Chapter 55: We cannot see Tathagata (1/2)

“There is only half of Zhou Yuan's soul left.” Yan had a serious face, which made his pale face even paler.

Liu Shuai was stunned.

”What do you mean only half of his soul is left?” I was confused, “You store it in your bottle, don’t you?”

Yan touched the bottle in his pocket and placed it in front of us. I looked at Liu Shuai and since Liu Shuai temporarily did not have any mana, he was unable to see anything. Still, I felt that the glow of Zhou Yuan inside the bottle seemed to have dimmed a lot compared to that day. Seeing that we did not speak, Yan explained, ”I can't tell you why, but it's possible that the fight that night had affected the soul inside the bottle, or maybe I used too much power to destroy Yin and Yang Transporting Body. I just noticed a few days ago that only half of his soul is left.”

“Then what about the other half?” I didn't understand. Yan was a professional soul collector. How could he make such a mistake?

“It’s gone. Have you heard a phrase called soul dissipation? Don’t push me. I have to explain it slowly.” Yan looked at Liu Shuai, ”He might be able to explain it more clearly to you.”

Liu Shuai thought for a while, and then cleared his throat, ”A human's soul, or Hun Po, is extremely weak after leaving the body. Some special changes in an environment will cause the soul to become unstable, and then dissipate. In the world that Yan resides, people's souls and lives are not stealed or taken. It would be better to say that these people’s lives are nearing their end. If no one comes to collect their souls, then these people will have nothing left.”

“He’s right.” Yan nodded his head, “So the phrase that no one dares to keep you till five o’clock if the King of Hell wants you dead by one o’clock does not mean how scary the King of Hell is, but it means that your soul would dissipate with nothing left by five if soul collectors does not find you by one.”

Since we had reached this point, I couldn't help but ask a question that had puzzled me for the past few days, ”Yan, your job is to collect people's souls. Why haven't you been out for so long? Does that mean no one is going to die in this world? That’s not possible. What about those deal people’s souls? Are they all going to dissipate? ”

“I used to be very busy.” Yan looked at me, ”In the nether world, there are a lot of Black and White Wu Chang, Ox-head and Horse-Face and the others who came to handle the matters of souls, but all these have been completely automated during the past yaers. When people die normally, they will automatically enter the nether world. You have fingerprinting, face-scanning and self-help stores, don’t you? The nether world has also improved with the times. ”

Liu Shuai was dumbstruck when he heard it, probably because he had not learnt this kind of knowledge back then.

”Shit..” I muttered to myself. No wonder the first time Yan saw me, he told me that he played with the Srike of Kings. ”Then why are you still collecting people’s souls?”

Yan stood up, paced back and forth, and then kicked his legs, ”There will always be accidents during automation, such as abnormal deaths, overwork, suicide, and so on. Or else, if there are any problems with this system, we will have to come out and deal with it. Besides, the Heavenly Dao is unpredictable. I will try my best to save as many people as I can. Do you still remember how I told you that my job is to not save them? Although it was said impulsively, it is the truth — Hey, we are talking about Zhou Yuan, right? If you are so curious about the nether world, what about I bringing you over to take a look when I'm out? ”

”No, thanks,” I broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that I was too curious, so I continued to ask Liu Shuai, ”Since Zhou Yuan's soul only has half left, let's quickly put the remaining half back into his body in case there is nothing left after a period of time. If we put it back now, it shouldn't be worse than his current state, right?”

“Well, it depends on your definition of worse.” Liu Shuai smiled bitterly as he looked at me, “Wihout a soul, he can still be considered a person who can walk and move in the short term. His memories will not be lost and he still has the abilities of a normal person, but if he loses half of his soul and then the remaining soul forcibly returns to his body, his soul will come to a self-protection mode that turns his body in the lowest consumptive state to nourish his soul.”

“It’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I thought for a moment. “If his body continues nourishing his soul, then his soul would be complete, right?”

“Dream! If his soul is damaged, we should definitely not use such a method to repair it. Only the Six Paths of Reincarnation can repair damaged souls. ” Yan suddenly said, ”You are too slow. Hao Ning, don’t interrupt Liu Shuai. Let him speak.”

Liu Shuai thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement with Yan, ”An ordinary person's soul cannot recover completely from nourishment of the body, so it must enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation as soon as possible, but it cannot enter the cycle only when the person died normally. Therefore nourishment of flesh body can temporarily ensure that the soul itself does not dissipate. At this time, the soul and body are already at odds with each other, and when it reaches a certain point, the soul will force the death of the body, and then the soul will enter the normal death process that Yan mentioned. It will return back to the nether word and reincarnate. In this process, souls can modify themselves, while the process of fight between the soul and the body for time is called plant man. ”

Liu Shuai looked at Yan, and Yan nodded. Then he looked at me, indicating that he had finished.

I looked at Liu Shuai blankly, ”So, if I use Avalokiteshvara's medicine at this time to reunite Zhou Yuan's body with his soul, Zhou Yuan will immediately …”

“The wounds on his body will disappear instantly, but he will fall into a coma.” Liu Shuai looked at the expressionless Zhou Yuan. From the moment we entered the door to now, Zhou Yuan merely listened to us, but there was no expression of sorrow or joy on his face, as if we were talking about someone completely unrelated to him. Liu Shuai sighed, and then finished what he wanted to say, “Until his flesh body dies. This way we can only extend his life, but in such a state, there’s no difference for him to live one day or one hundred years.”