Unlike other experts who tried their luck with the Timeless Library, the demon sage was almost guaranteed to transcend without it. Which means he had no need to risk losing his kingdom and everything he built. He had done so purely for the greater good.

When you think about exactly what the Timeless Library meant, it was quite a.n.a.logous with faith seeds.

Faith seeds represented the path of another's cultivation. Yes, it made the initial stages much easier, but, it came at a cost.

A person with a faith seed could tap into the experience and talent of another past expert to speed up their cultivation to unprecedented levels. But, in order to cultivate, you had to come to an understanding of your own path of cultivation, thus creating your own faith seed.

If until that faithful moment, you spent much of your life relying on the talent of another to advance, one can imagine how difficult it would be to break away from that path and forge your own.

At the same time, having the path laid out for you made it easier, but it also didn't mean it was a foregone conclusion that you would become a great expert. Take the first-in-line genius that replaced the Demon Sage as an example. He barely cultivated to a high celestial stage, something that was pitifully weak in the grand scheme of things, despite having a faith seed at his disposal.

In the same vein, the legacies of the Timeless Library worked much in the same way. They would serve as a temporary boost in power, yes. But, it would only hinder your transcendence by clouding your own path with the paths of others.

This wasn't to say that faith seeded martial artists couldn't transcend, because they could. It was all about making use of your faith seed intelligently. This was because while faith seeds provided you a path of cultivation, it also provided a boost in talent and a library of possible techniques, akin to what a beast species would have access to.

So, if one focused their use of their faith seed in those latter options, as opposed to allowing it to guide your thinking and influence your path, you might even end up with a higher chance that a normal martial artist at transcending. The problem was that this was easier said than done… How many could resist the temptation of quick and immediate results? The answer was too few.

Patriarch Pakal seemed to be trying to gather himself. Caedlum and his elder brother could only sit there, astonished for what was the second time that day. They truly had never seen their father act in this way.

What they didn't know was that Patriarch Pakal's whirlwind of emotions wasn't just due to his reverence of the Demon Sage… It was also a reflection of the pain and frustration the now Pakal Emperor G.o.d Clan had put his branch family through under the guise of their ignorance.

"Do you know the complete story of the Time Library, Dyon?" Patriarch Pakal started, after calming himself.

Dyon nodded. The fact was he likely knew more about the real secret behind the Time Library than most anyone in this plane of existence considering the talks he had with his grand teacher.

"Then you know that the demon sage completely lost his mind after those events… And rightfully so.

Much of the specifics have been lost, but from what I understood during my studies all those years ago, is that despite the demon sage being the most powerful expert within this quadrant, he couldn't very well battle armies of trillions on his own.

Knowing this, his enemies completely decimated his empire in the hundreds of years he spent absent… But did you ever think about how ridiculous that was?"

Dyon pondered. It did in fact make little sense… If the demon sage had built his kingdom well, his absence shouldn't have been enough for it to crumble. After all, he controlled 50% of the quadrant at one time. With his faith haven't spread so far, those loyal to him were numerous. On top of that, a few hundred years, which was what his absence amounted to, was a mere blink of an eye for experts at the highest level… and there was no doubt to be had that the demon sage at one point had myriads of celestial and dao formation level experts under him. Dyon wouldn't have even found it surprising if there had been a handful of half-step transcendent either.

Yes, the demon sage was the strongest existence in the quadrant. But, his empire should have reflected his strength. So, how did it crumble so quickly?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Dyon's mind, 'That has to be it…'

However, to his surprise, Patriarch Pakal responded with, "The truth is, I don't know. The records aren't clear on this at all. There's definitely something important that's been lost to us in the stream of time. All I do know is that some way… Some how… tens of experts on the level of the demon sage descended into our quadrant, and laid waste to everything he had built in a matter of decades… His empire never stood a chance."

A cold light flashed in Dyon's eyes. How could he have not already figured out what was going on?

Tens of experts on the level of the demon sage? Them choosing to act only when they knew he would be gone? Or maybe, they even coordinated with those of the Chaos path that lay the trap that was the Timeless Library…

Where would you find those experts? Where else but within their opposed quadrants!

Dyon's grand teacher had already told Dyon about the compet.i.tion between Epistemic Towers. Every quadrant of a hundred universes shared a single Epistemic Tower. But, there were ten thousand universes left after the collapse of the other quadrants…

What did that mean? It meant that there were 99 other Epistemic Towers that had been grooming their very own Demon Sages…

What would you do if you became aware that your compet.i.tor was but a hair's breath away from transcending?

It was no secret that the demon sage was the best of the best. He was only a single conquered universe away from breaching the final level of his Epistemic Tower and completing the final trial to achieve transcendence.

The demon sage had known his enemies were watching. But, he wanted to do something for humanity before he transcended above it all… and his enemies had crushed everything he cared about in response.