Blind Spot
Chapter 665 - 610 truly 2

Chapter 665: 610 truly 2

Soon, over the course of several days, the noble domains around announced their surrender in succession, merging into the Okra Domain.

Some opportunists and wandering knights who had committed sins came to seek refuge, thinking this place was their paradise after hearing about the atrocious reputation of Baron Carlos.

Unfortunately, all the later seekers, after being interrogated and their crimes determined, were arbitrarily strangled to death by Li Chengyi.

Of course, the vast knowledge and skills they possessed until their deaths, as well as their past experiences, were also extracted by Li Chengyi and turned into nourishment for himself.

With Li Chengyi’s unbridled expansion, in just two months, the black Deer Flag of the Okra Domain had filled the entire eastern region of the Sola Empire, occupying nearly a third of the Empire’s territory.

By then, the White Tower and the Tower of Knowledge had barely united with the royal family, gathering an army of ten thousand, and officially raised the banner to suppress Carlos.

The nobles’ intricate social interplay meant that even when united, their efficiency was extremely low.

By this time, Li Chengyi had already arrived at the City of Mages belonging to the White Tower. Following him were more than thirty newly subjugated Barbarian Warriors and over a hundred human soldiers forcefully gathered.

Standing outside the city in the snow, Li Chengyi gazed at the snow-white high tower that soared over a hundred stories tall within the city.

The top of the tower shimmered with a silver light that never extinguished.

It was the glow of magic, representing the very foundation of the Sola Empire, home to the first White Tower Mage—Auburn Tiraman.

The only Level Nine Mage in the entire Sola Empire, and the most powerful mage who had signed a treaty of cooperation with the dragon race.

Feeling that four-tenths of the Sword Furnace Flame had already occupied the Primordial Spirit Sword Palace, Li Chengyi looked at the White Tower with the eyes of a glutton beholding an exquisite feast.

’Merely by interrogating those White Tower Mages, the flame of my Sword Furnace has grown by another tenth. I cannot fathom what level it could reach if I were to acquire all the knowledge within the White Tower!’

The system of all knowledge follows a pyramid structure, with the majority being foundational knowledge at the base.

As one ascends, all knowledge begins to intersect, with many principles essentially repeating and resembling each other.

Thus, having collected up to now, Li Chengyi had found that many skills and knowledge systems of this world had begun to overlap and intersect.

Gaining completely unknown and unencountered information was becoming gradually more difficult.

As the heavy snow fell, just as he raised his hand to give the order to attack the city, the next moment...

Whoosh!

A massive white shadow burst forth from the silver light at the top of the White Tower, rapidly approaching from above.

The shadow had a slender serpentine neck, immaculate white scales, and broad wings—clearly, it was an elegant White Dragon, over ten meters in length.

A Mage with a bald head and white beard, whose eyes burned with silver flames, sat upon the back of the White Dragon.

He held a short staff forged from gold and, from his elevated position, looked down at Li Chengyi.

"Baron Carlos, what brings you here?"

The smile on Li Chengyi’s face gradually faded, and for the first time, he felt a formidable, undeniable threat emanating from the other party.

Considering the threat he felt, coupled with the White Dragon his adversary was riding, there was no doubt that this man was the Empire’s strongest Mage, Auburn Tiraman.

"I come in pursuit of knowledge," Li Chengyi answered sincerely.

"People all say you come for your personal ambitions, but now that I see you," Auburn disembarked the White Dragon, his figure turning into an electric arc, flashing to the ground, returning to human form.

"In your eyes, there is no ambition, only exploration."

"The Mage is perceptive," Li Chengyi smiled.

At that moment, the White Dragon landed, stirring up a great spray of snow powder, and roared at Li Chengyi.

Hiss!!

The White Dragon’s eyes were blood-red, devoid of any intelligence, and behaved like a powerful beast.

Li Chengyi looked up, his eyes flashing with a depth of darkness intertwined with numerous dark gold threads.

A trace of the Divine Dark Dragon’s bloodline aura was faintly released.

Awooo!!!

The White Dragon immediately bristled its scales as if a bird fluffed its feathers, its massive body frantically leaning backward.

Before Auburn could call out, it turned and took off like it was fleeing for its life, rapidly flapping its wings and disappearing into the snowy horizon.

"Such a formidable, unknown dragon’s blood....!!" Auburn recognized the trace of aura from just before. He also seemed to understand the source of the opponent’s strength.

He paid no heed to the fleeing White Dragon, but instead fixed a cold gaze on Li Chengyi.

"If you truly are here for knowledge, then the White Tower’s library is open to you. Will you still wage war on the City of Mage?"

"Naturally, I will not. I cherish peace, and deeply abhor meaningless slaughter," Li Chengyi answered solemnly.

"Would you care to make a treaty?"

"Of course."

"Mida!" Auburn called out softly.

Soon, the gates of the White Tower opened, and a group of White Tower Mages rapidly rode out on horses.

Among the few leading them was none other than the White Tower Mage Mida, who had previously sent an owl to investigate Li Chengyi.

Auburn did not care that Mida’s assistants and subordinates had died at the hands of Carlos.

He was only concerned with how to quickly end the chaos.

The Sola royal family did not mind whether Tislan or Carlos ruled the eastern region, as long as they could continue to stabilize the eastern frontier. Everything would be fine.

After weighing the cost of dealing with Carlos, the royal family decided to follow Auburn’s advice. Since Carlos had raised the banner of pursuing knowledge, then they would give him knowledge.

Hence the negotiation beneath the city was arranged.

"I..."

Mida’s expression turned ugly, but he had no room to refuse.

He fell silent for a moment, and finally nodded.

"I am willing!"

"According to the regulations based on the size of the domain, the Okra Domain has reached the status of a Viscount, hence Baron Carlos is automatically promoted to Viscount. On behalf of the White Tower, I can sign a knowledge exchange and sharing agreement with the Okra Domain," Auburn said, finally revealing a slight smile upon seeing Mida’s nod.

With a wave of his hand, countless snowflakes in the air began to spin and converge, quickly forming a sheet of paper made of ice and snow.

Lines of text for the agreement automatically surfaced on the paper, followed by the seal of the White Tower and his name.

Thereafter, the paper flew towards Li Chengyi, hovering in front of him.

Li Chengyi read through all the text carefully, nodded in satisfaction, and pressed his thumbprint onto it.

Hum.

The agreement suddenly disintegrated, transforming into snowflakes that disappeared without a trace.

In the profound depths, Li Chengyi felt as if some sort of connection had been established with the world and was now linked to him.

"What is the principle behind this contract!?" His eyes lit up with curiosity.

"This is a natural contract. A great agreement established under the witness of the natural world. As a Level Nine Mage, I can only sign three of these fate contracts in my lifetime," Auburn said gravely.

"Truly magical... Can I gain knowledge of this aspect?" Li Chengyi’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Witnessing such pure anticipation and curiosity, Auburn finally began to believe that the other party had indeed come solely in pursuit of knowledge.

Wars and slaughters were merely mediums for the flow of knowledge.

"Of course!" he nodded seriously.

As a scholar of equal purity, a peak mage of utmost purity, he felt a great fondness for such individuals.

"When can I see the materials for this part? Can I see them now?" Li Chengyi asked promptly.

"Now?" Auburn was taken aback; seeing the other’s unmasked pure curiosity, his originally stern features gradually softened.

"Of course!"

They promptly walked together and entered the City of Mage, heading towards the White Tower.

The left-behind generals of the Okra Domain’s army exchanged bewildered looks and gazed at the garrison of the City of Mage from afar for hours, until they finally received a ceasefire and withdrawal notice from their liege.

Thus, the tumultuous Deer Flag Uprising, which had lasted only a few months, ended in an indescribably anticlimactic fashion.

As the invincible leader, Baron Carlos declared his alliance with the White Tower publicly, becoming a special advisor to the City of Mage and directly joining the White Tower for academic exchange.

This exchange lasted two years.

*

*

*

Two years later.

At the top of the White Tower.

Auburn and Li Chengyi stood side by side, gazing at the distant horizon from the tower’s terrace.

Dazzling silver light shimmered, danced, and burned behind them, casting their faces in partial shadow.

"Do you feel it?" Auburn asked in a low voice.

"Yes..." Li Chengyi beside him replied calmly, nodding. "The root of the natural contract, I feel it..."

He lacked the qualifications of a mage, but his consciousness power was far stronger than that of a common mage. After mastering the method, he easily followed the links of the natural agreement that bound him and extended his perception to the natural agreement hall located in the great beyond.

"The cornerstone of the world binds all things, inducing them to operate and cycle within a predefined range and framework. But such a cycle is not perfect," Auburn sighed.

"Nothing in this world is perfect, so to compensate, the world naturally conceives the agreement hall," he continued, "It’s for the successors to fill the gaps that shake the foundation."

"So that’s how it is... I can really... really see it..."

Li Chengyi closed his eyes, his consciousness power tracing the connection into that pitch-black hall located in the void.

Within the hall, the walls were adorned with various agreements made between different life forms.

Over the past two years, Li Chengyi had absorbed all the systems and knowledge of the White Tower ceaselessly, having already fully assimilated the entire White Tower’s system and its knowledge.

The flames in his Primordial Spirit Sword Palace had spread to seven-tenths of its full extent. His physical fitness had also improved to nineteen times that of Milton.

But at this juncture, no matter how much more knowledge he absorbed, he could not advance any further.

It seemed as if most of the new knowledge was repetition.

To ignite the Divine Fire, his accumulation in breadth was now sufficient, perhaps he just lacked depth.

Now, having found access to the agreement hall, the flames in his Sword Furnace surged forth, providing a small breakthrough.

"The world, nature, beyond the rules that govern the operation of all things, what else is there? Why do I feel unable to thoroughly understand despite having learned so much knowledge?"

Contemplating this, Li Chengyi could not help but sigh aloud.

"Carlos, your talent is unparalleled in my experience; had you the aptitude of a mage, perhaps you would become an even greater peak mage than myself. But..." Auburn said, "You have one fatal flaw."

"What is it?"

Over the past two years, the two of them, through extensive exchanges, had gradually established a relationship akin to fellow daoists.

Auburn was also extremely aloof by nature, only interested in pursuing truth and knowledge. Thus, their relationship had improved significantly since before.

"It’s experience," Auburn said with a smile.

"Books are but records. You can learn the feelings and experiences extracted from them, but they are not your own true experiences. Once they are recorded, they are no longer complete. What you truly lack now isn’t books, but rather practice."

"Practice..." A lightning bolt seemed to streak through Li Chengyi’s mind.

Indeed.

Book knowledge was just one way of documenting all things, a medium, but any documentation was bound to distort the truth and lose information.

Only through personal experience, through one’s own perception, could one obtain information in its entirety, unblemished.

In that moment, Li Chengyi suddenly understood the core reason why his Sword Furnace flames had only reached seven-tenths.

"Go ahead, to probe the truth of the world, you need to try for yourself."