Free Web NovelChapter 238: Chapter 226: The Hidden State of the World
Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
The early morning mist had yet to dissipate, but Ian was already in the Chixia Business Alliance’s library.
He had visited this room on the east side of the Stone Tower’s top floor many times.
Ebony bookshelves reached from floor to ceiling on all four walls, neatly stacked with thousands of parchment scrolls, thread-bound ancient tomes, and a small number of metal plates sealed in a special alloy.
The air was filled with the musty scent characteristic of old paper, mixed with the faint, elusive fragrance of medicinal herbs used for fumigation.
"Core Honored Guest Elders may borrow three volumes per month."
The one managing the library was an old woman with completely white hair.
She sat in a rattan chair by the window, holding a yellowed booklet, and spoke in a raspy voice without looking up.
"The loan period is one month. Do not damage them, and do not copy them."
Ian gave a slight nod, his gaze already sweeping across the nearest bookshelf.
[History of the Catastrophe Three Hundred Years: Eastern Volume - Compiled by: Chixia Business Alliance Historical Division - Revised in the year 298 of the Catastrophe Calendar]
[Continental Geographic Records - Fragment - Author Unknown - Speculated to be a pre-Catastrophe relic]
[Hypothesis of the Association between Star Signs and Bloodline - Author: Stargazer - Archived in the year 187 of the Catastrophe Calendar]
His fingertips trailed slowly over the spines, the rough texture of the parchment transmitting through his skin.
In the end, he pulled out three volumes.
Continental Geographic Records - Fragment, Hypothesis of the Association between Star Signs and Bloodline, and a thick dossier with no title on its cover, bound only with a dark red silk thread.
The old woman lifted her cloudy eyes, glanced at the three volumes he had chosen, and made a mark in her booklet with a withered finger.
"Registered." She paused, her voice dropping even lower.
"That one with the red thread... it’s the Business Alliance’s internal compilation, the List of Corrupt Rifts and Sanctuary City-States. The latest edition. Read it, forget it, and don’t let it spread."
A flicker of understanding crossed Ian’s eyes. He nodded, gathered the three heavy tomes, and turned to leave the library.
He didn’t return to the outer city. Instead, he found a quiet meeting room on the fourth floor of the Stone Tower, closed the door, and spread the scrolls out one by one on the wide mahogany table.
Outside, the morning light of the Inner City filtered through the glazed window, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the tabletop.
Ian first opened the Continental Geographic Records - Fragment.
The parchment was terribly brittle, its edges tinged with a scorched yellow.
The script on it was written in some kind of deep blue ink, neat yet exuding an ancient aura.
[...The vastness of Yalan cannot be measured by ordinary men. Its landmass accounts for roughly four-tenths, while its seas are even greater, occupying more than six-tenths...]
Ian’s pupils contracted slightly. According to the book, the total area was possibly more than four times that of his past life’s Earth.
He continued to read.
The fragment recorded that before the Catastrophe, the Yalan Continent’s civilization was comparable in prosperity to the technological world of his past life. They had flying machines, long-distance communication, and had even conducted preliminary explorations of nearby celestial bodies.
But the Catastrophe that tore the starry sky apart three hundred years ago changed everything.
[...The Abyssal Rift tore open from the northern ’Eternal Silence Icefield.’ Filth swept over the land like an inky tide. Within three months, the seven northern kingdoms had all fallen, and hundreds of millions of living beings were turned into mutated, rotting things...]
[...At that time, thirteen ’True Form’ Venerables joined forces. Borrowing the power of the World Will and sacrificing their own flesh, blood, and Souls, they forcibly sealed the main Rift. However, the filth had already seeped into the Earth Veins...]
[...The survivors retreated to the ’Star Vein Highlands’ and places where the ’Ancient Barriers’ still stood, establishing sanctuary city-states to eke out a meager existence...]
Ian’s finger paused for a moment on the two words "Star Vein" before he opened the second volume, Hypothesis of the Association between Star Signs and Bloodline.
The author of this volume, "Stargazer," seemed to be a scholar obsessed with the connection between the starry sky and bloodlines.
[...The stars are not dead things, but living titans. Their power permeates the endless Void, seeps through the world’s membrane, and nourishes all creation...]
[...I have observed the ancient ruin, the ’Celestial Vault Inscription,’ which records: When the world was first born, the ’Tears of the Star’ fell upon the Earth, transforming into ’Star Veins.’ Those who received the Favor of the Tears of the Star were branded with the trajectories of the stars in their blood, and are known as the ’Star Blooded’...]
[...The lineage of ’Star Attractors’ is suspected to be a unique branch among the ’Star Blooded.’ They not only sense Starlight but can also move the stars themselves...]
Reading this, Ian’s breath caught slightly.
Tears of the Star... Star Blooded...
He closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank deep into his bloodline.
The now-complete brand of a miniature Star System was slowly rotating in the Void of his Soul. Pulled by Gravity, the orbits of the three planets described subtle yet exquisite arcs.
"As I thought..."
Ian opened his eyes, a silver light swirling in their depths.
This body’s bloodline very likely touched upon one of the fundamental Rules of this world.
He suppressed the turbulence in his heart and opened the final volume, the thick dossier bound with dark red silk thread.
The moment he untied the thread, the smell of fresh ink and parchment rushed to greet him.
This was the latest intelligence compiled internally by the Chixia Business Alliance. The script was neat and dense, and it was accompanied by simple maps.
Ian scanned it quickly.
The first half of the dossier detailed the locations and scales of all known "Corrupt Rifts" within a three-hundred-li radius of Blue Cave Mountain, as well as the types and numbers of Mutants that periodically surged forth.
Several of the larger Rifts were even circled in vermilion ink, with a small note beside them: [Suspected to be led by an intelligent entity. Danger Level: Extremely High].
The latter half was a list of all known "Sanctuary City-States" on the Yalan Continent.
[...There are currently over a hundred large sanctuary city-states (population 100,000+) distributed in the cores of the continent’s ’Purification Domains.’ There are over three hundred middle-sized city-states (population 10,000 to 100,000), and countless small settlements (population under 10,000), though their existence is precarious, and half may be wiped out within a year...]
[...The strongest known sanctuary city in the East: ’Xuri City’ (population approx. 500,000), situated upon the ’Rising Sun Star Vein,’ and presided over by a True Form Venerable...]
[...In the center of the continent, the ruins of the ’Holy Mountain,’ suspected to be the core of the pre-Catastrophe civilization, is now a heavily corrupted disaster zone occupied by the ’Rotting Abyss Sect.’ Danger Level: Annihilation Zone...]
Line after line of text, and sketch after simple sketch, unfolded before Ian’s eyes a vision of a world that was vast, cruel, yet held a glimmer of hidden hope.
A continent four times the size of Earth, with sixty percent of its surface covered by oceans. Under the Erosion of the Abyss, human civilization was like a candle in a gale, with only a hundred-odd large city-states left struggling to survive.
Blue Cave Mountain was merely one of the better-off Middle Level strongholds among them.
And the Star Veins... the Ancient Starry Civilization... the origin of the Star Attractor bloodline...
These clues intertwined, pointing to a deeper, more ancient secret.
’The situation is grim...’ Ian muttered to himself. Humanity could only barely hold on at present; they still lacked the power for a full-scale Purification of the corruption.
The sun climbed higher outside the window, stretching his shadow long and casting it upon the wall of bookshelves behind him.
In the face of a world-scale disaster like this, how insignificant mortals were.
For that very reason, every powerful individual who managed to grow strong could become a pillar supporting a Pure Land.
"Star Vein Node..."
Ian’s gaze fell on a mark on the map, northwest of Blue Cave Mountain.
It was an abandoned ancient mine, with a small note beside it.
[Suspected residual fluctuations from a small Star Vein. Energy is faint, low development value, thus not under the Business Alliance’s jurisdiction].
’Faint Energy?’
The faintest of smiles touched the corner of Ian’s mouth.
’To others, it might be worthless.’
’But for him, someone who possessed the Star Attractor bloodline and desperately needed the Power of the Stars to temper his own body...’
’Even the slightest remnant of a Star Vein was worth investigating.’
Besides, the dossier mentioned that deep within Star Vein Nodes, "Star Vein Crystals" would occasionally form.
That was highly concentrated, pure Star Energy—a priceless treasure for an awakened Star Blooded.
’Time to go see it for myself.’
Ian carefully rolled up the three tomes and retied them.
As he pushed the door open, the sound of steady footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Chen Jingshan ambled over slowly. When he saw the scrolls in Ian’s hands, a flicker of understanding crossed the old man’s eyes.
"Finished reading?"
"Yes," Ian nodded.
"Any thoughts?"
"The world is vast." Ian paused, then added, "The enemies are many, but... there is also hope."
Chen Jingshan smiled, the wrinkles on his face spreading like cracks in parched earth.
"To have come to that realization makes it worthwhile for this old man to have opened the library to you."
He walked to the window, gazing down at the orderly streetscape of the Inner City below the tower, and his voice grew heavy.
"Three hundred years ago, our ancestors thought technology could conquer anything. But when the Abyss came, those steel creations rusted away faster than rotting wood under the filth’s Erosion."
"In the end, all we could rely on was the Power in our bloodlines, the resilience in our Souls, and..."
The old man turned his head to look at Ian.
"And young people like you, who can see the path ahead and also wield a sword."
Ian was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you think... humanity can still win?"
The question seemed to catch Chen Jingshan by surprise.
His withered fingers stroked the head of his staff for a long time before he finally spoke.
"Win? Perhaps we can never truly win. The essence of the Abyss is the Annihilation of Order, the final end where all things return to nothingness."
"But..."
A light as sharp as a blade flashed in Chen Jingshan’s eyes.
"As long as a single city-state’s lights are on, as long as a single person stands on the walls with a weapon in hand, as long as a mother still holds her child in her arms... we have not lost."
"To live is to resist."
The words were spoken calmly, but they struck Ian’s heart like a heavy hammer.
He suddenly remembered the people in the courtyards of the outer city, still struggling to survive amidst despair. He remembered the fire burning in the eyes of Li Yao and the thirteen youths.
Yes.
’To live is to resist.’
"I understand now." Ian bowed deeply. "Thank you for your guidance."
Chen Jingshan waved a hand and turned toward the stairs, his back resembling an old pine tree that had weathered countless storms.
"Go on, do what you must. I’ll keep the library’s three-volume-a-month quota reserved for you."
The footsteps faded into the distance.
Ian stood in the corridor, holding the three heavy tomes. He could feel the rough texture of the parchment on his fingertips and the lingering scent of old ink in the air.
’I should leave some embers for this world.’
The road ahead might be long, but at least, the direction was now clear.
