Chapter 1578: Middle-earth's Ten Sins

The woman's lingering soul slowly said:"In the past ten thousand years, the only time the ancient giants did not descend was two thousand years ago."

"This gave Middle-earth a two-thousand-year respite."

"This was an unprecedented opportunity in ten thousand years!"

"We successfully seized this sole chance to rewrite our destiny."

"Over those two thousand years, we cultivated more Sages than in any previous historical period, nurtured the largest number of Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators, amassed the most formidable Nascent Soul army, accumulated the largest reserve of combat machinery, and built the most extensive defensive fortifications."

"Middle-earth's resources, enough for four thousand years, were entirely consumed by us in two millennia, all for a single battle to eradicate the giants and lay the foundation for eternal peace for future generations."

Jiang Fan pondered.

He had always wondered why resources in the Heavenly Realm were so abundant, allowing even ordinary creatures to grow so large. Middle-earth, with half its land originating from the Heavenly Realm, possessed only a tenth of the Heavenly Realm's resources.

It turned out they had been depleted in successive wars against the ancient giants.

Cultivation, alchemy, talisman crafting, artifact forging, and building fortifications all required staggering amounts of resources.

The previous generation had exhausted most of their accumulated reserves.

Even in remote parts of the continent, Great Walls were built, and a vast storage space for combat machinery lay unused.

In contrast, the current generation's preparations for the war merely involved commissioning Sages from Shenbingzhou to forge a thousand artifacts.

How ambitious and high-spirited the previous generation must have been!

Across the expanse of time, Jiang Fan could envision the vibrant, groundbreaking atmosphere as the entire Middle-earth actively prepared for the ancient giants' arrival.

If the current generation had access to such resources, this battle would certainly not be the perilous situation it was today.

He asked, "In that battle back then, did you still lose?"

"No!"

"We won!"

The woman's lingering soul, lost in memories of a thousand years ago, still showed a trace of longing on her face:

"In that battle, Middle-earth achieved its greatest military success in ten thousand years!"

"The ancient giant army was almost completely annihilated, with fewer than one in ten Giant Kings surviving."

"We even destroyed half of the Giant Emperors."

"We achieved an unprecedented great victory!"

"We were even preparing to counterattack the Heavenly Realm, to sweep through and utterly eradicate the giant race."

Jiang Fan felt his blood boil as he listened.

So, the battle a thousand years ago had been so glorious!

They had nearly launched a counterattack on the Heavenly Realm!

But then, why did they ultimately lose?

The woman's lingering soul's eyes dimmed, and her face was filled with a bitter smile:

"However, we defeated the ancient giants, but lost to human nature."

"At the moment of the final decisive battle against the ancient giants, some Sages among us betrayed us."

Jiang Fan's expression darkened.

He had long heard about the human betrayal a thousand years ago.

It was said that several human Sages had also been killed because of it.

He hadn't expected the betrayal to occur at such a critical juncture, during the decisive battle. He said in a deep voice:

"Why?"

"What could the ancient giants offer them that was worth betraying Middle-earth?"

He couldn't understand why anyone would betray when the ancient threat was on the verge of being eradicated.

The woman's lingering soul didn't explain, but instead asked in return:

"Do you know how to become a Sage?"

Jiang Fan nodded, "One way is to become a Sage through merit, and another is through destiny. The latter are called 'Inferior Sages'."

"What does the Sages' betrayal have to do with how they became Sages?"

The woman's lingering soul said coldly, "Of course it does!"

"Do you know why Sages who achieve their status through destiny are called 'Inferior Sages'?"

This...

Jiang Fan had truly never considered it.

Both were Sage Realm, but why were those who attained it through merit called 'Sages', while those through destiny were 'Inferior Sages'?

'Inferior' implies a lower rank or incompleteness.

Could there be a drawback to becoming a Sage through destiny?

He probed, "In the Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul realms, an unstable foundation can easily lead to bottlenecks in subsequent stages."

"Could Sages who attain their status through destiny also face similar bottlenecks?"

The woman's lingering soul revealed a look of satisfaction: "You are indeed clever."

"That's right, Sages who achieve their status through destiny are forever stuck at the Sage One-Calamity Realm."

"And back then, to achieve victory in a single decisive battle, many individuals experiencing the Five Heavenly Decline, who lacked sufficient merit, were exceptionally allowed to become Sages through destiny."

Jiang Fan understood.

This also explained why current resources were far inferior to those of ancient times.

With destiny qi depleted, various resources would dry up, just like the contrast between Taicang Great Prefecture and other prefectures.

He frowned, "But do Inferior Sages automatically become traitors?"

Whether one became a traitor should be related to self-interest and character.

It had no causal link with the method of becoming a Sage.

The woman's lingering soul said coldly, "If you were an Inferior Sage, with no hope of further breakthrough in your lifetime."

"But then someone tells you that you can continue to break through just by accumulating resentment?"

What?

Jiang Fan was astonished. Inferior Sages could actually continue to break through this way?

He already knew what would happen next, and said in a deep voice:

"So, the Inferior Sages couldn't resist the temptation and chose to defect to the giants' side on the eve of victory, provoking the resentment of Middle-earth's beings?"

The woman's lingering soul nodded, then shook her head:

"Not all Inferior Sages were tempted, only ten of them."

"But those ten were enough to turn our absolute advantage into a disadvantage during the decisive battle against the Giant Emperors."

Jiang Fan could imagine the scene at that time.

Each Sage was an extremely valuable combatant; losing ten from their side while the enemy gained ten.

That push and pull created a twenty-Sage difference!

No matter how great the advantage, it would be instantly reversed.

The woman's lingering soul said, "The outcome was predictable: our Middle-earth Sages suffered a crushing defeat."

"Several Sages fell during their combined assault, and Sage Tianmu chose to perish with the enemy."

"As I was about to fall, I detonated the realm artifact, the Jade Paper Heavenly Scroll, taking one Giant Emperor with me."

"The strongest Great Sage at the time, Sword Venerable Beixuan, single-handedly faced the Nine-Sun Giant Emperor and the Sleeping Giant Emperor without falling behind."

"However, the addition of a few traitors ultimately led to Sword Venerable Beixuan's demise."

"The now-free Giant Emperors and Giant Kings began to slaughter the human Spirit Transformation and Nascent Soul armies."

"Middle-earth's situation deteriorated sharply, from the brink of a great victory to the verge of annihilation."

Jiang Fan's eyes sparked with fury as he slammed his fist hard on the ground.

"Those ten wretches!"

Having personally experienced the betrayal of Venerable Evil Crow, he understood all too well how troublesome an insider's betrayal could be at a critical moment.

Moreover, the betrayal involved ten Sages, a danger far exceeding that of Venerable Evil Crow by a hundredfold!

The woman's lingering soul snorted, "Calling them wretches insults the word itself! They are Middle-earth's Ten Great Sinners!"

"Now that the millennial war has reignited, if they're not dead, they'll surely descend upon Middle-earth with the giants again, continuing to harvest resentment."

Cold light flickered repeatedly in Jiang Fan's eyes. If Heaven granted him enough time, he swore he would use the rest of his life's strength to eradicate Middle-earth's Ten Great Sins!

Calming himself, he then asked, "What happened next?"

"Why did the ancient giants retreat?"

According to the situation at the time, all of Middle-earth should have been obliterated.

At the very least, Sages and Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators would have been killed without exception.

But from the current situation, Middle-earth still had some old Sages from a thousand years ago.

The woman's lingering soul said:

"Someone stepped forward and, with a certain item, rewrote the tragedy of Middle-earth's annihilation."

She slowly said, "That was... the Ancient Desolation Token."