Chapter 1150
Root of The Sacred Number
Star Crystal Person…
That is, the race belonging to Cardinal Galatea.
The Atlanteans rejected the fate of “returning their souls to the Dream Realm after death to be used as raw material for creating new souls”… Instead, they stored the souls of their deceased clansmen in special crystals and then implanted them into replaceable Constructs.
In a sense, the extinction of the Atlanteans was also related to this technology. They only desired birth but refused death. The result was that they occupied the resources of other races materially, and in terms of Soul creation, they only took and never gave back—they created new racial individuals using the souls returned by other races after death. Their destruction was inevitable.
“Just like Star Crystal Person, Mist Demon can also serve as a Companion Race for humans.”
Eivass nodded to Isabel and turned back to Sherlock, saying, “Mist Demons can only be transformed from Extraordinary beings of the Path of Love. Moreover, they must have an Adaptability to the Path of Devotion, which is already rare. They will not, like Star Crystal Person, directly intercept the Soul return of an entire race. With these immortal and gentle assistants, efficiency will undoubtedly increase significantly.
“This is not a crisis at all, but an opportunity, Sherlock.”
Eivass gazed intently at Sherlock for a moment, then tapped the table with his finger: “Did you discover something? Why are you so agitated? This is not like you.”
Hearing Eivass’s words, Sherlock nodded slightly. He reached out and patted a book on the table, signaling Eivass to look.
Eivass picked up the book with the brown cover.
It was written in Elven Language, clearly the handwriting of Madam Haibasha.
“… “The Ten Sacred Numbers Theory”?”
Eivass murmured.
He skimmed through it and found it to be an Occult Classics describing the concept of “Sacred Numbers.”
Undoubtedly, this was an Occult Classics of the Path of Wisdom—because the content was too profound, filled with dense numbers and formulas, which gave Eivass a headache. He closed the book and handed it to Isabel, asking Sherlock for a TL;DR summary: “What did you find?”
“This is a technique called Numeromancy, developed by an ancient branch of mages that has been extinct, the Numeromancers. This knowledge existed before the Numeromancers were killed by the Geometric Heavenly Envoys, and since new Numeromancers have not yet been born, it is considered a hidden art.”
Sherlock said, taking the book from Isabel, who was also struggling to comprehend it. He flipped it open to a page with one hand and pointed it out to Eivass and the others: “Do you know what a digit root is? Never mind, I’ll explain from the beginning… A digit root is obtained by adding up all the digits of a positive integer, and if the sum exceeds 10, it is added again. For example, the digit root of 16 is 1+6=7, so the digit root of 16 is 7; the digit root of 343 is 3+4+3=10, and 1+0=1, so the digit root of 343 is 1.
“The power of the Origin River is closely related to Sacred Numbers, because the Origin River is the first ‘number’ to appear in this World. Just as reciting the name of a Pillar God can grant power, arranging stones according to constellations can grant power, and even simply applying eye shadow similar to that of a God can grant power… The ‘numbers’ themselves, which touch upon the root, also possess power. And the essence of numbers can be found by seeking their digit roots to determine which Origin River a mysterious number belongs to.
“The power of numbers whose digit roots are 1, 4, or 7 only cycle between 1, 4, and 7. For example, 4 squared is 16, with a digit root of 7; 4 to the power of 3 is 64, with a digit root of 1… This means that the first, fourth, and seventh Origin Rivers are connected; they form a triangular relationship of creation-wisdom-stability.”
Sherlock said solemnly: “Neither the scholars who discovered this pattern, nor Madam Haibasha… realized the truth hidden within this discovery.
“We already know… that behind the Gate of Truth lies only the Void, which is why the Great Philosophers remained silent and spoke nothing. That is why they destroyed the Sky-Piercing Tower and the inheritance of the mages. Because the power of spells originally came from the Void.
“And if the bottoms of the first, fourth, and seventh Origin Rivers are connected? I remember you saying, Eivass, that the Origin Rivers were created one by one, right? We also know that the state of Hengwo is clearly wrong… even the Blood Heavenly Envoy has suffered the erosion of the Void.
“Therefore, Hengwo and the Beast Lords must rely on close entanglement to resist the Void. This also explains why the state of Supreme Heaven has become so strange… It was once an incomparably powerful Wing Heavenly Envoy, yet it created a race like Giants, which completely contradicts its aesthetic, and its mental state has become increasingly peculiar. But if Giants are to Supreme Heaven what the Child of the Moon is to the Blood Heavenly Envoy, then it seems understandable.”
“… You know what you’re saying, Sherlock.”
Eivass also became solemn, asking in a deep voice.
Although Sherlock was talking about the Great Philosophers, Hengwo, Beast Lords, and Supreme Heaven… Eivass knew what Sherlock was truly trying to say.
—The Emperor has rebelled!
“…Ah, I know.”
Sherlock looked up, his rational and mournful gaze fixed on Eivass.
“As a subject and a believer, I do not wish to accept this fact. But truth is truth— when all impossible factors are eliminated, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth.”
He said word by word: “The Silver Crown Dragon may have been infected by the Void. Even the Path of Authority might have been problematic from the very beginning… perhaps it is a flawed path leading to the Void.
“It’s not entirely what you told me before… The Void does not erode strictly from the outer circle to the inner circle. The Path of Love might indeed be the first, but the Twilight Path is still stable, and the Transcendent Path and The Path of Beauty have no problems for now. However, the Path of Love and the Path of Wisdom have already fallen… If my enlightenment from the digit root theory is correct, then perhaps the Path of Authority is also in trouble.”
This was the true reason why Sherlock was clearly in a bad mood and seemed inexplicably anxious.
“…It’s partly wrong, and not entirely wrong,” Eivass sighed, “After all, the Wing Heavenly Envoy did want to reach miracles by merging power and wisdom, and did abandon the fusion because of the pollution of wisdom. But who would have thought that power would also be polluted…”
The difference was that the Great Philosophers had realized they were polluted, but Supreme Heaven had not.
This was why the Great Philosophers tried to defeat Supreme Heaven.
This was why the Silver Crown Dragon, like Hengwo and the Beast Lords, split itself in two.
Sherlock did not know that the Silver Crown Dragon had another half, but Eivass did.
Therefore, Eivass also knew that Sherlock’s deduction was likely correct—the Silver Crown Dragon might have fallen, which was why it had been motionless for so long. Because if it moved, it might not be able to suppress the demon dragon within the iceberg.
“…World-ending demon dragon.”
Eivass murmured, “So that’s how it is… so this is a world-ending…”
Everything made sense.
Although the Pillar Gods had blocked the first wave of erosion through the self-sacrifice of Hengwo and Amber,
another wave of erosion had already spread from the depths of the Origin River into the domains of wisdom and authority!
