FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 6: Ancient Text Fragment (3)**

On his way back, Chen Yi ran into Professor Tress. After exchanging greetings, the professor spoke first. "Oh, Chen Yi. There's something I need to tell you.""Go ahead.""Do you remember the demonkin you defeated the other day?""We didn't defeat it. It just happened to be struck by lightning," Chen Yi carefully corrected."Whatever. Same difference. The point is, yesterday I refined its magic core. Guess what?""It probably makes an exceptionally powerful staff, right?""No," the professor wagged his finger. "The mana in its core is very low. Probably only enough for a basic staff.""How... is that possible?""I know. I've been racking my brain over it too. Generally, the more powerful the monster, the higher the grade of its core and the more mana it can store. But this pureblood demonkin is indeed strange...""Professor, have you ever refined a pureblood demonkin's core before?""No, this is the first time. I even looked up the relevant literature. Pureblood demonkin are so rare that there doesn't seem to be any specific record of their cores in the academy's history.""Professor, thank you for telling me all this.""I should thank you. I was worrying about what to write for next quarter's paper. You've given me excellent material."---Chen Yi bid farewell to Professor Tress and headed to the library, his mind full of curiosity but also excitement. After presenting his access pass, he was allowed into a previously locked private archive.The entire archive contained only one book: the original manuscript of *The God-Demon War*.To his surprise, though the ancient book was a fragment, its content was extraordinarily rich.Unlike the commonly circulated version, this three-thousand-year-old text didn't describe the war itself in as much detail, but its background information was much more thorough. It was like a panoramic scroll of the era.For several days, Chen Yi devoured the ancient fragment ravenously.Because the text was dense, partially damaged, and written in an archaic style, even with Decipher's help, his progress was slow.During those days, the three others who had access rights also came. They had heard that their teammate had swapped his access for an ascendant's ring, and they were green with envy.With that impatient mindset, they naturally couldn't get into the complex ancient book. Most of them left after just half a day, bored and disappointed.---One day, as Chen Yi was reading intently, a voice from behind startled him."So there's only you left, huh?""Ah! Headmaster!" Chen Yi turned to find Headmaster Morin."How's it going? Found anything useful?" the headmaster asked kindly."I've learned a lot, but I have even more questions. You've certainly read this ancient book too, sir."Chen Yi knew the headmaster had come to discuss things as they often did, so he didn't hesitate to ask directly."Yes, more than once. Go ahead with your questions."Chen Yi carefully turned to a page that featured an illustration: a half-n***d man hung on a cross. He wore a crown of thorns, and nails through his hands fixed him to the cross."The explanatory text on this page is largely missing and very hard to decipher. Do you know who this man is? And why is he being crucified?"Headmaster Morin stroked his beard, adjusted his monocle, and said, "Oh? You're most interested in this question?""It took me a long time to interpret that part too. As I recall, my conclusion was that the man on the cross is the god the Demons believed in.""The Demons also believed in gods?""Yes. But unlike us, their god didn't actually exist.""What do you mean?""The Demons imagined a god in their own image."Chen Yi looked at the man in the illustration. "If that image resembles the Demons, then the Demons didn't look much different from us, did they?""That's my view," the headmaster said. "Many researchers hold different opinions.""Why would they create a god that doesn't exist?""Chen Yi, technology and magic are different. Technology wasn't always so terrifying. In fact, the Demons took millions of years to gradually master such power. During the long time before they became so strong, they needed to imagine a powerful being to provide spiritual comfort and a sense of security.""I see... but I can't quite relate to the Demons' way of thinking... By the way, if this man is the Demons' god, why is he being crucified? Shouldn't a god be exalted?""Professor Fangting and I once discussed this question. She proposed a bold hypothesis that I find quite convincing. She said this god is suffering on behalf of the Demons—in other words, the god suffers for his believers.""A god suffers for his believers?" Chen Yi pondered."Yes. In the Demons' minds, their god is great and merciful, willing to sacrifice himself to save his followers. Professor Fangting found an apt word to describe this feeling—divinity.""I understand. That word indeed represents a noble quality rarely found in humans." Chen Yi thought to himself: *Is Tiya also suffering for someone?*The headmaster continued, "Any other questions?"Chen Yi pointed to a short phrase on another page. "What about this sentence? How do you translate it?""Oh, you've asked the right person. Hmm... I translate it as: 'The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.'""I still don't understand." Chen Yi shook his head."It means that truly profound things cannot be accurately described in words.""This... could it be!" Chen Yi looked at the headmaster in surprise."Yes. This was said by a remarkable figure among the Demons. Judging from the text, this was his insight while interacting with the Magic Net.""Indeed.""Unlike us, the Demons were naturally insensitive to the ubiquitous Magic Net. They couldn't channel mana or use magic. But some of their wise and enlightened individuals still vaguely sensed its existence."The headmaster continued, "As you once said, magic is the law of chaos. So for them, expressing that mystical feeling of contact with the Magic Net was even harder than for us. 'The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao' is both an accurate and poetic expression.""I've read in other sources that different Demons had different yet similar terms for this power: Qi, Chakra, Neili, etc."Chen Yi was speechless with astonishment. Clearly, the third-place prize was even more valuable than he had imagined.He asked another question. "There's a description here about the daily life of the Demons. It says that toward evening, their shadows grow longer. Why is that?"The headmaster shook his head. "I haven't figured that out either. I can only speculate that their 'sky light' is different from ours—perhaps a point light source in motion."Chen Yi's eyes lit up. "Oh, like an oil lamp by the roadside at night. The farther you are from the lamp, the longer your shadow. Only for the Demons, it's not they who move, but the direction of the sky light."