Chapter 743: Alistair’s Soul Returning Ritual
Alistair extended her hand, her palms, which had been smeared with the Harmony Spirit Ointment, slowly grasped the girl’s spirit.
As a faint purplish glow reflected in her pupils, the Power of Transcendence permeated between Alistair’s hands, gathering into a radiant sphere, forming a faint nebula.
She carefully picked up the spirit and placed it back onto the girl’s original body.
Alistair had to be extremely careful—her current power was immense, and even with the Harmony Spirit Ointment’s isolation, it was difficult to avoid damaging the spirit completely. Even so, the spirit had curled up, much like a plastic bag caught in the wind.
As the spirit almost merged with the physical body, it gradually relaxed and unfurled like rehydrated seaweed. However, it still couldn’t fully merge with the body, its edges remaining blurry.
“Give me a gold coin.”
Alistair beckoned to the Mirror Demon, “Make it a coin that has been used for a long time.”
She no longer questioned whether the Mirror Demon was present, but directly issued commands.
The Mirror Demon was also well-accustomed to this.
A golden light suddenly flashed before Alistair, accompanied by a deep voice, “This is an ancient coin from the Hrasal Empire, six hundred years since its minting. If it’s not enough, I can find another one…”
“Ah, this is enough.”
Saying that, Alistair placed the gold coin on the young lady’s forehead and tapped it lightly.
Immediately after, Alistair extended her hand, forming a blade with her fingers, and made four cuts in the four directions of the void. Then, she made a gesture as if dipping her fingertips in water and flicking it, repeating the action four times while flicking her fingers onto the girl’s hands and feet.
Originally, this process involved striking a gold coin with a silver nail as an anchor. Then, a silver ritual knife, scorched by incense, would be used to cut a sacred space impervious to spirits in the four cardinal directions. Finally, fingers dipped in sanctified water or salt would be used to anchor the soul with its sacred pressure.
However, for Alistair, who possessed the gift of material-less rituals, she only needed these methods to perfectly complete most rituals.
The principle behind material-less rituals was that her own soul served as a “universal material.” Therefore, by merely participating in a ritual as a Ritualist, she could automatically fulfill most of the ritual’s compatibility requirements. Only higher-level rituals would require additional symbolic objects to meet the compatibility.
The essence of a ritual was to satisfy compatibility.
From the perspective of the Dream Realm, all complexities of the Material Realm were nothingness; to enter the Dream Realm, one had to eliminate the material. And the information contained within matter was extremely complex…
From the perspective of a “weapon that harms people,” a handgun and a dagger were indistinguishable; from the perspective of “cutting,” a mirror and a dagger were essentially the same; from the perspective of “premeditated crime,” a bottle of poison held the same meaning as a dagger.
Based on this principle, many rituals that originally required grand scale and expensive, complex materials could be simplified into their most cost-effective form through constant “equation simplification.”
This was the essence of “Ritual Studies.”
Original rituals were a basic rule of equivalent exchange, trading things from the Material Realm for things from the Dream Realm. Through Ritual Studies, miracles of gaining much with little could be achieved… and the supporter behind this miracle was the Father Snake, one of the Pillar Gods.
With the Father Snake’s signature, this “clever shortcut,” which theoretically shouldn’t exist, became a formal “technique.”
For this reason, the core extraordinary technique of the Path of Transcendence was ritual.
From the Honey Badger’s perspective, all of this seemed utterly baffling. Yet, the fluctuation of Path energy in the air told her that the ritual had begun.
Alistair glanced at the Honey Badger and began to explain:
“First, I used ‘circulating wealth’ to anchor her soul.
In the legends of some places, there is the saying that ‘the souls of the dead also require wealth for the underworld.’ The basis for this saying lies in the fact that ‘wealth’ can influence the soul itself. Because ‘transaction’ is an act of balance, and the way of balance includes the balance between the yin and yang realms, from the perspective of Ritual Studies, the act of ‘transaction’ easily bridges the balance between the yin and yang realms.
Demons have existed long before the birth of Demon Scholars. When people desire unbalanced power, their strong Soul of Transcendence attracts demons, and they sign contracts with them… this is also a form of transaction. Similarly, some people also conduct transactions with the dead. Among all concepts of ‘wealth,’ wealth that has circulated for longer and has higher recognized value carries more ‘pressure.’
Next, I purified her hands and feet with holy water and holy salt. This weakened her soul’s power, allowing her to touch the sky and step on the earth… In this way, a portion of her spirit was anchored within her own body.”
“…Huh?”
The Honey Badger looked puzzled, “But when did you use holy water and holy salt…”
She clearly didn’t understand the rare Path Trait of material-less rituals.
Alistair crawled to the girl’s ear and whispered, “Clench your fists.”
The next moment, the girl’s fists clenched tightly.
Although she still couldn’t fully control her body, the sensations in her hands and feet had returned. She could hear Alistair’s voice and knew that she wanted to save her, so she clenched her fists with her full might without hesitation.
However, her fists were difficult to close completely—as if her hands had become weak from sleeping for a long time, her soul had been separated from her body for too long. If she could return to her body within a few seconds, it wouldn’t even be necessary to use wealth for soul anchoring, and she could be sealed back directly. But once the soul’s temperature cooled, it would be difficult to reattach.
“Keep clenching your fists, my dear. Don’t let go.”
Alistair chuckled, warning her, “If you let go, you might never return!”
Upon hearing Alistair’s words, a little sweat broke out on the girl’s forehead.
Even though she couldn’t clench her fist completely, she was trying with all her might.
This process was actually Alistair’s way of making her concentrate—this was essentially “actively aligning the soul with the body.” In reality, it would be fine even if she released her fist, but this made it more convenient for Alistair to operate.
Next, Alistair extended her fingers again and lightly tapped the gold coin.
“Soul, return…”
A softly spoken Primordial Language emanated from Alistair’s lips.
This tap produced no sound, but a solemn, invisible ripple spread outwards.
“Soul, return from the underworld…”
Alistair switched to Hrasal Language.
As she tapped the gold coin a second time, the invisible ripple intensified—it made the Honey Badger’s teeth ache and her bones crackle.
“Spirit of the dead, heed my call…”
Alistair switched to the Elven Language again, her voice soft and lilting.
As she tapped the gold coin a third time, a visible storm erupted in the room—book pages rustled violently, the windows slammed open and shut, and ornaments in boxes jumped on their own. However, the small sacred space Alistair had initially carved out remained completely unaffected.
This was a psychic phenomenon, indicating that nearby spirits had become active again, momentarily regaining consciousness from the eternal stagnation of the Twilight Path.
These three calls could be made in any language, as they were merely a warm-up.
The true soul return required the Anxi Language—which was also the origin of the Anxi Empire’s name.
They possessed the techniques for soul return and rest.
Suddenly, Alistair switched to the Anxi Language and briefly transformed into Eivass’s male form.
The first half of the Soul Returning Ritual required a feminine body to guide the soul, while the second half required a masculine body to dispel the adverse effects of the Twilight Path on the body. Normally, this should have been completed by at least two Ritual Priests, but for Alistair, who could transform at will, she could accomplish it alone.
In the dignified, radiant, and clear teenage voice of Eivass in his Pope form, she slowly said:
“—I command you to return to the human world.”
With that, she pressed down forcefully on the gold coin. Then, she abruptly flipped it over.
In an instant—
As the girl’s fists clenched completely, her eyes suddenly snapped open!
“This is a miracle of resurrection!”
Witnessing this scene, the Honey Badger’s pupils trembled.
(End of Chapter)
