Chapter 29

When Apollo set foot upon the Divine Mountain, a pair of sharp eyes gazed at the sky of the Divine Mountain.

Thinking of what he was about to do next, he drew a deep breath.

Zeus was enjoying the dances of the Nymphs and fine wine. Seeing his most admired son arrive, he waved his hand.

"Apollo, you rarely have free time. Come, savor the taste of this fine wine."

He raised the wine cup in his hand. However, Apollo did not respond to his invitation. Instead, he asked a completely unrelated question.

"Father God, when fate takes away your beloved, what would you do?"

Zeus raised an eyebrow. "Have you been listening to too many love poems, to the point where you can't distinguish reality from imagination?"

Zeus only had one answer. That was, he had no eternal beloved.

Therefore, Apollo's question didn't hold true from the very start.

Apollo did not answer. He stood upon Mount Olympus, looking down at the mortal world shrouded in clouds and mist below.

This world was so complete, so correct.

Yet it was wrong.

Wrong because Fu Li wasn't in it.

"Why search? Isn't it fine just like this?"

At some unknown time, a goddess whose features couldn't be seen clearly appeared.

She stood not far away and posed the question with keen interest.

"Isn't it good for Apollo to be the lofty God of Light?"

"How could a Greek god grant eternity to a mortal."

She said with a giggle, her fingers nimbly twining threads.

"Wouldn't it be better without the other? Your meeting was nothing but coincidence in the first place. Correct that initial coincidence, Apollo."

The goddess coaxed step by step.

"Are you saying the world Fu Li is in has no me?!"

Apollo only listened to what he wanted to hear.

The goddess's smile froze for an instant. She nodded.

"I won't allow it!"

Within Apollo's molten gold pupils blazed a light of absolute resolve.

Who allowed this?!

Who dared to do this?!

Not even fate could do this!

They were the missing puzzle piece in each other's worlds.

Apollo raised his hand. The silver bow materialized in his palm.

He drew the bowstring. He nocked no arrow. Instead, he madly poured all the source power of his divine essence into it.

The bowstring vibrated, emitting a resonant hum.

The surrounding air began to warp. Light was pulled into bizarre arcs.

The gods on Mount Olympus sensed the anomaly and cast their gazes over one after another.

"Do you know what you're doing?!"

The goddess whose features couldn't be seen clearly cried out in shock.

This was the first time a god was willing to stake his very divine essence as a wager.

Just to pry open a possibility sealed by fate!

The goddess retreated several steps. Her tone was grave and solemn.

"So that's how it is. So this is your choice."

Her form continuously elongated, finally collapsing into countless threads.

Apollo had no mental energy to spare for the goddess's disappearance.

All his attention was focused on whether this single strike could shatter the barrier!

He would tear open a rift and go to the place where Fu Li was.

The bowstring was drawn to its limit.

Then released.

There was no sound.

A formless arrow, composed purely of light and will, left the bowstring and shot toward the void.

It merely "collided" with the conceptual boundary of the world.

Crack.

Apollo heard the sound of shattering.

In the space before him, a fissure appeared.

Very thin, very short, like a scratch on glass.

Through the fissure, what Apollo saw was not the scenery of Mount Olympus, nor any place he was familiar with.

What he saw were tall buildings and streams of traffic, pedestrians in strange clothing.

As if sensing something, Apollo subconsciously looked up.

And Fu Li, on the rooftop, also seemed to sense something. He gazed downward.

Their gazes, through the fissure between world and world, collided.

They simultaneously clutched their chests.

The heartbeat belonging to the other appeared in their eardrums.

The telepathic link was back.

They clearly felt all of the other's unease and uncertainty.

Apollo revealed a radiant smile.

Fu Li's eyes reddened. He rubbed his eyes, afraid it was another illusion.

Apollo's divine power still existed in this world.

He effortlessly leaped to Fu Li's side.

He tapped Fu Li's forehead with his fingertip.

"Did you miss me?"

Apollo resolutely did not mention the panic he had felt when he couldn't find Fu Li. The telepathic link had long since transmitted the joy of reunion to the tips of both their hearts.

"Hold out your hand."

Fu Li didn't directly answer Apollo.

Apollo obediently extended his hand. Fu Li caught Apollo's hand and pressed the palm against his own heart.

"Do you feel it? It's saying 'I missed you terribly'."

The moment Fu Li said these words, Apollo scooped him up and flew into mid-air.

Fu Li looked around. This world was collapsing.

Not a collapse in the physical sense, but disintegration at the level of "existence."

Everything was becoming transparent and blurred, like an oil painting soaked in water. The colors bled together. Outlines gradually vanished.

Fu Li and Apollo only felt total darkness before their eyes.

This time, they tightly held onto each other.

A few minutes later, light reappeared.

Fu Li opened his eyes and saw the dome of Tartarus and the fog surrounding them. Apollo met his gaze.

They had come out.

Back to the top of Tartarus.

The fog was rapidly dispersing, revealing the true scenery at the top of Tartarus.

A colossal pillar that pierced the heavens presented itself before them.

This was the Pillar of Heaven.

"It's the Pillar of Heaven!"

"The Three Fates are atop the Pillar of Heaven."

Apollo said excitedly.

His speed was very fast. In just a few minutes, Apollo brought Fu Li to the summit.

The top of the Pillar of Heaven was an endless gray platform.

In the center of the platform stood an enormous spinning wheel.

The spinning wheel turned slowly. Wound upon it were countless threads that shimmered with faint light.

The threads extended toward the void, vanishing into the invisible distance.

Beside the spinning wheel sat three goddesses.

One held a spindle, drawing threads from the void.

One held a ruler, measuring the spun threads.

One held a pair of shears, scrutinizing the portion already spun.

The Three Fates.

They simultaneously raised their heads and looked at the two embracing figures.

The spinning wheel slowly came to a halt.

Clotho was the first to let out a light laugh.

She set down the spindle in her hand. "Should I congratulate you for breaking through the possibilities I spun for you, or should I be angry that you actually broke through fate?"

Clotho's gaze lingered on the tightly clasped fingers of Apollo and Fu Li, then shifted to Fu Li.

"Little one, you gave us no small surprise."

"You gave me a completely new answer."

Fu Li's entire body jolted. He looked at Clotho in disbelief.

He had heard this line before, from the mouth of that woman whose appearance he couldn't remember.

"It was you?"

Clotho nodded, tacitly admitting it.

She sighed with emotion. "A thread of curiosity. One turn of fate's spindle. Interesting, wasn't it?"

A thread from another world, ultimately entwining with the proudest thread of light.

Clotho did not speak it aloud. Some words were best left for themselves to discover.

Lachesis lightly tapped the edge of the spinning wheel with her ruler, producing a crisp sound.

"Interesting? It was sheer recklessness."

She looked at Apollo. "Apollo, the oracles of Delphi never hinted at this act."

Having said this, Lachesis chuckled lightly.

Clotho looked at her sister helplessly.

Atropos, as the fate that could not be altered, had feelings even more complex than her two sisters.

As long as she was involved, no matter what it was, it represented the capriciousness of fate.

In other words, if either Fu Li or Apollo had given up,

the originally false illusion would have become a reality in a certain sense.

"Inconceivable."

This was the highest praise Atropos could give.

"He also held onto you. The thread, therefore, was never severed."

Clotho picked up the thread of conversation.

Her fingers deftly toyed with the especially dazzling golden-red and pure gold threads on the spinning wheel. They were tightly wound together, nearly indistinguishable from one another.

"To be honest, at first it was simply amusing. After all, it had been a very long time since anyone wanted to seek us out. Wanting something fresh was also perfectly understandable."

Lachesis picked up the thread of conversation on her own accord. The smile on her face didn't diminish.

"We really wanted to know what would happen."

"After all, far too many Greek gods prefer a new love."

Lachesis murmured:

"Perhaps true love is more capable of moving fate. Who knows."

Apollo suddenly furrowed his brows tightly:

"It was you who urged me to give up?!"

Lachesis's smile widened. She admitted it openly and frankly.

"It was me."

Looking at the Three Fates' expressions of novelty,

Apollo only felt deep speechlessness.

Lachesis said with a beaming smile, "Do you not have anything you want to ask us?"

"Having passed the trial, you may ask us any question."

Fu Li: "We can get all the answers?"

Lachesis smiled. "Of course not. We will only speak of what you are permitted to know."

Clotho added, "Knowing too much isn't really a good thing either, you know?"

Fu Li asked first: "Did you create the telepathic link?"

Regarding this point, he too found it very strange.

Why the telepathic link had inexplicably vanished and then inexplicably returned.

"No."

Clotho answered quite crisply.

"Eh...?"

Fu Li paused briefly. He hadn't expected to receive this answer.

"It wasn't us. Weaving fate keeps us very busy~"

Lachesis wagged her finger.

"Then who was it?"

Fu Li really wanted to know this answer.

The telepathic link was practically the beginning of everything between him and Apollo.

If possible, he truly, truly wanted to understand.

"Cannot say."

The Three Fates uniformly shook their heads.

This matter involved the Creator God.

They could not speak of it.

Even fate must serve the supreme Creator God.

"Why does Fu Li carry the aura of the Styx?"

Apollo was more concerned about Fu Li's safety.

The Three Fates exchanged glances.

They could speak of it. But only a very little bit.

After thinking it over, Lachesis frankly stated:

"This is his fate."

Fu Li was destined to fall into the Styx.

There was a god who wanted to meet him.

"Fate..."

Apollo chewed on this word and found he disliked it more and more.

"I want to take Fu Li to live on the surface. Because of the Styx, he can't leave."

Apollo knew the tone used to beseech others could not be this forceful.

But the moment he thought of how the Three Fates had caused their brief separation, Apollo felt exceedingly uncomfortable.

"This is not a major problem."

Atropos spoke.

She casually drew out a thread of fate.

The thread swiftly merged into their bodies.

"Your fates will undergo a change. Yet this change is not enough to overturn everything."

"Before fate reaches its end, you still have time."

Fu Li: "..."

Such riddles.

Apollo: "..."

Even he, the God of Prophecy, had come to hate cryptic mysticism.

Clotho burst out laughing.

"Little one, you can stay on the surface for one-third of the time. This is called partially altering fate."

She explained.

Whether it could be completely altered would depend on yourselves.

Fu Li thought for a moment and asked, "You don't dislike having fate rewritten?"

For the Three Fates to actually grant them a thread that altered fate—wasn't this practically slapping their own faces?

"We look forward to the unknown even more."

What was called fate was precisely the unknown.