Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage Chapter 596: History of Verdantis I: Gu Mo

CH596 History of Verdantis I: Gu Mo

The elderly man paused momentarily after revealing his name, then proceeded with his account.

"Back in my time, the Seventh Circle represented the absolute boundary of our plane. Yet, I remained convinced that I possessed the capacity to shatter that ceiling."

"In pursuit of this goal, I scoured every corner—from the soaring peaks spanning five continents to the abyssal depths of the three mighty oceans."

"I traversed every forbidden region and delved into every concealed Celestial realm."

"Ultimately, I discovered a path forward."

A bitter smile creased One Heaven’s features.

"Deep within one of the plane's hidden heavens, after battling through monsters that I suspected were remnants of a long-lost epoch, I arrived at a long-sealed grotto."

"Inside, I uncovered a totem that appeared to delineate the precise process for achieving transcendence."

'Hidden heavens? Creatures from a bygone era… This sounds eerily similar to a Planar Subspace, much like the one the Master sent me to before,' Alex contemplated silently.

"That totem brought me to a profound realization," One Heaven continued. "The reason I could never uncover a path to the Eighth Circle within our plane—the very reason I failed to ascend—was because the Eighth Circle necessitates transcending your original plane entirely."

"Thus, I swore to accomplish exactly that, strictly adhering to the instructions etched into the totem stele."

The old man pressed on with his tale, a faint glimmer of fury—mingled with something deeper and far more melancholic—flickering in his gaze.

"I transported the stele back to my Sect, the Heaven Secret Sect."

"With the total backing and resources of my Sect, I constructed a ritual platform to link myself to a Heavenly Law that surpassed anything I had ever mastered or even imagined."

"I achieved success."

"Through that ritual, I made contact with one of the Supreme Laws of the Universe."

His voice deepened with gravity.

"The Supreme Law of Destiny."

"By doing so, I transcended the limits of my home plane, becoming the first Eighth Circle Sorcerer ever documented."

"Consequently, our plane earned its recognition and the right to ascend among the higher-tier planes."

'I understand now… that is why we deemed this plane comparable to Pangea.'

'For a time, thanks to this man, One Heaven, it might have actually matched Pangea's power level.'

'The real question is… why did it eventually crumble?'

Alex wouldn't have to wait long for the truth.

In the following breath, the old man unveiled the grim reality.

"It was during that period of growth, despite my limited grasp of the Law of Destiny, that I realized something was profoundly wrong."

"The issue didn't just lie with me, but with the entire plane."

"We had fallen headlong into a wicked trap."

"The totem I had unearthed was far from a relic of some lost era, as I had originally supposed. It was a foreign object, one that had infiltrated our world ages ago."

"It never intended to guide me toward higher Heavenly Laws. That was merely a fortunate accident."

"In truth, its actual purpose was far more sinister."

"It served as a beacon—a signal alerting a dangerous entity to the coordinates of our plane."

"What kind of entity?" Alex interjected, unable to contain his curiosity.

"Gu Mo," the old man replied.

"His name is Gu Mo."

"A veteran Eighth Circle powerhouse who cultivates by devouring the Fortune of worlds right at the moment they attempt to ascend."

The atmosphere became oppressively heavy.

"For any plane—young or ancient, weak or strong—the moment of promotion is its most vulnerable state."

"That is when its energy, its Laws, and its Fortune are laid bare. That is precisely when predators like him move in for the kill."

"They ransack everything, greedily absorbing it for themselves or bolstering the strength of their own planes."

A freezing chill entered the old man’s voice.

"This is exactly why the Will of the Heavens nurtures and fortifies its inhabitants. When the day comes that the plane undergoes evolution, its people are expected to rise and defend it, repaying the debt of that protection."

"Yet, due to Gu Mo’s machinations, Verdantis was forced into progression before its defenses were prepared."

"While I was still adjusting to my newfound rank, Gu Mo arrived."

"He didn't come alone. He arrived with a massive army."

"And he initiated his attack."

"In that dire crisis, I, along with the other champions of the realm, stepped forward to face the threat."

"With the power of the plane itself behind us, we managed to hold off Gu Mo’s forces."

"However…"

The old man’s face cast a dark shadow.

"We failed to realize that Gu Mo had already set other schemes in motion."

A subtle, boiling rage twisted his features.

"News of my successful breakthrough spread, and with it, the truth about the totem I had found in the Hidden Heaven."

"I tried to explain that the totem wasn't the cause of my ascension, merely a catalyst that helped me understand the path. But no one believed me—especially not the Holy Lands."

"This was mostly because of the deep-seated hostility that had already existed between those groups and my Sect, which was the hegemon of the plane at the time."

"Attempting to clear my name and unite the plane against our common enemy, I made a disastrous error."

"I displayed the totem before an assembly of the world's most powerful sorcerers."

He stopped, his eyes downcast.

"I failed to realize the totem was a truly twisted artifact."

"It projected different knowledge to different people, depending on their hearts and their secret ambitions."

"While many saw the same path of Qi that I had discovered, another group perceived something fundamentally different."

"A new evolution path…"

"A path completely detached from sorcery."

"Deification," Alex concluded, a sudden dawn of understanding crossing his face.

"Indeed," One Heaven replied with a slow nod.

"Following that gathering, a united front was supposedly formed. Every sorcerer of the Fourth Circle and above marched to battle Gu Mo and his army."

"What we didn't know was that those who had received the tainted knowledge from the totem had already begun practicing it behind our backs."

"Fifty years into the war, just as we believed the tide was finally turning in our favor, Gu Mo made his move."

"He launched a massive, all-out assault on our plane, deploying every single asset he had, disguising it as a desperate, final attempt to win."

"Wait… disguising it?" Alex caught the implication instantly.

"Correct," the old man nodded slowly.

"The attack was nothing more than a decoy—a calculated ploy to seize our full attention while the traitors perfected their Deification method."

Alex scowled.

"Why would Gu Mo—an invader—want the people of Verdantis to become Deities? Shouldn't he have been trying to stop them?"

"His schemes had many layers," One Heaven explained. "But at that moment, his critical objective was quite straightforward: to establish Deity cultivation within our Heaven."

His voice dropped to an icy temperature.

"Up until that time, faith-based cultivation was nonexistent in Verdantis. Sorcery was the only path recognized by the Heavens."

"While some primitive tribes practiced rituals, their totems lacked true endorsement from the world itself."

"Only when those fools—no, those traitors—completed the method and underwent the tribulation in unison, all while Gu Mo’s forces kept us distracted, did Deity cultivation gain authorization from the Heavens."

Alex’s brows tightened.

"But why? Why go to such lengths just to establish a new cultivation path in Verdantis?"

One Heaven’s gaze turned razor-sharp.

"Because only then could he unleash his full potential."

A heavy, suffocating silence ensued.

"It turns out that the only reason we were able to hold him back and resist his army originally was because he couldn't exert his true power under the existing Laws of Verdantis."

"But the moment Deity cultivation was codified, that restriction vanished."

A bolt of realization struck Alex.

"You mean—"

One Heaven gave a slow, somber nod.

"Gu Mo has been a Deity cultivator all along."