High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2940: Chapter 1158: The Gentleman Discusses Death Again

The years-long ’Ascension’ is about to end.

The master will truly break out of his cocoon and transform, heading to a broader place.

This originally should be a cause for celebration, but Zheng Qing couldn’t feel happy. Because this means that the master is truly leaving. And with a high probability, it’s the kind of departure that won’t return.

In a sense, this kind of leaving is no different from death.

It’s just that in the future when people mention Him, they will say, oh, that is the first being in the Wizard World who transcended the ancients—just like later generations nostalgically remember their predecessors, they will savor His anecdotes, marvel at His greatness, transforming the significance of His existence into mere words, gradually dispersing in the bustling vitality of the world.

”You should learn to hide your thoughts.”

With a subtle expression, the master looked at the young warlock, extended his finger, and tapped his forehead: ”For a Wizard, death is not losing life, but stepping out of time. Besides, I am just leaving, not truly dying. Moreover, you’ve technically died once, haven’t you realized that death isn’t that frightening? Just like some perspectives we just discussed about Black Magic, in that original era, humans were actually not afraid of death. Death, like concepts of love and courage, was born in the early consciousness of humans, all equally new and filled with the unknown.

We treated the concept of ’death’ with enthusiasm and curiosity, much like lighting the first torch or writing the first Rune. Those stories in classical heroism that ’value honor over life and death’ are the pinnacle of this enthusiasm.

It’s just that gradually, as people knew more, desires grew larger, more complex, they became less able to face these pure concepts. This is true for love, and for death. As the saying goes, the more you know, the more you are afraid of the world... death too has transformed from a romantic and mysterious thing to one of the most terrifying concepts in the world.”

”Is there anything in this world that can truly conquer death?”

Zheng Qing thought of the master who was about to leave, sighing with some emotion: ”——Initially, I thought legends could conquer death, but now it seems nothing is immortal.”

”You indeed still have some fear of death.”

The master raised an eyebrow, his expression slightly more vivid: ”This is normal. Understanding and realizing the conclusion of the concept of ’death’ is nullity, you will fear death. That is, fearing death, so people strive to pursue the meaning of life while alive... Money, love, ideals, beliefs, etc., when these meanings pile up to a certain extent, they can become a legend, which in most people’s eyes can conquer death.”

”Can money also conquer death? I remember a saying, money can only buy someone else’s death...”

”Money is the sum of human desires. And the reason legends can conquer death is because in this world there are concepts richer than death, which is human desire. All pursuits of humanity are manifestations of desire.”

Here, the master paused for a moment, then softly chanted: ”——Life is what I desire, what I desire more than life, thus will not obtain undersigned; death is what I loathe, what I loathe more than death, thus do not avoid calamity. If what people desire most isn’t life, then everything that can gain life why not use? The great desire of human beings is only love and hate. So love and hate can overcome the fear of death—in other words, if there were no death, there would be no need for these emotions of love and hate.”

”Sounds a bit hollow.” Zheng Qing honestly expressed his thoughts.

The master pondered slightly.

”Well, there’s a very ready example.”

He waved his hand, and the scene over Buji Island appeared again in the void, still with red and black and strands of silvery starlight, only this time, the scene quickly zoomed in, soon focusing on ’Primordial’: ”Since love and hate have the power to conquer death, naturally they also have the power to conquer the erosion of Demon Blood—or rather, any strong and pure desire has powerful and pure magic power, able to resist all unspeakable horrors. Montelio’s improved flesh grafting technique uses this kind of extreme emotion as ’great medicine’ to curb the erosion of Demon Flesh. Most of the subjects he selected also possess this kind of emotion...”

Zheng Qing subconsciously rubbed his palm.

There, once ’devoured’ a seed of a crow’s soul.

”But I...” He felt he wasn’t someone with such extreme emotions.

The master glanced at him: ”——You are different... The Forbidden Curse is the convergence of the world, able to accommodate all elements of this world. In other words, when everything about you is closely tied to this spell, the concept of death can no longer contain you.”

It was one of the few good news Zheng Qing heard tonight.

It’s just that his joy hadn’t surfaced on his face, the master seemed to regret what he just said, immediately remedied: ”Death cannot contain you, doesn’t mean you won’t die... you also can’t treat self-destruction as a habit.”

”That time was just an accident.” Zheng Qing very obediently defended, and after saying this, he inexplicably remembered what the master said last Christmas, couldn’t help but smile.

”It’s not funny.” The master seriously looked at him: ”Remember the risk of ’dam collapse’ I told you about?”

Zheng Qing earnestly nodded: ”The result of dam collapse is that this world can no longer accommodate my body and mind, I will be forever banished to the depths of the Starry Sky like those outer gods.”

”I originally thought that this level of warning was enough, but it seems you haven’t fully taken it to heart.”

The master shook his head: ”When your concept of ’self’ is still fragile, each of your deaths will cause some degree of decline in your ’self’. Everyone’s self needs time to accumulate to gradually grow. But as I told you last time, your soul will expand after the explosion—because part of the concepts of the Forbidden Curse will, as ’self’ restores, delve deeper into your soul.”

”It doesn’t sound too bad?” Zheng Qing scratched his head.

”For the forbidden curse, of course not bad.”

The master gave him a glance: ”But for you, it’s not good news. To put it simply, after each explosion, your soul will get closer to the concept of ’world’... um, old-school wizards prefer to use the word ’assimilation’. Ultimately, losing your ’self’, you become the ’world’, the ’world’ becomes you.

The heavens and earth do not care, treating all things as straw dogs; the Saint does not care, treating the heavens and earth as straw dogs. A cold and lack of ’self’ Saint is not my expectation for you. I originally thought after you encountered the Giant God Soldier, you would develop certain reverence for this term, but apparently...”

He shook his head, paused, then finally added: ”Magic is an art of balance. It isn’t good for a Wizard to fear death; but being too fearless isn’t good either. If your fear of death completely disappears, you’ll lose part of your humanity. But in the concept of mysticism, humanity is a constant total. This means, the humanity you lose will transform into other desires—using someone’s words, ’in an infinite life without death, human desires become infinitely large, the entanglements infinitely many; in the possibility of immortality, the desire for immortality also becomes infinitely large, and so do the entanglements and conflicts’—the gift of death is that you can no longer feel pain, trouble or hesitation.”

The master’s words, most Zheng Qing didn’t remember.

But he truly understood the last sentence.

In a way, the master’s choice to leave is perhaps to rid himself of those nameless troubles.