The scene froze. It was the first time I saw John Chou's face break into a radiant smile, his hand reaching out to me as if to pull me up from the depths.
The heart that was once shattered by love seemed to be freed in that moment. Lying on the ground, I smiled and reached out, my eyes finally at peace. John Chou saw through everything about me, and so he found a way to drag out the root of my despair and lay it bare. Even if I didn't want to admit it, this battle truly woke me up.
"The fact that you could remain human and exist in this world for so many years is a miracle—one I’ve never witnessed in the long river of time. Heaven even gifted you Deathbane Aura as a blessing. Whether human or ghost, everyone possesses this, but for most, it’s just part of their form. For you, it became your power. You’re very fortunate, watched over by fate itself."
The Wraithlord finished speaking with a long sigh, then pointed to the scene as it began to move again. I looked up—it was the moment I drew out the Twin Reapers to save Rachel Lan. If not for their mercy then, I might have been finished. Or, to put it another way, I didn’t know them at that time; the final outcome was decided by Lord Shenyan.
Although I don’t know what connection Uncle Mo has with Lord Shenyan, perhaps the Underworld knew and wanted to use Rachel Lan to draw out Uncle Mo. In the end, it was John Chou who asked Lord Shenyan to appear at that moment, letting the Underworld discover Quentin Kue’s whereabouts and sparing us.
"Was everything part of his calculation?"
The Wraithlord chuckled and nodded.
"Everything in this world seems chaotic and complex, but in truth, it’s an immense and precise machine. To glimpse its workings, you must know every part of it. Do you understand the world?"
I couldn’t answer the Wraithlord’s question. I didn’t even know where to start, so I shook my head.
"It is precisely because of the unknown that people seek. When you’ve explored far enough, you can glimpse part of the machine called the world—this is called the Dao. The Dao ultimately leads to an end, and all paths converge there. The end is also the beginning. The Deathbane Aura you possess is just like that; it exists between human and ghost, has form. Birth means death, and after death comes a new beginning. Once you become a ghost, what’s inside you develops in a new direction, again and again, realized by the vast mechanism of reincarnation."