Cursed Immortality

Chapter 1049: Beneath the Holy Justice Citadel

Jacob’s eyes flickered as he looked at Eliza. He had to admit this woman was really scheming and daring. She had revealed everything about the Godly Faith Nectar’s location without implicating herself in the process.

Furthermore, even if Jacob failed, Eliza won’t take the blame; instead, she’ll become his worst enemy and lead the Cardinal Spirit Temple’s forces to deal with him. Moreover, there was also a chance that Eliza was leading him to a trap to kill him using that mysterious formation.

Nonetheless, Jacob has already decided to get the Godly Faith Nectar, and Eliza, to make sure, even if something goes wrong, Eliza won’t be there to get in his way.

”It is indeed challenging for someone to steal the Godly Faith Nectar.” Jacob nodded before he said ambiguously, ”Then let’s just forget about it. On the other hand, since Holy King has trusted me with such an important matter, let me show you something in return.”

Eliza was astounded by Jacob’s last words, as she had no idea what Jacob was talking about. However, the next moment, Jacob suddenly flickered his finger, and the space behind him twisted before a dark portal appeared!

Eliza’s eyes widened when she saw that space portal because she was well aware of the fact that the space inside the Holy Justice Citadel was sealed entirely, not to mention they were still in the Sanctum of Concord, where even a Quasi-Myth can’t use space law.

However, Jacob easily opened a space portal there, and from what Jacob just said, a sudden thought surfaced in Eliza’s mind before her spiral eyes started to turn as she solemnly looked at the portal as if she wanted to see through it. But apparently, she failed!

”Could this be...?” Eliza hastily asked as her heart raced with anticipation.

Jacob merely nodded, ”It is indeed a portal that leads to the Temple of the Blazing Flame. If you’re willing, I can show you ’your future’.”

Eliza’s heart stirred as she gazed on the portal with longing and greed, but she quickly calmed her emotions since she was also wary of Jacob still.

”Forgive my rudeness, but can we sign a Zodiac Soul Oath Contract first? Just make sure we won’t have other thoughts...” Eliza probed, knowing Jacob wasn’t easy to deal with, and she knew nothing about the Temple of the Blazing Flame.

There was a chance that Jacob was leading her inside so he could deal with her now that he got the information he wanted, or force her to betray the Cardinal Spirit Temple.

Jacob, as if waiting for those exact words, agreed without hesitation, ”Sure. After all, I’m very sincere in working with the Holy King, and I hope our cooperation won’t just last after this.”

Eliza’s eyes narrowed as she felt Jacob was too passive, and no matter how she thought about all of this, she couldn’t figure him out. Nonetheless, just like the others, she also believed in the common sense of the rules of the Zodiac Plains and the Zodiac Soul Oath Contract was something that even a Quasi-Myth can’t go against.

That’s why she didn’t suspect Jacob’s motives anymore, even if she wanted to, and her biggest reliance, her Inner Espy Vision, was useless against Jacob, so she was doomed from the beginning.

Afterward, Eliza took out a Zodiac Soul Oath Contract and wrote the terms on it personally before she signed it, and then Jacob followed suit.

Once the Zodiac Soul Oath Contract was established, only then did Eliza get up from her seat and walk towards the mysterious portal.

After hesitating for a moment, she clenched her fists and stepped inside, and Jacob followed behind with a hint of derision in his eyes. The moment Jacob and Eliza stepped inside the portal, it vanished without a trace.

After an hour passed, Jacob’s figure emerged within the Sanctum of Concord as if nothing had happened, while Eliza was nowhere to be seen. Moreover, at this moment, there was a hexagon-shaped, golden white badge attached to his collar.

Jacob’s eyes flickered with killing intent as he vanished from the Sanctum of Concord.

Under a sky streaked with drifting holy lights, Jacob moved silently across the pristine marble floors of the Holy Justice Citadel.

Eliza’s ambiguous words were still vivid in his mind as he made his way towards the hidden entrance that lay within her private prayer hall, directly beneath the towering idol of the Holy Justice God.

As for where it was, Jacob didn’t need any instruction, as he already knew everything he needed to know to get there from Eliza.

Following Eliza’s instructions, Jacob’s figure became a drifting shadow as he slipped past warded hallways lit by ever-burning braziers of silver flame.

The murals along these secret passages depicted ancient murals. The air grew colder as Jacob went deeper into the grand temple—a chill not of temperature, but of peculiar presence.

Walls of pale, polished stone bore runes that pulsed with soft holy luminance, warding away evil and preserving the sanctity of the pathway.

Yet even here, in the heart of the Holy Justice God’s domain, Jacob’s steps were silent, and the oppressive aura of countless wards could not detect him. His soul force concealed him, and his heart remained unfazed.

Furthermore, the hexagon badge on his collar flickered in soft light as Jacob went towards the core of the Holy Justice Citadel. At last, Jacob reached the private prayer hall—a secluded chamber behind layers of gilded gates, where only the Holy Pontiff was allowed entry.

As Jacob approached the door, the hexagon badge on his collar flickered, and mystical runes surfaced on the door before it opened on its own.

Once Jacob entered the prayer hall, before him towered the statue of the Holy Justice God, a serene, holy figure whose golden white eyes glowed faintly with strange power. Beneath the statue’s marble dais, Eliza had hinted at the actual entrance.

Jacob extended his hand, the light on the hexagon badge intensified before a nearly imperceptible rune glowed at his touch—a trigger that was known only to the Holy Pontiff.

With a muted grinding of ancient gears, the dais parted, revealing a staircase spiraling downward into darkness.

Seeing the path, Jacob didn’t hesitate and descended slowly. The stairway’s walls were lined with age-worn murals depicting carrying figures offering light toward a distant, unseen god.

A faint smell of incense, untouched by wind or time, lingered in the air like an aroma born of prayers.

As he walked, Jacob felt the air here was heavy, almost suffocating, saturated with millennia of unwavering devotion, and the hexagon badge seemed to be protecting him.

At the base of the stairs lay a massive archway of seamless stone, carved with runes that shimmered like starlight when viewed from the corner of the eye, yet dimmed when looked at directly.

With hexagon badge protection, Jacob passed this strange place, and beyond the arch, Jacob entered a vast, hallowed cavern, which was the very heart of the Holy Justice Citadel’s secrets.

The chamber was circular, the walls hewn from pale marble veined with threads of ethereal white gold. High above, a ceiling lost in shadow gave the illusion of endless space, as if the chamber were carved within the very bones of the world.

In the center stood a solemn, elevated altar of luminous white stone, shaped like an open lotus. Upon this altar rose a smaller idol of the Holy Justice God—a serene figure, but it was slightly different.

Jacob’s gaze froze because the idol’s right eye burned with a brilliant golden-white flame, radiating oppressive judgment. But its left eye was a spiral, eerily similar to Eliza’s, radiating mystery and unseen truths.

’ Jacob guessed as his glaze turned profound, ’I was under the impression that the Holy Justice God should have the Eyes of Judge, but I never thought he also has the same eyes as that woman.

Jacob thought as he eyed the idol of the Holy Justice God.

He has a strange connection with the Cardinal Spirit Temple, where the Holy Justice God, its supreme leader, sparked Jacob’s curiosity more than the others. After all, he believed that the secret of his rebirth might lie within this Holy Justice God, or at least a part of it!

Jacob then averted his gaze and saw, right beneath this idol, resting on an ornate pedestal entwined with ethereal runes, a ceremonial chalice. A vessel seemed to be made of celestial crystal, its surface etched with intricate spiral patterns of judgment.

The chalice glowed faintly with liquid light—inside, the Godly Faith Nectar shimmered with a gentle, mesmerizing brilliance!