Chapter 745: Act 102 – Eternity III
Now, at this moment.
A plump ball of flesh was scurrying between the food items. If you observed a little closer, you would find that it was skillfully transporting these goods deeper into the cave, away from the entrance. This ball of flesh had a pair of wings—though these wings reminded one of a roast turkey from a New Year festival—and a pair of chunky little claws that were short and small but somehow managed to grab hold of the boxes, dragging them behind. Then there were the stout hind legs, clearly a bit overdeveloped, swaying as if they could not move without doing so, and every step backward caused its tail, as thick as a barrel, to waggle and make a huffing noise.
If it weren’t for the tight, fairly pretty pale scales all over its body, and the two pairs of horns that indicated its identity, a common person might mistake this creature for a hippopotamus rather than a dragon.
Even though Shi Ta was a genuine dragon, a frost dragon that was quite rare even among dragons, he had been driven back by the dragon race since childhood because, as a dragon, he didn’t hoard treasures but instead was fond of collecting food items. Shi Ta’s parents considered this a disgrace and kicked him out on the very first day he could fend for himself. In fact, this very experience shaped Shi Ta’s timid personality. However, he was somewhat satisfied with his character and the life he was leading; those humans always ‘gifted’ him plenty of delicious food, and this place was quite comfortable to live in—of course, with one exception. After all, Shi Ta was still a dragon, and he felt that it was an affront to his intellect that those humans thought he hadn’t noticed them. In fact, whether it was Veronika or Anlek, Shi Ta had already detected these humans the moment they entered the glacier. If a person’s intelligence was proportional to the capacity of their brain, then Shi Ta’s wisdom was likely hidden within his plump body.
Shi Ta pondered for a moment, resting his claws on his cheeks, then seemed to remember he still had work to finish. He had begun preparing to move two weeks ago; those humans looked untrustworthy, and Shi Ta had never considered engaging with such lowly beings. Although dragons likely saw him as a timid dragon—a disgrace to the dragon race—Shi Ta didn’t see it that way. Why should he fight? There was no benefit in fighting. Fighting consumed energy, and he had worked hard to collect so much delicious food to grow plump; it wasn’t worth risking trouble with those poor, country bumpkin adventurers. Jiufeng had an ancient saying that Shi Ta had always embraced as his motto: “The barefoot do not fear the one in shoes.” Right now, he felt like the one in shoes; how could he mingle with those beggars?
In short, our frost dragon spent about two weeks moving things out that could have been cleared in just two days, even using magic at times—just to make up for the time wasted by suddenly falling asleep. Shi Ta’s magic was also unique; he called it Wisdom Magic, based on principles that included—no troublesome spells, no long incantations, no actions required for casting spells, and nothing too tiring.
What remained was a spell exclusive to Shi Ta.
Once the cave was emptied, it became quite spacious, except for one area—the very center of the cave, where a frost pillar stood tall between the dark blue floor and the ceiling of the cave. This pillar was not like icy crystalline columns formed from freezing water; from a distance, it appeared more like a trapezoidal ice wall, and embedded in its front was a ‘sun.’ To be precise, it was an object that continuously radiated light and warmth to the outside world, surrounded by four silver rings that slowly rotated in four directions. A bit further from the light sphere, several small, mercury-like spheres rotated along the same orbit. If counted carefully, there were a total of thirty-six groups of mercury spheres, large and small, surrounding the light sphere.
This was eternal energy; the witches had given it a name—Dragon’s Heart—because legend said it was a divine artifact brought forth by the Dragon King Bahamut from ancient ruins. There were twelve such Dragon’s Hearts in Vaunte, but three had been destroyed in war, and six were still with the dragon race, leaving three unaccounted for. This one, at present, was evidently one of the missing Dragon’s Hearts. Shi Ta looked at this object, hesitated for a moment, then squirmed his fleshy body up the pillar and grabbed the silver ring to detach it from the ice column. Looking at the empty groove left on the ice pillar, he thought for a moment and then took out a gray gemstone about the size of a basin to set it in—perfectly fitting, one might say.
At last, this fleshy dragon nodded in satisfaction and whooshed deep into the cave with the Dragon’s Heart.
…
“My lord, it is here,” the wizard said, glancing at the narrow crack between two glaciers. He turned around and bowed respectfully to Duke Anlek. At this moment, Anlek hunched over, as if his deer leather coat weighed heavily on him, resembling an old man nearing the end of life, yet his aura alone commanded silence and respect from everyone present.
He looked at the crack, which slanted into a hundred-meter-thick layer of ice, leading into a dark blue void. As his vision continued forward, it was gradually enveloped in shadow. Before Anlek could speak, a follower had already lit a torch. Although magic for illumination was widely used in Vaunte, in many unknown areas, magic was actually quite unstable—it could inadvertently attract the attention of unknown beings or provoke unwanted troubles, especially within the Black Forest.
The flames quickly illuminated the cave; the narrow crack seemed to extend down into hell. Anlek would not personally take the risk; he sent in a team of knights first. The situation inside appeared to be somewhat better than expected; the knights dispatched quickly returned, reporting that everything was safe.
“That dragon really has left, your wisdom is unmatched, my lord,” a fawning wizard replied at once. “Dragons are exceedingly proud and generally do not set traps in their own lairs. Therefore, shall we not immediately enter and retrieve the Dragon’s Heart, my lord?”
“What about those two hunters?” Dejyar suddenly asked.
Anlek turned back to glance at him, a bit impatiently. Ever since the battle with Ampere Seale, this fellow had suffered a setback at the hands of that young man, and it seemed to have greatly diminished his competence, which was quite unsatisfactory for Anlek.
Dejyar shivered and instantly understood Anlek’s meaning. He grimly turned around and gestured to the knights behind him.
“Kill them.”
When the huntress hiding on the ice field saw this scene, she almost immediately wanted to rush out, but her hands had sunk deeply into the snow, making it impossible for her to move. Brendel turned back and saw her frostbitten fingers, unable to help but offer a comforting question, “Is your younger brother in there?”
Peiya was taken aback and slowly shook her head.
“Even if he is inside, we can’t save him. Do you see those knights?” Brendel pointed at the black knights guarding the cave’s perimeter. He couldn’t help but squint as he added, “Those should be the Order of the Fallen Knights from the Everything Returns Society, Anlek holds a considerable position within that organization.”
“Brendel, do you know something?” Veronika leaned in from the side, frowning as she gazed at the black knights. However, unlike Brendel’s concern, she felt a hint of dread as she noticed that each of those black knights emitted faint elemental fluctuations, which meant they were at least at the peak of golden rank or had manifested elements. The key was, she knew that her estimate was conservative because she could see that several of those knights showed signs of having awakened their elements. She narrowed her eyes; it was hard to hide the law line of someone just entering the elemental stage.
A hundred black knights, Veronika realized she had never heard of their origins before. In fact, she suddenly became aware that even the Everything Returns Society itself seemed to have never been clearly understood by the world; the Four Holy Temples believed it to be a cult, but how much did people, including even the nobility, really know about this organization?
Hearing Veronika’s question, Brendel smiled slightly, “It’s quite normal for you not to know, Lady Veronika. We often hear about the cultists, abhorred by the public, but how many people genuinely understand them is an unknown. After all, the Temple of Fire has imposed prohibitions; who dares to delve into or engage with these cultists? Even the Cruz nobility would likely feel the same way.”
“From your words, it seems you know them quite well, little one?” Veronika turned back with interest, asking.
“Wizards naturally have more knowledge; among the most notorious cultists are the Silver Serpent, Goat-Faced Cultists, Everything Returns Society, and the Tree Shepherds. The Goat-Faced Cultists are the minions of demons, reeking of sulfur, serving as pawns, but they’re really not worth mentioning. The Silver Serpent worships their agnosticism, believing that the mortal exploration of knowledge and order is a violation of the world’s mysterious dignity, mainly targeting wizards, not common folks. The main enemies of the Four Holy Temples are, in fact, the Everything Returns Society and the Tree Shepherds.”
Brendel paused here before continuing, “However, there is a significant difference between these two. The Tree Shepherds … are said to have once belonged to the Druids’ Sky Ring. After the fall of Babel Fortress, a faction of them known as the Witherers split from the original Druids and later followed the Dark Dragon, forming the terrifying Tree Shepherd army, from which their name derives.”
“Tree Shepherds, walking as Tree Shepherds …” Veronika murmured to herself.
Brendel nodded, “However, the Dark Dragon was defeated by the Four Sages, and the Tree Shepherds scattered and went missing. When they reappeared, they were already as unhinged as they are now. But unlike the Everything Returns Society, which is enthusiastic about overturning the order of civilization, the Tree Shepherds are fixated on stealing the ‘Bloodlines of the Gods.’”
“Stealing the Bloodlines of the Gods?” The scholar girl could no longer restrain herself at this point.
Brendel turned and glanced at Xi, the mountain girl who had once been a victim of the Tree Shepherds, and he himself had also suffered greatly. But even he did not know the source of the Tree Shepherds’ madness, which has remained an unresolved mystery that players have been trying to uncover. He shook his head, “This question, no one knows, and it isn’t something we need to discuss now. What we need to be aware of are the enemies at hand—the Everything Returns Society.”
He interrupted Shi Do and continued, “The Tree Shepherds are merely a loose organization; although there are twelve high priests, they govern themselves. The Blackfire cultists that adhere to them are a typical example; as is known, Blackfire cultists split from the former Goat-Faced Cult. The Everything Returns Society, however, is entirely different; it is an unprecedentedly tight organization. To my knowledge, they are lurking in every civilized nation of the Vaunte continent, plotting every coup, causing unrest and war.”
“It is not an exaggeration to say that half, or even a majority, of the wars and conspiracies on the Vaunte continent have the shadow of the Everything Returns Society behind them. Yet, such a vast organization, which has inextricable links with the nobility, seems like an invisible monster; everyone knows it, but no one dares to criticize it.” Brendel frowned, recalling that in his previous life, he had been dedicated to uncovering the organization behind the Everything Returns Society but to no avail. He ultimately arrived at the Knightly Kingdom of Greyceus, discovering the network and minions of the Everything Returns Society spread throughout the entire world, almost impossible to eradicate.
“All nations?” Shi Do seemed startled by this statement.
However, Brendel hesitated a moment before answering, “Perhaps there is one exception.”
“Where?” Veronika turned and looked at him. She hoped for Cruz, but she also knew that was unlikely; the Temple of Fire was severely infiltrated by the Everything Returns Society, let alone the Empire itself. This was a lamentable fact. Moreover, most of the nobility considered the Everything Returns Society a comparatively mild cult organization.
The Everything Returns Society preached the doctrine of unity of all things, which had indeed puzzled many. Only Brendel was clear that this ‘one’ was not the truth itself but dusk.
“Erlandta…” Brendel replied, “the only nation where a sage still exists.”
“Ah!” Shi Do couldn’t help but gasp, naturally regarding Erlandta as a place blessed by nature— the only nation which remained entirely neutral, not participating in continental affairs, indeed in a precarious relationship with the other three Holy Temples during the Holy Wars, rarely showing any proactive stance. This country was a mystery to the vast majority of people on the Vaunte continent.
“I should have thought of that,” she murmured.
“You’ve said so much, yet you still haven’t mentioned the origins of those knights, Brendel,” Veronika asked.
“Just getting to it; meals are eaten one bite at a time, right?” Brendel smiled slightly.
He turned his attention to the black knights.
…
(PS: Aww, it seems your daily updates won’t return with the ten thousand powerful baboons for now; I’ve written 7K characters today. … = = Don’t hit me!) (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets! Your support is my greatest motivation.)
