From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

Jiang Liu had already prepared for the worst—although Ren Wei wanted to become Lin Jiu's disciple, he was not Lin Jiu's disciple after all, and coupled with his greed and lust, he might actually bring that bizarre "Western zombie" back to life.

Jiang Liu had some ideas about the life form of vampires, but he still needed to confirm them with the people in the church.

Although Mary was an ordinary person, since she was sent by the church to investigate the former priest and rebuild the church, she must have been very familiar with the written scriptures, doctrines, and some Western myths and legends, which should have helped him to indirectly confirm his guess.

When Jiang Liu arrived at the church for the second time, he found that the roof beams had been erected and most of the weeds around the church had been cleared. Mary was carrying a cross about three meters high up the stairs and, together with two nuns on the roof, was placing the wooden cross directly above the entrance.

Obvious.

These nuns were not the kind of weak women who could only chant "Hallelujah" and "Amen"; they were proficient in all kinds of life skills.

Maria, in particular, though she was an ordinary person, probably had more muscle than fat under that blue monastic robe, otherwise how could she have such strength?

Sister Mary!

Jiang Liu waved to her.

“It’s that boy from yesterday.” Maria looked down and noticed Jiang Liu outside the church. She then asked the two nuns beside her to hold onto the cross while she climbed down the stairs to greet the guest.

"Sister Mary, you all work so hard."

Jiang Liu offered a word of praise.

“This is not our doing, but the Lord’s holy light shining upon us! Amen!” Mary said, gesturing with her hands to her forehead, lower chest, navel area, and shoulders.

This is the ritual of making the sign of the cross.

According to Mary, the forehead symbolizes heaven, the abdomen symbolizes earth, and the shoulders symbolize the location and sign of power.

In Jiang Liu's view, ordinary Christian believers and nuns performing such actions are probably just taking a superficial approach, but for the extraordinary individuals in the church, this action of making the sign of the cross on their forehead, abdomen, and shoulders is very likely related to their alchemical practices.

Eastern Qi cultivation involves the circulation of Qi throughout the body, encompassing the primordial spirit, brain, and internal organs. However, the ability to unleash special powers requires the use of the arms.

Western alchemical systems...

The act of Mary making the sign of the cross at least confirms that the alchemy and magic of the Church's infidels must have involved the brain and internal organs.

However, Jiang Liu didn't dare discuss these topics with Maria for long, fearing she might try to recruit him into the church. So he went straight to the point, talking about the legends of "vampires"...

# Chapter 179 The Origin of Vampires

“Ms. Maria, I am friends with a young lady in Renjia Town who has studied abroad and knows a bit about Western culture.”

Jiang Liu made up an excuse for his knowledge of "vampires": "I've heard that among the devils of the West, there is a type called 'vampires,' and they're even related to bats?"

"There are indeed similar legends—"

Maria recounted the origins of vampires: "They were a group of alchemists and magicians who turned their backs on the Lord's teachings, choosing to compromise with the devil in search of eternal life!"

Alchemist? Magician?

Jiang Liu was surprised.

How could an ordinary person like Mary know these two titles?

It seems that Western supernatural beings were more "open" than I had imagined during this period...

“Yes, alchemists, magicians!” A look of longing appeared in Maria’s eyes. “That is supernatural power, and only those who are blessed by God can control such power!”

[The last sentence is absolutely a load of nonsense used by this church to recruit followers!]

Alchemy, like their practice of refining Qi, is based on the ability to perceive Qi, rather than on the so-called "person who will protect the master".

“Sister Maria, let’s talk about the legend of vampires. I’m more interested in that.” Jiang Liu steered the conversation back to vampires.

"Vampires are related to alchemists!"

Maria's expression was extremely solemn. "In legend, alchemists who betrayed their doctrines stepped into an absolutely forbidden taboo in pursuit of immortality—"

Using people as alchemical materials!

Furthermore, they discovered the remains of the Demon Tree left behind by the church and other magicians and alchemists when they banished a group of demons a thousand years ago. They then performed an evil human transmutation ritual, creating vampires! They possess eternal life, but they need to drink the blood of others and can no longer live in the sunlight!

They have turned their backs on the Lord and become vampires who can only live in the shadows!

They also lost the ability to reproduce, and could only transform others into vampires by drinking their blood, planting the seed of evil, and performing wicked rituals.

At this point, Maria's eyes became incredibly devout, and she spoke almost in a singing voice: "Those who have turned away from the Lord will also be abandoned by the Lord. The blood-sucking alchemist is no longer human, but a devil, and will never be able to enjoy the warm sunshine again. This will be an eternal punishment!"

Jiang Liu wasn't interested in these descriptions with strong religious overtones; he simply inquired about the specifics of the "Demon Tree."

Maria didn't know much about the "Demon Tree," only that there were many different versions of it in the church's many stories and legends.

Of these, three versions are known to Mary:

Firstly, the Devil Tree was originally the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. However, after Eve picked the forbidden fruit and shared it with Adam, humanity developed the concepts of good and evil, which led to conflict and became original sin itself. As a result, humanity's Garden of Eden disappeared.

Secondly, the Devil Tree was planted by Satan on Earth. Like God, it can grant humans supernatural powers, allowing them to become alchemists or magicians.

However, God will also test human wisdom in this process.

Satan, on the other hand, uses the Demon Tree to directly impart power to humans, tempting their hearts and turning them into his devout followers! They are then forever unable to make choices that are truly their own!

Thirdly, the Devil's Tree is the breeding ground for the devil. Adam and Eve did not eat the forbidden fruit from the tree, but saw that the devil would use the forbidden fruit to return to the world, so they destroyed the forbidden fruit.

In his past life, Jiang Liu would have simply laughed off these three versions of the story and paid them no heed. However, considering his current reality, he has begun to have some thoughts about the origins of the Demon Tree.

Adam and Eve didn't resonate with Jiang Liu, but the second version of the story:

The Demon Tree can directly grant humans power and tempt their hearts...

Nathan Island!

The Divine Tree!

Therefore, vampires are the result of research conducted by a small group of the Inhumans who drove out the ancestors of the inhabitants of Nathan Island in Europe, using the branches left behind by the Divine Tree to study the forbidden technique of human transmutation.

Although this was merely Jiang Liu's speculation, based on his previous theoretical knowledge of biology from his past life, he analyzed the life state of the "vampire" in "The One-Eyebrowed Taoist Priest": an animal-like vegetative state...

It definitely works!

Vampires are afraid of light and cannot survive by eating normally; they must drink blood to survive, just as dodder needs to absorb nutrients from other plants!

Buried underground for so many years and turned into a mummy, it still retains vitality. Perhaps that mummy also has the ability to absorb organic and inorganic matter from the soil!

Those bats, which can survive for so many years without food or water, probably have a similar ability to actively absorb inorganic matter from the air to survive.

But then another problem arises:

Why do all the bats found in the river look completely dead?

Considering the characteristics of terrestrial plants, Jiang Liu suspected that the bats had been soaked and rotted.

Then, he began to summarize a general cause-and-effect relationship in his mind:

According to the information obtained from Lin Jiu, both Arthur and Franzuhas had stepped into the taboo of human transmutation. At that time, the two were probably conducting alchemical experiments in this area with bats brought from Europe. Lin Jiu had chosen a secluded location for them because of his ulterior motives, which inadvertently prevented their experiments from being discovered.

However, after stepping into the taboo of human transmutation, Arthur felt guilty, felt he had let down his faith, or perhaps realized something else, which led him to ultimately plunge the cross into Franzuhas' heart, temporarily sealing his life force, and burying him in the area chosen by Lin Jiu.

After that, Arthur either realized that he had been infected by the other party, or that his human transmutation was about to turn him into a monster like Franzuhath. After trying holy water, garlic, crosses and other methods, he could not get rid of the infection and the situation became more and more serious. So much so that he did not even have time to kill the other bats. He chose to commit suicide and sealed the door.

There were also two groups of bats.

One group of bats followed Arthur, another followed Franzuhas. After Arthur sealed Franzuhas's life force, the bats who followed him fell into a deep sleep, hanging upside down from a tree growing by the riverbank, until the tree broke for some reason, causing the bats hanging from it to be submerged in the stream...

Wait a minute! This church only had two priests, Fathers Arthur and Franz Zuhaz, and no one else. And the door to that meditation room was locked from the outside…who locked it?

Could it be Master Ren?

Remembering Lin Jiu's words that only Master Ren in Renjia Town regularly went to church, Jiang Liu guessed, but couldn't help but mutter to himself: "The Ren family really does have a knack for things like corpses and ghosts!"

# Chapter 180 The Mummified Corpse Resurrects!

the other side.

Lu Jin and Li Muxuan had already learned from Ren Jiating and Ren Tingting that Ren Fa did indeed have contact with those two priests more than ten years ago.

Even Ren Tingting was able to study abroad because Ren Fa had connections with those two Western priests, was able to contact the church, and asked them to write a letter of recommendation.

Otherwise, Chinese people going abroad should seriously consider the possibility of being sold by intermediaries to work in the mining industry.

“I was young then, but I remember it very clearly. After that day, my father never went to the church again, and he wouldn’t let us go there in the future.”

Ren Tingting said to Lu Jin, "Now that I think about it, it was probably Dad who locked Father Arthur in that meditation room."

It was around that time that my father started to believe in feng shui.

"Sister Jia Ting, Sister Ting Ting, thank you for telling us all this." After gathering the relevant information, Lu Jin and Li Muxuan left the Ren family.

However, Ren Jiating followed them out and said, "Tell me the truth, has something similar to what happened to my father happened again in town?"

"this······"

Lu Jin hesitated.

Why be so fussy?

Li Muxuan recounted in one breath the story of how bats polluted the water source of Renjia Town, how bat nests were discovered in the Western Temple, and how Western priests used bats to create magical artifacts. "In short, that's roughly how it happened."

“Recently, some people in the town have indeed fallen ill after drinking water from the nearby stream. I never expected it to be related to that abandoned church.” Ren Jiating’s eyes narrowed. She felt it was necessary to investigate the area in detail in private, just in case.

After all, this matter is more or less related to her deceased husband who passed away a few days ago.

"There's no need to go to the church to investigate anything."

After bidding farewell to Maria and encountering the three on the road, Jiang Liu explained the alchemical methods of the Western supernatural beings to them. Having also learned about vampires from Maria, he could now reasonably state his own speculations about them: "If I'm not mistaken, these are the 'vampires' Maria spoke of, employing the taboos of Western alchemy she mentioned."

Human transmutation.

But perhaps something went wrong, causing them to gradually lose their humanity and become blood-sucking monsters with a vitality comparable to plants, extremely tenacious.

"You suspect that the mummified corpse might come back to life?"

With the information Jiang Liu had gathered, the group headed towards Renjia Town and the county government. As they ran, Ren Jiating asked, "The three of us haven't seen the mummified corpse with our own eyes. It should be similar to the description Lu Jin and Li Muxuan heard from Qiu Sheng, right? Although Qiu Sheng isn't very diligent in his cultivation, he wouldn't joke about something like this."

"Because Ren Wei moved the mummified corpse away beforehand, Uncle Jiu and I didn't see it when we arrived... So now we need to go to the county government to confirm!"

Jiang Liu's eyes were filled with solemnity. "If it is really as I guessed, then the mummified corpse will definitely be revived when it comes into contact with 'blood'!"

The cross piercing its heart was most likely an alchemical artifact, similar to a magical tool, used to seal its life force!