Chapter 1086 — No Longer Sacred

At Gao Song's words, a subtle change came over Luo Yan's eyes, and he leaned slightly forward. "It seems you have already reached an agreement with Tarronde?"

"The Tarronde Interim Council is currently the sole legitimate governing body of Tarronde, and the dragons under its rule are lawful citizens. The nations of the Alliance and the Dragon Kingdom shall mutually recognize the aforementioned legitimacy. Beyond that, any dragon that refuses to submit to the Council's authority, does not abide by the Alliance covenant, fails to observe the prescribed border-entry regulations, and endangers the territorial security of Alliance members shall by default hold citizenship in no nation," Gao Heng said, unhurried. "Rogue dragons are a tremendous threat. They threaten us, and they threaten Tarronde just the same."

"...A terrifying decision," Luo Yan could not help saying. "That the dragons could actually make such a decision..."

"This is a race we have never formally dealt with. They think differently from us and have a different history and culture. In some respects, the gulf between them and us is even wider than the gulf between us and the elves," Gao Yan nodded, voicing his impressions of the dragons. "The dragons far surpass other mortal races in discipline, decisiveness, and reverence for contracts, while their capacity to adapt to change and learn new things may be precisely the opposite. We will need time to come to understand and accommodate these new friends, and they will need the same."

Here he paused, then continued with great solemnity: "And this is precisely what we must constantly bear in mind after founding the Alliance. Our allies span nations, span races, and even span the boundaries of what was once known civilization. We have all grown up in different cultural environments, and now we must stand together to meet the survival pressures of the entire world. We lack a process of integration tested by history, so different ways of thinking will inevitably bring frictions large and small, even collisions. Such collisions cannot be resolved by some great power suppressing them with absolute force. First and foremost, they require those nations with strong regional influence to step forward and take the lead—and those nations must themselves be of one mind."

"It seems you truly have been thinking about this matter for a long time," Luo Yan said at last, nodding after deep thought. "I agree with your view—and Typhon is willing to shoulder its due responsibility in this matter as well."

Gao Rong broke into a smile. "You see? Frank and open conversation still has its uses."

Then he moved directly to the next topic: "Next... since we have just touched on the domain of the gods, we may as well extend the subject. We have only just concluded a war against the gods. As leaders of the victorious powers together, I would like to hear your views on that war."

"My views?" A faint, inscrutable bitter smile appeared on Luo Yan's face. "My foremost view is that one such war is quite enough... Such tremendous cost, such grueling fighting, and the fruit of our victory is merely the destruction of a 'mental phantom' of our own creation. Apart from the fragments that can serve only as research material, the God of War left behind nothing but scorched earth—He will certainly not be paying any war reparations. Those words you just used, 'victorious powers,' sound more like irony."

"...The dragons have proven the same thing through their own experience: smashing the shackles by confronting the gods head-on is probably not a good approach. The cost grows heavier as civilization advances, and our current level of development appears to have reached the stage where the cost is too heavy indeed. So unless we have no other choice, we had best choose a more prudent path."

At this, Luo Yan raised his eyelids slightly. "The Theocratic Council?"

"Precisely."

"...I have heard that name more than once lately, and more than once I have guessed at its mechanisms and functions. I can guess that you intend to tamper with the operating mechanisms of the gods, but I cannot guess how exactly you plan to do it," Luo Yan said. "You mentioned several concepts in broad strokes—universal literacy, regularization of the churches, emancipation of thought... So lately I have been pondering what the greatest commonality among them might be."

"The greatest commonality is 'desacralization,'" Gao Yang said, looking into Luo Yan's eyes. At last he had spoken the word aloud, brought it onto the table, laid it before a partner in alliance—yet he had never imagined that this partner would be Luo Yan Augustus. In that moment, even he could not help but marvel at the strangeness of fate. The development of all things in this world is always so unexpected. "Since we both know how the gods came to be, then by reasoning backward a little, we can also work out how they might 'cease to be.'"

Desacralization—the instant Luo Yan heard the word, he narrowed his eyes out of instinct.

As for the true operating core behind Gao Yang's vast plan, he had pondered it for a long time over the past period. He had read through every book Gao Yang had written, was thoroughly familiar with every argument in them, knew every decision Gao Yang had made over the past several years, and had continuously distilled principles from them. Regarding the Theocratic Council, he had in fact nearly glimpsed the whole shape of the plan—lacking only one key word, one hint of a "key."

Now, at last, he knew what that key was.

"Will this work?" He regarded Gao Yang with unprecedented solemnity. "Relying on desacralization alone?"

"Of course not on that one method alone, but it will be the most influential factor among them," Gao Yang explained. "After analyzing the generation principles and operating mechanisms of the gods, we have determined that it is the 'thought currents' of vast numbers of believers that shape the gods and influence them over long periods. And the foundation of such thought currents is 'attributing everything to the divine'—it is precisely because people firmly believe that some matter is the authority of a god that the corresponding authority becomes a god existing in reality. Blocking that process, then, is the key..."

"Blindness and ignorance give rise to such 'thought currents,'" Luo Yan took up the thread himself. "Because people do not know the truth of some matter, and have never even heard of any method grounded in logic for explaining the unknown, they naturally steer the answer toward some being that requires no explanation at all..."

"Yes, the key lies in 'thinking'—active 'thinking,'" Gao Yan nodded. "Only when thinking becomes a habit will people, upon encountering the unknown, first think of the logic behind it rather than attributing it all to some sacred and omnipotent being. And such thinking... must be built on a certain degree of educational普及—on a foundation of widespread education, while also requiring control over the influence of the churches."

"But the wise are always few," Luo Yan tried to find the unattainable points in this theory. "There is no such perfect state in which everyone can think rationally. Nor can you guarantee that education, once普及, will have so ideal an effect on every person—far more likely there will be countless half-informed fools and countless grandstanding 'tavern scholars.' Their thinking has nothing to do with truth; the distance between real knowledge and their minds may be wider than the boundless ocean. Such people..."

A subtle expression crossed Luo Yan's face. Clearly he was not merely deducing these outcomes—he genuinely knew them well. And Gao Yang immediately thought of why Luo Yan's description of these phenomena was so accurate—