Heji Stone's face was flushed with such intense excitement that even Anbaixiu caught some of his enthusiasm.
To rush over before his allocated question time had even run out meant the fellow had truly stumbled upon a monumental discovery.
Drawing the magic circle, Anbaixiu could only say, "Speak, I'm listening."
Heji Stone frowned at Anbaixiu's perfunctory attitude. This was a monumental breakthrough—a discovery that could trigger an earthquake across the continent's entire historical community.
Realizing there was no changing Anbaixiu's demeanor, he had no choice but to launch into his explanation: "Arthur Ryan must have run into a catastrophic physical condition back then, which was why he left without saying goodbye."
"A legendary paladin, falling sick? Do you have any basis for that?" Anbaixiu asked, puzzled.
Paladins might invoke the Holy Light at every turn until it sounded like a cheap, tacky catchphrase, but the Holy Light was undeniably wondrous. In theory, paladins did not fall ill; they merely grew old.
Arthur Ryan was a warrior far beyond the ordinary scale of power. Calling him a demigod was no exaggeration.
What kind of physical defect could such a man possibly suffer from?
Heji Stone stated firmly, "After conversing with His Heroic Majesty, I can confirm what Arthur Ryan's temperament was like back then. Exactly as recorded in the history books, the Holy King was humble, benevolent, resolute, and possessed an extraordinary sense of responsibility. A person like that would never abandon an entire empire without warning unless he encountered a force majeure.
"Yet he was the Ryan Emperor. What kind of force majeure could have forced him to leave his empire back then? It couldn't have been a deity's handiwork, because the Lord of the Dawn would never sit by and watch His devout believer fall to another god's underhanded schemes. Therefore, the only possibility is that something went wrong with Arthur Ryan himself.
"I meticulously compared the records of that era. Ryan indeed made massive purchases of various medicinal herbs and searched all over the continent for physicians. The official reason provided was a plague in Ryan that required vast quantities of medicine and doctors to cure. But think about it: in an empire bathed in the Holy Light, what plague could there possibly be to fear? Were the healing arts of the clerics of light not good enough, to the point they needed external doctors?"
Heji Stone's analysis made a great deal of sense. Arthur Ryan might very well have contracted some terminal ailment that even the Holy Light could not cure.
Anbaixiu pondered it, yet felt something was off. "So his disappearance was actually a search for a cure? That still doesn't add up. If it were just to treat an illness, there was no need to vanish without a word. He could have conferred with the high ministers of the Ryan Empire. Who would have stopped him from seeking treatment?"
Heji Stone smiled smugly. "Precisely. You're quite sharp, spotting the crux of the problem so quickly. What if this terminal condition was something that no one else in Ryan could be allowed to know?"
Anbaixiu's hand paused in its motion, and he could not help but blurt out, "A fatal disease he couldn't tell anyone about? It's not like Arthur Ryan caught a venereal disease."
Other emperors might have indulged in wild debauchery, gotten infected, and felt too ashamed to tell anyone.
Yet the Holy Light cured all venereal diseases; that wouldn't have been an issue in the slightest for Arthur Ryan.
"Heh, want to know?" Heji Stone said smugly. "For the sake of our acquaintance, two hundred thousand gold coins. How about it?"
"Sorry, my interest in this matter isn't worth two hundred thousand. You'd be better off selling it to the people of Ryan. I'm sure they'd pay you two million in hush money."
Anbaixiu refused flatly. Listening to historical tales was just idle entertainment. Even if he learned the Ryan Empire's deepest, darkest secret, those paladin legions would not vanish into thin air, so the practical value was negligible.
Seeing that he wouldn't get a coin, Heji Stone grew anxious. "Why are you so stingy? I'm telling you, this secret is easily worth two hundred thousand! It's the critical link behind the Ryan imperial family's corruption and fall, and it has everything to do with the Demonic Dragon Tyrant."
"Connected to the Demonic Dragon Tyrant?" Anbaixiu completed the final stroke of the teleportation array, rubbed his chin, and sank into thought. A moment later, he asked Heji Stone, "Arthur Ryan was afflicted by the Dragon Blood Curse?"
"Uh..."
Seeing Heji Stone's stunned expression, Anbaixiu chuckled. "Heh, looks like I can save those two hundred thousand coins."
The Dragon Blood Curse was an exceedingly obscure phenomenon. Dragons were rare to begin with, and the conditions for invoking a Dragon Blood Curse were extraordinarily harsh. First, it required a dragon of legendary tier. Second, that dragon had to harbor hatred so deep that it would willingly obliterate its own soul to infuse it into its blood to cast the curse. Lastly, it required a dragonslayer capable of slaying the dragon and bathing in its blood.
"When Arthur Ryan slew the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, the tyrant chose to annihilate its own soul to cast the Dragon Blood Curse on him? Still, that doesn't make sense. That curse is potent enough to affect even deities. How could Arthur Ryan have lived past a hundred? He should have died long before that."
Seeing that Anbaixiu had deduced most of it on his own, Heji Stone felt thoroughly disgruntled. How many books did this damned lich read to know even this? Dragons had been gone for well over a millennium, and Heji Stone had only found mention of the Dragon Blood Curse after combing through thousands of ancient texts left by the Cult of the Dragon. Yet this lich somehow already knew about it.
Since Anbaixiu had already guessed it, Heji Stone could only sigh and concede, "I suspect the Lord of the Dawn intervened to help him suppress the curse. Thus, when Arthur Ryan grew old and could no longer keep the curse in check, he chose to depart on his own accord."
Anbaixiu shook his head. "There's still something that doesn't add up. The Dragon Blood Curse would be Arthur Ryan's badge of honor—proof that he had slain the Demonic Dragon Tyrant. There is nothing shameful about that. Why would he need to hide it himself and abandon a grand empire without saying goodbye?"
"I'm not too clear on that either. But this is what I gathered from chatting with Arthur Ryan. When they set out to subjugate the demonic dragon back then, they made meticulous preparations tailored to each of the Demonic Dragon Tyrant's abilities. It wasn't as simple as merely stealing the tyrant's artifact."
"Elaborate?"
"Will you pay?"
"You don't have to tell me."
...
Heji Stone gnashed his teeth, realizing it was impossible to pry a single gold coin from this lich's hands. He wanted to hold back out of spite, but he simply couldn't keep it to himself. A secret of this magnitude had no one else he could share it with right now.
Heji Stone was a gossip by nature—otherwise, he wouldn't have developed a passion for archaeology in the first place. In the end, he broke down and disclosed the information he had obtained to Anbaixiu.
In those ancient days, the Demonic Dragon Tyrant possessed three nearly invincible abilities.
The first was its temporal mastery as a time dragon. To exert even greater control over time, it had forged an artifact. Possessing this artifact made the time dragon immortal; no matter what wounds it suffered, it could recover instantly, and even if slain, it could resurrect on the spot.
The second ability was the time dragon's breath. Any creature struck by it would disintegrate into ashes; nothing could withstand the force of time.
The third was its immortal dragon soul. Even if its physical body was utterly obliterated, its soul could exist independently and remained immune to almost all forms of attack. Neither a paladin's Divine Smite nor any other spell or divine miracle could harm its dragon soul, as if it existed on a completely different plane.
To overcome these three immense hurdles, Arthur Ryan had spent years preparing. First, he stole the hourglass artifact and used his own will to supplant the sliver of dragon soul the Demonic Dragon Tyrant had left within it. Then, he used that very sliver of dragon soul to forge a sacred sword, securing a weapon capable of harming the tyrant's dragon soul.
It sounded simple, but Arthur Ryan had over a dozen companions at the time. To see the plan through, nearly all of those heroes sacrificed their lives. In the end, only three survived—one of whom was the elven old king.
As for the dragon's temporal breath, Arthur Ryan could devise no countermeasure. His only option was to strike down the Demonic Dragon Tyrant before it could exhale.
Consequently, Arthur Ryan faced the Demonic Dragon Tyrant alone in the end, using the sacred sword forged from the dragon soul to slay it, obliterating its soul entirely.
The heroic spirit did not know the final outcome of the battle, but he retained all the memories of their preparations. From that, Heji Stone inferred the factor of the Dragon Blood Curse. Since the sacred sword could slay the tyrant's dragon soul, it was very likely that upon realizing its doom was certain and its soul would be annihilated, the Demonic Dragon Tyrant chose to drag Arthur Ryan down with it by invoking the Dragon Blood Curse.
There was no definitive proof, of course, but Heji Stone believed only the Dragon Blood Curse could leave Arthur Ryan entirely helpless.
"In the end, it still doesn't explain why Arthur Ryan kept it hidden from everyone."
That Holy King was hardly the sentimental, melodramatic type. On the contrary, he was cheerful, open, and upright. He wouldn't conceal his condition under some tedious pretext like 'not wanting to trouble others.'
Unless he had grown petty and sentimental in his old age?
That seemed highly improbable. Anyone who could become a paladin possessed an iron will; the passage of time could scarcely alter their character and habits.
Heji Stone was at a loss as well, murmuring, "Perhaps I can dig up more records."
Anbaixiu offered some consolation. "Even if we haven't uncovered the whole truth, unearthing this much information is quite impressive. By the way, my alchemy factory will be completed soon. What recommendations do you have regarding everyday alchemical products for commoners? What sells best among the desert folk?"
Heji Stone answered without a second thought, "Vigor Potions, obviously. What man can do without them?"
"Well, that's..." Anbaixiu caught the subtext in Heji Stone's words.
Yet it made good sense. Every man truly could not do without Vigor Potions... After all, men had to perform manual labor; downing a bottle let them endure for another hour.
Could it be that he needed to design a new type of Vigor Potion to break into the market?
That would be terribly difficult. Vigor Potions had existed for ages, and after centuries of refinement, Anbaixiu had no confidence he could devise a formula that was both cheaper and more effective.
If he couldn't release a novel product to monopolize the market, there was little point.
Still, if he couldn't capture the men's market, perhaps he could consider the women's?
Chapter 249