What's the problem? This is a big problem!!

Duncan stared at the old gentleman before him, and soon realized that Morris didn't understand what the gushing flames he saw meant—this scholar didn't know about the sun fragments. He probably regarded Nina as another "transcendent being," such as Duncan's dependent, or something that ran out of the subspace as well.

Morris did think so. The moment he saw the gushing flames, he regarded his "student" as a being similar to Duncan. As for why this "subspace family" seemed like one was a giant and the other was a flame, he didn't think much about it—things in subspace are weird, that's normal. Anyway, there aren't any living people there, and the big shots grow however they want...

But now seeing Duncan's reaction, Morris finally vaguely realized that the situation might not be what he had guessed.

"Nina, she..." The old man hesitated to speak. After experiencing that kind of fear and shock just now, he actually felt a trace of worry—worry for his student.

He himself even found this worry a little ridiculous, because that gushing flame... no matter what its main body was, it was obviously powerful to an unbelievable extent. Such a powerful being couldn't possibly still be his fragile and ordinary student.

Duncan shook his head.

"Nina is different from me—she's an ordinary person, she always has been," he said slowly, his expression very serious. "She doesn't know that she has anything special about her. As for the flames you mentioned... that might be 'something else.'"

"I... don't quite understand."

Duncan looked at Morris for a while, and finally didn't directly mention the sun fragments, but suddenly changed the subject: "Do you know anything about the so-called 'True Sun God' worshiped by the sun cultists?"

"True Sun God?" Morris frowned, wondering why the other party suddenly led the topic here, but he quickly replied, "Of course, I know something about it. After all, those cultists have existed for a long time, and many of their sacrificial activities are actually part of historical research.

"The True Sun God is what they call their god, but usually the followers of the orthodox gods don't say it that way—we call it the 'Black Sun' or 'Dark Sun God,' and in some older classics, ancient scholars also used the term 'Creeping Sun Wheel' to refer to Him."

"Creeping Sun Wheel?" Duncan raised his eyebrows. He had heard of the Black Sun, but this was the first time he had heard the name "Creeping Sun Wheel," and the name immediately reminded him of the scene he had seen through the sun mask—a bizarre ancient god whose decaying limbs were burning fiercely under the glorious corona.

"Yes, few people mention this name outside the professional field, because this name is a record passed down from the ancient kingdom period, and its original manuscript was written in Cretan script, which makes the title 'Creeping Sun Wheel' have a certain mysterious tendency. Spreading it too widely among ordinary people may have a bad impact."

Morris nodded, explaining the details. When talking about things in the academic field, he seemed to have forgotten the terrible "truth" behind Duncan, and returned to the time when he visited this antique shop many days ago and had a pleasant conversation with the shop owner.

He even felt that the buzzing noise in his head disappeared unconsciously.

"The ancient Cretan kingdom..." Duncan was quite surprised. "Do those sun-worshipping cultists have such a long history?!"

"...Yes, although it's unbelievable, those heretics who worship the Creeping Sun Wheel can even be traced back to the heyday of the ancient kingdom, and considering that the current anomaly 001—the Sun—only rose from the sea after the collapse of the ancient Cretan kingdom..." Morris paused at this point, seeming to hesitate for a few seconds before continuing, "In fact, the orthodox academic community and the Four Gods Church have always been reluctant to discuss this issue head-on—considering the year when the anomaly Sun rose, the Black Sun's belief is actually older than the history of anomaly 001..."

Duncan was silent for a while.

The history of the Black Sun is longer than the history of the anomaly Sun. This is a very reasonable but also a fact that the Four Gods Church is unwilling to admit.

Because admitting this fact means admitting another thing at the same time—that one claim made by those sun believers is true:

The "True Sun God" was the real sun in ancient times, and the anomaly Sun that came later was actually a "desecrated creation" that stole the sun's authority.

"...So, the sun cultists' claim is true. Before the Deep Sea Era, it was their 'Lord' who illuminated this world," Duncan suddenly said after a half-minute of silence. "If we use the standard of 'who is older, who is orthodox,' then they are the orthodox ones."

"There are many factions in the academic world, and many claims, and this is the most rebellious of all rebellious claims—almost half a foot has stepped on the boundary of 'heresy,'" Morris sighed. "But the existence of many manuscripts in the Cretan kingdom prevents us from avoiding this problem."

"Just assume that those cultists have mastered some truths," Duncan shook his head gently. "But this cannot change the fact that their belief is now very dangerous to this world. After all, no matter what their Lord was like before the Deep Sea Era, His current state... tsk tsk."

Morris listened and suddenly reacted.

He woke up from the peaceful atmosphere of discussing academic issues with an acquaintance, and looked at Duncan with suspicion: "Wait, what you mean... Could it be that you..."

"I happened to see Him once," Duncan thought for a while, feeling that it was necessary to share some weighty information with the old gentleman. After all, he had gotten so much knowledge from this scholar for free, and he felt bad for always taking advantage,

"How should I put it... He's so miserable that I can't even bear to look at Him, and there's no hope of recovery. I don't think what those sun believers are doing can save their Lord—I think they are forcing their Lord in a more crazy and twisted direction."

He paused and looked at the old gentleman opposite him: "Do you want me to tell you what He looks like now? Maybe you can get some inspi..."

Morris felt his head shaking from the moment Duncan started speaking. Taking advantage of the other party's short pause at this time, he finally seized the opportunity and exclaimed: "No need!"

Then he seemed to feel that this was a bit offensive, so he quickly coughed twice and said with a serious and respectful expression: "This is not knowledge that I should come into contact with."

"...Oh right, sorry," Duncan was stunned, reacted, and quickly waved his hand. "Then let's not discuss this topic. Let's talk about the Black Sun belief in the real world—those cultists have been trying to resurrect their Lord, but their simple and crude sacrifices of living people have never had any effect. In history, have they achieved any 'results'?"

"The sun heretics have caused a lot of damage, but how can the power of mortals accomplish the 'resurrection of the sun'?" Morris recalled and said slowly, "As far as I know, there are only a few records of the Black Sun's power appearing on a large scale in history.

"The earliest record was at the end of the Chaotic Dynasty. Due to the long-term accumulation of a large number of historical problems left over from the collapse of the ancient Cretan kingdom, several city-states continued to erupt into civil wars and famines. The sun heretics took advantage of the situation and created a bloody great sacrifice in a city-state called 'Charon.' Later, they summoned a huge living fireball. The fireball floated over Charon for five days before dissipating, and finally melted the entire city-state into a piece of glass.

"Another time occurred in the classical city-state era. The specific cause is unknown, but the result was that several small city-states on the edge of the civilized world disappeared overnight—witness records show that huge luminous cracks appeared in the sky, and a sun wheel rose from the cracks. The city-states were pulled out of the sea by huge gravity, torn into slender strips, and then fell into it."

"The most recent one occurred at the beginning of the New City-State Era, and it was also the most bizarre one, because that disaster did not leave any eyewitness reports or damage reports. There was no evidence, no records, no one knew or remembered, not even... It's not certain which year it happened, or where it happened..."

Duncan listened in astonishment, and finally couldn't help but say: "No one knows it happened? Then how can it be called a large-scale manifestation of the Black Sun's power? People don't even know which city-state was attacked?"

"Yes, it's so bizarre. This is beyond the realm that ordinary scholars would study, but my identity at the Academy of Truth allows me to access some relevant information," Morris nodded, and said with a serious expression, "That thing did happen, because on one morning, the most sacred 'Chronicle Pillar' of the Flamekeeper Church suddenly had a line of words on it.

"That line of words mentioned a city-state that didn't exist at all, and there was only one sentence in total:

"'Wilhelm's last message, the Black Sun descends from history, we have failed.'"

Chapter 180 A Historian Talks About History