Chapter 308: The Gardener

The situation was a little awkward; Luo Qi instantly thought of many things, and from any angle, it seemed Qionglin had been soundly thrashed by the Lotus Burners.

"Is it possible..." Luo Qi said hesitantly, glancing at the expressions on Du Zhengyi and Pei Shu's faces. "Is it possible that the Lotus Burners not only want to find Seal Beasts to slaughter humans, but also want to crush Qionglin? Even if Fan Shi had been plotting for a long time and chose to act at this moment, the Lotus Burners might have been the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes. Otherwise, the timing for Master Fan to seize power was chosen far too conveniently."

"Have you finally realized that things aren't that simple?" Du Zhengyi said to him with sarcasm.

Luo Qi had indeed realized it, and he also suddenly understood why Du Zhengyi had squeezed his knee. If he continued to attack Qionglin, he would appear to be leaning toward the Lotus Burners. In the Mage World, things often only had two options: black or white, non-black then white, non-this then that. It was either Qionglin or the Lotus Burners. Du Zhengyi had lived in Qionglin since he was a child, and although Pei Shu was like a teacher and family to him, Pei Shu was, after all, at the center of power. People who lived at the core of power probably knew that there was no such thing as just "saying it for the sake of it" here.

Du Zhengyi did not let Luo Qi continue on this topic; he asked Pei Shu, "Regarding the crystal of Great Mage Guan Yushan, our actual decryption speed is very slow, and there might be issues with what we have decrypted. Should Teacher take it back and hand it over to the Calculators?"

"I will take it back; this matter is very important," Pei Shu said with a nod.

Luo Qi saw Du Zhengyi take out Guan Xinyue's earring and hand it to Pei Shu. "There is still information written by Mahjong regarding Guan Xinyue inside; it might serve as a decryption key. If the young girl's cooperation is still needed, you can send someone to pick her up."

Pei Shu took the earring and put it into the pocket of his pajamas. For a moment, all three of them fell silent. Pei Shu glanced at the milk tea in his cup and frowned. "Too sweet."

Luo Qi saw the milk tea in the cup vanish into thin air, and a cup of transparent liquid was poured into the teacup; he caught a faint scent of alcohol from the air.

Pei Shu took a sip and gazed contemplatively at the swirling patterns on the carpet. Luo Qi took this opportunity to study the tattoo on his face; he could not identify what the pattern of the tattoo actually was, only vaguely feeling that the shape was very ancient, perhaps an ancient tribal totem from an unreachable, blurred era.

The old man rubbed the cup as if seeking warmth from the alcohol. "I cannot say that Qionglin controls all the Seal Lands. I can only say that if the Lotus Burners truly find a Seal Land first, the prospect would be far too bleak."

Luo Qi knew that was a terrifying scene, and he was a bit curious about how the Mage World itself viewed this future. "Venerable Pei, if the Lotus Burners really obtained a large number of Seal Beasts, what would the worst-case scenario be?"

"That would be a catastrophe," Pei Shu said slowly. He raised his head and looked at a target in the void, as if he had already seen the true future. "Humanity would fall into a massacre. The inventory in the Seal Lands is generally quite sufficient, and they would start on several continents simultaneously. If I were the commander, I would have the Lotus Burners attack the command centers of many countries at the same time, coordinating with the frontal assault of the Seal Beasts. By the time humans reacted to the fact that monsters were attacking the entire country, the military might already be paralyzed. In short, humans were never a match for mages; their only advantage is their large numbers. Seal Beasts can compensate for the mages' numerical disadvantage. The war wouldn't be a war at all; it would be a massacre under a conspiracy."

"That really isn't fair," Luo Qi said in a low voice. "We have always relied on humans to provide living resources, and not only do we not know how to be grateful, but we also want to exterminate them. If humans didn't exist, we would only be able to survive by eating beans. This is the lotus the Lotus Burners want to burn, the standard of living they want to return to."

"We are not exploiting humans," Pei Shu said suddenly, as if he had seen through Luo Qi's thoughts. "We rely on humans to provide living resources, true, but we also provide humans with a lot of protection. Our race of mages has already lost count of how many destructive natural disasters we have helped humans fend off. Luo Qi, mages don't like to talk about history, but since everyone lives in the same world, no one's history is isolated. Have you ever thought that mages choosing to hide their existence is a sacrifice in itself? We haven't pretended to be gods to enslave and control human development. If we wanted to do that, it would be easy. Didn't you realize this in the temple where Great Black Heaven is worshipped? Humans should be thankful that we aren't that kind of arrogant madman. But because we chose to hide, there is no need for human gratitude."

Luo Qi did not speak; what Pei Shu said did indeed make sense.

"However, humans have always been a resilient race," Pei Shu said again. "To slaughter billions of people, relying solely on some killing animals, that is simply impossible. No matter how many humans survive the massacre launched by the Lotus Burners, they will quickly figure out what happened. By then, retaliation and resistance will be inevitable. Many mages only know their own advantages but do not know how great human potential is. They have struggled to survive for thousands of years and have experienced countless wars; they are better at strategy than mages who have always lived in comfort. In the end, the mages' sense of superiority only comes from an easy life."

"Because they haven't seen the world," Luo Qi muttered.

"Perhaps, most mages are actually still very immature," Pei Shu said. "Qionglin is the protective umbrella for mages. The Lotus Burners feel we aren't radical enough and have pointed their spears at this umbrella, not knowing that this umbrella is already riddled with holes and is barely holding up. If this umbrella completely falls apart, I don't know what mages will face, nor do I know where our world will go."

Luo Qi listened intently to the old man's murmurs and no longer had the heart to interject with any annoying remarks. If the supreme leader of Qionglin were as imposing as Fan Shi or as arrogant and hypocritical as Li Xu, he could feel more at ease. Unfortunately, the old man in pajamas before him was like a tired old gardener, struggling to maintain the garden's care just to prevent its decay, with no hope of restoring the garden to its former glory.

Being of the same root, Luo Qi could not help but be moved.

"Teacher, Qionglin has weathered storms for thousands of years; there won't be any problems this time either," Du Zhengyi said.

The old man shook his head wearily. "Like repairing a building, no matter how well it's done, it's not the way it was when it was first built." He managed to pull himself together at this point. "But the sun will rise as usual tomorrow, and life must go on. I am leaving; you should rest. When there are new results, I will come to find you. I still have many things that need you to do; I have no choice, there are too few people I can use."

The old man stood up, his body no longer possessing the agility and strength of a young person, and Luo Qi felt a pang of reluctance in his heart. He had thought about avoiding the opportunity to work for Qionglin, but he could not bear to refuse such an old man asking for their help.