The previous contract was gone!
"Where's the contract?" Ishtar asked with a cold face.
"Did you secretly destroy the contract?"
"No, I have no idea about any contract... When did we even sign one?"
"After you agreed to become my divine messenger back then, the contract took effect, but now it's gone!" Ishtar glared at Lan Ze with displeasure.
"Did you go running to the Goddess of the Underworld behind my back again?"
"No, I didn't."
"Then how could the contract just disappear...?" Ishtar simply sat down on Lan Ze's lap, stared straight into his eyes, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"Let me take a look at who on earth you made a contract with!"
She raised her hand slightly, light flickering at her fingertips.
The next moment, Ishtar's eyes turned a brilliant gold. Placing one hand on Lan Ze's cheek, she lowered her head to look down at him.
Yet the instant she looked down at Lan Ze, Ishtar's pupils slowly dilated, and her graceful body suddenly stiffened.
A massive form appeared within Ishtar's field of vision. That terrifying pressure was just like a human looking up at a giant dragon—a sense of pressure born from the fear and submission deep within a deity's heart.
This is... the blessing of the Creation Mother Goddess.
Why does a fellow like you have Mother's...
Ishtar's pair of golden eyes slowly widened to the size of copper bells, and the look she gave Lan Ze was filled with disbelief.
That gigantic figure currently reflected in Ishtar's eyes, along with that massive heart and that awe-inspiring presence... wasn't that the blessing of the Creation Mother Goddess?!
This guy had only been gone for three days, so how did he already have a blessing bestowed by Mother?
And if she calculated it this way... the one fighting her for her divine messenger wasn't the Goddess of the Underworld, but the Creation Mother Goddess?!
My mother is fighting me for a man?!
Shocked by her own guess, Ishtar stood frozen in place, looking as though she had turned to stone and might scatter in the wind at any moment.
"Lady Goddess...?" Lan Ze raised a hand and waved it gently in front of Ishtar, which finally succeeded in pulling her back to reality from her daze.
He felt this goddess was a bit unfathomable and jumpy, making it hard to understand what she was thinking.
"Ahem..."
The lofty goddess snapped out of it. She gave a light cough, cast a peculiar glance at Lan Ze, and said, "Anyway, um... I'll take you back to the temple first."
Her originally arrogant tone seemed to have reined itself in a bit.
She wanted to know what on earth had happened to Lan Ze.
If Ereshkigal had snatched her divine messenger away, she would have marched right over to reclaim him.
But if the target was 'Mother'... then never mind.
Come to think of it, even she had never been favored by that "Mother"... What in the world was this guy's background?
Muttering to herself inwardly, Ishtar led Lan Ze in the direction of the temple.
"By the way, where is this?" Lan Ze followed behind Ishtar, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings.
"The Persian Gulf, about eight hundred kilometers away from that Golden Flash's kingdom," Ishtar said in a casual tone, though her gaze remained fixed on the young man beside her.
She couldn't figure it out... completely couldn't figure out where this guy got his blessing from.
And besides, did that "Mother" even still exist in this world?
"Eight hundred kilometers..."
Lan Ze fell into a thoughtful posture. Viewed this way, the Dark Night Sun Ship really had flown quite far back then, actually carrying him over eight hundred kilometers away!
Lan Ze suddenly realized something much more serious, turned his head, and asked, "Wait a minute, are we supposed to walk back to your temple from here...?"
"What else?"
Ishtar let out a huff. "My Ma'anna can't carry one more person back, so we can only walk."
"This is way too far." Lan Ze was somewhat speechless.
"What can we do about it? I've decided to accompany you for a stretch of the road before taking Ma'anna back, you know? You should be feeling deeply grateful."
Lan Ze nodded, saying "yes, yes, yes" while thinking that accompanying me for a stretch doesn't change the fact that I now have to walk eight hundred kilometers back to the temple...
Eight hundred kilometers—if placed in reality and walking eight hours a day, it would take at least nearly twenty days.
"Right... I seem to remember having the Gate of Babylon..."
Lan Ze suddenly recalled this matter. He searched his mind for a moment, and following the prompts of his memory, he raised his hand slightly.
A golden ring of light quietly materialized behind him, rippling with golden waves. Then, a heavenly ark composed of gold and emeralds poked out its true form.
"Isn't that the Gate of Babylon belonging to that Golden Flash?!" Ishtar was startled, but her eyes quickly lit up with a brilliant glow.
There are so many jewels on this heavenly ark...
"That's a single-use item; if you pick them off, they'll disappear immediately," Lan Ze immediately reminded her, terrified that Ishtar would pluck the jewels off his heavenly ark.
Ishtar's cheeks flushed slightly as she loudly declared, "I-I know! I'd know even if you didn't tell me! Making it sound like I'm desperate for your little jewels!"
Lan Ze merely smiled. "Let's get going."
He had only just remembered that he had previously acquired the ability of Gate of Babylon 1.0, and within this treasury—which held almost most of the world's treasures—there was a heavenly ark capable of carrying people across the sky.
It was just a pity that the items in these treasuries were single-use; once used, they were gone.
Moreover, unlike Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, the Noble Phantasms within Lan Ze's Gate of Babylon had a quantity limit.
Regardless of all that, it was still considered a very good reward.
Ishtar looked up at the young man riding Vimana in the direction of the temple. She hesitated slightly before giving chase.
"Let me ask you something." After catching up to Lan Ze, she suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Lan Ze turned his head against the howling wind to ask.
Ishtar went straight to the point. "How come you have Mother's aura on you?"
Logically speaking, she was a lofty goddess with an exceptionally high status even among the gods, yet facing Lan Ze right now, Ishtar's attitude was clearly a bit different from before.
The blessing of the Creation Mother Goddess... Under normal circumstances, no deity could ever obtain such a blessing. To this day, she couldn't fathom why a human would carry Mother's blessing.
"What?!" Lan Ze turned his head and asked in a loud voice.
The wind was too loud; he hadn't heard... Of course, he was just pretending not to hear.
"I said, how do you have Mother's--"
"Huh?!"
"I said--" Ishtar pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
"Whatever, I'll ask you when we get back."
With those words, she immediately accelerated her flight speed, streaking rapidly toward her own temple.
At the same time, Ishtar began plotting ways to interrogate Lan Ze upon returning to the temple. Seeming to think of something, the corners of her mouth curled up into a charming arc.
"Why do I feel a sense of crisis..." Lan Ze looked at the goddess's graceful retreating back ahead and muttered to himself.
Whether it was his intuition at work or something else, ever since a moment ago, Lan Ze had inexplicably felt a sense of crisis.
Though with that said, should he really be calling this true to Ishtar? She was able to immediately detect even the blessing on his body.
Actually, it wasn't that Lan Ze wanted to deliberately conceal the matter regarding Tiamat, but rather that he simply couldn't think of any good explanation.
He couldn't very well tell Ishtar: I saw your mother these past two days and even kissed her, and then your mother kissed me back... and then I inexplicably ended up with a blessing.
If Ishtar found out about this, there was no telling how she would react.
Unlike the last time when he rode the Dark Night Sun Ship, this time Lan Ze rode Vimana and arrived at the temple without a hitch.
This also made Lan Ze increasingly certain in his heart that when the Dark Night Sun Ship went out of control earlier, ten to one the system had meddled with something.
He just didn't know what the system was actually trying to achieve.
To guide him to see Mother of All?
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and come in!" At that moment, Ishtar's crisp and pleasant voice came from ahead. While Lan Ze was still dazed, he saw her walk over with a smile and hook her arm through his.
"Let's go, let's go. The rooms in my temple are still quite large."
With that, using her own strength, she forcefully linked her arm through Lan Ze's and dragged him into the temple.
Ishtar.jpg
Lan Ze instinctively glanced at the smiling goddess beside him, his expression turning slightly blank.
Why did he suddenly feel like this goddess... seemed far more enthusiastic than just a moment ago?
Inside the main hall of the temple.
"This is a butter cake, try it."
"This is roasted lamb chops..."
"And this is... Why aren't you eating?"
Right at this moment, Ishtar was serving various kinds of food onto the table, introducing the dishes while urging Lan Ze to hurry up and eat.
Yet Lan Ze didn't move an inch, merely casting a peculiar look at Ishtar.
There's a problem... There's definitely a problem!
What's going on with this goddess today? Showing courtesy for no reason—no matter how he looked at it, something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" Ishtar blinked, her face written all over with incomprehension.
Lan Ze sighed. "Lady Goddess, if you have something to say, just spit it out."
"What do you mean, something to say?" Ishtar blinked, looking completely perplexed.
"Could it be that the food isn't appetizing enough? I specifically got these from the warm local residents, you know! The taste should be pretty good, even though I haven't tried it."
"It's not about the food--"
Before Lan Ze could finish, Ishtar tilted her head, pressed her index finger against her lips, and muttered in a sudden realization, "Ah, could it be that you want me even more than food?"
When she reached the end of her sentence, the mistress of the skies propped her hands on the table, stared at Lan Ze, and flashed a charming yet dangerous smile.
The smile was breathtakingly beautiful, but also filled with danger.
After all, back in her prime, Ishtar was a goddess daring enough to threaten the King of Gods to seize the Underworld's divine authority, and even casually unleash the Bull of Heaven. Although she had accepted summoning using a human body as a vessel this time, her originally atrocious personality had been slightly reined in under the influence of the body's original owner.
Yet being reined in a little didn't mean she would completely behave herself.
"Because I'm standing right here, your mind isn't on the food at all, is it?" Ishtar put one hand on her hip and looked Lan Ze up and down with a mischievous, teasing smile.
For some reason, seeing Lan Ze's calm demeanor made her want to pull some stunts to make him blush; she felt it would be a lot of fun.
She certainly had the confidence to say that, after all, she was the Goddess of Beauty who ruled over Venus.
Yet Lan Ze gently shook his head. "No, it has nothing to do with that."
Ishtar's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Lan Ze sighed. "Since Lady Goddess puts it this way, I won't stand on ceremony."
He knew Ishtar must be up to something, but since she refused to talk, he had no way to force her.
Whatever, he'd eat his fill first.
With those words, Lan Ze reached out to grab a roasted lamb leg from the table.
Who would have thought that the exact moment he reached out, Ishtar suddenly raised her hand, grabbed his wrist, and snatched the roasted lamb leg right out of his hand.
"Lady Goddess?" Lan Ze was a little dumbfounded.
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