The Otherworldly Adventures of a Super Naive Girl

537: Book of Death and Book of Fate

After their meeting with Ming Xi, both Grandfather Feng and Father Feng hid their gifts in the lowest floor of the storage shed so it wouldn’t be taken out accidentally by anyone.

Death failed to take Shui last night, but that didn’t mean it had given up. Shui was terrified after being rescued.

It became such a big issue that Old Master Qui had to come out of seclusion. Once he found out what had happened to Shui, he also hated Ning Bi’s entire family.

But that wasn’t the important thing right now; the most important thing right now was finding the girl.

Unfortunately, Ning Bi was excellent at hiding. They still couldn’t find her even after searching the city for so long.

After such a huge battle last night, Old Master Qui couldn’t let Shui stay at the Feng estate. Besides, there was no reason for her to remain in someone else’s home. So after promising to compensate Feng house for the loss incurred and thanking them for last night, everyone in the Qui household returned to their own estate.

Shui was kept under close protection, but to be on the safe side, Old Master Qui went to the palace and invited an old necromancer to help. He was afraid there would be things humans wouldn’t be able to handle.

It wasn’t just Old Master Qui, Grandfather Feng also did the same, inviting an old necromancer, who he had a good relationship with, over. The necromancer Grandfather Feng invited wasn’t young. He had a head of shiny white hair, a long trailing beard and friendly kind eyes. Aside from that, he was also a very energetic man.

Ai Lin, having followed Madam Lan to meet the necromancer, felt he was a very powerful man. Although his aura was peaceful, within that aura was terrifying qi. Necromancers were really not to be trifled with.

Noel wasn’t there but he didn’t ask any questions and unconsciously avoided it when it was appropriate. He knew something serious was going on in the Feng household, but they had made it clear they did not want him to be involved.

The old necromancer was warmly welcomed to the Feng estate. Dealing with spirit bodies should be left to professionals.

Death was a god but it was fundamentally a spirit being, a form of undead, so logically a necromancer should be helpful in combating it. Though it was just a divine strand of Death’s consciousness, no one dared underestimate or declare the matter resolved.

After the old necromancer learned it was Death who was after Feng Wu, he asked a lot of questions, but he did not ask them to find someone else to help.

The Feng family were very grateful he remained.

It was only after entering this world that Ai Lin realized necromancers were different from how they were portrayed in all those fantasy stories she had read. She imagined they were just skin and bones, thin as can be with peculiar temperaments. They would naturally carry a staff made of skeleton bones and wear a cloak around their bodies. And when they cast their spells, the people targeted would turn into ashes.

In reality, undead magic wasn’t as exaggerated as that, and in this world, were separated into two categories: light and dark.

Light necromancers helped the undead fulfill their wishes and purify them so they could reincarnate. They also contracted with the undead to increase their own strength.

Each contract spot was precious because necromancers could only have so many contracts. Only the more exceptional spirits would catch the eye of a necromancer. For a contract to form, the spirit would also have to agree.

Black necromancers created and refined bone and undead soldiers to increase their own strength. It was harmful, because although it brought them strength, it came with serious negative effects. The backlash they had to endure meant their lifespans were generally short.

No light necromancers would ever turn to being a dark necromancer voluntarily unless there was some deep hatred motivating them.

Dark necromancers were terrifying existences and were public enemy number one on the continent. Ai Lin had never met one, and in all the time she’d been in the world, had only ever heard of one. Now that a powerful light necromancer was there in front of her, she was brimming with curiosity. The light necromancer patiently answered all her questions.

Sure enough, as the book said, anyone who could become a light necromancer had a good heart. But of course necromancers were people, so just like any profession, there would be those who weren’t good people.

While the people outside were searching for Ning Bi, the light necromancer, whose name was Ebelin, shared a lot of elementary knowledge about necromancy with them. He also told them a lot about the god of death.

"The god of death is in charge of human life and death and has no feelings. The Book of Death in its possession tells when and how every living person will die. Death is a god, and in principle, should not stoop to actively reaping souls, so the death scythe wouldn’t typically appear in the human world. This is because when a person dies, unless they have a strong obsession in their heart, their soul will naturally flow to the Underworld, so there is no need for god to personally usher a soul to the Underworld.

But just as there is a Book of Death, there is also a Book of Destiny. The pages within the book hold the destines of all human beings. Unless a person ascends to the God realm, their name will always remain in that book. The Book of Fate belongs to the god of destiny. This god is an interesting god who loves to sleep more than anything, but when it awakens, it likes to read the fates inside the book.

Though the god of destiny is in charge of the book, it will never change any of the fates inside. It reads, but never interferes; it doesn’t matter how miserable or fortunate the fate read is.

Though life and death are predetermined at birth, destiny itself is not constant, and is in fact mutable. There are opportunities to change fate and thereby live longer. Those people who have changed their fates unknowingly will never know their original fate unless they ascend to the God realm and meet the god of destiny.

Once their fates change, so too will their deaths. Therefore, the Book of Death is influenced by the Book of Destiny."

538: Prepare

It was the first time any of them had heard about the two books.

“Since the life and death of all human beings are recorded in the two books, how is it possible for Ning Bi to resurrect her fiancé with Death’s Wishing Stone?” Ai Lin asked cautiously.

Feng Wu and Ming Xi leaned forward and listened intently in anticipation of the answer.

Under their curious gazes, Ebelin told them about the legend.

He explained how logically it was impossible to resurrect someone after death, but more than 10,000 years ago the Underworld acquired a stunning new god. This god was formed from a spirit, so naturally when it became a god it went to the Underworld.

This god had a sweetheart. Unfortunately, his sweetheart did not have the talent to cultivate and become a god. She had accumulated a heavy debt because of the sins she gained from slaughtering so many people in her quest to avenge her family. This debt was too great and she had to suffer in the Underworld to atone.

The only way to save her was to bring her back to life. However, it isn’t easy to bring a dead person back to life. A spirit without aptitude for cultivation is incapable of condensing physical form. If the god wanted to bring his sweetheart back to life again, he had to contact the god of death.

The new god made a bet with Death. If Death lost, then it had to grant him a wish. If he lost, then he would do something for Death

The final result was of course Death lost. Death asked the other god what he wished and the god expressed his wish to revive his lover.

Death fulfilled this wish, however, a person’s fate could not be changed without repercussions. There were rules that constrained the cycle of life and fate of every person.

Death gave the god a stone: Death’s Wishing Stone. Death said that as long as the god made a wish on it, it would come true. The god was very happy and immediately wished for his sweetheart to come back to life.

His sweetheart was resurrected, but one by one, the god’s family members began to die. Originally his family members lived long lives because he had been protecting them as a god. None of them should have died early. What Death did not tell the god was that there was a cost for every action. If he wanted his lover to come back to life, then others had to die.

This was the law of equivalent exchange and the rule of the world. Whatever it was you desired would have an exponential cost.

Eventually the god learned about the death of his family members, and that they were his seven most valued people. He went to Death with hatred in his heart.

Death explained the law of equivalent exchange but it did nothing to soothe the god’s heart. The god could not let it go and his personality drastically changed until he began walking the path of demons and eventually became a demon god, a fallen demon.

The fallen demon left the Underworld and went to the Demon realm with his lover; and ever since, he has been at odds with Death.

The god, now a demon god, tossed the stone Death gave him into the human world. He wanted those who had the same desires as him to taste the same pain.

But the stone changed when it arrived in the human world. Because the human world was different from the Underworld, the process became different. After the one making a wish made their wish, the seven sacrifices had to prepare themselves. The sacrifices could not be taken by force like before when the stone was in the Underworld.

According the laws in the human world, sacrifices were no longer limited to blood relations, but could be anyone close to the one making the wish. This was not something the demon god had expected.

Fortunately, Death’s Wishing Stone only made three appearances in all the thousands of years since it was tossed to the human world. It only appeared when someone had a strong desire to resurrect someone, otherwise no one would be able to find it if it didn’t want to appear.

“That god is not good. Just because he feels bad, he wants to make sure everyone else feels bad too. He used to be human! Is it really good to cheat your fellow humans like that?!” Ai Lin said disdainfully, not liking the main character of the story.

Ai Lin complained a bit more while everyone else simply sighed at the story.

There was nothing wrong with the god wanting to resurrect his lover, but unfortunately, he was ignorant of the rules governing life and death and the cost for his desire.

Death did not tell him the cost at the beginning, which was a big reason for the god falling to the demon path.

In the end, the god became a fallen demon and tossed the stone into the human world hoping to make others stumble like he did, to suffer as he had, to feel the same pain that ripped through him. It was a sick way of thinking.

His actions resulted in so many people dying; even Feng Wu was nearly killed. This alone made it impossible for the people there to sympathize with him.

“Back when my teacher told me about the story, I didn’t think it was true. I thought the entire thing about the Death God’s Wishing Stone was just a story made up to entertain us. I never expected to witness the truth today.”

Ebelin sighed. He had thought it was only a story before. He never imagined it was true and that the stone would appear in the world today.

“Lord Ebelin, what should we do now to prevent the god of death from taking Xiao Wu away?” Ming Xi asked.

“I can only do my best until the person who made the wish dies. You must find that person as soon as possible. Only when that person dies will this matter be resolved.

Ebelin paused a moment before continuing. “Before the one who made the wish can be found, I can only do my best to prevent the god of death from taking her away. These weapons are effective against undead. Hold them in your hand for a moment and I will use some psychic potion to open your eyes so you can temporarily see the existence of the undead. I hope all of us can work together to save Xiao Wu’s life while we search for the one who made the wish.”

They were all given weapons to fight against spirits. Death’s divine strand was still a spirit form and ordinary people would not be able to see it. The only ones who had a way of dealing with these kinds of things were necromancers.

Hoping to prevent Death from entering, Ebelin set up arrays specifically designed to deal with spirit bodies all around the Feng estate.