Endless Debt-Chapter 918 - 41: Umbilical Cord and Entanglement_2

Bologue recalled the various conjectures Mamo mentioned to him before the ritual began.

"Perhaps... perhaps we humans don’t only exist within the Material Realm."

"What do you mean?"

Bologue didn’t immediately understand Mamo’s words; he was clearly in this material world, his feet firmly on the ground, feeling reality.

"I’ve always been thinking, after humans die, where does our soul go?

I don’t understand this question, and the appearance of the primal entity undoubtedly proves that humans most likely originally didn’t have souls. It’s the arrival of the Ether that affected us, causing us to develop souls, and even making souls become closely related to our lives."

"I proposed this hypothesis, we humans live in the Material Realm, but our souls appear in both the Material and Ethereal Realms simultaneously... We are like fish living in the sea, each holding a fishing line in our mouths, and that line is our soul, connecting us to the Material and Ethereal Realms.

When a person dies, their physical body sinks to the seabed, dying within the Material Realm, and the heart perishes with it, while the soul ascends along the fishing hook, returning to the upper Ethereal Realm."

Mamo concluded his hypothesis.

"Every one of us, all people with a Golden Soul, have a spiritual projection of ourselves in the Ethereal Realm. The higher we ascend, the stronger our soul becomes, and the more real and concrete our projection in the Ethereal Realm."

According to Mamo’s hypothesis, Bologue thought about his recent idea, whether this endless expanse of figures below was the projection of all humans with a Golden Soul in the Material Realm?

The collective of human souls that have not yet ascended or been liberated.

Most humans are not Condensers; they cannot enhance their souls through the Alchemy Matrix, so their projections are so vague.

Through the ascension ritual and deep entanglement, Bologue’s projection in the Ethereal Realm was completely condensed, giving birth to a Spirit Body capable of action. Due to Bologue’s excessive clarity, he was completely liberated from this Sea of Descent.

Bologue gained a clearer understanding of the mysterious and elusive Ethereal Realm, and then a dazzling light shone into Bologue’s eyes, so blinding that he couldn’t look directly, his eyes deeply pained and tears flowing hot.

The blazing white storm was near, like a towering tidal wave of light sweeping across the Icefield.

It was far from Bologue, so distant it was unattainable, yet it seemed so close as if it would appear before Bologue in the next second, evaporating him into nothingness.

Bologue suddenly wondered, if the shadows in the Sea of Descent below might represent the soul projections of all humanity, then what about this blazing white storm? Might it also be a projection of some entity, or is it some enigmatic force entirely existing in the Ethereal Realm?

"Secret Source..."

Bologue murmured.

Everything in the Ethereal Realm is unknown, but at this moment, relying on past experience and intuition, Bologue speculated that this ever-burning white storm might be the Secret Source pursued endlessly by countless alchemists, the source of all Condensers.

It’s not speculation; it’s certainty. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Then, if you are the Secret Source, what are they?"

Bologue turned around, seeing once again the towering, twisted black figures; they were so tall, like endless mountain ranges, occupying almost half of the world alongside the blazing white storm.

In the instant he gazed upon the darkness, the darkness cast its gaze back at Bologue, scarlet eyes like red stars opening in the blackness, evil whispers carried by the howling wind, like secret prayers chanted by ancient cultists.

These were by no means pious, sacred words but verses full of filth, evil, and murky praise.

"Bologue Lazarus."

"The Undying."

"The returning sword of scorched earth wrath."

Upon ascending to a Prayer Believer and arriving in the Ethereal Realm, Bologue merely sensed an evil aura among these strange mountainous shadows, yet this time he could hear the countless murmurs lingering by his ears.

As though thousands of wandering souls surrounded Bologue, vying for the broken soul of this pitiful person.

"Like a blind man seeing light, a deaf man hearing melody."

Bologue knelt down on one knee, enduring the whispers’ seduction while still analyzing calmly.

As his soul grew stronger and his projection in the Ethereal Realm became more real and tangible, he could also perceive more complex information within the Ethereal Realm.

Previously, he could only see the countless-eyed entities; now he could hear their words.

Projections unable to condense into entities, solidified within the Sea of Descent, protected by the Icefield barrier, unable to see these countless-eyed entities, and the countless-eyed entities could not interfere with these turbid projections.

Now Bologue possessed a Spirit Body capable of action in the Ethereal Realm, and he too would be affected by these forces.

Bologue whispered, "Too close... too close."

Like moving toward the sun, feeling the warmth that dispels the cold, also enduring the flames that incinerate everything, gaining strength while Bologue would also be lost in this place.

The fierce wind kicked up snow dust, sweeping past Bologue, wrapping layers of thick ice around him. Bologue suddenly stood up, shouting at the mocking countless-eyed entities.