Full-Time Magician: Demon Mage

Chapter 379: A Ship That Could Not Carry the Old Era

After Wang Teng finished communicating with Staff Officer Shao, he took the two women back to the small building.

This matter was over for him; now it was the military's and the pioneers' turn to handle it.

With the elimination of the most threatening Dust Bug leader in the Taklamakan Desert, the obstacles to land reclamation have been greatly reduced, and mining can now proceed more freely.

Of course, they still have to face the demons, since in addition to the Dust Demons, there are dozens of other types of demons scattered throughout the desert.

That's how it is...

"Um... okay."

Wang Teng put away his phone and, upon returning, informed Pang Lai of the outcome of the incident, thus bringing the matter to a close.

"Tell me, why did you travel all this way to the desert?"

Jiang Shaoxu, who had been lounging on the sofa, immediately sat up straight upon hearing this, wanting to ask her good younger sister Ding Yumin for help.

Unfortunately, she could only watch as Ding Yumin hurriedly got up, grabbed a towel, and went to take a shower.

Jiang Shaoxu met Wang Teng's eyes and immediately felt guilty. She tossed her hair and then explained, "After I came back, I looked into things about my brother."

"I learned that he disappeared while searching for a totem. I didn't know how to find him, so I could only follow in his footsteps."

"Since this is his unfulfilled dream, I want to help him achieve it."

After saying that, she felt relieved. She hadn't told anyone else about this idea; she was just walking this path alone.

"Do you know why he went to find the totem?" Wang Teng asked softly after a moment of silence.

"Huh? You're not angry with me?" Jiang Shaoxu was stunned for a moment, then realized that she had done something stupid.

"I don't know much about that. He probably wants to find a way to revive the totem and bring it back to life."

"They will probably become the main force in resisting the attacks of demons in the future," Jiang Shaoxu quickly said, expressing his guess.

"The idea is good, but it's naive and adorable..."

After thinking for a moment, Wang Teng shook his head and commented that it was too presumptuous and that the true historical reasons for the decline of totems had been overlooked.

"That's..." Jiang Shaoxu panicked upon hearing Wang Teng's assessment, wanting to explain, but when she saw the other party raise his hand, the words stuck in her throat.

"Let me show you something nice..." Wang Teng immediately shared with her the scene inside the totem bead, a vast inner world with an incomparable black sky serpent coiled around it.

"This is... a Xuan Snake!" Jiang Shaoxu's eyes flashed with the scene inside the totem bead, and she even saw the huge Xuan Snake open its eyes and look at her, which shocked her greatly.

Wang Teng immediately cut off the video, saying that it was enough for her to see this scene. "That's right, it's inside the totem bead I carry with me."

Do you know the inside story of the Hangzhou incident from a few years ago?

Jiang Shaoxu was a little confused. Why did the topic suddenly change? Could there be something wrong with the inside story?

Seeing her racking her brains, Wang Teng shook his head and sighed helplessly. Sure enough, she acted impulsively.

Success is certainly good, but failure not only leaves one in dire straits, but also brings shame upon the totem. This kind of tragedy has happened more than once or twice.

Upon hearing the sigh, Jiang Shaoxu immediately lowered her head; she truly did not know the inside story of that matter.

"The Hangzhou Incident was triggered by a power struggle, with court official Zhu Meng proposing a strategy to eliminate major threats to domestic cities!"

"This strategy is related to whether he can be promoted to a higher position."

He believed that the black serpent totem occupying Hangzhou was a scourge and a major obstacle to his strategic implementation, so he set his sights on the black serpent.

"With the approval documents from the Forbidden City and the Mingzhu Pagoda, they coerced the Tang clan, the guardians of the totem. Most importantly, it was Tang Yue who was the true guardian."

"Luo Mian, that guy who sold the problematic blood serum, created a plague to get rid of the problematic blood serum in his possession and then framed Xuan She."

"Then he found Zhu Meng, and the two conspired to take matters into their own hands. He revealed the top-secret information about the Xuan Snake's weakened state after shedding its skin to Zhu Meng."

"That time, I received a request for help from Tang Yue, and I sensed that something was wrong, but I couldn't confront her directly because of her high position and power."

"I commissioned the Qingtian Hunting Agency to issue a reward of ten million to find out the cause of the problematic blood serum, and the rumors will naturally be dispelled."

"Tang Yue and I took the black snake to a secluded place and allowed it to safely complete its molting."

"With the arrival of the Silver Dome Lord and the outbreak of disease from the problematic blood serum, the issues of those two were instantly exposed, especially Luo Mian. Zhu Meng was dragged into it, but isn't his problem serious?"

"Although the media didn't report all the problems, it wasn't exactly honorable. Everyone knows it was a farce stemming from a power struggle."

"Without the guardian aura of the Black Serpent, the Silver Sky Lord could come and go as he pleased. How many people died in that battle? Even Zhu Meng's own chief guard died."

"I'm telling you this so that you can see totems as obstacles in some people's eyes, and there will always be another Zhu Meng or Luo Mian doing the same thing."

"However, the totem is completely innocent. Those who know the truth do not come forward, or their influence is insufficient. In the face of the power struggle, those guardians are far too weak."

The statement "Totems protect humans, and guardians protect totems" is debatable.

"Haven't you noticed why, despite their immense power, totems haven't left a significant mark on history?"

"What exactly happened during the transition from the Totem Age to the Magic Age? Why was it erased, to the point that we have to go to ancient ruins to find any records?"

"Totems can live for a long time, while humans only live for a few decades. After one generation of guardians ends, can the successors still inherit the responsibility of protection?"

"When you went to find the totem, did you consider whether you had the ability to handle these issues? You actually found the totem and it was brought back to life. What do you think some people think of you?"

"Perhaps before you even fight the demons, you'll die in a conspiracy, and then the totem will die with you? Or will you wage war against humanity? Or will you find a place to die in silence?"

Wang Teng's words pierced her heart like knives. As a person with a spiritual ability, she was actually very pure.

When Wang Teng shattered her beautiful fantasy, she realized that cold sweat had seeped out from her back.

The other party seems to have already seen her future. Most importantly, can she live up to the trust and living space of the totem?

Jiang Shaoxu slumped weakly on the sofa, a bitter expression on her face, her hair covering her eyes.

I feel so powerless... utterly powerless...

Wang Teng's words kept echoing in her mind: through various empirical evidence, it was unrealistic to maintain the totem's living space without sufficient strength and power.

This seems like the irreversible tide of history; the era of magic's heyday has lost the ship that carried the old era.

She was already quick-witted, and after Wang Teng enlightened her, she understood why there were so few totem records.

Without the deadly threat of external demons, why have the totems disappeared? They were merely victims of internal human strife and infighting.

The former guardians have become victims of human struggles—how laughable, lamentable, infuriating, and tragic this is.

(End of this chapter)