Chapter 462

Chapter 85 Soul Flesh Desire

“What a pleasant surprise, little charcoal.”

When Angel said this, his eyes met mine, his lips curled slightly, and he squatted on the round stone, flipping the grilled meat over the fire. His face was smeared with soot, which he seemed to have wiped with the back of his hand. His whole face looked indifferent, and I couldn’t tell how surprised he really was.

I hadn’t paid much attention to what he had said earlier, my mind preoccupied with whether the soup would taste good. Hearing him say “pleasant surprise,” I froze for a moment before reacting.

“…Pleasant surprise?”

I frowned lightly and asked Angel in a soft voice.

What kind of surprise…

I had also checked the corpse of the heretic; there was nothing on him at all.

However, Angel turned his gaze away, focusing intently on the meat roasting over the fire. After a while, he spoke as if casually, “Half a year ago, when you were in the capital city, you killed a member of the Truth Gate… yes, I read the reports sent by the palace and Saint Zayeli. Her body was first frozen, then shattered into pieces, and later transformed into something else.”

“An angel.”

I continued stirring the pot, staring at the half-cooked fox heart, then scooped it out to smell it… It really stinks.

The smell is off…

“This is something you know best.” Angel continued talking on the other side, his tone casual as if chatting, “Little charcoal, let me ask you, did you see how that thing claiming to be an angel appeared?”

I tilted my head and thought about it.

“No, I didn’t see it. But… it should have been Tré… it must have been her transformation.”

What exactly is Angel trying to say?

What kind of surprise has he found?

My curiosity was piqued, and I couldn’t help but urge him, “Angel, don’t beat around the bush.”

“In the great library of the holy city, the records show that apart from being imbued with the Fire of Karma within their bodies, the first and second-stage believers of the Truth Gate do not have any special traits. The way they release the Fire of Karma, aside from its inherently evil, blood-sacrificial nature, is essentially similar to divine miracles in essence.”

The fire was getting smaller, and Angel added some dry wood, ignoring my urging, and continued, “Do you remember what I told you in the capital? Although the Fire of Karma is dangerous, it is indeed a power belonging to the gods, the power of the Goddess of Sin. However, the power of the gods is not something mortals can possess or control. The church exchanges sincere faith for divine miracles, while the Truth Gate uses ‘sacrifice’… sacrificing themselves or others.”

“The first and second-stage believers use their own blood to burn, using their life force as a medium to gain power that does not belong to them. When the Fire of Karma inside them goes out, it means their blood and their lives have reached their end. They will die, their bodies rapidly aging and dehydrating, turning into ugly mummies.”

“This is the ‘price’ of the Fire of Karma…”

“Mortals obtain temporary strength through sinful methods outside the church. For humans, their mortal flesh cannot serve as a good medium; they simply cannot bear the power of the Fire of Karma. The price of forcefully obtaining it is to exhaust their life force… or perhaps their soul? In short, it is the domain of the gods, something we cannot comprehend.”

Soul…

He mentioned this, and I couldn’t help but interrupt, “Angel.”

“Yes?”

“Is there really such a thing as a soul?”

The “white smoke” swallowed by the chaotic power, many people say it is the soul… although this statement seems ethereal, if it’s not the soul, then what else could it be?

If that is the soul…

Using the power of the Fire of Karma, if the blood burns out, one would age rapidly, turn gray-haired, and quickly die… I once witnessed this scene completely in the empire. It was certainly not just someone losing blood.

The scorching red flames not only cost blood but must have burned something else as well.

That “something else” is what the abyss consumes,

The white smoke, recognized by many as the “soul,” was there any connection between them… or were they perhaps the same thing?

I waited for a moment, and the response from Angel was: “The church’s belief is that after death, the soul will return to the embrace of the deity. This is the ultimate goal that many clergy members and countless devout believers aspire to after enduring hardships in the mortal world. So if you ask me this, I certainly wouldn’t deny it.”

“But I also said, that is the domain of the deities. Mortals cannot touch the domain of the deities. Even if I am the Pope, in the eyes of the great existence, I am ultimately just a small human being.”

In other words, he actually didn’t know whether there really was a soul, but he couldn’t admit it.

…Why didn’t you just say so directly instead of all this talk?

I became somewhat impatient, threw the spoon to the side of the pot, and looked at him with a stern face: “So, a surprise?”

His Holiness probably noticed my mood and finally stopped beating around the bush.

He raised his hand, and golden light flickered at his fingertips, suddenly bursting into blinding brightness. The divine miracle hummed with vibration in the not-so-large open space, and an invisible current spread out from Angel.

Unable to hold back, I squinted my eyes. At the same time, the man leisurely roasting meat slowly said, “Alright, now no one can see what’s happening here, nor can they hear our voices.”

…Huh?

The golden light gradually dissipated. Angel looked at me, the corners of his mouth slightly curling, and pointed to the tent behind him, “There’s a burlap bag inside, placed in a very obvious spot. Go take a look yourself; that’s the surprise.”

“…A barrier?”

I stood up, looking around, filled with confusion.

Heavy raindrops fell from above, striking a position over ten meters high, as if blocked by an invisible transparent barrier. The land around the tent, about fifty square meters, was dry, yet further away, the heavy rain continued to pour, the sound of rain pattering, and the knights near the village entrance could be vaguely seen… Everything seemed unchanged from when we arrived, but Angel said they couldn’t see us anymore.

Why can’t they see us?

What’s the principle?

“This is… a divine miracle?”

“That’s not important…”

Angel waved his hand, then seeing my expression, hurriedly added, “Alright, the name of the miracle is Reversal of the End. It can release an invisible barrier that can shield and reflect many things… explaining it would be very complicated. You’d better go see what’s in the bag first.”

“Okay.”

Reversal of the End…

I silently noted down the name in my heart, glanced again at the boiling soup in the pot, stepped into the tent, and found indeed a gray burlap bag, like one originally used for grain, but now containing something unknown. Blue ice shards seeped out of the bag… Huh?

Ice?

It seems like…

I guessed what was inside.

Turning my head to look outside the tent, I saw Angel still roasting meat, showing no intention of coming in, so I walked to the bag, opened its mouth, took a deep breath, bent down, and peered inside.

At one glance, I quickly let go, stepped back two steps, widened my eyes, and shouted, “Angel!”

“What is this!?”

Human organs? Cut-off flesh?!

I don’t know…

But it must be something from the body of the heretic I froze to death.

Dark red, like some organ or internal organ, a chunk about the size of a fist, already frozen hard, covered with ice, yet still giving me an extremely nauseating visual sensation, the overwhelming stench couldn’t be masked, and I couldn’t help but retch.

“How disgusting…”

Heart, liver, kidney… none of these match, it’s not a human organ I’m familiar with…

What exactly is this…

My heartbeat quickened, a feeling of extreme disgust and rejection spreading throughout my body.

And what made me feel even more disgusted was that there was a desire beyond my consciousness, uncontrollable, like a temptation from the depths of a demon within, attempting to drive me and telling me…

This thing, can be eaten.

I’m hungry.

I want to eat it…