Who hid my body?

Chapter 353 The Origins of Visas (5K)

Edwin entered a pure white world, and in front of him was a tightly closed door.

This is his shallow dream, while the area inside the door is the deep one.

The biggest difference between shallow dreams and deep dreams is that the former is still part of the Lord of Nightmare's dream and will be monitored by the Lord of Nightmare, while the latter is an independent dream created by him after he understood the Lord of Nightmare's power, and it belongs to him completely and cannot be touched by the Lord of Nightmare.

However, shallow dreams are connected to the brain, and information within the dream is also known in the real world. But deep dreams are different; they are like a tightly closed door in front of you. Once locked, the information inside is unknown to the dreamer and cannot be used without retrieving it.

Although it's inconvenient, it's for safety. After all, obtaining power that even the gods fear under the watchful eyes of the gods is no easy feat.

But things are different now.

Edwin looked up at the empty white light above him.

In the past, this place was not empty like it is now; there was a strange "sun," which was the eye of the Lord of Nightmares.

But now it's gone, which means the formation must have worked.

"Heh, these shady dealers can occasionally pull off something surprising." Edwin rubbed his hands together, eagerly heading towards the door symbolizing the deepest dreams. "A dream that can't be spied on is just wonderful..."

Halfway through his sentence, Edwin suddenly froze, then abruptly turned around to look behind him.

But there was nothing behind him, only a white light.

……How is this going?

For a brief moment, Edwin felt as if he were being watched again.

Is it the Lord of Eternal Nightmare?

Edwin examined it carefully, but he couldn't sense the presence of the Lord of Nightmares; the shallow dream was very clean.

That's strange, is this just psychological? I've been under the watchful eye of the Lord of Nightmare for so many years, and now that he's suddenly gone, I feel a little uneasy.

After checking several times without finding anything amiss, Edwin could only conclude that it was his imagination.

This time, he did not hesitate. He opened the door and stepped into the deep dream.

Edwin's deep dream space wasn't large; it was a rather small office. However, instead of books, the desk was piled with rows of memory objects that glowed blue.

“Finally…” Edwin picked up one of them, muttering to himself, “This time I can finally see you properly, and I won’t have to forget you again.”

These memories are not different taboos, but rather the same taboo that Edwin split into what it is now.

Edwin was always extremely cautious about this knowledge. Even in his deepest dreams, he dared not decipher it all at once, only deciphering a little bit at a time and then quickly forgetting it, fearing that knowing too much at once might cause even worse consequences. Who knew if the gods had added any safeguards to this information?

After all, Edwin obtained this knowledge directly from the mind of the Nightmare Lord.

Yes, you heard right, the source of this taboo is none other than the Lord of Nightmares.

As mentioned before, the dream space where the Nightmare Apostles live is the dream of the Nightmare Lord, and this forbidden knowledge also exists in the Nightmare Lord's dream, which was later obtained unintentionally by Edwin, a dream scholar.

Thinking about it this way, it must have been destined by fate.

Edwin was about to unfold the memory, but suddenly felt that coming one by one was too inefficient and lacked a sense of ceremony.

“Yes, how can great knowledge be born in silence?” Edwin closed his eyes and murmured, “In that case, perhaps it would be better to do this…”

Edwin had a sudden thought, and when he opened his eyes again, there were five more people in the room.

All five were Edwins, each holding a memory stick and smiling at the other Edwins.

Let's work together to break this taboo!

They spoke in unison, then sat down contentedly on the conjured chairs, their memory objects unfolding into books.

So the six of them lowered their heads and began to interpret the text with great concentration, just like an important academic seminar.

……

Hevinia looked down at Edwin, who had his eyes tightly closed and was muttering incoherently.

Since just now, Edwin has been talking in his sleep, mostly about things like "Vesas".

Hevinia originally wanted to leave, since if Edwin were to directly reveal the taboo, she might be affected by the divine commandment mark while outside the magic circle.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard Edwin inside the formation say, "Vesas was originally human!"
She immediately pulled her leg back after taking the first step.

After a brief moment of thought, she gave up on leaving and stepped directly into Edwin's formation.

……

“Vesas was human!” one of Edwins cried out in the dream. “He wasn’t a new species, at least not at first.”

All the Edwins raised their heads and looked at this Edwin.

"It really is human?" Edwin's true form pondered. "Although we had suspected this for a while, it's still quite surprising to actually confirm it."

Whether Vesas is human or not is not a new question; it has been debated for many years.

Those who believe he is not human have a straightforward reason: how could a human possibly contend with the gods?
Those who believe he was human also have their own explanation: the body parts left behind by Vesas, no matter how you look at them, are clearly human.

So, is he actually human?
At least now we have the answer—yes.

This answer is beyond doubt, because it comes from the understanding of the Lord of Nightmares.

This is a human being certified by the gods.

“This is a good thing,” Edwin’s clone said. “It shows that mortals are capable of doing what Vessas did, so our research is correct!”

All the Edwins nodded, their faces full of approval.

After all, if Vesas wasn't human, but a new species, they would have a real headache.

The reason the other party can become a god-slayer is because he is not human. So how can humans do what he can do?
"From mortal to god-slayer, he must have experienced something, gained something," Edwin's true form continued. "Find that reason!"

"it is good!!"

The six of them lowered their heads again and began their enthusiastic research.

Soon, new decryption results emerged.

"Vesas is the sole survivor of an ancient human settlement!"

"What settlement?! Tell me quickly!"

"Taoyuan Township!"

……

Taoyuan Township?
Is this the hometown of Visas?
Hevinia, who was listening outside, pondered this.

At this moment, Edwin seemed to have a split personality, occasionally uttering certain keywords and then talking to himself. Although it sounded chaotic at first, it was still possible to make sense of it after sorting it out.

This made Hevinia realize that Vessas came from an ancient human settlement called Paradise, and was the only survivor there.

But why was he the only survivor?

what happened there?
Edwin, who was fast asleep, was clearly also curious, but he quickly found the answer for himself.

"That was a sacrifice, a sacrifice to the gods!"

Sacrifice?

Hevinia's eyes narrowed little by little.

Why do we offer sacrifices to the gods?
"...Why offer sacrifices to the gods?" Edwin in his true form asked.

“There’s no why,” Edwin’s split body replied. “That’s how it was back then….”

The group of Edwins looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Yes, that’s how it was back then,” Edwin’s clone continued. “Humans were in a primitive society back then. They didn’t know magic, they didn’t have martial arts, and the gods didn’t give them power or faith.”

"So what were humans back then?"

“In most cases, they serve as a source of divine power,” Edwin’s clone said. “Gods can draw life force from them to gain power and lifespan.”

"Like food."

"Yes, delicious food."

"So Vessas is a survivor of such a sacrifice?" Edwin's true form became interested. "Is it about that paradise? Is some kind of power hidden there?"

“Uh.” Edwin’s clone, who had spoken earlier, shook his head. “No, it was just an ordinary human settlement, without any special power. If I had to say, it was probably because the place was particularly remote, and the people living there didn’t even know about the existence of gods before they were sacrificed. In today’s terms, they were just ignorant country folk.”

"A country bumpkin who knows nothing? Impossible! Then where did Vessas get his power from?"

"It certainly wasn't Peach Blossom Spring. After Vessus died, the gods searched the ruins of Peach Blossom Spring countless times, but they couldn't find that kind of power," Edwin's clone replied. "I don't have any more records here. I only know that the power of the sacrificed Peach Blossom Spring was supplied to a god called Yin Spirit."

"A spirit?" Another Edwin clone immediately showed a surprised expression.

"what happened?"

“Well, according to my records here,” the Edwin clone said with a strange expression, “the first god to fall at the hands of Vessas was the Lord of the Shadows.”

There was a long silence.

“It seems this is not a war without cause,” Edwin himself said. “It is a revenge, a revenge against the gods.”

……

Revenge against the gods.

After hearing these words, Hevinia was deeply moved and could not calm down for a long time.

People have been speculating about why Vessus started the war against the gods. Some believe it was a massacre of higher-dimensional beings, while others believe it was a powerful madman who wanted to exterminate all living beings and restart the world.

But the real reason was... revenge.

So simple and unpretentious, yet full of weight.

Or rather, there is no reason more significant than this.

But... where does his power come from?

For a long time afterward, Edwin searched for the answer, spouting various messages as if he were having a split personality, only to deny them the next second.

This mostly detailed Vessus's war of revenge against the gods. From Edwin's information, Hevinia truly felt the gods' fear. She could almost see the scene of countless gods falling, and she knew that after Vessus's fall, the remaining gods, drawn by Vessus's power, lost their minds and started another civil war. In the end, only the current eight gods survived, and each of them had their own problems.

……

"The God of Lyra is the most severely injured, to the point where he can no longer maintain his divine kingdom and may perish at any moment," said Edwin's clone number one. "The Lord of Holy Sound has lost his five senses and is like a cripple. The God of the Underworld is also plagued by serious illness... Simply put, after the repeated depletion from the battle with Vessas and the subsequent civil war, the eight surviving gods are all crippled, including the Lord of Eternal Nightmare and the Lord of the Underworld..."

“That’s not what we want to know!” Edwin Split Number Two said. “Vesas! Vesas! Vesas! That’s all I care about. Where does his power come from? Why did the gods stop their research on Vesas at the point of Peach Blossom Spring?! Do they no longer care where Vesas’s power comes from?”

“No, they care a lot.” At this moment, Edwin’s true form finally finished browsing through the information in his hand and said, “It is precisely because they clearly know this that they have shaped the current world order.”

All the parts looked toward the main body.

"The final study of Vesas was conducted by the eight gods after the Civil War ended." Edwin's eyes gleamed with an extremely complex light. "They confirmed it countless times and used each other's powers to reproduce and deduce everything that happened to Vesas during his life, and finally they knew the reason."

"What?!"

"Peach Blossom Spring".

The clones were taken aback, then turned to look at the clone that had provided the information about Peach Blossom Village earlier: "But didn't you just say that there was no power in Peach Blossom Village?"

“There is indeed no power in Peach Blossom Spring, but it is special enough,” the main body said. “That is, it is isolated from the world and unaware of the existence of the gods.”

"so what?"

“Not knowing means not being afraid,” the original said softly. “In ancient times, almost no human would not be afraid of the gods, and under such extreme suppression, no one would think of challenging the gods.”

The various entities looked at each other, still not understanding what the original entity meant.

What? Does not fearing the gods grant power? That's ridiculous.

"Could you please be more explicit?" the split-type entities complained.

"I'd love to be frank, but I can't," Edwin's true form said. "Because I've discovered that our entire world is a deception. Gentlemen, do you remember what powers humanity currently wields?"

"Of course, it's magic and divine arts."

This is the most basic knowledge.

“Yes, magic comes from humanity’s innate talent, while divine magic comes from the gifts of the gods,” Edwin said slowly. “So, which is more powerful, magic or divine magic?”

"Of course, divine magic is more powerful, is there even a question?"

Edwin's main body immediately fixed its gaze on the clone that had spoken: "Why?"

"Of course it's because..." The split body was about to answer, but suddenly thought of something and froze.

“This is what the gods told you,” Edwin said. “Because the gods are the most powerful race in this world, their power naturally far surpasses that of humans. So, people who pursue power will naturally gravitate towards divine magic. But Vessas didn’t know this common knowledge; no one had ever told him.”

In an instant, all the segments of the deep dream fell silent, but each of them wore the same look of shock.

“This is the deduction of the gods,” Edwin said slowly. “Vessas knows no fear, does not understand what power is, and his mind has not been corrupted by the gods. He only witnessed the sacrifice of his homeland and the killing of his relatives by the gods, so all that remained in his heart was anger. He did not know how to use power, and no one had ever taught him, so he could only rely on himself. In his destroyed homeland, his burning rage pushed his potential to the limit, and so he succeeded.”

"Is... this really possible?"

“At least that’s what the gods think,” Edwin said, emphasizing each word. “They believe that Vessas is the inevitable product of humanity when it is free from the corruption of thought, when it has no fear of external things, and when it is pushed to its limits. In other words, Vessas did not obtain any special power, but rather, under extremely specific conditions, he found the power that belonged to him, and every human being has the potential to obtain such power.”

"Therefore, anyone has the potential to become Visas!"

The moment the words fell, no one spoke for a long time; only heavy breathing could be heard in the depths of the dream.

Although everyone has accepted the original theory, some people still couldn't help but ask, "Is there any evidence?"

"The evidence is this world, reshaped by the gods!" Edwin's true form shone brightly. "The underlying logic of this world is that the gods are preventing the emergence of another Vessus!"

"They make all of humanity believers! They permeate the minds of all humanity, telling us that the gods are supreme! That's why they established the eight churches and the Land of Covenant to cover the entire world!"

"And that's not enough! They've added other things to our minds. Rhine is attracted to the same sex, Lyra is obsessed with machines, and the Holy Sound compares itself to a musical note, including the Nightmare that drowns itself in an eternal slumber! They've unknowingly distorted our perception, making us, though we are human, no longer normal 'humans'! Because we pursue the power of the gods, we desire what the gods desire, and none of us are pure anymore! We are merely symbols that the gods want us to become!"

Having learned the whole truth, Edwin's true form began to roar in despair.

"This world is a huge deception woven by the gods for humanity! They did this to prevent the emergence of another Vesas!"

“And we, who have believed in gods, can no longer become Vesas, nor can we ever rebel against them again.”

Edwin collapsed to the ground in despair, his five clones vanishing simultaneously, leaving him alone in the deep dream realm.

He murmured to himself in a lonely voice, as if he had lost his soul.

"It's impossible forever."

(End of this chapter)