Chapter 588 – The Holy City of Mount Celestial Pillar

Mount Celestial Pillar was originally the highest peak on the Continent of Valen, yet compared to Heaven’s Peak hanging inverted above its summit, it seemed rather insignificant.

The pure white Heaven’s Peak was wreathed in clouds, radiating a holy and dazzling brilliance — practically a second sun for Valen.

Mo Lan had always believed that the ancient humans of Valen — who once revered Witches as shamanic priestesses and lived under their protection — had too easily become followers of the Temple of the God of Light after the Angels descended. They branded Witches as evil beings and became accomplices in the Temple’s persecution of Witches, perfectly exemplifying the worst traits of humanity in an age of ignorance.

But when she actually saw Heaven’s Peak with her own eyes, she suddenly understood.

Even someone like her, utterly devoid of faith, felt the urge to prostrate herself in worship upon seeing Heaven’s Peak. It was completely different from viewing it in Mo-Pics.

The humans of that era had simply shifted from worshipping Witches, who were stronger than themselves, to worshipping Angels, who were stronger still than Witches.

Humans who had not yet forged their own path in Magic could only attach themselves to spellcasters more powerful than they were, elevating them as leaders, as gods, hoping to be delivered from suffering.

The Angels dwelling high atop Heaven’s Peak must indeed have seemed like the spokespeople of the divine to the humans of that age.

Only when humans could wield Magic themselves and fend off crises on their own would they come to understand that Angels were merely somewhat more powerful spellcasters, that the divine was nothing but a fraud, and that they could hold their own destiny in their hands.

By that point, the soil in which faith could take root among the people of Valen had already eroded away.

People without faith looked at Heaven’s Peak with an entirely different mindset.

After the initial shock wore off, Mo Lan’s eyes were filled with nothing but curiosity:

“How on earth did the Angels manage to bring an entire mountain like this to Valen?”

“The mountain looks completely barren — nothing on it at all. And that strange inverted structure — could it really be comfortable to live up there?”

“No matter how imposing Heaven’s Peak is, it’s only a mountain a few times larger than Mount Celestial Pillar. Could it really house that many Angels?”

“Is that the breach blasted open by Lady Anita’s Firework Blast? It’s smaller than I imagined!”

Unfortunately, to this day, no race other than the Angels had ever set foot on Heaven’s Peak.

Information about the interior of Heaven’s Peak was virtually nonexistent.

Mo Lan’s questions would have to remain unanswered for now.

If Moon Harbor was a city brimming with romance and freedom, then the Holy City could only evoke words like solemn, majestic, radiant, and sacred.

“Let’s find a place to settle in the Holy City first!” Mo Lan finally shifted her gaze from Heaven’s Peak to the city built upon Mount Celestial Pillar.

From the roads to the buildings, even the vegetation — everything was either white or gold.

Though built upon a mountain, there was not a single trace of the original terrain. The entire city was immaculate, without a speck of dust.

Even the clothing of the city’s residents was in light, pale hues.

It was said that in the past, when this was still a city that only fanatics had the right to visit, wearing any color other than white or gold in the Holy City was a violation of the sacred precepts, punishable by expulsion.

Things had improved greatly since then, though white and gold in all their varieties still dominated, with the occasional splash of pale yellow, pale blue, pale green, or pale pink mixed in.

Compared to the Holy City’s monotonous architecture and fashion, Mo Lan found the plants in the city far more interesting.

Sacred Radiance Trees, rarely seen elsewhere, were merely used as street trees here.

Especially along the Stairway of Chasing Light — the Holy City’s widest staircase, running straight from the mountain’s base to the Gate of Heaven — the Sacred Radiance Trees flanking both sides were each over a thousand years old.

Their thick trunks were transparent as crystal, clearly brimming with abundant sap.

No wonder so many White Witches came here and never wanted to leave.

The sap of the Sacred Radiance Tree, which could only be harvested by those with strong light elemental force affinity, was the primary ingredient for brewing Felix Fortuna potions. A single dose of Felix Fortuna could sharpen one’s mind, double one’s luck, and make everything go smoothly for the next hour, as if blessed by divine favor.

A single vial of Felix Fortuna cost at least ten Purple Gold Coins, and supply could rarely meet demand.

Though few Potion Witches could actually produce Felix Fortuna, simply extracting and refining the Sacred Radiance Tree sap into Sacred Radiance Sap Essence yielded effects similar to Felix Fortuna — just significantly weaker. A small bottle of Sacred Radiance Sap Essence sold for around ten Magic Gold Coins on the market.

Such precious materials were everywhere in the Holy City — an absolute paradise for White Witches looking to gather free resources.

Seeing the abundant sap reserves in the city’s Sacred Radiance Trees, even Mo Lan couldn’t help calculating when the next full moon night would be. She absolutely had to come collect some Sacred Radiance Tree sap then.

She had now fully settled into her White Witch role.

Who knew whether any Angels were secretly watching from within the Holy City, built so close to Heaven’s Peak and under Angel supervision!

For now, she should find the local Witches first and gather some information.

Mo Lan rode her broom down and landed outside a tea restaurant called Holy Song Lily of the Valley.

She had learned from the Witch clan group chat that Holy Song Lily of the Valley was the only Witch-owned establishment in the Holy City.

Besides serving tea and pastries, it also stocked a wide variety of novels and picture books from all across Valen.

Witches living in the area often came to the tea restaurant to pass the time, and gradually, it had become a regular gathering spot for Witches in the Sacred Mountains region.

As a Witch newly arrived in the Holy City, going to the tea restaurant first to find her own kind and get the lay of the land was perfectly normal.

The moment Mo Lan pushed open the door, a pot of holy song lily of the valley by the entrance began singing in a lilting voice. Once she stepped inside and the door swung shut behind her, the singing stopped abruptly.

Such a well-trained holy song lily of the valley made Mo Lan pause, her hand silently returning to the door handle she had been about to release.

She pulled the door open.

“Yi ya yi ya ya…”

She shut the door.

“…Yi ya—”

“Strange, how does it time it so precisely?” Mo Lan couldn’t find any traces of Alchemy runes on either the door or the lily of the valley. The drafts from opening and closing the door were different too — so how was the lily of the valley synchronized so accurately with the door?

Open, close, open, close…

“Yi yi ya, yi yi ya ya—”

“Yi yi—”

“Ya ya ya—”

“Ahhh! So annoying!” the holy song lily of the valley suddenly burst out in fury.

Mo Lan’s hand froze on the door handle. “You can talk?”

“A lily of the valley that can sing — what’s so strange about it being able to talk?” the holy song lily of the valley said indignantly. “Get inside already and stop interfering with my work!”

“Little Lily! That’s a fertilizer deduction!”

A voice tinged with gentle menace drifted over. The holy song lily of the valley shuddered, then turned to Mo Lan with a simpering, saccharine tone: “Welcome, dear Witch! My noble, beautiful, and ever-generous master, the great Lady Garona, is waiting for you on the Second Floor. Please head right up!”

Mo Lan: “…”

The restaurant was a split-level design. Leaning against the railing on the second floor, a Witch was watching her with an amused smile.

Seeing Mo Lan look up, she waved. “Hello there, little one! I’m Garona, the owner of this restaurant.”