"Of course, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have other meanings. The fusion of flesh, blood, and soul is an extremely profound knowledge in alchemy. You should know that our Rosicrucian Order focuses on alchemy. When I was reading the documents and materials left by the order, I saw an alchemist from the Fifth Era comment on this sentence."
Ms. Hope spoke slowly, so Shade could hear it clearly:
"Feelings are the rope that connects two different individuals. Although feelings themselves are not physical, the soul is not physical either. Deep enough feelings can allow two souls to form a bond across space. That is a connection that cannot be severed no matter how far apart they are."
"Soul? I haven't done much research on this. However, I do know that emotions do have an impact on the effectiveness of spellcasting."
Shade said, and Ms. Hope nodded:
"That alchemy notebook even mentioned that she was researching a method to allow two souls to merge harmlessly for a short period of time, allowing the two people to become one person."
"What? Did she succeed?"
"Of course it didn't work. According to the records of the cult, the alchemist master of the Fifth Era created a terrifying fused undead. The resulting disaster was eventually suppressed and quelled by a witch emperor at the time. Relevant records of this incident can still be found in the Holy See libraries of the Church of the Sun and the Church of Peace. Our cult left this dangerous information to warn those who come after us not to interfere with souls at will. I think this is also the reason why the Orthodox Church strictly prohibits any sale of souls and knowledge of soul transformation in our era."
After learning some knowledge about soul fusion from Ms. Hope, Shad took her note and finally went to find Mr. Upton.
This gentleman was described as having a strange personality by the Forlan brothers, Ms. Hope and Mr. Richard, so Shad was prepared to be made difficult.
He adjusted his mood, put on a formal smile, and then raised his hand to knock on the door. After waiting for a long time, he heard footsteps from inside the door, and then the door was opened a crack, but the anti-theft chain was not removed.
A man with messy hair and half white hair who looked to be in his fifties asked impatiently through the crack in the door:
"Who is it?"
The tone is very similar to Dorothy's reaction after being interrupted while writing.
"Friends of Brother Fulan, I am here to..."
"not see."
"etc!"
Xia De hurriedly grabbed the door that was about to close. The man inside the door pulled hard again, but found that the door did not move at all. Realizing that Xia De's strength was far stronger than his, he took a deep breath and said:
"What did Eric and Charles ask you to do?"
"Can we go in and talk? I won't bother you for long. This is a note from Ms. Hope. I want to purchase a piece of knowledge."
Mr. Upton's mouth twitched and he looked Shad up and down.
"Okay, but wait a moment while I clean up the room."
"no problem."
Shad let go of the door and let it close. Mr. Upton's footsteps moved toward the room, but within thirty seconds he was back, this time unfastening the security chain and fully opening the door.
This room is on the same floor as the one where Ms. Hope lives, so the interior structure is basically similar. Originally, Shad thought that since Upton looked unkempt, the room would be messy, but in fact it was very tidy.
The arrangement of furniture and the atmosphere in the room were normal. The only thing worth noting was the wooden easel in the living room. However, the drawing board on the easel was covered with a white cloth, so Shade could not see what kind of oil painting it was. But just now, Mr. Upton said that he would go into the room to clean it up, which should be referring to this painting.
Shad didn't feel any element, so he didn't care, just thinking it was Mr. Upton's privacy.
After both parties sat down, Shade briefly explained his purpose. Even though Mr. Upton was a little impatient about the magic of the cult that Shade wanted to obtain, he still listened to Shade's story in detail, and asked Shade very seriously why he wanted to learn the magic, and emphasized the taboos of using this magic:
"When your hands are held together with another person's, you must be in awe of this emotion. Whether it is love or other emotions, they are the most valuable forces that can be generated by our mortal souls. Do not easily give up on any girl who is willing to hold your hand. Young man, countless ring sorcerers who have learned this magic will regret from the bottom of their hearts when one day they are forced or voluntarily watching that figure walk away. They have experienced the feeling of souls touching each other through magic."
His expression was serious:
“Are you sure you want to learn it?”
"No, I don't want to learn it for now. I want to buy this knowledge for a pair of... twin girls."
Shade nodded affirmatively, and Mr. Upton nodded:
"Then it's not that dangerous. But you have to sign an additional contract to ensure that the knowledge will not leak out."
"Of course, that makes sense."
After Xia De finished speaking, he asked curiously:
"Have you also studied the knowledge of soul contact or even fusion like Ms. Hope?"
"No, no, that's not my research direction. I'm studying..."
Some unkempt men inadvertently glanced at the covered painting:
"I study the relationship between the interaction between the flesh and the flesh under the influence of love."
Xia De blinked his eyes. The other party's statement was very strange. He suspected that he had guessed wrong:
"You can't be talking about..."
"Yes, you have heard of the Pink Book, right? I study that kind of knowledge. Love is not just a pure spiritual exchange. Young people like you should understand it better than me."
Mr. Upton said, shrugging his shoulders at Shad:
"But under the general social morality, it is not appropriate to tell everyone about this kind of knowledge. So I pretend to be eccentric so that they will bother me less. Although this will make my reputation worse, at least it will avoid getting worse."
Xia De nodded to show that he understood. He had also studied "The Pink Book" and knew that the book, which contained a wealth of knowledge, was indeed not suitable for discussion with too many people.
Since Mr. Upton agreed to let him learn the magic, he prepared to say goodbye, go to Ms. Hope to pay the money, and then go upstairs to find Mr. Richard to get the magic learning ritual.
However, when Shad stood up, Mr. Upton signaled to Shad not to leave so soon.
"Regarding the motto you mentioned, I actually have my own way of understanding it."
Mr. Upton said, and then asked Shad a question:
"Do you believe that two different bodies can merge into one person?"
Xia De thought about it and nodded decisively:
"Of course I believe it. For example, two girls aged fifteen or sixteen would become eighteen after merging.
Mr. Upton nodded in surprise:
"I thought you would say that this doesn't conform to the theory of the Ringwitch system. But it's okay, it seems that you still have some talent. My research direction is not the fusion of souls, but the use of the Pink Book system to study the complex interactions between bodies and the moments of emotional outbursts and physical pleasure."
He took a deep breath:
"In my opinion, the ultimate goal of this research is to make two people become one person on a material level."
Xia De frowned slightly and said hesitantly:
"I don't know if you know that in necromancy, you can sew together multiple corpses to create something like 'Undead Stitchers'."
He always felt that there was something wrong with the man in front of him, and he seemed to be too excited. Therefore, Xia De was worried that he would eventually create a monster.
"No, no. You misunderstood me. I study living people, not corpses. They are completely different. Corpses have no feelings and cannot experience pleasure. They are meaningless."
Mr. Upton shook his head.
"And I won't start with experiments on humans right away. My current progress is just trying to gain the power of animals through contact with them. This is a secret method that can only be learned by the ancient Dru Yin after having close contact with animal companions."
"That doesn't sound strange."
Shade commented with a smile, and Mr. Upton finally smiled:
“I know there will always be someone who understands me.”
He looked at the painting covered by the white cloth again, as if he had made up his mind:
"In fact, more than a year ago I got a very strange painting, which convinced me that my idea was absolutely correct. The purest emotion and the most extreme charm will burst out with powerful power in the fusion of flesh and blood. I would like to invite you to take a look at this painting, which will let you know what I want to study."
He pointed at the white cloth, and Shade asked:
"Who created this painting? When was it created?"
"It was probably in the early Sixth Era. A painter who was traveling far away at sea, in the fog one morning, vaguely glimpsed a very beautiful lady in the water. He was stimulated by the beauty of that moment, so he painted this picture. But later the painter went crazy, and other ordinary people who saw the painting also went crazy. I suspect that he saw some kind of alien creature at that time, such as a mermaid or something."
He stood up and gently pulled the canvas off. Xia De looked over subconsciously, and his first impression was that it was an oil painting with very bright colors.
Although the painting depicts an underwater scene, the woman's long orange-red hair floating in the water and her fair, almost glowing skin make the underwater scene quite bright. She faces out of the picture with her eyes slightly narrowed, looking charming and lazy.
Surrounding the lady in the picture, various shellfish and fish form the background, while the underwater water flow is outlined by the brush with abstract lines, making the details of the picture richer and more compact.
“It’s really beautiful.”
This was the thought that immediately came to Xia De's mind, and then he expressed it aloud.
He smiled and looked at the painting, admiring the beauty of the underwater lady. She was in perfect harmony with the underwater world, as if she was meant to exist in the water. Her perfect appearance was frozen in that second, but her beauty and charm were recorded forever.
“It’s really beautiful.”
Xia De sighed again, staring at the painting and even felt unwilling to look away. He even thought that the woman in the painting was more beautiful than the witches he knew...