Although Angelica's explanation had been vague, Hao Ren still managed to form a rough idea of the Ancient Sage's situation from her few brief remarks along the way.
First of all, there was no doubt that the Ancient Sage was not human, and he was still alive even now—though his condition was extremely poor.
The Ancient Sage was indeed the highest being in Twilight City. The humans living there worshiped him as a god among men. In the early days after Twilight City was founded, when the Ancient Sage was still in good condition, he had truly been the city's supreme ruler. However, this situation did not last very long. The Ancient Sage might have paid some kind of price while establishing Twilight City—a sacrifice that caused his vitality to drain away rapidly and gradually left him unable to shoulder the responsibility of managing the city. According to information Wendell provided, the Ancient Sage had stopped directly handling the city's affairs fifteen hundred years ago, and a thousand years ago, he had completely ceased direct contact with the outside world. The Iron Throne had also been closed during that period and was no longer open to ordinary people.
Then, five hundred years ago, the Ancient Sage gradually began losing the ability to communicate with the outside world.
By now, he should have been unable to speak, move, or express any of his wishes. Ordinary people could not communicate with him at all. Only the special group known as the "caretakers," who possessed some mysterious ancient bloodline, could still hear the Ancient Sage's voice through methods resembling telepathy. Even then, what they heard was extremely chaotic and disordered—in Angelica's words, it was like sleep-talking.
A king like that could not rule a kingdom. Therefore, after the Iron Throne was closed, all