Chapter 48: Those Dead, the World of the Dead, and the God of the Dead

Jier's three subordinate Warriors followed two young Priests and one teenage Novice Priest, spreading out in the church's front courtyard to search.

It was very quiet here; under the shroud of night, among those mottled tree shadows, there seemed to be all sorts of things.

But when Weier and the others walked over to look, it was actually just the wind blowing the treetops, causing the light cast by the lamps to create some movement and distortion. That made sense; the Church of the God of the Dead was a widespread church found everywhere in human society.

After all, many places might lack an Agricultural God Church, a Church of the God of Wealth, or even a Sun God Church, but as long as people gathered, there would certainly be a Church of the God of the Dead.

Otherwise, the people in settlements everywhere would have to expend a great deal of resources just on handling the aftermath of the dead.

Some Nobles had calculated that after the Church of the God of the Dead became widespread in their territories, the surplus money in the hands of the commoners increased significantly, and casualties caused by reanimated corpses became extremely rare.

That said, while his subordinates searched the front courtyard, Jier followed this middle-aged Steward Priest through the side corridor, past the church's main building, and arrived at the church's back garden where corpses were stored.

There were several semi-underground buildings here, as well as an incineration building for storing fuel and burning corpses. There was also a stable and a flatbed carriage parked under a shed.

Clearly, these were the tools and locations for transporting and burning corpses.

As for those semi-underground buildings, they were naturally the mortuaries for storing corpses.

There were three such buildings, built separately; the structure above ground was a small house, overall resembling the pyramids of his past life, with an entrance passage blocked by metal bars at the front.

It was even locked; whether coming from the inside or going in from the outside, it was not easy for a normal person. The gap between the metal bars was small enough that even the smallest human child could not squeeze through, but for a Shapeshifting Monster that had transformed into a Huimao Hu Li, this was no obstacle at all.

"Knight Jier, where shall we start looking?" the middle-aged Priest asked.

Jier smiled: "I haven't asked your name yet; who are you?"

The middle-aged Priest replied simply: "Nuor, just call me Nuor. I stopped using my family surname long ago; addressing me this way is fine."

"Priest Nuor, are these three buildings leading underground all for storing corpses?" Jier asked.

The middle-aged Priest nodded and gestured to introduce them to Jier one by one: "The one on the left is for storing the corpses of noble people. Inside, there are individual platforms for processing corpses, allowing the deceased's family to come and say goodbye at any time before the body is burned. They also have individual stone coffins for temporary residence. Of course, in the end, everything must be burned into ashes; there are also many urns available for families to choose one they like."

He added at the end: "Of course, all of this costs money."

Very reasonable; after all, the operation of churches everywhere requires financial support, and the God of the Dead does not have the ability to conjure gold. Aside from the partial financial support provided by local Noble Lords, the bulk of the church's maintenance is funded through various funeral service fees.

This includes the fees that Priests demand from local Noble Lords whenever they go out to resolve areas of Founengliang caused by the gathering of corpses. Of course, if they don't pay, that's fine too; if the church leaves it alone, one day those Noble Lords will come begging at their door again.

Subsequently, the middle-aged Priest Nuor pointed to the entrance of the building on the other side and said: "This is the mortuary used by the commoners in the town who can afford a little money. Inside, there are many Wooden Coffins that will be burned along with the corpses. Also burned together are quite a few small items the deceased loved during their lifetime, brought by their families; they are placed in the Wooden Coffins to be burned together. Let those things the deceased loved accompany them to the kingdom of the dead."

Jier was silent for a moment: "Is there really a kingdom of the dead?"

The Priest of the Church of the God of the Dead glanced at Jier, as if Jier had asked a foolish question: "Of course there is, right beneath the ice fields of the far north. I have never died, but the books say it is a vast underground world controlled by my God, no smaller than the Saint Hors Kingdom. The dead of the entire world will gradually gather there. As long as they heard the name of my Lord during their lifetime and received our proper guidance after death, they will eventually arrive there."

"Do not worry about the journey being too long, causing the departed Soul to perish on the way. Through the proper guidance of our church, the Soul of the dead will be different from the souls of ordinary creatures that die in the wild. They will begin a new life after death, and they have plenty of time to slowly make their way there. They rest during the day and emerge at night, and ordinary people cannot see them at all, nor can they see the ordinary people active at night."

He finally said: "Young man, young Knight, this is not a legend, nor is it the indistinguishable drunken talk from those taverns, and certainly not a story from a Bard who doesn't have a single word of truth in their mouth."

"This is a part of how the whole world operates, from life to death, from death to life. A young body is born from a mother, and it arrives in this vivid world to experience this life, whatever kind of life it may be. And when it dies, through our hands, our guidance, it is reborn in the world of the dead. It arrives in the world of the dead, which is the opposite of the World of the Living, spends its life there, and finally enters the great circulating torrent of souls, to be born into this world once again, born from a mother."

"Life and death are equal and cyclical, just like a wheel, and just like the sun and the moons. The sun is like the world of life, while when the moons rise, it is the world of death."

Jier watched this long-winded speech, noting the particularity in the other party's choice of words.

"It? Why do you not use 'he' to refer to them?" Jier asked.

The middle-aged Priest smiled: "A sharp young man, but the greatness of my Lord is beyond what we mortals can imagine. You must understand, my Lord is not just the God of the Dead for humans; He is the God of the Dead for this world, even the God of the Dead for the gods themselves. My Lord is one of the greatest gods in the world, the Dark Side of the gods. He is one of the oldest and most powerful gods in the world."

Jier was filled with awe. He had previously witnessed a pair of Priests who were subordinates of a nature deity—a human couple living by the river outside Kendall City. Even though they were just two people, they were able to trigger a powerful God's Miracle that would benefit the entire Kendall County.

What is a God's Miracle?

It is a powerful supernatural force that you can marvel at just by taking one look; that is a God's Miracle.

And if a pair of human Priests who only received the favor of the God of Rivers and Lakes could trigger such a God's Miracle, let alone the fact that among nature deities, the God of Rivers and Lakes didn't even rank, far inferior to the God of the Dead.

Jier placed his hand on his chest and bowed slightly toward the direction of the church's central hall; clearly, this was a sign of respect for a powerful deity.

The middle-aged Priest was clearly very satisfied with Jier's act of respecting the deity. He then explained the third underground building, the one closest to the back courtyard gate: "That is where the corpses of the commoners from the various villages outside the town are stored; it is currently packed full. It is much simpler there; the stone beds are lined with the corpses of the dead. We record the name of the deceased and the village they lived in on the corpses. To avoid duplicate names, we also write down the time of arrival. Although it is a bit unfair to the dead, the ink painted on the corpse is special; it will manifest on the 'body' of the departed Soul."

"This way, after they die, they will see on their own Soul what their name is, where they came from, and when they died. This helps them recall the memories of their lifetime," the middle-aged Priest explained.

"Then how do the first two recall who they were in their lifetime?" Jier asked curiously.

The middle-aged Priest rubbed his fingers: "We will record a paper record or Scroll that the dead can see and hand it to the deceased believer or townsman. It will simply record their life, which helps them remember themselves. And after a noble person dies, we will hold a special ceremony where we Priests specifically perform Divine Art to communicate with the dead, directly informing the noble person of their deeds during their lifetime."

Jier couldn't help it; it really was a case of getting what you pay for.

When status and money are in place, the Priests of the God of the Dead can directly inform the dead of the news and deeds of their past lives.

Jier thought, this is also good; at least matters regarding wills or the division of property after death can be completely distributed by the deceased after they die. The living don't need to fight over those wills.

But Jier underestimated the complexity of this matter. People are already dead; can the property of the living world be commanded by the dead from afar? Even if they manifest, it's useless. Once a person dies, what living person would pay attention to the thoughts of the dead?

"Where shall we start? Knight Jier," Priest Nuor asked again.

He had said so much to Jier just now, not because he was talkative, but because he saw that Jier did not have much understanding of the God of the Dead and the Church of the God of the Dead. He had specifically provided the explanation to Jier, hoping that even if Jier didn't come to Yemei Town in the future, he could have more contact with the Church of the God of the Dead elsewhere and help other Churches of the God of the Dead just as he helped the Agricultural God Church.

Being on good terms with a promising young Knight was always a good thing.

It was just that Priest Nuor did not know that the utilitarian content in his words had actually diminished much of Jier's respect for the Church of the God of the Dead, though he remained in awe of the God of the Dead himself.

Because he understood that, unlike the aggressive Sun God Church from this evening, the God of the Dead was the true big shot, a deity with real power who participated in the construction of the world's foundation.

Although he had never seen the emblem of the God of the Dead in the sky, perhaps it was related to their Divine Essence; it was difficult for the God of the Dead to establish their Divine Kingdom in the orbit outside the planet, so they established it in the underground world beneath the ice in the far north.

After all, you couldn't have the dead fly to a Divine Kingdom in outer space, right? Every day, more than a million living beings with souls die; if they all flew into the sky, wouldn't the sky change drastically?

Walking for a dozen years, resting by day and traveling by night, to reach the far north sounded much more realistic.

Realistic, my foot!

Just thinking about it, Jier had a strong desire not to die. After all, just thinking about the distance from the Saint Hors Kingdom to the far north made it hard for him to accept.

Therefore, it is better not to die if you can avoid it; he didn't want to walk such a long way after death; it must be very tiring. But if his warhorse Tianxuecao could accompany him after death, would that not be okay?

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey. Let's go look at the corpses of the townspeople from outside the town, which are the most numerous; my pet is probably right here."

Priest Nuor looked at the strangely acting Jier with some confusion, but still nodded and led Jier toward the building near the back courtyard gate.

The entrance to this semi-underground passage building had iron bars, and a lock without a keyhole hung on it.

"This?" Jier had just asked how to open a metal padlock without a keyhole.

Unexpectedly, Priest Nuor just brushed the lock body with his hand, and the large metal padlock opened directly.

"Uh..." Jier's words got stuck.

Seeming to discern the doubts of Knight Jier, Priest Nuor explained while opening the metal gate of the passage: "The Special Lock that can be opened with the Divine Power of the God of the Dead is specially made by Artisan Clerics of the God of Crafts, commissioned by the superior diocese. For facilities and items involving Divine Power, one must either find Mages or these Artisan Clerics of the god; otherwise, it is quite troublesome to forge them ourselves."

"After all, professional matters should be left to the professionals, right?" Jier added.

"That is the logic. Please enter; I still need to lock this padlock from the inside to prevent anyone from sneaking in while we are inside. You know who I am talking about—those Thieves, those who especially love to steal the belongings of the deceased."

It sounded as if the Thieves Guild had visited the various Churches of the God of the Dead more than once. However, they were not stealing the Church's items, but the belongings of the dead.

Jier guessed that it was mostly the personal effects of those so-called 'noble people' among the Nobles, or those of the very wealthy.

It was currently the sweltering early summer, and since not a single drop of rain had fallen this year, the weather outside was dry and hot.

Yet, inside the Church of the God of the Dead, it was cooler than in the town, and as for this underground passage leading to the morgue, it was clearly even cooler here.

Jier did not feel this was a sensory illusion; the air here was indeed very cool. The slightly chilly air brushed past his hair as he walked, which Jier could feel on his forehead and cheeks; the further he turned and moved underground, the more he could feel a hint of chill.

Through the turns of the downward stairs and his walking pace, Jier could construct in his mind that they were currently located directly beneath the Church of the God of the Dead. Although the entrance and exit were built in the backyard, these places where corpses were stored were actually located exactly under the Church.

In other words, the underground of the Church of the God of the Dead was actually empty.

"Are we directly beneath the Church?" Jier asked. There was not a sound in this passage, and the current illumination was provided by Jier specifically making his Illumination Ring glow to light up the surroundings.

And clearly, upon seeing that Jier had a means of illumination, this middle-aged Priest did not specifically take out any other lighting means that should have been here.

Saving a little is better than nothing, after all.

"Very sharp, Knight Jier. Of the people who come here, only you Knights can correctly state our exact location. Then, can you guess whether our current location is directly beneath the Statue of the God, or to the lower left, or perhaps the lower right?"

"A hint: the morgues connected by the three entrances are not connected to each other; they are three separately built underground spaces."

The middle-aged Priest Nuor asked with a smile on his face.

This person was extremely quiet when not speaking, with light breathing and a heartbeat so faint that it was not easy for Jier's ears to hear; thus, when he was quiet, it was as if this person did not exist at all.

He was more like a corpse than a living middle-aged Priest of the Church.

And only when this person smiled could Jier realize that this Priest was still relatively normal.

Facing the other's riddle, Jier also smiled: "Ha, we are heading directly beneath the center of the Church, not to the left or the right. The reason?"

"There are two. One is that for every step we have taken, I have been aware of how much distance we have covered. Calculating it, it is exactly the center of the Church, with no deviation."

"As for the other, it is even simpler. After all, how many 'noble people' and townspeople are there? The number of their corpses is naturally not large, far incomparable to the number of people from the Villages outside the town. After all, I think that to the god, we mortals are all equally insignificant, right? Perhaps there is a distinction in status and wealth while alive, but after death, to the great God of the Dead, they are all just ordinary, newborn citizens of the Land of the Dead."

Clap, clap, clap—Priest Nuor applauded excitedly.

"Well said. It seems Knight Jier has already begun to slightly understand my god."

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