From the end of the world

Chapter 633 Where are they?
"That's about right," the fortune teller admitted.

"I still feel there's something unreliable about this approach," I said, expressing my true thoughts.

“Your feelings are reasonable. It’s not realistic for you to put this into practice right now,” the fortune teller said. “Even if you can equate your soul with fire and base your consciousness on fire, others may not be able to use fire as their refuge like you do.”

"It's not that everything will be fine as long as you set your flames to not harm others. The soul also has a structure, and at least to others, a soul without structure is no different from being scattered. But you are a born spirit, so it doesn't matter how much you decompose and reassemble your soul. Without this kind of structure, it's very likely that you will find it difficult to simulate the structure that a normal soul should have."

"Secondly, the souls you create are based on the premise of adapting to your own personality, and your current personality is probably mostly in a human form, right? That default setting will likely appear in the souls you synthesize with fire later, so they can't be considered completely blank souls. Therefore, you must also learn how to create souls while abandoning that default setting."

"Fortunately, the answer is already in front of you: the girl's soul. You just need to observe her spiritual structure meticulously, memorize it, and then recreate it with the power of fire in the future."

He paused slightly, then said, "This approach is also the best solution for that girl, because even if she has her own independent elements, her ideology should also be largely based on her being a mother and daughter."

"Fortunately, she had lived for a long time under conditions of losing the memories of her mother and daughter and her self-awareness. Those memories can support her personality shape from the inside after she loses those two parts in the future. However, it is better for the new soul foundation to inherit the old skeleton."

“If it’s just about observing and memorizing, that’s fine…” I said, “but let me recreate it…”

Forgive my bluntness, but even just using my ability to reconstruct my body with flames to create an appearance and physique that matches my imagination has been difficult for me more than once. Now, asking me to recreate something as complex and mysterious as its internal structure is something I really lack confidence in.

To put it another way, this is far from a simple matter of copying. The divination master's requirement is like placing an extremely sophisticated machine in front of me and demanding that I understand its manufacturing principles and assembly sequence simply by "looking at it several times." During this process, I cannot disassemble it—I can't just start by trying to break down the soul of the small bowl, can I?
The fortune teller seemed to have a lot of confidence in me, thinking that if it were me, I could definitely create souls without a doubt.

All legendary realms are more or less related to the existence of a self-proven true spirit, and so is the manifestation of spirits. If the Great True Spirit is God, then my existence as a primordial manifestation spirit is closer to the realm of God than any other Great Impermanence in Luoshan.

The creation of souls is an invasion of the divine realm for others, but it seems to have a certain rationality for me.

"Although you are a manifestation of the spirit, your understanding of its nature is still not deep enough. Because this power is innate, it's like a noble child born to inherit immense power, who doesn't understand the essence of power as well as a self-made general. This is why manifestation of the spirit must be cultivated to be legitimate," the divination master commented. "If you want to save that girl by creating a soul, you must go deeper into the path of manifestation."

"The path of spiritual manifestation is the ultimate path of the soul. Once you delve into its depths, you will naturally grasp the true nature of the soul. When one path is clear, all paths become clear. At that time, those things that once stumped you will all fall into place naturally."

"Simply put, if you become strong enough, all problems will be solved—that's a more palatable statement, isn't it?"

Get stronger...

After becoming the Great Impermanence, I experienced two periods of increased power. One was when I obtained the Slag Weapon, and the other was when I devoured the Great Demon of Calamity. Although my power was already strong enough to easily crush my newly-become-Great Impermanence self into the mud, to be honest, my power hadn't truly evolved. Those were merely evolutions in the level of weapons and techniques.

The path pointed out by the divination master seemed to lead me to more insights, as if it were limited to progress in skills and knowledge. However, I had a hunch that it was definitely not such a simple problem.

To go deeper on the path of spiritual manifestation, I must undergo a true transformation, a genuine evolution and metamorphosis. Only then can I reach new realms, gain new perspectives, and obtain the insights I seek.

However, my potential has already been fully realized, so how can I go any further?

The old fist god's words flashed through my mind.

— "Without the awareness to make great sacrifices, one is destined not to reap truly great rewards."

If you want to become stronger... you must give up what is most important to you.

The most important thing to me is...

"...Thank you for your guidance, Master Diviner. I now understand what I should do." I could only end the topic with this social politeness for the time being.

Then, I looked at the desolate and lifeless scenery around me and wondered if I should leave first.

In this devastated eastern coastal city, the fortune teller still has important matters to attend to, and it seems inappropriate to take up too much of his time.

However, I still have some questions I want to ask. To be honest, I don't really want to leave so soon.

"It would be best if I could help you," the fortune teller smiled. "You probably have other questions. We may have many more opportunities to meet in the future, but these are turbulent times, and no one knows what will happen next. Time like this, when we can sit down and have a proper conversation, might become difficult to find. So, it's best to ask all your questions now." "Then I'll gladly accept," I said. "I want to know how the afterlife was created. Do you know the truth?"

If anyone in Luoshan today knows the truth about this, the Divination Master is the most likely candidate, as Yuchi also said. If even the Divination Master says he doesn't know, then no one in the world knows the truth.

Even the Lord of the Divine Seal is probably no exception. It seems that the Lord of the Divine Seal lacks control over the various events that occur in the afterlife.

Upon hearing this question, the fortune teller's expression immediately changed: "—Oh? It's this question after all..."

He fell into deep thought.

"Is it inconvenient for you to answer?" I asked.

“That’s not it. It’s just… where should I begin? I do know more about the origins of the afterlife than others, but I can’t say that I possess the absolute truth…” After thinking for a while, the divination master said, “Hmm… let’s start with the parts that I can be absolutely certain are the truth.”

"Please give me your guidance." I said humbly.

The divination master nodded, but first asked a strange question: "Zhuang Cheng, what do you think of 'gravity'?"

"Gravity?" I wondered.

"What kind of force do you think gravity is?" the fortune teller asked.

Although I didn't understand his motivation for asking the question, I still thought about it seriously.

Gravity is a power I once mastered, and it's also the power that the Great Demon of Calamity excels at. When fire-elemental magic transforms into earth-elemental magic, the first thing that emerges is the nature of gravity. I believe that "gravity" can be considered the core element of the Earth-elemental Yellow Dragon's power.

The Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger form a complete system, symbolizing the myriad phenomena of this world. As the central deity commanding the four, the Yellow Dragon, symbolized by gravity—or rather, attraction—is, in my opinion, also quite fitting.

From the grand order of celestial bodies to the bonds and destinies between people, gravity holds a crucial position not only in astrophysics but also as an indispensable element in mysticism. The Great Demon of Calamity repeatedly uses this power to lock onto its prey, and I, too, have used the same method to seal the fate of the Yellow Springs, leaving them nowhere to escape and causing them to die by their own hand.

I explained my understanding in detail, and the divination master nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right, gravity is the power of the earth, and also the power that governs all things in the universe. Its scope of influence is unparalleled. So much so that some scholars in the common sense world believe that the essence of gravity is the depression formed by celestial bodies acting on spacetime, and therefore everything built upon spacetime is subject to its control."

"And this power affects not only matter, but also the soul. Since you once used gravity to unleash its power in the afterlife, you shouldn't have any doubts about this, right?"

I nodded and said, "The afterlife is a world of souls, and gravity works normally there, so I don't find it strange at all... But what do you mean by what I'm saying now? What does it have to do with the origin of the afterlife?"

“It is very relevant,” the divination master said. “Throughout human history, whenever a life dies, its soul is absorbed into the afterlife. Although a very small number of souls remain in the world of the living for various reasons, they are not the majority, and after decomposition, they still settle into the afterlife.”

"And before the afterlife is established? Where do you think the souls of those who have died in this world go?"

I can only speculate like this: "If there is no afterlife... then one can only settle into the material world."

As I was speaking, it suddenly dawned on me, "So, it's about the same as now?"

Because the afterlife remains closed, the world of the living is essentially the same as a world without an afterlife.

“Millions of people died in this eastern coastal city. You were there, so you should know this all too well.” The fortune teller looked around. “Their souls were all unable to return to the afterlife; they could only remain in the world of the living. Don’t you agree?”

"...That should be the case."

As I said that, I sensed something was off.

The fortune teller pointed to the vast, empty city ruins and said in a deep voice, "So, where are they now?"

(End of this chapter)