Chapter 580 – The Sacred Mountains

Chapter 580 – The Sacred Mountains

Mo Lan’s current destination was the Holy City near Mount Celestial Pillar in the Sacred Mountains.

It was the only place in all of Valen where one could have a chance of encountering Angels without entering Heaven’s Peak.

Though Heaven’s Peak hung inverted above the summit of Mount Celestial Pillar, it was tightly protected and formed its own self-contained space, embedded into the mountain. The only entrance was the Gate of Heaven.

Only Angels, or “believers” recognized by the Angels, could pass through the Gate of Heaven and enter Heaven’s Peak.

Previously, Mo Lan had planned to use a transformation potion to take on an Angel’s form and sneak into Heaven’s Peak. But after truly understanding the situation at the Gate of Heaven, she realized this approach would be very difficult to pull off.

Because while Transfiguration magic could give her an Angel’s appearance, it couldn’t actually let her fly in an Angel’s form—the wings would be nothing more than decoration.

If she entered the Gate of Heaven but couldn’t fly up to Heaven’s Peak, it would expose her immediately.

So her only option was to go to the Holy City first and figure something out.

For now, she used a transformation potion to turn herself into a golden-haired, golden-eyed Witch, changed into a white Witch’s robe with gold patterns, and disguised herself as a White Witch.

Angels all had golden hair and golden eyes, and they favored pure white and brilliant gold. Back when the Angels had spread their religion under the guise of being divine messengers of the God of Light, their aesthetic had influenced their followers. Even now, people in many parts of the Yala Empire still regarded golden hair and golden eyes as marks of noble bloodline, and white-gold as the most prestigious color.

Although by now, virtually everyone on the Continent of Valen knew that the gods were merely a hoax woven by the Angels to harvest faith—even the Yala Empire only used the Temple of the God of Light as a tool to consolidate its rule. The Temple was actually a private domain for certain mages, and Angels were no longer revered as divine messengers. The relationship between the Empire and the Angels was merely one of friendly cooperation.

The Holy City outside the Gate of Heaven was no longer a city that only devout believers had the right to visit. It had transformed into a true free city governed by Angel believers. Besides housing many genuine faithful who worshipped the Angels and subordinate races who relied on Angel protection, it also attracted quite a few light-element-attuned spellcasters, travelers, and merchants who stopped there.

But the Angels’ preferences hadn’t changed. Mo Lan felt that disguising herself as a White Witch who matched Angel aesthetics would make it easier for her to approach them and find ways to acquire knowledge of Angel faith magic and holy light magic.

Many White Witches made this gathering place for light-element spellcasters an important stop on their travels. By taking on this identity, Mo Lan wouldn’t seem out of place, and it would also allow her to freely use her Witch abilities.

At the very least, she wouldn’t have to traverse the Sacred Mountains on foot like other races. She could simply sit on her flying carpet and soar comfortably through the sky.

However, the Sacred Mountains had unique terrain. The light element here had caused subtle mutations in the local flora and fauna, and there were even species that had originated from Heaven’s Peak. Occasionally, Mo Lan would spot magical materials that weren’t yet catalogued in the Book of Cards, and she’d have to stop briefly to collect them—though this didn’t happen often.

The Witches had been incredibly thorough. Eight or nine out of ten materials found on the Continent of Valen had already been submitted as samples by some Witch or another.

Most of the time, Mo Lan was busy taking photos of everything.

Information in books and samples in cards simply couldn’t compare to the impact of seeing things with one’s own eyes. Besides, the Sacred Mountains weren’t just home to abundant light-attribute magical materials—there were also intelligent races that had attached themselves to the Angels.

For example, the Winged Ones, Morningstar Dwarves, Light-Shadow Sprites, and Hermits.

These races had very small populations, and traces of them could only be found within the Sacred Mountains.

Mo Lan specifically marked the gathering places of these races on her map, plotting her flying carpet’s route to include all of them, not minding the extra distance.

When she spotted a distant cliff face that glittered like a giant prism in seven colors, she activated her flying carpet’s invisibility shield ahead of time.

She was approaching the Light-Suspended Cliffs, where the Winged Ones made their home. The Light-Suspended Cliffs were a nearly vertical cliff wall stretching close to four thousand meters high, its surface densely covered with light-element Crystals.

During the day, the light-element Crystals on the cliff face refracted sunlight into a spectrum of seven-colored rainbow light. At first glance, it looked like an enormous prismatic wall of color.

At night, the light-element Crystals emitted their own glow, appearing from a distance like a cascade of stars suspended in the air.

Mo Lan had seen a Mo-Pic of the Light-Suspended Cliffs in Lady Traci’s 《The Valen Complete Travel Guide》 and had been deeply captivated by the beautiful scenery in the image.

But the Light-Suspended Cliffs could only be admired from afar—getting close was not an option.

Due to the extreme altitude, the cliffs were perpetually buffeted by updrafts. The light element gathered along the cliff face into golden vortex-like currents of air. Without sufficient light-element affinity, merely approaching would risk being shredded into flying ash.

The Winged Ones who chose to live in such a place were naturally extremely xenophobic.

In the travel accounts of both Witches and humans, the Winged Ones were described as a group even more arrogant than the Angels themselves. Anyone who ventured within fifty li of the Light-Suspended Cliffs would be warned as an intruder by the Winged Ones.

A senior Witch had written a line in her travel journal that perfectly summed up the Winged Ones’ temperament: “The Winged Ones always have their noses pointed at the sky—unless an Angel is standing before them.”

Even the Dragons, proud as they were, merely regarded the weak as insects. Even the Angels, cold as they were, still showed special care toward their own kind.

But the Winged Ones managed to treat every race other than Angels as insects—dirty insects, at that.

Even among their own people, if someone’s wings grew feathers of mixed colors, they would be discriminated against.

The Winged Ones were naturally attuned to light elemental force, skilled in light-element magic, and also counted many excellent archers among their ranks.

However, the strength of their light-element magic was far inferior to that of the Angels—roughly on par with human light-element mages—and their archers weren’t as formidable as the Elves’.

Add to that their extremely small population—there was only this single settlement of just over a thousand Winged Ones in all of Valen—and their overall strength among the intelligent races of Valen was very much on the weak side.

A race with no overwhelming power advantage that managed to offend everyone around them—if not for the fact that every single one of them was a fanatical Angel devotee who enjoyed Angel protection, and if they weren’t such homebodies who never ventured beyond the Sacred Mountains, they would probably have been wiped out long ago.

Mo Lan only wanted to see the wondrous scenery of the Light-Suspended Cliffs. She had no desire to get into arguments with these nose-in-the-air Winged Ones, so she’d gone invisible ahead of time.

Arriving at the optimal viewing spot recommended by Lady Traci, Mo Lan brought her flying carpet to a stop.

Dusk was approaching, and the Light-Suspended Cliffs refracted the colors of the setting sun.

The nests of the Winged Ones, previously indistinguishable amid the seven-colored rainbow light, gradually came into focus as Winged Ones returning home at dusk silhouetted against them.

On the cliff face, teardrop-shaped translucent Crystal nests were layered one upon another, connected by narrow Crystal corridors. They blended almost seamlessly with the light-element Crystals covering the entire cliff. If not for the Winged Ones flying between the cliffs and returning to their nests one by one, it would have been impossible to tell where the entrances even were.