"I don't know."
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer had completely calmed down. "We're all trapped in the Dead City. Are we really supposed to keep carrying out the Mercury Trojan's orders and fight the Silver Lantern to the death? She's probably just like us, constantly trying to find a way out of here."
Igola chuckled. "Switching your form of address from 'Your Eminence' to 'the Mercury Trojan'? It seems the faith of the Four Pillar Cult isn't very strict after all. A mere brush with death is enough to make you lose respect for your cult leader?"
"Leader my ass," the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer scoffed dismissively. "She's nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Four Pillar Gods. It's the Four Pillar Gods we revere, not her."
Yaxiu and the others exchanged glances.
Truth be told, this was the first time they had ever heard the inner thoughts of a Four Pillar Cultist. Out in the open world, any cultist could be remotely puppeteered by the Mercury Trojan at a moment's notice; none of them would ever be foolish enough to have a heart-to-heart with one.
Now, however, the Mercury Trojan could not penetrate the Dead City, and the three Sanctuary Sorcerers were brimming with resentment over the mortal danger they had been plunged into. It was the perfect opportunity to peek into the minds of the cultists.
"There's no point in dawdling here," Igola suggested. "Why don't we search the city together to see if any other anomalies have surfaced?"
Without drawing attention to it, Igola naturally lumped everyone together under "we," subtly including the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer and his companions. The three didn't object either. For one, the Dead City was perilous, and moving together at least provided early warnings; for another, all of them possessed Sanctuaries, so they weren't afraid of underhanded backstabs.
Yet the right to direct a conversation was the kind of thing where conceding an inch made it easy to concede another... and pushing boundaries, exerting subtle influence, and muddying right and wrong were hardly more complicated than breathing for the Swindler.
They flew above the Dead City, using various illumination abilities to survey the urban ruins.
"Word has it that most corpses found in the Dead City bear no wounds," Igola said, taking the initiative to start a conversation. "Perhaps it's some sort of mental attack."
"There's an anomaly with sorcery power as well," Yaxiu said suddenly. "It hasn't recovered at all."
A considerable amount of time had passed since their battle, and the Sanctuary Sorcerers naturally noticed that the sorcery power they had expended had barely replenished.
Sorcery spirits could still be used, and their sorcery power wasn't locked down, yet its natural recovery was halted, and grand law god-hosting remained sealed?
The situation baffled everyone. Seeing that Yaxiu's side was willing to share intelligence, the Wind Sanctuary Sorcerer reciprocated in kind, saying calmly, "Night has fallen, yet the Strangling Green hasn't appeared."
Yaxiu and his companions froze, only then realizing that no glowing green noose was coiled around their necks.
Whenever someone made camp in the wilderness, the moment darkness fell, a fluorescent green ribbon resembling a hangman's noose would wrap around their neck. Anyone whose will was not firm enough would be strangled by the Strangling Green and greenified into a beast.
Yaxiu and the others rarely slept outdoors, so it hadn't immediately registered. Compared to the irregularities with sorcery power and grand laws, the absence of the Strangling Green was far more bizarre—it virtually defied the natural laws of Senluo.
"Didn't the Mercury Trojan tell you anything about the Dead City before the operation?" Igola asked, grasping Gwen. "Compared to this Two-Wing Sorcerer, you Sanctuary Sorcerers should have been valued far more by her."
The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer and the others understood the logic well enough; their emotions had just been running too high earlier to think about it. After a moment of silence, the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer said, "She only told us to keep the Silver Lantern pinned down and retreat with thirty minutes to spare, claiming she had other arrangements."
"Other arrangements indeed," Yaxiu said. There wasn't much mockery in his tone, only a lingering sigh.
"Facing the Silver Lantern and entering the Dead City were hazardous tasks—you could have easily refused her. Since you're Sanctuary Sorcerers, why throw away your lives for her? If you went to the Harp Sun Alliance, plenty of sects would welcome you with open arms, wouldn't they?" With a few casual words, Igola began steering the conversation in a new direction.
"Aren't all the other sects the same?" the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer couldn't help but interject. "Equally grand, equally noble, and equally unattainable..."
"Aren't ideals always like that?" Yaxiu replied.
"Yes, all ideals are like that," the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer agreed. "That's why we stay in the Four Pillar Cult. There's no need to fill ourselves with hollow ideals; we only need to live honestly."
"The Four Pillar Cult wiped out their sects and broke their spines," Black Crow said calmly from Yaxiu's back. "The destruction of their grand laws convinced them they could never reach their ideals, so they simply fled into reality, willingly turning mediocre, incompetent, and depraved. Denouncing everyone else's ideals as 'meaningless' is the only way they can salvage their pathetic self-esteem.
"Even if they are among Senluo's mightiest sorcerers, they have lost the qualification to ever become grand laws."
Igola felt a flicker of intrigue, but did not speak up to halt Black Crow's abrasive remarks.
Yet the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer did not pick a fight. He merely cast a cold glance at Black Crow. "I know who you are. A remnant of Slay All Crows, still clinging to its tenets even after the sect fell... just like the countless sages who founded sects in the past.
"But in my eyes, you are the most pitiful of all.
"Do you even understand the purpose of a sect's grand law? Do you know the truth behind the divine eras?" he said. "Do you know that other realms are completely unlike Senluo, possessing neither grand laws nor so many sects?
"The divine era competitions and grand law ascensions here exist solely to breed mighty gods!
"The Senluo Azure Lord treats this realm as a colosseum! Only the fiercest, most savage beasts that survive to the very end are deemed worthy of becoming the gods He needs! The ideals for which you shed your blood and lay down your lives are nothing more than a scrap of rotten meat He dangles to make the beasts tear each other apart!
"You just said I have no chance of becoming a grand law. Do you honestly think I care to become a beast after death, to take part in this endless bloodsport just for the privilege of being used by the Senluo Azure Lord?" The Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer shook his head, his expression icy. "No. I don't give a damn.
"Furthermore, if not for these numerous grand laws and countless sects, Senluo would have long since restored its civilized age, rather than remaining a war playground where endless factions butcher one another.
"So, remnant of Slay All Crows," he said, glaring at Black Crow, "the reason Senluo has failed to unify for two hundred years is precisely because there are too many pious believers like you."
Yaxiu and his companions exchanged glances.
There was indeed fertile ground for the Four Pillar Cult to spread like wildfire across the land of Senluo. What the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer said was no secret; it was practically common knowledge in the wasteland, and every word of it was true.
The fact that the wasteland had persisted to this day was all due to the lingering poison left behind by the Senluo Azure Lord.
"Because pursuing ideals carries consequences, you choose to abandon them altogether—is that what you mean?" Black Crow's distorted voice dripped with mockery. "Then you shouldn't be alive either. Living brings suffering, so by your logic, you ought to kill yourself right now.
"Have you forgotten that the food you eat every day comes from the technology of the Grey Fox Divine Era? The sorceries you study stem from surviving remnants of the Grey Fox Divine Era. Even you yourself crawled out of a Grey Fox legacy 'infant incubator.'
"Other realms might not be as unique as Senluo, but Senluo's level of civilization surpasses theirs, doesn't it?" At this point, Black Crow felt a sliver of uncertainty, glancing down at Yaxiu, who nodded in affirmation.
"Your very existence is the crystallization of the ideals of countless people from the past. You only need to lower your head to see the brilliance paved by the divine eras. Yet you look up, catch sight of a few shadows in the night, and decide that none of it is worth it—all while forgetting that your feet still stand upon that path of light.
"Of course I know that grand laws become gods upon ascension, and I know that the root of this chaotic wasteland lies in the grand laws themselves," Black Crow continued. "Yet everything in the world has pros and cons. As a sorcerer, you possess less sense than a child—even children aren't so shameless as to demand only the sweet and reject the bitter.
"Not to mention that the Fire Cat Divine Era already engineered the Divine Fire system. As long as civilization is restored and the Divine Fire system rebooted, the arrival of another wasteland era can be averted."
This barrage of words left the Spear Sanctuary Sorcerer momentarily at a loss, but he quickly retorted, "Yet your grand law is already dead."
"So what?" Black Crow countered. "Faith might not give me tangible rewards, but it grants me the courage to cross the dark night without fear."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The short-tempered Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer actually began clapping softly. "Well said. Truly well said.
"I used to think that way too," he said. "When the Silver Lantern wiped out our sect, I didn't join the Four Pillar Cult right away. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of the ancient sages and rebuild the Calamitous Fire Temple."
Although Yaxiu had vaguely suspected it earlier, he hadn't expected this man to truly be a Sanctuary Sorcerer from the Calamitous Fire Temple. No wonder he had such an explosive temper; he must have been an active participant in their raiding days.
"It's just that... I realized I couldn't hold out." The Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer looked toward Black Crow. "Does someone without ideals have no right to live? Must they be strangled by the Strangling Green and turned into a degenerate monster?"
Black Crow froze.
"Before the Four Pillar Cult emerged, Senluo had only saints and monsters," the Fire Sanctuary Sorcerer said. "Now, at least I can be a selfish, ordinary person and sleep peacefully in the dark night."
For a dignified Sanctuary Sorcerer to describe himself as an ordinary person was shameless to a degree, yet everyone understood his point.
Amid the silence, Yaxiu and the others returned to the area where the Silver Lantern had previously been imprisoned. He glanced around and suggested, "Why don't we see if the Silver Lantern left behind any clues?"
With no objections, they descended to the ground to search for traces of the Silver Lantern.
Igola took two steps forward before noticing that the captive who had been clutching his sleeve hadn't followed. Turning around, he saw Gwen lingering where she was. He wondered if she was finally planning to flee, but looking closer, he saw her tearing her clothes to bind her wounds.
Those injuries had been inflicted by Harvey and Igola. Although they had aimed their attacks at the Mercury Trojan at the time, this female sorcerer had ended up bearing the physical brunt. Still, Gwen should have known the consequences of her role. Furthermore, judging by how the Sanctuary Sorcerers treated her, her position as an avatar commanded considerable respect in the cult, so she was hardly deserving of pity.
Even so, Igola walked back and asked, "Don't you have any healing sorcery spirits?"
Gwen nodded, then shook her head.
"If your mouth is useless, I might as well sew it shut."
"My old healing miracle required a star sorcery spirit," she murmured in a low voice. "I lost that spirit two months ago."
Igola recalled that the reason the Mercury Trojan had assigned her to this suicide mission was precisely because her utility as a star sorcerer had dwindled to almost nothing.
What a nuisance... but Igola didn't have any healing spirits either. He turned his head and called out, "Yaxiu, patch her up."
"What?" Yaxiu deliberately adopted a harsh tone. "Why heal a prisoner? She should be glad I haven't broken her arms and legs! But since you've asked..."
"Hurry up." Igola had no interest in indulging Yaxiu's little roleplay.
Gwen scrambled to her feet. "N-no need! The bleeding has already stopped, really. I have a foundation in the Asceticism faction, so I'll recover naturally soon enough—"
Standing up aggravated her injuries, and with a soft smack, she collapsed straight to the ground, her forehead striking a pebble hard enough to draw blood.
Igola casually kicked the pebble away, then pulled her back up.
Soon, however, Igola's gaze shifted away from Gwen, and he called out sharply, "Yaxiu!"
"Coming, coming! Didn't realize you were in such a rush..." Yaxiu hurried over and struck Gwen with a 'Joy Sword.' "You'll be better in no time."
"Look over there."
Following Igola's pointing finger, Yaxiu saw a stone suspended motionless in midair.
Indeed, it hung frozen in midair, as though trapped in place.
The two exchanged a glance. Yaxiu reached out and touched it—nothing unusual. He took it into his hand—again, no resistance.
Yaxiu tossed the pebble away.
After flying roughly a meter forward, the stone abruptly halted in midair once more.
Igola scooped up a handful of pebbles and threw them out; every single one came to a dead stop in midair.
It was as if everything had frozen.
Aside from their small group, everything across the entire city appeared utterly motionless.
"Time stop?" Igola immediately thought of the time faction's most coveted miracle.
"No, it's not frozen. If time had stopped, our vision would be pitch black; after all, light would be frozen as well, unable to reflect onto our retinas to form an image," Yaxiu murmured. "This isn't stopped.
"It's decelerated.
"The 'Shelter' hasn't failed," he said. "The deceleration factor has simply been magnified to infinity."
Chapter 615