"What's in the darkness outside?"
With the help of light sneaking in through the windows, Yaxiu and the others could vaguely make out that this was probably a scrap warehouse. Though termed "scrap," its technological value was far from low—strange components in dawn-pink, panels of shining gold-black, and an engine in snowfield-white whose elegance remained unmistakable despite being caked in dust... Without a doubt, this warehouse held the shattered, sweet soul of an old era: the crystallization of wisdom, the subtle nuances of civilization, the greatness within the minuscule...
Yet now, they could only sit piled inside this chilly earthen shed casually fashioned with earth arts, serving as seats for Yaxiu and his companions, quietly waiting for the corrosion of time.
Faced with Igola's question, Black Crow did not answer immediately, asking instead, "In your lands, can people just walk into the night at will?"
"Not just our countries—in the vast majority of lands, the night is nothing more than an ordinary change in lighting. The dark itself is nothing to fear."
"How do you know what other lands are like?"
"Because I've read many sorcerer manuals," Igola said with utter certainty. "Though my reading isn't exhaustive, if rampant darkness were a universal phenomenon, the probability of a sorcerer manual mentioning it would be very high. Yet I have never seen a single sorcerer manual mention such a thing."
Yaxiu felt a hint of doubt. Igola's words sounded very plausible at first hearing, but in truth, they made no sense at all. Yaxiu had read plenty of sorcerer manuals himself, and he had never seen one mention the Blood Moon's Consanguinity Prohibition Act or Gospel's Gospel lists. To the inhabitants of any land, the things they took for granted were simply not worth recording in a sorcerer manual. Just as no one bragged about sunlight, peace, air, or having enough to eat and wear; having never lost those things, they naturally never treasured them.
However, glancing at how Igola was leaning forward toward Black Crow, he instantly realized the Swindler had entered work mode. He remembered Igola once saying that erudition was a swindler's best camouflage, and confidence was a swindler's sharpest dagger.
People subconsciously followed authority, and most lacked the capacity for independent thought. While smart people were more common among sorcerers, laziness remained human nature. When they encountered a scholar whose intellect seemed far beyond their own—even if it was an illusion—they developed a dependency, turning into little toddlers in kindergarten waiting to be picked up.
Yaxiu and Harvey were the best examples. Almost all their plans were drawn up by Igola now; if Igola wanted to frame them, it would be no harder than cooking a dish of Lalafell.
Then again, Harvey wasn't really following Igola. He was more like a withered leaf fallen to the ground, swept into the air by the gusts stirred up by Yaxiu and Igola; whenever he touched down again, that would simply be his end. As for Yaxiu, he had merely handed his brain and his back over to the Swindler entirely.
This Black Crow looked like a melee sorcerer, most likely an ascetic sorcerer. Although there was no big-data analysis to prove it, it was widely believed that body sorcerers found reading sorcerer manuals much harder than academic sorcerers did—
"Body arts" referred to physical arts such as swordsmanship, fists and claws, or mortification. Body sorcerers weren't lacking in intelligence, but because they had to hone their physical craft over long stretches of time, they typically read less. Their worldview tended to be straightforward, starkly black-and-white, tolerating no nuance—for instance, sword sorcerers rarely let a grievance fester overnight.
Meanwhile, "academic arts" referred to sorceries requiring extensive study of scholarly texts. Academic sorcerers read extensively; their worldviews were more nuanced, their moral boundaries more flexible, and their reading breadth theoretically exceeded that of body sorcerers.
Of course, this was only a broad generalization. In this world, there were figures like the Witch who could split off personalities to read manuals, and other sorcerers might well have ways to temporarily alter their predilections.
"Sorcerer manuals?" Black Crow blinked, nodding thoughtfully. "Oh, right... you can obtain knowledge from other lands in the Void Realm..."
He was actually taken in. It seemed this really was an unlettered ascetic sorcerer.
Black Crow paused, then said, "Perhaps there truly is nothing in the dark of your lands. But in the night of this earth lurks a color that turns people into monsters—Strangling Green."
The three of them were taken aback. "Turns people into monsters?"
Black Crow nodded. "Ordinary people almost always turn into bizarre green monsters. They're wildly aggressive and gain hyper-regeneration under sunlight, but they aren't hard for sorcerers to deal with. The real trouble comes from monsters that sorcerers turn into—Strangling Green Void Realm creatures, such as Fishcleaver Dragons, fox lantern dragons, Ragecleaver Dragons, and the like."
"Void Realm creatures aren't that hard to deal with either, are they?" Yaxiu yawned and said, "It's not like you're in the Void Realm; you can team up in reality."
"And creatures in the Void Realm don't form groups?" Black Crow calmly asked back.
Igola's pupils shrank. "You mean—"
"Strangling Green creatures band together to assault human camps. Some minor sects have even been destroyed because of it," Black Crow said. "However, the moment any sign of a Strangling Green horde gathers, it draws a suppression campaign from nearby major sects—otherwise, these Strangling Green creatures might even establish a civilization. When Strangling Green creatures gather in hordes, we call it a 'Green Calamity.' Right now, on Senluo Land, quite a few Green Calamities roam the wilderness beyond the sects' reach."
"Can't you use the Mind or Domination factions to control Strangling Green creatures?" Yaxiu found it strange. "Aren't they ready-made research subjects? Maybe they could even be cured."
"I've heard someone tried," Black Crow said briskly. "The result was that the sorcerer turned into a Strangling Green creature himself. One theory is that Strangling Green creatures are already corrupted; any connection a sorcerer establishes with them will cause that corruption to spread.
"So, you must never walk into a lightless night. Strangling Green will turn anyone into a monster."
*Then wouldn't setting a lamp every ten paces and turning the entire land into an ever-bright city fix it...?* Just as Yaxiu was about to say this, Igola stated with certainty, "Light alone can't disperse the darkness of night, can it? What protects this camp from the night is some other power?"
"Yes," Black Crow said. "Ideals, faith, the future, hope... It goes by many names, but it protects the world in the same form—grand laws.
"A grand law can protect mortals from the darkness, and those who follow a grand law receive shelter. Thus, losing a grand law means not just losing hope, but losing life—losing everything."
Yaxiu suddenly remembered the Calamitous Fire cultists from that afternoon who lost all will to fight the moment they saw the Grand Law of Myriad Calamities Fire taken away.
"But the Four Pillar Gods aren't grand laws, are they? They can't even be mentioned in the same breath as reason or hope." Harvey rubbed his eyes and leaned against Alice, spotting a flaw. "Why can the Four Pillar Gods protect camps too?"
Before Black Crow could answer, Igola arrived at the answer: "Desire?"
Chapter 529