Chapter 1143 — How to Break the Deadlock
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 5
"The magic tide is a natural phenomenon of this world. It occurs at irregular intervals, and between the great eruptions there are always several small-scale ones, their exact timetable all but impossible to predict. In some respects the small tide displays features identical to the great tide, but the difference is that its eruption is usually local. A great tide sweeps across an entire planetary system, whereas a small tide is usually confined to a single continent, or even a single kingdom. The small tide's eruption is briefer and weaker, and it will not necessarily annihilate the observers within its range — there are many ways to weaken it or cancel it out entirely."
"A small tide can be weakened or canceled out..." Something suddenly occurred to Gao Yang. "Wait — you mean..."
"If one cannot master the precise technique, then one can only oppose it with brute force. A brief burst of extraordinarily high-intensity magical energy can compress the magic within a planet's turbulent atmospheric layer, forming an energy field of immense coverage. And since the essence of a magic tide is still a magical phenomenon, it will be affected by such a field — even annihilated by it. This erupted energy field is indeed terrifying; it is enough to trigger regional extinction. But at least some fortunate seeds may survive at the margins.
"Seven hundred years ago, there was only one energy source on the whole continent of Loren that met this condition—"
"The Deep Blue Well," Gao Yang said, his face darkening, his voice low.
"Detonating the Deep Blue Well was the most effective means of halting the expansion of that 'pre-tremor,' and the only means available in time."
"So the Deep Blue Well really was detonated deliberately?!" Gao Yang's eyes flew wide in an instant; he stared at Enya's eggshell, across which faint golden runes wandered. "Could the one who detonated it have been..."
"Do not misunderstand — it was not I," came Enya's voice from within the golden egg, tinged with a faint sigh. "I am only the guardian deity of the dragon race; my duty binds me to Thalund, and so naturally I could not meddle in what happened on the continent of Loren. The Deep Blue Well was indeed detonated — and the ones who detonated it were the gods who shelter the various races of Loren."
"You mean the gods detonated the Deep Blue Well?!" Gao Yang stared, and only after a long while did he slowly let out his breath. He could not help recalling a certain conjecture he had formed not long ago, and he gave a somewhat self-mocking smile. "Actually, not long ago I had just guessed that there was more to the explosion of the Deep Blue Well than met the eye. And now it seems there indeed was — only it has nothing whatsoever to do with what I guessed at the time..."
As he spoke, his brows knit again. A riddle that had troubled humanity for a very long time suddenly surfaced in the depths of his heart, as though it had found its answer. "Wait — it's just come to me. Not long after the magic tide erupted, the priests of the great churches all lost contact with their respective deities, and the gods fell silent for a full year. Only after the council at Mount Mingcen did the power of the gods gradually return to this world... Could it be that detonating the Deep Blue Well is the reason the gods slumbered?!"