Chapter 55: Blessings
"?" Li Ang paused for a moment. The first explanation was understandable, but what about the second method?
"Language, like Talismans, incantations, and rituals, inherently possesses extraordinary attributes," Zou Zhengze explained. "As long as you learn that ’the Six Paths of Reincarnation have been replaced by the Soul Meat Grinder,’ the essence of your soul will undergo some profound metaphysical change. The act of spreading the truth about the afterlife is like Meme Pollution, which can turn people into Lone Ghosts after death."
Afterlife affairs!
Suddenly, Li Ang remembered the name of his very first mission. Since that time, he had been informed by the Ghost possessing him of the afterlife’s truth, subjecting him to Meme Pollution...
Seeing the subtle changes in Li Ang’s facial expressions, Zou Zhengze smiled. "Five hundred years ago, the Six Paths of Reincarnation and the entire netherworld vanished. The Heterodox Academy frantically gathered data and conducted experiments, finally deducing this rule. This rule was not a gift from fate but rather Pandora’s Box. Once the truth about the afterlife spreads widely—from one to ten, and ten to a hundred—all living beings would become Lone Ghosts after death, never to enter the cycle of rebirth. At that time, Ghosts would roam the world, the cycle of reincarnation would cease, and newborns would become soulless living corpses! This is the existential threat of an apocalypse for all living beings!
"The Cultivators of the Heterodox Academy, after a heated debate, reached a compromise: to eradicate most existing Spiritual Bodies and conceal the truth about the afterlife from the populace. This would allow people to continue believing in the cycle of rebirth, preventing them from becoming Lone Ghosts. The Heterodox Academy thus became the Night’s Watch. They swore to defend the secret of death: not to marry, not to be ennobled, not to father children, not to wear crowns, not to seek glory. They would serve with loyalty, living and dying with this duty, starting their vigil from that day forth, until death took them! For this reason, the Heterodox Academy did not hesitate to wage war against Feng Du, decimating most of the Evil Spirits at a terrible cost, leading to the Heterodox Academy’s overall decline. Fortunately, the killing games gradually ceased, the number of Spiritual Bodies decreased, and the Heterodox Academy successfully guarded the secret of death, averting the apocalypse."
The Chinese Heterodox Academy’s tragic history indeed stirred the soul, but Zou Zhengze’s expression gradually became distorted. "I loved Fang Ni more than myself, more than anything in this world. After learning the secret of the afterlife, I could not accept her Soul dissipating and becoming mere fuel for reincarnation. Initially, I planned to tell her the secret of the death realm, to contaminate her with the Meme, so she would become a Ghost after death. But that wasn’t enough. A Lone Ghost might exist for over a hundred years, but eventually, it will still naturally dissipate."
"So, you killed her?" Li Ang asked.