novelraw Chapter 1126 - 336: Empty As Can Be
Chapter 1126 - 336: Empty As Can Be
Chapter 336 [Empty]
The time within the Library Archives.
Year three, month four, day nine.
Location: Underground Level Seven.
In the hall, more than forty rows of stone cabinets are densely filled with various literary works.
No more stone tablets, no more scrolls of skin, no more wooden chips—the obviously more primitive ancient writing carriers have been phased out—in fact, after the third underground level, these things were replaced by better carriers.
After traversing all eight levels, Chen Yan saw many familiar and unfamiliar carriers.
He even saw carriers similar to bamboo slips.
Later, whether it was stone tablets, wooden chips, or bamboo slips, they were all phased out; more scrolls of skin, with various kinds of animal skin, and the processing was more refined.
After tanning, the animal skin acquired anti-corrosion and waterproof properties, allowing longer preservation.
Documents made of animal skin began to increase.
Then, animal skin began to be phased out, transforming into silk, until... paper appeared!
The paper appearing here is similar to paper in the real world; it was manufactured using some kind of plant pulp, with plant fibers added to enhance the paper’s toughness.
But apparently, the plants existing in this world as recorded in the book are probably different from those in Chen Yan’s real world, with better material quality resulting in superior paper quality and texture.
Later, paper evolved into booklets, books.
Then, from handwritten objects, they transformed into fixed text formats—printing technology emerged!
Of course, the text also evolved, from the most ancient pictographic characters, it evolved many times. Later characters became more numerous and their meanings more detailed and precise, making them more complex.
After over three years, Chen Yan has read into the seventh underground level.
That insane old man appeared rarely afterward.
However, he showed up twice more on the underground fourth level and the underground seventh level.
Each time he handed Chen Yan two "comparison dictionaries" for identifying these evolved texts.
With these two new comparison dictionaries, Chen Yan could continue reading on.
·
This "unknown race", their history is very intriguing.
From the second underground level to the seventh, the time span approaches ten thousand years!
This time is no longer guessed or estimated by Chen Yan.
It’s that this race’s civilization, upon adopting the feudal system, began prospering.
They invented calendars, enhanced various production capabilities.
The invention of the calendar made the concept of "time" more accurate.
And the enhancement of production capability and evolution of the system allowed civilization to move forward steadily.
Nations emerged, dynasties appeared.
Culture emerged; religion, philosophy, belief, knowledge...
Perhaps the speed of this civilization’s progress is slower than that of Chen Yan’s reality—where civilizations of ancient countries including Dragon Country have transitioned from slavery to feudalism to modern times in just a few thousand years.
But for this unknown race, their civilization continued a feudal system for tens of thousands of years, almost reaching its peak.
And Chen Yan felt subtly, he could see some buds of progress.
Their history can be described as glorious, splendid, great!
They invented education, great scholars appeared, summarizing and drawing conclusions, then creating various theories.
The ruling class quickly absorbed these theories, integrating them into the system, utilizing them.
They had religion, even a time of religious frenzy emerged, almost developing a state where politics and religion were united.
One or several religions flourished, only to inevitably be supplanted by Divine Teachings, then polytheism was ultimately replaced by monotheism.
A few monotheistic religions became mainstream in that world, holding significant influence in several countries.
That world was vast, the territory spacious, far larger than the real world.
Even an entity like the former "Earth Worshiping Tribe" only occupied a portion—a small portion—of the world at their peak.
Chen Yan increasingly felt that this world was the Domain Realm!
Although evidence is lacking, Chen Yan indeed has this peculiar feeling.
·
When religion controls the ideology, a theocratic regime emerged, where divine power even surpassed secular authority.
Even Emperors had to bow before divine power, needing its recognition to gain legitimacy.
Then, after several major conflicts erupted, it gradually evolved into a mode of unified church and government.
But soon, the inherent flaws of this unified mode led to its end within less than a thousand years.
In a certain period, in several existing countries within that world, the theocratic regimes were gradually overthrown, and religion retreated from the political stage, confined to spiritual belief, diminishing its presence significantly.
Next came a multi-country era that lasted over a thousand years.
Major powers waged wars, small states struggled, countless rises and falls alternated, eventually leading to successive annexations.
This era, in Chen Yan’s view, was similar to Dragon Country’s ancient Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods. Only due to the broader territory, more countries were fragmented, and the chaos lasted longer.