Shadow of the Evil God

"If what our ancestors said is true, when we have children in the future, the responsibility of the bloodline will be transferred. At that time, whoever still finds these stories meaningful will capture the other person and let the one who feels that nothing makes sense anymore experience it. Of course, if both of us feel that nothing makes sense anymore, then we will pretend that nothing ever happened."

"I may not be able to catch you in a few years, Diana."

"That means you'll need to ask me for more... well, what's it called? I just designed this spell based on the knowledge of the Kuna people."

"Memory crystal?"

"It's not poetic enough," Diana said thoughtfully. "Give it a nice name. You have plenty of time to think of one. If it's beautiful enough, I'll give you the next crystal that's even more beautiful than it. Please, use your talent, Cesar. The more crystals you get in the future, the more chances you have to change the tragic relationship that my bloodline has experienced, which is severed at the birth of a child. You'd better make sure you have enough crystals by then to move both of us. Truly fall in love again, right?"

She lifted the crystal higher, and in an instant, the bookshelves and the library vanished completely. Everywhere Cesar looked, he could see memories of last night's journey across the wasteland. It was a long trek, but not as arduous as their previous treks across the wasteland. Though the wind was icy, the feeling of holding her hand across the icy plains shone like burning blood in his fingertips. For a moment, it felt musical, like someone silently playing invisible piano keys, with a hypnotic beauty and melody.

"Feel it carefully," Diana smiled at him.

"Then I'll go ahead, Cesar. Remember to follow me when you come to your senses later."

He stood there for a long time, struggling to free himself from the memory, because it carried the feelings of both parties, more addictive than simple desire and individual feelings. His feelings were like gazing at the night sky from the deep sea. The lower he sank, the more hazy and beautiful all the feelings and scenes became.

Cesar finally raised his head and looked at the empty corridor before him, but his consciousness was still hazy. The cold wind seemed to still be weaving through his fingers, and many thoughts crowded in his mind. Ajeh looked down at him from above, her eyes like two stars.

“You looked like an idiot, Cesar,” she said. “You dug yourself a big hole, and then Diana set a noose over it and watched you jump in.”

He looked at the crystal in his hand and felt a little slow to speak. "I thought she would doubt and waver about her blood curse, and then I could encourage her, but it seems..."

"Please, haven't you heard what the princess said? They must have discussed this years ago. If Altinia has figured out Diana's life journey and her own, and the difference between them, how can Diana not figure out her own life journey and the life journey of this curse, and the difference between them? Ferriers escaped the curse, but do you think Diana will escape now? This period of time is just a brief experience in her long life journey. Once the curse is transferred, you will know what you can do on your own. Have you heard the tragic story of Ferriers' sister and the Chosen Emperor? You should listen carefully."

"So I should run away now to avoid trouble later?" Cesar asked her.

"You don't look like you want to run away," Ajeh said. "That girl didn't run away from love like Ferriers did. She's just too proud and doesn't care about anyone."

"But I seem to be even more obsessed with her."

"This shows that she's only been in love for a short time, and she's already becoming better at it than you are. She'll learn whatever sweet talk you use to seduce her and return it to you."

"She used magic! That's not fair!"

"At least you could give the spell a name, as a memento after she throws you in the trash."

"You are so good at talking, Ajiehe."

Chapter 271 Library

As Ajeh said, if Diana could understand the difference between many things and her life journey, the difference between a decade and a thousand years, some experiences would simply be worth savoring, without disrupting her entire life. And as Altinia said, in the future, looking back, no matter what the princess did, Diana would simply laugh it off, reminiscing about how excessive Altinia had been.

After all, the past is too long ago.

In other words, the same can be said about Cesar.

Regardless of whether there was some vague curse between the two of them, since she had been inspired by his words and recorded the best day of the year in the spell crystal, it meant that they would determine future events.

The crystals of memory gradually accumulated, becoming symbols of the past. One day, these crystals would determine the future of both of them. Whether they would each go their separate ways, one person tearing the other's heart apart and trampling it over with their boots, or, as she said, one of them would redeem everything, all depended on their actions during this period.

Her blood curse was vague, and Cesar didn't know what purpose it served in their relationship, nor what it would change if it were removed. Perhaps it would simply make some feelings fade, or perhaps it would erase everything. In either case, his self-proclaimed renewed love would be the reason, and these memory crystals would be the evidence.

Diana's words were tinged with teasing. She'd told Cesar he'd better have enough crystals to impress them both. Her implication was that once she and Fils had shared those memories, she wouldn't keep them forever. It all depended on how many Cesar had asked for and how much he had carefully preserved. If he didn't get enough memory crystals, didn't leave enough memories, there would be no way for him to undo what had happened, and nothing worth remembering would remain.

At that time, if Cesar can accept everything with an open mind, things will be fine. But if he can't, he will have to endure it.

"This guy is obviously more open-minded than you." Ajiehe said while riding on his neck, "At least he's not as possessive as you, and he doesn't get upset when he can't get what he wants. You should be thankful that I used a sudden kiss to find out the truth."

"I'm going to put you on your knees next time," Cesar said.

......

This was a library, and while the collection looked small, it was because the library itself was incredibly large. He seemed to have walked for a whole day, and the distance he had covered was more than enough to accommodate the collections of all dynasties combined. If measured by worldly standards, a person seeking a book might have to search from childhood to old age; if a person fell down a spiral staircase, even after starving to death, their body would continue to fall for a long time, until they disintegrated and disappeared in the endless fall.

Cesar felt that the library was infinite. The reason it was infinite was that it was idealistic in itself. The evidence was that the further he walked, the fewer books there were on the shelves, and the newer the shelves and rooms became.

Perhaps the library's rooms would extend infinitely as the observer walked, so the existing books could not fill its shelves. Such a library could not exist in reality, but it was not difficult to understand why it existed in another dimension. After all, he had seen too many incredible things in the wasteland.

Cesar found Diana, browsing through the books arranged in a row in a library. Fils sat on the floor, gazing intently at an old book written in an archaic language, as if nothing around her existed. The library was surprisingly full; not only were the four intact shelves on the six walls packed to the brim, but the two open shelves were also crammed with books. He felt that Fils's imagination of Iris was no different.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"The library's owner will talk to each person individually," Diana said. "Brother Shiloh has a different status from the others, and so does Aya. We won't get our turn until the more important conversations are over."

Cesar came to her side. "I'm worried that not only will we not be able to persuade the Hermits to come, but even Brother Xiluo will stay here," he said. "If I hadn't taken these precautions, I might have stayed here too."

"It's indeed possible, but it depends on what result Aya can come up with," said Diana.

Diana said as she placed a book in his hands and went to find another. Cesar flipped through a few pages and found a language completely different from the Guna script. He had recently become able to decipher the Guna script, but there was no trace of it in the book.

"This is the spell language of the wizard groups that preceded the Kasar Empire," she said. "Perhaps it's the language that existed from the beginning. It's not as infinitely varied as the divine script and its extensions, but it can write things that human language cannot. The preface of the book says that it existed before humans were born and will exist after humans perish. In other words, we didn't create this writing; we discovered it from the world. Do you understand what I mean?"

"You mean this language was born naturally?"

"That's what the author of this book thought," Diana replied. "He felt that this kind of writing was more..."

"Noble?" Cesar asked back, "Then I could also say that the urinal in my bedroom was born naturally from my bedroom. It is no more noble than the clear spring water in the natural world."

She blinked, "Uh... huh? What did you say?"

"I believe that the real world before humanity was born was one kind of environment, and the cities created after humanity's birth aren't necessarily another kind of environment. If a mountain, a river, a clear spring, all emerged naturally as the true dragon slept, then the toilet in my bedroom could also be something naturally born in the city. The Creator of the real world caused trees to grow, flowers to bloom, and language to exist from the very beginning; when we create things that didn't originally exist, we are also creators, causing things to become what they are today."

Diana looked at him sideways. "I understand what you mean, but could you use something less offensive, Cesar? At least don't call the urinal in your bedroom the spring."

"Well, my Lady Diana," he sighed, "you have just created a spell, weaving the world's first memory crystal containing all the good things. Isn't this an act of the Creator? Before you created it, there was nothing like it in the world. When we chant about trees and flowers, we use the images of the trees and flowers themselves to give meaning to two meaningless names, and in this way..."

As Cesar spoke, his finger touched the page she had opened, and it landed between two isolated characters. "What do these two characters together mean?" he asked her.

"Should I say... Enxi?" Diana looked at the words his index finger pointed at, a little surprised. "They are two words in a long sentence. They don't make any sense when put together."

"Then, in the future, it will be your creation itself that will give this meaningless name all possible meaning. If someone ever questions the origin of this spell, and asks why you didn't name it according to the standard, calling it someone else's spell, like Diana's Memory Crystal Spell, you can say that you happened to be holding a book, and I casually pointed my finger between two meaningless words, and then that became the name of the spell. People don't need to interpret the meaning of the word; as long as they see the word Enxi, they will know its meaning as they would if they heard the words tree and flower."

Diana was silent for a long time before she said, "For now, I owe you a crystal. I'll put it on my account. I'll organize your opinions and write them down in a manuscript. Perhaps they will be useful for more than just this naming."

"After a few years, it's best if you don't owe me crystals that I can't pay back for a thousand years," said Cesar.

Diana glared at him and went back to flipping through the books. Once their argument was over, Cesar finally sat down next to Phils. He'd wanted to discuss Ensi and all that it held, but she'd ignored him and even revealed the secrets of the library.

Although Phils was in the same good mood as usual, and he had seen it clearly on the way to Gonzales, so he didn't feel strange, but he still felt a suffocating feeling as if the words were stuck in his throat.

Firth showed the book she had received, explaining that it recorded a wizard who long ago visited the library and left a manuscript of observations there. According to the wizard, the library might have existed from the very beginning, since the beginning of time, and would exist forever at the end of time. Perhaps it was an accident, like trees and flowers, or perhaps it was the work of a deity with ulterior motives. Regardless, it provided, in an uncanny way, an infinitely extending library, endless bookshelves, and a spiral staircase that led both upwards and downwards to infinity.

As long as someone places a book on any shelf in a library, the library will not disappear, carrying the knowledge of that book with it forever. This is why the books are so sparsely arranged in the library. As for the wizard, he stayed in this library until his death, writing down everything he remembered, filling the entire library. Finally, when he was too old to even read his own handwriting, he found a spiral staircase that extended infinitely downward and jumped down.

Cesar covered Phils's lips, collected his thoughts, and then asked her, "Did this person mention the library owner?"

Chapter 272 I am stupid, I am slow, I have no wisdom

"That's not necessary," a voice said. Cesar suddenly looked up and saw a creature walking out of the library on the side.

The reason why it was generally called a living being was because it was difficult for him to describe whether it was a human or a dragon, or whether it was just a lizard walking like a human.

Its head was unmistakably that of a lizard, hornless, its entire body a gradient of purple, its back covered in curved spikes, and its abdomen a bluish-gray. But its form was very human-like, slender and long, its beauty easily apparent in its form itself. Furthermore, it possessed wings, folded and retracted, making them nearly invisible without close inspection.

This creature wasn't particularly tall, not much taller than Cesar, and walked with a slight hunchback. Though youthful in appearance, its posture suggested an ageing appearance. Furthermore, it lacked any visible sexual characteristics. Its scaly, naked body lay motionless, its long tail dragging along the ground. If it stood still, it could easily be mistaken for a statue.

"I heard you've lived from the beginning until now," Firth suddenly said. "Are there many creatures like you?"

"There used to be three of us, but now there are only two," it said. Before Firth could ask further questions, it had already picked up the wizard's manuscript and began to admire it. "One of my compatriots accidentally grew into a true dragon during the repeated cycle of life and death. Then, it was exiled outside of time, never to return. Another of my compatriots didn't want to exile himself, so at the last moment before growing into adulthood, he split into many parts. Now, he is worshipped by you as an emperor."

"I thought she was a real dragon and was dreaming," Cesar said.

It stared at Cesar for a long time, then turned its head to look into the distance, as if it could see Altinya's figure across many libraries.

"You could say it's dreaming," it said. "When only one person remains of this human bloodline, it will mean that its many fragments have merged into one, and it will be forced to wake up. When that happens, I will be the only one left of our three young dragons."

"Haven't you grown up?" Phils became even more curious.

It seemed to be smiling. "Of course, as long as you're lazy enough, completely refusing to eat, doing nothing, absorbing no nutrients, and simply doing your own thing until you die, come back to life, and then continue doing it, you won't grow up. This is truly profound. Of the three of us, I'm the most dull and stupid. The most active one died before humans mastered language and writing, and the wisest one, due to traveling around and absorbing too much nutrients, couldn't hold on until the middle of the last era."

"That is to say," Cesar hesitated, "you actually don't have anything..."

"You want to talk about wisdom? It should be wisdom. I really don't have much wisdom. If you think I can answer your questions, then I can only give you some confused ideas, fragmented and useless. If the second one hadn't torn itself apart, it might be interested in creatures like you, but I'm not." It replied.

It had captivating cyan eyes and spoke in a calm, peaceful manner. Cesar felt he had no reason to doubt it, but he still felt it was playing a trick on him. Diana glanced at him and shook her head slightly, and Cesar realized she felt the same way. But even if it was just a trick, he couldn't argue with it.

After all, its claim to be a young dragon was merely its own, a claim no one could disprove. It could claim to be whatever it wanted, describing its past and the past of others however it pleased. Who could doubt or question it? Not even Firiels from the north.

Cesar suddenly thought of the White Nightmare Legosius. Would Legosius understand this guy?

He glanced at Firth sideways, "Do you think we can keep her around?"

"She may continue to exist." It looked down at Firth, "but she doesn't exist for the sake of existence."

"You mean her existence has a purpose," Cesar said.

"A goal always has an end, and the end is inevitably reached," it said casually. "Since she's by your side, I guess you were the purpose of her birth. But don't tell me why, or tell me it's impossible. Don't refute anything. Let me put it this way: these soulless things all have their own purpose. Without a purpose to serve as an end, they wouldn't have been born. Everything I'm saying is irrefutable fact, and I'm not good at thinking, so don't argue with me."

This thing uses its self-proclaimed stupidity as a shield. If anyone asks it questions, it will lower its head, shrink its body, and pretend that it heard nothing.

"Are you implying that we can only trust you?" Cesar questioned it.

"Of course, you don't have to believe it. You have the right not to believe it! After all, I'm just answering." Its attitude was surprisingly gentle. "Even if you don't believe it, you can continue to play the storyteller and listener with me. I don't mind. You came all the way here to ask for help, so I will naturally respond in my own way."

Cesar always felt that this fellow was different from Brother Shiloh. Although he was the theoretical origin of the hermit sect, he and the humans who followed his path were completely different.

"First of all, how is Brother Xiluo now?" he asked.

"He found his place, that's it.

This library is the home of all the monastics. There are many of them here, and if you walk around for ten years or so, you might stumble across a few of them.

"But his flesh and blood is still around the campfire."

"Yes, it's still by the bonfire. You can find a place to bury it, or burn it. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Sir," Cesar's fingers twitched, "are you trying to say that Brother Xiluo is no different from those believers who entered the Kingdom of God after death?"

It seemed to sigh.

"If a person has no shadow, then he will not exist." It said nonchalantly.

"Flesh and blood are the shadow of the soul. This is just a description, a metaphor, a metaphor."

"Metaphors often contain truth," it smiled slightly. "At least the passage of time in this library is still on our level. As for the Kingdom of God, let me put it this way. It and ours are two perpendicular timelines. Looking at the other from any scale, all you see is a stagnant world."

Before Cesar could react, it threw out a sensational piece of knowledge to resolve his doubts.

"The gods and we maintain eternal stillness. Is that what you want to say?" Cesar pressed it. "But that's not what I want to say. Brother Xiluo's body is dead, and his soul will wander here forever. Can I understand it this way?"

"That's one way of understanding it," it said, evasively. "Everything can be understood in different ways. Perhaps he has simply found the eternal destination he's longed for."

Cesar felt that both this object and this place were somewhat dangerous, and more than a little dangerous. Eternal Destination? You're kidding, if it really is an eternal destination, why would the wizard who wrote the manuscript want to commit suicide?

The human soul cannot endure endless loneliness and silence like it.

"So," he said, choosing his tone, "as I originally intended, sir, we brought Brother Xiluo to this library. We hoped to find some monastic monks who still remembered all the collections of the Great Library of the Kasar Empire. Has Artinia discussed this with you?"

Chapter 273 I Didn’t Recognize You as My Teacher

It sighed softly, "No, she's not looking for a hermit monk, she's looking for a way to survive this crisis."

"So, you revealed the true intention behind her plan and persuaded her to give up her original intention?" Cesar asked it back. "And then, you call yourself slow-witted and stupid?"

"Wisdom is relative," it said calmly. "I am still whole, but she is just one of many fragments."

"So, you used your superior wisdom to give her a more practical solution, and you also promised that your solution could help her get through this crisis?"

"You could say practical, or better. At least she thinks it's better. She already knows she doesn't need to rely on the hermits. Since the Great Library was first abandoned by the Empire and then burned down by the Beastmen, it proves that it is not of vital importance. Forget about that ruin. After this, you will find a hundred places better than the Great Library."

"Why did you have to speak to each of us individually? If I wanted to ask her what that method was, could I ask her?"

It studied Cesar, looking like a statue when it was still. "Everyone has their own secrets and choices they have to make," it said. "If I were you, I wouldn't ask so much. What do you need, Cesar?"

"I need a monastic who knows the texts of the Great Library," Cesar said.

"Why do you repeat her hopes? Don't you have your own expectations?" it asked in return.

Cesar stared at it. "I can't argue with a being like you," he said. "And I don't want to give up my original goal just because of your persuasion. If Aya gives up, then I will continue. If you don't agree, then I will leave immediately, because I have no other purpose."

"I must admit, you are different from the others," it said, "but you should still listen first, as a courtesy to a visitor. I am only offering you some advice, Cesar—stay away from the North, in other words, stay away from that Ferrieres in the North."

"I went north to gradually gain the status and position to confront her. No matter what, I need to face that Ferriers in the north."

It shook its head slowly. "Okay, you're brave and stubborn, but I have to say that even if you feel you're fully prepared, you shouldn't approach her and her territory. No matter what, as long as you approach her, you'll be the loser, without a doubt. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Yet it's the truth."

Cesar looked down at Firth, locked eyes with her for a moment, then looked up into its indigo eyes. He tried to understand its intentions, but he couldn't.

"Let me explain," it said slowly, "each of these remnants of memory has its own purpose. You already know this."

"I know."

"If you approach Ferriers with her residual memories, her forgotten mission will return to her mind."

Cesar put his hand on Phils's narrow shoulder. "Is there anything special about this?"

"If you hadn't confronted Ferriers in the north, Ferriers's remnant could have remained with you forever. She could have remained forever young, forever full of life. If you went and allowed her to remember, the remnant would have moved forward towards her sole mission, her sole destination. And then, you would have lost her."