In the obscure history of a bygone era, nine hundred years ago,
the mighty kingdom of Gureg had given its all to end a millennium-long calamity brought by inter-dimensional beings encountering the Heavenly Sphere.
Since then, it never recovered; while its cultural heritage persisted and its influence remained significant, it had become merely a vassal, struggling to survive among other nations.
It was because of this weakening
that the multi-polar balance was disrupted, causing nearly two hundred years of chaos.
But, seven hundred years ago,
it led to the creation of the strongest nation since Emperor Xiluo’s world conquest.
Even though it perished after two generations, it ruled over the entire Western Continent for decades.
One could truly say it dominated.
Engma was the only woman among all the overlords recorded in the Holy Spirit Calendar.
In historical assessments, it is not easy to simply conclude, say, that her elevation to such a high position depended solely on the military prowess of the thirty-three Radiant Knights.
That would be nearly impossible.
One must judge from multiple dimensions.
However, the civil officials of the Western Continent were not very reliable, not because they lacked ability, but because, following the Divine Mother Sect, people realized how important cultural faith was. The influence of the great plague from a thousand and eight hundred years ago was too terrifying, stretching across the next two thousand years; the remnants of the Divine Mother Sect and the Miracle of Suffering still have many followers today, resulting in too much darkness among the madmen in this land.
In the past two hundred years, due to the age of great voyages and the development of the Magic Energy Industry, the economy determined the superstructure, and the situation improved, adding some righteous historians.
But in the past, there were no righteous historians at all; everyone was from Ocean Country, whoever controls the present holds the past, and whoever holds the past holds the future.
"Pick up the history books, I’m telling you to pick up the history books!"
Anyone who can truly clarify the history of the Western Continent would find inventing a perpetual motion machine no problem at all.
Therefore, in terms of complexity, the study of the history of the Western Continent is comparable to aerospace. Having an intermediate degree in this field is quite impressive, and it is a promising field; no matter what one studies in university, history is a compulsory course and is also closely related to politics.
Historical records have to go through many comparisons to sort out a story that is relatively accepted by the mainstream academic community.
The historical records from seven hundred years ago
are not only vague and incomplete, but also a tangled mess.
Only a very small part of these records is recognized by mainstream academia.
There’s no doubt that Engma herself had a very high military acumen and political sense, surely possessing imperial capabilities.
In several multi-faceted battles, even without relying on the Radiant Knights, she could hold her own.
It’s hard to believe she had a penchant for self-destruction.
She wanted to crush all the War Merit Faction.
But the fact that thirty-three Junlin Swords, enduring through the ages as if newly forged and whose light even distorts under their edge, able to sever time’s dust, served as the best proof.
It is said that one of those knights was an extraterrestrial visitor.
This was the only common point Liszt could find; he too did not know why he could wield such a thing, worthy of being called a King’s Device—it was a great mystery.
In the last letter from Sharon,
Marcus mentioned the "Dragon Lord’s True Prophecy," stating that he was an indispensable link within a certain trajectory, but even Marcus himself did not understand, he was merely conveying.
But there was no irreplaceability, because, hell, there were many more indispensable links out there.
Garscek, the Dragon on Iron Soul Island who had been asleep for seven hundred years, spoke of a catastrophe that occurred every nine hundred years. The prophecy also mentioned another indispensable element, a Magician who would trigger the great disaster.
Liszt might have just figured it out.
None of his former classmates, who were captured and thrown into the Northern Prison with him, wanted to kill that Magician more than he did.
And that Magician, there wasn’t even a need to think about it.
It must be the Astrologer hidden within the Alan Royal Court—Ah, Aca, Sasa.
Only he could have such capabilities; he stretched his influence across ten Boundary Seas to reach even the Earth among other practitioners of magic here.
Liszt suddenly felt somewhat guilty towards Caroso. He had been close with the Holy Spirit elders, and by the end of the year, he feared that the church would also start in Heaven Port where the name of the Main God of the Holy Spirit Sect was quite resounding: Tai Chu and the End Saint Spirit, the Master of Destiny. But this goddess didn’t give a damn about him.
While he had decapitated many from the Eternal Sect and even bested the Dragon Lord, it seemed to make no difference; they were all buddies.
Yet Liszt thought he might have made a mistake, entering a flawed line of thought, and smacked his head with one hand.
Who knew whether this damn "Dragon Lord’s True Prophecy" was real or fake? Marcus indeed resurrected, but it was unclear what trickery had been involved, and whether the leadership of a Sect or the Pope was behind it.
The Emperor, whose wings spanned ten miles, was no longer just an aircraft carrier, but a spaceship-level dragon.
The Pope he had faced, it was hard to fathom the extent of his level.
Liszt pondered for a long time and still couldn’t untangle it, deciding to head to Aisnor Province first.
He initially thought about bringing Swan with him, but Swan, being an orphan with no attachment to his homeland, preferred heavy, emotionally burdening conversations, which made communication painfully difficult. It wasn’t that he was repulsive, just very challenging to interact with.
Previously, Dreya had brought her harem to tour the Western Continent mainly because his inexpensive wife liked to read, devouring all kinds of books, including very old sensual novels.
He indeed discovered a small town from her massive collection of books where a foreign visitor from Engma had once resided. Time had changed its name, though the geographic location remained the same, roughly in the area of Swan’s hometown.
This foreign visitor had also died here, supposedly buried locally, but the tomb had been plundered hundreds of years ago, and no one knew the exact location.
Of course, Liszt was not here to look for a corpse or descendants but rather a local Tiger-man collector who was extremely curious about the history seven hundred years ago and incessantly researched history, a kind of fringe hobbyist without even a moderate degree, supported by his wealth.
The collector, a rich second-generation, extremely annoying, had the means to support his hobby, traveling everywhere to meet fellow collectors or attend exhibitions. As Morison would say, any sort of posh gathering. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ nοvelfire.net
Once Dreya found this person and made contact,
the rich second-generation was ecstatic, truly ecstatic. Dreya said she hadn’t seen anyone so elated that they would jump around in over two hundred years.
He promised that if he could meet in person the one who could wield the Junlin Sword, the one who knew of killing Engma, the sword itself he had seen with his own eyes, he would assist fully; otherwise, it was impossible to buy with even a mountain of gold.
Dreya could control people with a spell, but could only command them to perform specified actions, completely obeying her.
She couldn’t do something as arcane as reading memories.
Only by having Liszt come in person to show this Madman, as Dreya had met countless people, and she affirmed he was telling the truth based on the lavishness of his collections at his grand house in Damask.
The Aran Highway was extremely flat, making even cart travel smooth; the infrastructure was immaculately done, and the scenery outside the car window was as green as an oil painting.
Aisnor Province had always been within the confines of Aran, and Tiger-men were one of the main ethnic groups there, not far from Duguli, within a week’s travel there and back.
Liszt felt somewhat anxious, finally about to resolve many questions in his heart.
"Is this your two friends?"
Isis curiously asked, sneakily making a hand gesture of two scissors snipping at each other.
Liszt said, speechless.
Meredith and Goria whispered to each other, completely in their own space, with Goria’s ears turning red.