Chapter 1152
Eivass is the Sun
Eivass remembered the words spoken when the Supreme Heaven fell—
“I lost, Arthur. But you didn’t win either.”
“I lost to many… I lost to my prey, I lost to my foolish descendants, I lost to the Hourglass, the Lord of Scales and Feathers, I lost to my other half… However, the battle with you, I did not lose.”
“—I won back then, Arthur.”
“You can never defeat me at my peak. You can never be as strong as I am. Authority will always be inferior to power—wait and see if you don’t believe me.”
“I will wait for you at the Twilight of the End.”
Back then, Eivass completely failed to understand the words of the Bear Heavenly Envoy. He had thought it was just the Supreme Heaven being stubborn.
If Eivass hadn’t felt his own status was insufficient and feared being slapped to death by the Bear Heavenly Envoy’s final burst of spirit, he would have rushed forward and said, “What champion are you?”
After all, based solely on these words, Eivass could only perceive that the Supreme Heaven meant, “I am the SOLO champion.”
But now, after obtaining Forbidden knowledge, looking back… Eivass suddenly realized that the Supreme Heaven’s last few words seemed to have a deeper meaning.
—I lost, but you didn’t win.
—I will wait for you at the Twilight of the End.
Combining these two sentences, Eivass now suddenly understood something.
According to the Lord of Scales and Feathers, the “Whisper of the Void”—also known as “Void”—had a title called “Twilight Seed.” And Twilight Seeds were things that transformed when the World reached its end, much like a star turning into a black hole.
Further combining this with the Spoils division later, when Eivass wanted to extend his claws to get some benefits and eat some of the Bear’s blood, the Hourglass suddenly came and sternly warned him, “There are no gifts without a price.” And the Silver Crown Dragon was not originally in the plans of the Hourglass and the Lord of Scales and Feathers; it was Isabel’s ritual that unexpectedly invited Him.
At that time, the Silver Crown Dragon said something very displeased to the Lord of Scales and Feathers: “You planned to hunt the Giant Bear and didn’t call me.”
This was because if the one who slew the Bear Heavenly Envoy at that time had not been the Silver Crown Dragon, then this power belonging to the Origin River of Violence would have been lost.
The Silver Crown Dragon would have remained permanently incomplete, just like Hengwo’s current state, stuck at a critical threshold.
—Then the problem arises.
The Lord of Scales and Feathers and the Silver Crown Dragon had no conflict, nor did the Hourglass. So why did these two most stable of the Fifth and Sixth Origin Rivers secretly use Eivass as bait to lure and kill the Bear Heavenly Envoy?
Originally, the Silver Crown Dragon’s knights were already pursuing and killing the Bear Heavenly Envoy, meaning that under normal circumstances, the Bear Heavenly Envoy would have been caught and killed by the Silver Crown Dragon sooner or later. Thus, the effect of secretly setting bait was essentially to prevent the Silver Crown Dragon from obtaining the Bear Heavenly Envoy’s last fragment.
This was undoubtedly intentional obstruction.
Combining this with the truth previously obtained—the Wing Heavenly Envoy had witnessed the Truth and self-mutilated after being unable to bear it. And the Great Philosopher, as the keeper of secrets, was responsible for guarding the Gate of Truth. While the Supreme Heaven, when the Great Philosopher and the Hourglass intended to create the blue Third Sun, pierced the sun… This was the first conflict between the Supreme Heaven and the Great Philosopher.
Then it was highly possible that the Bear Heavenly Envoy also knew something about the truth of “Twilight Seed.” He might have even been contaminated by the Void.
That was why the Supreme Heaven, after death, was able to live for so long as the Bear Heavenly Envoy without anyone killing him; and that was also why the Hourglass and the Lord of Scales and Feathers were unwilling to let the Silver Crown Dragon complete Himself…
In another historical timeline known to Eivass, the Silver Crown Dragon was actually in good condition. Until the last version, the Silver Crown Dragon had no problems… if the World-ending Demon Dragon was not counted.
Could it be that because the Silver Crown Dragon recovered His complete form, He lost His resistance to the Void? Or perhaps, the power of the Bear Heavenly Envoy contained a “virus” or “Trojan horse” that took advantage of the opening to corrupt the Silver Crown Dragon as well?
According to Sherlock’s reasoning, the current Silver Crown Dragon was likely no longer trustworthy… and might even become the first Pillar God to fall.
And Eivass decided to believe Sherlock.
“What are your plans, Eivass?” Sherlock asked softly. “Return to Avalon… to wait for the enemy and make preparations in advance?”
“There is no Avalon anymore,” Isabel shook her head. “The Kingdom of Knights is a thing of the past.”
“According to my information,” Eivass said slowly, “Morgan might recently become the Heavenly Envoy of the Path of Authority.”
After Morgan had a one-night stand with Arthur, who had taken on a mortal form, Arthur had been avoiding Morgan. This continued even after He became the Silver Crown Dragon… But not long ago, He suddenly turned back, accepted Morgan, and decided to make Morgan the Heavenly Envoy of the ‘Family’ and ‘Kin’ attributes.
At that time, Eivass had congratulated Morgan.
But now it seemed… this might just be the Silver Crown Dragon preparing a sacrifice to be offered at the Ouroboros Ring.
In order to allow the Ouroboros Ring ritual to proceed normally, Morgan was fast-tracked for promotion and then immediately dismissed to fill the slot. Under the Transcendence Tide, He didn’t need to do this at all. Heavenly Envoys of the Path of Authority would naturally emerge on their own. Before August, each Path would have at least two Heavenly Envoys. There was no need to deliberately entrap an acquaintance.
Therefore, the Silver Crown Dragon’s motive could only be one of two options: either He intended to find another Pillar God substitute for Himself, or He intended to help the Ring Heavenly Envoy accelerate the completion of the Ouroboros Ring ritual. Either way, it meant one thing… the Silver Crown Dragon might not be able to hold on.
Reversing with this matter, it could also be understood as—before Morgan falls, there shouldn’t be any major issues on the Silver Crown Dragon’s side.
After all, this matter itself was a self-rescue orchestrated by the Silver Crown Dragon.
The Silver Crown Dragon would not place His self-rescue plan after His own death.
Sherlock realized, “You mean, use Morgan as a status coordinate?”
“Precisely,” Eivass affirmed with a smile. “As expected, you understand me best!”
As long as Morgan did not become a Heavenly Envoy, it meant that the Silver Crown Dragon’s condition was still good. If the Silver Crown Dragon still had sufficient sanity, He would cede His position to Morgan before being completely corrupted… just as the Beast Lord ceded his position to Hengwo back then.
And if the Silver Crown Dragon was already corrupted, He naturally would not allow Himself to perish. At that time, Morgan would be dragged down as a sacrifice for the Ouroboros Ring.
So, as long as Morgan doesn’t fall, it means the Silver Crown Dragon’s condition is good.
“And from another perspective,” Eivass spread his hands somewhat helplessly, “waiting here is useless. Rather than that, we should resolve the matters in the outside world before things get out of control. Otherwise, we won’t be able to handle them when the time comes.”
“The outside world…?”
“Precisely,” Eivass nodded. “The Abyss Heavenly Envoy—with the demise of the Blood Heavenly Envoy, the Path of Love has reached its limit. People will definitely pay attention to the relationship between the Ouroboros Ring ritual and the limit of the Path. Just as I said before… Both the Flame Heavenly Envoy and the Abyss Heavenly Envoy could be pulled down at any time.”
“But just as the Fallen Heavenly Envoy and the Blood Heavenly Envoy projected their domains when they descended… whether it was the Blood Domain or the Fallen Domain, humans could still live normally. However, the moment the Abyss Domain descended, it would engulf people in colossal waves.”
Eivass paused here. “Do you know how large the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi is? If you include the uninhabitable deserts, its area is nearly eight million square kilometers, which is almost forty times the territory of Avalon… The Hrasal Empire might not have been this large even at its peak.
“Although Anxi has now split into three hundred federal city-states, with the Lords ruling separately and so engrossed in infighting that they have completely closed off their borders… this is still a colossal force, countless ordinary citizens. If the Abyss Heavenly Envoy descends and brings uncontrolled destruction, the souls of so many dead might further spawn new Children of the Void.”
“Sever it while the matter is still in its nascent stage.” Sherlock praised. “I support you. I don’t think this line of thought is wrong—if we only chase after problems and solve them, we will always be one step behind, like dogs being led by the nose. We must arrive one step ahead and seize home-field advantage… to keep the initiative in our hands.”
“And the Abyss Heavenly Envoy should be descending at any time. The Fourth Water War has already begun… and as the Lords slaughter each other, sooner or later, a Lord will summon the Abyss Heavenly Envoy.”
—That is a battle to the death.
Even the war where the Star Antimony invaded Avalon was far less brutal than the internal strife of the Anxi people.
In the original timeline, although the Star Antimony people invaded Avalon, they did not cause much trouble to the lives of the common people. It was later that the supported Avalon lords became too corrupt, which began to significantly lower the quality of life for the people. It wasn’t until the Shadow Heavenly Envoy descended that all of this was finally destroyed, turning Avalon into a doomsday.
But in the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi, war took on a new form—
Commoners or slaves—mainly slaves—gathered to rebel against the Lords, hanging or skinning them, and turning their families and servants into slaves. However, they would either be able to make the Lords obey them and create water sources for them… or they would, due to water scarcity, be forced to become wandering armies, plundering passersby or city-states in the desert for survival.
Without water, survival is impossible.
And the wars instigated by the slaves would become the first domino to fall, instantly igniting the precarious situation.
—Yes, the different Lords were also opposed to each other.
The regions that the Lords could rule were limited because the water sources they could create were limited. They couldn’t support enough people, so they couldn’t expand infinitely. This was why the Lords ruled in the form of city-states.
But there was another form here—that was submission. Or rather, enfeoffment.
A Lord could submit to another Lord, thereby making one city-state submit to another. And wealth and legions would gradually gather in this process. But there was another problem here… it was the supply line.
Crossing the vast desert, the army could not have adequate supplies. They could only resupply by plundering the local populace, or the Lords had to create water sources to accompany the army. Therefore, if the city-states were not connected, it was almost impossible to attack another city-state. So the Lords reached a stalemate—if the army of City A went to City B, it might be ambushed by City C. Thus, no one moved first.
In this situation, the slaves’ uprising actually became a poisoned blade.
No slave would not hate their master. As long as they had enough opportunity and strength, they might rebel, even at the cost of their lives. In this context, the slave rebellions in many city-states were actually manipulated by the Lords of other city-states. And when they killed the Lord of that city-state, a Lord from another city-state would immediately rule and suppress the rebels… This cycle would eventually lead the entire Anxi into a complete quagmire of chaos.
In a sense, Zhu Tang and his group arriving safely in Star Antimony was also due to luck. If they had been two years later, they would have been trapped in this cruel meat grinder.
Eivass indeed had no feelings for the Anxi people, but that didn’t mean they didn’t need to be saved.
Helping others requires no reason. Moreover, he was once the former Pope and had accepted a commission from a certain Cardinal.
Not to mention… in this World where emotions and souls are powers, it’s hard to say what kind of formidable evils would be nurtured by wars and deaths of this scale.
“Are we going to Anxi?” Isabel asked. “Should we go back… and bring Zhu Tang and the others?”
“Ah, yes. I still need some time to sort out things here in Iris. Those Eagle Eye assassins dared to assassinate me. Please handle this matter. After all, the Child of the Moon has been dealt with, so the Eagle Eye has no reason to exist anymore.”
Eivass said casually, “Designate a few connected cities for the Mist Demons, and have Little Cain keep them contained.”
“How thoroughly should we deal with it?” Sherlock confirmed.
“Clean out the dregs,” Eivass’s words were ruthless. “The Imperial Glory Party might become an obstacle for Iris integrating into the new Hrasal. Although the mastermind behind Eagle Eye is the Giant Tree Party, it’s not impossible for some extremists to transfer to the Glory Party.”
The Imperial Glory Party was the third-largest party in Iris. It was called third-largest, but its supporters were less than one-tenth.
It was a radical, extreme nationalist party. To most unsuspecting passersby, Eagle Eye belonged to their organization. They neither admitted nor denied it—it was all about riding the wave of popularity.
They targeted not only the Child of the Moon but also claimed that the Iris Kingdom was the true successor to the Hrasal Empire, believing the Iris people were supreme—even more supreme than humankind.
Even with extreme humanism, Eivass would consider them to have tried.
But such fellows were too dangerous in this era of brewing chaos. If they obtained the power within Eagle Eye, they could become a sharp blade pointed inward, leading the Iris people to actively engage in external wars.
“This benefits you in no way,” Sherlock said, somewhat surprised. “You’ll even bear the infamy… Is this also an act of devotion? You’ve finally gone mad too…”
As expected of a high-level devotee.
He had also thought that high-level devotees were the best of good people back then, until he accompanied Eivass to the Church and understood their madness.
“Not at all,” Isabel refuted. “Eivass has always been Eivass. He has been like this from the beginning. Like the sun.”
“The sun?” Eivass was somewhat curious about Isabel’s analogy. “Why?”
Isabel seemed to have always considered Eivass to be the sun.
…After all, the sun in this world was not a benevolent existence.
“Well, the sun illuminates the earth, granting life equally… and also destruction equally. And all of this has nothing to do with the sun. The sun merely emits light and heat.”
Isabel looked at Eivass and said earnestly, “I believe Eivass is such a sun.”
That was neither a filter nor love. It was the truth spoken truthfully.
Just like the truth reflected by a mirror.
