The Wise Sovereign said, "I wrote down this sentence hoping that at the very least, you can trust me. Only with trust can there be a continuation."
Angel: "Even if you hadn’t said it, we could have guessed as much. Just this sentence alone is not enough to gain our trust."
The Wise Sovereign: "Then what do you think I should write to establish a foundation of mutual trust?"
This time, Angel didn’t speak; instead, the Black Earl spoke up: "We don’t need mutual trust; we just need to maintain balance."
The foundation of mutual trust first requires equality. But presently, they have no qualifications for equality; the Wise Sovereign’s strength is too overwhelming and can easily crush everyone present.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left the others at the Earth Enclosure. It’s precisely because the disparity in power is too vast.
The Black Earl dared to step out of the Earth Enclosure because, if he were to die, his true body would immediately descend. As for Angel stepping out... even the Black Earl couldn’t quite understand it and could only speculate that he might have some way to protect himself.
"Balance, right?" The Wise Sovereign understood Saunders’ implication. After a brief silence, he added a sentence in the True Words Tome.
"If conflict arises, I will restrain all available means and bind myself for five seconds."
The balance the Black Earl mentioned is a dangerous balance or death balance.
This dangerous balance is clearly understood by the Wise Sovereign. If they clashed, the Wise Sovereign would have to bind himself for five seconds, providing them the time to escape.
Releasing the Plane Corridor, if quick, could be completed in two seconds; five seconds would be sufficient to open the Plane Corridor and leave.
This is the balance the Black Earl referred to.
Only when we have the premise of safe departure can we cooperate with you to a limited extent. Simply talking about mutual trust is purely idle talk.
Once the Wise Sovereign brought fantasy into reality, the others also breathed a sigh of relief. At least, they no longer worry about being ambushed by the Wise Sovereign when visiting the Hall of Wisdom later.
The Wise Sovereign looked again at the opposite... Angel.
"Now, shall we have a talk?"
Angel knew the Wise Sovereign would certainly look for him first, so he did not refuse and nodded: "Wise Sovereign, please speak."
"How did you find the Wood Spirit? And how did you get the Wood Spirit to leave with you?"
After a pause, the Wise Sovereign continued: "These two questions can be exchanged for me answering two of your questions. If you want me to write the answers in the True Words Tome, then I can only answer one question."
"This seems too calculated, too stingy," Dox murmured.
Although it seemed the Wise Sovereign didn’t require Angel to write his answers in the True Words Tome, the two questions Angel had to answer would be easy to judge for truth even without writing, as the internal logic is hard to disguise.
However, if Angel were to turn it around and ask, the Wise Sovereign could entirely lie twice.
If he didn’t lie, writing in the True Words Tome would only exchange for one question.
No matter how you think of it, it doesn’t seem quite fair.
This is Dox’s thought, but for Angel, the Wise Sovereign’s "exchange" is actually relatively fair because Dox overlooked one point: there’s more than just Angel as a participant in these two questions.
The Wood Spirit is still there. The Wood Spirit can speak, and the Wood Spirit is still the Wise Sovereign’s student. Even if frightened by the Wise Sovereign, coaxing a few words from the Wood Spirit, would it deliberately conceal it?
So for Angel, these two questions are acceptable.
"Sure. However, I don’t really have any questions to ask for the time being..."
Angel paused, his heart actually filled with questions, but if the Wise Sovereign needed them to do something in the remnant area, he would surely lay out the key points, so asking questions now would be a pure waste.
"Instead, as the Wise Sovereign previously mentioned, how about lending me the handbook to browse through?"
Questions are less important; knowledge and technology, if missed, would be a major loss. Moreover, the Wise Sovereign, being called a sage, surely has unique insights in his handbook, which Angel covets highly.
The Wise Sovereign had not mentioned the handbook earlier; Angel straightforwardly brought it up. This is not about being thick-skinned since the Wise Sovereign had said he was merely echoing the words of a sage.
The Wise Sovereign didn’t intentionally avoid it, but rather his handbook hadn’t been updated for years, and he had almost forgotten. It was just a casual mention that slipped his mind, but he hadn’t expected Angel to still remember it.
The Wise Sovereign nodded: "Alright."
Seeing the Wise Sovereign nod, Angel replied: "For the two questions the Wise Sovereign raised, I should originally answer ’How I found the Wood Spirit,’ but it’s better to answer the second question first because answering the second makes the first easier to explain."
The Wise Sovereign looked at Angel suspiciously. Angel intended to answer "why the Wood Spirit was willing to follow him" first?
Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?
Shouldn’t you first find the Wood Spirit and then persuade it to follow?
Facing the Wise Sovereign’s confusion, Angel slowly lifted his cane and placed it on the table.
"Why don’t you speak? You’re definitely more credible than me." Angel patted the vine wrapped around the cane.
The vine entwined on the staff didn’t move, appearing as mere decoration.
"Stop playing dead, there are no outsiders here."
The Wood Spirit still made no response.
After a moment of silence, Angel unleashed a trump card: "... If you want to see him, just make a sound."
After a period of silence, a "creak" sound emerged from the vine.
The Wood Spirit did respond, but what on earth is a "creak"?!