Chapter 2556: Temple Arrangements, Arctic Exploration

However, there is a paradox here: to restore the soul, one needs to live long enough, but if the soul cannot be restored, it is clear that one cannot live long.

To jump out of this vicious cycle, one can only look forward to future technological progress; in any case, Xia Duo has no way now, as he has already reached the limit of what he can do.

"I am already very content to be able to restore my spellcasting. I also know about Anbulier's situation; the Restoration Ritual requires consuming a large amount of Divine Grace, so I won't trouble him."

Aipusi said in a calm tone, seemingly having completely seen through life and death. Xia Duo found it difficult to persuade him otherwise; if it were him, he would definitely find a way to have Anbulier perform the Restoration Ritual.

After all, Aipusi and Anbulier have spent decades together, long since becoming friends more than sovereign and subject. Now that Anbulier is working for Niya, Aipusi's thinking is not hard to understand—he does not want to occupy Niya's potential opportunity for restoration.

However, Xia Duo also has other plans: "I have made some improvements to Teacher Yinaole's Longevity Technique, which can improve your physical state, but in this way, the overall longevity-extending effect will not be as good as performing the Restoration Ritual first."

"That is fine, it will also save me from having to rely on spells to assist with movement all the time." Aipusi agreed this time.

"Then I will come to provide you with Longevity Technique conditioning in two days. In these two days, eat more nutritious food and get more rest; relaxing your mood will be beneficial for the upcoming spell conditioning."

Xia Duo gave a few simple instructions and then left Aipusi's bedroom. As soon as he stepped out, he encountered Niya waiting outside, and she asked with concern:

"How is Father's physical recovery? Can he move around yet?"

"He is recovering quite well, and he can move around. You can spend more time with him recently. If there is an opportunity, take him to the Temple for a walk. I have already instructed the Territory Canteen to prepare his meals specifically; you can just take Aipusi there when the time comes. It will also let him see the development of Daxia Territory over these past few years."

After all, he is Niya's father, so Xia Duo would not treat him as a complete stranger. Although Aipusi himself refused the Restoration Ritual, what if Bishop Anbulier persuaded him on his own and he volunteered to undergo it?

One cannot block an old friend's show of care!

Divine Grace is something that comes and goes; as compensation, Xia Duo will give Anbulier more opportunities to obtain Divine Grace in the future, similar to Laidun.

Laidun's Divine Grace is definitely no less than Anbulier's now, but because their development directions are different, Laidun cannot preside over the Restoration Ritual, yet when it comes to judgment and insight into the human heart, Anbulier is not as good as Laidun.

The Temple is not a future necessity for the Territory, but hospitals and clinics are. Xia Duo will gradually perfect the Territory's institutions, splitting off the Temple's functions as much as possible. This conforms to the needs of the Territory's development and is also an inevitable step in practicing the Lord of Radiance's Dao of Order.

In the future, members of the Divine Office will join different Territory institutions according to their different understandings of the Doctrine.

In the future, as the Territory's institutions are perfected, if a member of the Divine Office cannot find a Doctrine that fits a Territory institution, then they are clearly a heretic or a member of an evil cult, and they are existences that must be resolutely banned and cleared out.

With the inclusiveness of civilization, Xia Duo believes that most sects and Doctrines can be accommodated. For the remaining ones that cannot be accommodated, what is wrong with labeling them as evil cults or heretics?

The so-called "Doctrine" is actually mostly a philosophy of entering the world to educate the masses. If members of the Divine Office can join corresponding secular institutions, they are effectively practicing their own Faith at all times and can accumulate Divine Grace very quickly.

That is much more useful than just staying in the Temple worshipping gods and chanting scriptures!

However, for the moment, Xia Duo did not reveal his arrangements for the Temple to Niya. If he told Niya, it would likely be hard for her to refrain from speaking when Aipusi encounters Anbulier.

He does not want to let the friendship between Aipusi and Anbulier be stained with utilitarian colors, let alone the fact that it involves Faith; Xia Duo also does not want to add variables to the upcoming Restoration Ritual.

Everything will be discussed after Aipusi is restored.

……

Returning to the Laboratory, Xia Duo touched the Spirit Thought Network Connector clipped to his ear and sent a notification to Aiboke and the others—"Construction of the Communication Mythallar begins on the tenth of this month; it must be completed before the fifteenth."

The fifteenth is the date of the Council meeting notified by the Seven Towers. Although the main content of this meeting is to inspect and inquire about the newly established institutions under the Council.

But if the Communication Mythallar can be finished before the fifteenth, at least he can let other councilors experience it first, and incidentally discourage other people's plans, so that some people don't have such high sunk costs that they end up arguing with him to the end.

Starting on the tenth is also a relatively loose timeframe given by Xia Duo. In reality, after Aipusi's Restoration Ritual is finished, Niya can safely preside over the relevant work, and if there are no accidents, this time should be before the tenth.

Inside the Laboratory.

While thinking about the topics that might arise in the councilor meetings over the next few months, Xia Duo skillfully activated the Detection Array in the Laboratory and adjusted the detection orientation to aim at the Arctic.

For the past few days, he has been controlling himself from performing the Prophecy Ritual. Even though he can see the infinite future, because he consciously restrains himself, it has created a thick sense of fatalism.

Whether it is because he worries about being too reliant on Prophecy or worries about falling into a fatalistic trap of his own creation, Xia Duo does not intend to perform the Prophecy Ritual again before the Cultural and Arts Festival.

Then he can only explore the Arctic first. The importance of the Dragon Madness Mythallar Control Center is also very high, and the prophecy shows that severe climate anomalies may appear in the near future, so the priority of exploring the Arctic has increased once again under these circumstances.

……

As the Perception Field projected over, Xia Duo saw the same scene of endless Bingyuan as he had seen during his previous "global tour"—

An endless Bingyuan, with no end in sight in the east, south, or west directions, while to the north, it reached directly to the Plane Barrier, but because the Plane Barrier was a void, it gave the feeling of having no end in sight as well.

In this vast expanse of white, if one were to search inch by inch, not to mention how long it would take, it would also be very easy to be discovered by others. Fortunately, Xia Duo brought back the approximate location of the Control Center from the Red Heart Alliance's Projection Plane.

It is roughly in the center of the Bingyuan. Of course, there are no normal creatures in this area; there are only some Elemental Creatures that occasionally drift here from the Elemental Plane.

Of course, it is also possible that they were bred by the local environment; Xia Duo cannot be entirely certain, as those Elemental Creatures do not have words carved on their foreheads telling others where they come from.

As for normal flesh-and-blood creatures or plants, they only exist at the edges of the Bingyuan near the sea or mountains; they do not exist in the center of the Bingyuan.

Just like what he saw during his previous travels, there were no abnormalities on the Surface. This is easy to judge; although one cannot rule out a concealment mechanism controlling the center, that possibility is extremely, extremely small.

Because the polar Bingyuan has been gradually increasing since ancient times; at least in the ancient history that Xia Duo has learned about, the Arctic Bingyuan has been gradually increasing.

Then, working backward, is it possible that the Bingyuan did not exist during the era when the Dragon Madness Mythallar Control Center was built? In any case, if Xia Duo were to decide the location of the Dragon Madness Mythallar Control Center himself, he would definitely not place it under the Bingyuan.

Perhaps it was the disintegration of the only continent that caused changes in the poles, or perhaps it was that very change that pushed the area where the Dragon Madness Mythallar Control Center is located to the pole, and from that time on, it began to freeze and seal everything.

Or perhaps, the existence of the poles themselves was caused by the collapse of the Dragon Madness Mythallar!