The Wise Sovereign’s words actually revealed a crucial piece of information, Augustine - the Noah ancestor - is indeed linked to the destination. Everyone present could discern this.
However, the Wise Sovereign didn’t need to disclose such information; stating it outright must have another purpose.
His purpose can be guessed: to test each team member’s understanding of the objective.
Angel didn’t look at others’ reactions, but he suspected Vay and Kaier might be slightly surprised, the Black Earl would show no emotion, and as for Dox... Angel couldn’t predict.
Angel: "Regarding your information, I learned it from Day."
Wise Sovereign didn’t immediately respond but instead turned to look at Dox.
Dox appropriately nodded: "That’s right, Day was the first to tell us you were the Wise Sovereign."
The Wise Sovereign quickly deduced that Dox... was not lying.
But, who is Zhou?
The Sage posed this question, but he wasn’t asking Angel; instead, he directly questioned Dox.
Dox looked puzzled, "You don’t know Zhou? Isn’t he one of your people?"
One of our people? As the Sage was still confused, Dox immediately revealed that Zhou was the horned Half-Blood Demon at the third narrow passage.
The Sage instantly understood, "So it’s him? Did he tell you that his name is Zhou?"
Dox nodded, "Yes, by the look of it, did he deceive us by using a fake name?"
The Sage didn’t answer Dox but instead frowned and thought for a moment before turning to Angel, "It’s your turn to ask."
Angel: "I thought you would continue asking what Zhou told us."
The Sage: "The things he knows, I know. The things he doesn’t know, I also know."
Angel: "Since the Sage says so, does the Sage know why he’s called Zhou then?"
The Sage was momentarily stumped...this, he indeed didn’t know.
After Angel asked this question with a smile, he didn’t give the Sage time to respond and quickly shifted the topic: "This question was just for fun, a personal question, it’s understandable that the Sage doesn’t know. Shall I ask another question?"
"You may." The Sage saw that Angel wanted to control the pace of the conversation, but he didn’t mind. More than that, he was actually curious to ask if Angel knew why the horned Half-Blood Demon called himself Zhou?
Because Angel’s earlier question carried a strong implication, it was clearly telling the Sage that he knew why Zhou was named Zhou.
The Sage felt a bit itchy to ask, but he didn’t want to follow Angel’s lead. Controlling the pace was fine, but leading it astray was something he wouldn’t allow.
Angel: "How many questions do I need to answer to fulfill the conditions you set?"
The Sage: "Answering my questions is just one of the conditions. Moreover, it’s not a necessary condition."
"Then why should I continue answering your questions? Why don’t you just tell me the necessary condition?"
The Sage: "Although it’s not a necessary condition, it is a bonus condition."
"What do you mean?"
"After fulfilling the necessary conditions, I can let you pass through my great hall, allowing you to search for Augustine’s legacy."
"However, when you get there, the result may not be favorable."
"The ’I let you pass, and also ensure your safe return’ that you mentioned earlier can only fulfill the first half; as for the ’safe return,’ I can’t guarantee that."
When Angel heard this, he roughly understood what the Sage meant: "So, answering your questions is a bonus condition; you can ensure our safe return?"
The Sage: "I can’t guarantee, but I won’t stop you from leaving my great hall. If necessary, I can even take a nap and close the hall."
This sentence from the Sage was full of meaning.
It basically revealed a truth directly to everyone: the destination you’re searching for is extremely dangerous. Moreover, there’s an existence there that you cannot contend with. As long as the bonus condition is met, he could consider helping them escape the danger.
Angel: "It’s your turn to ask now... By the way, does this count as a question?"
The Sage nodded nonchalantly: "Sure."
Angel: "That’s good then. If it were like Miss Cicia, insisting on counting every question one by one, it would be troublesome for me."
The Sage: "My second question, what did Cicia say to you?"
The Sage wasn’t stupid; he knew Angel intentionally mentioned Cicia.
However, even if Angel hadn’t mentioned Cicia, he would have asked about her because their location assuredly meant they would encounter Cicia.
So, the Sage just followed Angel’s lead and asked the question.
Angel: "She said a lot, I don’t even know where to start. Ah, there’s no way, I asked too many questions. To tell it all might take quite some time, after all, I stayed in her box for nearly an hour."
The Sage knew that Cicia’s box had sensory acceleration; if it was really an hour, it meant Angel and Cicia talked for nearly a whole day.
That much conversation? Cicia was actually willing to chat with him?
The Sage, filled with doubt, turned to look at Dox.
Dox nodded, "That’s right, about an hour."
He really stayed for an hour?! The Sage still felt something was off, but he could sense that Dox wasn’t lying.
While the Sage was hesitating, Angel silently gave a thumbs up to Dox in his heart. Dox’s voluntary jump in had truly muddied the waters.
The murkier the water, the more perplexed the Sage’s considerations would be. Overthinking could bring the Sage closer to the truth, but it would also lead him to overlook the details.
Angel actually didn’t care about the truth; the last thing he wanted was for the Sage to know about the finer details, such as the Nightmare Realm and the Wilderness of Dreams...
So, the muddier the water, the more he could conceal those details.
Did Dox jumping in this time really manifest some sort of divine insight?
Angel: "Does the Wise Sovereign want to hear it all from the beginning? Or should I just speak about the matters related to the Wise Sovereign?"
The Wise Sovereign could vaguely sense that Angel and Cicia had talked about some very secretive matters, and Angel’s current demeanor seemed as though he intended to hide those things...
The Sage was silent for a moment, then finally nodded: "Okay, just those matters concerning me."
The Sage was not condoning Angel’s concealment, it was more about after considering that the matters Angel wanted to hide must be secret tales Cicia told him or perhaps Cicia’s true identity.
The Sage actually knew some secrets about Cicia, and he could confirm that they were definitely unrelated to Naraku City or Augustine because Augustine’s matters occurred after Cicia transformed into a box.
Since it had nothing to do with this, there was no point in asking.
Moreover, he didn’t want to waste time; if he were truly curious, he could directly ask Cicia afterwards.
Indeed, the Sage’s consideration of issues was comprehensive, but he overlooked a detail: Angel and Cicia engaged in a one-on-one exchange.
The process of exchanging information is called interaction. So, it’s not necessarily that Cicia only shared secrets with Angel; conversely, Angel might have shared secrets with Cicia that he wanted to keep hidden.
If the Sage knew that the person in front of him was Angel, one of the Southern Domain’s current most dazzling Supernovas, he would probably consider it from both angles. But he didn’t know that the red-haired man before him, shrouded in layers of illusions, was Angel, hence, based on general logic, he overlooked this point.
The Sage was using information asymmetry against them. Likewise, Angel and the Sage, and with the Noah Clan, also had this information asymmetry. Therefore, this point could also be used in reverse to obscure the Sage.
However, what can be obscured are only irrelevant details; the main thread is difficult to fully conceal.
If all matters could be completely obscured by Angel, then the Sage shouldn’t bear the title of Sage and might as well be called a fool.