Archbishop Benedictus solemnly stated:
"Xal'atath is extremely dangerous and emotionally unstable. When we found her, she was lying in a Troll village. The entire village had been Corruption the Void, and the villagers had all turned into dark aberrations. It took us a long time to cleanse the dark energy."
Robbie said calmly:
"N'Zoth warned me that there would be no gain from speaking with Xal'atath; her cunning and treachery surpassed that of the other Old Gods, but I still wanted to give it a try."
Benedictus considered for a while, then nodded in agreement. "Hopefully there won't be any problems. Sealing Xal'atath cost the Twilight's Hammer countless manpower and resources."
Robbie said confidently, "Don't worry, I've made preparations and I guarantee there won't be any problems."
Unlike the visions Thrall experienced, the Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire was placed deep underground in a heavily guarded secret chamber within the Wyrmrest Temple.
This secret chamber is enormous, large enough to fit half of the Wyrmrest Temple.
The Twilight's Hammer constructed a pyramid-like structure, sealing it with countless layers of Magic Circle, solely to prevent the energy of Xal'atath from leaking out.
To break the seal on Xal'atath, the Twilight's Hammer was on high alert, with almost all of its high-ranking members present, their faces shrouded in cloaks, all extremely cautious.
With everyone's combined efforts, layer after layer of seals were broken, gradually revealing the true form of this divine weapon: the Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire, a strangely shaped jet-black dagger that seemed to absorb all the light around it.
Sweat dripped from Archbishop Benedictus's forehead, but his hand, which was casting the spell, did not tremble in the slightest; only the final seal remained.
Suddenly, the Blade of the Black Empire trembled and hummed, countless Shadow powers overflowing like a torrent. Benedictus roared:
"She is absorbing Shadow Energy from the Void, attempting to Corruption our world. Seal her away immediately."
Robbie immediately stepped forward and threw a ball of light, which hovered above the Blade of the Black Empire.
The sphere of light generated a tremendous suction force, drawing in all the Shadow Energy. No matter how hard the Blade of the Black Empire tried, not a single bit of Shadow Energy leaked out.
Several bottles appeared in Robbie's hand, filled with a glossy black liquid. The sphere of light had compressed the Shadow Energy from the Void into liquid and stored it.
Benedictus marveled at the sight; the pure Shadow Source Liquid contained terrifying Void Energy, almost as precious as the water from the Well of Eternity.
Realizing its efforts were futile, the Blade of the Black Empire ceased absorbing Void Energy, and a majestic female voice echoed from within:
"This is the technology the Night Elves used to build the Well of Eternity. Has Queen Azshara returned from the Void? What I'm seeing... it's just a bunch of short-lived humans."
An eye appeared on the Blade of the Black Empire, carefully surveying its surroundings, seemingly understanding everything. "So that's how it is. Your magical civilization is already so advanced, but there's still a long way to go to reach the level of my proud Queen Azshara. You still have enormous room for growth."
Robbie stepped forward and asked, "What is the superweapon of the Ancient Zandalari Empire? You can offer reasonable terms in exchange."
Xal'atath chuckled coldly, "Is this how you converse with an Old Gods? I smell N'Zoth on you, and C'Thun, Yogg-Saron... Ha, Y'Shaarj dead after all. That's truly delightful news."
After a long silence, Xal'atath spoke readily:
"I agree to your deal, but you must experience it firsthand and see it for yourself. I will give you a Time Beacon. Go find the Infinite Dragonflight. With this beacon, the Infinite Dragonflight can help you travel to that ancient era without written records. Remember, try not to interfere with the course of history. You'd better be an observer, a pure spectator."
Anyone who has personally experienced a certain era and possesses complete memories can use special magic to extract Time Beacon. Robbie realized the conspiracy and cautiously asked:
What are your conditions?
A burst of laughter came from Xal'atath:
"Elune, can erase the memories of mortals, but she is powerless against the Old Gods. Do you know why they are unwilling to speak of that ancient history?"
Xal'atath suddenly raised his voice:
"Because they were all wrong. Yes, I admit to using cruel methods against the Trolls, feeding them like livestock. I didn't give them freedom, but at least I fed them. The Old Gods quarreled, disagreed with my methods, and united to devour me, leaving only this wisp of my consciousness. But what was the result? The Trolls were freed, but for hundreds of thousands of years, most of Troll lived incredibly miserable lives."
Xal'atath chuckled coldly, "I bestowed upon the Zandalar Emperor supreme power. Even the Loa cannot disobey the Emperor's orders. For hundreds of thousands of years, the Zandalari Empire's imperial power has been incredibly stable. Can you guess how they did it?"
As the saying goes, imperial power is not eternal. A dynasty that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years is almost unimaginable. Robbie pondered for a long time but had no answer.
Benedictus and the Twilight's Hammer cultists were also pondering this, but they too could not find a reason.
Vanessa whispered, "A long life."
Xal'atath laughed:
"The little girl is very clever, but that's not all. I granted the emperor a long lifespan, about a thousand years. I thought that after about ten generations, the emperor would be overthrown, and I would then take back power. But their actions have exceeded my expectations."
Seeing that everyone was still puzzled, Xal'atath said with a hint of smugness:
"Your wisdom is far inferior to that of the Zandalar emperors; their method was intellectual Pain Suppression!"
"Intelligence?" Robbie scratched his head, somewhat puzzled.
Xal'atath explained in a serious tone:
"The Ancient Zandalari Empire had five classes: royalty, Loa, Priests and Witch Doctors, commoners, mainly artisans and craftsmen, and the last class, slaves, who made up about 90% of the total population. Slaves were oppressed from the womb. All slaves were born in temples, where Priests and Witch Doctors used dark magic to ensure that the child would be born after only three months of pregnancy. Then, with magical assistance, the child would grow into a strong adult in ten months."
"My God!" the Twilight's Hammer cultists exclaimed in surprise!
Xal'atath looked around and then said:
"Zandalar slaves born this way are only slightly smarter than gorillas. After all, ordinary manual labor doesn't require high intelligence. A slave in the Zandalari Empire has to work hard for twenty years, and their bodies will age rapidly due to the heavy labor, dying before the age of twenty-five. Do you like such an empire?"
Benedictus said, trembling, "To treat people entirely as tools, to stifle their intelligence—what a dark age this is."
Xal'atath said bitterly:
"The ones who caused all this are Y'Shaarj, C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, N'Zoth. They have no idea about Trolls or humans. My condition is: you must tell my four companions yourself that they are all wrong."