Volume 9 – Chapter 77: You May Be A Dummy (Part 2)
But since this ritual was effective, then there was no need for rush. w.a.n.g Yuechuan stood up happily, “In this case, can you teach me how to carry out this ritual? Then, it will be your turn to absorb it, professor.”
Soon after, Professor Trevor also began to absorb the energy transformed by spirit bodies, and his complexion gradually became better. As for w.a.n.g Yuechuan, he was calculating the gains and losses between consumption and absorption. Sure enough, the gain was greater than consumption.
After all, the consumed magic power could be recovered naturally. Basically, if he had enough rest, he could replenish in one or two days, but it was not easy to increase the upper limit.
While calculating these, he was even observing the so-called spirit bodies absorbed by the ceremony.
Book of the Dead… So, what will be the world of these spirit bodies formed after death?
What will the world after death be?
Whether it was the East culture or West culture, there were a lot of descriptions of the world after death.
For example, the east went along with the idea of Difu [1] while the west went with the h.e.l.l. There was the difference between heaven and heavenly court too.
These descriptions were tainted with shaded interpretation. Humans imagined the world after death to become a complete and rigorous world, but no one had ever really seen the world of the so-called dead.
If these spirit bodies were just a mere aggregation of some kind of energy, why do they look like this? Although they were almost transparent, they were vaguely visible in the form when they were alive.
One of the spirit bodies was absorbed through the ritual pattern. It looked towards w.a.n.g Yuechuan at this moment. It had an agonizing expression; its face gradually became twisted and hideous.
w.a.n.g Yuechuan could even feel a sense of discomfort from the spirit bodies staring at him. It was filled with hatred.
If it was just energy, where did the hatred come from. Did it still retain thoughts?
If there was still thought, according to Professor Trevor’s explanation, it was the will that const.i.tuted magic power which was equivalent to human thought. Does it mean that spirit bodies also retain will?
The world after death. What will it be?
…
“Ghost?”
“Yes! Teacher!”
In the training ground underneath the pet hospital, Mo Xiaofei, who had just completed a training session, was resting now. While drinking a vitality replenishment made by Long Xiruo, he asked, “The girls in our cla.s.s started to discuss Pen Immortal [2]. This makes me curious. Is there a ghost in our world?”
Long Xiruo asked casually while digging her ears, “Why do you talk about Pen Immortal all of a sudden?”
“Cause of the recent movie release. It’s a horror film about Pen Immortals.” Mo Xiaofei blurted, “So, I just want to talk about it. It’s a hot topic, you know!”
Long Xiruo yawned, “Pen Immortal still exists, but it’s a little different from the Pen Immortal you know.”
“What’s the difference?” Mo Xiaofei suddenly showed the appearance of a curious baby.
“First of all, Pen Immortal is not capable of answering all your questions.”
Long Xiruo scratched her other ear, “The first Pen Immortal is a scholar. En… The ancient scholar who studies hard to attain fame. In short, they are the bunch of people who study relentlessly. As they died in front of the books, their obsessions persisted, and they would be attached to the books. Later, there are other readers acquiring such books due to the similar pa.s.sion for knowledge. Both of them resonate with each other. With that, Pen Immortal is born. The readers could get answers to their questions with the Pen Immortal’s help. Somehow, this spreads around as folks’ tales. It’s a process of a deceased scholar pa.s.sing down his learning to the next generation. In the long run, Pen Immortal becomes well-known. It’s quite an amusing story!”
“That’s true!” Mo Xiaofei threw a weird gaze on Long Xiruo, “Isn’t it a free and portable private tutor?”
Long Xiruo waved her hand and said, “Pen Immortal doesn’t appear so easily. Only the genuine scholars with an innocent and kind heart can become a Pen Immortal and attach themselves to books. They will last for a longer time. Typically, a dead means dead. Anyway, the Difu is still closed. The upright energy will dissipate the exposed three immortal souls and seven mortal forms as according to Daoism’s belief.”
“Oh!” Mo Xiaofei nodded, and then he was taken aback, “Teacher, what did you just say…? Difu is closed. Is there really something like the Difu? After we die, is there another world?”
Long Xiruo continued to yawn, propped her head and said, “What’s the matter? Don’t you believe this kind of thing?”
Mo Xiaofei scratched his head and said, “It’s about that; it just feels a little illogical… Isn’t the Difu a place operating reincarnation? In this case, reincarnation after death sounds no problem. However, the population has always been increasing. In the rapid increase, even if the people who died will be reincarnated, they can’t account for so much of the new population, right? So where did the souls of those new populations come from? It can’t be after the souls are reincarnated, they will activate multiple smurf accounts [3], right?”
Long Xiruo smiled and said, “In your words, it is originally a multi-account login.”
“Huh?” Mo Xiaofei opened his mouth.
Long Xiruo rolled her eyes and said, “Otherwise, why do you think it is called three immortal souls and seven mortal forms? If one soul is what it takes for reincarnation, we will have ten of them after splitting them up. There’s nothing wrong with it! As for the soul reincarnated, the nourishment of the body it will grow into another three immortal souls and seven mortal forms. With this repet.i.tion, the reincarnation process is complete. Hence, the increase of population will not create the issue of a lack of souls. Sometimes, this causes the Difu to be over crowded with heavy traffic. They simply can’t keep up! Many years ago, there’s a fool making an oath that if the Difu isn’t empty, he will not practice buddhism. He suffers terribly because of that.”
What the h.e.l.l…
“Teacher, the fool you are talking about is not the legendary Ksitigarbha, right?”
“What do you think?” Long Xiruo asked instead.
Mo Xiaofei knew that he had asked a silly question, and immediately laughed to diffuse the situation, “But, why doesn’t Diyu remain closed now? If it doesn’t open, no one will get to be reincarnated, right?”
Long Xiruo shook her head, “I have no clue about this. The pa.s.sage from Diyu to the mortal world is closed. There must be a particular reason or person behind it. I haven’t seen the Diyu’s Soup Reaper for almost a hundred years.”
“Close…” Mo Xiaofei was a little confused, and asked subconsciously, “Then if it doesn’t open, where does the newly born soul come from?”
Long Xiruo said abruptly, “That’s why there are so many ‘dummy’ in the world! Otherwise, why do you think you can live to this day? Can that boss be so kind? It’s because you are a ‘genuine soul’!”
[1] We’re using “Difu” to signify Chinese mythology of h.e.l.l.
[2] Having a similar concept with ouija board, it’s a witchcraft game to communicate with the spirit.
[3] Smurf account: An Online Gaming term. An alternative computer account used by a known or experienced user in order to deceptively self-present as someone naive or less experienced.