Chapter 2441: The Netherese of the Tianshui Plane

Puman's expression relaxed slightly upon hearing this, but he still checked carefully to ensure things were no worse than what he had encountered outside before feeling at ease enough to remove his disguise.

However, what surprised Xia Duo was that Puman's true appearance was not what he had seen before, but rather that of a middle-aged man with gentle features and a refined demeanor.

"This is my true appearance; the one I used when cooperating with Lord Xia Duo previously was also a disguise."

Before restoring his true appearance, Puman had also displayed the look Xia Duo had seen before, and combined with some details from their previous cooperation, it was enough for Xia Duo to confirm his identity.

"Since the previous appearance was a disguise, then the name 'Puman' shouldn't be real either, right?"

"No."

Puman shook his head, complex emotions involuntarily surfacing in his eyes. "This name was indeed fictional at first, but after using it for decades, it has long since become more real than the original so-called real name. Lord Xia Duo should just keep calling me Puman."

"Alright, let's end this topic here."

Xia Duo did not actually care about the other party's real name, but he was extremely curious about the purpose of this visit. "You just mentioned that you are being hunted and guarded against by the Seven Towers. Why is that? Wasn't it still—when we last met?"

"This is complicated to explain, and it is also very closely related to you, Lord Xia Duo!"

"Related to me?"

Hearing this, Xia Duo felt even more astonished. Although he had guessed that there might be infighting within the Seven Towers, and that it might be related to their attitude toward Sustainable Development, strictly speaking, that did not count as being related to him.

After all, he might have proposed Sustainable Development, but others, including those within the Seven Towers, could have proposed it as well. This was essentially an ideological divergence within the Seven Towers, and his proposal might have been nothing more than a fuse.

If the cause of the problem were to be attributed to himself, Xia Duo would absolutely cry foul.

"Lord Puman, you aren't joking, are you? Since our last cooperation, I haven't seen you once, nor have I even mentioned you to anyone. How could you being hunted and guarded against by the Seven Towers possibly be related to me?"

Facing Xia Duo's questioning, Puman did not refute anything, but instead revealed a bitter smile and continued to explain: "This matter is complex to explain. If Lord Xia Duo has the patience, you can listen to me explain it slowly."

"Of course I have patience; I am all ears."

"This matter probably has to start from five hundred years ago when the Seven Towers were established. Note that by the Seven Towers here, I do not mean the seven interest groups based on the Seville Covenant with the original Seven Towns as their core, but those seven Mage Towers in the city of Seventon!"

Starting from five hundred years ago, even Xia Duo could feel the weight of time in those words. He could not help but sit up straight to listen attentively, and Puman's explanation continued—

"The establishment of those seven Mage Towers also marked the official parting of ways between Netheril and Yierlan, but at that time, the Netherese did not possess the powerful strength they do now. The Mage Towers of that time look like nothing more than crude magic buildings today."

"So, generally speaking, the Netherese, especially the Netherese Mages who had abandoned Elven Magic, were actually extremely anxious about the future. But on the other hand, they also believed that with the blessing of the Nether Scroll, they would definitely be able to surpass the Elves."

"To alleviate such anxiety, the Netherese Mages of that time made many attempts, until an accident occurred: Morien Tower discovered the existence of an Other Plane, and it was very suitable for human survival."

"The only pity is that that plane is only about the same size as the current Kelong Plain. To distinguish it and highlight the plane we live in now, the Seven Towers called that Material Plane a Sub-plane, naming it the 【Tianshui Sub-plane】."

"Because in that plane, a river with sweet water flowed across the entire continent, irrigating a large amount of farmland and supporting countless people."

"Hearing this, Lord Xia Duo should understand what I want to say, right? The discovery of the 【Tianshui Sub-plane】 made the Seven Towers decide to transfer some people there to share the risk of the deteriorating relationship with Yierlan leading to conflict."

"Tianshui Plane?"

Although he had long guessed that the Seven Towers possessed other Habitable Planes besides the 【Green Field Plane】, the feeling was still quite different knowing they had them hundreds of years ago.

Xia Duo was no stranger to the Kelong Plain; it was actually the area north of Maihete Lake in the Nan Jing that was currently being pioneered. Its area was about the same as the Nan Jing in the narrow sense—that is, the Savile Territory + Green Pearl Forest.

After the Daxia Territory was established, the Nan Jing was defined by Maihete Lake, with everything to the south considered the Nan Jing. However, Xia Duo had not yet been able to spare the manpower to pioneer the area north of the Savile Territory; he had only built a small market on the edge of Maihete Lake to facilitate resource trading for the Pioneer Lords on the Kelong Plain, which also served as a boundary marker for his territory.

The Kelong Plain was not small, and even Xia Duo coveted it. With a Tianshui Plane about the size of the Kelong Plain, after hundreds of years, the number of people it could support was definitely not small.

And this was just one of the Habitable Planes controlled by the Seven Towers. If there were others, then there was even more hidden away.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo could not help but ask: "Could it be that Lord Puman was born in the Tianshui Sub-plane?"

Otherwise, it would be hard to explain how a Great Arcanist could just pop up without a sound. Puman might not only have been born in the Tianshui Sub-plane, but perhaps he grew up there as well.

Besides that, there were the past Controllers of the Seven Towers; they couldn't all be dead. Just the ones Xia Duo knew of, at least Kaousi was still alive, and he had also popped up without a sound after disappearing for many years.

If it were on the Main Plane, a Great Arcanist wouldn't be able to keep things completely quiet, would they? Perhaps they were just hiding in an Other Plane!

In fact, Xia Duo had heard long ago that members of the Seven Towers could choose to go to Other Planes for training. At the time, he only thought that members of the Seven Towers going there for training was more like tourism or pioneering the wilderness.

Now it seems, it was very likely that they were going to train in another human society that might have already developed differences from this one.

Of course, Xia Duo still did not quite believe that the main body of the Seven Towers had already completely transferred to an Other Plane, because the Main Plane had an incomparable advantage over other Habitable Planes: its size.

A large Habitable Plane might have already given birth to a civilization. Even if the Seven Towers discovered such a plane, they could not migrate there with great fanfare. It could basically be compared to a force in the Main Plane being discovered to have come from an Other Plane and still having connections there; there would be almost no need to consider it—it would more than likely trigger a Plane War.

The Elves and Dwarves of the Main Plane both came from Other Planes, but they had long since severed their connections with their native planes, and the era in which they appeared in the Main Plane was so long ago that they had long been regarded as natives of this plane.

If they had come in this current era, they would definitely not fare well.