Chapter 1175

Xing, hands on hips: "Maybe we can still rescue a bit."

Mimi from the side cheered: "How can you already consider yourself dead? Don't give up!"

Looking at the crowd of souls before her, Xiaodie also couldn't help falling into thought: "I don't know, this scene... is simply unheard of."

"Wait..." Xiaodie suddenly thought of something: "Did he just say... the living? The living he has seen aren't just us? Could it be that the lingering souls here are being deceived by someone?"

As Xiaodie's words fell, Sai Feier's voice rang out in the air: "If it's out of good intention, does it still count as 'deception'?"

"Good intention? No matter how you look at it... wait, Lady Sai Feier?"

Sai Feier stepped out from behind the few people and openly admitted: "That's right, it's me."

"Are you also dead?"

"Uh... for now I'm still 'yin-yang separated' with you!"

Xiaodie: "The living that the souls previously encountered, could it be...?"

Sai Feier nodded: "I couldn't bear to look, so I stole a bit from the east, tricked a bit from the west, hoping to add a bit of hope to their lives."

Mimi hung her head, dejected: "... It's because of people like you, nasty living folks, that we're misunderstood by everyone!"

Sai Feier spread her hands: "Otherwise, you've seen what this place is like—these poor souls are barred from the underworld, trapped in the few moments of their former lives, unable to advance or retreat."

"Have you seen those two blacksmiths on the road? I don't know how long they've stayed there, over and over trying to forge a face shield... sigh, Stikokisia, it's too scary."

——

Jujutsu Kaisen.

"So why are these souls being turned away by the underworld? I remember that Natsume saw a similar scene on the misty beach. Could it really be because Gloriosa revived Xiaodie?" Yuji scratched his head, asking while drinking a cola.

Xiaodie is a Golden Heir from the previous reincarnation; because it's hard to explain why she bears a curse, everyone defaults to considering this curse an aftereffect left over from the previous reincarnation.

"Not entirely clear, but I feel that the relationship between Xiaodie and Gloriosa, to some extent, counts as a kind of 'Heavenly Binding Curse'." Maki crossed her arms and said lightly.

"Heavenly Binding Curse?"

"You all know what happened between me and Mai, right? Because we're twin sisters, we naturally share a cursed energy source, which made us both 'half-baked'. Now my 'Heavenly Binding Curse' has become complete because Mai gave up her life." Speaking of the recent bloodbath at the Zenin household, Maki slowly closed her eyes: "So I suspect that Xiaodie and the Death Titan are also a pair of 'half-baked'... you get what I mean?"

Originally, the trial of the previous reincarnation was to kill one of the sisters to achieve 'perfection'. Gloriosa, at the end of that reincarnation, chose to use alchemy to revive Xiaodie; she couldn't bear to watch her sister die, seeking a way to have both... but unfortunately, she both succeeded and failed. However, as long as both are alive, the sisters' condition is defective, just like mine and Mai's originally.

A drop of cold sweat slid down Yuji's forehead: "That is to say..."

Maki said expressionlessly: "... Either Xiaodie kills Gloriosa, or she commits suicide; in short, this sister pair must have only one survivor, with no way to have both."

——

"So, Lady Sai Feier, why have you come back again?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to help you explore... after all, I hate water more than anything in this life, let alone this stinking Nether River..." Sai Feier cleared her throat, "... cough, I just suddenly realized before leaving that I ought to give you a message."

"That child who defies death—I found his footprints here, right?"

Xiaodie blinked: "Wandi... my lady?"

"I remember now, that's the name! No matter what, I've already brought the message... as for whether it's useful, you decide." Sai Feier waved at them: "——See you, Snail-House Princess, Ash Child!"

After saying that, Sai Feier vanished with a "whoosh".

"Huh... she just disappeared like that?"

"Lady Sai Feier always does as she pleases. But no matter what, she's brought us valuable information. If Lady Wandi is also on the shallows right now, she could certainly become our guide. Because, unlike those stray souls, even in the world of the dead she would surely be able to find her way."

Using the power of years, the few of them smoothly passed through the Nether River and soon saw three souls dressed as warriors.

"Someone's coming, get ready——"

"Look! There really is a pink little dog in the world!"

The leading centurion looked surprised at the visiting few; unlike the souls they'd met before, these ones seemed to still have clear awareness.

"Ah, your appearance... could you be the foreign warriors the queen mentioned?" The centurion bowed, "Really sorry, this expedition allows no delay; I couldn't step away to greet you, please excuse me. One priest, one warrior, one... cough, a strange beast... exactly matching the queen's description, a heaven-sent savior!"

Xiaodie grew more confused: "Expedition? May I ask, who are you going to conquer?"

"No one knows yet. Of the scouts sent to explore the path, only one returned. He said it's an untouchable forbidden zone, a gate where the underworld opens to the human realm... and the rest... have lost their awareness and are gradually rotting." The centurion said, "In the city-state there is still debate; scholars think this disaster is unprecedented and should be given a new name."

"An unprecedented disaster? Could it be... 'Death'?"

The centurion nodded: "You've indeed heard about it; of course, 'Death' is just one possibility, still undecided."

"In a world that has never seen 'Death'... it seems these people lived in the Golden Age before the disaster titans descended."

——

Cutting the Crimson Eye

"Turns out Ophiras really does have a Golden Age... I thought this was just a myth made up by bards." In the hunters' meeting room, Wil held his chin, seriously observing the three ghosts: "Back then, Ophiras had hundreds of city-states; if nobody died, wouldn't it be easy to become overcrowded?"

"Hmm... and even back then, Ophiras had another problem." Lan clasped her hands, her tone grave: "Since all the titans entered the Recreation of the World cycle at the same moment, what were the three disaster titans doing during the Golden Age?"