Being a Saint since the age of myth

He had never expected this Virgo Saint to open with such a bombshell.

To put it more seriously, this was questioning the deity whom the Saints served, raising suspicions of forsaking their god. It was downright heretical.

From what he knew of Saints, they were exceptionally loyal to Athena. It was almost impossible to hear such words from them.

But since the one asking was Virgo Asmita, that was another matter.

This man had always gone his own way.

He sighed softly and looked at Asmita. "Sometimes, being too intelligent is a sin in itself."

"Because intelligent people always think too much."

"And when you think too much, you naturally give rise to all sorts of unnecessary worries!"

"Is that what people mean when they say fools have their own blessings?" Asmita asked.

Wuxin replied unhurriedly, "Because fools think simply, their desires are simpler too, and easier to satisfy. That's why they so often seem happy."

"Perhaps even an ordinary stalk of foxtail grass can amuse them for ages."

"But to normal people like us, that seems utterly incomprehensible and meaningless."

"Yet to them, that happiness truly comes from the heart. It's a genuine feeling, without the slightest pretense."

"Take another example: a group of wise men use their extraordinary intelligence to calculate that ten thousand years from now, the sun may very well go out, bringing the Earth to its final doom."

"Because of that, they spend every day in dread, unable to eat or sleep in peace."

"I see. Intelligence really can be a sin!" Asmita agreed.

A group of mortals actually worried about an apocalypse ten thousand years away, never realizing that they had forgotten their own lives would last a mere hundred years.

An apocalypse ten thousand years away had absolutely nothing to do with them.

"But you still haven't answered my question directly! Is the King of the Underworld truly evil, and is Athena necessarily just?" Asmita asked again.

"Neither!" Wuxin shook his head.

"Oh? Please enlighten me!" Asmita grew a little excited.

His trip really had not been in vain. At last, he had heard a different voice.

In Sanctuary, he had asked many Saints, and they had all given the same answer: the King of the Underworld represented evil, while Athena represented justice.

Wuxin said unhurriedly, "The concepts of justice and evil did not originally exist in this world. They were merely things humans subjectively defined later."

"Someone established standards for justice and evil, and those who came afterward used those standards to judge things. Naturally, everything in the world became divided into just and evil."

He paused, then continued, "For example, sheep eat grass, and wolves eat sheep."

"In some children's understanding, wolves that eat sheep are evil, while sheep that eat grass are kind and just."

"Why is that?"

"Because in their understanding, taking another's life is an evil act, so wolves that eat sheep are evil."

"Sheep eat grass without harming any lives, so naturally, they shouldn't be placed in the same category as wolves. By a process of elimination, they're put on the side of justice instead."

"But in my eyes, wolves and sheep should not-and do not-fall into categories of justice and evil."

"Why is that?" Asmita was somewhat puzzled.

Wuxin patiently explained, "Sheep eat grass, and wolves eat sheep. Those are their instincts, the rules of nature."

"If sheep don't eat grass, they'll starve, and if wolves don't eat sheep, they'll starve too."

"They kill to survive. It has nothing to do with justice or evil, so naturally, those standards shouldn't be used to judge them."

"And returning to the children's perspective, sheep do eat grass, but grass itself is a living plant. Isn't eating grass also a form of taking life?"

"By their standards, sheep should be classified as evil, just like wolves!"

"I'm afraid only the grass growing on the ground, which never kills, would belong on the kind and just side!"

"So judging others solely in terms of justice and evil is an extremely narrow-minded thing to do."

"That makes sense! It seems my trip wasn't in vain!"

Asmita nodded and asked with some anticipation, "Since you believe the two gods shouldn't be judged in terms of justice and evil, how do you view this Holy War?"

"It's simple!"

Wuxin smiled confidently. "Justice and evil are merely subjective standards created by humans!"

"Then why don't we make those standards a little purer?"

"Just judge things by 'like' and 'dislike'!"

"If you like something, join and support it. If you dislike it, reject and oppose it. There's no need for so many lofty, grand-sounding ideas. Judge everything by your own heart."

"Ultimately, justice and evil are fundamentally standards based on personal likes and dislikes. They've simply been draped in a cloak of justice and evil!"

"What we like is defined as just, and what we hate is defined as evil."

"So in the Saints' eyes, the King of the Underworld's side, which they hate, becomes evil. But in his followers' eyes, we're evil too, and they're the ones who are just!"

"Then do you like the King of the Underworld or Athena?" Asmita asked again.

"Of course I prefer Goddess Athena!"

Without hesitation, Wuxin answered earnestly, "Putting aside all talk of justice and evil, I don't like the King of the Underworld's ways. If he ruled the earth, I'm afraid everyone would have to spend their entire lives in boundless terror."

"Goddess Athena, on the other hand, is a benevolent deity. With her protecting the earth, everyone can live with greater peace of mind."

"So even though I'm not a believer in Goddess Athena, I'm willing to offer her my strength and protect the peace of the earth!"

This was his sincere answer, not a deliberate attempt to please Sanctuary.

At the same time, he knew that if he answered incorrectly, this Virgo Saint might very well kill him outright.

The man was currently in a state of confusion, but on the whole, he still leaned toward Sanctuary.

Chapter 17: Comprehending corpse qi

"A very sincere answer!"

Asmita nodded, then added, "Though it doesn't align with the Pope's understanding and that of the others, your position does indeed place you on Sanctuary's side!"

Hearing this, Wuxin was completely certain that Asmita's questions had indeed been intended to test him.

Had he answered incorrectly, there was no telling what might have happened.

"That's my choice. What about you, my lord? Has my answer resolved your doubts?" he asked with a smile.

"It has!"

Asmita looked toward the top of the cliff and said quietly, "Though my eyes cannot see, my heart can reflect the truest face of the world."

"And precisely because I saw too much truth, I was once lost."

"Today, here with you, I finally rediscovered my true heart and saw my path clearly again!"

"Thank you for your guidance, young man!"

Turning back to "look" at Wuxin, Asmita rapidly faded from the Land of White Bones.

"He really did come and go in a hurry!" Wuxin couldn't help shaking his head at the sight.

Soon, he settled his thoughts and resumed his analysis.

"To simulate the power of death, I first need to understand what true death actually is!"

"In the broad sense, death means the end of everything. In the narrow sense, it means the end of life."

"I'm not strong enough yet to study death in the broad sense, so I can only start with death in the narrow sense!"

Looking at the rows of bones beneath his feet, Wuxin thought further, "Even death in the narrow sense encompasses many, many things."

"For example, the spoilage of food, the decay of corpses, and so on."

"I can't possibly study so many things at once. I can only choose one and analyze it in depth."

"The power Hakurei has mastered, meanwhile, is based on Sekishiki, which he then developed further into the manipulation of souls."

"Looking at it that way, the trial he set for me is actually guiding me toward the foundations of Sekishiki."

"If I can pass this trial, learning his ultimate techniques on that foundation will naturally be easier!"

"Then my goal is quite clear!"

Wuxin stopped thinking and gazed at the bones covering the ground, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

From what he knew, Sekishiki was formed by combining the gases released by decaying remains with the resentment and unwillingness left behind when the living died.

The corpse qi of decay could penetrate living flesh, while the resentment left by the extinguished living entangled the soul.

Combined, these two formed the basic principle that allowed Sekishiki to attack souls.

Of course, it sounded simple, but in practice, it was nowhere near that easy.

Otherwise, anyone could master this ultimate technique without a teacher.

For now, Wuxin's goal was to comprehend the composition of corpse qi and simulate it with the power of his own Cosmo.

He didn't expect to reproduce it completely. As long as he achieved even a fraction of success, enough to animate the remains, that would do.

Only this kind of corpse qi, born from remains, had any chance of animating them.

This was also why monsters such as ghosts and ghouls always arose in graveyards.

"Then what exactly is corpse qi composed of?" Wuxin sat cross-legged, opened his right hand, and slowly manifested the power of his Cosmo in his palm.

Then, under his control, that strand of Cosmo power took the shape of a snake, opened its mouth wide, and greedily sucked in a mouthful of air from this land of bones.

In an instant, the little snake swelled uncontrollably, turning into a sphere that emitted a faint silvery glow.

Wuxin dared not be careless. He did his utmost to control his Cosmo power and stabilize its structure, sealing the air he had just drawn in inside it.

His Cosmo power carried his sixth sense. Sealing the air with it would allow him to use his mental power to probe further into the true contents of the corpse qi within the air.

Light flickered across the sphere's surface as Cosmo power flowed through it. After Wuxin's repeated adjustments, he finally stabilized the sphere's structure completely, fully sealing the air inside.

"Next, let me see exactly what your structure is!" Looking at the sphere in his hand, Wuxin slowly closed his eyes and silently examined it with his mental power.

Though keeping his eyes open wouldn't prevent him from examining it with his mental power, visual distractions would make it harder to concentrate.