Chapter 519 — Intelligence

To be honest, Gao Yang did not mind that Pi Yun had once been an Arcanist of the Myriad Shades (and a Sleeper as well). Indeed, from quite early on he had vaguely sensed that this little old man had some connection to those fallen druids—and even without such a connection, Pi Yun could never have been an ordinary low-tier druid.

He knew far too much about high-order divine arts, and was far too well-versed in the history of the Forest Dusk sect; though he explained it all as part of the druidic inheritance, Gao Yang had never believed a word of it. And even setting aside that knowledge beyond the inheritance of a low-tier druid, Pi Yun's creation of the "inversion array" was itself a matter of considerable interest: the inversion array required technology from the ancient Gondor Empire, and its rune matrix incorporated many structures beyond the orthodox druidic tradition. Such things... were very difficult for ordinary druids to access; only those Myriad Shades cultists who were obsessed with extreme technology, and those senior druids holed up in the mountains and forests of the Silver Empire who devoted themselves to ancient arcane arts, could possibly be adept in this field.

Senior druids of the Silver Empire would, in theory, not go running off to human realms to swindle and deceive, so Gao Yang leaned toward the former.

When the window paper was finally torn through, Pi Yun relaxed completely. Holding his teacup, which was no longer quite so warm, he said with a sigh in his voice, "I hesitated for a long time over whether to speak of these things—after all, you seem a decent enough lord, but I also have to look out for my own neck..."

"Now that it is all out in the open, you must feel much lighter," Gao Yang said with a faint smile. "I do not mind what sect you joined back then, so long as you are willing to serve me now. And frankly, your experience with the Two Embers sect is of value to me—through normal channels, it is very hard to learn the secrets inside the Assembly of All Things' End."

He mentioned only the Assembly of All Things' End, because among the Sleepers there was a better mole—Daniel, already promoted to Nightmare Bishop, was a better source of intelligence than Pi Yun.

"Do not set your hopes too high in that regard," Pi Yun cautioned. "The Myriad Shades Church maintains strict internal control. Though a Withering Priest already belongs to the middle and upper ranks, the secrets I could access were still limited. And I left there decades ago; it is hard to say whether things inside are still as I understood them."

Gao Yang looked into Pi Yun's eyes. "At least you can tell me its rough structure, their mode of operation, and their approximate goals."

Pi Yun pondered a moment, then spoke while recalling: "...The Withering Believers are the most basic members of the Assembly of All Things' End. Generally speaking, new members all belong to this tier. The Withering Believers include the lowest-tier druids, merchants and minor nobles who have donated their fortunes, and a considerable number of ordinary people...

"Above the Withering Believers are the Forest Herders. From this tier upward, the ranks are composed entirely of supernaturals. The Forest Herders are an important force of the Assembly of All Things' End; they are responsible for walking the world, recruiting new members by various means, spreading the doctrine of the End of All Things, sowing destruction, managing the grassroots Withering Believers, or carrying out other orders from the higher-ranking priests...

"Above them are the Withering Priests, the tier to which Forest Herders are promoted. Usually, mid-tier supernatural power is required for promotion, but there are exceptions. Withering Priests are qualified to study those ancient texts, to learn and participate in the Assembly's various forbidden researches...

"Higher still are the Archpriests, equivalent to bishops. Only at this tier does one qualify to touch the true secrets of the sect, to understand its full shape, and to converse with the Grand Archpriest...

"The Grand Archpriest is the supreme leader of the Assembly of All Things' End. The lower and middle members have only heard of him, but none are qualified to come into contact with him. It is said the Grand Archpriest dwells in an ancient underground palace, researching the most forbidden arts of flesh and blood...

"The Assembly of All Things' End has a very tight organizational structure and strict internal management. Members at each level have corresponding operational authority. Lower members have no qualification to understand the whole picture of the organization, nor to know the full content of orders from above—this is to prevent leaks of secrets, and also to prevent defectors from doing damage to the organization.

"The Assembly of All Things' End conducts brainwashing-style preaching among the lower and middle ranks. They use the bait of curing terminal illness, granting power, even immortality, to make the faithful follow them to the death—and the various arcane arts they command can indeed fulfill their promises to a degree, such as curing disease and prolonging life. But from what I know, such shallow techniques were never the true purpose of the Assembly of All Things' End. They have a larger plan. I do not know its full content, but judging from some of their research directions, I believe they may be pursuing... some kind of evolution."

Gao Yang could not help raising an eyebrow. "Evolution?! What do you mean?"

"The specifics I do not know, but I once had contact with a female Archpriest named Beiyila—a woman obsessive and mad about biochemical modification. She even fused her own body with a bloodthirsty plant, becoming half plant and half human. She once told me that those modifications were all part of the 'Great Evolution,' and from what I know, other Archpriest-level figures also bear more or less similar modifications, all in preparation for some 'Great Evolution'..."

Gao Yang stroked his chin and thought carefully for a moment—seeking "evolution" through biochemical modification did indeed sound like the path the madmen of the Assembly of All Things' End would take. But was their purpose truly only the pursuit of "evolution"?

Unfortunately, that was all Pi Yun knew—within the Assembly of All Things' End he had ultimately risen only to the height of "Withering Priest," and the secrets he could access were confined to knowing the concept of the "Great Evolution."

Gao Yang asked again, "How much do you know about the cooperation between the Assembly of All Things' End and the Sleepers?"

"I only know that the three great sects established cooperation from the very beginning of their fall into darkness. The Assembly of All Things' End provides biochemical modification technology; the Sleepers provide knowledge and... 'thought assistance'; and the Sons of the Storm... they are a very peculiar group. They bring secret forbidden knowledge from the deep sea and various magical materials not found on land. Apart from that, they hardly establish any communication with the land. They seem to be forever searching for something in the deep sea, and their relations with the other two sects are not so close. The Assembly of All Things' End does maintain regular contact with the Sons of the Storm, but 'we' could never figure out what those ocean madmen were actually after. We even believed they had come into excessive contact with those dark, twisted secrets of the deep sea, and had become transmuted in both mind and body—that sooner or later they would turn into something like sea demons and defect entirely to the side of the ocean."

"Searching for something..." Gao Yang murmured. "Perhaps I could ask Tyr... no, that salted fish probably could not think of anything. They only care about their giant squid..."

After a moment's pondering, Gao Yang tapped the table. "Let us return to the matter of the artificial nerve cord."