Chapter 1523: Chapter 1521: Myriad Isolated Islands
In the magnificent golden palace.
Richard and the old man sat facing each other, surrounded by silence, maintaining this state for quite a while.
Finally, Richard spoke, looking at the old man and asked, "The white light in the image... what exactly is it?"
"You’ve asked a good question," the old man said, "This question has been asked by countless people, but... unfortunately, there has never been an answer. To be honest, it’s uncertain whether the white light is even alive. The unknown is the most terrifying, which is exactly why the white light is so feared."
Pausing for a moment, the old man continued, "The image you just saw was observed and sent back to the Core Plane by a Governor Wizard from the Nolan Plane using the ’Eye of the Upper Realm’ spell. After this image was sent back, all contact with the Nolan Plane was lost.
But this is not the most terrifying part; the most terrifying aspect is that as the Nolan Plane fell into the white light, other planes neighboring the Nolan Plane also began to send distress signals and images. The content of these images was very similar to that of the Nolan Plane, the only difference being one active, the other passive—these planes did nothing, yet the white light flowed from the space channel connected to the Nolan Plane, rapidly expanding and devouring everything."
"One plane, then another, and another, like a reverse development during the Great Exploration Era, planes continuously fell and lost contact. Initially, it was those on the very periphery, but when it spread to the Core Area of the Ancient Wizard Civilization World, the entire civilization lost its calm. After all, if it continued, civilization would cease to exist.
They found that the white light was spreading from one plane to the neighboring one through space channels, so they started discussions and proposed that each plane cut off space channels leading outwards to self-seal, perhaps avoiding destruction."
"Is this the origin of the Truth Society?" Richard asked upon hearing this.
"In a sense, yes," the old man nodded.
"Then was there no one who tried to figure out the cause of this disaster?" Richard asked again.
"Of course there were," the old man laughed, "The Ancient Wizard Civilization was an extremely curious one; otherwise, it wouldn’t have explored so madly. When some suggested self-sealing, it didn’t receive much support; instead, the mainstream criticized it as cowardice. After that, numerous strong individuals in the Ancient Wizard Civilization went to the fallen planes to investigate, trying to figure out what was going on.
But without exception, no matter how powerful the investigators were, they never returned. With their disappearance, more planes fell, and the map of the Ancient Wizard Civilization World shrank rapidly.
When the world of the Ancient Wizard Civilization had shrunk to one-tenth of its peak size, in the decisive Governor Council meeting, the self-sealing proposal was finally approved and began to be fully implemented.
The surviving planes received orders to cut off all space channels with other planes and almost severed all external contacts, turning into ’islands.’ Thus, the Ancient Wizard Civilization World was disassembled into a small system composed of planes and half-planes, losing its former glory but, at least, preserved."
The old man continued, "After this preservation, the wizards who stayed in this Tasco Plane, myself included, formed the precursor to the Truth Society—the Guardian Council, with the aim of protecting this small spark of civilization in every possible way.
At that time, everyone in the Guardian Council was very anxious. On the one hand, because of the great changes in civilization, and on the other, because they weren’t sure if self-sealing would completely defend against the devouring white light.
For this reason, council members continuously discussed and pondered what exactly the white light was and its origin. Initially, discussions were relatively normal, but gradually, a somewhat incredible conjecture spread.
This conjecture, known as ’Divine Punishment,’ suggested that the great disaster experienced by the Ancient Wizard Civilization was entirely due to themselves. The civilization developed too quickly and wildly, even altering the essence of life for development, which was a provocation to the God who created the world.
When the ’Great Exploration Plan’ was implemented, reaching the edge of the Void, it touched the forbidden area set by the God, who could no longer bear it and thus issued Divine Punishment, the white light."
"Ha," the old man chuckled at this point and glanced at Richard, "You know, in the peak of the Ancient Wizard Civilization, beliefs about creation and God were a minority of a minority, almost no one believed.
But such is life: the more powerful and confident you are, the more you believe there is nothing in the world that is unbeatable. When faced with a major setback and become weak, you inevitably become self-conscious, start to doubt everything, and begin to think there is a transcendent God deciding your fate.
The discourse on ’Divine Punishment’ spread more and more within the Guardian Council as time passed, especially after an event occurred, and ’Divine Punishment’ almost became accepted as truth."
"What event?" Richard asked.
"That was the destruction of the First Plane," the old man’s voice turned low and heavy. "The First Plane was the first plane discovered by the Ancient Wizard Civilization during their initial exploration outward from their homeland. It was extremely resource-rich and vastly larger than their homeland, thus later developed into the core of cores.
After self-sealing began, the most wizards went to the First Plane, and like the Guardian Council, they held numerous discussions. Although they did not reach any conclusions, the positive and proactive attitude remained dominant, striving to maintain the pre-collapse state of the civilization and attempting to make new breakthroughs.
As they completed a new research on life, white light suddenly appeared in their laboratory, instantly destroying all the research outcomes, and then consumed the entire world. Thus, the First Plane was destroyed."
The old man paused for a few seconds and sighed: "Alas, you can imagine how shocking the destruction of the First Plane was to the remaining planes. Almost everyone wanted to figure out what the First Plane did wrong. Was it just because they insisted on continuing to develop? Does development lead to disaster?
It was just a speculation at first, but after several planes were suddenly swallowed by white light, speculation quickly became consensus. Everyone believed that development would indeed lead to annihilation, while not developing would prevent destruction and allow survival. The disasters proved that the Ancient Wizard Civilization had reached the end of its path, standing on the brink of a cliff, and any further step would result in a devastating fall. So, it was absolutely crucial not to continue down this path.
Because of this consensus, ’Divine Punishment’ was accepted by everyone in the Guardian Council as the only explanation of truth. They all believed that the Ancient Wizard Civilization had indeed embarked on a wrong path. To avoid complete destruction, they must stop, turn around, and seek a new path.
Thus, the real Truth Society was established in the Tasco Plane, beginning the task of transforming the entire world. Since they only knew what was wrong but not what was right, to minimize risks, the Truth Society’s members chose to transform everything old into its opposite, striving to eliminate all sources of crisis.
This was obviously an enormous project that couldn’t be completed in a short time. Therefore, over a long period, all members of the Truth Society made unimaginable sacrifices. One by one, they used up their lifespans in this endeavor and died successively as the plane continuously changed. When I, the last member, awoke from the freeze, worked to the point of extreme old age, the plane finally transformed into the envisioned form.
In the vision, the plane was extremely safe, representing a new starting point. As long as we cautiously develop from this starting point, one day we would embark on the truly correct development path. But unfortunately, because of your presence, this starting point suddenly became somewhat out of control and regressed significantly toward the old path."
"You are truly an unexpected surprise, almost rendering the efforts of countless people in vain." The old man gazed at Richard, "But then again, you have reached this point only because you are unaware of the world’s truth. I think after you hear everything I’ve said, you should understand that it was all a misunderstanding, and you will change your mind and make the most correct choice.
Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, I am very old, with not much time left. The future proper development of this plane requires a new controller to guide it. If you’re willing, I would like to invite you to become a new member of the Truth Society, to replace me and lead this plane. What do you think?"
As he finished, the old man looked at Richard, his gaze quite sincere.
Richard was slightly taken aback, his eyes squinting, his mind swirling with thoughts.
What kind of situation is this? The opponent can’t defeat him, so they directly try to buy him off? Or more accurately, to persuade him to surrender?
Forcibly turning an enemy into a friend?
This tactic seems somewhat familiar, at least two of the four great classics on Earth have talked about it.
But the problem is... this is not what he wants...
What he wants is much more than this...
So...
"Hoo—"
Taking a deep breath, Richard looked at the old man and spoke: "Mr. Gao Ge, thank you for your invitation, but rather than staying and taking your place in this plane, I am more interested in visiting other planes to understand their situations."
"I’m afraid that’s very difficult." The old man listened and shook his head with a wry smile, "So much time has passed, and the Ancient Wizard Civilization indeed has become an ancient civilization. The separated planes had some simple communication in the beginning, but eventually, all communications were severed, and they became completely independent worlds. Now, even if you want to connect, there’s no way.
The space channels have all been destroyed, and you have no way to travel to other planes unless you take the risk of getting lost while exploring in the Void. There is an extremely small chance of contacting other planes."
After hearing the old man’s words, Richard slightly raised his eyebrows and said, "As far as I know, Mr. Gao Ge, what you said actually has some omissions. According to some Ancient Wizard Civilization documents, the complete destruction of space channels does not mean total disconnection because before the space channels were established, planes traveled between each other using space jump points.
The space channels undoubtedly provided a more stable mode of transportation, but the space jump points were the foundation—the channels were established based on the jump points. Channels can be destroyed, yet the jump points cannot be lost.
If I am not mistaken, the space jump point to other nearby planes is located somewhere in Heaven. So, Mr. Gao Ge, why don’t we make a deal—you tell me the location of the space jump point, and I will leave Heaven and not disturb you anymore. How does that sound?"
Listening to Richard’s words, the old man’s wry smile suddenly froze on his face, slowly turning his head to look at Richard, staring at him for several seconds.
Then he pursed his lips, leaned back with his whole back against the chair, and continued to gaze at Richard, letting out a long breath.
"That might..." the old man began, his voice hoarse, speaking to Richard word by word, "That might mean... you can’t leave here."
...
