Apollo frowned, he was caught off guard by the challenge, and he was even more unhappy than before. He was determined to punish this arrogant mortal and completely defeat his arrogance.
"Okay!" The Sun God sneered, "I'll just accept your challenge. What's wrong with that? But when competing with a god, I have to place a bet, so that I don't waste my time in vain."
Xie Ning stared at him and said coldly: "What do you want to bet on?"
"If you win, then do as you say, and I will escort you to Tartarus; if I win..."
Apollo paused, his eyes, blue as cornflowers, gleaming coldly like a sword.
"If I win, I will turn you into a dandelion and plant you beside the fire river of Tartarus," said the sun god. "Perhaps you can see the miserable scene of Echidna serving there, or perhaps you can't. In any case, you can only endure the scorching of the flames forever in silence, separated from your lover by a river, and no one can reach out to save you."
"Alas," said Hermes to himself, "cruel Apollo."
The sun god looked down at the young man, hoping to force him to give up and retreat with a cruel bet, great majesty, and strong and beautiful appearance. But to his disappointment, the young man looked at him stubbornly, he looked directly at the sunlight itself, and his eyes seemed to be burning with blazing flames.
"Sure!" he said. "Come on."
The gods were all shocked at the man's bold courage and youthful naivety. Zeus laughed and watched the dispute with interest.
"I am the witness of this match, because one of you is a god and the other is a human. There is no more impartial referee than me," said the Father of the Gods. "First, I want you to swear by the River Styx. Secondly, according to ancient custom, I don't ask you to fight for a long time, just two out of three games. Whoever wins the second game will be the champion of this match."
After saying this, he paused for a moment and asked, "The art of painting is not about speed and strength. It is about the beauty created by the collision of inspiration and creation. Fortunately, we are all gods and can wait endlessly! How long will it take you to draw the first painting?"
"Look at that human!" The bet was made, and Apollo was sure to win. He said lazily, "If he draws well, I will draw well. I have to give in to him, so as to show the spirit of fairness and justice."
"Subject matter?" Xie Ning asked.
Zeus pondered for a moment, then saw the goddess of love in the temple. Seeing her radiant appearance, his heart was moved and he said, "Look at Aphrodite. She is standing there very unhappy, watching the gods embarrass her beloved boy. This is very inappropriate. You must know that when she frowns, the beauty of the world will be reduced by ten points. When she is depressed, the rainbow in the sky will lose its color. Let's use 'love and beauty' as the theme to make her smile!"
The topic was set, the bet was established, and Xie Ning had nowhere to go. It was Aphrodite who took him back to her palace and looked at him worriedly.
"Ah, you rash man!" she sighed. "Phoebus Apollo is young and hot-tempered, and is not a very kind god. You would be wrong to fight him. He shoots arrows of scorching heat at those who offend him. Look at Achilles and his love Patroclus, both of whom died on the battlefield of Troy from the arrows of the sun god. Even when Achilles was born, Apollo went to the banquet and blessed his future."