With the previous experience of the Warlock suffering a backlash, the two Sequence Seven Beyonders were exceptionally careful while examining the corpses. Only after the tent had filled with the stench of blood did the Warlock and Knowledge Keeper exchange a glance. In the end, the Knowledge Keeper spoke first:
"All traces of spirituality in these corpses have vanished."
"You mean their souls were extracted?" Edmund frowned. Souls were standard consumable materials in many evil rituals, but the next moment, the Knowledge Keeper shook his head.
"Not souls, but residual spirituality—or rather, traces... As you know, the non-material aspect of living beings can roughly be divided into the Mental Body, Spirit Body, Mind Body, and Aether Body. After death, the soul is drawn by the Spirit Body into the spirit world, or, under extremely rare circumstances, bound to the real world and turned into an undead creature such as an evil spirit, wraith, or ghost. But after the soul leaves, traces of it still remain in the body. That is the basis for Spirit Channeling, divination, or retrospection upon the dead..."
"Cough, cough!" Seeing the Knowledge Keeper's occupational habit about to flare up, the bishop of the Church of the Sun immediately coughed twice, interrupting his "mysticism lesson." He gave him a murderous look, signaling that he should get to the point before the commander's expression became utterly unbearable.
Seemingly jolted awake by the bishop's gaze, the Knowledge Keeper immediately cleared his throat and summarized:
"In short, under normal circumstances, after a person dies, whether their soul goes to the spirit world, is received into a God's kingdom, or simply turns into an evil spirit, traces of the soul remain in the body. Although divination and similar actions may accelerate the dissipation of those traces, it still takes time. These