walking at the rear was Saleen's team. Jola and Su were in charge of ensuring Eleanor's safety, while Saleen was protected by Nailisi and the demons.
Lex and Saleen were people who could detect the presence of the temple. Lex used her God's Ring to do that, while Saleen relied on his left hand. Saleen's hand bone had already been transformed completely. It now possessed the power of the Goddess of Nature, so it had a basal perception towards the temples left behind by the Goddess.
”It's right in front of us!” Lex's voice cracked with joyfulness. After searching high and low for more than three hours, and repeatedly matching the bearings, the God's Ring finally had a reaction. Saleen's brows were furrowed. He had long realized that he himself could be within the radius of the temple, but he could not locate the temple's entrance at all.
Lex rushed hundreds of yards forward, then gathered everyone. Saleen closed his eyes, as he slowly said, ”We should already be on top of the temple, but this place…”
Black sand was flowing underneath their feet, producing whimper-like sounds in the wind. In such an environment, there would not be any teleportation portals around.
Hesitating for a moment, Saleen said, ”Protect me closely.” After finishing this sentence, he took out the newly attained Ring of Gifts, then he began chanting a holy prose.
Eleanor looked at Saleen in astonishment. She had only started teaching Saleen the holy language and even if Saleen had learned all the holy words, it did not mean that he could cast a Divine spell. Saleen was obviously using a complete Divine spell at the moment though.
With a simple ending to the verse, a chain of holy prose flew out of Saleen's Ring of Gifts. These holy prose glowed with a pale green hue, infiltrating the sea of black sand.
Saleen did not even know what effect this partial Divine spell had, but he believed that the goddess had left behind the Ring of Gifts so that her successor could use it to enter the temple. Given the circumstances in the past, could a grade-1 mage with zero knowledge about holy proses enter a temple by luck? Saleen would not buy it.
These holy prose flew into the black sand, and the earth immediately began trembling vigorously.
The mages lifted off the ground, but they did not soar into the air. Instead, they blessed the warriors in armor with magic, then they levitated in the air at a height of about two to three yards. Grade-4 mages could not fly, but Lex had blessed them with the Flying spell. While the grade-5 mages forced themselves to maintain levitating at this altitude.
The black sand threshed about, like the waves on the ocean. A black mountain peak emerged. The body of this peak was obviously made out of black sand, but as the black sand on the peak flowed downwards, the peak only grew taller and taller. Its speed of growth far exceeded that of the loss of black sand.
When Saleen saw the black mountain peak appear, he was very displeased. Even though he liked the goddess, the current situation seemed like a conspiracy. ”Could an unrelated Divine spell and a normal Ring of Gifts summon the temple?” The agenda of this expedition was to gain entry to the temple and look for the seeds of the divine trees. Even if the goddess had placed the seeds directly into Saleen's hands, Saleen would gladly accept it.
”I cannot possibly abandon the things I need just because this matter smells fishy.”
Helpless, Saleen also flew into the air, then he saw Sika release the magic beast skeleton and flew up too. Sika giggled as she stopped beside Saleen, then said, ”Look, what do you think about this little guy?”
Saleen was astounded, because even though the magic beast skeleton had wings, the wings never flapped at all. It was solely relying on elemental power to fly. Sika was not controlling it using her mental strength, or it could be said that Sika and the magic beast skeleton had already merged as one. That skeleton's flying ability was totally in Sika's control.
Sika then took out several javelins from the Ring of Gifts, placing them on her back. Nailisi gazed at the skies, feeling a little upset. At the moment, she could not fly, she could only maintain her body's balance as she stood on the gradually growing peak.