Chapter 1132 — Gaosong's Sense of Urgency

While Gao Yang and Beylantiya were deep in discussion, Bey Yila at their side had kept silent for a long while, as though turning something over in her mind. Only when the conversation beside her reached a pause did she suddenly speak: "Even so, there will still inevitably be those who mislead the public around the topic of the signal and the stars. They may be scheming politicians, conservative priests eager to find loopholes under the Council of Theocracy's pressure, or even cultists who harbored ill intent from the very beginning... In Cecil things may be somewhat better, but not every nation can achieve effective control over its society. When that happens, the common folk become a breeding ground for heretical beliefs."

"When that happens, I fear we will have no choice but to invoke the Council's Tribunal of Theocracy," Beylantiya said, gazing into Bey Yila's eyes. "Of course, that is the last resort — if we can achieve our goal through broad public education, basic literacy, and the emancipation of thought, then we need not resort to force to solve the problem."

At this the elven ruler suddenly let out a long breath. She showed a faint smile beneath the starlight and looked at Gao Yang beside her: "What you have just described has benefited me greatly. I have held the reins of an empire for seven centuries, and at times I even fancied myself a successful ruler — but now it seems... there is still much in this world worth my learning.

"These insights do not sound like something Uncle Gao Yang could have summed up on his own. Are they to be counted as the teachings of the 'Wanderer from Beyond'?"

"Is there a difference?" Gao Rong laughed. "We are already one and the same individual. Even if what I just said came in its broad direction from the 'Wanderer from Beyond,' its details are built upon Gao Yang Cecil's cognition and understanding of this world."

"That is true enough," Beylantiya said with a soft laugh, then with a touch of feeling, "Then again, the things you just described... bringing them to pass is no matter of a single day or night. It seems I now have good reason to go back and think them over carefully."

She turned around, her back to the antenna arrays behind her, and bowed slightly to Gao Yi: "It grows late, so I shall take my leave first. May I continue touring this wondrous place with you tomorrow?"

"Of course," Gao Rong nodded, and said to Bey Yila beside him, "See her back."

No sooner had Gao Yang's words fallen than a rustling sound came from deep in the leaves nearby; then a great mass of flowering vines suddenly bloomed and spread out from the layered foliage, and amid their writhing another avatar of Bey Yila emerged from within, coming lightly and silently before the Silver Empress: "I'll take you to your resting place — Elaine has been waiting for you a long while."

The Silver Empress looked with some surprise at the two Bey Yilas before her, then showed a composed smile, and following behind the second avatar, turned and left the platform where the antenna arrays stood.

Only when that figure had vanished, leaving only Gao Yang and Bey Yila atop the treetops under the night sky, did Gao Yang glance at the latter: "You can now create and control two avatars at once?"

Bey Yila smiled faintly, a hint of pride and slyness on her face: "I have plenty of brains."

Gao Yang: "..."

Certain maddening, sanity-draining images flashed through his mind. Gao Yang nearly shuddered in the warm summer night; then he hastily shook his head, flinging those mind-polluting associations out of his thoughts, and sank into contemplation.

After a brief consideration he looked at Bey Yila and spoke with a solemn face: "I recall you said your true body can still keep growing... and that there is a great deal of room left for further growth?"

"Theoretically... if we consider only 'growth,' the growth potential of the Sorin Great Tree is in fact far from its limit — even I cannot say how great that limit might be," Bey Yila said, thinking earnestly and choosing her words with care. "But in practice, many things must be taken into account. First, whether such a vast supply of nutrients can be ensured; second, how a structure so enormous can be kept stable. Those two are in fact fairly manageable — I can consciously adjust the new branches and the root system to ensure the Great Tree's structural strength and nutrient supply...

"Then there is the environment's carrying capacity. My canopy now affects the ecosystem of the entire Sorin Plain; under conscious control, that influence has reached a beneficial equilibrium. But if the canopy keeps spreading, I would have to factor the ecological system of the whole Holy Spirit Plain into my calculations, and that would involve far too many unpredictable elements...

"And finally, the most important point of all — my capacity to think."

Bey Yila pointed at her own forehead, but it was only a symbolic gesture: both she and Gao Yang knew full well that inside that head there was nothing but wood.

What she meant was her capacity to think.

"You mean... the Sorin Great Tree is too vast, and continued expansion would affect your thinking," Gao Qi frowned. "Your spirit might even be unable to command so enormous a body, causing parts of the Great Tree to slip out of control?"

"That's just it," Bey Yila nodded. "Although I have now... 'become' this form, and my spirit seems to have undergone a degree of mutation along with it, enough to command such a plant-like body, my spirit ultimately has its limits. If the Great Tree keeps expanding without end, I will eventually lose the ability to sense and control a portion of its body."

Gao Yang's tone grew grave: "If the Sorin Great Tree goes partly out of control, what happens?"

"Don't be so nervous — those out-of-control branches won't turn into monsters and come leaping down out of the canopy," Bey Yila could not help laughing at the solemn expression on Gao Cen's face. "Just like those 'Bey Yila puppets' whose vines have been severed, out-of-control branches will most likely just turn into ordinary tree branches — at most they'll necrose and drop off, like..."

Somehow a word suddenly popped into Gao Yang's head: "Hair loss?"

Working overtime leads to hair loss.jpg.

Beyila: "...Though your description is rather ingenious, why do I feel somehow offended?"

Gao Yang hastily cleared his throat twice. "Ahem, ahem — I wasn't talking about you. What I meant was... never mind, let's just say I said nothing about anyone."

Beyila gave Gao Cen a suspicious look, then after a moment withdrew her gaze. "All right, broadly speaking it is much as you said — those giant tree structures that slip out of control shed like... hair. But come to think of it, why do you suddenly ask me these things? Didn't you say that the Sorin Giant Tree's expansion has already reached a sufficient scale, and that it would be best not to let it grow any further?"

Gao Che was silent for a moment, then quietly raised his head to look at the night sky.

Far off, the constellation of Caelum Frost shimmered in silence in the night sky. In that direction, upon a certain star, there might be a pair of eyes like his own, gazing at the same universe, quietly pondering questions of fate.

"I just suddenly felt a sense of urgency," he said in a low voice, breaking the silence.