Anbaixiu crushed several Simulated Souls, allowing the pure soul energy to seep into the hourglass and replenish the slumbering Arthur Ryan.
In essence, a heroic spirit was merely a soul in a special state. The primary reason their strength was so difficult to recover was simply the scarcity of soul energy.
Heroic spirits lacked the ability to restore themselves by devouring souls, leaving Anbaixiu as the only one who could manipulate such power to aid Arthur Ryan's recovery.
Watching Anbaixiu turn a pile of materials into blank souls, James Watson couldn't help but say, "Is that how those phylacteries came to be? I suspected as much back then—there was no way you could slaughter hundreds of thousands of people without a single whisper leaking out."
Anbaixiu snapped, "Slaughter hundreds of thousands? Are you out of your mind? If I'd killed that many people, the City of Alchemy would have wiped me out ages ago. Without a population, who would work like beasts of burden for those alchemists?"
This was also one of the reasons James Watson had been willing to issue an amnesty writ to Anbaixiu.
Since this lich could fabricate blank souls, he didn't necessarily have to butcher the living to craft phylacteries like other liches. His sins might well be far lighter.
Arthur Ryan's heroic spirit emerged, remarking with surprise, "Why do I feel so much better? It's more refreshing than sleeping for days."
Anbaixiu said bluntly, "That's thanks to me, naturally."
Building up goodwill with the Holy King was worthwhile. Anbaixiu rather liked Arthur Ryan's temperament; if they crossed paths again in the future, they didn't necessarily have to be enemies.
Meanwhile, upon seeing Arthur Ryan's heroic spirit, James Watson stood frozen for a dozen full seconds before dropping to his knees before him.
"Your Majesty..."
Having uttered just those two words, James Watson choked up, unable to speak another syllable.
With his head pressed deep against the ground, tears fell uncontrollably.
From childhood, James Watson had grown up listening to the legendary deeds of His Majesty the Holy King. This was the greatest hero, the greatest emperor Ryan had ever known. The reason Watson had risen to become Ryan's Supreme Arbiter was precisely that he had idolized Arthur Ryan from an early age, holding himself to the strictest standards in every word and deed.
Now, finally beholding this great figure in person—even if it was merely his heroic spirit, with features identical to the statues—Watson was overwhelmed with emotion and wept.
The moment James Watson knelt, Anbaixiu adjusted his position and took out a memory crystal to record the scene, angling it so it looked as though James Watson was bowing down to him.
This was precious footage of Ryan's Supreme Arbiter kneeling before him! If they ever met on a battlefield, he could project it right in front of both armies, making the Ryan soldiers believe their Supreme Arbiter had defected long ago. Who knew? He might just win without fighting a battle.
Before Watson raised his head, Anbaixiu stowed the memory crystal away and slipped back to his original spot.
Watson's attention was entirely focused on Arthur Ryan, completely oblivious to Anbaixiu's little scheme.
"Your Majesty, I never imagined that in my lifetime I would lay eyes on you with my own eyes. I am blessed beyond measure."
Though Watson had calmed down somewhat, his voice remained deeply emotional.
Arthur Ryan, on the other hand, felt only awkwardness. The old man before him looked far older than he did; having someone like that prostrating before him made Arthur Ryan feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
"Sir, you have the wrong idea. I am not your sovereign. I am merely a heroic spirit possessing a fragment of his memories. The person you revere is not me."
It took Arthur Ryan quite some time to calm Watson down, though the old man still couldn't bring himself to drop the title "Your Majesty."
This time, Anbaixiu didn't grant the two any privacy. He took a single step aside and blatantly eavesdropped on their conversation.
Knowing there was nothing he could do about the lich, Watson could only pretend he didn't exist.
"Your Majesty, I have come to welcome you back to our homeland. The empire needs your guidance."
Watson's foremost priority was to escort the heroic spirit back to Ryan; under no circumstances could he leave him in the clutches of this lich.
Yet Arthur Ryan replied, "Though I keep hearing people say Ryan is an empire I founded, I honestly feel no real connection to it. You are a man of Ryan, so let me ask you a question: why does Ryan harbor such rampant racial discrimination?"
Hearing this, Anbaixiu almost wanted to clap. This was the moment he had been waiting for!
Let's see how you Ryan people explain yourselves to Arthur Ryan.
Watson was utterly unprepared. He couldn't even fathom why Arthur Ryan would ask such a thing.
"Your Majesty, darkness and light cannot coexist. The undead are a perversion of death. Liches must slaughter humans to craft their phylacteries, zombies crave the flesh and blood of the living, and even the lowliest skeletons harbor profound hatred toward living beings. If Ryan is to protect humanity, it must naturally stand as an enemy of the undead."
Having said his piece, Watson glared at Anbaixiu, suspecting that this undead had been poisoning their Holy King's mind.
Watson thought he had explained things thoroughly, but Arthur Ryan retorted, "Do you know that among the companions who fought beside me to subdue the Demonic Dragon Tyrant, three were undead? Two of them even intercepted the dragonkin's pursuit for me, shattering their very souls in the end."
"What? That... the history books record no such thing."
Watson's eyes widened. Truly, he had never heard of this before.
Arthur Ryan knitted his brow, asking in bewilderment, "Then what in the world do your history books record?"
"The chronicles record that Your Majesty was matchless in valor, slaying the Demonic Dragon Tyrant and restoring freedom to humanity. As for the others, I only know that the Elven King of the Silvermoon High Court was once your companion. No detailed accounts exist of anyone else, noting only that several dozen paragons sacrificed their lives..."
Watson's voice grew fainter and fainter. He wasn't a historian and had never found anything amiss with those records before.
Now that he thought about it, though, something was indeed wrong.
Why didn't the heroes who stood together against the Demonic Dragon Tyrant even have their names recorded? Even the Elven King wasn't mentioned in detail—merely having his name appended because he was still alive.
With grief etched across his face, Arthur Ryan said, "If this is indeed the country I founded, then I have betrayed them all."
Back during the reign of the Demonic Dragon, all sentient races were slaves to the dragonkin. Every step of Arthur Ryan's journey had been paved with their lives; it was the sacrifice of everyone that had brought him before the Demonic Dragon.
And the outcome was that the Ryan Empire was violently chauvinistic and racist?
This was the cruelest betrayal!
"Setting the undead aside, what about the orcs and dwarves? I hear you don't just target the undead—have the Dwarf Kingdom and Orc Kingdom also been invaded by you?"
Arthur Ryan's tone grew agitated.
Watson hesitated for a moment before saying, "The orcs and dwarves... we have been bitter enemies for generations. Over all these years, we have raided and battled one another so many times that it's no longer possible to tell who invaded whom first."
Over a millennium had passed, and Watson was only around sixty years old. Long before he was born, Ryan had already been waging war on all fronts, seemingly locked in bitter feuds with all its neighbors. As for the precise root causes, they had long since become impossible to untangle.
Arthur Ryan asked in bewilderment, "Just what happened to turn you Ryan people into a second Demonic Dragon Tyrant?"
Watson hurried to say, "Your Majesty, it is not so dire! At least we have always treated humanity well; otherwise, Ryan could never have amassed such tremendous national power."
"Back then, the Demonic Dragon Tyrant treated dragons well, too, but that was built on the enslavement of every other race." Arthur Ryan's voice rose as he interrogated Watson: "Tell me: are there slaves in the Ryan Empire?"
Watson answered in shame, "Though few, there are still some."
"Are these slaves human?" Arthur Ryan pressed.
Watson hung his head, not daring to reply or even meet his eyes. Ryan had abolished slavery, but only for humans. Many perilous and grueling tasks were left to slaves of other races; captured dwarf and orc prisoners of war were particularly suited to such labor.
Finding his answer in the silence, Arthur Ryan said in anguish, "Just what did I do later on? Why did my country become like this?!"
At that moment, Anbaixiu chimed in, "According to my research and investigation, the problem arose after Arthur Ryan's death. During the Holy King's reign, the Ryan Empire got along quite well with other races. Not only did they assist the other races in establishing their own kingdoms, but whenever natural disasters or man-made calamities struck, everyone pulled together to overcome them.
"Back then, there was no such thing as racial discrimination in Ryan, and other races even settled within its borders."
Hearing this, Arthur Ryan seized on it like a lifeline, pressing, "Truly? You're not deceiving me?"
Anbaixiu found it slightly odd. Both Heji Stone and the old Elven King had spoken with him—had neither of them mentioned these details to Arthur Ryan?
On second thought, it made sense. One could hardly tell Arthur Ryan, "Your descendants got into a brawl with the other races at your funeral and nearly scattered your ashes to the wind."
That would have caused Arthur Ryan immense anguish.
Heji Stone had likely only asked questions about the era of the Demonic Dragon Tyrant and merely touched upon the period after Ryan's founding without delving into specifics. As for the old Elven King, he had probably spent most of their time reminiscing about the old days, and before they could get to the later events, Arthur Ryan had fallen into a slumber.
Thus, Arthur Ryan only knew Ryan's general state of affairs—things like its rampant racial discrimination and extreme warmongering—without understanding the exact details.
Anbaixiu retrieved a stack of parchments and ancient tomes from his pocket dimension. These were part of the materials he had requested from Heji Stone, originally intending to study them himself, though he had never found the time.
Now, they served perfectly to corroborate his claims.
Arthur Ryan was not the scholarly type. After flipping through a few pages, he realized he couldn't make heads or tails of them and had to ask Anbaixiu to explain.
Anbaixiu cited chapter and verse just as Heji Stone had explained it, thoroughly convincing Arthur Ryan.
Watson cast a curious glance at Anbaixiu. Had this lich studied history as well? He, too, was persuaded by Anbaixiu's words: it seemed the Ryan Empire truly had gone astray only after Arthur Ryan's death.
And the critical turning point was Arthur Ryan's funeral.
"There is a tale circulating among the elves," Anbaixiu said. "After the sovereign died, demons swarmed around his corpse, each wanting to tear off a piece to devour. The sovereign's wife sacrificed herself to banish all the demons. That story refers to that very mysterious funeral."
Watson objected, "That tale is utterly preposterous! How could His Majesty's funeral have been so chaotic? What demon would dare show itself in Ryan?"
"How should I know? But we can ask someone who knows the truth," Anbaixiu said.
"Someone who knows the truth? Whom are you referring to?" Watson felt he was struggling to keep up with Anbaixiu's train of thought.
Anbaixiu explained, "Isn't it obvious? Why would this story only circulate among the elves? Because the ones who fabricated it were elves. And who was most likely to fabricate such a tale? Naturally, Hildas Terra. That old Elven King has lived from the era of the Demonic Dragon straight to the present day. Everything points to him. We just have to ask him to get to the bottom of it."
Arthur Ryan asked in astonishment, "Hildas? Why didn't he tell me about this?"
Anbaixiu did not reply. He merely walked over to the door and pulled it open—and there stood the old Elven King, right outside.
Anbaixiu said to the old Elven King, "After eavesdropping for so long, isn't it time you told us the truth? Next time, don't try eavesdropping in front of a lich. We don't rely on eyes to see; your life aura is so conspicuous that I couldn't miss it even if I wanted to."
Chapter 271