Chapter 103: Rebuilding the Altar Space

"Teacher, thank you!"
Just as Feng Zhe returned, he saw Defteros, the Gemini Gold Saint, half-kneeling before him with a look of deep reverence.
"Come, stand up!"
Defteros, who was once plagued by insecurity as a child under a dark star, had now changed. Though his features remained fierce, his heart was passionate and warm, and even his appearance seemed much more pleasing.
Clearly, Defteros had matured greatly. He had come to see Feng Zhe for two reasons: first, to thank him for accepting him as a disciple and enabling him to survive in the Sanctuary; second, on behalf of his brother, Aspros.
"Your brother is well. He will be our trump card, reserved for the critical moment."
"I trust you, Teacher, but I have a request..."
Defteros was only temporarily wearing the Gemini Cloth; his intention was to return it to his brother. Yet that decision was beyond Feng Zhe’s authority.
But there was one thing he could do...
Feng Zhe handed him a letter. When Defteros read it, tears streamed down his face.
The letter was from his brother, Aspros, who bestowed the Gemini Cloth upon him, saying he would forever be Athena's Saint...
Dong! Dong! Dong!
The urgent summons bell from the Pope’s Palace rang out. The two exchanged a glance and hurried to the palace.
Just moments ago, Sasha had been attacked by three Silver Saints—Sagitta, Auriga, and Cerberus. Fortunately, Libra Dohko and Aries Shion intervened and killed them.
The event deeply shocked the young goddess Sasha, who was still growing. She felt intense guilt, believing all of it was her fault.
The Silver Saints’ rebellion also made Pope Sage wary. He quickly convened all the Gold Saints.
Inside the palace, beneath Pope Sage, Goddess Sasha, and Elder-in-waiting Feng Zhe, were the twelve Gold Saints:
Aries Shion, Taurus Hasgard, Gemini Defteros, Cancer Manigoldo, Leo Regulus, Virgo Asmita, Libra Dohko, Sagittarius Sisyphus, Scorpio Cardia, Capricorn Elcid, Aquarius Degel, Pisces Albafica.
With a thunderous voice, Pope Sage declared, "The Holy War has begun!"
All twelve Gold Saints shouted in unison. Their fierce fighting spirit soared, stirring the Sanctuary and invigorating every Saint.
Under the witness of the goddess and the pope, Feng Zhe requested a vial of blood from each Gold Saint.
Though Sasha feared pain, she knew the importance of the matter. She took the golden dagger and cut her arm.
Afterward, Pope Sage formally handed Feng Zhe the Golden Apple, which sealed the evil goddess Eris.
Seeing their complete trust, Feng Zhe was deeply moved and silently vowed to protect more Saints in the Holy War.
Then, Pope Sage issued an order—to investigate Pegasus’s homeland and uncover the truth behind the Silver Saints’ betrayal.

Sage assigned this task to Dohko, Shion, and Pegasus. After some thought, he looked to Feng Zhe.
Feng Zhe understood: they faced the half-awakened Hades, who was Pegasus’s friend, Alone.
If they set a trap and struck with full force, they might destroy Hades’s body. Yet the bonds between Sasha, Pegasus, and Alone would be severed—something detrimental to the entire war.
Thus, Feng Zhe did not involve himself in this matter. The most urgent priority was the importance of the Mulberry Seed.
But before that, he had something else to do.
"My Lady Goddess, please allow me to train within the Goddess Palace."
Sasha readily agreed to his request. Feng Zhe then declared that he would seclude himself, and none but Sasha were permitted to disturb him.
Time was short, so Feng Zhe had little left.
As soon as he entered the Goddess Palace, Feng Zhe took out the Golden Apple.
At that moment, his cosmos was still at the initial stage of the Seventh Sense. To rapidly increase his cosmos, he had only one path—absorption of divinity.
Yet all divinity carried the will of the gods. If absorbed carelessly, one might become merely a vessel for the god—a new incarnation.
But Feng Zhe had devised a solution.
His altar-space had collapsed before; to boost his cosmos again, he needed to establish a new altar-space.
The Golden Apple was the perfect vessel for this.
Before that, however, the will of Eris inside the apple posed a significant problem.
Fortunately, Feng Zhe possessed not only the Golden Apple and Eris’s divinity, but critically, he also held the blood of twelve Gold Saints.
In the Goddess Palace, Feng Zhe drew a massive magic circle with the blood of the twelve Gold Saints.
After all was prepared, he knelt beneath the statue of Athena and prayed sincerely, then instinctively glanced at the statue.
Athena’s statue smiled—she gave her consent.
“Indeed, I made the right gamble!”
Now, as the Altar Saint, Feng Zhe knew that without Athena’s permission, the altar-space could never be preserved.
He even sensed that the Blasphemers were tacitly permitted by Athena.
Feng Zhe placed the Golden Apple at the center of the magic circle and brought forth a cluster of Eris’s divinity.
Sensing the divinity, the Golden Apple trembled excitedly.

But the will of Eris within the apple dared not emerge.
So Feng Zhe sat cross-legged on the ground and waited quietly.
Days passed...
At last, Eris’s will could no longer restrain itself and slipped out of the Golden Apple.
She rushed toward the divinity—if she seized it, Eris could be resurrected.
But Feng Zhe smiled.
Suddenly, the magic circle burst into brilliant light, like the heart of the sun, turning the Goddess Palace as bright as day.
Eris’s will, confronted by this radiance, suffered immense agony.
She tried to flee back into the Golden Apple, but Feng Zhe, prepared, splashed Sasha’s blood onto the apple.
Stained with Athena’s blood, the Golden Apple grew scalding hot.
Eris’s will could no longer re-enter and, faced with the light, was simply dissolved.
In moments, Eris’s will vanished from the world.
Overjoyed, Feng Zhe picked up the Golden Apple, and the sacred fire within him blazed in his palm.
Then, Feng Zhe swallowed the Golden Apple in one gulp.
"With the Golden Apple as vessel, the sacred fire as guide, and cosmos as energy—ignite, my cosmos!"
Feng Zhe’s cosmos surged to its peak, and the magic circle, inscribed with the blood of twelve Gold Saints, shone with dazzling brilliance.
The radiance seemed to illuminate the entire universe.
Let there be light in this world!
Snap!
A new altar-space was born!
And this altar-space belonged solely to Feng Zhe...