Surviving in a Collapsed World, Is Something Wrong?

Chapter 359 Soul Road

The rules of the world and universe, inside the secret room.

"..."

Jiang Ming is in seclusion. After the last battle between nine people, he has rarely come here. This time, he came here only for a cosmic rule.

"Soul Road..."

Jiang Ming murmured, "I originally thought that there was no such thing as souls in the imaginary universe, but I didn't expect that after seeing it today, I realized that it was different from the Herrscher of Erosion in my world, the Scarlet Jade Pill. Although it has the support of the Collapse to become a spirit body, it is just a drop in the bucket. It will dissipate sooner or later."

"The reason why Theresa thinks Feiyuwan will be fine is that the latter is lying to her. If we hadn't come, Feiyuwan would not have been able to last for less than ten years. What can a little kid like her understand?" Jiang Ming shook his head slowly and sighed slightly.

He then turned his attention to the rules of the universe.

"The will is related to the rules of the universe of wisdom, because the will is composed of countless thoughts. Without thoughts, no matter how huge the will is, it cannot be sustained. Above the will, there are emotions. The combination of the three is the embodiment of wisdom. Because wisdom cannot exist without thoughts, because wisdom cannot exist without the support of will, because wisdom cannot exist without the assistance of emotions, therefore, thoughts, will and emotions are called the three elements of wisdom."

"Related to consciousness is the cosmic rule of memory, because consciousness is stored in memory, because memory records everything, consciousness is thinking, thinking is existence, and memory is the proof of existence. Unless it returns to nothingness, it will never dissipate."

"And the soul must be different from the previous two. What exactly is the soul...?"

What exactly is the soul? This is a question that Otto Apocalis spent more than 500 years pondering, and it is not even known whether he finally had the answer.

"..."

"If memory records everything, then the soul must be the record of all living individuals. Memories may be forgotten, wills may weaken, but souls will not. This is probably why there are such things as soul searching in the fantasy world. Faint memories and special wills may deceive, but souls will never betray."

"The soul seems to be very fragile and cannot be controlled by the organism itself, but the soul is also very important. Once lost, the body and the soul will be gone. There is even a saying that the soul is the basis of reincarnation."

"If reincarnation really exists in the world, then the reincarnation of ordinary people is tortuous and difficult. The soul will undergo changes - either twisting, deforming, or dissipating. Therefore, after reincarnation, the appearance will change greatly and the memory will completely disappear."

"But what if he is not an ordinary person? Take me for example - the [Dragon Transformation Method] of the [Immortal] Vidyadhara Clan gave me the ability to reincarnate for six lifetimes. Could it be that this [Dragon Transformation Method] is related to the soul? Or is it just pure consciousness...?"

Jiang Ming thought about this and quickly shook his head.

"No, it can't be consciousness. Consciousness is probably even weaker than the soul. How can it be used for such a difficult reincarnation? It must be a soul! Otherwise, how can the nine of them, as puppets created by the rules of the constructed universe and the rules of the life universe, have wisdom and emotions out of thin air?"

"But where did the souls of these nine people come from? The means of the [Ultimate] true meaning? Could it be that the Soul Dao can create souls on its own?"

Inspiration suddenly appeared in Jiang Ming's mind, and thousands of thoughts kept colliding to assist his thinking. His 100% understanding was already quite good. Coupled with the cosmic rules contained in the cosmic rules of this world and the time ratio of 1:100, one day in the outside world was already days in him.

....................

The days passed quickly. One night in the outside world was about 11 hours, while within the world's cosmic rules it was 1100 hours, or 45 days and 8 hours.

Yaeyama, Yae Shrine.

In the early morning, under the watchful eyes of Kasumi, Theresa quietly left the Yae Shrine.

She left a note saying that she was going down the mountain to buy fried tofu, and that people should go to the store in the morning at the designated spot. If they couldn't find it at Douzhiju at the entrance of the village, they could go to the branch next to the izakaya.

And... ask Kasumi to help her look after the shrine.

Xia allowed this to happen, because she had already confirmed that it was safe to go down the mountain.

Secondly, this is also a good opportunity to get Theresa away. When Kasumi and Hiyomaru are alone, they can continue to gather intelligence and prepare for any eventuality for Jiang Ming's future calculations.

Fortunately, because of Jiang Ming's previous actions, this spirit beast was not very wary of Xia.

"Looking after the shrine...you should change your clothes first."

The somewhat cute little girl's voice of Hiyamaru was heard in the shrine. Kasumi was not surprised, but just tilted her head slightly.

"Changing clothes?"

"Yes, although it is located in a remote area, Yae Shrine is the only shrine in Yae Town, so naturally there will be residents who come here to pray and worship for various reasons. A shrine cannot be without a shrine maiden. Theresa is not here, so you should at least change into the shrine maiden's clothes and disguise yourself a little."

"......All right."

"Oh, you know what can get rid of the bad mood after waking up for the day? It's fried tofu. Do you know what's the most appropriate dessert after sleeping? It's fried tofu. Do you know what's the best gift for a sunny day? It's fried tofu."

"...Anyway, you just want to eat fried tofu."

Just as Xia was changing her clothes, a girl named Yae Rin with thick cherry-pink hair, blue eyes, a delicate figure, and also wearing a shrine maiden's costume, appeared in front of her.

"Good morning, mother." After saying good morning respectfully, Rin showed Xia her shrine maiden costume with a smile on her face. Her long sleeves fluttered, as if cherry blossoms were falling, which was beautiful beyond words.

"It's a very cute miko costume."

Xia praised with almost no expression: "Your father... no, what about Ming?"

"Father is still in seclusion, but the progress is good. I believe that in a short time, Feiyumaru will be able to recover quickly, and we will be able to recover the original curse seal of the Animal Path without hurting anyone." Lin smiled with his head tilted.

Looking at the smile of the girl in front of her, she felt her soul was healed. Xia still nodded expressionlessly and walked out of the locker room with Rin.

"I've changed my clothes."

For a moment, Kasumi and Rin felt a pair of eyes staring at them.

"Big sis... eh, that's not right."

Feiyuwan's voice suddenly became a little awkward and a little unbelievable: "No, no, no, who is the eldest sister?"

"I also don't have any memory of being called big sister." Xia said lightly, and only Yae Rin tried hard to hold back her laughter.

Feiyuwan couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Hahahaha, it turns out it's because I didn't eat the fried tofu. I'm still a little grumpy after waking up. Please start cleaning quickly."

early morning.

The shrine surrounded by bamboo forests was filled with the chirping of early morning orioles. Usually at this time, Xia would have just finished her mission and was about to take a nap, so the scene was always fresh.

The rustling sound coming to my ears is the sound of squirrels passing through layers of branches and leaves, stuffing their cheeks with nuts, and then taking them back to the granary one by one to store them - it is chaotic and disturbing, but there is no need to be alert, this is the "vitality" of the human world and the long-lost tranquility.

Hiyamaru's voice was heard again in the shrine: "There shouldn't be many people coming to worship in the morning. You two just need to concentrate on cleaning. Most villagers who come here to draw lots don't seek help from the shrine maidens to interpret the will of the gods. After all... everyone already has the result in their hearts, and they come here to draw lots just to make up for it."

"Wait...someone's coming."

There were footsteps on the stone steps, neither fast nor slow. Kasumi lowered her head and pretended to walk towards the wooden rack where the ema was hung. Yae Rin followed closely behind her, hiding behind her and gently pulling the corner of her clothes.

The ema swaying in the wind obscured their figures, but the gap between the wooden frame and the ema gave Xia room to observe.

The man turned his back to Xia. She took off her gloves, washed her hands and rinsed her mouth in the hand wash basin.

It had become a ritual, but she did it very carefully, washing back and forth many times, as if she really wanted to wash away some dirt.

That iconic white hair and black cape, there's no doubt about it... that's the guy.

........................

........................