"The first stage of Soul Transformation is what is known as 'becoming a ghost.'
"The death of the human body is actually an opportunity to 'break free from restraint.' Only humans whose consciousness energy is sufficiently powerful can, through intense obsession, undergo a transformation when their souls separate from their bodies, becoming 'ghosts' that exist independently as souls."
"Once the first stage of transformation is complete, their consciousness bodies will become unique, independent cores. The soul will encompass this core, becoming the 'ghost' you humans speak of... As long as the core remains intact, there is a possibility of resurrection. The ghosts you are currently facing all belong to this stage."
Yu Jing nodded with great interest. "A consciousness core, and a unique soul."
Hastur continued lecturing him. "The first stage of transformation is merely the starting point of the soul's evolution."
"Because souls possess different potentials, the spiritual bodies formed after 'becoming ghosts' will display varying degrees of strength and weakness as they develop. Only ghosts with immense soul potential, combined with their own cores, can continue evolving and gradually break through certain conventional restraints. These are the minor stages of change that you humans have summarized through experience and divided into stages such as the 'Personality Maturation Stage' and the 'Perfected Form.'"
"When the core consciousness collective and the soul reach a certain height and touch the true 'bottleneck'—that is, the maximum limit of the soul-bearing capacity of each planet—they must break through the rules to complete the second stage of transformation... Anything involving rules is never that simple."
"Whether it is an Old God like me or an insignificant floating life-form, all are constrained by 'rules.' The so-called 'rules' are actually easy to understand. Among human groups, there are laws created by humans to restrain their desires.