Soul Trigger

Chapter 695 Nine Annihilations and Nine Desires

"No, you can't get in."

After hearing Ji Li's plan, the bewildered knight gave a sarcastic and extremely ugly smile:

"Unless the person who took you into the Royal Asylum was Bertrand Ludwig, the curator of the St. Martin's Museum and the keeper of the vault."

Otherwise, even if you can get into the San Martín Museum, you won't be able to get into the San Martín Vault.

The status of a mere seed rookie is utterly insufficient to enter the vault; it is Limbo, the forbidden territory of Avalon, shrouded in the Shattered White Ring and Berant's Command Seals.

Theft, robbery, and fraud cannot obtain permission; forcibly entering would only alert the entire city of Birmingham. I cannot see any possibility that you could gain entry.

Ji Li looked up:

"What if I go in?"

"There is no such 'if'. Moreover, there are currently two active Red Hunters in Saint Root County. One is Juno, the Blood Moon Messenger, who is the human spirit individual with the most Command Seals on the entire White Isle."

Another is the Shepherd Dog, who commands an army of Dead Apostle skeletons.

Once you're exposed, even if we can hold off two official agents, there's still one curator inside.

What awaits you is being trapped like a turtle in a jar, dying without a burial place…

"The sheepdog is dead."

Silence, then the tombstone chuckled.

Molten Mud Knight: "What did you say?"

The bewildered knight: "Give me the remnants of his personality."

Ji Li took out a small bottle and flicked it casually:
"There are no personal relics left, just some dregs. Make do with it."

The bewildered knight picked it up, examined it carefully, and then put it in his pocket.
"I need to report back to the Tower and verify the authenticity of this matter."

Then he paused and said:

"If you can kill the sheepdog, that proves you have a certain ability to confront the curator head-on, which I acknowledge, but that's a completely different matter from infiltrating the St. Martin's vault..."

The tombstone chuckled, "Come on, you zombie face. I haven't forgotten how you were run around by sheepdogs a few years ago..."

"I fell for their trap. The sheepdog isn't strong; he's just a weak player."

"So, Odin is the stronger player?"

The bewildered knight fell silent.

Facing the subtle mockery conveyed by the tombstone, he spoke again:
"I'll wait and see."

He raised his hand, and boundless murmurs flowed forth:

"No need to see me out..."

"and many more."

The tombstone raised its hand, and the entire swirling, distorted space came to a sudden halt:
"A fragment of time."

The bewildered knight stared at the tombstone without saying a word.

The latter added:

"The bounty for the second seat."

He remained silent for a few breaths, looking Ji Li up and down, then suddenly stabbed himself in the chest and pulled out a beating heart.

The heart rapidly deflated, transforming into a dim, glowing red spiritual object, which it casually tossed to Ji Li:
"I'll give you this as collateral first. Once I've confirmed its authenticity, I'll personally give you the Time Realm Fragment that belongs to you."

The tombstone then released its grip, and the environment around them rapidly distorted, transforming into the dimly lit streets of an art museum—

"It possesses my power, but can only be used twice... Hmph, use it carefully."

Ji Li spread out his hand and saw a small piece of canvas covered in paint, as if it had been torn from somewhere. The strong aura of the Dead Apostles was rapidly receding, and it soon became like an ordinary piece of canvas.

According to the Ascension Protocol, this item is a Resting Object called "Bewilderment Canvas," possessing perfect-level soul quality.

Its characteristic is that it can project objects into a two-dimensional world, which can be a world within a shattered canvas.

It can also be any two-dimensional plane that exists in reality, such as a desktop or a wall.

The first method can only be used a maximum of two times before the canvas's spiritual energy is completely depleted, while the second method can be used ten times.

"Keep it. As the source of power for the Blind Knight, it's a pretty good thing. He must have considered your needs for infiltration," the tombstone said.

That's right, it can knock Ji Li himself into a two-dimensional plane, achieving a very clever infiltration effect.

It can also pull people and themselves into a two-dimensional plane, and then use the canvas to control this space to provide themselves with a home-field advantage.

Alternatively, one could directly pull a large group of slightly weaker but difficult-to-deal-with enemies into a two-dimensional space, and then destroy that two-dimensional space to achieve an extremely rapid annihilation tactic.

However, Ji Li did not think this was a good thing:

"They can't stand me."

“You are someone the Stained Knight is interested in, and this mission is very important. Even if they want to cause trouble, it won’t be in this area.”

"Don't try to persuade me, I have my own plans."

"Okay...shall we talk somewhere else?"

A moment later, two figures appeared atop the massive circular building.

"Did you hear the wailing?"

Faced with the sudden words on the tombstone, Ji Li glanced at it:
"Are you high on drugs?"

tombstone:"……"

It reached the edge of the huge rooftop:
"Below our feet lies one of the world's bloodiest bullrings, where 600 bull skeletons were once unearthed beneath the LV flagship store."

Unemployed youths, homeless and unwilling to go to slums, are forced to live in the curved grooves of bullrings, earning them the media moniker of 'human moss'...

It's no exaggeration to say that the negative spiritual energy gathered at the foot of this place is no less than that of the slums. Through the flesh-and-blood triggers, you can constantly hear the screams of the disillusioned.

Ji Li tilted his head: "I thought we were here to discuss future cooperation."

The tombstone turned its head, its visor gleaming in the Birmingham nightscape:

"Of course, but shouldn't you be looking for a higher promotion?"

“That’s right, I’ve already read the theory of ‘Nine Annihilations’.”

"The full name is [Nine Extinctions of Living Beings], a psychological methodology of the soul that guides the human spirit in its pursuit of the highest realm."

It shook the cloak behind it, which fluttered in the night wind:

"The essence of spirituality is emotion, whether positive or negative. For a fully-fledged Dead Apostle to advance further, they need to absorb even more extreme emotions."

This emotion is not superficial, nor is it limited to formalities and human behavior; rather, it unearths the desires rooted deep within the human spirit, savors them carefully, and swallows them whole.

"If the spirit of the enlightened stage pursues so-called divinity by eradicating the nine inherent vices of itself, then the fully realized dead apostles are pursuing a deeper level of depravity."

Layer by layer, round by round, digging deeper and deeper until reaching the very core, the deepest imprint of desire.

To better understand us, the human spirit refers to them as the "Nine Desires of Depravity," each cycle bringing us new forces of desire.

Did you bring me here to educate me about science?
Ji Li raised an eyebrow:

"So, what about the wheel? And what does the wheel mean in this process?"

The tombstone reads: "The upper limit of power, the lower limit of depravity."

"You and I are both Wheel Chasers. Admittedly, Wheel Chasers can indeed add power the moment memories are fully awakened, but that is only the appearance."

Essentially, the wheel of reincarnation is for a deeper level of depravity, a next round of evolution that brings us closer to the complete form.

A mere hundred years is insufficient for any living being or the dead to gain a profound understanding of this world, which is why they must enter the path of reincarnation, or, for human spirits, Nirvana. The purpose of reincarnation is to overcome the "Nine Desires"... Ji Li understood.

"So, what level is the number one person in the Tower of Babel, the Chief Stained Knight?"

"He had already been branded with the ninth mark of corruption many years ago."

"So that's a paradox?"

"Among the Dead Apostles, they are called 'Cursed Ones'."

The tombstone turned around:

"Next, I will tell you how to inscribe the marks of corruption..."

……

The spiritual ascension of the enlightened being lies in eliminating the nine inherent vices, pursuing divinity, and achieving paradox.

This requires gradually uncovering, or rather, drawing out, one's own negative traits through years of practice, and then confronting oneself through rituals to challenge one's own personality shadows and completely eliminate the negative aspects of human nature.

The tombstone possesses a nine-stage ritual called "Nightmare Dream," which it obtained by killing a luminous immortal.

The aim is to transform one's own negative traits into a highly aggressive personality entity, lure it out in dreams, and then kill it.

The other nine extinction rituals vary, but they all share the same essence: to achieve further sublimation of one's personality through the negation of the self.

From the perspective of the psychology of the soul, this process is essentially destructive to immortal beings who have already achieved personal perfection, and it shakes the foundation of the Trinity.

If a mistake is made, at best it will affect one's correct understanding of one's own existence, causing the spiritual core to shatter, the spiritual light to vanish, and one to become a half-crippled body.

In severe cases, it can lead to personality distortion, causing one to fall from grace and become corrupted into a dead apostle.

Once the nine destructions and sublimations are successfully completed, the paradox will be achieved.

The Dead Apostles, on the other hand, delve into their own desires and etch the marks of their depravity.

The difference between Nine Annihilation and the Mark of Corruption is that Nine Annihilation consists of nine kinds of inferiority, while the Mark of Corruption consists of nine layers.

Starting with the most superficial desires, one gradually delves deeper, peeling back the layers of appearances step by step, and sinking further into depravity.

There are two methods to implement this:
The first method involves spreading one's own desires, causing a massive cluster of human spirits to fall into depravity, and creating a corrupted land whose influence is enough to shake the stability of the three dimensions.

Now Ji Li also knows that the ghost town "Seguchi" in Black Sun Prefecture is such a masterpiece.

The corruption of the human spirit by the Dead Apostles and the Evil Ones is essentially achieved by using their Dead Apostle essence to stir up the negative emotions deep within the human spirit.

Sowing one's own desires, on the other hand, requires creating an environment where the entire cluster of human spirits within that environment is corrupted and degraded by the desires of this dead apostle. This is the essential difference, and the difficulty is also quite different.

The second approach is more direct and also more abstract: exploring the deeper levels of one's own desires.

For example, does a serial killer's killing urge produce pleasure at the moment of killing, or after the killing, when he sees his family crying, or when he is proud of his masterpiece on the news?
Even though they are all the result of bloodlust, each one corresponds to a completely different, deeper desire.

The thrill of killing is merely to satisfy the desire for slaughter.

Enjoying the consequences of one's own killings satisfies the desire to override order.

There is no pure evil in this world. Is this arrogance, or gluttony driven by the pleasure of killing?

If it is arrogance, then what is the source of this arrogance?

If it is gluttony, is it really just killing for the sake of killing?

Ultimately, the principle is:

Explore the root of desire, and constantly approach it, understand it, and completely immerse yourself in the most core, the deepest desire.

He thought he was simply addicted to the act of killing, addicted to the desire to kill.

But he discovered that wasn't the case; he was indulging in the abuse of power over the rules.

He later discovered that this disregard for the rules stemmed from his arrogance and dissatisfaction with them.

Desire is like an onion; peel it back, and each layer reveals an even more powerful force of desire.

The purpose of the cycle of rebirth is to get closer to the core of one's own desires, and through one long journey after another, to achieve final descent.

Ultimately, by imprinting a complete mark of desire, one can become a powerful aggregate of desires:
The one who binds the cursed.

This is not the same concept as the bound person in the pacification object.

Ji Li put down the animal hide book in his hand and pondered it carefully.

This is the "Nightmare" ritual manual that the tombstone gave him. This thing has one advantage: its ritual can be adapted to the nine extinctions of the human spirit and the nine desires of the dead apostles. It can be considered a ritual book that can be used by both, which also means that it is difficult to use.

It had been a while since he had started studying this thing:
"Complete and perfect illumination, for the human spirit, complete means completing the process of eradicating the nine natures, and perfection means perfectly eradicating every inferior nature."

In the context of Dead Apostles, it means perfectly understanding every layer of one's own desires, perfectly imprinted on the soul... That madwoman was truly perfect to an extreme.

As a being who exists as both a human spirit and a dead disciple, Ji Li seems to have the option to cultivate both.

He gathered his thoughts and instantly fell asleep—

Although he hadn't used it in a long time, he had collected the ability to manipulate dreams during his time in Silla. It was because of this ability that he met Cha Chan-ho. Therefore, the first step of this Nightmare Ritual was a piece of cake for him.

The space after entering the dream was an endless gray-white expanse, because Ji Li did not present anything to the dream.

The next step is to follow the steps of the nightmare ritual to draw out one's negative traits.

According to the records above, this process generally takes anywhere from several months to several years.

Because the essence of this behavior is the denial of the self at a spiritual level...

As Ji Li was pondering, he noticed something appearing before him—

A pink and tender tentacle.

They lured it out so quickly?

Ji Li frowned and reached forward, but the tentacle suddenly accelerated and wrapped around his wrist before he could react.

He broke free from it in an instant, but more tentacles suddenly appeared from nowhere, wrapping him up layer upon layer and pulling him into the unknown void.

Everything before him shifted like a tunnel, and he was dragged into a fleshy, slimy chamber, as if he were inside some kind of creature.

The flesh and blood all around were extremely pink and tender, crystal clear, bright in the light, and covered with moist mucus.

On the surface of that cavity wall, there were soft, large fleshy buds wriggling, uttering endless murmurs, and hot air blowing in like breath.

Everything before him was extremely bizarre, but Ji Li not only did not feel any discomfort, but was in a good mood and even enjoyed the sweet hot wind.

This must be one of my desires... I didn't expect it to be aroused so quickly?

Ji Li stepped forward, feeling that the murmurs around him sounded familiar and strange.

I decided to walk towards the huge cavity wall; the sound must be coming from those buds.

But upon closer inspection, he realized that what he saw weren't fleshy buds at all, but rather strips of white flesh—

And she's a woman.

Half of their bodies were sucked into the cavity wall, while the other half remained outside.

Some have an upper body, and some have a lower body.

Her upper body had a pert chest and a beautiful face, with various hairstyles, all of which were grown from fleshy buds.

The lower body features long, slender legs, each with its own unique charm.

And those whispers came from the dense chorus of birds.

Each human body emitted a seductive, bone-melting sound, inviting him to come forward:

"I've never fucking done anything this bizarre before, so you guys are... my horny desires?"
-
P.S.: I've settled in at home and saved up some drafts. I'll post one update today.

(End of this chapter)