Chapter 1926: Chapter 1920 Poison

Tu Qishan felt a bit anxious; it had been too long since she had seen sunlight.

She was also a bit angry, but not just because of herself…

“I hope there’s still time, there’s not much left…”

What she referred to wasn’t the time of the world… For her now, she wished this world would die sooner.

“An Xin, if your god really is as you say, he will take everything away…”

Not long ago, in a shop named Dawn, Tu Qishan saw the darkest reality of this world.

An apparently old Foxman, as the store manager, greeted her… to be precise, he pulled out a dagger the moment he saw the Warrior’s Sword.

“Clang!”

If it weren’t for Tu Qishan’s decent strength, she wouldn’t have been able to block that dagger… which was aimed at the Old Fox-man’s own neck!

Just one meeting, and he’d chosen to preserve his secrets with life preservation.

However, facing a Warrior who had already reached the rule-level, a Mortal found it difficult even to die.

Even after being bound, the other party remained silent, eyes closed, as if awaiting death.

It wasn’t until Tu Qishan recounted her past and goals that he just opened his eyes and looked at her expressionlessly… It was useless to speak, for disbelief remained disbelief.

It was only when she recalled something she’d seen before, inscribed a “character,” and asked for its specific meaning that the other showed emotion.

“… So the prophecy is true, the world’s destruction is true too…”

The whispered murmurs left Tu Qishan puzzled, wondering how it related… But then, the shopkeeper spoke.

Though it couldn’t be called a confession, he admitted to his organization being named “Shu Al,” or alternatively the “Knowledge Gravekeeper.”

Tu Qishan found it hard to understand why someone just a moment ago who was ready to “find an opportunity” to die would become so open with just a written character.

“Because you too have no way out… Ha, many among us boarded the ship inexplicably, and disembarked inexplicably and helplessly.”

As the Old man’s story unfolded, Tu Qishan’s complexion changed dramatically. She realized she had been duped, and the person who wrote the character before likely intended to take her along.

“Look at me, I should be in my thirties (Fox Clan’s lifespan moderate, limit 40), but actually, I’m younger than you, I could even call you big sister… I’m 12 and soon to die of old age.”

The Old man’s words carried regret, helplessness, but also no remorse.

At least now, he still felt no regret over his past choices.

“Knowledge is toxic, the Time Poison…”

In this world, sounds containing information do not naturally dissipate, and written words containing information… once entering a body, will naturally convert into “Time Poison.”

Lu Ping’an and his party couldn’t understand if the local lords’ control was truly so strong. Could banning writing to stop development really succeed so easily?

After all, writing is one of the processes of civilization evolution. When the intelligence of Intelligent creatures reaches a certain level, they would naturally try to record their knowledge and Memory; many ancient writings are pictographs, even considered a form of painting, and this “imitation” requires no knowledge level.

Possibly, someone in a region, in a village, may record their story and knowledge through painting. Over time, murals/paintings became pictographs, then evolved into new cultural niches.

When people around find this “recording method” useful, they naturally start learning to use it.

When used to a certain extent, those who find “painting” and “pictographs” troublesome will simplify it, eventually forming a convenient local script.

This need of Life forms was so thoroughly and successfully banned that Lu Ping’an and his group found it incomprehensible.

“No matter what writing, as long as it’s an ‘character’ containing information, once it takes form and is recognized by many, it will become world Curse’s deadly poison…”

The Old man felt sad, knowing he might not even live to fifteen… More sorrowful was whether, with the world’s destruction and the sacrifices of his and his kind, it held any meaning at all?

The more she listened, the angrier Tu Qishan became.

In this world, information and consciousness held mass, and those who bore “writing” would be Cursed by the world, their life accelerating its passage.

The more outstanding the Scholar, the quicker they often died. They matured rapidly, researched rapidly, and died rapidly… and to safeguard their results, more “Tomb Guardians” died.

She was angry, not for herself being poisoned, but for the countless years…

“We are merely ignorant shepherds, we must be foolish, we must be simple, we must be ignorant.”

The world, with extreme cruelty, ensured the Earth Realm’s unchanging ten millennia. Those who bore the poison of writing would naturally age and die faster.

If they left these things to their children… those children would also die quickly, each generation shorter-lived than the last.

“We are the cattle and sheep of God and the world, we are the dumbest open-eyed ones among a group of blind fools, we are Gravekeepers, keeping the graves of ancestors and also our own graves…

Having writing and knowledge in this world has become a crime.

With this method, the world eradicated the possibility of “civilization” being born, keeping it always in an efficient Ranch state.

No wonder those Upper Realm Descenders, after completing their tasks, would turn away without hesitation… If they didn’t leave, with the knowledge they had gained, they too would quickly die here.

This seemed unsolvable…

“We have recorded history, civilization has actually been reshaped at least five times, and our Races were once Races living separately, we were once the Exotic Races unable to reproduce, we have too much history and past…”

As he spoke, more age spots appeared on the store manager’s face.

In transmitting knowledge, he had sinned, so he was accelerating into old age.

But he was no longer hesitant… At this age, he had enjoyed an elderly body and constantly lived under the threat of Death and Aging, seeing hope for relief.

“Since you are also poisoned, can you continue guarding for me… My knowledge is in the store, recorded in those broken lampposts with ancestor knowledge, just needs special light to reveal, and my record is there in that large red lamp…”

The “Old man” and “youth” smiled, having cursed himself countless times for bearing such a fate, but at this moment, he felt a bit dazed, even somewhat joyful.

“… It turns out, what I feared most wasn’t Death, but that after Death, my ‘grave’ would have no one to guard it, all knowledge forgotten by time…”

The Old man was quickly Aging, seemingly dying at that moment.

“I refuse.”

Yet the female warrior rejected this with righteous words.

The Old man was initially stunned, then sighed, shook his head, but laughed again.

What he regretted was that knowledge might be severed here; the “Warrior” would likely destroy it.

But what he laughed at was…

“Even if my lamp goes out, this river has countless smaller lamps…”

With these words, the Old man closed his eyes, ready to meet his fate.

But just then, a powerful Life Force directly infused into the Old man’s body.

He opened his eyes in surprise, seeing a pair of angry red pupils.

“These graves… These knowledge, you guard them yourself, and as a Warrior, I will protect you, the keepers of this knowledge.”

The Warrior seemed to finally find her proteges.