"Let's go and have a look too."
On the shore, Father Augustus suddenly whispered. Sister Defulin hesitated for a moment and nodded:
"Okay."
"But how do we get there?"
Iluna asked quietly, they couldn't touch the water. The old priest smiled and pointed to the side:
"Use this."
On the shallows, there was a tattered little wooden boat stranded, looking like it would sink if it touched the water. It lay quietly in the shadows that the campfire could not illuminate, as if it had always been there.
But Iluna was very sure that the ship definitely did not exist before the battle between Shad and Joey Barton was over.
"What's this?"
She was surprised and, seeing that Father Augustus was trying to push the boat into the water, she offered her hand to help.
"The moon, defeated, death."
The priest said with great effort while pushing the boat into the water. Sister Defulin immediately became thoughtful:
"You mean, in death, the moon defeated death head on?"
"Yes."
The priest nodded, and together with Iluna, the boat slid silently into the water.
"I'm sorry, I still don't understand what this means."
Iluna said in a low voice, and the priest motioned for her to carry Joey Barton's body onto the boat as well, and then continued to explain:
"The thirteen ancient gods have overlapping duties."
"Yes, I know that."
"The power of death is mostly in the hands of the ancient god, the Ancient God of Death."
"Yes."
Iluna nodded again and dragged the body onto the boat. Father Augustus and Sister Defulin also boarded the boat one by one. Without any power, the boat swayed through the dense white shadows and headed towards the distant Shade.
The priest took out his pipe and took a puff. Sister Defulin sat quietly beside him. Iluna held her dark golden scales at the bow. The light of the scales was like a guiding light.
"But the ancient god of the moon also holds some power over death. This dark moon is proof of this."
Priest Augustus said again, and Iluna thought about it and nodded again:
"so what?"
"So, now in the most real death, witnessed by thousands of souls, Shad, who used the power of the moon, defeated Joey Barton, who used the power of death. What did you say Joey Barton was the chosen one? Sorry, I don't quite understand this, but they both used very pure power, and the duel venue was here, which can be regarded as some kind of symbolic ceremony... That's about it, and Shad won, so this ship appeared."
He exhaled a puff of smoke:
"I can't explain it in detail, but from now on, this ship will always be here, carrying away those souls who cannot reach their destination even if they come here. The rules of death have become more perfect... ... This is a good thing."
Iluna still didn't quite understand, but since it was a good thing, there was no need to delve into it too deeply.
The boat left ripples on the tranquil water like silk being cut, and they soon came to Shade in the boat. The ripples at the stern only spread a short distance before disappearing. Shade looked at the boat in confusion, thinking that it was conjured by the Augustus priest.
Numerous souls gradually passed by everyone, and Joey Barton endured the severe pain of the curse and finally got up with difficulty.
He looked at the soul in front of him, looked at the transparent woman who stopped in front of him, and then reached out and hugged her:
"Marilyn, this time, I finally got your hand."
Even though the pain that penetrated his soul made it almost impossible for him to breathe normally, he still embraced the soul in front of him:
"Finally, I finally found you. I finally see you again."
The woman smiled gently, put her arm around the deformed boy in front of her with her right hand, and gently stroked his head with her left hand.
"Is this what you call love?"
Iluna quietly asked the priest Augustus beside her for advice.
She was actually closer to Sister Defulin, but the nun looked cold and didn't seem to understand the meaning of love. Moreover, Iluna didn't think it was a good idea to ask the nun about this kind of question.
"I think so."
The old priest said this with emotion, his aged face showing a rather complicated expression as he watched the scene.
"Don't leave me, come back with me. Please, come back with me."
Even though he was shaking with pain, Mr. Barton still held her tightly and cried out in a sobbing voice.
He looked up at the woman's face. The woman smiled and shook her head slightly. She refused.
Shad didn't know what Mr. Barton was feeling at the moment, but he knew that there would be no more fighting.
"Why, don't you want to go back with me? Why..."
He was so painful that he could not stand steadily. Even though he was held by that gentle soul, he slowly slid to the surface of the water. He knelt there and looked at the person he had dreamed of. The latter let go of his hand and looked at him tenderly.
Joey Barton knew that if this was still a farewell, then it would be the final farewell:
"Then let me go with you."
He held out his trembling hand to the woman.
The woman smiled gently again and shook her head, but she grabbed the thick, deformed hands, then squatted slightly and hugged the big boy.
"oh!"
Iluna on the boat exclaimed quietly. As countless white shadows passed by the two of them, the gray lines on Barton's body actually spread to the woman's body like a crawling snake. The woman's soul was cursed with death, while the curse on Mr. Barton's body was slowly disappearing.
"This is... ... "
She absorbed the curse and planned to carry it with her to the end.
"She" replied softly.
Gently straightened up, loosened his hand, and with tears streaming down his face, Mr. Barton tried to catch her, but he couldn't.
"No, let me go with you."
The transparent soul was smiling gently, bathing in the glow of the dark moon. There was no sadness in her eyes. She spoke softly, her voice was very gentle:
"Keep me in your heart and live well. As long as you still remember me, I will not leave."
The corner of Shade's eye twitched, Priest Augustus shook his head, Sister Defulin still had no expression, and Iluna on the boat had red eyes. An immature girl couldn't bear to read such a story, especially when it happened right before her eyes.
"Remember, live well."
She gave her last blessing softly. As Mr. Barton lay on the water and cried loudly, the woman's soul turned around and walked towards the huge dark moon at the end of the water along with the thousands of white shadows.
Xia De looked at the white shadows. He wanted to say something, but it was really hard to summarize this story. Fortunately, someone spoke for him:
"Wait a minute, don't leave yet."
The old priest knocked his pipe against the side of the boat, the woman's soul stopped, and everyone else looked at the old priest.
Rat Augustus drooped his eyelids and said in a deep voice:
"There were five people coming in, one, two, three, four, and five people must leave. Joey Barton really can't leave with his soul. He must return to reality with us. Otherwise, his power will be reduced to death, and the fragile balance will be broken."
Shad looked at the priest in confusion, not knowing what he was trying to say by repeating this.
"But you've done too many bad things, and too many people died today because of you, so I don't want you to return to reality alive. Joey Barton, you've done something wrong, and you have to pay the price."
The priest looked at Joey Barton with a serious expression, and the latter nodded slightly with trembling hands. It was rare for Shad to see the old man with such an expression.
"In order not to disrupt the balance between life and death, we must never allow a dead person to become alive. But if we pay a price, we can use a powerful living person to exchange for a dead person."
The priest coughed and emphasized again:
"There are five people coming in, one, two, three, four, and five people leaving. Do you understand?"
Shade raised his eyebrows, Iluna also had an expression of sudden enlightenment, and Mr. Barton widened his eyes in disbelief:
"Can you use me to exchange for her rebirth? This will also maintain the balance between life and death?"
"Normally it's not allowed, and it would be a resurrection that breaks the rules. But the situation is special now, and if I'm willing to help, it's possible."
Priest Augustus slowly pointed at himself. Shad knew that he had some of the power of the angel of death and it was indeed possible for him to accomplish such a thing.
The priest added:
"Of course, it's not a perfect resurrection. Moreover, your soul must leave with her and stay with her for life. Because she is not equal to you.
You will die from now on, and become a wandering soul. Until she dies again, you will be qualified to reach the end, and you are not even qualified to end it on your own initiative. And the curse of death will be borne by you both, and no one can get rid of it. This should be the best way at the moment. You must pay the price for what happened today, Joey Barton. "
Mr. Barton looked into the soul of Marilyn Handel with a trembling body:
"I can't let her bear the curse too. No, I can't be so selfish. I can't..."
"I do, sir."
That gentle soul actually spoke on her own initiative. She bowed slightly to Father Augustus. The soul can reflect a person's essence. She is indeed a very gentle and kind person.
"Ma'am, even if you do, I don't want to."
The priest shook his head:
"Although I don't want Joey Barton to return to reality alive, resurrecting you would be against the rules. Why should I help you?"
"What do you need?"
The woman's soul asked softly. Priest Augustus did not put forward any conditions, but looked at the soul that was watching them:
"Are you sure you want to do this? Ma'am, you will have the right to walk alive again, but the price is that you will carry his heavy soul, you will be tainted with the terrible curse of death, and even your resurrection will not be complete. You will suffer more. These sufferings need to be borne by you together until you pay the price. This is fair to Joey Barton, but not to you. You have done nothing wrong."
Marilyn Handel's pure white soul looked at Patton, who was limp there, and lowered her eyes slightly:
"Joey, are you willing to spend your life with me in this way to make up for your mistakes by doing good deeds throughout your life?"
Mr. Barton looked at her tremblingly, their eyes met, tears of the soul flowed down his cheeks, and he nodded slowly:
"Marilyn, if you can still accept me like this, I am willing to do so. I will use my life to make it up to you and to make it up to those who have been hurt."
The priest was not surprised by this result:
"Of course, I will help you, but you have to pay a price. Your origin and death belong to Shade."
"no problem."
Mr. Barton said immediately.
Shade looked at the old priest, who winked at him slightly, and then the priest asked seriously:
"Also, you need to tell me what method the Truth Society used to suppress your speed of rebirth?"
"Hand bones. They peeled off my right arm and replaced my hand bones with a shiny white bone."
"I want your hand bones."
The priest said.
"Can."
"Without your hand bones, even if you find a chance to revive in the future, resurrection will kill you again."
The priest reminded.
"I see."
After receiving the answer, the priest first handed Shad a burnt feather from the boat and asked him to give it to the woman's soul as a guarantee of resurrection. Then, the priest pulled up Mr. Barton's body, borrowed the night watchman from Shad, and neatly cut off the right arm of the body:
"I can help you break some rules and exchange you for her. But if you want to revive her, you need to reshape her body. You need her original corpse, which I can't do."
"I can help."
Shade said, and asked Mr. Barton:
"Do you have her ashes with you?"
"Yes."
Mr. Barton wiped the tears from his face and nodded immediately:
“I always carry it with me.”
"I can restore the ashes to a body, but you have to pay me. I want a quarter of your soul, and after you leave death, I promise not to report you."
The time it takes to cremate a corpse is much longer than the time breath can take effect. At the second ring, Shade could restore the object for three months. At the fourth ring, it has been improved to about ten months, but the corpse was cremated in 1848, and now it is 1853.
Fortunately, the spiritual rune was imbued with divinity, so the momentary power that Shade possessed had not completely declined. He could rely on the last bit of divinity to overcast the spell. This was the last miracle before obtaining the next drop of divinity.
Mr. Barton looked at him in surprise:
“That’s… okay.”
"The soul is missing, which means..."
"I see."
Shade looked at Priest Augustus:
"Can you help split a quarter of his soul?"
"Of course, it's a small matter."
The priest pointed casually, and Mr. Barton was not split, but his soul became much more transparent. A more illusory Joey Barton appeared behind him, and was then brewed into blood by Shad's red wine bottle.
Joey Barton's soul had been badly damaged by the curse, and since it was a voluntary sacrifice, Shad's spell only took a few dozen seconds.
After collecting the wine bottle, Shade climbed onto the boat and dug out the ashes from Barton's body. He took a deep breath, and as the gray air rushed from the ashes into Shade's nostrils, the woman's body before cremation appeared on the boat. Her face was painted with corpse makeup, and she was wearing the clothes she wore when she was cremated.
Xia De gently put them down, and the two bodies, a man and a woman, lay in the boat.
No one asked what Shade wanted to do, but Shade looked unhappy. He had not used up all the power of the Red Butterfly, but after the power was transformed back into the pendant, the pendant actually broke. The Blood Brew was prepared for this, and because he had to get the Blood Brew, he promised not to report Joey Barton.
He needs to return to reality as soon as possible. The most dangerous action today is definitely not to defeat the person who has been reborn.
This night has just begun.
The old priest continued:
"I have the qualifications for resurrection and I have a body, but that's not enough. The soul and the body must overlap, but this is not resurrection, it's just the living dead. Some special power is needed. I want to think of a way..."
The priest was thinking, and Sister Defulin spoke:
"I can help, and use the primordial fire to rekindle the life of this lady. But you will have to pay a price."
"What price?"
Barton asked for the third time, and the nun said softly:
"Your body, I want your body to be turned into firewood for the flames."
"My body belongs to you now."
"Without a corpse, you will completely lose the chance to be resurrected. You will forever be a lonely soul."
"I understand. Sister, this is the price I pay for all I have done."
Sister Develyn nodded, raised her hands, and a thin flame appeared again. The flame fell on Joey Barton's body and quickly burned it out, leaving only a bone whistle in the ashes. Then, some sparks splashed on the body of another woman, and her body became warm.
Not sure if it was an illusion, but Shade felt that the fire in the nun's hands seemed to be a little stronger.
"What's this?"
Xia De picked up the whistle curiously, and Mr. Barton replied softly:
"The truth will be given to me. It seems to be related to the ancient gods. Sister, please scatter the ashes in this water, so that my body will be with death."
Only then did Shad notice that Joey Barton, who originally had color, was now just a transparent soul.
Sister Defulin carefully sprinkled the ashes of the burning body into the water. The woman's soul, supported by Mr. Barton's soul, stepped into the boat and reunited with the body.
After waiting for a while, she opened her eyes, sat up, and hugged Mr. Barton, who was extremely weak due to the division of his soul. They were trembling, not only because of the excitement, but also because of the horrible curse.
But both of them had smiles on their faces, smiles in pain, smiles that came from the heart.
Shad couldn't comment on this scene, but some people left and some returned, some paid a price, some were cursed, some regained their love, and some were willing to sacrifice... ... Unable to judge whether this was a tragedy or a comedy, Shad decided to tell Dorothy the story after this was over, and the writer would give the answer.
Now everyone was on the boat. Joey Barton and Marilyn Handel hugged each other tightly. Priest Augustus smoked his pipe and looked at the broken arm at his feet. Sister Devlin turned her head to look at Mingyue. Iluna sat at the bow and looked at the scales in her hand. Shad put down his sword and looked at the sky.
The boat once again silently cut through the star-like water, sailing against countless departing souls towards the mudflat where the Gate of Death stood.