Why are there perfectly round, curved stones in this dilapidated building complex?
A flash of Athena's Holy Shield, held in her left hand on the ground in Saint Seiya, suddenly appeared in my mind. It seemed strikingly similar to the one beneath my butt.
Thinking of this, Lin Beiya no longer had any appetite.
Shoving the bread into his mouth haphazardly, Lin Beiya clapped his hands and quickly stood up.
He stared expectantly at the constantly shaking round stone on the ground.
"It really is a shield, the shield of justice? Or perhaps Aegis?"
Looking around, there were no statues, meaning this shield existed independently.
Lin Beiya quickly flipped the shield over, facing its front upwards.
The five-pointed star in the center of the shield clearly appeared before his eyes, further confirming Lin Beiya's guess.
This was Athena's shield of justice.
Releasing his Spirit, the statue of the goddess of war was glowing with unprecedented brilliance, which again proved his guess was correct.
It was this shield that guided him here.
"This is a Divine Artifact. I wonder if I can use it."
"Moreover, it seems the Death Canyon truly was the battlefield of ancient gods!"
A battle that could make Athena drop a Divine Artifact must have been terrifying, one could figure that out with common sense.
Lin Beiya brought the statue of the goddess of war close to the shield, hoping the statue could receive the shield.
Because no matter how he looked at it, the shield of justice was currently in a Seal state. Having no other choice, he could only try using the statue as a key to activate the Divine Artifact.
But to his disappointment, the statue of the goddess of war, apart from continuously emitting light, did not produce any chemical reaction with the shield.
"Hey, don't just glow! You're not a light bulb. Can you do something? This is a Divine Artifact!"
"A Divine Artifact that can withstand attacks from the Sea God Trident and the Sword of Hades!"
After a long while, looking at the continuously glowing statue of the goddess of war, Lin Beiya sighed helplessly.
"Could this just be a fake, a replica made by Athena's followers, reduction one-to-one from the shield?"
"But the guidance from my Spirit and the pressure emanating from the shield cannot be faked!"
Lin Beiya quickly overturned his own guess. If this place was truly just a shrine built by Athena's followers, it couldn't possibly give him such a sense of oppression.
Then there was only one answer: there was another way to activate the Divine Artifact.
Pacing back and forth for a moment, Lin Beiya decided to try other methods.
The first thing he tried was injecting spirit power into the shield. Although it had no effect, it further convinced Lin Beiya that the shield in front of him was genuine.
Because the spirit power he injected was directly blocked by the shield, unable to penetrate it at all.
An ordinary stone shield could not possess such power.
Next, Lin Beiya tried to inject his Cosmo into it, but it was still repelled by the shield.
Unable to find a way, Lin Beiya frantically scratched his head. What should he do? A Divine Artifact was right in front of him, but he couldn't use it. What was the difference between this and drawing a bow and seeing the target just out of reach?
"Do I need to inject my blood?"
"But I already injected blood into the statue of the goddess of war when my Spirit first Awakened, and it proved to be useless!"
After much thought, Lin Beiya could only try again. After all, he had no other options.
Using spirit power, he cut a gash in his palm, and blood immediately flowed out.
Lin Beiya quickly placed his palm directly above the shield, and blood continuously dripped onto the five-pointed star in the center of the shield.
Time passed minute by minute, but the shield remained motionless.
Just as Lin Beiya was about to give up and withdraw his arm, the shield on the ground suddenly began to tremble slightly.
This instantly made Lin Beiya's eyes light up.
"It really works!"
Under Lin Beiya's gaze, the shield of justice's trembling became more and more violent until it slowly floated into the air.
He withdrew his palm, and his Spirit spontaneously activated.
The next second, the shield and the statue of the goddess of war simultaneously burst into the most dazzling light.
Immediately after, the shield of justice transformed into a streak of light and shot directly into the statue of the goddess of war. Everything returned to calm.
Lin Beiya felt a surge of doubt as he looked at his Spirit, where the anomaly had disappeared.
"This... did it successfully receive it?"
Raising his arm to carefully examine his Spirit, Lin Beiya found that the iconic five-pointed star pattern had appeared on the shield resting on his left arm, which confirmed his guess.
Feeling the small shield continuously absorbing his spirit power and Cosmo, Lin Beiya's heart settled.
"It seems it will take some time before I can use the Divine Artifact. It's still in the process of recovery!"
"Let's go back the way I came. I wonder how much time has passed."
Looking at the darkness at the end of the light, Lin Beiya closed his eyes and walked in the direction he came from, relying on his senses.
When everything returned to darkness, that feeling of losing time and space reappeared.
Having no other choice, Lin Beiya could only grope his way forward in the dark.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but when Lin Beiya opened his eyes again, he found that he could see some of the terrain within the Death Canyon.
A surge of joy filled his heart, meaning he was not far from the exit.
He quickened his pace, and the visibility around him became clearer and clearer, proving that he had not guessed wrong.
When he could clearly see the stones and vines on the ground, two figures slowly appeared in the distance: Shi Nuo and Ming Xin.
The two looked particularly excited when they saw Lin Beiya.
"Brother Beiya!"
"Beiya, you're finally out!"
Before he could be happy, Lin Beiya's joy was instantly replaced by doubt.
What did they mean by "finally out"? He hadn't been gone for long, had he?
But looking at their tired eyes and dust-covered faces exposed outside their cloth, Lin Beiya immediately had some guesses.
"How long... have I been in there?"
"It's been almost four months. We all thought you..."
Shi Nuo didn't finish his sentence, but Lin Beiya already understood, and a monstrous wave rose in his heart.
He did feel that he had spent a lot of time walking that path where it was easy to get lost, but he didn't expect it to take four months for a round trip.
No wonder the two of them had been waiting so anxiously and were so excited to see him come out.
"We originally tried to go in further, but soon we couldn't see or feel anything, so we quickly retreated to avoid getting lost."
Lin Beiya nodded, a trace of fear rising in his heart. Their senses were not as strong as his. If these two had continued deeper, they could have been trapped inside forever.
"You did well. It's a good thing you didn't go any further."
"I only felt a few days had passed when I reached my destination, but I didn't expect it to take four months for a round trip."
"Ah?"
Upon hearing this, a trace of astonishment flashed in Shi Nuo and Ming Xin's eyes. That terrifying darkness was so magical that it could make even a strong person of Lin Beiya's level lose his sense of time.
"Then... Brother Beiya, did you get what you wanted?"
"Yes, I got it."
When talking about the shield of justice, Lin Beiya immediately showed a knowing smile.
This made Shi Nuo and the other very happy.
"That's great. This trip was worth it."
"Yeah, at least we didn't come for nothing."