Chapter 198 Chapter 198: Yet, of the Five Heroes, Four Are Gone
Chapter 198: Yet, of the Five Heroes, Four Are Gone
Even if he might not possess much scientific or research-oriented thinking and talent, in terms of pure intelligence alone, Kevin was definitely several times smarter than the vast majority of people.
Whether it was the experience accumulated over a long period or his completely meticulous and thorough observational skills... if he truly wanted to take up some detective-like work, most amateurs would probably be out of a job right away.
As things stand now, isn't the information obtained already more than enough?
The words of Dan Heng, Jingliu, and others all pointed to their original team having exactly around five members. And from the information Kevin obtained from Qingque, the former "Five Cloud Heroes" were the most famous heroes on the Luofu. Yet, the information officially revealed was—so far, apart from Jing Yuan, the remaining four have completely disappeared without a trace.
How does that saying go again?
History has always been written by the victors.
Such a description might be slightly inappropriate here, but it ultimately cannot change this fact—the higher-ups of a civilization always use similar methods to revise or beautify a piece of history, making it appear as non-ironic as possible, and even beneficial to themselves.
For instance, no matter from which angle you look at it, five heroes who never betrayed the Alliance from start to finish would, however you think about it, be much better than five heroes who turned against each other due to some incident, becoming isolated and abandoned by all, right?
At the very least, the former can still bring an unparalleled sense of belonging and motivation to ordinary people, encouraging them to continue striving in this direction and constantly contributing to the growth of civilization.
As for the latter... apart from raising some vigilance, what remains might be endless questioning and future troubles. No matter how you think about it, the Alliance's higher-ups had absolutely no need to choose this path, right?
To be honest, Kevin actually has no interest at all in commenting on or criticizing such actions by the Xianzhou Alliance—just like in Belobog not long ago, didn't Bronya also completely conceal the fact that Cocolia devoted herself to the Stellaron, instead portraying her entirely as a great hero who sacrificed herself for the future?
It's as if... if everything about Kevin Kaslana could still be sung about on Earth today, it would most likely only be about his life spent striving for humanity's future, a magnificent and eventful life. Yet it would completely omit whether he had ever committed any major mistakes.
Is the truth important? Of course it is. But from beginning to end, it is only held in the hands of a few. To keep society and civilization functioning, lies are indispensable.
Or to put it more bluntly, it is precisely the interweaving of lies and truth that constructs the world as we know it today.
Yet even though Kevin has no interest in delving into these historical truths already buried by time, what might happen next forces him to try and clear away the fog—after all, only by doing so can he ensure how to choose his next path.
"The story of the Five Cloud Heroes... alright, although much of that history has been sealed away by the Ten-Lords Commission, it's actually not much of a secret within the Alliance."
The secrecy is naturally aimed at most ordinary people on the Xianzhou ships. As one of the Six Charioteers and the Master Diviner, Fu Xuan logically should know most of the secrets within the Alliance. Faced with Kevin's question, she merely pondered briefly before softly replying: "After all, you've helped Luofu so much. I believe even General Jing Yuan wouldn't say much about this matter. Besides... haven't you already met them?"
"Although I can't help but feel that such matters are more appropriate for the General to explain personally, but given that he has just finished exhausting himself, and considering his temperament... let's just forget it."
As she spoke, Fu Xuan gave a look to the Cloud Knights around her, ordering them to continue guarding the entrance to Scalegorge Waterscape while waiting for the remaining few to return. Then she continued explaining to Kevin: "Since I'm prepared to tell their story, I suppose there's no harm in me explaining it a bit more clearly."
"The once universally known Five Cloud Heroes of the Alliance were: the former Luofu Sword Champion Jingliu; Cloud Knight Lieutenant Jing Yuan; Vidyadhara Dragon Lord Dan Feng; Foxian pilot Baiheng; and Yingxing, a short-life species genius artisan from the Artisanship Commission."
"As a heroic group even celebrated to this day, they once drove away the invading Borisin fleet at Talasa; disrupted the alliance between the Wingweavers and Abominations within the Abundance coalition; even relieved the siege on Yuque and crushed the living planet 'Cetus Mimicry,' preserving the Alliance's eye gazing into the starry sea..."
"Any single one of these achievements would be enough for someone to boast about for a lifetime. Yet with just a team of five, they accomplished feats others wouldn't even dare imagine."
"However, their accumulated merits ultimately couldn't withstand time's gentle snap of a finger. In just a short span of a hundred years, the ever-victorious Five Cloud Heroes in war reached a turning point in fate—"
Just from Fu Xuan's continuous narration alone, one could probably sense that before time's great power, everything seems so insignificant... Even great heroes once revered by hundreds of millions; today, their magnificent lives have only left behind these fragments of words.
Reaching this point in her speech, Fu Xuan also paused briefly before continuing with a slightly regretful tone: "During an expedition, that Foxian pilot Baiheng unexpectedly lost her life."
"But Dan Feng and Yingxing completely couldn't accept their old friend's passing... With Dan Feng's support, that short-life species genius infiltrated Scalegorge Waterscape and even succeeded in combining the Vidyadhara's dragon transformation art with the power of The Abundance—unfortunately, they failed to successfully resurrect their friend. Instead, they created a mindless draconic abomination."
"The story after that is: the abomination swept through Luofu; former Sword Champion Jingliu fell into Mara-Struck state in exchange for power to slay the abomination but committed grave mistakes in her mindless state and was exiled from Luofu... Principal offender Dan Feng was sentenced to scale-shedding punishment; accomplice Yingxing disappeared without a trace after the abomination's rampage—"
"That's how things unfolded. After that, the Alliance sealed away history concerning this matter, leaving only the past deeds of the Five Cloud Heroes for later generations to celebrate... In a sense, this is also good for them, right?"
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