The Record of Unusual Creatures

In fact, when Claude said that the first sage did not exist, Hao Ren’s astonishment was not as strong as that of White Flame and Teuton.

He had long suspected this. The first sage was so mysterious that her existence seemed too strange even in the demon hunters’ community. The first sage was a legendary figure who had not been seen for thousands of years, a leader who relied solely on heralds and servants to deliver the message, and an extreme recluse who never left his room. With these deviant features, who was really sure that the first sage was real?

Was it a spiritual symbol to pacify the mind or merely comfort oneself?

It was a heavy blow to White Flame and Teuton. Unlike Hao Ren, they were real demon hunters. They were the hard-core hunters born and raised in the Arctic fortress. They grew up listening to the stories of the sages and the image of the first sage as immortal, powerful and divine had been ingrained in their minds. As the hard-core demon hunters, White Flame and Teuton never imagined that any sage would one day disappear, not to mention the one who disappeared was the immortal first sage, who was said to be more powerful than all the ancient Gods.

Yet the first sage did not exist in the first place.

But a dozen sages had now died in the ritual that activated the Black Sword. The shock of the unbelievable truth seemed to act as a buffer against the loss of life for White Flame and Teuton. They looked at Claude sternly and asked, “You swear it’s true?”

“By any name,” said Claude with a straight face, “including the blood of my family, and the name of every ancestor. The first sage had fallen six thousand years ago, in the most glorious age of mythology, when the demon hunters were emerging, before the first hunt even took place. The first sage may be the only demon hunter who had not fought in the War of the Gods. She was gone before that.”

Hao Ren and others looked at each other. He suddenly realized that the timing seemed crucial. “You mean before the demon hunters officially declare war on the otherworldlings? That is to say, the demon hunters existed before this, but they didn’t declare war on otherworldlings?” Hao Ren asked.

Claude nodded.

“Demon hunters didn’t start hunting until the fall of the first sage? Are these two things connected?” Hao Ren asked again.

“In terms of time, yes. But the hunt is meant to begin.”

Hao Ren felt that he had many questions to ask, but he did not know where to start. “Six thousand years ago…” He frowned. “I thought the history of the War of the Gods should be a lot earlier. After all, the otherworldlings have been on this planet for ten thousand years.”

Vivian explained this mistake. “The 10,000-year time point was calculated from the first batch of otherworldlings reaching the earth but we didn’t start fighting at that time. For the first few thousand years, we were all trying to adapt to the world or to get rid of the aftereffect of crossing the Wall of Reality. Also, all otherworldlings were scattered in different places when arriving on earth, so the first few years were spent in chaos and peace. The demon hunters first became active 6000 years ago, and they didn’t attract much attention when they first appeared because they were just making small troubles and had a narrow range of activities. There were some frictions among all the otherworldlings at that time, so the activities of the demon hunters were not taken seriously. The demon hunter slowly and cunningly weakened the power of the ‘deities’. It was too late for the otherworldlings to discover that the goal of the demon hunters was to destroy all the supernatural races.

Claude watched as Vivian spoke. When Vivian finished, Claude added, “The demon hunters lived in seclusion in the north for four thousand years before the hunt began, and only a few people knew our race.”

“Okay, we’ll come back to these ancient wars later. Let’s get back to the first sage. Since he died before the War of the Gods began, why do you keep it a secret until now?” asked Hao Ren.

Because the translation plugin automatically translated Claude’s words into Chinese, Hao Ren did not realize that the first sage was a woman.

“The first sage was the greatest clan elder of the demon hunters. She led us to Coldpath, and built a home for the demon hunters who were roaming on the frozen land. She was the hope and moral support of that generation. Many years ago, she was seriously injured and returned to the Netherrealm Clock Tower when she was dying. In the years before her death, in order to keep the clan stable, we have been claiming that the first sage was recovering. This was a lie that must never be debunked because the War of Gods had broken out, the hunt had begun, and our foundation was not stable. So we had to have a wise, strong, eternal leader to lead us. In order to make the lie more perfect, the other twelve elders put on masks to reduce direct communication with the outside world and allow their bodies to be distorted and eroded by magic, thus forming the second act of disguise, making the ‘seclusion of the elders more reasonable and credible,” explained Claude.

“So the claim that sages are distorted by taboo knowledge and cannot communicate with the outside world is all false?” White Flame exclaimed.

“Not all,” said Claude, shaking his head. “Taboo knowledge does distort the body and mind and it’s true that the ordinary demon hunters who communicate too much with sages can be eroded by magic, but it’s not nearly as serious as the myth suggests. They had to do it to cover up the fact that the first sage had fallen. When the thirteen elders were all living in seclusion for the same reason, everyone’s attention was diverted.”

“This is a big lie… It doesn’t have to be that way, especially this lie has continued to this day,” said Hao Ren.

“Yes.” Claude partly agreed with Hao Ren. “We should have stopped the lie after the status of the demon hunters was established but there’s a price to be paid. For the first thousand years, we survived the most difficult years by the faith that the first sage was still alive. A lie lasted a thousand years, and the smartest thing to do was to take it as true. In the past one thousand years, demon hunters had been living this way, accepting the idea of leaders living in seclusion. And, the twelve sages were indeed eroded by taboo knowledge. So we thought it’s better just keep it going.”

“And it’s been going on to this day,” Y’zaks muttered gruffly, “it’s not uncommon.”

History is made up of countless coincidences and countless necessity. No matter how bizarre it turns out to be, there is one point that you have to understand, that is, there is at least one plausible reason for this at all stages of development, and a series of valid reasons make up an absurd situation.

This is a perfect way to describe the secret of the upper class of the demon hunters.

Vivian frowned and stared at Claude. “There’s no problem with the stories you’re telling, the only problem is—how do you know?” asked Vivian.

“I am the servant of the first sage. And the first sage doesn’t exist, so I’m the one who knows the highest secret of the demon hunters. Generations of servants must go through many trials to learn these secrets. I’m young, but it’s not surprising that I know these things,” Claude answered naturally.

“You’re not just ‘knowing’ these things,” Vivian said, raising her eyebrow. “I’ve lived for over ten thousand years, and I’ve seen everything. Repeating something from a book is one thing, recalling your own experience is another. The way you look and the little habit you have when you’re telling these things. You can’t hide it from me. You’re not repeating what you learned from the book, you’re recalling. Claude was a young, new-generation demon hunter. But the one who told us the story… was the Ancient.”

Vivian’s statement was a bit cryptic. It took Hao Ren a while to realize what she meant.

Claude seemed to make some sort of judgment after a thoughtful look at Vivian. He nodded and said, “Yes, you are right. Now the dust has settled. Ma’am, please allow me to take you… and your friends somewhere.”