"Master Heming is still alive?"

Xia had been in a foreign land for so long that she had naturally come into contact with many things related to Taoist Heming. In her opinion, Taoist Heming should have ascended to heaven long ago, and his will had become like the evil god in those foreign lands, leaving only his corpse to be fought over.

Judging from the "present" abandoned city, he must have lived at least a few hundred years ago. How could he still be alive today?

"To be precise, if you define death as the cessation of consciousness, then Taoist Heming has never died. If you define death as the abandonment of the body, then Taoist Heming has already died."

Stone shook the ashes from his pipe.

"I don't like the way you talk."

Xia spoke frankly, at least Trist would not say such vague and unclear words.

"I'm sorry, Miss Xia. My profession has made me accustomed to keeping secrets. If I can achieve my goal by telling only half the truth, then the remaining half of the truth can be sold for a good price. Of course, I will be careful in front of the Chosen One."

Stone explained that he had no ill intentions and then explained.

"According to Mr. Trist's and my investigation, Taoist Heming did ascend. The so-called ascension is the same as sublimation. He mastered a lot of seriously polluted knowledge in the waste city and may have even faced some great beings. When the pollution reached a limit, he lost his human body and became a being like those monsters."

"His human remains contain a great deal of pollution. They are divided and collected by his disciples. Sometimes they appear in the underground black market of the abandoned city for sale. Those rich and stupid guys will spend a lot of money to buy them, grind them into powder and eat them in an attempt to increase their own strength or prolong their lifespan."

"Of course, in the beginning, these powders can indeed give them extraordinary feelings. They can feel that their bodies have become younger, their muscles have become stronger, their vision has become broader, and their thinking has become clearer. This is because the pollution has brought strength. But then, after just a few years, most of these people will fall into madness because of the whispers that keep echoing in their ears, and eventually end up in misery."

"Despite this, the remains of Heming Taoist are still in great demand. People always have a lucky mentality, always thinking that they will not be the one in trouble. But no one knows that they are like moths flying into the fire, rushing towards destruction without realizing it."

At this point, Stone sighed.

These foolish rich people are rushing towards pollution, but so are God's chosen ones.

The chosen ones originally entered the Land of Silence for power, to change their lives, and to pursue knowledge.

But as the missions are carried out again and again, the truth of the foreign land is gradually revealed, and the chosen ones discover that it is not them who are chasing knowledge, but knowledge that is chasing them. Despite this, the chosen ones must continue to go deeper into the foreign land to gain more power, otherwise they will fall into madness or die directly.

The more powerful the Chosen One is, the more missions he goes through, the lower his sanity becomes, and the closer he gets to madness.

Like a moth flying into a flame, this is exactly what God's chosen ones are like.

"As for the spirit or soul of Taoist Heming, this involves the state after sublimation, or in other words, the state of becoming a god."

After choosing his words, Stone said.

"When humans have absorbed enough knowledge, their bodies will collapse, their souls will become alienated, and they will degenerate into monsters. But there are exceptions. If they do not passively accept the infusion of knowledge, but actively seek knowledge, then there is a certain probability that they will not completely lose their sanity, but will be able to retain some of it. Or they can use some special means to prevent knowledge from eroding them and preserve their will."

When Lu Ban heard this, he thought of Xuan Jun.

Drizzt must have also suffered from the pollution of the Old Ones level, but his will can still be maintained and continued to a certain extent. From the perspective of ordinary people, Drizzt has become a mysterious lord, a demigod-like existence.

Therefore, as long as one can endure pollution under certain circumstances, it is possible to sublime and become a god.

"Heming Taoist has sublimated, but not completely. He has adopted a rather crude and primitive method of sublimation - leaving the pollution inside the body, and letting the soul leave the body to find a new attachment, thus avoiding pollution to the greatest extent possible and gaining the most knowledge."

Stone explained.

"Hmm? This way of describing it..."

Lu Ban quickly thought of his lost crowbar.

When Lu Ban holds the crowbar, the corresponding instructions for using the crowbar will cover his brain like a spider web, and knowledge will flood into his mind. However, once he lets go of the crowbar, the corresponding knowledge will disappear without causing serious pollution to Lu Ban.

This method of engraving knowledge on objects can avoid contamination to a certain extent. Of course, it also has disadvantages. Once the object leaves your hands, it no longer belongs to you, and the power is given to others.

To Heming Taoist, the body is also an object.

He left some of the serious pollution in his body and scattered it around, but his spirit remained rational and remained dormant in the abandoned city, waiting for the day when he could slowly digest the pollution and adapt himself, then he would take back his body through some method and continue to move towards a higher level of pollution.

"Maybe Taoist Heming is listening to what we are saying right now."

Stone smiled.

"What do you know about the Night of the Summoning?"

Xia asked again.

The resurrection of the dead is also a taboo topic in the Kingdom of Night. Even if one masters magic, one cannot bring the dead back to life. However, the Resurrection Night in the Abandoned City seems to imply that the dead may be resurrected.

"Soul summoning is a hidden custom in the waste city. Only a few people know about it. These people are usually followers of the Heming Sect. They believe that as long as the soul summoning ceremony is performed on the ninth day after the death of the deceased, the soul of the deceased will return to the body and be resurrected. Before that, the body needs to be kept intact or replaced with a fresher body."

Stone said as he recalled.

"The followers of the Heming Sect have done some illegal things for this. You all know that those rich and powerful people dream of coming back to life, and their flattering subordinates will kill those young people to please them and use them as sacrifices for the ceremony."

"How stupid."

Shia scoffed at this.

"Will this ritual be successful, or is this just a simple scam by the Heming Sect, similar to me, Heming Taoist, transferring money?"

Lu Ban asked.

"At least as far as I know, there is no successful example."

Stone said, but quickly changed the subject.

"But it is said that Taoist Heming himself used a similar method to bring back the soul."