Chapter 2186: Transcending Instinct

After Enjier finished speaking in his capacity as the representative of Dan Zuo, he returned to his role as the temporary Speaker of the assembly and requested that the representatives of each nation cast their votes.

Unsurprisingly, this time it was still only Yierlan and Ailan that stood firmly together, casting votes against whether to commence the work of territorial demarcation as soon as possible.

As for Shaerwen and Siluwende, who had previously abstained from the vote on Yierlan's proposal to cancel the territorial demarcation agenda, they did not continue to abstain this time, but instead clearly expressed their approval.

As for the other nations, without exception, they all cast votes in favor.

"Thud—"

Enjier picked up the hammer at his feet and struck the ground with it, then announced: "12 votes in favor, 2 votes against; the territorial demarcation agenda proposed by Netheril is passed."

There was no cheering and no applause, but Xia Duo could see that many representatives of the smaller nations wore expressions of relief; even if this agenda was not related to the subsequent restriction of War Spells, the small nations would rather have a determined border that was smaller than in the past but unanimously recognized by the Northland Alliance.

Next came the specific details regarding territorial demarcation; Netheril's so-called "as soon as possible" was, in reality, something every nation had already been notified of before the meeting, having submitted their own demarcation plans.

Once the agenda was passed, these plans needed to be discussed; as long as neighboring nations had no objections to a country's border, the plan would be considered passed.

Synthesizing all the plans would result in a territorial division map for the nations of the Northland.

Previously, there were several points of contention among the nations regarding territorial division: one was the issue of the old border between Yierlan and Siluwende, one was the issue of Netheril's territory, and the last was the ambition of Keman regarding the Listar Forest.

But now, the Seven Towers represented by Badijiaer, under the persuasion of Xia Duo, had already agreed to designate the Langas Plain and its southern region as a reservation for the Langasi.

And Yierlan had only ever held objections to Netheril occupying this area in the past; perhaps it wanted it for itself, but the Langas Plain and its southern region were clearly closer to Netheril, and were separated from Yierlan's own territory by a considerable expanse of unclaimed land!

Moreover, the most critical point was that Netheril had long since established long-term settlements in the northern part of the Langas Plain; in terms of ownership of this area, it was definitely more qualified than Yierlan.

As for Keman, the demarcation plan submitted by Jialanuode, who attended in person as the Mage Leader of Keman, was bound to be extraordinary; when Enjier read it out, the representative of Akaola, as the other involved party, was nearly stunned.

Even Xia Duo was stunned for a full few seconds upon hearing Keman's plan, for no other reason than that Keman had actually abandoned its long-standing plan to unify the Listar Forest, fixing the border with Akaola at the areas currently under their respective actual control; this truly exceeded Xia Duo's expectations.

Such a decision, such a plan, clearly could not have been thought up by Jialanuode on a whim; it must have received the approval of Crown King Yilisaier.

But one must know that one of the sources of Crown King Yilisaier's legitimacy in ruling Keman stemmed from the ancient prophecy of Ousensi, which predicted that the Sole True King of the Elf World needed to complete the unification of the Listar Forest, and only then the entire Elf World.

Abandoning the unification plan, to a certain extent, meant that Crown King Yilisaier had abandoned the legitimacy of his own rule; in Keman, where the prophetic myth had been long cultivated, this could almost be called a world-shaking event.

Xia Duo could not immediately fathom why Crown King Yilisaier would make such a choice, but he also understood that it must be some factor that made the other party believe that they were doing a correct thing at this moment, even more correct than maintaining the prophetic myth of the past.

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After a moment of thought, Xia Duo knew where his blind spot was; because he had personally experienced the trial of the Sword of Ruling in the Projection Plane, and had even become the Crown King of Keman because of it.

Too familiar with that history, when thinking about issues related to Keman, he mostly adopted the perspective of the Crown King of Keman; starting from the perspective of the Crown King of Keman, the top priority was undoubtedly to maintain his own rule.

But if one adopted the perspective of the entire Keman, a Sole True King on the ground, who might also be an Eternal True King, it might not necessarily be beneficial to the development of Keman.

Or rather, the best choice for the Crown King of Keman might not necessarily be the best for the nation of Keman.

If Keman did not abandon the unification plan for the Listar Forest—which relied only on prophecy and actually lacked legal basis—then in the eyes of the nations of the Northland Alliance, it would always be that overbearing image full of "imperial fantasies" and "racial prejudice" from the past.

Nearly identical to the long-extinct Aryvandaar!

This was clearly of no benefit to Keman's development in the Northland or even the entire Main Plane.

Under these circumstances, the Crown King of Keman ultimately made a decision that damaged his own ruling authority and even legitimacy, just to let Keman appear with a brand-new image and thereby win brand-new development opportunities.

"Sigh—"

Xia Duo sighed in his heart; such a decision was not easy to make, even for him. Perhaps he truly could not understand what kind of transformation the power held for a thousand years would undergo.

Suddenly, he thought of a possibility—could it be that the lifespan of Crown King Yilisaier was about to reach its end!

In his impression, Kaifumu Yilisaier of the Projection Plane was not an outstanding Mage; the reason he could become a High Mage was likely thanks to the selfless guidance of the Wisdom Gem embedded in the 【Sword of Ruling】, as well as nearly a thousand years of practice time.

In theory, a High Mage could already achieve immortality on the Main Plane, it was just that the longer the time, the harder it was to resist the attraction from the Outer Planes.

But it was not as if there had been no Elf Mages in past history who lived longer than Crown King Yilisaier; Yilisaier had been on the throne for a thousand years, and his rich experience in the world surely would not make it difficult for him to live for several hundred more years.

If one were to speak of the end of life, the only reason would be the 【Sword of Ruling】!

The Sword of Ruling itself could restore youth and extend the lifespan of its wielder; this was something Xia Duo, who had personally handled the Sword of Ruling, knew very well.

Although there were differences between the Projection Plane and the Main Plane, they were mostly just in some details; since the Sword of Ruling appeared in both, their general functions should be more or less the same.

Since the 【Sword of Ruling】 could make the wielder highly likely to become a High Mage, and a High Mage could theoretically achieve immortality on the Main Plane, then why go to the trouble of retaining the function of life extension on the Sword of Ruling?

Only then did Xia Duo suddenly realize: perhaps the life-extension function on the Sword of Ruling was not essentially for extending the life of the ruler, but for limiting the ruler's lifespan!

But this conflicted with the prophecy of the Sole True King; unifying the Elf World was clearly not a task that could be completed in a short time, and with even the slightest setback, it might be impossible to complete for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

One side was a limitation, the other side was support; it was now very difficult for Xia Duo to verify the true thoughts of Ousensi, the last Crown King of Jielunsita.

Was the prophecy true, and he colluded with other High Mages to tamper with the Sword of Ruling, or was the prophecy itself a lie he fabricated?

Of course, the premise of all this was that Crown King Yilisaier was truly nearing the end of his life; if not, then it could only be said that Yilisaier had made a decision that transcended human nature and transcended instinct.