Chapter 545 Ancient Prophecy

I've wondered countless times if the apocalypse might be the afterlife. I've encountered more than one clue connecting the two, enough to make anyone suspicious. Even Xiaowan seems to value this hypothesis highly, and I believe her intelligence surpasses mine, which is one reason I can't let go of this idea.

On the other hand, if this assumption comes true, the accompanying problems will explode. The number of problems that increase far outweighs the number that decrease. This is why, even knowing that the apocalypse might be the afterlife, I always tended to think about things based on the premise that the apocalypse is the future relative to the modern world.

Number Seven gave a positive testimony right in front of me.

Xiao Wan exhaled, showing no shock, but rather as if a huge weight had been lifted from her heart, confirming her long-held suspicions.

"The apocalypse...is the afterlife?"

I struggled to process this crucial intelligence, then noticed a detail in Number Seven's earlier words that was hard to ignore: "Wait... you just said that this place 'used to' be the afterlife?"

What does "once" mean? Isn't this place the afterlife now?

Furthermore, regardless of whether it was in the past or not, since this is the afterlife, why do countless survivors of the apocalypse who linger in this time and space so unanimously believe that this place is the era after the apocalypse?

"I want to confirm first, how much do you know about the afterlife?" Number Seven asked me first.

I cooperated and answered: "The afterlife, as the name suggests, is the world where the soul automatically goes after a person dies. It is also called the underworld, the spirit world, or the dream world, and is the spiritual world in contrast to the material world."

"In the material world, the human soul must reside within its own body. If the soul is water, then the body is the container. Without the container, the soul cannot sustain itself. In many ancient legends, the wandering soul is so fragile that it cannot even withstand sunlight and will be shattered on the spot by a clap of thunder."

"Many witchers can use astral projection spells, but the soul that leaves the body is unstable. The reason it can maintain its shape is because it still has a connection with the body. If the body is found and killed by an enemy, the soul that leaves the body will also die. Even if it is lucky enough to become a ghost, it cannot be considered the person it was in life, but merely a vague echo, a strange thing with the same thought patterns as its former self."

Completely free from the material container, a purely independent soul form, is the realm of the dead for humans.

Ghosts formed after a person's death mostly lack the intelligence to communicate normally. Even the few individuals who seem to speak naturally have no potential for further growth. Because they are dead, their existence has ended. No matter how much time passes, their nature cannot be changed. Therefore, they are regarded by most witchers as "walking testaments" or phenomena operating according to a specific program.

One of the characteristics of the "manifestation" state is the ability to become a purely spiritual being while still alive. The soul is as stable as matter, yet as fluid as water; therefore, "manifestation" is also seen as an achievement of the soul's materialization. It ascends and soars through the universe, or hides within the waves. Completely freed from the weakness of flesh and blood, it is an eternal being.

Even for a powerful being at the Great Completion level, it is extremely difficult to completely shed their material container and exist purely in the human world as a soul. Only through certain special abilities and super-advanced spells can they transform into a similar existence for a short period of time, which is known as "simulation of elementalization".

While the Great Impermanence may use its all-powerful abilities to simulate a similar effect, it is a far cry from the true essence of "manifestation."

"...But the afterlife is different," I said. "Because it is a spiritual world, the soul exists there just like a living person exists in the material world. There is no lack of freedom, and the soul will not be scattered because of reasons such as the brightness of the environment being too high or the sound being too loud."

"Of course, ghosts and spirits are ultimately just phenomena. Just as there is no wind that never stops, these phenomena will eventually vanish and become sediment in the abyss. They may occasionally reappear like silt stirred up at the bottom of a lake, but they are nothing more than a collection of random, wandering spirits that are not truly one another."

"However, more than a hundred years ago, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the situation changed dramatically—as the divination master predicted that Hell would be destroyed and flow into the human world, the Luoshan headquarters withdrew from the afterlife to prepare for this cataclysmic event. However, things did not develop as the divination master had predicted. The afterlife not only did not spread to the world of the living, but suddenly lost all contact with it. Luoshan could no longer enter the other world, and even establish communication with it was impossible."

“Since then, the living people living in the world of the living...their souls after death can no longer reach the other side, and they can basically only live and die on their own in the material world.”

This is my complete understanding of the afterlife.

Number Seven nodded first, and then continued, "The divination master's prediction was very accurate. The world after death really did face destruction, and it really is flowing out into the world of the living."

"The reason why a prophecy may be perceived as biased by most people is that the prophecy is likely based on the prophet's own subjective perception of time."

"The Divination Master is an ancient Great Impermanence who existed before humans first used fire, and is also the oldest known Great Impermanence in the world. The time he has experienced is at least in the tens of thousands of years. Even if such an ancient being only says 'soon,' its scale is very likely to exceed a mortal's lifetime."

"And speaking of today, more than a hundred years later, the evidence that the afterlife is influencing the world of the living... Zhuang Cheng, you must have already observed it, right? The phenomenon of countless souls of the living mysteriously disappearing in the world of the living."

“You mean… the Soul Loss incident?” I said.

"I'm not quite sure how you call this phenomenon, but I can tell you the conclusions I've drawn from my own investigation so far," said Number Seven. "In the afterlife, which is constantly collapsing under the onslaught of the apocalypse, a large number of souls are summoned from the world of the living to fill their own bodies in order to maintain their existence. The more severe the apocalyptic process in the afterlife, the more intense this phenomenon becomes."

"Among the survivors now wandering in this 'apocalyptic era,' some are ghosts that were originally lingering in the afterlife, while others are living victims caught up in this summoning phenomenon."

The theory that the souls of those suffering from amnesia all travel to the apocalypse is also true!

However, contrary to what Asaha and I initially calculated, they were not going to the apocalypse, but rather the afterlife.

There's just too much heavyweight information. It's like swallowing a huge amount of food whole and not being able to digest it properly; so much information crammed into my brain is actually making me a little numb. But maybe this state is just right. What I need right now is precisely this state of being able to think "calmly."

Xuanming had previously asked the Lord of the Divine Seal about the details of the Soul Loss Syndrome, but even the latter was unable to provide an answer. However, Number Seven claims that he has now personally investigated and uncovered the truth about it.

Number Seven wouldn't be foolish enough to lie to Xiao Wan's face, especially considering the clue that "the Lord of the Divine Seal might not know Xiao Wan's background"...

Could it be that the Lord of the Divine Seal's near-omniscient power is unable to cover the afterlife?

"I see... This is why survivors in the apocalypse can't grow normally." I finally understood. "Because this is a world of souls, and the appearance of a soul depends on a person's self-perception..."

"And because of the influence of madness, people cannot accumulate their own memories, and their minds cannot grow. Children remain children, youth remain youth, and the elderly remain elderly..."

Number Seven nodded and said, "Yes. However, some souls from the world of the living may be somewhat influenced by the growth of their physical bodies. Just as water changes depending on its container, souls also change depending on their physical bodies."

“Souls with an overly strong sense of self will not change in this way. However, if they have enough experiences in this ‘end times’ to allow their spirit to grow, their souls may grow to a level more mature than their physical bodies in the world of the living—until they forget these things.”

"Similarly, if the mind falls into a state of utter madness, the outward appearance will also become one of utter madness. Therefore, those who fall into the realm of karmic demons will manifest distorted and terrifying forms."

"Your appearance reflects your heart; this is the fundamental law of the world."

"As for what exactly this 'madness' is that caused those survivors to fall to this state... I think I don't need to say more, do I?"

This is a world of souls, a chaos of time, space, matter, and energy, which is essentially a chaos of souls. Therefore, people who exist here as souls are easily infected, lose themselves, and ultimately transform into a form of madness.

Once the truth about the "apocalyptic era" is grasped, things of this magnitude can be easily deduced.

"But... there's something you haven't told me yet: why does the apocalypse come first to the afterlife?" I asked. "And... what exactly is the apocalypse?"

I think if it were the seventh person, they might know the truth about the apocalypse.

Number Seven paused for a long time, as if judging whether this involved a "secret that cannot be acted upon independently".

After a moment, she seemed to have made up her mind, and then said, "—For the sake of convenience, let's start by answering the first half of your question."

"This is because the source of the apocalypse is human history."

(End of this chapter)