Chapter 1026: The First Woe of Madness

Hao Ren was stunned when Claude bowed to Vivian, and so was Vivian herself.

Everyone was shocked except for Claude and Mimir!

Hao Ren had never expected things to turn out this way. After listening to Mimir, he realized that this old vampire, who was so poor that she could not afford to eat, had a far more intimate relationship with the demon hunters than he had imagined. They were supposed to be deadly enemies but in ancient times…

This vampire was the demon hunters’ 14th sage!

A vampire was the demon hunters’ 14th sage! I have to say it again because it’s important.

She was the “interracial friend” of the Thirteen Sages. She was the elder of the demon hunters in their weak years, and even ‘Coldpath’, the stronghold of the demon hunters, was given to them by Vivian!

But Vivian had completely forgotten all about it, and even the demon hunters seemed to have forgotten all about it, which was what Hao Ren could not understand. We can see why Vivian did not remember, but what about the demon hunters? Maybe the demon hunters of old times were dead, but not all of them, were they? Even if there were none left, wouldn’t there be a word left? She was their ‘fourteenth sage’ after all, didn’t they have any records left?

Hao Ren could think of that, and so could others. Even Lily looked serious—but the biggest feature the huskies had was their constant serious look, so it was hard to tell whether the girl was being absent-minded or thinking. “What happened? How did this happen?” asked Y’zaks.

Mimir’s voice continued in their minds, and this time it was clearly explained to Vivian. “That was over six thousand years ago, old friend. In fact, I didn’t even know that. I didn’t know about these things until I was brought here and spent a lot of time with those ‘sages’, so some things might not be accurate. As far as I know, you were really the first person to discover Coldpath. I didn’t even know you back then. You led the nomadic demon hunters to a safe place to live. Though there was no ‘land’ in Coldpath, it was a perfect base for solid security. The demon hunters soon made this space their home and, as you might imagine, began to explore the endless ancient secrets of Coldpath.”

“Coldpath had brought them huge benefits. Before this, the demon hunters were a rather weak race, but after getting Coldpath, they began to have a safe place to study their strength and begin to develop and train stronger tribal fighters. More importantly, they began to explore a variety of strong heritage in this space.”

“Although most of the excavations were elusive and unusable, simply extracting energy from the remains in a primitive and clumsy way was enough to make the demon hunters powerful. Everything looked wonderful.”

“Until they find something that should not be touched in a temple.”

“The sword?” Hao Ren blurted.

“Yes, that sword.” Mimir continued to explain. “The fourteen sages of the demon hunters, including Vivian, found the sword together. It was left carelessly in the corner of a temple, and the strange material and appearance immediately caught their attention. Although it looked ordinary, the sword drew the fourteen sages together, as if it had magic. After a dispute, the fourteen sages disagreed over the handling of the sword.”

“Vivian was very cautious, so she thought that this unknown weapon should be locked up.”

“The Thirteen Sages felt that the sword would give the demon hunter more power, just like any other things in the ruins.”

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“In the end, Beetholis’s intuition played a decisive role: in a vision, he saw a prosperous future of the demon hunter, which was the result of the power of the Dark Sword. So what happened later was logical: the opinions of the Fourteenth Sage were rejected, and the Thirteen Sages held a ceremony to draw strength from the Dark Sword.”

White Flame gave a gasp of horror and asked, “The same thing happened then?”

“No, worse,” explained Mimir. “During the second Woe of Madness, only the demon hunters of the Council of Elders and the sages remained in Coldpath. Most of the demon hunters had spread out across the world, so only a fraction of them was infected. The number of demon hunters during the first Woe of Madness was much less than it is now, and the seal of the gate of Coldpath was not as tight as it is now. During the first Woe of Madness, almost all the demon hunters were there. So the moment the ceremony was performed, it was the entire race that was affected.”

“Where was I?” Vivian asked.

“You left Coldpath. You were angry, so you left, but then you were worried, so you came back, and found that something serious had happened,” answered Mimir.

“How did it work out?” Vivian frowned. “I solved it all by myself?”

“Yes. Based on the memories I read from the brainwaves of twelve sages, you knew a secret path that could enter the Netherrealm Clock Tower directly. That’s normal. After all, you’re the first one who discovered this space. You entered the hall and interrupted the ritual of the Thirteen Sages when all the demon hunters were affected by the Woe of Madness and were completely out of control. They were devastated by the shock of the disruption, and you fought all of them on your own. After days of fighting, they finally came to their senses—roughly.

“In the fierce battle, the first sage suffered the direct exposure of the crimson moon. Her soul was almost completely torn apart. And she died a few years later.”

Mimir paused for a moment to give them some time to think. A few seconds later, Vivian broke the silence. “So the first sage actually died in my hands… What happened after that? How did the hunt begin? Why don’t the current demon hunters know anything about the ’14th sage’?”

“The Woe of Madness was over, but it had completely changed the demon hunters.” Mimir sighed. “You all know that the supernatural races on this planet have hostile instincts against each other, and the Woe of Madness greatly magnified this dark side of the demon hunters. They used to be conservative and cautious, but after the Woe of Madness, all minds were purged. Most demon hunters’ memories were twisted and their way of thinking had turned upside down. They were filled with anger. Although the vendetta among them ended, their anger had all shifted to the otherworldlings. And so the hunt begins.”

This was the truth of the demon hunters declaring war on all the supernatural races in the world – their innate hostility to the otherworldlings was multiplied!

Hao Ren suddenly remembered the soldiers of the Council of Elders who had been caught. The soldiers fell into a fever of ‘purifying heresy’. Although they were still conscious, they talked and acted crazily. They would kill their own people without hesitation. The same ‘great pollution’ occurred in Coldpath 6000 years ago, before the demon hunters started their first hunt. The pollution was stopped by Vivian alone, but it was not perfect: The sound of the godslaying sword had changed the mind of the demon hunters, allowing their innate antagonistic instincts to ‘evolve’ into hunting instincts and, more lethally, it instilled an idea into them:

Heresy must be purified.

So, in the name of purifying heresy, the hunt began.

“Their memories have been erased too?” Vivian frowned. “Otherwise, they should know something about me.”

“This is the weirdest part of the whole thing: Their memories were not fully purged. In fact, all that’s been erased is the memory about you.” Mimir’s eyes were fixed on Vivian. “There’s a complicated curse that befell this place. Most ordinary demon hunters had completely forgotten about everything Vivian Ancestor but the sages used their power to keep the memory. They still had memories of you deep in their consciousness, but they couldn’t mention your name or story. There are some of the oldest books in this tower that contain information about you as the 14th sage, but no one can read them. A few of the demon hunters who survived the first Woe of Madness remembered what happened, but they all died by accident when they tried to say your name. Then the twelve sages realized one thing: it wasn’t the demon hunters who were cursed, it was the name, Vivian Ancestor.”

“You have been obliterated from the memory of the demon hunters. From the first time you met their leader, all the way to the outbreak of the Woe of Madness; everything about you during this period has been covered by dark forces.”

“…That sword didn’t kill me, so it killed my name…” Dumbfounded, Vivian muttered to herself, “That thing was aimed at the goddess of creation…”