Chapter 663: The Great Deviation of the Path of Adaptation
If it weren’t for the incompetence of the other Heavenly Envoys of the Path of Adaptation, the position of the Path of Adaptation itself might have changed hands.
—The current predicament of the Lord of Scales and Feathers is not much better than that of Supreme Heaven in those years.
In the past, people gradually developed political order from their primitive state. They transformed from primitive power into authority… even the Giant King himself underwent a deviation.
The Lord of Scales and Feathers is no different.
When the special environment brought by Supreme Heaven and the Beast Lord completely ended, the definition of the Path of Adaptation in the new era deviated.
But even the Lord of Scales and Feathers could not come forward and say, “Your understanding of these professions is wrong.”
The professions have already been born; how to understand and use them ultimately falls to the Extraordinary beings in the Material Realm.
Even the Eternal Holy Kingdom, which has a deeper understanding of the Nine Pillar Gods, holds this view… so in other places, this “misunderstanding” is likely even more profound.
When everyone perceives things in this way, the definition of the Path itself will change. The Dream Realm influences the Material Realm, and the Material Realm influences the Dream Realm—the fact that the Flame Heavenly Envoy can be strengthened by the Dwarves is proof of this.
The initial concept of the Flame Heavenly Envoy was fire and forging. Using flames to forge metal to “tool” and “weaponize” minerals was one of the earliest powers people derived from fire.
But later, with the development of Civilization, the things that “flames” could accomplish steadily increased.
Nowadays, the Flame Heavenly Envoy has gradually become bound to concepts like “production” and “factories,” and her Power has naturally grown stronger. This is how the definition of Paths and professions is altered by modifying the narrative—just as when people need a Blacksmith to forge tools, the Blacksmith is the creator of the tools; and when they need a Blacksmith to forge weapons, they become the providers of weapons.
When the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s concept gradually spreads from “factories” and “steam” to encompass “machinery,” she can no longer be called the “Flame Heavenly Envoy.” At that time, she might become the “Machinery Heavenly Envoy.” And if her influence spreads from “creator of firearms and swords” into the domain of war, she might even touch upon the domain of Authority.
—In a sense, what the Lord of Scales and Feathers did was precisely this. These two matters are similar in nature.
It’s just that the Flame Heavenly Envoy absorbed the Power of other Heavenly Envoys, while the Lord of Scales and Feathers absorbed the Power of other Pillar Gods.
The Lord of Scales and Feathers has indeed caused losses to other Pillar Gods—even if only a trifle.
“And besides that, there is another reason. That is because of the Eternal Holy Kingdom’s peculiar circumstances…”
The Candlemaster whispered softly to Eivass.
It was like a mother, a grandmother, patiently explaining to her child, who was suddenly feeling wronged and disliked, what had just happened—although Eivass was neither disliked nor felt wronged.
And this reason made Eivass fully understand why these Cardinals were so agitated.
—Just as “Controlled Fire” could stir up turmoil within the Church…
Ultimately, it is a conflict between inheritors and professional users.
Many Elves were originally proud of being inheritors.
Elves are a race with few offspring and long lifespans. An excellent inheritance could very well originate from thousands of years ago—the longer one lives, the more pride one takes in such a long history.
And in a traditional Elf family, if a descendant chooses the path of a professional user, it is easy to come into conflict with the elders in the family. A broken inheritance would become a secret scroll, which also signifies the disappearance of a “surname,” something they are proud of.
—Through the inheritance of surnames, one can trace back two, three thousand years, or even more. The most glorious among them are the ancient inheritances that existed at the birth of Elves, or even before.
Most of these inheritances have now become secret scrolls, and in the perception of Elves, secret scrolls are a kind of “corpse of inheritance.” Only unbroken inheritances are “alive.”
However, inheritors do indeed increase the risk of Amber solidification—even the Cardinals gathered here do not agree on their views of “Amber solidification” and “inheritance.” This is even more true for the common Elf folk.
Therefore, the situation where those who were originally professional users suddenly become “Warriors” is a minor matter.
The real problem lies with those inheritors—and those conservative factions are precisely the ones who are more easily aligned with the guardian’s will and combat spirit of a Warrior.
In other words, after this night, more than half of the conservative Elves suddenly woke up to find themselves as professional users.
And this would undoubtedly trigger intense conflict throughout the entire Holy Kingdom—
This is why these Cardinals gathered to discuss.
They had originally planned to summon the Pillar Gods upon themselves to discuss this matter. It was just that Eivass arrived too early; he had already arrived by the time they had just started their discussion.
From this perspective, what they said was indeed not bad.
The original “Disaster of Tree and Amber” had indeed turned into a “Disaster of Stars”—
The Elven civil war was now almost on the verge of breaking out, uncontrollable.
The only good news was… this war would at least not escalate to the Pillar God level for the time being, becoming a new Path War.
Because of the Lord of Scales and Feathers’ plan, the Path of Authority was the most endangered, followed by the Path of Devotion.
And the Silver Crown Dragon had already discussed this with the Lord of Scales and Feathers in advance—this was part of their deal.
After all, the Silver Crown Dragon had finally become a fully formed Pillar God, and even by distributing some of its Power, it was far stronger than before. The Candlemaster, perhaps due to her sufficient goodwill, did not intend to cause trouble for the Lord of Scales and Feathers over this matter.
As for the Hourglass, who usually appears at such times, the fact that the old man did not appear meant he did not intend to interfere.
The Great Philosopher, who also did not appear, would naturally not object—setting aside that “Wisdom” and “Power” are inherently opposing concepts, like the two sides of a coin for the Great Philosopher and Supreme Heaven. The strange situation of “Mages turning into Warriors” was basically impossible. Moreover, he still owed Eivass half a favor, so he could not suddenly attack.
As for the Twin and Hengwo—Eivass did not understand why they had come down, perhaps to take the opportunity to get close.
After all, he had heard that Hengwo had once admired the Twin when she was still mortal. “Love” and “Beauty” were fundamentally two sides of the same coin.
As for Amber…
Perhaps it was because Cardinal Matilda, who had a contract with Amber, was not present. Or perhaps Amber was too lazy to bother with such matters, and thus did not appear.
The only one who seemed to have an opinion on this was the Father Serpent.
Or rather, the Father Serpent seemed to have had a grudge against the Lord of Scales and Feathers for a long time—
Cardinal Cyril, who always smiled gently, now appeared cold.
“As expected of the god who steals scales and feathers…”
The Father Serpent said calmly, “You have brazenly stolen something new again. You are still the same, as always.”
“This is the Path of Adaptation for the weak. If you don’t understand, you don’t have to say anything.”
The Lord of Scales and Feathers returned to Eivass’s surface, his chartreuse pupils gazing at the Father Serpent.
He mocked, “After all, you won’t be able to fly for much longer, our great强者.
“What else can there be above you?
“The Wall of Twilight, the Cage of Errors—
“Do you truly intend to touch it?”
Although his words carried hostility, the Lord of Scales and Feathers’ speech seemed to hold a hint of concern.
Eivass could not quite discern the true nature of their relationship for a moment.
But the Father Serpent replied without hesitation, “I will transcend that wall.
“That is my Fate—even if all that lies beyond is Void, even if I am shattered to pieces.
“This is the destiny of a Transcendent.”
“Heh, Fate. Destiny. Heh…”
The Lord of Scales and Feathers sneered, offering no further comment.
(End of this chapter)
