A simple civil war between the demon hunters had implicated so many ancient secrets. But Hao Ren was a bit numb to all of this. The temple of the goddess of creation; the discovery of the Godslayer; the shocking connection between Vivian and the Council of Elders—he had enough material to write an 800-word report. But he and his monster tenants might need post-disaster counseling. So, when Ymir talked about the ancient documents, Hao Ren was calm. He had heard the scary story, he may as well read the text too.
Of course, he was still looking forward to reading those scrolls. After all, the manuscripts not only recorded the 6,000 years of Vivian's life but also the early exploration of Coldpath by the demon hunters. Knowing that Coldpath was the ruins of the goddess' temple, these records had become the most precious thing to him.
Ymir slightly closed his eyes, and the mysterious ancient runes began to appear around the big skull. These runes flew in the air before drifting to the wall behind the altar and forming into the shape of a door. When the door slowly swung open, another chamber appeared behind the door.
"That secret chamber was the place where the First Sage once lived," the voice of Ymir was heard in the head of everyone. "After Vivian injured him, she barely lived for several years. The curse of the black sword had taken effect, and the sages found that all the scrolls, slate, and artifacts of Vivian Ancestor had become unreadable, so they thought it was the proof that your power had overwhelmed the black sword. Because of its fear of your ability, it did what it could to eliminate your influence. After some deliberation, the sages collected all the items related to you in the family and sealed them in this secret chamber. In the last few years of her life, the First Sage used all her strength to bless and reinforce these scrolls and artifacts.
"At last, before the First Sage breathed her last, she let people lock the secret chamber from the outside and left her last word: 'only after the person whose name could not be mentioned comes to weed out the shadow in the sacred land, only then this door can be opened.' Later, the demon hunters brought me to this tower. I spent a thousand years to gain their trust. I was at last assigned to this place to guard the secret chamber."
While walking towards the secret chamber, Hao Ren asked curiously, "I'm wondering: how did you get the trust of the demon hunters?"
Ymir had a respectable level of ancient wisdom. Even the demon hunters sometimes came to seek his help. Despite that, the guardian giant was still an otherworldling in the eyes of the demon hunters. Hao Ren could imagine that when the Norse gods collapsed, the ordinary demon hunters must have confused Ymir with Odin. The frenzied demon hunters could not tell the difference between the two.
"It was not easy. The demon hunters wanted to kill me at first," said Ymir, "but they didn't do it right away as they wanted to obtain some ancient knowledge from me beforehand. So I stayed in the Netherrealm Clock Tower for a long time until the whisper of the black sword controlled them. I think it was because of that that they stopped being hostile to me."
The demon hunters stopped being suspicious and hostile towards Ymir after the whisper controlled them?
Hao Ren nodded. Now, he gained a deeper understanding of the power of the Godslayer. The sword seemed to be looking for servants, and those under its control must submit to it.
Claude brought everyone into the secret chamber behind Ymir.
The chamber was spacious enough and only had simple furnishings.
There was a stone bed, stone bench, and a table. That was all the First Sage used daily. The quilt on the stone bed had totally rotten away. On the stone table were some unknown ancient tools. Inches of dust had accumulated on the furniture and completely obscured their original color and shape.
There were large shelves along the walls too.
The large quaint wooden shelves were full of scrolls, enchanted slates, equipment and sacred objects that were completely different from those used by the demon hunters of today. Though covered in a thick layer of dust, these ancient artifacts were still in excellent condition with magic protection. Magic power was still glowing on some of them like fireflies in the dark.
White Flame and Teuton could not help but sigh. Both demon hunters were struck dumb when Ymir was telling the ancient stories, but now they seemed to have recovered. White Flame put her hand on her chest and said, "So these are the relics of the First Sage?"
Teuton looked at Vivian. As if he did not want to draw Ymir's attention, he said in a whisper, "I still have reservations about those stories."
"That's human nature," Vivian replied and nodded spontaneously. "To tell the truth, I don't entirely believe it too. Ymir might not be lying but what he knows might not be complete."
Teuton did not say anything but shook his head with a complicated expression on his face. Obviously, he did not know what to say at this moment.
"These things are very well preserved," Vivian silently came to the old bookshelves, took a scroll down, and blew away the 6,000 years of dust. "The early exploration record of Coldpath," she read out.
Hao Ren took out the MDT and said, "Scan and archive."
These things were treasures—not only excellent research material for Hao Ren but also a precious cultural heritage of the demon hunters. So, he did not intend to take possession of them merely because he had put down a revolt. Scanning these artifacts would be good enough to preserve the information and use them for research purposes.
While Vivian and Hao Ren were browsing through the volumes of ancient books, Lily had quickly lost her patience. She fidgeted around the furniture that the First Sage once used.
As she toyed with the ancient utensils, her face seemed to indicate that she was in thought.
"After the first Woe of Madness, these books were influenced by the mysterious forces," Claude came up to Hao Ren and Vivian, flipping through the books and saying in a whisper, "Only the sage could read the text in them. Ordinary people who tried to read them would feel as if their heads were going to explode. Until now, some people would still find some unreadable ancient text in the vast archives of the library. Except for a few that are genuinely forbidden text, most of them had records of Vivian Ancestor's name or the story of the Fourteen Sages. But the important scrolls are kept in this chamber. Those scrolls on the outside are mostly not that important."
Listening to the dull ancient stories not far away, Lily started to yawn. She swept the dust off the stone bed of the First Sage with her tail and sat down on it.
The weariness struck harder, the husky maiden yawned longer this time and her eyes teared up.
In the drowsiness, she saw a figure of a petite woman suddenly appeared in the doorway. The character walked in and circled about the secret chamber.
"Who are you?" Lily asked curiously.
"Who are you talking to?" Y'zaks looked back at Lily curiously.
Lily pointed in a direction and said, "Isn't a person standing over there?" Hey… where did the person go now?"
There was nobody there.
"Maybe I'm too sleepy," Lily said, smacking her head in embarrassment. She then jumped down from the stone bed and slapped a corner of the stone bed familiarly. Suddenly, a secret drawer popped open. She reached out and fumbled around before her hand got hold of some black dirt. "What happened to my snack?" she asked.
Everyone was as quiet as a church mouse.
All eyes were on Lily, dumbstruck. Claude could not help but ask, "How do you know there is a secret drawer there?"
"I designed it, that's why I know," Lily replied spontaneously though still a little drowsy. She went straight to the stone table, sat down, and instinctively cleaned up the table while she called someone on the outside, "Fergal! Bring me my magic crystal, and ask Beetholis why this place is so dirty today."