Chapter 627: The Ancestor's Gift (16)

127. The Ancestor's Gift (16)

The Lotus Burners gathered together to hold a brief funeral ceremony. In Luo Qi's view, the funeral rites of Mages were much like those of ordinary humans, or perhaps they were just following local customs; most Mages would burn paper, while a small number of Mages living elsewhere would place themselves into a river to drift away or be buried behind a church.

But to the Lotus Burners, this was likely still too "Lotus-eating," a complete surrender to human culture. After all, Mages did not believe in God; in their view, they themselves were gods. Mages also did not truly believe they would have past or future lives, because if there really were reincarnation, then would a Mage who couldn't use Magic in a past life also be unable to use it in the next? A Mage, of course, could only ever be a Mage, born in this world and vanishing in this world; a Mage could only exist, and exist only once. Unless someone could possess the legendary Ship Ticket to board that legendary ship sailing toward the Other Shore. When the physical body perished, the spirit would continue to maintain its existence... Luo Qi thought of something, but firmly forced himself to forget the idea.

The Lotus Burners had their own rituals.

They began to sing a song in the oldest language of Mages. If that language were used to express commands, it would be a Spell. Now, the Lotus Burners were merely singing a soothing, distant song about a long journey across the sea—they were traveling far from disaster and suffering toward the pastoral lands of their homeland, which was the original Eden, the beginning of all hope.

The silent Seal Land was like an empty tomb, and the mournful, sorrowful singing, carrying the power Mages inherited from their bloodlines, seeped into the tomb in thin wisps, faintly receiving a response. Amidst the ethereal, indistinct atmosphere, the sleeping structure seemed to respond in a low hum to the sad song. At first, Luo Qi thought it was a hallucination, but then he saw the walls faintly flickering with light once more. The light was holy and soft, reminding him of the pure white snow outside the Qionglin. He should have had some bad memories of that place, but whenever he recalled it later, he thought more of his own rebirth and transformation. Besides, Du Zhengyi was there, wasn't he? Du Zhengyi belonged there; the pure white snow of the Qionglin was like a part of his friend, and to him, it was a place of intimacy in this world.

Not until the Lotus Burners finished singing did Luo Qi realize he was not the only one who had been comforted; the scent of despair that had shrouded the Lotus Burners had dissipated significantly. Zhao Jiaozhu finally restrained his emotions and delivered an internal speech, pulling his group of people back together.

This was nothing; on one hand, the conviction of extreme believers was difficult to destroy easily. On the other hand, Luo Qi remembered the Highland Mages, who could even use plants to exert psychological influence on people; those plants also came from the Seal Land.

The hand that had been resting on his shoulder squeezed with slight force, and Du Zhengyi lowered his head to whisper in his ear, "We cannot be certain if there are any living souls left here. Do not risk probing, prevent active contact, do not get captured again, and don't be so ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth."

When he reached the last part, perhaps remembering his usual incorrigibility, Du Zhengyi suddenly hissed, and the hand gripping his shoulder tightened with force. Luo Qi's face twisted in misery; his shoulder was likely bruised. Everyone else could find relief in this moment under the comfort of the Seal Land, yet Du Zhengyi could still be furious with him over old scores—he truly admired him. He really shouldn't have been so suspicious back then; by comparison, the emotional induction he had inadvertently leaked could never have shaken Du Zhengyi's mind.

"What are you doing? I didn't say anything!" Luo Qi mouthed silently, not wanting to disturb the Lotus Burners' grief; it was better for them to stay miserable for a while longer.

Du Zhengyi gave a fake smile, rubbed his shoulder, and continued to whisper, "They have Mind Mages too. Let them play that card first."

Luo Qi was convinced and gave Du Zhengyi a thumbs-up.

"Regardless of whether it's a fragment or not, I never want you to encounter the shadow of a Progenitor Mage again. That idiot Zhao Laoda dreams of channeling the Progenitor Mage; let him go find his own medium, if that fish is willing to help him..." Du Zhengyi squeezed his shoulder again, but this time it didn't hurt; it was just to tell him the conversation was over.

Luo Qi looked toward the clownfish, who was at odds with Zhao Jiaozhu. He maintained his form shrouded in Chaos, and no one knew if he was truly attending the funeral. The funeral also reached its end at this moment; the Lotus Burners set up a Cube barrier and unleashed a high-energy Magic within it, operated personally by Zhao Jiaozhu. The deceased vanished in the storm of Magic, leaving behind not even a drop of blood or a single bone.

But then Zhao Jiaozhu proceeded to spout more bullshit, and Luo Qi listened in shock as he twisted the incident of the killer insects left behind by the Progenitor Mage into being entirely the fault of humans.

"What?" Luo Qi said aloud. "I've always known that Mages have poor logical thinking skills, but to this extent, it's just pure sophistry."

"Shut up," Du Zhengyi said calmly. "It has nothing to do with us."

"Oh." Luo Qi shrank back, scanned his own people, and forcibly dragged Zhou Ruisi, who was hiding in the back, out. "What do you think?"

Zhou Ruisi struggled backward. "What do you mean, what do I think?"

"Don't you think what he said is problematic? Don't you want to debate him?" Luo Qi encouraged him with bright eyes.

"No!" Zhou Ruisi insisted on hiding backward, spouting nonsense to cope. "I'm too traumatized; I can't think anymore."

Just then, Zhao Jiaozhu said, "... Just like before, the virus spread by humans has contaminated this place."

Luo Qi turned back to look at Zhao Jiaozhu in disbelief, and at that moment, Zhou Ruisi said, "I didn't see clearly; wasn't it a bug bite, but a viral infection? Will we get infected? My god, that's terrifying, just like the human Ebola virus."

"If it were contagious, we'd all be dead by now. Don't let others infect you with half-baked illnesses; human Ebola doesn't manifest that quickly," Luo Qi couldn't help but say.

"Shut up, Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi said.

But it was too late; Zhao Jiaozhu looked over with an unkind expression and then began walking toward them. Zhou Ruisi actually retreated a step as a reflex. "Could it be aerosol?"

"Shut up, the word is aerosol," Luo Qi said, his eyes still fixed on Zhao Jiaozhu; he was also losing control of his temper. He had originally thought the Lotus Burners just had an innate sense of superiority and liked to bully the weak. But now he began to realize they were just timid and fearful; their fear and timidity were the same as an illiterate person facing an unknown world.

"The Progenitor Mage would never slaughter their own descendants; all Psychic Beasts that were weaponized were targeted at races other than Mages," Zhao Jiaozhu said.

"Luo Qi!" Du Zhengyi raised his voice.

Yes, they shouldn't have a falling out here; they didn't have the winning odds.

Luo Qi suppressed his impulsive words, swallowed, and suddenly laughed. "All weaponized Psychic Beasts require a Mind Mage to complete the link; otherwise, only a Mind Mage can use them."

Zhao Jiaozhu looked at him.

"Are you a Mind Mage, Zhao Jiaozhu?" Luo Qi said. "I suddenly feel that perhaps we Mind Mages are the more superior ones. Come to think of it, we actually have huge differences; from my perspective, ordinary Mages aren't even my own kind. Maybe one day I'll go insane and want to crush every race that isn't as high-level as me."

More than one Mage stared at him in horror, their expressions varied. Zhao Jiaozhu's expression was obscure and difficult to read. "You child, you really are quite cynical. I remember, the close friend by your side is the one who specializes in handling High-Reaction Mages, right? Child, you are just cynical, not a High-Reaction Mage, correct?"

"Right, he is," Luo Qi said lazily, letting his shoulder touch Du Zhengyi's shoulder without a care. "He is my conscience. It means that as long as he is here, I am just a tethered pony; even if I kick, I'm only kicking the little mushrooms by the wooden post."

His eyes were fixed on Zhao Jiaozhu, and there were faint whirlpools in his bright eyes. In the end, Zhao Jiaozhu was the first to look away. The Lotus Burner leader's expression became even more gloomy, but his voice was calmer. "I have already promised that there will be no more war between us, at least not here today. But I hope you remember that there has never been a Mage disaster that did not come from humans."

Luo Qi didn't speak. Ordinary Mages were unwilling to record history; on this point, the Lotus Burners were actually very willing to dig into history out of ancestor worship.

"We can solve physical injuries, but we cannot solve the viruses humans transmit to us, let alone the fact that humans are always polluting everything and even manufacturing viruses themselves."

Luo Qi resisted saying that bug bites were not viral transmission; the Mages might not understand this, and directly undermining Zhao Jiaozhu like that would be a complete breakdown of relations. "When animals transmit viruses to humans, they never thought about exterminating all animals. They do manufacture viruses, but they also solve them."

"Enough," Du Zhengyi said suddenly. "Stop arguing. Regardless of what it is, the current situation has proven that there is a problem with this Seal Land. According to our protocol, once there is a problem with a Seal, we are responsible for destroying it. At my mission level, this matter has a higher priority than others, Zhao Mage, even higher than dealing with the Lotus Burners. There will indeed be no more war here today, and I believe you will continue to reach a consensus with us—either destroy the Seal Land or leave it and let more Mages die here."

No one raised any objections.

*Deep Space Screw* should be updated tomorrow.

(End of chapter)