Love, Gun, Cupid

A guess formed in Mu Mian's mind. She continued to fight Cai Gou Xian Yu, and continued to be suppressed by him. She moved closer to Lin Jia De again. The closer she got to Lin Jia De, the slower Cai Gou Xian Yu's attacks became, as if he was afraid of her contact with Lin Jia De.

Mumian used the same trick again, turning her attention towards the ice cave. Cai Gou and Xian Yu reacted no differently than when she had approached Lin Jiade before, which gave Mumian a 80% chance of success.

“Your strength comes from the amplification of your abilities, and your abilities can only be activated in one-on-one situations, right?” Kapok said.

Cai Gou Xian Yu looked slightly flustered and said, "Who knows?"

"Ice Cave, come and help!"

Ice Cave didn't need to do anything. She only needed to come to Kapok's side and touch her body to neutralize the abilities of Vegetable Dog and Salted Fish. However, Ice Cave stood there, unmoved, as if she hadn't heard her.

"Ice Cave, what are you doing?" Kapok asked anxiously. "Do something useful, Ice Cave!"

However, the ice cave suddenly became a comedian, standing there with its eyes fixed on the sky above, wearing a silly smile.

Kapok saw only a waning crescent moon in the night sky, nothing more than a dull darkness. Cai Gou Xianyu laughed, "Your companions are useless! I really don't know if you've been kicked in the head by a donkey, how could you trust the guardians of the Holy Land? Those idiots are the least trustworthy people."

Mu Mian gritted her teeth. Since they wouldn't come to her side, she would go to the ice cave. As long as she broke the 1 vs 1 condition, she could reverse the unfavorable situation against Cai Gou Xianyu.

However, after the two sides broke off contact, Cai Gou Xian Yu headed straight for Lin Jia De, forcing Mu Mian to turn around and save him.

On September 16th, Inter Milan vs. Real Madrid. Choose between Inter Milan winning, a draw, and Real Madrid winning. Correct picks will receive bonus content.

Chapter 104 The Road to the Holy Land (6)

When Cai Gou Xianyu rushed towards Lin Jiade, Lin Jiade was startled. His movements were exposed, and Iphigenia's claw attack, imbued with a shield-breaking spell, pierced through his shield and rushed towards his face.

"Let me peel off your face and put it in a gallery that is open only to me. When our child grows up, I will bring him or her to admire the traces you left behind, and then sew the face back onto the faces of our descendants."

You live not only within me, but also within our children, and within our children's descendants. Here, we will achieve an immortality that is not true immortality.

As Iphigenia wielded a weapon similar in design to Lin Jiade's, accompanied by black mist and sparks, her body and face, a mixture of Di Tao, Yang Xuemeng, and the black cat, broke through Lin Jiade's shield with her mad babbling, tormenting Lin Jiade's cochlea.

Lin Jiade himself is a master of trash talk, but at this moment he admits that his trash talk level is to Iphigenia what the difference is between Yamato's character and Tai's in the old version of Digimon.

He gathered his strength in even greater anger, the blade tearing through the air and striking another weapon with a muffled thud. He could hear his own heavy breathing, feel the throbbing of the veins in his temples and neck, hear the uneasy cracking sound of his newly healed left arm, and feel the artificial part of his overused left leg nearing its limit.

After Iphigenia coalesced into her complete form, she lost her composure. Her appearance was the kind of design that furry lovers would adore, while her open mouth and her chest that swelled and contracted repeatedly proved that she possessed a kind of fatigue similar to that of carbon-based life forms.

In each round, Iphigenia's attacks were imbued with her sincere love, but behind that love lay a terrible truth: she loved him so much that she would fight him as a monster rather than be forgotten, and she had already sealed her fate for him.

Both Dujuan and Korobochka had plotted to turn him into a toy in his life, and he had thought them cruel. Compared to Iphigenia before him, their arrangements could even be considered merciful.

"Lin Jiade, I can feel your sword bringing death upon me. Are you doing this because you love Yang Xuemeng?"

"No, I don't love her!"

The light from Lingard's sword neutralized Iphigenia's black mist. The celestial weapon sliced ​​through her shield, and before it could strike her neck, flames appeared. The shaped weapon entangled Lingard's sword, and then, Iphigenia thrust her sword out with love.

Lin Jiade instantly transformed into a sword, dodging the attack while simultaneously striking Iphigenia's chest. Just as he was about to pierce her, she suddenly transformed into a black cat, dodging the fatal attack in a similar manner.

The two landed almost simultaneously and transformed back into human form at the same time. Lin Jiade frowned in displeasure; anyone would be unhappy to be imitated to this extent by an enemy on the spot.

"When Yang Xuemeng was still in the hospital, whenever she entered a dream, her perspective would follow a small black cat, watching the people she liked."

By the standards of unmarried people, she is quite old, but deep down she has a fairytale-like mentality, longing for the person she likes to be a prince on a white horse, or a powerful knight.

You are her prince. Your power, to her as an outsider, is overwhelming. Her lost memories gradually return, and in her dreams, she relives how you rushed into a wondrous world filled with glittering glass, running with her across the wasteland, from darkness to dawn, from the bizarre to the ordinary.

Iphigenia pressed her hand to her chest: "Then, I devoured the Earth Peach, and the Earth Peach lives within me. Do you want to hear the Earth Peach's love and hate for you?"

Lin Jiade didn't want to listen. He looked at the ice cave. The ice cave was currently not completely effective against Iphigenia, so it still had some effect. But at this moment, the ice cave just stood there dumbly, not even as effective as the friendly forces that were constantly firing accurate bullets from afar, trying to weaken the weak dog and the Iphigenia's shield, but were always shot down midway.

"She has been controlled by another force, don't you know that?"

Iphigenia approached Lin Jiade at high speed. This time, she did not use claw techniques or imitate Lin Jiade's swordsmanship, but rather the martial arts of the Earth Peach. Lin Jiade made a mistake in his first move and was at a disadvantage in the second. However, in the third move, she brought the situation back to a stalemate because the swordsmanship of the Earth Peach and the Cotton Tree was similar, and she was very familiar with the Cotton Tree's swordsmanship.

The counterattack begins now. Lin Jiade glanced at the ice cave and found that his opponent was still standing still. He sighed inwardly and used his sword to shield Iphigenia. Iphigenia jumped up and placed one foot on the tip of his sword.

"Whether they are the guardians of the Holy Land or the Greeks, they may be arrogant and think that they are the only organization that can use the power of the Holy Land in a natural and reasonable way. To them, the Holy Land is a super-large ATM, and the power of the Holy Land, whether overt or covert, is the deposit they withdraw from the Holy Land."

But is that even possible?

Lin Jiade drew his sword and kicked Iphigenia, who had lost her footing. Iphigenia threw a punch, and the force of the punch and kick came from the point of contact. Lin Jiade's feet left a scratch on the ground and crashed into Mu Mian. He didn't have time to talk to Mu Mian and threw his celestial weapon.

As soon as Iphigenia landed, she hurriedly turned her head. The celestial weapon grazed near her ear, and the accompanying gale cut a small wound on her ear. Blood gushed out and fell with a few strands of her maroon hair.

"I think the power of the Holy Land is not an ATM, but a microloan. It is the Holy Land lending power to certain chosen people. For a period of time, this borrowed power has no cost, as long as the principal can be repaid."

Then, at some point, its interest begins to accumulate quietly, growing larger and larger, until finally, when the guardians of the Holy Land or the Greeks reach the repayment date, the Holy Land will reclaim the power it gave to these insignificant and foolish mortals and use them to achieve self-enhancement.

So, your companion is in this state now because the repayment date has arrived. The Holy Land is ruthless and will use any means necessary to take back what it wants from the borrower.

Lin Jiade, do you want to see yourself lose someone again? As for me, I'm quite happy about this scene, because Yang Xuemeng is jealous of that guardian of the holy land, jealous of that guardian's youth and beauty, jealous of that guardian's courage and honesty, and jealous of that guardian's ability to grasp a man's heart.

If that person dies, there will be one less person to draw Lin Jiade's attention... That's what I'm thinking."

Chapter 105 The Road to the Holy Land (7)

The changes in the ice cave caused a slight fluctuation in Lin Jiade's emotions. After experiencing a series of events with the ice cave, he subconsciously regarded the ice cave as his possession, his woman.

He was naturally concerned about her, who seemed like an outsider at the moment, while the ice cave that had stirred Lin Jiade's emotions was drawn to another place by the spear of light on his chest.

History is approaching her: the migration of people, the rise and fall of city-states, where destruction began, and the scattering of the people after the destruction of city-states, carrying their beliefs, thoughts, and knowledge to distant places, spreading to the other side of the sea.

She saw myths and stories different from those in historical narratives, and then she saw the formation of the sacred land: the collision of forces she could not describe, the celestial observers falling to the ground, causing earthquakes and dust to rise, and through the smoke and dust, she saw the authority left behind on the earth.

Authority is presented in the form of weapons: a black sword that exudes an ominous aura; a moon-white bow drawn into a full moon; and a golden spear and shield.

Then, upon these powers, a sturdy shell formed; then, the sacred land she knew enveloped the pit in the form of flesh; and finally, the city of Fuxing, where she lived, covered the flesh as the peel, transforming it into a mouthwatering peach.

A peach fell from the branch, rolled on the ground, and was picked up by a fair white hand. The gaze of the ice cave followed the peach and saw a woman with black hair. Silk was woven into her waistband, and her bare arms were as white as washed lotus roots. A laurel wreath was placed on her head, and a model of the moon rotated above her head.

She walked towards the ice cave, her bare feet leaving ever-changing shadows of the moon, just like the earrings and necklace that dangled from her ears and rested on her chest. She wasn't tall, but the moment she arrived before the ice cave, it felt as if Mount Tai was pressing down on it, creating a suffocating atmosphere.

"Pallas's new toy?" the woman asked.

The ice cave didn't know who Pallas was; all she knew was that if she didn't do something, she would suffocate. So, she covered her body with holy magic, but the situation only got worse.

"It's a new toy, but it seems you're not one of her favorites."

The woman extended her finger and gently slid it across the ice cave's clothes, which were cut open by an invisible blade. The bra broke and fell down, revealing the golden pillar of light embedded in the ice cave's chest.

"What are you going to do?" the ice cave asked with difficulty. "Who were you before this?"

"Diana in the Woods".

"You are... a Celestial Observer?!"

Diana reached out and touched the pillar of light on the ice cave's chest: "It's strange. Your power comes from Athena. This thing on your chest is the projection of Athena's Spear of Victory in reality, while your enemy is imbued with the divine power of Ares. And the moon in the sky controls the timing of the war between the god of war and the goddess of victory, bringing the two to a state of balance."

"So...you are the moon goddess?"

“I am one of the moon goddesses, and I am the authority left here by the moon goddess,” the woman corrected.

“My companions are still fighting the enemy,” Ice Cave said urgently. “Could you please take me back?”

"Combat? Hmm, ever since you humans entered the Holy Land, you've been doing all sorts of strange things over the years, and in the last ten months or so, which isn't even old enough to be written into history, your strange actions have become more and more frequent."

The woman who claimed to be the authority of the moon goddess had no interest in the killing of humans. She dug out the artifact fragments from the ice cave's chest, and the ice cave's body convulsed, making crackling sounds. Within seconds, it transformed back into Mu Xiu, who had a feminine temperament.

Mu Xiu sat up, staring blankly at the empty hole in his chest. After a few seconds, he realized something, quickly reached for his crotch, and tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.

"You seem... grateful to me?" Diana toyed with the fragments of the Spear of Victory with her authority. "Because Athena is a well-known virgin goddess, those toys who follow her are either women or will eventually be gender-swapped into women."

Her spear of victory, in short, is that whoever it strikes must undergo a judgment of will. If the victim, as a man, does not have a particularly strong will, then he will transform into a woman, and his male consciousness will be replaced by his female consciousness.

“So, the guardians of the Holy Land are all women. So, the punishment I received was to be fixed as a woman by the Holy Land,” Mu Xiu murmured.

"Palas's punishment? I don't think you humans are that important to us, but that guy Pallas always has a reason for doing things. He wouldn't put a part of his artifact into your body for no reason. That's why I found you here."

Anyway, you're a man again now, so you don't need to worry about it anymore..."

"That's not how it is!" Mu Xiu shouted.

For him now, losing his power and turning back into a man was a nightmare within a nightmare. He stood up and glared at the woman, but only after realizing that he was glaring at the authority of a god did he lower his head and stammer, "I need power to go back and fight with my comrades."

"Even if it means becoming a girl?"

"I don't care about this kind of thing," Mu Xiu said softly. "As a girl, I've already adapted to my new life."

"You humans are always so weird... okay."

Diana's authority pushed the artifact fragments back in, and in a burst of light, Mu Xiu transformed back into an ice cave. She happily spun around, touching her chest and crotch, the soft and ethereal touch bringing her peace of mind.

"Thank you, sir. So, how may I leave?"

The ice cave had many questions she wanted to ask, but none of them were as important as the safety of her companions. She was eager to leave, but Diana's authority was indifferent to the lives of mortals, focused on her own affairs.

"wait for me."

Diana touched Ice Cave's forehead with her authority. Ice Cave saw the blue lines being drawn out by her and unfolding in the air. Mu Xiu and Ice Cave's past was displayed before her without any privacy, and even... some memories that she herself did not know.

She saw herself casting a friendship spell on Lin Jiade. She remembered that the spell was successful and Lin Jiade became even friendlier to her. However, in the extracted memories, after casting the friendship spell on Lin Jiade, she was hit by the curse on Lin Jiade's body. She was completely unaware that she had been hit by her own spell. Her feelings for Lin Jiade went from friends to more than friends, but not quite lovers.

“This is…” she said incredulously.

What shocked her even more was what happened next. In Jianlan's office, she, who had originally refused to serve them, was hypnotized by a woman in Jianlan who was wrapped in black lines and had no image. She was then made to become a tool who would follow their orders and approach Lin Jiade.

Chapter 106 The Road to the Holy Land (8)

“No, that’s not it,” Ice Cave said. “I only have love and gratitude for Lin Jiade. I would never infiltrate his side as a traitor!”

"Why are you yelling so loudly?" Diana's authority didn't quite understand. "I'm just showing you the embellished parts of your memories, but the memories of you Holy Land Guardians are embellished in the first place."

"What do you mean?" the ice cave asked.

"Don't you find it strange? The Holy Land is a closed space, and its total energy is equal to the sum of the powers left behind here by the three gods."

It's been about a thousand years since the first human entered the sacred land, but guess how the energy levels there have changed?

In theory, the use of the Holy Land's power by generations of humans, especially the use of Holy Land magic in the outside world, would lead to the loss of energy. Theoretically, the current energy level of the Holy Land should be less than it was a thousand years ago. However, the smile that Diana couldn't hide from her authority suggests that the truth may very well be the opposite of what the ice cave intuited.

"Could it be... that it has increased?" she tried to ask.

"That's right, the total amount has been steadily increasing."

"But why?"

Reason told the ice cave she should leave immediately, but emotion compelled her to try and understand her origins. Diana's authority stated, "The judgment of a decrease in the total amount is based on the judgment that your Holy Land's energy is used arbitrarily, while the fact that the total amount has increased is based on the rule that the Holy Land's energy is borrowed and returned."

"?!"

"Just as the gods can only bestow power upon mortals within the rules, making them divine protectors, the Holy Land also has rules for choosing mortals, whether they become guardians of the Holy Land or organizations lurking in the shadows of the Holy Land. These rules ensure that the energy the Holy Land takes from you is greater than the power it pays out."

In practice, Athena and Ares used their powers to tempt mortals in different ways, choosing the one who was easiest to control, and then using that one to control the rest.

Then, with the help of these wicked accomplices, the Holy Land lured more mortals to come, first giving them power, and then taking it back.