Chapter 135: False Miracles

Wu Chang asked Han Er, "Have you witnessed their miracle of bringing the dead back to life?"

"I see it often; almost every month, they perform it once for the believers." Han Er's tone was flat, yet Wu Chang could faintly detect some dissatisfaction within it.

"Do you believe they are truly bringing the dead back to life?" Wu Chang continued to ask.

Han Er was an old gravekeeper who maintained close contact with the Hunguang Sect Sect, so he must know quite a few secrets.

Upon mentioning bringing the dead back to life, Han Er's tone became complex; he looked at the holy table ahead, yet it seemed he was speaking of more than just the rituals upon that holy table.

"Transcending life and death cannot be so easy; if it were truly that simple, those poor wretches craving immortality would not have become monsters, neither human nor ghost, wandering forever through the night in the Great Graveyard."

Wu Chang nodded, thinking to himself that this fellow possessed such deep insights; he must have suffered greatly at the hands of the Hunguang Sect, so he would find an opportunity later to inquire further.

The ritual inside the church continued.

A middle-aged believer with a grayish complexion emerged from the crowd, supported by several nuns.

The middle-aged believer's face was deathly pale, his hair dry as straw, so thin he was nothing but skin and bones; his eye sockets were so sunken that passersby feared his eyes might fall out directly, and with every step he took, he emitted violent gasps, so that others merely hearing it felt unable to catch their own breath.

Were such a person placed in reality, even watching through a screen, Wu Chang would not dare fast-forward the video, fearing that with even a slight acceleration, the fellow's body would not withstand it and die right there in his phone.

The ritual of death and rebirth was presided over personally by the Sect Master of the Hunguang Sect Sect; the Sect Master appeared exceptionally young, looking no older than thirty, with a gentle and refined demeanor, resembling a young scholar more than the Sect Master of some great religious faction.

Although the Sect Master was young, his work was solid; whether establishing the Hunguang Sect Sect or presiding over prayers, he performed flawlessly, enjoying extremely high prestige among the believers.

With the Sect Master's appearance, the believers became even more frenzied, loudly calling out the Sect Master's title.

Saint of Holding Fire.

Meaning the one who holds the flame of the soul.

Zhanghuo smiled and gestured to the believers; after a brief sermon, estimating that the middle-aged man's time was nearly up, he took out a silver dagger and sliced open the clothes on the middle-aged man's body.

The middle-aged man was as thin as a skeleton, yet his belly was as large as a pregnant woman's; beneath the stretched skin, one could vaguely see worm-like creatures resembling blood vessels moving within his body.

Clearly, he was infected with an extremely severe parasite infestation and was already beyond cure; given the medical conditions of the Kingdom of Mikel, there was simply no way to treat him, and for such a patient, doctors offered only one suggestion: go to Serina and spend the final period of one's life in tranquility.

The man lay upon the holy table, somewhat at a loss; although Zhanghuo kept telling him to relax, close his eyes, and perceive the presence of the divine, he still could not bear to close his eyes.

The man was very clear about his condition; once he closed his eyes, there was a high probability he would never see this world again.

But gradually, his eyelids began to grow heavy, his consciousness drifted away from him, and as the man's chest ceased rising and falling, his labored breathing subsided into stillness.

He had died upon the holy table.

Yet in the next moment, a flame surged up from beneath the holy table, enveloping the man's body.

No matter how many times they had seen it, upon witnessing this scene before them, the believers in the church could not help but cry out in surprise; even Wu Chang could not help but let out a soft "Eh?"

He was not surprised by the miracle itself, but because he recognized that surging flame, and knew it extremely well.

That was Year-End Fire!

The Year-End Fire from the 'Peaceful Year After Year' dungeon, how could it appear in the 'Midnight Graveyard' dungeon?

That's not right; these two dungeons have different plane numbers and do not share the same worldview. Soon he realized: in the 'Peaceful Year After Year' dungeon, the Year-End Fire in Huai Valley Village came from the Four Directions Year-End Fire Lamps, but where did the Four Directions Year-End Fire Lamps come from?

It was a passing scholar who, seeing the New Year's Sacrifice ritual go out of control, specially rearranged the New Year's Formation array and left behind the Four Directions Year-End Fire Lamps.

At the end of the 'Peaceful Year After Year' dungeon, he had assumed the scholar who arranged the Year-End Fire was Chiyuan in disguise, but Chiyuan flatly denied it; back then he had found it strange how an ordinary player could bear to give such a powerful item as the Four Directions Year-End Fire Lamps to an NPC.

Now it seemed the scholar causing trouble in Huai Valley Village was very likely a member of the Tranquil Sect, or even quite possibly Zhanghuo himself!

One did not need to think hard to know that since he had taken Zhanghuo's Four Directions Year-End Fire Lamps, the other party must harbor deep resentment toward him and intend to snatch the treasure back.

An enemy hiding in the shadows certainly counted as a hidden danger; when the Stone of Miracles fulfilled his wish, surely it wouldn't have included this fellow in the calculation, would it?

The Stone of Miracles seemed far more capable than he had imagined.

Upon discovering that the Hunguang Sect Sect was using Year-End Fire, the so-called miracle of bringing the dead back to life ceased to be mysterious.

Zhanghuo merely took advantage of inattention to first use Year-End Fire to sustain the middle-aged man's life, then violently removed all parts infested with parasites, and finally used a recovery potion to regenerate flesh and blood.

A bottle of recovery potion capable of rapidly regenerating flesh and blood was worth around 3,000 Rotten Silver Coins; while the price seemed exorbitant, compared to the cost of manufacturing a miracle, the price was much smaller.

While Zhanghuo was treating the man, whether intentionally or due to incomplete treatment, the man was not fully revived; although white life force appeared within his body, it was extremely weak, mixing with the black qi representing death to become gray.

Believers reborn through the miracle possessed a bizarrely balanced state of black, white, and gray qi within their bodies.

Wu Chang saw this clearly, but the other believers did not; they loudly called out Zhanghuo's name, the scene once nearing loss of control.

!

Wu Chang asked Eileen in a low voice, "Did you notice anything?"

Eileen's eyes turned a faint gold as she carefully observed the middle-aged man prostrated on the ground, frantically kissing Zhanghuo's instep.

After a moment, she said perplexedly, "During the ritual, I did not sense any fluctuation of magical power; in my perception, that man did not truly come back to life, yet he possesses consciousness and lacks the decaying aura of death..."

"If it were you, could you save these people?" Wu Chang asked.

Eileen shook her head, "Light magic can heal injuries and purify negative statuses, but it cannot cure diseases nor extend a person's lifespan. I believe the so-called miracle of bringing the dead back to life is merely an illusion; before long, that man will die again."

After Eileen finished speaking, Han Er beside them shuddered slightly, as if those words had struck a nerve with him.

After the miracle ritual, the three toured the Hunguang Church once more; taking advantage of others' inattention, Wu Chang released his spirit form and investigated the Hunguang Church thoroughly, inside and out.

When the opportunity was right, he was confident he could wipe out this nest of the Tranquil Sect within a short time.

The only flaw was that several secret chambers were wrapped in occult powers, preventing his spirit form from entering, requiring him to devise another method.

Leaving the Hunguangda Cathedral, Wu Chang accompanied Eileen for a stroll through the city, then returned to the Great Graveyard by public carriage before the sun set.

Their timing was perfect; just as they returned to the gravekeeper's wooden house, the carriage transporting corpses arrived simultaneously.

The coachman unloaded the corpses onto the open ground, exchanged a greeting with Han Er, and turned to leave without the slightest intention of helping transport the corpses to the small chapel.

This batch had delivered seven corpses; Wu Chang swept his gaze over them, his eyes lingering on the seventh corpse.

Even through the body bag, he could see the black, white, and gray qi within the deceased inside.

In Serina, only those who had undergone the resurrection ritual would present such a condition within their bodies.

Eileen was correct; believers who had been resurrected would soon die again and enter this Great Graveyard.

(End of Chapter)