Chapter 496: The Highland Mage's Olive Branch (2)

"Of course." Luo Qi narrowed his eyes, yawned, and said, "I am completely loyal to Qionglin; the Supreme Committee has its own arrangements for everything."

"Loyalty." The Highland Mage repeated the words from Luo Qi's mouth, but there was no further comment. He raised his hand to summon a bamboo tea tray from the air, upon which sat a teapot and two teacups. "This is wild tea grown in the garden; you might as well taste it."

Luo Qi reached out to take the tea, his hand shaking violently. The teacup trembled in his grip, and he frowned, forcing himself to drink the tea, half of which had spilled, as he brought it to his lips.

"Only with shackles is there loyalty," the Highland Mage said. "Enter my gate, and you shall eventually find liberation."

"This is tea?" Luo Qi didn't pick up on his words, frowning as he said, "This is just grass leaves picked from the wild, dried and soaked in water."

The Highland Mage looked at the tiny whirlpool in his own teacup; only when stirred properly would it have the best flavor. "The path of a Mage is long; being trapped in the mortal world is a waste. The only place a Mage should reach is the blissful land of the Otherworld."

Luo Qi was intrigued by these words; they sounded very much like Buddhism. If he hadn't seen any traces of idol worship at the Highland Mage's base, he would have really suspected that the Highland Mage's faith and Buddhism shared the same origin. But the term "Otherworld" was also very familiar to him. Liu Xing, a classmate who hung out with him at school, often mentioned "the Otherworld." It was a habit of his grandparents' speech, referring to human territory. Besides that, the Lotus Burners also seemed to mention it occasionally.

"Does Mage Hashi know about the Lotus Burners?" Luo Qi asked.

"In our view, they are a part of you," the Highland Mage said, kindly but not particularly politely.

"Ah, haha, one could say that," Luo Qi said with a laugh. "I don't know why, but they often use 'Otherworld' to refer to human territory, accusing us of eating human Lotus Fruit, staying on human islands and refusing to leave, and being unable to be heroes of the Odyssey anymore."

"A misinterpretation of ancient memories," Mage Hashi said.

"Ancient memories?"

"Ancient memories are the oral legends of Mages, much like the human oral legends of Dayu taming the floods or Noah's Ark—there if you look, but missing details, leading to many ways of interpretation."

"Is the ancient era the era of the Progenitor Mages?" Luo Qi asked, pondering the direction of this conversation. "The Lotus Burners are a part of us... which means the Highland Mages are another kind of Mage. In human terms, since the beginning of Chaos, Highland Mages have been another kind of Mage. Have you maintained this state of integration since the era of the Progenitor Mages?"

Mage Hashi looked into Luo Qi's eyes. "We are the Mages who made a choice."

"If I make a choice, I will also be a Highland Mage." Luo Qi understood; this was an invitation and also an explanation.

Mage Hashi looked at him and nodded.

"Were your ancestors the ones who made the choice in the era of the Progenitor Mages?"

"Yes."

Luo Qi stared at him, suddenly cutting straight to the point, "No, you are actually the jailers guarding the rebellious female Progenitor."

In this nearly eternal moment, the Highland Mages stared back at Luo Qi. Luo Qi knew what they were doing; in the spiritual world, Yajian could turn incredibly fast, like a dream where one second is as long as several days. In the spiritual world synchronized after Meditation, they were thinking, discussing, deliberating, and guessing what Luo Qi had discovered and where he had discovered it. They would soon realize it was in that cave, where some kind of existence in the cave had made contact with Luo Qi. Luo Qi was amused; he had a strange thought: "You know, you are like several parallel computers; you are the terminal of this machine, and the machine's interface is Mage Hashi."

Mage Hashi slowly revealed a smile, accommodating his joke, and asked him gently, "Jailer, practitioner—is there any difference?"

"There are many versions of the myth of the Progenitor Mages; even their numbers in the legends are different. Some say nine, some say three remained in the end. If it were three, one being the rebellious female Progenitor, then the other two seem to correspond exactly to the two major branches of Mages. Our ancestors, the ancestors of the Highland Mages, and a rebellious female Progenitor who perhaps didn't have many descendants, were the three Progenitor Mages."

After a long time, Mage Hashi nodded. "What you said is correct."

Luo Qi secretly gasped.

"The Progenitors arrived here after a long journey and established the Mage race, hoping to recreate the prosperity of the race. But just like almost all ancient human legends, the brothers and sisters who were originally of one mind developed differences," the Highland Mage said. "One Progenitor held fast to the original idea; he was the earliest Qionglin First Venerable. One Progenitor went astray and was stripped of existence after the Progenitor War. And another Progenitor became disheartened during the war, eventually converting to a more ancient faith and leading their followers to choose to live in the Highlands. 'Highland Mage' is the name you gave us. Practice could have been done anywhere; you must have guessed it already—we stayed in the Highlands to guard ancient ruins. The ruins of the Mage War hold countless evils; it is best for the world to stay away."

"As far as I know, the previous Leader of the Lotus Burners came here to search," Luo Qi said.

"A misinterpretation of ancestral memories led him to a path of no return," Mage Hashi said.

"He certainly deserved it," Luo Qi said bluntly, thinking of the clownfish wandering nearby. "I believe your words. By the way, I'll warn you: they will come again."

The Highland Mage nodded.

"According to what you said, has your Progenitor reached the Otherworld now?"

"Yes."

"Did he become a god?"

"The meaning of 'god' is very complex, and 'god' is a human term; Mages have no gods."

"Then has he attained immortality?" Luo Qi asked.

"Naturally."

"Does he possess the power to turn decay into magic?"

"Naturally."

"Is time for him different from our concept?"

"Naturally."

"That is a god," Luo Qi said. "No need to be modest."

"I thought a god should be an idol that needs to be worshipped."

"A modest god."

Mage Hashi looked at him in silence.

Luo Qi hesitated for a moment. "If I make a wish to him, will he answer me?"

"If the wish were granted, would you join the ranks of the Highland Mages, fulfill the duty of a Guardian, and follow in the footsteps of the sages?"

"Then I might consider it," Luo Qi said cautiously.

Mage Hashi smiled slightly, as if debating knowledge with an Apprentice. "Then, according to your understanding of a god, would a god answer a wish?"

Luo Qi's smile gradually lost its color, and he lowered his gaze. "No, I don't think so. If there really were a god, it would inevitably be a higher existence; human wishes and emotions are already a tiny existence, and a god would not look back at all. If there is no god, kowtowing and circling the Sacred Mountain to beg is of no use either."

"You can choose to become a god yourself. After ascending to a higher existence, past wishes and emotions are tiny existences; this might be the way for a god to resolve your problem."

"No." Luo Qi heard his own voice sharpen; his suppressed rage boiled fiercely in his chest. He hurriedly dispelled his emotions. "I know you have true wisdom; I shouldn't suspect you are monsters of Frankenstein. I am willing to respect your choice, but I am human. Even if I had the chance to choose, I would still choose to be a stupid, ordinary person wearing shackles."