Chapter 765: The Origin of Folkways

Lu Mi followed through on his promise, sitting only a few minutes at the table of the two "witches" before politely taking his leave, leaving nearby men bewildered and confused.

Shouldn't he be pressing the advantage?

Is this the advanced technique of an Intis playboy, a Dantiist?

Returning to his own table, Lu Mi saw the waiter leaving with a towering stack of dishes, his expression a mix of confusion, shock, and fear.

Every single dish on the entire menu had truly been finished!

They looked at Ludwig and Lu Jianuo as if they were two monsters crawling out of the abyss.

"If you knew that two-thirds of those dishes and staples were eaten by Ludwig, and that Lu Jianuo and I merely split the remaining third, you'd be even more terrified, fearing you'd be devoured too—yes, such fear is justified…" Lu Mi muttered silently as he sat down.

Before Lu Mi, Ludwig, and Lu Jianuo, a slice of apple cake and a cup of richly creamy ice cream had already been placed.

Ludwig's face bore unmasked satisfaction—he had eaten more fully and contentedly than in a long time, not merely because Forsakian dishes were large and flavorful, but because Lu Mi didn't care about spending someone else's money.

Lu Mi pushed his apple cake toward Ludwig, pretending to focus intently on scooping up the milk ice cream and putting it into his mouth.

As he felt the frost melt and the dairy flavor spread, he lowered his voice, speaking as if to himself:

"Have you noticed any anomalies around the 'Two of Cups' and the 'Seven of Cups'?"

After a brief silence, a phantom, ethereal voice reached Lu Mi's ear.

It came from the "Knight of Swords," Marichi:

"We've detected a slight anomaly—from Qiabanjie to when you approached 'Saint Milong Restaurant'—but we only sensed minor irregularities, with no trace of its origin."

This matches Franca's description and my speculation—mutually confirming… Even under the surveillance of a half-god of the Temperance Sect in Oseto, who has already begun tracking Franca and Jianna, they still couldn't uncover the culprit… Must we wait for Oseto to act first? Lu Mi pondered for a few seconds, then pulled from "The Traveler's Satchel" a pair of non-prescription, gold-rimmed glasses for disguise, placing them on his nose.

Immediately, he saw the silhouette of the "Knight of Swords," dressed in shirt and vest, sharply outlined on the lens—then vanished.

Marichi's voice in his ear grew clearer:

"We've each occasionally detected similar minor anomalies and corresponding traces; this is one of the main reasons we're certain Oseto remains in the Lacre region."

Can the "Otherworld" alone achieve this—moving unseen beneath the keen spiritual intuition of a half-god of the "Prisoner" Path? Lu Mi lacked deep understanding of the "Otherworld," and could only speculate based on past experience.

He had entered the "Otherworld"—more than once!

In Kordu Village, whether in reality or dream, he had entered the "Otherworld" multiple times, but without higher-level forces involved, he could not judge its normal state or whether it could conceal itself from a half-god's senses and intuition;

In Triel, during the "Shadow Tree" disaster, he was forcibly pulled into the "Lady of the Moon's" "Otherworld"—a realm perfectly isolated from the outside, preventing Triel's half-gods from detecting the Shadow Tree's growth or the battles taking place within that zone; later, contact with the external world was only established through Franca's use of the "Judgment" card and the Lady of Judgment's unique properties, enabling the "Tarot Society" half-gods to locate and enter the "Otherworld"—but by then, Triel's half-gods were far from the chaotic streets, so their failure to detect hidden entities there was understandable…

Fragments of memory flashed through Lu Mi's mind; he still felt the "Otherworld" could not achieve this level:

When the "Otherworld" retracts, even if a Temperance half-god stands beside it, they cannot sense it—that's normal. But when it unfolds right under a Temperance half-god's eyes, how can it reveal absolutely no trace?

Is it really that powerful?

I think even the "Lady of the Moon's" "Otherworld" couldn't manage this—only conceal noise and rely on distance to avoid detection…

Lu Mi turned his gaze to the window and saw two local residents among the passersby—one wearing a human skull painted purple on his chest, the other tying a bleached-white human skull to the top of his head with a rope.

"Death worship…"

"The 'Otherworld'…"

"Perhaps Oseto's actions in the Lacre region have endowed his 'Otherworld' with some unique quality—relying on this uniqueness, he can unfold the 'Otherworld' before a half-god without being detected, until direct interaction occurs…" Lu Mi, recalling Madame Pualis's attempt to refine her "Otherworld" using Kordu's folk customs, formed a tentative hypothesis.

Lu Mi took another spoonful of milk ice cream and lowered his voice again:

"Tell me in detail about the origins and customs of the Skull Blessing Festival."

The voice of the "Knight of Swords," Marichi, resonated clearly in his ears:

"It dates back to when the 'God of Death' fell and the southern continent's situation underwent fundamental change.

"The 'God of Death's' fall caused the Underworld to mutate; the vast majority of spirits could no longer sense or enter it, forced to wander its outer edges, between the Spirit Realm and the physical world.

"As a result, after intelligent beings died, they easily became corpses that reanimated, or turned into vengeful ghosts or malevolent spirits—posing a grave threat to the living, triggering wave after wave of disasters.

"The northern continent's nations responded by strengthening church purification and enforcing cremation; the Church of the Eternal Sun and the Church of War showed remarkable purification effects—those purified did not necessarily need cremation."

Hearing this, Lu Mi finally understood and grasped the full meaning behind the practices of pre-death comfort, post-death purification, encouragement of cremation, and rewarding discovery of homeless corpses.

Their origin was the fall of the 'God of Death' and the mutation of the Underworld!

No wonder the bones in the lower levels of the underground crypts were all bones, not ashes… During the Fourth Era, the Underworld had not yet mutated, and spirits still had a place to return to… Some esoteric knowledge claimed corpses were prone to mutation due to the lingering effects of the 'Pale Disaster' at the end of the Fourth Era, when the 'God of Death' invaded the northern continent—yes, that was indeed the lingering effect; the 'God of Death' fell during that disaster, causing the Underworld to mutate… Lu Mi suddenly understood, gaining deeper insight into certain esoteric teachings.

The "Knight of Swords" continued:

"The southern continent faced the same problem, but it was not difficult to handle—the Baylan Empire, rich in 'God of Death' Path adepts, quickly devised several solutions, quelling corpse plagues in some regions without enforcing cremation, restoring normalcy.

"In other regions, as Haggati, Pas, and the Highlands fought for independence, the 'God of Death' faith began to decline, leading to a period of widespread corpse plagues and power vacuums; people in different areas had to find their own solutions."

Lu Mi nodded slightly:

"Lacre's solution was the Skull Blessing Festival?"

"The Skull Blessing Festival is merely one manifestation," the "Knight of Swords" explained simply. "According to surviving records from the Highland Kingdom, the people of Lacre, with the aid of a former Baylan official, established a small realm for spirits, allowing the dead to enter it and never return, achieving rest."

"But that realm was not the Underworld—it could not truly grant rest, nor could it fully restrain spirits; they could only wait for the spirits to slowly fade away."

"Each year, the Skull Blessing Festival is when spirits emerge to revel and release; keeping a relative's skull at home allows spirits who accidentally leave that small realm to avoid them and not harm them."

In short, they created a crude, localized Underworld, giving spirits a place to return…

A place to return… One principle of the "Otherworld" is that souls return to the earth, wandering the wilds—these two concepts are very similar…

Also, within the "Otherworld," on special days, spirits may return home to enjoy the joy of reunion—this is very much like Lacre's Skull Blessing Festival…

The only difference is that here, spirits have no path to rebirth—only gradual decay… Lu Mi compared the local spirit realm with the "Otherworld," sensing something faintly familiar.

He recalled Louis Lund's recounting of Madame Pualis's words:

"What has been built so far is only a small, miniature Otherworld—a component of the complete Otherworld…"

Hiss… Lu Mi inhaled sharply and muttered low:

"Could Oseto be trying to merge this local spirit realm into his own 'Otherworld,' making it more complete?"

"He—no, she—has already achieved partial success, which is why you can't detect her?"

The "Knight of Swords," Marichi, fell silent for a moment, then said:

"Possibly."

After a pause, he added voluntarily:

"We haven't seen that spirit realm either."

Seen… Lu Mi froze for a moment, then understood what the "Knight of Swords" meant.

The "Prisoner" Path can become vengeful spirits and directly perceive spirit realms—but since arriving in Lacre, they had detected no such phenomena.

Lu Mi said nothing, but thought of another question:

"If Oseto has indeed partially fused this small spirit realm, she's effectively become the local God of Death—she must have sensed my Ombela bloodline just now…"

"What would her reaction be?"

"Instant fury—or would she see an opportunity to exploit it?"

"Why didn't she act immediately? Right—she used the bird-clawed infant to detect Ludwig's aura of a corpse 'mother'; combined with my own bloodline, it clearly looked like bait, clearly a trap!"

"That made her, accustomed to indulgence, hold back—now she's seeking aid?"

Thinking this, Lu Mi removed his glasses and stood up abruptly.

(End of Chapter)