Book 7, Chapter 15: History
The Lord of the Dreamrealm’s presence finally retreated.
Su Chen sat in his room, completely motionless.
Ten years!
This small number caused Su Chen’s heart to palpitate.
He didn’t know what exactly would happen within ten years, but he couldn’t help but feel that time was not on his side.
After sitting in silence for some time, he finally stood up and summoned the Void Seahorse.
“Take me to the Reaper’s Temple,” Su Chen commanded.
The Void Seahorse obediently lowered its neck, allowing Su Chen to get on. The Void Seahorse’s innate predisposition for the void was even greater than Su Chen’s, which allowed it to swim through the void even faster than Su Chen. However, at the same time, it also needed Su Chen’s protection to survive the void as it had not yet comprehended spatial Method Power. Thus, with the two of them working together, they could travel much further much quicker, allowing them to truly attain the level of traveling a thousand kilometers in a single breath.
Half an hour later, Su Chen appeared directly above Reaper’s Temple.
Although this territory now belonged to the humans, the environment here was still as harsh as ever, resulting in few individuals living here. Even now, it was still a desolate and uninhabited wasteland. Only a few of the Boundless Sect’s disciples had been stationed here.
Within the temple that once belonged to the Astrals:
A few of the disciples were standing guard, seemingly quite bored.
Su Chen strode in without pause. The disciples initially reached out as if to stop him, but when they realized that it was Su Chen, they fell to their knees in fright.
Su Chen strode through the temple’s bas.e.m.e.nt and came to a stop where Reaper Jia Luo was being held.
“Jia Luo! I want to know about the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the G.o.ds,” Su Chen stated directly.
The statue chuckled humorlessly.
Dark fog seeped out before beginning to circle around it as Jia Luo’s voice eerily echoed out, “I knew that you would come make a request of me.”
“This is not a request,” Su Chen said obstinately.
Jia Luo chuckled. “I don’t care how you want to interpret this. In any case, I have no memories about the Eternal Treaty. If you want to know about those secrets, then that’s easy — just feed me some Astrals.”
“The Astrals have all been exterminated by me.”
“Don’t take me for an idiot!” Jia Luo howled in rage. “I refuse to believe that you’ve slaughtered every single Astral. Those arrogant loners never stick together and are scattered all across the continent. You may have destroyed their foundation, but you cannot have possibly wiped out all of the stragglers! More importantly, you have control of the Dark Astrals. With them present, you basically have a never-ending supply of Astrals. Feed them to me! If you want me to regain my memory so that I can answer your questions, then feed them to me!!!”
The dark fog swirled animatedly in beat to Reaper Jia Luo’s sonorous voice as it boomed through the cavern.
“How many do you want?” Su Chen finally asked.
Jia Luo chuckled. “That’s more like it. But to tell the truth, I don’t really know myself. Would it be a few? Would it be many? Who knows how many I would have to eat to regain my memories? My memories might return with the very first one I eat, or perhaps I will need to eat until the very end......”
“Then how can I trust you? What if you regain your memories but purposefully conceal them from me? Even if you do remember the truth, perhaps you will remain silent.
Jia Luo confidently replied, “How could I? I don’t know anything about that so-called Eternal Treaty.”
“If you don’t know anything about it, then why haven’t you asked me about what it is even once?”
Jia Luo instantly fell silent.
Su Chen chuckled. “See? You already know, but you pretended not to. So just how can I trust you?”
Jia Luo hurriedly replied, “No, no, no. That’s not how it is. I only have a cursory understanding of what the Eternal Treaty is — I don’t know any of its details.”
“Then tell me this. Generally speaking, what does the treaty entail?”
Jia Luo straightforwardly replied, “It’s an agreement between the G.o.ds.”
“Rubbish,” Su Chen replied, his tone filled with dissatisfaction. “Anyone could figure that out by just looking at the name alone. I want to know what kind of conditions this treaty includes, why it exists, and how the G.o.ds adhere to it!”
“That, I really don’t know all that.”
“Don’t beat around the bush with me, Jia Luo!” Su Chen said with a ferocious growl, “If you don’t cooperate, then don’t even think about trying to get a single sc.r.a.p from me.”
“I want Astrals.”
“Then answer the question. One question, one Astral,” Su Chen said as he unlocked a nearby cage, which contained a large number of Astral captives that he had prepared for this exchange with Jia Luo.
Jia Luo stared greedily at the captive Astrals before finally agreeing. “Fine, but you’d better ask me something that I already know.”
“What are the contents of the Eternal Treaty?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why was the Eternal Treaty established?”
“I don’t know.”
“What use does the Eternal Treaty have?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what do you know?”
“All I know is that the Eternal Treaty is related to an agreement that the G.o.ds made and that it forbids them from meddling with this world.”
“I know that as well.”
“However, some of the G.o.ds’ wills still managed to sneak their way through,” Jia Luo continued.
Su Chen was startled by this new piece of information.
Jia Luo replied, “This includes the Harpies’ Mother G.o.ddess as well as me.”
“And him......” Su Chen muttered under his breath.
He was reminded of the old beggar yet again.
After a moment’s pause, he asked, “What are the conditions for a G.o.d’s will to enter this world?”
“Strength,” Jia Luo replied without hesitation. “There is a price that must be paid when a G.o.d violates the treaty and goes through the Barrier of G.o.ds. The stronger the individual is, the greater a price they will have to pay. I wasn’t wounded too badly at first, but I had to sacrifice my body and most of my memories to sneak past through the Barrier. In the end, only a small fragment of my will managed to successfully land in this world.”
“So even though the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Harpies’ Mother G.o.ddess could send their will into this place, they don’t dare to in fear of losing too much of their strength......” Su Chen muttered. Then, he asked, “What is the price that they needed to pay? And what is the connection between the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the G.o.ds?”
“I’ve already answered one of your questions. If you want to get more out of me, then send some more Astrals my way!”
Su Chen picked up a random Astral and tossed it to Jia Luo.
“Hahahaha!” The fog danced around animatedly as it enveloped the Astral. Astrals were purely consciousness ent.i.ties, but at that moment, the Astral shockingly began to physically melt into the fog as it was a.s.similated. At the same time, Reaper Jia Luo’s soul fragment enlarged slightly.
“How wonderful! It’s been forever since I last tasted such a delicious sensation!” Jia Luo crowed in pleasure.
“Now, tell me how the Eternal Treaty and the Barrier of the G.o.ds are connected.”
“Oh......” Jia Luo lapsed into a long period of thought.
After some time, he replied, “I don’t have any memories related to that specific matter, but I did remember a memory about what is outside the barrier. If you’re interested......”
“Speak.”
“First, an Astral.”
“Fine. Just speak.”
“Past the barrier is an abundance of Origin Energy, far more abundant than this place. It is so dense there that it virtually flows like water, allowing anyone to use it as they please.”
Su Chen was taken aback. “An Origin Energy Sea?”
“I don’t know what an Origin Energy Sea is, but that world is indeed encapsulated by a large sea which is formed from concentrated Origin Energy.”
Su Chen couldn’t contain his excitement.
The G.o.ds seemed to reside in a world that contained a sea of Origin Energy, and at the center of that sea was actual land.
How simply inconceivable!
He hurriedly asked, “If the Origin Energy in this place is so abundant, then why are the G.o.ds trying to return to the Primal Continent?”
Jia Luo coolly replied, “That’s the third question. Give me another Astral.”
Su Chen handed over another Astral as it requested.
Jia Luo consumed, or more accurately, a.s.similated it. Then, the statue smacked its lips a few times before saying, “Because that place has no life.”
No life? A world with an abundance of Origin Energy had no life?
How was that possible? And why did the G.o.ds need life?
The latter question reminded Su Chen of the sacrifices that had been offered to the moon G.o.d.
If divine power could be produced from the deaths of all of those creatures, then the G.o.ds’ need for large quant.i.ties of life could be understood.
And in the Origin Energy Sea, no life existed apart from the G.o.ds themselves.
So this was why they wanted to invade the Primordial Continent.
It wasn’t because of territory.
Rather, it was for life!
Su Chen felt a chill run down his spine.
If that was truly the motivation behind their return, then this invasion would definitely bring with it a ma.s.sive calamity.
Su Chen tossed Jia Luo another Astral and then asked, “If there is a continent at the center of that Origin Energy Sea, which is filled with abundant Origin Energy, and where even the G.o.ds live, then why is there no other form of life?”
Jia Luo replied, “There used to be life there, but not anymore.”
“Where did they go?”
“They came here.”
They came here!
They came here!
They came here!
This statement rang in Su Chen’s ears like a thunderbolt, sending him reeling.
“The Origin Beasts!” he blurted out.
Those giant hibernating Beasts that were incapable of adapting to the deteriorating environment.
Why?
Why were they rejected by this world? Why did they have no option but to spend their lives in hibernation?
At that moment, Su Chen finally understood.
So the Origin Beasts and the Desolate Beasts were not native inhabitants of the Primordial Continent.
They actually came from the Origin Energy Sea.
“But the legends say......”
Jia Luo calmly replied, “You know as well as I do that legends are just legends. The legends say that the Origin Races appeared first, and that they were followed by the Origin Beasts. Then, the environment suddenly changed when the Origin Races disappeared and the Origin Beasts fell into a deep slumber...... However, if you reconcile that with what you have learned just now, then what conclusion is naturally achieved?”
Su Chen sucked in a breath of cold air. “So the Origin Races actually referred to the G.o.ds. As G.o.ds, they controlled the Intelligent Races, using them to nourish and sustain themselves! This was why they existed before the Origin Beasts. But afterwards, for some unknown reason, the G.o.ds and the Origin Beasts began to fight...... And after that, the Origin Beasts came to the Primordial Continent while the G.o.ds went to the Origin Energy Sea world. Neither side was ultimately compatible with their environment. The G.o.ds lost their only source of nourishment while the Origin Beasts fell into a deep slumber.”
Jia Luo sighed. “I don’t know if this is truly what happened, but my soul fragment seems to be indicating that what you say is very close to the truth.”
“Are there still more differences?”
“I can’t say. I will need to remember more.”
He was clearly hinting that Su Chen should continue feeding him Astrals.
“You won’t get any more from me today,” Su Chen said as he turned around to leave.
“But you will return, right?” Jia Luo said with a knowing chuckle. “You want to know more about the secrets of the G.o.ds, which means that you have no choice but to come to me. You want to fight back against the G.o.ds, which means that you will need to come to me. Even if you want to wipe out the G.o.ds, you will still need to come to me! Su Chen, if you’re afraid of even this measly soul fragment, then how can you possibly stand up to the G.o.ds?”
Su Chen stopped and turned around.
After a long time, he nodded. “You are right, Jia Luo. If I don’t even have the confidence to resist your demands, then how can I fight back against the G.o.ds? Just as you have said, I will indeed return soon.”
And with those words, he stepped out of the bas.e.m.e.nt.
As Jia Luo gazed at Su Chen’s departing figure, he suddenly began to cackle madly. “Hahahaha, freedom! I’m going to regain my freedom!”
Su Chen muttered to himself, “Perhaps the day you regain your freedom is the day you will die.”
Jia Luo heard this, but didn’t seem to care in the slightest. “I am a Reaper! What fear do I have for death?”