Oath River

Chapter 46 The Oath River crosses the land, and Iapetus arrives in the Underworld.

Although strictly speaking, the Underworld at this time is also part of the Land, perhaps because it is tightly wrapped by the bodies of the Four Ancient Creation Gods, it feels somewhat like a 'world of its own'.

No matter where one enters the Underworld, whether it is from the bottom of the Ocean or the center of the Land, unless it is a Space-Time level jump like the 'Spirit World Shuttle', everyone will first appear at the edge of the Underworld, a place guarded by the Three-Headed Dog Cerberus in later generations.

Behind the gate is the River of Pain Acheron, and on both sides are the edges of the Eternal Night Land and the Lightless Zone. Anyone who wants to enter the Underworld has only one way to cross the river.

Of course, at this time, the Underworld has neither a gate nor has the River of Pain been born.

Carefully avoiding the domains of the two Ancient Creation Gods, the God of Speech stepped onto the gray Great Plains. Of the Five Underworld Rivers of later generations, only one exists now, and that is the Styx River, which conceptually 'circles the Underworld seven times', but in reality, one end connects to the mortal world and the other end delves into Tartarus.

Iapetus stopped here. He nodded slightly in the direction of the Oath River, and then waited for a while.

As expected, after some time passed, he did not receive any response. But the God of Speech was not angry, and continued to fly towards the center of the Underworld.

As the goddess in charge of Khaos's Oath Law, Styx came to the Underworld alone after her birth. Even her father, the Lord of the Outer Sea Okeanos, rarely saw her, so she was one of the few gods who did not visit the 'legislature'.

However, despite this, the God of Speech still did not dare to easily ignore her. When Styx took over the Oath authority delegated by the world, she became one of the few gods in Khaos who could independently increase the strength of her Divinity.

Witnessing the oaths of gods could bring her the world's source power. And punishing gods who broke their oaths could bring even more benefits. This enhancement might have its limits, and the growth was very slow, but at least so far, with Iapetus's knowledge, he could not see where its upper limit was.

Feeling a little envious, the God of Speech quickly swept across the gray plains, flying straight towards the Shadow Moon in the sky.

As a Lesser Divine Power, Iapetus did not fly fast.

But before leaving, Cronus and the Four Wind Gods gave him temporary blessings, allowing him to travel quickly between the Divine Mountain and the Underworld. So on the third day after leaving Mount Othrys, he arrived before the Shadow Moon.

According to the Goddess of Justice, the Shadow Moon is the formal gateway to the Lord of the Spirit World's residence. As long as he is called here, he will receive the visiting gods.

"Respectful Ryan, I am Iapetus, the God of Speech."

"On the order of the God King, I come with the requests of the gods, hoping that you will grant me an audience."

Facing the Shadow Moon, which seemed close at hand but was actually untouchable, Iapetus said respectfully.

Unlike other Titans, the God of Speech had no airs. He now completely placed himself in the position of a 'messenger', not intending to say a single unnecessary word.

To truthfully convey the meaning of the gods, and then return to the Divine Mountain with a reply, that was what he wanted to do. As for influencing Ryan's decision with his Divinity, that was impossible.

He was here for the benefit of the gods, not for himself alone. When he became the God King, he would come to 'serve the gods'.

"The God of Speech?"

After waiting for a while, a strange female voice came from beside the Shadow Moon.

Iapetus looked in the direction of the voice and saw a goddess in a black dress appearing silently before him.

The goddess in front of him had two wings on her back, and the silver-white wings shimmered with seven different colors. A faint aura of Divine Power surrounded her. This was a god close to the limit of Lesser Divine Power. The God of Speech knew that, according to the Goddess of Justice's instructions, this was Lyanna, the goddess who managed the Shadow Moon on behalf of the Lord of the Spirit World.

Themis advised Iapetus not to underestimate her, even though she often regarded herself as Ryan's servant, but the God of Speech felt that the Goddess of Justice's reminder was completely unnecessary.

Just kidding, the premise of underestimation is having a psychological sense of superiority, but the reality is that without even fighting, Iapetus knew that he could not beat her at all—although their Divine Power was not that different, Shadow Moon was not something that Speech could compare to.

So the next moment, he unhesitatingly expressed his respect.

"Respectful Lyanna, Shadow Moon Goddess who eternally illuminates the Underworld, your beauty is astonishing."

"I have come here at the request of the gods to visit the Lord of the Spirit World and ask him about the secrets of creation. Please guide me."

Nodding, Lyanna accepted the homage of the god before her, but she had no intention of opening the Spirit World portal.

The current Ryan was not the God of Prophecy who couldn't foresee anything before. He had felt the rhythm of fate not long after returning to the Spirit World.

Although he never actively observed his own fate, as a symbol of indefinite fate and a destined observer, Ryan could always receive some inspiration from fate, more or less. The closer an event was to him, and the lower the level of power involved, the higher the probability and clarity of the revelation.

Undoubtedly, in the trajectory of fate, the birth of living beings on the earth was extremely important, and the participation of the 'Soul' in it was high enough, so Ryan naturally foresaw the visit of Iapetus.

"The Lord already knows about your intentions," Lyanna said calmly, meeting the gaze of the God of Speech, "Simply creating a shell is not enough for living beings to have Wisdom. Living beings also need Souls to carry Thought and Memory."

"The Lord can give Souls to mortals, but you will have to figure out how to shape the physical bodies yourselves."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lyanna quietly waited for a reply. Just as she said, Ryan had no interest in participating in the preparations for creation. Although he also looked forward to Life, he was only willing to bestow Souls, and at most personally witness the birth of the Golden Humans.

In any case, the first generation of Life had no ability to reproduce and would eventually die. The gods just wanted to create servants and pets, not species that could continue on their own.

Even the creation of Humans was more about verifying his conjecture. After all, the Humans of the Golden Age were quite different from the 'Humans' he understood.

A lifespan of thousands of years, born as adults, an appearance that would not change even when they died, and only devout faith and positive emotions, as if they had been imprinted with ideological steel seals. Apart from their similar appearance, Ryan really couldn't see where they resembled Humans.

Even from the perspective of 'humanity,' the gods of Khaos at this time were far closer to the 'Humans' Ryan understood than the mortals of the Golden and Silver Ages.