Chapter 389: Displacement

"No, no, no, you are not allowed to go there." Majiang completely and utterly refused Du Zhengyi. Du Zhengyi looked very bad right now; his hair was messy, his shirt collar was pulled open, and there were many bloodshot veins in his eyes, likely from a hangover, lack of sleep, and mental trauma. "If you think it is truly necessary, we can petition Qionglin to have Qionglin dispatch a team."

"I had no intention of discussing this with you at all; if you hadn't barged in, I would have already departed." Du Zhengyi rubbed his hair, making it even messier. He rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing a section of his forearm. "This is the last shred of hope, and I feel it is very promising."

"That is only the hope you believe in; you are simply unwilling to give up. What you need most right now is psychological counseling." Majiang said loudly, "I should have the Highland Mage help me take a look at your head; it might help you calm down."

"Don't you think things are abnormal?" Du Zhengyi explained patiently, "When Luo Qi couldn't beat the Ancestor Mage's high-level copy, he hid a wisp of Yajian in his own mind, mixed in with the Yajian Pianshu the Ancestor Mage had retained of him. This thin slice of Yajian saved my life at a critical moment. He achieved this goal through the simple and extreme method of controlling his own body to interrupt its physiological activities."

"So! What is abnormal about that?" Majiang said, equally annoyed, "Do you think it's abnormal that Luo Qi planned to save you after his death while he was on his deathbed?"

Du Zhengyi became agitated, "He could only have made this decision at the very beginning of the war to have enough time to deceive the Ancestor Mage. He had to use his frontal battlefield as a cover to mask his true actions. Do you not understand the abnormal part of this? You don't understand? You really are a Doctor!"

Majiang glared at him.

"Why would this energy-intensive second plan become a person's first choice on the battlefield?" Du Zhengyi paced back and forth in the room irritably; if Majiang hadn't come to see him again and blocked him at the door, he would have already left. However, he was willing to say it again; speaking it out helped him clear his thoughts and strengthen his own conviction. "Especially Luo Qi. You know Luo Qi; you must be able to see that his primary goal is always to survive first. Only by surviving is there hope to do other things; this has always been his behavioral trait. His desire to survive is stronger than the average person's, and he is more optimistic than anyone I have ever met when facing danger. He couldn't have listened to the Ancestor Mage's deceitful lies, nor could he have been so scared that he left a will the moment the war started."

Majiang pondered reluctantly; he still felt that it was Du Zhengyi who refused to give up. The pressure from the Ancestor Mage was likely unimaginably strong. For someone like Luo Qi, who was young and had little experience, it was very possible he surrendered without a fight in the face of such pressure, thinking he couldn't survive, and in his anger, decided to take revenge on the person who took his body—what was impossible about that?

"Have you ever thought about how resentful a person would be the moment they know their body is about to be taken?" Majiang reminded Du Zhengyi, "If there really are vengeful spirits in this world, I think that kind of unwillingness and resentment would be enough to turn a person into a ghost. Perhaps Luo Qi was determined to take revenge on the Ancestor Mage at that time, so he made this arrangement."

"This is where the contradiction lies." Du Zhengyi stopped and turned to look at him, "If that were the case, then why didn't Luo Qi use his final energy to seize the opportunity to kill his own body on the spot and perish together? Why delay the occurrence of this event? Why only kill his own body when I encountered danger? Have you ever thought that this behavior itself is like him leaving himself a way out? If I hadn't encountered danger, if I had successfully defeated the Ancestor Mage, then he wouldn't have needed to shut down his body. Then why would he keep his body? Without a soul, what is the use of keeping this corpse? Unless he knew he had a way to preserve his soul, and believed that I could take his body to find his soul."

"Perhaps..." Majiang hesitated for a moment, feeling somewhat skeptical, "Perhaps he also wanted to leave you a memento? To let you hold a funeral memorial service?"

Du Zhengyi glared at him, "Believe me, Luo Qi is not that romantic, nor is he that narcissistic."

"Is that so? But people might become a little different when they are about to die..." Majiang said uncertainly.

Du Zhengyi sighed irritably. He thought for a while longer, then suddenly said firmly, "No, that's not it. Clownfish once mentioned something; he said that when he was about to kill Luo Qi, Luo Qi requested that after killing him, he should burn his corpse to ashes and leave nothing behind."

Majiang was startled, "Why?"

"Because death is the end of it all; he didn't want the living to see his corpse and be sad. He still had that much detachment." Du Zhengyi said, "If that's the case, how could he possibly leave a soulless corpse for his friends, letting his friends suffer the torment of dealing with such aftermaths?"

Majiang lowered his head in silence; he was somewhat moved by Du Zhengyi, but he simply could not ignore the huge risk of this matter.

Du Zhengyi could not wait any longer and continued, "Luo Qi must have hidden himself. That old soul waited for ten thousand years, finally waiting for someone with a brain structure capable of containing it to appear. It would not let this opportunity go, and Luo Qi inevitably could not withstand its desperate attack. Once Luo Qi discovered that the situation could not be reversed on his own, he would adjust his strategy; running was his first choice. The only place he could go, the only place that could contain his entire soul, is obviously only one! They very likely swapped their positions of existence! I can't believe I only thought of this now."

"But from another perspective, from the Ancestor Mage's perspective, since it can replicate, since it can have an immortal soul, how could it not leave a copy for itself, or a copy of a copy? Zhengyi, I am worried that if you step in there, all that will be waiting for you is the Ancestor Mage's high-level copy of a high-level copy. You will become the next Luo Qi, the next person to lose their soul."

Du Zhengyi was unmoved, "Yesterday I was able to defeat the Ancestor Mage, relying on Luo Qi's help. Today I must fulfill the remaining half of my obligations in this contract."

"I am not trying to stop you completely; I hope you at least let the Mages of Qionglin go first to verify if that is the case. If they make contact and find that Luo Qi is indeed there, it won't be too late for us to send Luo Qi's body up then," Majiang advised.

"No, the fewer people who know about this, the better. I especially do not want Qionglin to be dragged into this," Du Zhengyi said.

Majiang wanted to say more, but Du Zhengyi grabbed his shoulder, "Majiang, Luo Qi cannot attract any more attention. You are right; what the situation is like there, no one can say for sure; perhaps the situation is very complicated. Perhaps Luo Qi still exists, perhaps Luo Qi is still in an endless war, and he is only barely existing. If that is really the case, I even more cannot let people from Qionglin get involved. All they will want is the Ancestor Mage's soul; don't you understand yet?"

Majiang could say no more, and after a moment, he nodded.