Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 191 Life and Death, an Endless Cycle

Clang!

Two silver knights, one after the other, charged through the blood-stained door with their shields raised, but this time there were no black knights lurking at the entrance to launch a surprise attack.

Apart from that chilling, blood-stained door that exuded an eerie atmosphere, everything inside the room was normal, and there was no danger.

The Sunbug's radiance illuminated the entire room, bringing everything inside into Ember's view.

There were three chairs in the room, each a high-backed chair in a different direction and a completely different color.

One of them is deep black, another has dark red patterns, as if iron and blood are intertwined, and the last one is a high-backed chair, mainly deep red with pure black patterns.

They are very similar in style, but their colors are completely different, and they are presented at a certain angle and distance.

Clearly, they were deliberately placed here.

This is similar to the quirky aesthetic popular in the Quaternary Period, but Ember thinks it may hide a deeper meaning.

For example, for a specific ritual.

"A ritual to become a god?"

Ember murmured softly, the conjecture in his mind gradually materializing.

Three chairs, three people, three sets of Sequence 1 extraordinary characteristics, all match perfectly.

The only question is, who are those three people sitting in those chairs?

According to the evil spirit, breaking the seal requires finding the direct descendants of the Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici families, obtaining 10 milliliters of blood from each, mixing them with holy water, and sprinkling them into the room.

Yu Jin glanced at the ground out of the corner of his eye and saw a dried, dark red stain not far away.

The area covered by the stains wasn't large, and although they were dry, they had a distinct dark red hue, indicating that they were congealed blood.

The stains are very fresh; they must have appeared within the last few days.

Ember's gaze swept around, and a relatively clear understanding formed in his mind:

"The blood was brought by the Black Knight; he helped the 'evil spirit' break the seal. But while the evil spirit left, the Black Knight chose to stay."

There were no signs of a battle at the scene, indicating that their interaction was quite harmonious. Both sides likely knew each other, or rather, the evil spirit and the person who instructed the Black Knight to break the seal knew each other. The Black Knight released the evil spirit, and they may have even had a friendly exchange…”

"The three chairs, and the people on them should belong to the ancestors of the Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici families, or even be the first rank of these three families. Otherwise, there would be no need to specify the blood of these three families. Using the blood of descendants to break the seal is not a rare case."

"For example, the Abraham family was cursed because of its bloodline, and the truth behind this curse came from the madness of its ancestors."

"But why would an evil spirit need the blood of three families? Is there more than one evil spirit?"

Why is the Black Knight staying here? What is he waiting for?

"The Blasphemy Token dropped by the Black Knight was originally in the hands of the evil spirit, but now it has appeared on the Black Knight. This is undoubtedly left to him by the evil spirit. The corpses in the room were all left by extraordinary beings. They would retain extraordinary characteristics after death. But now these extraordinary characteristics have all been taken away, but the most valuable Blasphemy Token has been left behind. This was obviously intentional."

"Only those capable of killing the Black Knight are worthy of obtaining the blasphemous token. Otherwise, the Black Knight will remain here in place of the evil spirit, killing all explorers who enter the ruins..."

His thoughts began to wander, but Ember hadn't found anything of value here, and the exact number of evil spirits was meaningless to him; he didn't care. However, the appearance of the Black Knight gave Ember a vague grasp of the situation—

The Black Knight stayed here to wait for him; this was a signal!

After a long while, Yu Jin slowly regained his composure, and the ring on his hand emitted a pale blue and ethereal light.

The next moment, enveloped in light, his figure vanished silently.

And this ancient site, which has been underground for thousands of years, has once again fallen silent.

-

At 7:15, Klein and Danitz, who had just come out of the first-class restaurant, found that the gale that had made the ship rock so hard had subsided considerably.

After thinking for two seconds, Klein walked to the cabin entrance and asked the crew member guarding there:

"Who else hasn't returned?"

The crew member, who had seen the passenger and captain enjoying the delicious fish-man flesh together, didn't hide anything and said:

"Except for the Blanche family and the Demodo family who went to Lime Cafe, all the other passengers returned before the wind picked up. Haha, it's quite far away, and the meal takes a long time there."

"Oh right, the captain and first mate went to the telegraph office and haven't returned yet."

Lime Restaurant is a very famous restaurant on Bansi Island, and its lard is especially delicious.

Captain Ellan was going to the telegraph office to send a telegram recounting their encounter with pirates on the way.

There were some things that delayed me on the way, so I haven't returned yet, which is actually quite normal.

Klein nodded almost imperceptibly, then silently returned to room 312 and went back to the bathroom.

He skillfully closed the door, pulled out a paper figure, disguised himself, and came above the gray fog, ready to perform another divination.

"Bansi Port is in danger."

Klein held the pendulum and began to recite a mantra.

After repeating it over and over again, he opened his eyes. The citrine pendant was rotating clockwise, but not very fast.

There was danger, but not much... Just like the previous revelation, Klein rested his elbows on the edge of the bronze table, lost in thought.

The divination told him that there was little danger, but his intuition told him that the island was dangerous.

Klein didn't know why he had this conflicting intuition; it was something he had never experienced before.

Divination in reality may be interfered with, but divination above the gray fog has never been wrong, and Klein has never doubted the results of his divination.

Klein remained silent for a long time. He had intended to wait until Ember finished exploring the underground ruins to see what the situation was like. As for Bansi Port, it was just a transit point; going there or not was optional. His intention was to avoid it altogether and minimize trouble.

but now……

Klein took a deep breath, returned to the real world, left the bathroom, and found a chair in the living room to sit down, which made Danitz feel inexplicably uneasy.

Is there really any danger on Bansi Island?

Although the legend says that he told Klein, even he himself doubts the veracity of the legend.

After all, legends are just legends, and their captain had personally explored the island and found nothing unusual. Otherwise, Danitz wouldn't have spoken of the legend so casually; he simply used it as something to boast about.

Kogelman Sparrow's attitude, however, made him uneasy.

Because the only impression the other person left on him was "madness".

But now that this mad adventurer is starting to think, it means there might be hidden dangers on the island!

It was because of this unease that Danitz gave up his original idea of ​​having dinner at the Lime Restaurant and stayed on the ship obediently.

"You stay on the ship."

"Huh?" Danitz felt that this was not real at all.

He suddenly understood what the other person wanted to do, and blurted out in astonishment:

"Are you going to rescue the captain and those ordinary people?"

"You, you yourself said it's dangerous outside?"

Klein put on his top hat, picked up his black hardwood cane, and calmly replied as he turned the doorknob:

"There is danger, but not much. And,"

"They have worked with me."

"They kept my secret."

"He treated me to fish and human flesh."

"He helped me compensate the white shark for its losses."

Danitz didn't react for a moment and subconsciously asked:

"How much compensation was paid?"

"Jisule." Klein opened the door and went out.

-

In a secluded church filled with light, there are rows of black chairs with backrests.

The only worshipper in the church sat in the center of the first row of seats. He wore a simple white robe and had a pale blond beard that covered the lower half of his face.

Inside the church, a hidden chapel filled with light, stood a cross hundreds of meters high at the front, where only one person was praying. In front of the cross, a blurry, enormous human figure stood, bearing everything, gazing compassionately upon all souls.

Inside, there are rows of black chairs with backrests, but only one person is praying.

He sat in the center of the first row, dressed in a rather simple white robe, with a light gold beard that covered the lower half of his face. His hands were clasped in front of a silver cross pendant on his chest, and his expression was gentle and calm.

tread!tread!

A tall figure, his body ablaze with sparks, appeared at the church entrance at some unknown time. He stepped inside and approached the worshippers.

He said coldly:

"My ashes have lost contact."

The person praying did not look up, but simply said softly:

"I gave it to Medici; he needed a body to move around in."

He said nothing, silently turned and left, which can be regarded as accepting the prayer of the person praying.

In this world, most evil spirits are the product of the death of high-sequence powerful beings.

Because when high-ranking powerful beings consume potions to gain divinity, their spiritual bodies undergo fundamental changes, which means that even if they die and their power dissipates, some spiritual remnants will remain in their spiritual bodies.

There are also a small number of evil spirits that are vengeful souls who break through their own limitations by taking advantage of various opportunities, but there is actually no essential difference between the two.

Normally, evil spirits weaken over time until they disappear completely, but they can assimilate the area where they were born, allowing the spirit world and even the underworld to merge with it, drawing power from it to maintain their existence.

Therefore, many evil spirits have their own territories and areas of activity. It's not that they don't want to leave, but that they can't, unless they accumulate enough power to fundamentally change their form of existence.

Of course, an evil spirit can also leave its territory by possessing a person.

However, ordinary people and most extraordinary beings cannot withstand the draining power of evil spirits, especially those formed from the fused remnants of the three Sequence 1 souls after their deaths, possessing angelic status. Anyone possessed will quickly lose their spirituality and body temperature and cannot sustain it for long.

The Black Knight, however, is merely a pile of ashes, and most of the time can be seen as a movable empty shell. Such an empty shell is undoubtedly the most suitable target for possession by an evil spirit, without exception!

In particular, the Black Knight's status is equivalent to that of a demigod, making him fully capable of withstanding the parasitism and exploitation of an evil spirit—

Of course, this only refers to the Black Knight's 'body'; his soul cannot withstand this exploitation and will be completely devoured by evil spirits.

This is precisely why He lost contact with the Black Knight, which is why He came to demand an explanation. After all, to Him, one Black Knight is nothing; the power He can command far exceeds just one Black Knight.

Trading a drained, empty shell for a powerful ally to ensure the plan's success is not a losing proposition for Him.

Crunch!

Snapped!

As the tall figure departed, the church doors slowly closed.

The worshipper remained seated quietly in the center of the first row of benches, neither moving an inch nor watching the departing figures.

He suddenly murmured something:

"Didn't you notice?"

The Black Knight was killed, but He was completely unaware of it.

They assumed it was truly possessed by an "evil spirit," causing this empty shell to lose contact with Him.

In other words, He did not know who killed the Black Knight, nor what he had done.

In other words, the connection between Him and the Ember was not as strong as He had imagined—the Ember was unaware of His existence, but He was also unable to perceive the Ember's state. They were vying for ownership of the fire, and therefore had to isolate themselves from each other's influence.

That's why He so desperately wanted the embers to be rekindled, because only in this way could He reconnect with that body.

Their situation is similar to mine, but they are more distant from me.

The supplicant slowly raised his head, gazing at the enormous, radiant cross standing hundreds of meters tall before him. Before the cross, a blurry, gigantic figure stood, bearing all burdens, watching over the souls with compassion.

That was him, and that was Him.

But in any case, they are ultimately the same person.

The disagreement between them is simply a struggle for dominance between divinity and humanity.

No matter how the situation changes or develops, this struggle is only between the two of them, and no outsiders will be allowed to interfere.

But the relationship between Ember and Him is more like that of mortal enemies.

He knew everything about the embers, yet severed all ties with them; perhaps this was the price He paid to break free.

Ember was unaware of His existence, but He held absolute initiative in the matter of "linking the fire," which was Ember's advantage.

This allowed both sides to maintain a fragile balance for a considerable period of time.

"So, what exactly is He?"

The prayer murmurs softly, but no one gives Him an answer.

Because in this radiant church, there was always only Him.

Of course, He has plenty of time to figure all this out; there's no rush.

The other party's identity is not important, nor is their cooperation.

The important thing is that everything is proceeding according to plan. With the Black Knight's intervention, Ember should realize something.

A one-sided advantage does not meet His expectations; He needs to maintain a certain degree of balance between the two sides, but He also needs to break this balance.

Only in this way will He have room to intervene.

(End of this chapter)