"I never hoped to achieve a breakthrough instantly." The Wise Sovereign murmured, "For me, Qingkong Poetry Room is a fulcrum. As long as it can be leveraged, many rigid stalemates can gradually loosen."
What the Wise Sovereign sought was to lever one point and strategize the entire situation.
As for why Qingkong Poetry Room would become the start of the breakthrough, the reason is simple: because in the entire Underground Aqueduct, only Qingkong Poetry Room was beyond the Wise Sovereign’s control.
Only by completely mastering the Underground Aqueduct could the Wise Sovereign implement the means to "break the status quo" without any worries.
"What you say sounds beautiful, but it’s all idealistic," Dox said. "And ideals are very hard to achieve."
Everyone actually agreed with Dox, but they all remained silent.
After a few seconds of silence, the Black Earl asked, "On what basis do you consider us a variable? What do you expect us to do after we reach the Qingkong Poetry Room? To what extent must we go to move that breaking point?"
The Wise Sovereign replied, "As long as you successfully reach the Qingkong Poetry Room, you don’t need to do anything after that. Just go with the flow and let events unfold."
"Huh?" Everyone looked at one another, somewhat baffled by the Wise Sovereign’s intentions in doing this.
One moment he said they were an important variable, and the next, it felt like they were being abandoned.
"Don’t be surprised. Fate is not absolutely predetermined. Even a Prophet Wizard struggles to land ashore when the tides of fate surge. Only by adapting at the right time and place can we amend predetermined destiny."
"I had no plan before you arrived. As the situation changes, I also continuously adjust my thoughts. Now, while I don’t think my ideas are absolutely correct, they have matured, and I’m willing to act on them impulsively."
After the Wise Sovereign finished speaking, perhaps seeing the doubts in everyone’s eyes were still not dispelled, he used a more straightforward tone:
"Just like before, when you did nothing, she already started acting strangely, didn’t she? I don’t know why she’s behaving unusually, but I believe your existence is a variable."
"When the variable enters the Qingkong Poetry Room, the beginning of the breakthrough is already poised to unfold."
As the Wise Sovereign spoke these words, the True Words Tome continuously displayed new text, indicating that the Wise Sovereign indeed laid bare his inner thoughts.
Whether this was an honest revelation or a selective one is hard to say. However, at the very least, everyone could understand what he said, and the True Words Tome assured them the Wise Sovereign was speaking the truth.
Since the Wise Sovereign had spoken this much, the Black Earl did not continue questioning this topic but asked, "Besides this, regarding the Legacy site and the Qingkong Poetry Room, does the Wise Sovereign have any other information to add?"
Up until now, the Wise Sovereign had spoken a lot about matters of the past, and also touched on some situations of the Qingkong Poetry Room’s past, but these were all superficial. There was virtually no discussion about the current situation of Qingkong Poetry Room and deeper content.
"I don’t know much about the current situation at the Qingkong Poetry Room, but I have already called someone knowledgeable about the inner workings over here."
"Who?"
The Wise Sovereign: "You’ve met them; they will be here soon."
The Wise Sovereign paused before continuing: "In the meantime, you can ask other questions. Or have you no questions left?"
After the Wise Sovereign finished, Dox eagerly raised his hand, saying, "Me, me, me!"
The Wise Sovereign looked at Dox and softly said, "Hmm... limited to questions about the Underground Aqueduct for now."
Dox immediately deflated, putting his hand down with a disheartened expression.
At this moment, Vay timidly raised his hand: "May I ask a question?"
The Wise Sovereign nodded, signaling Vay to speak.
"Why did Adanis involve Olao in playing the role of the Mirror Demon God? And does the Mirror Demon God really not exist, what is the ultimate fate of those believers?"
Vay’s first question still intrigued the crowd, but the second question was considered irrelevant. At least for the current situation, it held no value; after all, this happened ten thousand years ago.
"As for why Olao was also involved in the Mirror Demon God role, this... I don’t know either."
Since the fall of Naraku City, the Wise Sovereign had seen Olao only once; the theft by Demon God believers happened later, and ever since then, he lost contact with Olao.
"However, based on information obtained from captured believers, it can be confirmed that Olao did not participate in this Mirror Demon God plan."
"Perhaps Adanis forcibly involved him to declare that everything she did was with Olao’s consent. And as Olao recovered belongings of Augustine and Margaret, outsiders indeed couldn’t argue."
Angel agreed with the Wise Sovereign but added a point: "From the design perspective of this mark, it actually reflects the duality of the mirror."
"A mirror has an inside and outside; correspondingly, the Demon God’s mark should have an inside and outside distinction. Which is to say, the appearance of the god within the mirror, as well as the god outside the mirror, fits the essence of the mark."
"What Angel says makes sense too," the Wise Sovereign said to Vay. "You can choose to believe whichever explanation you prefer, or both if you wish."
Vay nodded; indeed, both theories were credible and not mutually exclusive. He personally felt both could be believed.
"As for your second question," the Wise Sovereign continued, "to my understanding, there is no mention of a Mirror Demon God in the Abyss, or even a similar Demon God, at least not in the Barren Face... um, you do know what the Barren Face means, right?"
Angel and the Black Earl nodded, but the others looked around in confusion.
The Wise Sovereign sighed and briefly explained the Abyss’s Phase Face, indicating that the Southern Domain Wizard World corresponds to the "Barren Face."
The two apprentices were left bewildered. Their experiences in the Abyss had been on the very surface, and near Stronghold City at that.
They had no idea what deeper levels of the Abyss were like. They certainly hadn’t realized the part of the Abyss they knew was just one ordinary Phase Face.
Even though the Barren Face itself was already immense beyond measure, they couldn’t imagine that the Abyss held other Phase Faces. And those Phase Faces contained Demon Gods they’d never heard of...
"Surprised? The Pan-Dimensional Plane is vast, greater worlds than the Southern Domain abound. When you embark on your journey, you’ll gradually get used to it," Dox said with the air of a seasoned traveler.
Kaier accepted this advice sincerely.
But Vay coldly mocked, "Haven’t you also never heard of the Barren Face? Now you’re just pretending."
Dox: "I just..."
"You just lack sources of information," Vay answered for Dox. "And why is there no information source? Freedom, oh how precious freedom is. It’s prettily termed freedom, but really, it’s just a fancy cover for ignorance."
Vay’s words struck straight at Dox’s heart.
Indeed, his ignorance of the Barren Face stemmed from a lack of information. Within the Southern Domain, he had his own channels for major and minor events, but once outside it, in the larger world, he was at a complete loss.
And as a wizard, he couldn’t confine himself to the Southern Domain forever.
Sooner or later, he’d have to venture out. But without any information sources, he would likely get lost in the vast Void.
After a moment of silence, Dox hummed from his nose, "It’s normal not to have information now; later, we’ll have it."
Though Dox spoke quietly, everyone heard and understood his implication.
He clearly intended to repay Angel with his own efforts.
Vay smirked but didn’t speak further, though inwardly he was happy for his friend’s choice.
Angel, meanwhile, merely smiled gently, already considering how best to leverage Dox’s abilities, especially his unique inspiration ability...