Chapter 87 – On Immortality

Adrishig stared at him without blinking, a teasing smile on his face.

Lin Wei felt uneasy.

Whether it was because of his doubts about the “time reversal” or not, he felt that Adrishig’s gaze was full of hidden meaning.

If his suspicions were true, then this guy should remember his past life just like he did.

But he couldn’t figure it out.

If he were Adrishig and remembered everything about the war, he would surely head straight to the Imperial Capital, kill Gregory first, then deal with Lin Wei—eliminating all potential threats.

As he was thinking this, he heard Adrishig say with great enthusiasm, “I’m going to do something big, and I’ll need to use this little prince—why are you hiding him away on Siren Island?”

The word “hiding” was used in a very suggestive way. Without being certain of Adrishig’s intentions, Lin Wei didn’t want to reveal too much. He rubbed his nose and vaguely replied, “It’s related to some family interests. He’ll be safely returned to the Imperial Capital once the Seasonal Tide is over.”

“Poor little prince… Then he might be trapped on Siren Island forever,” Adrishig sighed, though his tone remained light.

Lin Wei was surprised. “Why?”

At that moment, another voice interrupted. It was Daniel, shouting angrily, “Schneider! I don’t care what grand scheme you’re up to, come and steer the ship—why is there another elemental storm here!”

The ship suddenly lurched. Lin Wei looked ahead and saw that the Magic Wheel was heading straight into a gray, misty cloud, turbid and filled with chaotic energy.

“A year ago, the Valley of Ice fell,” Adrishig raised one finger, then a second, “Five days ago, the Valley of Wind fell.”

“Before the Dawn appears, the elemental storms will only grow worse, never stopping,” he said.

Lin Wei asked, “Where is the Dawn?”

Adrishig lay quietly, his gaze melancholic and lost as he stared at the sky. Just when Lin Wei thought he was about to deliver some profound and insightful remark, the man raised a thin, seemingly weak hand, examined it carefully, and then calmly pointed to himself. “Me.”

Lin Wei: “…”

Before he could react to this gesture, Daniel completely gave up on controlling the Magic Wheel and walked over to Adrishig on the deck. “You’re still sunbathing—I’m going to throw you overboard!”

This “Dawn” figure was dragged up from the ground like a corpse by the green-robed alchemist and hauled off to steer the ship, looking half-dead.

“Hey, wait… I still have something to tell Xiao Lin Wei,” he struggled weakly.

“Shut your mouth!” The irritable Daniel looked like he wanted to throw the control scroll in his face.

“Fine, I’ll steer…” Adrishig muttered under his breath. “A mixed elemental storm of wind and water. First, activate the protective barrier, then use attack magic of these two elements—you’ve fixed the attack magic array, right?”

Daniel grunted in affirmation.

“Hold on tight,” Adrishig smirked. “We’re going through.”

The Magic Wheel, which had been sailing smoothly, suddenly accelerated. A defensive barrier appeared, centered on the mast, which had excellent magical conductivity. The attack magic array was activated, and the fluctuations of wind and water magic elements spread out like ripples, colliding with the misty cloud brewing the elemental storm. At the moment of impact, a brief void of elements appeared, allowing the Magic Wheel to dart through unscathed, emerging on the other side of the storm.

“Got it?” Adrishig, who had been roughly handled earlier, regained his composure and looked down at Daniel.

Daniel stared at the control scroll, nodding dumbly.

He seemed to be pondering the mechanics, and after a while, he sincerely said to Adrishig, “…You’re amazing.”

“Of course I am,” Adrishig raised an eyebrow smugly, then mocked, “Unlike you. I know that just a few days ago, when you crossed a single-element storm on the Siren Sea, you nearly wrecked this poor little ship, and it took you five days to fix it!”

He leisurely returned to Lin Wei and Duan Yu, who were now leaning against the railing, looking at something. Though they were standing close, they weren’t speaking, and the atmosphere was tense.

Lin Wei was lost in thought—he remembered now. That year, disasters struck the Empire one after another: the northern canal froze, and heavy rains and hurricanes became frequent.

Adrishig squinted and smiled, as if recalling something.

Lin Wei heard footsteps and turned to him. “What did you want to say earlier?”

“I want to ask you for a favor… In return, I’ll tell you why Asa appeared in the Valley of Elements.”

Lin Wei finally understood why this man, who clearly knew so much, kept being evasive—he was trying to string him along and use him as a pawn!

A shrewd businessman—just like the “three questions” last time!

But Lin Wei couldn’t resist the temptation of “knowing the truth.”

He gritted his teeth and bargained, “What favor?”

“Agree first, then I’ll tell you,” Adrishig refused to budge, but then added, “But in a way, this is a good thing. It’ll bring you many benefits.”

Lin Wei indicated he was listening.

Adrishig pulled him aside, glanced at Duan Yu, and lowered his voice mysteriously, “You’ll not only gain a boost in soul power, but you’ll also have a perfect reason to spend time with him—I’m guessing you’re struggling with which cabin to sleep in tonight.”

The shrewd businessman dangled a tempting bait, and after some thought, Lin Wei decided to bite.

He nodded.

Adrishig’s face lit up with anticipation. “I told you, I’m going to do something big.”

Lin Wei: “…Right.”

“To help you understand how great this thing is, I first need to tell you what a god truly is.”

Lin Wei hadn’t expected such an unexpected revelation and listened intently.

“Back then, the concentration of magic elements was unimaginably high. Whether it was alchemy, magic arrays, or magical theory, they had all reached the pinnacle of what was possible at the time… Countless glorious achievements we can’t even fathom today. Magical talent was common, and the number of Archmages was also very high,” Adrishig’s eyes seemed to glimmer with nostalgia.

“You’ve read Chronicles of Time… I vaguely mentioned some geniuses in it, but among them were a few who couldn’t even be described as ‘geniuses’ in magic—astounding talent met a glorious era, giving birth to exceptionally sweet fruits.”

“Archmage was the limit—but a few people broke through that boundary. They claimed to have surpassed the rules, becoming masters of the magic elements, manipulating all elements as effortlessly as using their own arms.”

“They only needed to stand in one place, and pure elements would flood to their side like a tidal wave, causing strange phenomena… For example, wherever Asa went, heavy rains and floods would follow, while Dirichlet brought howling hurricanes. So they built temples, mentored students, gathered followers, and were revered by many as gods.”

None of this surprised Lin Wei. He and Duan Yu had already speculated as much while in the Floating Sky Capital. But what Adrishig said next was something he had never considered.

“They enjoyed this life and naturally wanted to prolong it—forever. They began to yearn for immortality.”

Adrishig smiled. It was a light smile, fleeting, but more genuine than all the casual smirks before. “Do you believe in immortality?”

Lin Wei thought for a moment. He had witnessed countless deaths and had experienced one himself, but he had never pondered such questions—even Archmages had a lifespan limit.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“There is, of course there is,” Adrishig’s lips curled, but his tone was flat. “Unfortunately, there’s only one kind of immortality—the kind brought by the ‘Immortality Spell,’ where one becomes scattered magic elements, existing forever.”

Lin Wei of course knew the “Immortality Spell,” the funeral rite of mages. He suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility. “They…”

“They were convinced they had surpassed the rules, but in the end, they couldn’t escape,” Adrishig’s voice carried a hint of mockery. “The stronger the magic, the longer the lifespan—that’s a well-known fact. So they constantly sought to enhance their power, hoping to reach a whole new realm. But when that ‘new realm’ quietly arrived, they realized it was a hopeless end.”

Adrishig’s voice grew distant. “Their control grew stronger by the day, their communication with the elements smoother and more effortless. They saw themselves as masters, but gradually became one with the elements. They would eventually merge with the magic elements, achieving true immortality.”

“They were thrown into a panic—if they hadn’t been obsessed with the idea of immortality from the start, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But the outcome was too tempting, the process too smooth, the direction seemingly accurate, yet it led them into an abyss… It was unbearable.”

“The gods desperately sought a way out. They noticed that the Dark Goddess Katanaphia, the most powerful among them, seemed unconcerned about this problem—some gods thought that the goddess, who could command the undead, was already in a state of neither life nor death, while others believed she had found a solution.”

Adrishig met Lin Wei’s thoughtful gaze and said softly, “The origins of many things are actually quite simple… The gods decided to unite and seize the only hope of survival from the goddess. The followers of the Goddess of Light were the first to wage war against Katanaphia’s believers. And once war was born in the soil most suited to it, it grew wildly, engulfing the entire continent.”

He ended this history with one sentence: “And so the Dark Age began.”

“I can understand…” Lin Wei frowned. “Did they succeed?”

Adrishig shook his head. “You know what happened next. The goddess and all the dark elements disappeared, the elements became unbalanced, and storms descended. The most chaotic period of the Dark Age began.”

“Did they die? Why is Asa still around?”

Adrishig: “Hmm… They chose to sleep, and this involves many things. Let’s skip the next chapter of history and come to the present—the sleeping gods have finally found a chance to awaken and the hope of immortality, because the problem they couldn’t solve no matter how hard they tried was solved by the Valley of Elements.”

“To quell the elemental storms, another group—people like Kui Ling, the founding members of the Association, and perhaps even me back then… They created families to guard the Valley of Elements. The members of these families grew stronger with each generation in the environment of the Valley, and the purity of their bloodlines also contributed to this. They were like the purest magic elements given souls.”

“When elemental turbulence appeared in the body of a member of this family, it meant their body had become so pure that it was indistinguishable from true elements, yet miraculously retained a soul and consciousness, preventing them from dissipating.”

“So you can guess what the gods want to do. They just need to replace the original soul with their own, and they’ll obtain what they’ve always dreamed of… So I’m asking you—adorable little summoner, to protect the souls of these little ones with your contracts.”

“I can’t form contracts with humans,” Lin Wei said.

“Practice, improve your soul strength—practice on your companion,” Adrishig finally spoke seriously. “His soul is of the highest level because the Spear of Longinus is the only thing that can rival the gods on its own, and half of the Holy Spear’s power was bestowed upon this family. As long as you can complete half of the contract with him, you’ll be able to easily form contracts with any other human.”