Chapter 443

As if the Silence Mist were some groundbreaking discovery, the sorcerer swiftly absorbed all the memory fragments from the corpses, then shot skyward, rising hundreds of meters before sharply turning north toward Northwind City.

Ang and the others did not move; they knew the sorcerer would return, because…

Not long after, the sorcerer flew back, plucked up the staff glowing with red light, and flew off again.

Nagris finally grumbled: "Do you think he did it on purpose, or did he genuinely forget? Are you really that famous that he got this scared?"

The God of Life looked utterly confused; it didn't know either. Was this thing called Silence Mist? It had never named it.

Even after everyone returned to Northwind City, the God of Life still couldn't figure it out; instead, as the journey grew increasingly desolate, it shrank smaller and smaller until it became a tiny treeling, leaping onto Ang's shoulder.

Back in Northwind City, after telling Anthony, Silver Coin, and Du Luo about it, these three ancient beings immediately spotted the key point.

"The Divine Realm? The God of Life? Could they know you? And do they call the Prime Material Plane the Divine Realm?" Anthony speculated.

"Likely," Silver Coin said at once. "Because the Storm of Faith was their doing—they knew the Prime Material Plane had gods, and the Storm of Faith was aimed squarely at the gods."

"But how did they know the Prime Material Plane had gods? And how did they know about the God of Life?" Du Luo asked.

Nagris said: "Could it be because of the Church of Light? By the way, who founded the Church of Light here? Anthony, have you ever seen any clues in the ancient texts?"

More than a thousand years ago, the Starburst Array fired the Storm of Faith, striking the Prime Material Plane and causing the gods to fall—but even before that, the Church of Light in this world was already thriving.

Because the Church of Light here was so powerful, it squeezed the Sorcerers' Alliance's survival space, so those sorcerers built the Starburst Array and blasted all the gods away in one go.

The Sorcerers' Alliance fired the Starburst Array twice: first, to obliterate the gods of this world; second, to strike the Prime Material Plane.

The first Storm of Faith caused the gods here to perish; the second struck the Prime Material Plane and caused its gods to fall. According to the Sorcerers' Alliance's plan, both worlds should have become godless—but they never expected it would summon another terrifying entity from the Prime Material Plane.

The Lord of All Life, the Undying King.

The Undying King's arrival directly overthrew the Church of Light, now bereft of gods, and established on the earth the realm of the departed—the Undying Empire.

Thus, the Sorcerers' Alliance remained confined to the Starburst Array, and after a thousand years of development, this current arrangement took shape.

The Sorcerers' Alliance rules the sky, the Undying Empire rules the earth, and the Church of Light hides in the sewers.

So at least a thousand years ago, the Church of Light had contact with the Prime Material Plane—though no one knows whether the gods of this world went to the Prime Material Plane to establish a new Church of Light, or whether the gods of the Prime Material Plane came here to found a new one.

"Wait a moment—let me think. Do you remember the Titan city beneath the southern ocean? And the message Thunder sent to the dwarves? So, it must be that the Titans from the Prime Material Plane were exiled here, which is why they sent word to the dwarves to beware the Storm of Faith," Anthony asked.

As soon as Anthony spoke, everyone remembered and nodded in unison.

"So following this line of thought, I recall reading a verse in a forbidden manuscript: 'The light that illuminates all things is not the light of justice; the nightingale and morning dew fear it, so the light was banished into darkness…' Something like that."

Everyone drew a sharp breath, especially Nagris: "They banished light into darkness? The God of Light? So that's why the Primordial Divine Core has no will? Holy crap, I get it now—the Supreme God and the Creator God weren't three aspects of the same Light, but were created to counterbalance the Lord of Light."

Nagris had lived longer and knew many secrets; Anthony hadn't mentioned it before, but now it immediately triggered a flood of memories.

"No way—could Arbitration, Light and Darkness, and the others really have done something like this?" Silver Coin couldn't believe it, because the power Arbitration, Light and Darkness, and the Goddess of Redemption displayed was nowhere near enough to banish a Primordial God.

"No, no, no—you've only seen gods who've been reborn once. The original gods of Light perished during the Storm of Faith. The old gods of Light weren't this weak," Du Luo said.

"But it's just a verse, and from a manuscript—what if we're misunderstanding it?" Silver Coin added.

"Even official holy scriptures can't be trusted blindly—too many forged falsehoods. Take the Codex of Justice, for example: it's wildly different from the ones I burned. Even that Sacred Stone of Justice—despite its obvious weathering, looking like something from tens of thousands of years ago—I'll tell you this: I personally forged it." Anthony whispered.

A stunned silence fell. Nagris couldn't help muttering bitterly: "You book destroyer."

While the group was passionately debating yet reaching no concrete conclusion, the ancient tree on Ang's shoulder, who had been playing with the sapling, suddenly spoke: "You've talked so much—why not ask me?"

"Puh—"

Everyone stared at each other. Of course—why hadn't they asked the God of Life? This thing had lived over ninety-one thousand years; it must know a lot.

Its treasure vault held many Church of Light artifacts—Angels' Staffs, Papal Armors, and more—surely many powerful Church of Light figures had died in its forests.

"So are our theories right?" Nagris asked quickly.

The God of Life shook its head: "I don't know. But I fought the God of Light once. Back then, there was no Supreme God or Creator God—only the God of Light and some powerful humans. Later, the God of Light vanished, and those humans became the gods of Light. That happened fifteen thousand years ago."

"I know that—the First Planar War. Then came six more Planar Wars, dragging our dragonkind into them too. After the horrific casualties, we signed a peace treaty ten thousand years ago: elves got the forests, dragons got the seas beyond, humans got the land, and we all lived in peace," Nagris said.

"Since then, I've never seen the God of Light again. Something must have happened. Then Titanis City sank, and the Titans disappeared too," the God of Life said slowly.

With the God of Life, a firsthand witness of history, confirming this, the debate could end.

Fifteen thousand years ago, the God of Light still had will. The gods of Light weren't gods at all—they were powerful humans. So the later transformation into the triune entity of Light, Creator, and Supreme must have been deliberate.

Combined with what followed, the Creator and Supreme Gods were clearly fabricated to limit the God of Light's power, giving the gods of Light the means to banish it.

As for what exactly happened in between, even the God of Life didn't know. It only knew that after that event, the God of Light's will never reappeared.

More than fifteen thousand years ago, humans had no writing of their own—no texts survived. Except for oral legends, too much history had become unverifiable.

Fortunately, there was this hundred-thousand-year-old tree, the God of Life—but sadly, it never cared about events beyond its forest, offering only indirect clues.

"So now we need to find the Titans—preferably the Thunder God," Anthony said.

The Thunder God once sent a message back to the dwarves; it must know much. If we could find the Thunder God or an elder Titan, we might learn the full story.

So where are the Titans now? Everyone looked up. Though the ceiling blocked their view, the direction they gazed was precisely where the Starburst Array lay.

"But we can't get into the Starburst Array," Anthony groaned. Other places were manageable, but the Starburst Array floated in the sky, physically isolated—and the Sorcerers' Alliance rarely interacted with the ground.

Anthony had asked Jili. Though she was a sorcerer, she'd never contacted the Sorcerers' Alliance. Even the suitor who gave her the cultivation sphere might not even be from the Sorcerers' Alliance.

For a force so physically and socially isolated, even if Anthony had ten thousand infiltration methods, none would work.

As everyone was at a loss, the God of Life suddenly spoke: "There's not absolutely no way."

It strained hard, its face like a human squatting on the toilet. Soon—*ding! *—a fist-sized bud sprouted atop its head.

The God of Life plucked it off and said: "Sprinkle the seeds onto anything moving. They'll spread with the movement to every corner."

Anthony's eyes lit up; he seized it like a priceless treasure. Unlike Nagris's constant disdain, Anthony had a far more vivid understanding of the God of Life's power—it was a being even the Undying King hesitated to provoke. Whatever it produced was surely a divine artifact.

Anthony turned to leave, preparing to scatter the seeds onto the goblin flying carts. Ang suddenly said: "Sorcerers… have divine power."

"What do you mean?" Nagris asked. "The sorcerers we just saw—they have divine power? Are they gods?"

Ang shook his head: "No faith. But they have divine power."

No faith. Not a god. Yet they have divine power?

Nagris still didn't understand Ang's meaning. It couldn't even comprehend it, let alone translate it. Everyone reluctantly set aside their questions and went to work.

…

Deep within the castle of Roks in the Town of Divine Demise.

Du Luo erected a barrier, shielding all fluctuations.

Ang opened his divine domain. Du Luo entered, dismantled every energy-emitting structure from the flying carts and airships, ensuring no signal could be emitted, then moved them out.

This location was deep within the mountain; ordinary fluctuations couldn't escape. Still, Du Luo carefully checked multiple times.

After removing all signal-emitting components, Du Luo could now study in peace. The flying carts and airships contained many new alchemical techniques Du Luo had never seen before.

Ang was temporarily idle. The Sorcerer's Ladder stood outside Northwind City, so Ang couldn't go out to farm.

He didn't even dare return to the irrigation zone—it was too close to Northwind City. Even the top of the seven-hundred-meter Sorcerer's Ladder could directly see the irrigation zone.

If any activity were detected there, an airship could reach the zone's airspace in minutes.

Unable to grow anything else, he planted Holy Mushrooms indoors, scattering the spores he'd collected onto stone slabs. The sapling waved its true leaves, and soon the Holy Mushrooms grew in thick patches.

Another bountiful harvest.

He collected the Holy Mushrooms, separated their moisture using elemental repulsion, dried them, ground them into powder, then purified them with Holy Water—producing a large barrel of high-purity Divine Essence.

Ang immersed the fragments of the black crystal bone he'd collected earlier into the liquid and irradiated them with the Purifying Light Spell.

Nagris had been dozing listlessly nearby—until Ang pulled out the black crystal fragments. Instantly, its scales stood on end; it held its breath, staring without daring to move.

The Purifying Light Spell shone for a long time. The black crystal fragments showed no reaction. Ang had no choice but to retrieve them.

Nagris finally exhaled a huge breath: "You scared me to death! Are you insane? Do you actually think you can grow a Black Crystal Body? How can you even imagine such a thing?!"

Ang tilted his head, puzzled.

Seeing his expression, Nagris realized Ang had no idea how terrifying this idea was.

A Black Crystal Body—if it could be "grown" this way, what did that mean? It meant that as long as a soul could control it, he could mass-produce Black Crystal Skeletons.

Holy crap—mass-producing Black Crystal Skeletons? Is this dead skeleton out of his mind?

Fortunately, nothing happened.

He found a pure crystal, cut it, hollowed it out, and quickly crafted dozens of clear, transparent bottles. Ang divided the Divine Essence among them.

He didn't waste the leftover powdered Holy Mushrooms after extraction—he stored them temporarily in his divine domain. Silver Coin would take them later and turn them into face masks for sale. Not a single grain would be wasted.

Thus, in the midst of this busy routine, Silver Coin teleported in with the latest news.

"Feiwo sent vegetables and sweets to the goblins yesterday. They loved them. Master Anthony guessed they lack space to grow vegetables and sweet crops—and sure enough, this morning, they rushed to Feiwo, offering to buy large quantities of vegetables, sugar, and honey."

"Master Anthony scattered the God of Life's seeds through the vegetables—they've likely already spread into the Sorcerer's Ladder. He asks you: should we continue supplying them with vegetables? They're offering very high prices." Silver Coin asked.

Nagris couldn't help leaning over: "How high?"

"Here's their product list—they can provide these items, exchanged for the following amounts of magic crystals. And here's their demand list—they need these items, priced at these rates."

Nagris took it and stared in shock: "One magic crystal per hundred kilograms of vegetables? They're insane! At this price, we could become the richest people in the world just by selling vegetables."