The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1324

Chapter 1322
The Butterfly Envoy Molts

No wonder the Forbidden Flame Butterfly possessed the powers of Fire Immunity and Conflict, powers belonging to the Sun.
It was a true child of the Sun.
This was the profession Sherlock had advanced to at the time: “Mithridates” – Son of Mithra!
But…
Eivass couldn’t help but feel some worry.
… Was the Butterfly Envoy truly in the Dream Realm now?
The Butterfly Envoy possessed the power of molting. It would leave behind its own Power and shell, reincarnating its Soul into a mortal who had lost all Power.
After living an ordinary life, it would “remember” its true identity and past Power, and then return to the Dream Realm to become a new “Butterfly.” This was akin to Zhuang Zhou’s dream of butterflies… Zhuang Zhou himself was one of the Butterfly Envoy’s reincarnations.
This was why It was the Envoy most capable of understanding appearance.
Sometimes it was a beautiful maiden, sometimes a graceful matron, sometimes a handsome youth, and sometimes a wise, old elder…
—Just as the Sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. Each sunrise brings forth a different Sun.
Grandfather Jacob had mentioned before—before Eivass was born, the Butterfly Envoy was in the midst of reincarnation, leaving behind only an empty shell in the Dream Realm.
Normally, the Butterfly Envoy would hide itself before reincarnating. The shell it left behind in the Dream Realm would still retain Power and could automatically respond to prayers and rituals. Thus, no one could determine whether the Butterfly Envoy was currently reincarnating by whether it responded to these prayers and rituals—this was a safety measure.
After all, if the fact that the Butterfly Envoy was reincarnating were discovered, its avatar in the Material Realm would be in danger.
A slight inference of its period of disconnection could lead one to its possible existence in the Material Realm. Once the reincarnated Envoy was found, even without any malicious intent, one could befriend it—this would at least ensure that one’s soul would not be obliterated after death. And if one harbored malicious intentions, one could even use this identity to perform certain rituals…
At the time, Jacob said, “The Ring Envoy and the Butterfly Envoy had a good relationship, so the Ring Envoy took its masterless body then and gave it to Jacob to create Eivass.” The relationship between the “so” and what came before and after seemed a bit strange… unless Jacob omitted half the logic.
—Precisely because the Ring Envoy and the Butterfly Envoy had a good relationship, the Butterfly Envoy left its shed cocoon within the Ring Envoy’s domain!
This was why the Ring Envoy could take its masterless body… The Butterfly Envoy actually had no need to keep this clone; it was merely used to obscure the true timing of its reincarnation. It wouldn’t matter much if the Ring Envoy took it away some time after its reincarnation. After all, the Ring Envoy would not reveal this secret to outsiders.
So…
Twenty years had passed. Had the Butterfly Envoy, which was reincarnating at the time, returned by now?
If he could not confirm whether the Butterfly Envoy was currently reincarnating, it would mean that the Forbidden Flame Butterfly could not ascend in its most perfect state.
The Heavenly Envoy Fragment of the Flame Heavenly Envoy could clearly help Leah ascend, and facing the calamity of World Destruction, Grey would obviously be willing to lend him the Heavenly Envoy Fragment. And the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s fragment was clearly compatible with the Forbidden Flame Butterfly.
But Eivass thought seriously and then breathed a sigh of relief.
He realized his worries might be unnecessary—
Eivass remembered a small matter.
Last year, out of a momentary act of kindness, he had chosen to help Old Meg use the Ascension Technique for longevity. And the Ascension Technique precisely required the Power of the Butterfly Envoy.
The Ring Envoy had already stolen that part of the遗留, so Eivass’s ability to summon the Butterfly Envoy’s Power at that time indicated that the Butterfly Envoy had already returned!
“… I never expected that a small act of kindness, done on a whim back then, would become so crucial now.”
Eivass exclaimed.
“A small act of kindness?”
Morgan seemed somewhat confused by Eivass’s reaction.
So, Eivass explained his thoughts to this friendly Witch.
Although Morgan had a bad reputation, and indeed was not a good person, Eivass still trusted her quite a bit. This feeling of being able to advance hand in hand before the apocalypse, regardless of good or evil, regardless of stance, made Eivass quite excited.
To hissurprise, after hearing Eivass’s words, Morgan’s expression became somewhat strange.
“The Butterfly Envoy has indeed returned, or rather…”
“… Or rather?”
“Mm, she actually returned not long after you were born. Or rather, the Ring Envoy intended to create you at this time precisely because the Butterfly Envoy was about to return.”
“What does ‘or rather’ mean?”
Eivass pressed.
He had to get to the bottom of this.
As a socialite of the Dream Realm, Morgan clearly knew many secrets that even some Apostles, Heavenly Envoys, and even Pillar Gods didn’t know.
“It’s not really a secret.”
Morgan chuckled and shrugged, then posed another question: “Do you know when the Winter Maiden ascended?”
“Between 1640 and 1660, Valentine I’s youngest daughter. She was even younger than her niece.”
Eivass blurted out, but quickly realized: “Could it be…?”
“Let me correct you—although the Winter Maiden died at that time, she did not become an Apostle then. Of course, she could not become a Heavenly Envoy by being favored by the Amber Heavenly Envoy.”
Morgan’s lips curved slightly: “Don’t forget… the Winter Maiden became an Apostle not as the ‘soul of the dead,’ but as an ‘undead.'”
Undead…?
Eivass suddenly remembered something—the Winter Maiden was unable to speak and lacked intelligence!
And there was a saying he had heard shortly after entering the Extraordinary world—
—Those who have died and whose bodies remain have their four realms stripped away; those who have died and whose souls remain have their six realms stripped away! Those who have died and whose souls are gone have their eight realms stripped away, leaving only twilight!
So she was not a living being, but a ghost that had died without its body remaining!
Undead could also become gods?
Seeing Eivass’s shocked reaction, Morgan laughed heartily: “Yes, the time she truly became an Apostle was actually only nineteen years ago. To be precise, she was only then drawn into the Dream Realm by Amber.
“Even if the Butterfly Envoy wasn’t successfully pulled down… she could have been dragged down during the second round of the Ouroboros Ring ritual as a backup plan. She has no consciousness, no ability to speak, and not even any desire to attack. She can be considered the easiest Heavenly Envoy to defeat. So, you don’t need to worry about that at all.”
“… Nineteen years ago.”
Eivass murmured, and then his mind was filled with clarity.
All the mysteries were solved!
No wonder the Winter Maiden only “died at the opportune moment” and achieved the merit of becoming a Heavenly Envoy—to be precise, it wasn’t that she died at the right time, but that she became a ghost at the right time!
Because she became a ghost at that time and trapped the Butterfly Envoy, Eivass was able to be born at this moment.
If the Winter Maiden had not chosen to bury herself in the coffin and transform into a ghost out of that sorrow, the Butterfly Envoy would have returned early. And if the Butterfly Envoy had returned early, it would have meant that when constructing Eivass’s snake tail, a part of the “Butterfly Envoy” fragment would have been missing, thus lacking a part of the “Sun” concept.
In that case, Eivass would likely not have been able to construct his current ability system and would have been forced onto another world line to advance into the Great Beast Lord…
It was precisely because Eivass showed potential as a Savior that, when the prophecy was fulfilled, the Winter Maiden had the possibility of ascending to the Winter Envoy. And for this reason, the Amber Heavenly Envoy bestowed the concept of the undead, along with the “Treasure Excavation Technique,” to the Winter Maiden.
However, this was not to push down the Winter Maiden and make her a sacrifice for the Ouroboros Ring ritual… but to carry the legacy of the Amber Heavenly Envoy.
After the Butterfly Envoy entered the Dream Realm and thus returned to its body, the remaining Winter Maiden became a complete shell.
No one was more suitable than her to use the Treasure Excavation Technique. The Treasure Excavation Technique, the true name of Necromancy, meant using the dead!
—And the true identity of the Winter Maiden was the Butterfly Pupa.
It was a dead thing!
This might be why the Amber Heavenly Envoy thought highly of her, precisely because she could be a substitute for Amber.
If the current Amber was a forgotten cicada molt…
Then the Winter Maiden was the utterly forgotten 【Butterfly Molt】.
And Eivass felt an almost soul-stirring pity.
The Winter Envoy.
A Heavenly Envoy born solely as a sacrifice and a tool.
As a Heavenly Envoy of ghosts, the Winter Envoy was designed from the beginning to have no consciousness or speech—the former was to prevent her from establishing connections with others, so that no one would grieve for her sacrifice; the latter was for this reason, and also to prevent her from being infected by the Void… after all, “what kills the sun is speech.” As the “Whisper of the Void,” the transmission channel for the Void was “whispers.”
Her fate was either to become Amber’s substitute and be sealed alive within a pillar, or to be used as nourishment for the Forbidden Flame Butterfly and killed by Eivass. And if Amber had not fallen, and Eivass’s plan proceeded normally, she would have served as the vessel for the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s Power, and after the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s death, she would have continued to act as Amber’s authority through the Treasure Excavation Technique.
Just as she had been when she was alive—
A meaningless life, existing merely as a “fuse.”
She was born to die for a higher purpose.
(End of Chapter)