The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 288 Soul Travel
The old demon king, Digot, invited Eric to join him in a soul-traveling journey to explore the neighborhood and even visit the underground laboratory that once belonged to him but is now occupied by Simago.

“I don’t quite understand, Your Majesty.” Eric looked at the snowflakes passing through the Demon King’s body. “I’ve never heard of a soul being able to separate from the body and act freely on its own.”

The Demon King nodded, "Given your shallow understanding of the soul, this is not your fault."

Although he was part of the group being accepted, Eric could still sense the undisguised contempt in the Demon King's words: "In the understanding of most intelligent races, the separation of the soul from the body is equivalent to death, Your Majesty."

“Now, you are no longer a part of it,” the Demon King said, looking at him.

Eric didn't speak, but he understood that the old devil would never risk his newly resurrected life.

"The body is merely a vessel; it is the soul that carries our will and the vast majority of our power," the Demon King explained. "However, the soul and body are born as one, and this connection is so close that before me, they could not be separated except by death."

The Demon King spoke calmly and confidently, “After me, the soul can break through the shackles set by the gods and gain true freedom.”

Eric paused for a moment, then asked, "If that's the case, why didn't His Majesty act in spirit form and bring himself back to life when he fell into a deep sleep?"

"Because there wasn't enough time, Eric. And there was no need."

The Demon King patiently replied, "My body has fallen into a long slumber, and the connection with my soul has caused my soul to also fall asleep. The ritual of resurrection requires my soul to remain in the vessel."

"I see."

Eric looked at the demon king, who was clearly visible yet intangible, and said, "But this is still too exciting for us humans. Your Majesty, you can have fun by yourself. I'll just stroll around with you in this state."

"You are worried that your soul will die if it leaves your body."

The Demon King bluntly stated, "But you've forgotten that my life is inextricably linked to yours; your death will be my true death."

Eric paused for a moment, then said, "In the end, this is just His Majesty's word, and I have no way of verifying it."

For the first time, he saw helplessness on the Demon King's face.

"…Eric?"

Natalia's voice came from behind her; she had also woken up. "Who are you talking to?"

“It’s nothing, His Majesty the Demon King invited me to go for a walk.” Eric turned around and said, “You don’t need to come out.”

After a moment of silence, Natalia finished dressing and came to his side, looking outside. "Has he already left?"

Eric paused, looking at the Demon King who was still standing at the door.

“She can’t see me. Under normal circumstances, the living cannot see souls,” the Demon King said, but his voice seemed to be audible only to him. “You can see me and hear my voice only because I want you to see and hear me.”

After saying that, he raised his hand and pointed at Natalia.

Natalia trembled slightly upon seeing the Demon King suddenly appear before her, but she still managed to remain calm. "Why does Your Majesty need to hide in front of me?"

“He’s in a spirit state right now,” Eric explained simply. Natalia’s face remained expressionless, but the shock in her eyes was undeniable.

“In that case…” The Demon King sighed, raised his hand again, and opened his palm toward Natalia, “You may come along as well.”

Natalia was momentarily dazed, only to see a brief double image before her vision quickly returned to normal.

She had no idea what the Demon King was up to, but then she heard Eric's anxious cry beside her, "Natalia!"

She turned around and found that he was holding her in his arms, but she was motionless and seemed to have no life.

"…Eric?"

Eric looked up at the other Natalia who had appeared out of nowhere, his eyes widening, and then he took a deep breath.

"Your Majesty, Digot... if you have such methods, why not just use them on me directly? Why drag her into this?"

Natalia then realized what was happening, looked at her soul and body, then at him, "I'm dead?"

Eric opened his mouth slightly, and the Demon King waved his hand at her. Natalia's soul then uncontrollably crashed into her own body and merged into it.

"..."

Natalia, who was in his arms, suddenly opened her eyes, took a deep breath, looked at him for a moment, and then stopped on her own.

"Now, do you believe that separating the soul from the body has decoupled it from death?" the Demon King asked, looking at them.

Eric ignored him and carefully checked Natalia's condition again. Only after confirming that she could breathe, had a heartbeat, and could talk to him normally and was safe and sound did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He looked at the Demon King and said, "Since Your Majesty has such means, why invite me? Just take my soul with you. How could I possibly resist?"

“I imagine that would make you uncomfortable,” the Demon King said. “Although you may not believe it, I still cherish your respect for me, even though it seems there is little left.”

“I’m quite surprised that Your Majesty is aware of this.” Eric took a deep breath. “Alright, I’ll go with Your Majesty.”

He had realized that the Demon King's act of separating Natalia's soul from her body was not only to demonstrate the safety of this soul-traveling state, but also to use Natalia to threaten him.

The Demon King then explained that his soul was special and could not separate from his body as easily as Natalia's, so he needed to make some preparations.

Eric then understood why the Demon King didn't just use force; it turned out he couldn't use force against him.

But he had no choice but to cooperate.

At the Demon King's instruction, Eric cut his finger and used his blood to draw two circular magic circles on the floor, one large and one small. After the blood congealed, he lay down on the large magic circle and rested his head on the small one.

The Demon King stood to the side, chanting incomprehensible demonic incantations at him for several minutes before stopping and looking at him.

Eric lay on the floor, looking at the Demon King, and after a while asked, "Did you fail?"

"Get up," the Demon King said.

He got up and found that he had gotten up with almost no effort. He realized something and looked back to see that his body was still lying on the floor.

“Eric…” Natalia looked at his soul and body with concern.

"Don't worry, His Majesty the Demon King's life is tied to mine. He's more afraid than I am, and he wouldn't dare let me die," Eric comforted him.

The Demon King simply nodded, seemingly unconcerned, and then asked, "Do you want to take her with you?"

"No, thank you." Eric refused. "Natalia, take care of my health."

Natalia gave him a deep look and nodded.

He knew she wanted to be with him more.

The Demon King did not linger and asked Eric to leave with him.

His steps were lighter than ever before. He no longer felt cold, or rather, he had lost the sense of temperature. But other senses became clearer. The wind blowing from different directions had different tones, and the snow covering the entire earth seemed to have many layers of whiteness. Eric felt a sense of wonder as he looked at everything from his soul's perspective.

When his gaze shifted to the Demon King beside him, he discovered that the latter was also watching him.

"I still can't figure out where these unique parts of you come from," the Demon King said, looking at him.

Eric looked down. In his own eyes, his soul was no different from his body, even wearing the same clothes. But what his soul looked like in the eyes of the Demon King was hard to say.

“I don’t even know which parts are unique,” ​​Eric said.

The Demon King raised his gaze. "If you are interested in the soul, you can stay here and study the mysteries of the soul with me and the human that Latrell has found."

Eric shook his head. "I'll decline."

The Demon King said nothing.

While claiming to be just strolling around, the Demon King's purpose was crystal clear: he led Eric straight towards the other side of the camp. In his soul form, Eric felt as if he were walking on the moon, each step equivalent to ten in his normal state, moving with incredible speed. One wonders what he would look like from a normal person's perspective.

Because of this speed, it didn't take long for the two of them to arrive at the camp on the other side.

The demon guards at the entrance and the demon sentries on the watchtowers inside the camp did not react to the appearance of the two.

"There used to be a palace on the ground here," the Demon King said to Eric before they went inside. "I used to live here until the day I died."

Eric glanced around at his surroundings. "Is this the Demon King's Palace from over six hundred years ago?"

“No, the royal palace is deeper in the Demon Realm.” The Demon Dynasty pointed to the north. “I’ve already gone to check, and there’s nothing left there.”

“This wasn’t done by humans,” Eric said. “Our ancestors never came to such a remote place.”

The Demon King merely glanced at him and said, "I don't care."

"I haven't had a chance to ask before, what does His Majesty plan to do after regaining his power?"

Eric followed the Demon King past the two demon guards at the entrance. "Of course, you will inevitably have to regain your original position within the demon race and eliminate that young newcomer."

When Eric said those two sentences, he felt like a eunuch in an old period drama who stirred up trouble and gave the emperor bad advice.

"But what then? Continue the unfinished work of that young demon king and reclaim the entire continent? You already did the same thing seven or eight hundred years ago, so doing it again doesn't seem very interesting."

The Demon King looked at him, but instead of answering directly, he asked, "What do you want me to do?"

“Of course we’d retreat to the Demon Realm. Demons and humans are friendly neighbors. If it weren’t for the fact that demons always want to kill humans, we wouldn’t really see you any differently than we see dark elves,” Eric said.

The Demon King chuckled. "You humans occupy the warmest and most fertile land on the continent, while the demons can only eke out a living in this icy wasteland. Do you really think the demons are born liking this kind of environment?"

“They were driven here by humans. But there are also elves, dwarves, orcs, and various intelligent races on human lands.” Eric looked at the Demon King. “Humans see most of them no differently than they see their own kind. If the demons change their unnecessary bloodthirsty habits, they can certainly live on the same land as us.”

"How can we change this?" the Demon King asked.

Eric was taken aback. "Could it be that for demons, the lust for killing is as instinctive as breathing and eating?"

“You should ask those beings who created us,” the Demon King said, “whom you call gods.”

Eric paused for a moment, "But according to our human creation myth, your demon race was born from the evil energy that escaped when the gods created the world, not from the intentional creation of the gods."

The Demon King laughed, “What I know is quite the opposite: this land is an arena created by the gods, and all races must strive to become the ultimate victor. The gods take pleasure in watching all things fight, and we demons are the most promising and most powerful race among them.”

"..."

Eric was taken aback, but quickly said, "Isn't this just a myth His Majesty made up to incite a million demons to fight for you?"

The Demon King's smile faded, replaced by another, more meaningful smile.

“I admire you more and more, Eric. You’re right, but I don’t have the answer either. Why we demons were born, why we are so bloodthirsty, only the creator of this world knows.”

He looked up at the gray sky. "But they won't answer our questions on Earth. I can only elevate myself to their level. At that point, perhaps I can make the entire demon race undergo the kind of change you expect."

The Demon King then lowered his gaze and looked at Eric, "Now you know the answer to the original question."

Eric took a deep breath, even though he no longer needed to breathe.

"Aren't the souls Your Majesty collected during the Dark Ages, along with the so-called divine factors, enough? Perhaps what you lack now is simply the ability to utilize them."

The Demon King looked at him for a while, "So, Eric, you still hope that the human we are about to meet will find the right path for me."

Eric said no more.

The two entered the camp, passed through the central tent, and walked down the underground passage.

After crossing the platform in the middle, the entrance to the laboratory is below. The Demon King said nothing, but a hint of nostalgia appeared on his face.

Upon reaching the underground, Eric found himself in a spacious underground hall.

Cold flames lit up the walls, marking the boundaries of the hall for Eric. Low walls, barely tall enough to reach a person, divided the hall into many sections, resembling the kind of workstations he used in his previous life. The most striking feature was the massive, mountain-like crystal in the center.

The Demon King gazed at the crystalline mountain from afar, and after a while said, "This place is no different from what it was hundreds of years ago."

“Besides His Majesty, who else can control this power? They would probably go mad if they touched those crystals, and no one would dare to come,” Eric said. “Until now, with the appearance of this Demon King.”

The Demon King nodded and continued walking forward. "Let's get closer. Be careful not to touch those crystals, or you'll instantly go mad, even if you're in your soul state now."

Eric was extremely cautious, but as he approached the central crystal, his gaze couldn't help but drift towards the figures moving around him.

The Demon King's main focus was still on the crystal mountain, but he quickly noticed Eric's condition. As they drew closer, Eric's gaze finally became fully focused, and the Demon King also saw the figure he was watching.

“You seem more eager than I am to meet this soul researcher that Latrell is looking for.”

“Yes.” Eric did not deny it, continuing to stare at Simago. “We’re very close, so close that I almost took him down a few months ago.”

The Demon King glanced at him. "It seems he provided considerable assistance to Latrell's southward advance."

"Didn't Your Majesty see it in Toynbee's memory?" Eric countered.

“He wasn’t a witness,” the Demon King said, pausing for a moment. “Was he your friend? If you had told me sooner, I would have spared his life.”

“It’s a pity, but also a stroke of luck, I’m not very familiar with him.” Eric gestured toward Simmagu. “But that guy over there seems to need him quite a bit.”

“I saw it, but his work is not irreplaceable,” the Demon King said. “Let’s go see what he’s doing.”

"Can't he see us?" Eric asked. "Can't he sense us at all?"

"He may be able to see souls, but he cannot see our souls," the Demon King said with certainty. "Although we have all separated from our bodies, there is a world of difference between the souls of the living and the souls of the dead."

The Demon King didn't elaborate on the specific differences, and Eric, guessing he wouldn't understand, didn't ask further.

The two walked until they reached the crystal mountain before stopping. Xinmagu stood there, gazing up at the enormous purple crystal in front of him.

"..."

He suddenly turned his head, looked in the direction where the two were, and stared at them for a while.

Eric unconsciously held his breath until Simmagu looked away.

"Did he sense it?" Eric asked again, his voice much more restrained.

The Demon King didn't speak, but his face showed an expression he was very familiar with—the kind of admiration the Demon King often showed when looking at him.

After sensing something, Simagu stopped staring at Crystal Mountain and turned to one of the cubicles enclosed by a low wall. Inside, a naked demon woman was bound, with a small purple crystal stuck in the center of her chest.

The Demon King suddenly leaned closer, seemingly burying his head between the demon woman's breasts, but Eric knew he was staring at the purple crystal.

Looking at the demon woman again, it was unclear whether she was alive or dead; there was no sign of her.

"An unexpected direction."

The Demon King spoke, but it was unclear whether he was explaining to him or speaking to himself.

"Break it down into smaller parts, and let the souls of the living absorb the violent resentment contained in this small piece of crystal. But even if this method is proven to be effective, what's the point? It's too inefficient."

“The significance is that he himself can now utilize this soul energy,” Eric said from the side.

“Such a small amount of soul energy…” The Demon King seemed about to refute, but quickly stopped. “You’re right. I’d forgotten that his research has only just begun.”

(End of this chapter)