??Chapter 697: 696. Knock on the Bone and Suck the Marrow_1
Chapter 697: 696. Knock on the Bone and Suck the Marrow_1
After the experience Feng Yu had taken him through on Pohnpei Island, Lu Ban had already roughly figured out the nature of these missions in the Silent Lands.
It was that the true Divine Beings had plucked a piece of history from a Foreign Domain, using it as a stage, sending in the Chosen by Gods to realize the outcos they desired, and after achieving these, returning that segnt of history to its original place.
For these Divine Beings, every mission in a Foreign Domain was like an unread part of a novel; they could jump to the beginning or the end at will. Throwing the Chosen by Gods into the mix was akin to a black box operation.
They were observers of a higher order than the Chosen by Gods. If Mortals were NPCs in the story, oblivious to the tiline changes to the Chosen by Gods, then the Chosen by Gods were similarly toys to the Divine Beings, unaware of the tiline’s alterations.
If one truly wanted to control oneself, one would have to step out of one’s own tiline and overview the Foreign Domain from a bird’s-eye view.
This was probably what Taoist Crane Cry had referred to as the concept of “Sublimation”.
Only after leaving countless personal marks within a Foreign Domain, becoming a law without the concept of ti, could one truly break free from the shackles of ti and attain genuine freedom.
Thus, Lu Ban and his companions were currently in a period where “Gray Tower had not yet been constructed” within the Night Country. In the end, Gray Tower was indeed built, and there might have already been countless Chosen by Gods who had entered the mission and failed.
The reason Lu Ban believed the successful Chosen by Gods were them and not others was that if they had failed, it would have been absolutely difficult to survive amidst the Demonic Tide.
Moreover, Cui Siter was still within the scope of being a Detective, albeit possessing so Extraordinary Powers. But to beco soone like the Mysterious Monarch, capable of sealing the Ancient Overlord, would certainly require a significant transformation. He would have to gain sothing from these missions before he could finally grow into the stature of the Mysterious Monarch.
Upon hearing Lu Ban’s words, Cui Siter appeared startled, yet asked no further questions.
“That’s good, then. We can relax a little.”
He tactfully avoided discussing his own demise.
“We’re almost there.”
Stone glanced outside; the forest was thinning, signs of human habitation were becoming increasingly evident.
“How much do you know about this era?”
Lu Ban asked Shia.
“Not much.”
Shia shook her head.
“This era, being recently after the establishnt of Gray Tower, still suffered from the rampaging Demonic Tide. The records of most areas dissipated over countless Demonic Tides, and by the ti the kingdom fell, most written records had vanished.”
In her words, this was a barbaric age, roughly equivalent to the battles between Emperor Yan, Yellow Emperor, and Chi You—where legend and history intermingled, devoid of detailed descriptions.
“Then you must also know the na of the creator of Gray Tower?”
Stone pressed on.
“No, we do not know his na; Gray Tower did not record it. As for the reason, I am not sure.”
Shia denied.
“I once asked my teacher about it, and he believed it was because there were many people involved in the establishnt of Gray Tower. The creation of the Magic System was not the achievent of one individual in a short amount of ti. Besides, the Magic Network itself represents the equal opportunity for everyone to access magic—that’s why Gray Tower purposely omits the na of its first builders.”
“But I think, maybe the creator of Gray Tower didn’t want his na to be deified. When a great achievent is attributed to a specific person, he will gather faith, much like Taoist Crane Cry, turning into a mark, potentially becoming a Divine Being. The creator, having built Gray Tower to fight against those Divine Beings who released the Demonic Beasts, probably refused to let himself beco the sa,” Shia speculated.
“So we still need to find that creator?”
Cui Siter couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s also a good thing; at least here in Shia, the creator hasn’t completed the closed loop yet. If we can find one person to help him build the Gray Tower, then he would be the creator,”
Stone quickly thought.
This was similar to what Lu Ban had in mind. He didn’t need to look for the first brick for the Gray Tower; when it was ti to build, just touching one would suffice.
“Sir, we have arrived.”
A soldier’s voice ca from outside. Lu Ban looked outside and saw relatively simple defensive structures among the forests, so towers, sparsely populated roads, low buildings, soldiers wearing old leather armor, marching in relaxed formations, perhaps due to recent rain, the ground was muddy, and wheels were sinking into the soil.
A stench of cow dung mixed with mud filled the air, enough to make any refined modern person instantly vomit.
Lu Ban stepped down from the carriage, finding himself on a slope. Looking down, he could see vast farmlands and more peasants busily sowing seeds, hoping for the harvest season.
“Sir, I’ll take you to et the Baron,”
said the soldier who had the sharp sword from the start. He led the way, and after a few steps, they arrived in front of a dilapidated but still sowhat stately estate.
Most of the other houses in the town were made of wood, but this estate was built of brick and stone, showing its nobility.
There weren’t many guards at the estate. As Lu Ban and the others walked into the courtyard, they saw a man in a red robe sitting there, feeding chickens with a handful of coarse grains, fully imrsed in the task.
Shia was about to speak when Stone signaled her to wait a mont.
Only after the man had scattered all the coarse grains in his hands did he clap his hands, rise, and turn to face Lu Ban and his companions.
“You’ve had a hard trip, everyone. Food is scarce at the mont, and these chickens are still too small. I’d like to raise them a bit more before using them to entertain you,”
he said. He was in his early twenties, about the sa age as Lu Ban, with dull blonde hair and a slender figure, clearly, even as the ruler here, his treatnt wasn’t much better.
“You can just call
Gerro; the title of Baron is nothing more than a status I bought. On the first day I arrived here, I knew I probably got myself into the wrong ship.”
“Bought?”
Stone raised an eyebrow.
“Indeed, I’ve heard that in the last days of the Old Kingdom, the royal family was corrupt, and titles were sold for money. Most of the people who bought titles would exploit and fleece their subjects until they were sucked dry once they reached their domains. Otherwise, it was a loss-making deal,”
Shia explained in a low voice.
It seed that Baron Gerro, too, wanted to buy a title to make money, but hadn’t anticipated that the town was much poorer than he expected. Even if he tried to squeeze, there wasn’t much to gain, so he ended up at a loss here.
“However, the scenery here is quite nice, near the forest. It’s just a sha there isn’t much manpower; otherwise, according to the sales pitch I got when I bought the title, exploiting the resources in the forest could have made a lot of money,”
Baron Gerro sighed.
Suddenly, an explosion sounded from the house behind him.
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