Chapter 1217: The Firstborn’s Calamity
As Eivass arranged matters for the immigrants, his mind occupied itself with another question.
He was pondering…
What were the final words that Adler wanted to say but didn’t get the chance to?
According to the secret Adler had revealed, the Great Desert of the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi was actually caused by the Sin Thorns buried beneath it.
The Sin Thorns constantly absorbed water. As long as they were continuously sated, they would not grow. However, this could also be stated in reverse: water could seal the Sin Thorns and put them to slumber. If they did not receive water, they would gradually activate and begin to grow upwards… much like how people drink alcohol.
Although these two possibilities were diametrically opposed in essence, they appeared the same in manifestation.
Therefore, the “hundreds of people’s worth” of water that the Good Masters actually required was far greater than the drinking water needed by normal people.
What people could drink was the remainder after satisfying the Sin Thorns.
This was why almost all the Good Masters used various forms of art and sculptures to “waste water”!
On one hand, it displayed their extravagance. They could squander things that not even enough people could drink, thus showcasing their power and status.
On the other hand—the water itself was meant to be sprinkled on the ground. They created rivers and lakes surrounding the oasis, effectively “watering” the Sin Thorns. Therefore, playing around before watering did not affect the essence of the matter.
From this perspective, Eivass could understand why Adler was so proud of this tradition. Because it was likely that the original Good Masters, those Forbidden Mages who left the Sky-Piercing Tower, were actually trying to seal the Sin Thorns below. They chose the forbidden spells they were familiar with, namely the Abyssal Water of the Abyss Heavenly Envoys.
It was for this purpose that they built city-states and obtained water through sacrifice. In order to get the water they needed, people tacitly accepted the Good Masters’ sacrifices.
In reality, they were deceived into becoming “renewable ritual materials”—through human reproduction, the seal here had become eternal.
If that were the case, Eivass could also understand… why the Church had always remained indifferent to the Good Masters.
Even Cardinal Fafnir needed people to personally implore him before acting on the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi—even if he couldn’t overthrow the rule of the Good Masters, couldn’t he build an aqueduct himself!
If the Church couldn’t directly help the Good Masters because of the tradition of not interfering in internal affairs—yet the Church ignored the sacrificial practices of the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi, only intervening to stop the human trafficking… Now that he thought about it, this attitude was rather strange.
After all, there was the “Home Faction” within the Church.
Cardinal Fafnir, who led the Home Faction, understood devotion as “the longest and most continuous devotion is construction”—instead of striving to help individuals, it was about creating a better home for a community.
And Mr. Maxim, whom Eivass had met previously, was a “civil engineering” Mage. He not only oversaw the construction of the Silver and Tin Hall but also built dams for the Horus people.
Horus and Anxi were not that different. Horus itself had one-third of its territory as desert. But the Horus people tried to use technology to build water conservancy facilities. It was illogical for the more water-scarce Ancient Kingdom of Anxi to stubbornly refuse help. Even if the Good Masters wanted to maintain their power, when had the Church ever considered the opinions of other countries when undertaking such great feats of devotion?
The Church’s stance had always been flexible.
If something involved interfering with the internal affairs of another country, Elves would hesitate due to thoughts of their ancestors; but if it related to practicing the Path of Devotion, they would act like rabid dogs and crush anyone who tried to stop them—
From this perspective, the Church actually had a demeanor of the strong—as long as it involved their valued interests, they would not care about others’ opinions. It was just that the “interests” the Church valued were neither wealth nor resources, but “practical bases” for practicing their own paths.
It was like everyone playing an SLG game, fighting fiercely over resources and land. The Church was also playing this game, but it was essentially there to write a sociology paper. It didn’t matter how others fought, nor did it care if it gained or lost; instead, it would be delighted if it helped complete its research. But if someone tried to prevent it from completing its research, it would immediately enter a berserk state.
Therefore, since the Church had never considered building dams and artificial rivers for Anxi… perhaps it was because the Church tacitly acknowledged that “the Good Masters had some existential meaning.”
Considering the Sin Thorns beneath the desert—Candlemaster’s honored title was “God of Sin Thorns Binding the Body.” His original achievement was burning away the Sin Thorns that blocked the Origin River of the Dream Realm and establishing the “Path” system of extraordinary powers. And it was not uncommon knowledge that Sin Thorns were buried beneath this desert.
From this perspective, the Church most likely knew where this thing came from.
After all, the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi was established even earlier than the Church—after the Sky-Piercing Tower collapsed, the Elf race, being those with breasts, had just been born.
Those with breasts were the children of the “Civilization” Origin River, and civilization’s instinct was expansion.
The extremely warlike elves fought against almost all races in the world, exterminating countless races, and after experiencing a civil war steeped in blood, they finally achieved compromise and unity. The many “layers” of the current Church, with each layer having distinct customs and rules, were remnants of that past civil war.
At the time of the Church’s unification, the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi had already been established for an unknown number of years. If it were to be changed, it would have been long ago; how could it wait until now?
As for sealing them, it wasn’t necessary… After all, they were Elves. Their ancestors were giant trees, early Apostles of Candlemaster, so they were somewhat related.
And Candlemaster had burned away the Sin Thorns in the Origin River; would he be bothered by a small amount in this desert?
Combining this with Adler’s words…
“The Earth’s old scar, the kindred brothers of all beings…”
As Eivass wrote a letter to Yulia, asking her to arrange for these refugees, he murmured softly.
Adler said that Candlemaster would protect the Sin Thorns here because they were the last Sin Thorns in this world.
Why? Was there any reason to protect the Sin Thorns?
“The last Sin Thorns…”
Eivass thought seriously.
He recalled another matter—
In the Church’s prayers, it was mentioned that before Candlemaster came to this world, the world was silent and covered in thorns… it even had no sun or moon. His arrival was an accident, and the birth of fire was a gift.
After he burned away the thorns with fire, the power of the Origin River was restored to its fullness.
Thus, there was the first One.
“…Taiyi. The Pillar God of the Path of the Sun… the First Origin River, the First Path. Would He be the earliest Pillar God?”
Eivass felt he was close to the truth of the world.
As long as he broke through this last veil, he could understand the reality of everything. And the most crucial element—undoubtedly—was the Sin Thorns beneath the desert.
Suddenly, Eivass had a flash of inspiration:
“If Candlemaster is the first truly ‘living’ entity in this world, creating ‘Taiyi’ from nothingness, being fire from another world. Then aren’t the Sin Thorns the native life of this world?”
Fire needs fuel to burn.
What was the fuel that supported Taiyi’s burning and creation of all things?
In the ancient past when nothing existed in the world, it could only be the Sin Thorns.
In other words, Taiyi was born from the burning Sin Thorns.
And Candlemaster’s achievement was “opening up the Origin River”… but he didn’t create the Origin River from nothingness; rather, he cleared the blockage of the Origin River that had always existed.
Then the question arises.
Who created this Origin River?
Where did the Sin Thorns come from?
And why did the world-ending Twilight Seed, the Whisper of the Void, target this world?
Combining this with the characteristics of the Sin Thorns—they could not only nullify all power from the Origin River, could even kill almost all life, and possessed the power of the Void Path.
But why was the Void’s power permeating the world at its creation?
Then, is it possible…
The Sin Thorns are not the “initial form” of life.
—Rather, they are the “end point” of a certain civilization?
Just like the “elder brother” Adler mentioned.
Perhaps the Whisper of the Void did not discover this place by chance.
It had already “fed” on this world.
“I need to study this.”
Eivass thought.
He did have a way to study it—
Among the first batch of Sin Thorns in this world, some were buried beneath the desert. Their burial sites were scattered, likely beneath various city-states.
According to Adler, if not watered, the Sin Thorns would begin to grow upwards.
Perhaps those city-states that were gradually swallowed by the desert and disappeared after becoming uninhabited were because the Sin Thorns hollowed them out from below, causing the cities to fall into quicksand.
Eivass happened to build an underground aqueduct—although he built it to support the Anxi people, he never expected it to be so useful.
Through this aqueduct, a small number of Sin Thorns could be slowly awakened and entwined, like a trellis for grapevines. It was also far from the city, and the water within could appease the Sin Thorns… This would prevent the Sin Thorns from hollowing out the cities and also prevent them from completely going out of control and growing above ground.
If all went smoothly, Eivass should soon be able to harvest some of the “first Sin Thorns” of this world.
Or perhaps… they should be called the “firstborn” of this world.
