Chapter 1029: Nonsense
Of course, every pope had the ability to exaggerate the G.o.d that they believed in, and the propagation of the doctrine of the creation of the G.o.ds was commonplace in the history of Anril. In fact, there was even an Immortal religion. The devotees believed in the Immortal King, and claimed that the Immortal King who created the world was omnipotent.
However, there was another characteristic about the religion of the Illuminati. The devotees claimed that the G.o.d that they believed in still existed in Anril. Although no religion would say that the G.o.d that they believed in had died, most of them would say that their G.o.d was in heaven. Others could not consider anything else at all.
However, the Illuminati’s doctrine stated that the ancient G.o.d Zagar fell into a deep slumber after creating the world and the two major races, the t.i.tans and the wyrms, because of a certain force. They even stated explicitly where the ancient G.o.d Zagar had slept. Legend had it that it was in the most famous place of the Endless Ocean, known as the Great Whirlpool.
Upon hearing this, Lin Li also understood why the Illuminati could not trump the Brilliance Shrine in Anril. The Illuminati was too conservative with the description of the ancient G.o.d Zagar. How could the only true deity fall into slumber? He was clearly much inferior to the other omnipotent G.o.ds.
Of course, Lin Li was not in the mood to care about the doctrine of the Illuminati. What he was concerned about was the power of the Illuminati. After all, the Illuminati’s shadow was present in all the events that had happened to the Tower of Dusk lately. Lin Li did not have to think much to know that he would sooner or later face the Illuminati.
If the Illuminati’s abilities were mediocre, Lin Li would not mind using the Sky Castle to get rid of the Illuminati completely. However, it was basically impossible to do so. If the Illuminati were not capable enough, they would not be able to control the Gilded Kingdom. Based on that point alone, the Illuminati definitely wouldn’t be inferior to the Brilliance Shrine.
However, the Glittergold Trade Union unfortunately did not have a thorough understanding of the power of the Illuminati. Although the Glittergold Trade Union was famous in Anril, it was only an ordinary trade union to the Gilded Kingdom. It was not because the Gilded Kingdom had a trade union that could compare to the Glittergold Trade Union, but rather that the Gilded Kingdom had imposed a lot of restrictions on foreign trade unions. They would definitely not allow foreign trade unions to control their local market.
Hence, the Glittergold Trade Union could rarely get into contact with the senior executives of the kingdom or the Illuminati. Naturally, they could not get better information.
Although Lin Li had obtained some news on the Illuminati from Hoffman, and knew how powerful the Illuminati was overseas, Lin Li might not necessarily be afraid of them even though the Illuminati was comparable to the Brilliance Shrine.
In fact, in the aspect of the Sanctuary-realm, the so-called strength comparison between the various forces was actually a comparison of the strength of the Sanctuary powerhouses. For the Sanctuary powerhouses, the number of devotees, Legendary powerhouses, and the amount of wealth they controlled did not matter. The Brilliance Shrine was extremely powerful, and they controlled the ma.s.sive Ledin Kingdom as well. However, they dared not provoke the Ashen Warlock, who was all by himself, all because his only opponent was Pope Rosario of the Brilliance Shrine. To him, the archbishops and others were insignificant existences.
Hence, to Lin Li, a Sanctuary powerhouse, whether or not a force could pose a threat to him would depend on the abilities of their Sanctuary powerhouses. Although Lin Li was still unsure of how many Sanctuary powerhouses there were in the Illuminati, he was confident that with his own abilities and the power of the Sky Castle, the enemies would not be able to pose a threat to him and the Tower of Dusk even if they had a Sanctuary powerhouse.
To put it more seriously, even if the Illuminati had Sanctuary powerhouses that were as strong as the three Arbitrators, and even if Lin Li could not contend with them, no one would be able to stop him from leaving unscathed. Hence, if the senior executives of the Illuminati knew that the Tower of Dusk had Lin Li, the Sanctuary powerhouse, they would not really fall out with him.
Besides, Lin Li was certain that the Illuminati should have long discovered this. Back when Lin Li had just reached the Tower of Dusk and killed those who were surrounding the Tower of Dusk, one of the Sanctuary powerhouses stood out to stop Lin Li from taking away the captive. Now, since he had confirmed that the prisoner was from the Illuminati, the Sanctuary powerhouse who tried to stop him had to be from the Illuminati too.
Lin Li believed that no matter what the Illuminati’s agenda was, they probably would not dare to continue pursuing it after finding out that the Tower of Dusk was helmed by him.
As long as the Illuminati stopped courting death, Lin Li could not be bothered to settle scores with them—not because he was magnanimous, but because he didn’t have the time to.
The magic tides had already appeared, and the s.p.a.cetime rifts had become more and more active. No one knew when the prehistoric magical beasts in the s.p.a.cetime rifts would surge into Anril in large batches. Lin Li’s time was running out. Increasing his power and sealing the s.p.a.cetime rifts was the top of his priorities now. Otherwise, even if the Illuminati had a few Sanctuary powerhouses, Lin Li would drive the Sky Castle to the Gilded Kingdom and settle scores with them.
However, the other forces of the Breezy Plains were not as confident as Lin Li. Even if the few top forces had Sanctuary powerhouses, they were essentially only pseudo-Sanctuary powerhouses, some of whom had similar lifespan as other Sanctuary powerhouses, but were only slightly stronger than those who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm. They were words apart from Sanctuary powerhouses who had entered the Sanctuary-realm by relying on their own abilities.
Such pseudo-Sanctuary powerhouses could not even compare to level-25 powerhouses who had just stepped into the Sanctuary-realm, what more someone like Rosario. That was also the reason that the various forces were attacked badly by the Gilded Kingdom. Otherwise, any true Sanctuary powerhouse would definitely be able to resolve that issue.
Hence, although the people who made a mess of the Breezy Plains had already been killed by Lin Li, the various forces did not feel relieved just because of that. Instead, they began to feel a suffocating oppression.
The ordinary small and medium-sized forces might be dauntless because of their ignorance, but forces like the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, which had existed since the Dark Age, knew what the Illuminati was like. In fact, perhaps there were certain ancestors of their family who used to be believers of the Illuminati.
Although they had Sanctuary powerhouses, major forces like the Brilliance Shrine were like behemoths that they dared not provoke. They might not know the exact strength of the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom, but with the Brilliance Shrine and the Ledin Kingdom as examples, they could more or less guess that the Illuminati was not to be provoked.
Now that they knew that the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom coveted the Breezy Plains, the forces immediately began to get nervous. Although many of the forces weren’t convinced with the Tower of Dusk, the latter did not harm their interests, but the Illuminati was different. The things done by the Legendary powerhouses that were sent by the enemies were evidence.
They had resolved their temporary issues, but to the forces of the Breezy Plains, there was still a greater problem that they had to face next. After all, the Breezy Plains belonged to the Felan Kingdom only in name. If the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom invaded, the Breezy Plains’ people would probably have to rely on themselves.
In order to deal with the next moves of the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom, the first solution that the forces of the Breezy Plains thought of was to form an alliance that could contend with them. However, there was a reason for the Breezy Plains to be known as a chaotic place. For thousands of years, it had never been unified, and there were all kinds of nasty things between its forces. Perhaps a few forces might be able to form a temporary alliance, but uniting all forces like what the Tower of Dusk had tried to do was simply a delusional idea.
Besides, in the past, they had attacked the Tower of Dusk for the sake of benefits, and the Tower of Dusk was nothing to them at all at that time. However, the opponents that they were about to face now were the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom. There were too many things involved. Simply put, no one wanted to take responsibility, but everyone wanted to reap the benefits. In the end, the alliance meeting turned into a laughing stock as it was dismissed after five days due to the incessant conflicts between forces.
In fact, the forces were not entirely to blame. There were complicated relations.h.i.+ps between them, and even if they got the G.o.d of Mages, Geresco, to come out, he might not be able to settle their issues. Otherwise, the Breezy Plains would probably have been unified a long time ago. How could they be known as the land of chaos if not for that?
In the retaliation against the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom, even the top forces like the Mithril Alliance, the Caesar Family, and others could not really unite the forces of the Breezy Plains. Under the circ.u.mstances that they failed to form an alliance, the leaders of the few top forces finally gave up their ambitions, and once again sent their representatives to the Tower of Dusk in hopes that Lin Li could stand out and lead the forces of the Breezy Plains against the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom.
However, what everyone didn’t expect was that Lin Li went missing again soon after he came out of seclusion in the library. This time, even Basel, Gavin, and the senior executives of the Tower of Dusk had no idea where their president had gone.
Hoffman stayed at the Tower of Dusk for three days. In addition to discussing with Lin Li the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom, he also asked Lin Li for advice about the Sanctuary-realm. Besides, after he sent Hoffman away, Lin Li immediately put aside the matters regarding the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom. He then began considering the issues of improving his own abilities.
Through the guidance of Geresco’s incarnation, Lin Li increased his power to level-27 in the library, which was extremely fast to anyone. However, Lin Li was not satisfied with that, because he was well aware that having level-27’s strength was simply insufficient for the things that he wanted to accomplish in the future.
Lin Li wanted to continue to receive the guidance of Geresco’s incarnation and improve his abilities through that, but it didn’t seem to be possible for the time being. Unless Lin Li’s strength could increase again, he would only be putting himself through torment if he wanted to learn from Geresco’s incarnation again. It was just like how one would have to think of a way to enlarge a bucket full of water to continue pouring more water into it. That could be considered a bottleneck.
Hence, Lin Li thought about the inverted tower in the Sky Castle, which was not just a simple library. When he first met Geresco’s incarnation in the inverted tower, he was taught a lesson. However, it was just the first floor of the inverted tower, and he did not take the risk to explore the higher floors at that time.
Although he did not explore it, Lin Li was well aware that the inverted tower was definitely a genuine treasure left behind by Geresco. The gains that Lin Li had made on the first floor were already extremely valuable. Even the three Arbitrators of the Supreme Council would definitely be jealous.
Even to Lin Li, a Sanctuary powerhouse, the countless precious magic books were still extremely useful. They would definitely be more beneficial to the other mages of the Tower of Dusk. Those magic books would pave a smooth journey to success for the mages and lead them to the Sanctuary-realm.
The guidance of Geresco’s incarnation was enough to make any Sanctuary Master go mad. Geresco was named as the G.o.d of Mages because he was the leader of human magic civilization. Getting the personal guidance of the G.o.d of Mages was definitely something that all mages dared not imagine.
Besides, that was only one of the benefits that he had obtained on the first floor of the inverted tower. Lin Li dared not be certain that the items on the second floor would be more valuable than the first’s, but he was sure that the items on the second, third, and last few floors of the inverted tower would definitely not be less valuable than those of the first.