Chapter 104 – In the Fairy Tale

Adrishig confirmed that his younger brother was safe aside from being unconscious. He glanced around and saw the Mages floating in small groups, most of them injured to varying degrees. “It seems we missed quite an exciting battle.”

Lin Wei’s expression was indescribably complicated.

Duan Yu landed beside him. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Lin Wei replied. “I might need to rest for a while.”

He took out three crystal orbs, each glowing with different colored lights. “They’re inside these.”

Adrishig had never seen such crystal orbs before. “What’s inside them?”

“Souls.”

##

The Magic Array glowed brightly, with Shui Lan lying in the center. In the distant sky, the gray-robed old man, Duan Yu, and the Water God Asa were engaged in battle. The usually lazy old man, who spent most of his time lounging motionless in his chair, was now moving with a heaviness akin to a towering mountain, clashing against Asa’s ice and water. Sir Sylvester assisted the old man from afar, the spatial rifts flashing with menacing black light.

This was a battle far beyond the reach of ordinary magic. The other two Archmages and many High Mages had gathered around Shui Lan, waiting for him to awaken—or perhaps, they were not waiting for Shui Lan, but for the Fire God.

Adele smiled and nodded at Lin Wei from across the way. “I’ll help you.”

Lin Wei took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let his consciousness sink into Shui Lan’s soul. They had already formed a contract, and now all they had to do was wait for the Fire God to awaken within this body. Lin Wei maintained the soul connection at all times, as the group retreated to a safe distance for magic attacks.

Using this special body as a bridge and the Magic Array as a trigger, a long-dormant entity in the Sea of Souls trembled, and its consciousness returned.

The person lying on the ground opened his eyes, revealing a cold, desolate gaze. He looked up and was met with a barrage of magical attacks.

After understanding the true nature of the bodies of this generation of the Valley of Elements, one could grasp another terrifying trait they possessed—few attacks could cause them substantial harm, even spells from Archmages. This explained how Asa had only been injured and not killed during the impact of the Forbidden Spell above the Valley of Wind.

—Attacking one element with another element naturally resulted in limited damage.

The Fire God had no time to recall past events. Crimson flames surrounded him as he fought against the Mages—he alone held his ground against two Archmages and several High Mages, not at all at a disadvantage.

But suddenly, his figure paused, and a look of pain crossed his face as he felt a piercing pain from the void.

The Mages engaged him in combat, doing their best to drain his mental energy, even if the damage they inflicted was limited, while also covering Lin Wei in the distance.

What Lin Wei was doing was using one soul to suppress another within the same body. Through the contract, he resonated with Shui Lan, creating trouble for the Fire God. Once the Fire God’s soul weakened—they would forcibly form a contract. The soul strength of this god was not comparable to Duan Yu’s.

The Fire God finally noticed him. A non-elemental Mage appearing on the battlefield could only be a Spirit Channeler, not an Alchemist. His gaze sharpened, and flames broke through multiple barriers, rushing toward Lin Wei.

Lin Wei couldn’t move. This level of soul manipulation required absolute focus, leaving no room for distraction.

The defensive magic of the elemental spirit Jerald was burned through by the meteor-like rain of fire. The incantations of the other Mages were just a bit too slow—as the rain of fire turned into a sea of flames, threatening to engulf Lin Wei, a streak of silver light shot from afar. The Gungnir Spear clanged loudly, standing in front of Lin Wei. The flames split into two streams as they passed by, leaving Lin Wei untouched.

Taking advantage of this momentary safety, the defensive magic was reinforced, and Duan Yu landed beside Lin Wei, lifting him up and engaging the Fire God in a cat-and-mouse game.

Duan Yu’s magic was not as grand as the Fire God’s, but it was extremely cold, sharp, and fast, almost impossible to catch.

The Gungnir Spear, effective both in close combat and at a distance, also caused trouble for the Fire God. But the Mage noticed that when the Fire God saw this spear, he froze for a moment.

Lin Wei handed over complete control of his body to Duan Yu, allowing him to carry him around. The fluctuations of magic power affected his mental energy, and he suddenly realized that Duan Yu’s strength had reached a level far beyond what it had been during the battle with the Water God Asa in the Valley of Wind—and this had happened in just a few days. Even three days ago in the Imperial Capital, he hadn’t felt this way. It was as if the Mage’s power had multiplied overnight, and now he could hold his own against the Fire God in his full strength!

A dark golden light descended upon the Fire God, who countered with his own magic. But at the moment of collision, he spoke: “Long…”

Lin Wei’s attention flickered briefly before returning to the soul, not catching what the Fire God had said.

Suddenly, an ice-blue icicle shot past the two of them, and they were immediately trapped in a cage of ice. Asa had joined the battle on this side, and the old man soon arrived.

The intense battle seemed endless, with the sky blooming with enormous, silent flowers of various colors. If one didn’t know the truth, it could almost be mistaken for a grand celebration.

The Fire God’s soul was weakening, his mental energy was depleting—now was the time!

Lin Wei’s soul tendrils, hidden within Shui Lan’s soul, suddenly extended and fiercely bit into the Fire God’s soul orb, refusing to let go no matter how it screamed and struggled. The contract seal carved into the soul orb was like a sharp blade’s mark.

The Fire God in the real world, of course, knew what was happening. He roared, and a sea of fire erupted around him, even causing the void to tremble slightly. The sea of fire spread, silently taking the lives of several High Mages. The moment they touched the flames, their bodies turned black, and in the next instant, they were reduced to ash—each of them had burned themselves up in the moment before, charging at the Fire God.

Lin Wei was carried high into the air. He had no time to worry about his own situation, as several soul tendrils tightly bound the Fire God’s soul, forcibly carving the contract.

On the soul level, even the Fire God was powerless. His soul growled with unwillingness and anxiety, but it was eventually bound layer by layer, while the original soul of the body, with the help of the soul tendrils’ master, grew stronger and stronger, driving him out.

As soon as he left the body, he was bound into a soul crystal.

“I was really afraid you wouldn’t obediently dissipate in the Sea of Souls but would instead hide somewhere and lie in wait, so I had to keep you here for now.” Lin Wei stored the soul crystal away. Asa was furious but couldn’t break away from the old man’s attacks. Lin Wei, despite his exhaustion, couldn’t rest yet—they still had two gods to deal with.

After listening to this account, the Blue Flame looked at the soul crystal. “So, you’ve captured a god’s soul?”

“Not exactly. They were just exceptionally talented Mages from a thousand years ago,” Lin Wei explained. “Their soul strength isn’t that high, almost on par with Shui Lan’s, just a bit stronger than ordinary Mages—these souls are of no use to us. The only way is to force a contract and then imprison them in a crystal orb. My soul power isn’t strong enough to make them dissipate.”

“What’s strange is that when I formed contracts with them, I didn’t experience any soul backlash. When I formed contracts with Sandra—and Shui Lan, it happened every time.”

He thought it might be the effect of the Dark Goddess’s soul fragments, or perhaps the soul structure of these gods was indeed different from that of current humans.

When he formed a contract with Sandra, the bright soul orb of the giant dragon, upon closer inspection, had many dark spots and voids. The contract seal encountered resistance, requiring great effort to alleviate it. The same was true for Shui Lan and Ah Lan. The same situation also occurred with Duan Yu—the pain Lin Wei experienced during the contract formation came partly from the immense pressure of soul strength and partly from those dark structures in the soul.

But the souls of the “gods” were completely bright, and the contract seals fell without any hindrance, which was truly puzzling.

“So, can we use the same method to deal with the Goddess of Light?”

“Obviously not,” Lin Wei shook his head.

“She’s completely different from these gods—on a completely different level. In front of the Goddess of Light, these guys don’t even deserve to be called gods.”

“Our soul strength is like the light of stars, some brighter, some dimmer. Ordinary humans are the dimmest, Mages are a bit brighter, members of the Valley of Elements like Shui Lan are even brighter, and the gods are similar. But even the brightest stars are still just stars.” Lin Wei looked ahead. “But she is the sun.”

Adrishig took a sharp breath.

Lin Wei had skipped over “the moon” and directly referred to the Goddess of Light as “the sun.”

“I also have a question. We have five Valleys of Elements, but no Valley of Light. The Goddess of Light has no body to resurrect in—can she just create one out of thin air?” Daniel asked.

“I think they’re not the same kind of existence at all,” Lin Wei looked at Adrishig.

“That’s not wrong,” Adrishig didn’t look at him but kept his gaze fixed on the increasingly dazzling light on the statue of the goddess.

“Light and Dark Elements have always surged high in the Celestial Vault, separate from the natural elements below, and are not the cause of the Elemental Storm. But we went to great lengths to suppress her, even using ‘Kui Ling’ to set up an inescapable net. The once-thriving magic of the Dark Age suddenly declined at a certain point, and the civilization of knights completely disappeared—all as the price for suppressing her and the Elemental Storm.”

Lin Wei listened quietly. This time, Adrishig’s tone was completely certain, devoid of any hint of amusement.

“I want to kill her completely before her power recovers—not her mental energy, magic power, or soul power. The source of her power is something you can hardly imagine.”

The old man gave Adrishig a complicated look. He waved to the Mages on the periphery, and they gathered on the dragon’s back, listening to the mysterious silver-robed man speak in the high-altitude wind.

“Lin Wei, tell me,” Adrishig suddenly asked. “What is the source of the Holy Spear Longinus’s power?”

The scene he had witnessed in the Valley of Metal flashed through his mind.

“Faith.”

“The Holy Spear, over a long period of time, mutually nourished itself with the power of thousands of knights with unwavering faith, creating the glorious civilization of knights.” Adrishig said. “Haitie, now you tell me, what is the first thing your mother taught you about the Great Prophecy?”

“Rules are not supreme.”

Adrishig nodded and continued, “Among us here, aside from the Archmages, there are Higher level mages. Our lifelong study of magic is to touch the existence of rules, sense them, use them, and even surpass them.”

Some Mages looked puzzled—why was he talking about rules now?

“Archmages can sense the traces of rules. The gods we defeated earlier, due to their exceptional elemental manipulation abilities, have already reached the stage of utilizing rules. And the Goddess of Light we are about to face,” he paused, then continued, “in a sense, has already surpassed rules.”

These words made the Mages involuntarily feel a hint of fear. “How strong is she exactly?”

“From the time of the first Tower Master, to allow you to live on the purest and freest land, this truth has been hidden in history. And I am revealing it today to give you a reason to move forward, even knowing the disparity in strength.” Adrishig’s gaze softened, as if looking at a group of children.

“Different Mages lean toward different schools of magical theory, but the true theory of the Astrology Tower is that there were never any rules in this world to begin with.”

His voice was distant, as if coming from the unreachable end of time, reaching toward the clouds and the Celestial Vault.

“We have this hypothesis—the continent was born, Magic Elements emerged, they attacked, repelled, and wore each other down. Some disappeared completely, some remained. Over a long period of time, they gradually found a way to coexist peacefully, and thus stable elements and the soil for magic were formed. This is like a country, finding a stable path forward after initial chaos—we thus believe that everything is like this, growth and decay, birth and death, the trajectory of elemental flow, the sun and stars in the sky. It is not rules that define everything, but everything that creates rules in the process of moving forward.”

Lin Wei once again thought of Adrishig in the Hourglass Room at the top of the Astrology Tower, of his Great Prophecy—establishing a set of self-consistent rules within the controllable range.

His current discourse on “rules” was like a chaotic hourglass, finally establishing balance and stability after repeated attempts through long trials.

This made sense. Imperial scholars had similar discussions when discussing history… Then what? What was he trying to say?

“All of this points to a bold fact: rules are everything on this continent, all the elements, mountains, rivers, and buildings, and also each of us—we are all part of the rules.” Adrishig said slowly. “An ancient and wise Mage first proposed this. He wanted to conduct an experiment to verify it, and he succeeded. Thus, the Holy Spear Longinus was born. He proved that people are part of the rules, and people’s will is the will of the rules. When will becomes pure and strong to a certain extent, we call it faith—faith itself becomes power, just like the power the Holy Spear gives to knights.”

“But history has never recorded a single word about the origin of the Holy Spear. I believe that the great pioneer finally realized a terrifying truth and permanently concealed his realization and the results of his experiment, disappearing into the dust of time.”

“This is a good thing—why?” a Mage asked, puzzled.

“I speculate this because, under the same circumstances, I would do the same. And in fact, at the end of the Dark Age, people did exactly that.”

The Mages fell silent, realizing that a long-buried truth was about to surface, and listened intently.

“The secret was buried for many years. During this time, knights flourished, magic prospered, and gods with power beyond anyone’s imagination began to emerge. The secret was finally uncovered by others.”

“Faith gave knights power and made the Holy Spear Longinus’s power eternal and stable. But Longinus was ultimately just an object. What if—what if a person received the faith of others? How powerful would they become?”

Lin Wei’s mind gradually cleared. This was Adrishig’s second version of the events of the Dark Age, similar to the first but much more brutal.

In the first story, the Goddess of Light sought eternal life. In the second story, she sought power surpassing rules, and to obtain this power…

“Thus, a true god appeared—not elemental gods like Asa or Dirichlet, but the Goddess of Light, who walked the continent, spreading light and benevolence, receiving the bows and worship of the people. Her followers were everywhere, and thus she gained the power of faith.”

The Mages almost forgot to breathe.

“But it still wasn’t enough. With just the power of her followers, it still wasn’t enough. This world was missing something, something that made it difficult for people to give their faith.” Adrishig’s voice now was almost cold. “She realized that what was missing was suffering, despair—if you could give people hope in their despair, they would willingly offer their faith.”

“She was clever, understanding the best and most direct way. She ignited what seemed like an eternal flame of war, spreading suffering first, then offering salvation, and finally gaining faith—faith from all races, regardless of strength or weakness.”

“Until the Dark Goddess and the Dark Elements disappeared from the continent, and the Elemental Storm devoured everything, her most glorious era arrived. What greater suffering could there be?—and with the greatest suffering came the greatest salvation, and the greatest salvation brought the most pure and abundant faith, even though all this suffering was created by her own hands.”

“People watched the goddess grow stronger day by day and became even more loyal to her, unwavering. They thought the gods created humans, but they didn’t know that humans created the gods.”

Humans created the gods—Adrishig ended with this sentence.

“Then, the people who were still awake gathered and started a war between gods and humans, sacrificing countless lives, and finally suppressed the goddess?” Lin Wei asked.

“We could only suppress her. Her power was too great,” Adrishig’s gaze traced the sky. “She finally fell into slumber, and we rebuilt our homes, erased history, turned gods into fairy tales, and made rules unassailable. Back then, we sacrificed almost all the Mages to suppress her. We could have chosen to coexist with the goddess, but we didn’t. The blood and sacrifices of a thousand years ago were all for us to live as we do now—without fanatical faith, without the need for faith, without the need for salvation.”

“And today, we are here to end her life completely, even if it means many will sacrifice for it.”

His gaze swept over everyone present, and he asked softly, “Are you willing to make this sacrifice?”