In fact, when Claude said that the First Sage did not exist, Hao Ren was not as surprised as White Flame and Teuton.
He had already guessed it. The First Sage was so mysterious that even among the demon hunters, it was too strange. A legendary figure who had not shown his face for thousands of years, a leader who only relied on heralds and attendants to deliver messages, and an extreme recluse who did not leave his room at all. With these characteristics that deviated from the norm, who could really be sure that the First Sage really existed?
Who could say that it was not a spiritual symbol used to appease people or just to comfort themselves?
White Flame and Teuton were the most shaken. Unlike outsiders like Hao Ren, they were real demon hunters, born and raised in the Arctic Fortress. They had heard the story of the First Sage since they were young. The immortal, powerful, and all-knowing image of the First Sage had been deeply ingrained in their minds. As orthodox demon hunters, White Flame and Teuton had never thought that any sage would disappear one day, let alone the First Sage, who was said to be more powerful than all the ancient gods and as immortal as this planet.
However, the First Sage did not exist from the beginning. She had fallen long before the war of the gods began.
But now, twelve sages had turned into ashes in the ritual of activating the Dark Sword. The impact of this matter seemed to have given White Flame and Teuton a buffer. After a moment of shock, they looked at Claude sternly and asked in unison, "Do you swear that what you said is true?"
"I swear in any name," Claude said with a poker face, "including the name of my family bloodline and every ancestor. The First Sage fell 6,000 years ago, which was the most glorious period of the Mythological Era, when the demon hunters had just emerged, even before the first hunt. The First Sage was probably the only demon hunter who did not participate in the war of the gods. She had left before that. "
Hao Ren and the others looked at each other. He suddenly realized that the timing seemed to be critical. "You mean, before the demon hunters officially declared war on other otherworldlings? That is to say, the demon hunters already existed before that, but you did not declare war on other otherworldlings? "
Claude only nodded.
"You only started hunting after the fall of the First Sage?" Hao Ren continued to ask, "Are these two things related?"
"In terms of time, it is indeed so." Claude did not answer directly. "However, the hunt was destined to begin."
Hao Ren suddenly felt that he had a lot of questions to ask, but he did not know where to start. He frowned. "Six thousand years ago … I thought the history of the War of the Gods should be a little earlier. After all, the otherworldlings have been on this planet for ten thousand years. "
Vivian explained, "Ten thousand years is calculated from the time when the first wave of unusual creatures arrived on Earth, but we did not start the war from then. In the first few thousand years, everyone was trying to adapt to the world or find a way to get rid of the sequelae of crossing the Wall of Reality. Moreover, the landing points of various races were very scattered when they arrived on Earth, so the first days were spent in chaos and peace. The demon hunters were first active 6,000 years ago, and when they first appeared, they did not attract too much attention. Because at that time, they were just small skirmishes and had a very limited range of activities. All the otherworldlings in that era would more or less have some friction, so the activities of the demon hunters did not attract much attention. After a period of time, when the ancient otherworldlings found out that the goal of the demon hunters was to destroy all the supernatural races, it was too late. The demon hunters patiently and cunningly weakened the power of the various' gods'. When they finally launched an attack, the whole world had encountered the Twilight of the Gods. "
As Vivian spoke, Claude looked at her silently, and no one knew what he was thinking. When Vivian finished, Claude casually added, "The demon hunters lived in seclusion in the north before the start of the hunt. For a whole 4,000 years, only a few people knew about our race."
"Then, as soon as you showed up, you started a war with people." Hao Ren waved his hand. "Let's talk about these ancient wars later. Let's get back to the First Sage. Since he died before the start of the War of the Gods, why did you keep it a secret until now? "
As the translation plug-in automatically translated Claude's words into Chinese, Hao Ren did not realize that Claude used the female 'she' when he mentioned the First Sage.
"The First Sage was the greatest patriarch of the demon hunters. She led us to Coldpath and gave the demon hunters who were wandering on the tundra a home. She was almost all the hope and spiritual support of that generation," Claude explained. "Many years ago, she was seriously injured and returned to the Netherrealm Clock Tower when she was on the brink of death. In the years before her death, in order to stabilize the people, we had been claiming that the patriarch was recovering. This was a lie that could never be exposed because the War of the Gods had broken out, because the hunt had begun, because our foundation was not as stable as it is now, so we needed a wise, powerful, and immortal leader to lead all this. In order to make this lie more perfect, the other twelve elders of the clan put on masks to reduce direct communication with the outside world and let their bodies be distorted and eroded by magic to form a second act of camouflage to make the patriarch's' seclusion 'more reasonable and credible. "
White Flame exclaimed, "So, the saying that the sages were distorted by taboo knowledge and could not communicate with the outside world is actually false?"
"Not entirely false," Claude said, shaking his head. "Taboo knowledge does distort the body and mind. Ordinary demon hunters will be eroded by magic if they communicate too much with the sages, but the situation is far less serious than the legend says. They had to do this to cover up the fact that the First Sage had fallen. When the thirteen leaders all lived in seclusion for the same reason, everyone's attention would be diverted. "
Hao Ren did not know whether to laugh or cry. "This big lie … In fact, it didn't have to go to this extent, especially when this lie has lasted until today."
"Indeed, it didn't have to last so long," Claude agreed with Hao Ren. "After the end of the Mythological Era and the demon hunters' position was stable, it didn't have to continue. But there was a price to uncover the truth. In the first thousand years, we relied on the belief that 'the patriarch is still alive' to survive the most difficult times. A lie has lasted for a thousand years, so the smartest thing to do is to treat this lie as the truth. After a thousand years, the demon hunters have adapted to the state of the leaders living in seclusion and the patriarch never showing up. The twelve sages are indeed eroded by taboo knowledge, so it's better to let it all go on like this. "
"It has lasted until today," Y 'zaks muttered gruffly. "This kind of thing is not uncommon."
History is made up of innumerable coincidences, and innumerable certainties. No matter how bizarre its final outcome may be, no matter how inconceivable some things may turn out to be, one thing must be clear, and that is, at every stage of development, there is at least one seemingly justifiable reason, and a series of justifiable reasons make up an absurd situation.
It was the most appropriate way to evaluate the secret of the upper echelons of the demon hunters.
Vivian frowned and stared at Claude. "There's nothing wrong with the stories you told. The only question is — how do you know these?"
"I'm the servant of the first sage," Claude answered naturally. "And the first sage doesn't exist, so I'm the one who has access to the highest secrets of the demon hunters. Generations of servants have to go through many tests to learn these secrets. I may be young, but it's not surprising that I know these things. "
"You don't just 'know' these things," Vivian raised her eyebrows. "I've lived for more than 10,000 years, and I've seen everything. It's one thing to recite what you read from a book, but it's another to recall what you've experienced yourself. You can't fool me with your eyes, your tone, and your little habits when you say these things. You're not reading from a book, you're recalling yourself. Claude is a young demon hunter of the new generation, but the one who told us the story just now … is an ancient. "
Vivian's statement was a little vague. Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before he realized what she meant.
Claude looked at Vivian thoughtfully for a while and seemed to make some kind of judgment. He nodded and said, "Yes, Claude is a young demon hunter of the new generation, but the one who told you the story is an ancient. Ancestor, now that the dust has settled, please allow me to take you and your friend to a place. "
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