From the end of the world

Chapter 458: Not a Blessed Monk
Blessed monks can devour souls like demons? This is the first time I've heard of it.

I seem to have come across quite a lot of characters who can kill people and refine souls. In the past, it was monsters, and now it is blessed monks and karma demons... However, considering that karma demons are the prototype of monsters, it should be said that the monsters' power of killing people and refining souls is a later counterfeit, while karma demons are the original.

Since Ma Zao is also a blessed monk, she must also possess the power to kill people and refine souls, but I have never heard her mention it, let alone seen her display it.

Moreover, when she first crossed over, her soul was seriously injured and she was in urgent need of devouring souls to repair herself. Why didn't we see her show this ability? Although she has a kind personality, she also has a side that ignores the laws of modern society. In an emergency, it shouldn't be difficult for her to find some people who deserved to die and kill them...

No, she was a newcomer at the time, and she probably didn't know where to find people who deserved to die... Come to think of it, she didn't seem to have killed anyone since she came to the modern world. Could it be that she had a moral obsession in this regard, and thought that devouring human souls was no different from cannibalism, so she didn't want to devour them? This didn't seem to be in line with the values ​​that survivors of the apocalypse should have.

If that's the case, should I do some ideological work for her? Of course, if she doesn't want to, I won't force her... Or is the real reason that she thinks that simply devouring souls is not enough to repair the soul damage caused by the disaster fire? I raised my question while thinking.

Ma Zao quickly shook his head and explained, "I'm not morally obsessed with this, nor do I think that devouring souls can't heal injuries... It's simply because I don't have the ability to devour other people's souls."

"Why? Since all blessed monks have such abilities, you should be able to do it too, right?" I wondered.

"No, I can't do it." She said, "For some reason, as a blessed monk, I seem to have some flaws..."

When she said this, she seemed a little hesitant, as if she had doubts about her judgment, and I thought of something she had mentioned before.

Ma Zao once told me that the sky in the apocalypse is always dark, and you can't see the stars and the moon. According to rumors, only the blessed monks and those who are about to become demons are exceptions, and they can see the moon hanging in the apocalypse night sky.

Ma Zao had already told me about the similarities between the Blessed Monks and the Karma Demons a long time ago. At the same time, Ma Zao had also hinted at the differences between herself and the first two - although she was a Blessed Monk, she had never seen the Doomsday Moon once.

So, is there a possibility that... Ma Zao is not actually the blessed monk he thought he was?
After I brought this up, she nodded grudgingly and said, “…it’s a possibility.

"In the apocalypse, those who used strange powers were all blessed monks, so I always thought I was a blessed monk... It was not until I came to this era and came into contact with concepts such as demon hunters that I realized that the strange powers possessed by humans are not limited to the power of blessing."

When Ma Zao first met me, he seemed to have no idea about the concept of "demon hunter" and even thought that people with strange powers in this era might be collectively called "super-powered people."

"Actually, I'm a little curious..." I said, "The name of the blessed monks in the doomsday era contains the word 'blessing', which means it should be the 'given power', right?

"Can I understand that the powers possessed by the blessed monks are all granted by a certain existence?"

Ma Zao said affirmatively: "Yes. It is said that when the blessed monks awaken, they will hear some vague voice in the dark, which is called 'gospel'.

"I have never heard of the 'Gospel', so I can't describe what the voice is specifically... But according to the words of the blessed monks I met before, this voice seems to be guiding the blessed monks to do something, but it is too vague to interpret its true meaning. Only the human gods of the Gospel House can distinguish the content of the 'Gospel'.

“In addition, there are also some fallen blessed monks who believe that the ‘Gospel’ is guiding the blessed monks to go on a killing spree—because whether the blessed monks want to heal themselves or become stronger, they can do it all in one go by devouring souls.

“It is said that the process of devouring souls is accompanied by intense pleasure and wonderful hallucinations. Blessed monks are easily captured by pleasure and then become deeply addicted and depraved, searching for survivors everywhere in the land of doomsday and killing them.

"For some reason, this soul-devouring ability only preys on humans. And because humans in the apocalypse are more or less infected with madness, if it devours too many human souls in one breath, it will swallow the madness into its own soul. I know that many blessed monks have transformed themselves into devils who are crazy and greedy for souls."

Unlike the sacredness of the name, the Blessed Monks seem to be a group close to the devil.

What exactly have they been blessed with?
"Perhaps I knew more in the past, but now I have forgotten even that." Ma Zao said regretfully. "The memories washed away by the madness, are they irrecoverable no matter what?" I asked, "Can they be restored using spells in the mental and spiritual realms?"

"It's impossible." Ma Zao shook his head. "There are countless doomsday survivors who want to retrieve their past memories. Similar directions have been explored. After traveling to this era, I also tried to use the fake moon in the water and other methods to repair my memory, but they were all useless.

"If I must say, when I was wandering around in the apocalypse, I heard about an item called 'Three Lives Stone Powder'? Its effect is that people who have lost their memories due to madness can regain a small part of their memories...but the price is that after using it, you will definitely die soon. It is a complete poison.

"I'm not sure if it's a real object. Although I was very curious about what my lost memories were like, I wasn't curious enough to risk my life for it."

The name "Sanshengshisan" reminds people of the famous chronic poison "Wushisan". In fact, "Sanshengshi" refers to an object that appears in myths and legends, and the three lives represent the past life, present life and the next life.

The doomsday era is the end of the world. Even if the Three-Life Stone really exists, it cannot illuminate the afterlife of all living beings. The most it can show is the previous life and the present life. In folklore, this stone is placed by the river of Wangchuan River under the Naihe Bridge. The souls who can see this stone are those who are waiting in line on the Naihe Bridge to be reincarnated. They are allowed to take a last look at the world on the Wangxiang Terrace, and then drink Mengpo Soup to be reincarnated.

It seemed that this topic made Ma Zao have more associations. She sighed: "Lost memories... I don't know how Xiaowan is doing now..."

After she reminded me of this, I realized the big dilemma Xiaowan is facing now.

The madness of the apocalypse will make the lone survivors forget their own names, and those who even forget their own names will quickly approach the transformation into a demon. I only thought that Xiaowan might encounter countless dangerous monsters and perhaps even more dangerous human survivors in the apocalypse, but I accidentally overlooked the most deadly threat to her, which is "loneliness."

This is a blind spot in my thinking. Because in my mind, after returning the name to Xiaowan, this matter has become "a solved problem"; and unlike Ma Zao who experienced the apocalypse, this matter has not become a deep common sense in my mind. Although we have had simple exchanges, Xiaowan has never directly demonstrated the dangers of Karma Demonization in front of me, so it is more of a knowledge on paper for me.

If you think about it carefully, even if the virtual world is still alive, Xiaowan is not completely safe in this regard. Because the flow of time in the doomsday era is abnormal, if Xiaowan enters a place where time flows too fast, it is possible that she will fall into irreversible karma demonization between two virtual world meetings. Xiaowan also mentioned it in the last virtual world meeting. Although it has only been more than three weeks since my last meeting, it has been at least more than three months since her last meeting.

Xiaowan must have been aware of this problem, and she might have even faced life-threatening difficulties again during this period, but she never mentioned it to me. I guess it was because she knew that it was a problem I couldn't solve, and even if she told me, it would only make me worry in vain.

It's really unreasonable of me that I'm actually being considered by a little girl like Xiaowan in this regard.

Now Xiaowan may have no choice but to seek cooperation with other survivors to escape from being alone, but the survivors of the apocalypse cannot be counted on in terms of morality. Even if Xiaowan has the power of the law of heaven and earth, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no accidents.

Originally, I thought that relying solely on Yuchi to reestablish contact with Xiaowan was a useless transaction, but now that I think about it, just "being able to reestablish contact" is the most useful part, and it will be necessary to urge Yuchi later.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." I tried to speak as forcefully as possible, "Remember what I told you before? There must be a strong bond between us and Xiaowan, and there are still many mysteries about Xiaowan that we don't know.

"So before all the mysteries are revealed, her affairs will definitely not end in a hasty way. This is not pure consolation, but a guarantee given by the unlucky physique that you have always thought was a curse.

"I believe in you, so believe in yourself too."

Xiaowan herself also has the good fortune to survive from desperate situations. The reason why she was able to enter the virtual world before everything was irreversible and happened to get my help may also be a manifestation of this good fortune.

Ma Zao stretched out her soft and slender arms and hugged my body.

"Well, I believe you, Zhuang Cheng." She said dependently, "I still don't know how to believe in myself, but as long as it's what you say, I won't doubt a single word."

(End of this chapter)