Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 221: Necromancy

For a few weeks, Anji spent most of her time with Elder Quan, trying to perfect the fasting pills that she intended to take with her for extended isolation training.

Thanks to Anji’s new constitution, the girl needed less food and sleep. She was constantly brimming with energy and chose to focus all her time on learning. Yan Ping and many of the elders needed rest to recover their decreased cultivation level. Knowing this, Anji took the time to visit each elder to thank them personally. As a result, she was taught many things by the secluded elders.

It was in one of these visits that Anji learned the secret of the Mystical Qilin Sect.

"Isn’t necromancy considered demonic arts?" Anji asked the master of the snowy peaks.

Elder Zhu hummed. He sensed no hostility or judgment from Anji, only curiosity.

"Your shifu is equally guilty if necromancy was truly considered dark arts."

Wordlessly, Anji approached the frozen corpse. Elder Zhu’s wife looked very young. A lot of time must have passed since her death because Elder Zhu looked rather old. The fact that he was still trying to find a way to bring her back meant their love must have been very deep.

"Ci Wang seeks clarity from Elder Zhu. If shifu knew this was happening, why did she allow it? Is this not wrong? It goes against all the books and teachings."

Instead of getting angry, Elder Zhu patted Anji on the head and gazed at his wife’s body lovingly.

"Little successor, who do you think wrote the books that you learn from?"

Here, Anji paused and tilted her head to one side. The authors of these books were mostly historians who preserved knowledge or great sages. Unless Elder Zhu was referring to scholarly literature, then it would be written by scholars and government officials. Most people did not know how to read or write. Even if they did, many would have no reason to write such books.

Hearing her answer, Elder Zhu smiled.

"Do you think the researchers of Mystical Qilin Sect would be more than qualified to write these books?"

Of course! Anji had no doubt the best of the best were here. If there was one unique thing about the most ancient murim sect, it was how they prioritised knowledge over everything else. Knowledge did not discriminate. The researchers often had more failed projects than successful ones. However, everyone documented everything because nobody knew when it would come in useful in the future.

It was here that Anji realised what Elder Zhu was hinting at.

"Could it be that Sect Leader Yan permitted the experiment so we could better understand necromancy? But the risk is too high! Corrosion of the mind happens silently and cannot be easily detected until it is too late."

As expected of their young successor, Anji was wise. However, she was still young and green. Nothing she said was wrong. However, there was still a long way for Anji to go if she wanted to take over the reins from her shifu.

"When a stick is alone, it breaks easily. However, when you band the sticks together, they become harder to break. What you see here is not the result of one crazy man’s work. Instead, it is the cumulative effort of many crazy researchers."

Showing Anji the unique ice coffin that held his wife’s body, Elder Zhu wondered if Anji would recognise the signature work of other Elders with whom she had become acquainted over the risky spiritual surgery.

At first, Anji had no idea what Elder Zhu wanted her to see. The ice coffin radiated unnatural spiritual energy accumulated over hundreds of years to preserve the dead. However, on closer examination, she noticed something subtle she had previously missed.

Even if encased in ice, there was no way for a corpse to look as if it were merely sleeping. If anything, it appeared as if the corpse were merely a sleeping person. Rigor mortis had yet to sink in.

"How...?"

Anji’s confusion soon cleared when Elder Zhu showed her the secret behind the ice.

"Is that the array created by Elder Shen?" Anji wondered.

Nodding, Elder Zhu revealed that the archivist elder was not the only person involved. Many of the other elders who agreed to help with Anji’s surgery had helped Elder Zhu many years ago.

"Elder Quan found a way to preserve my wife’s body using rare spiritual herbs. It’s a mummification concoction that prevents decay. Although she is dead, her body is very much still living. The living ice is a rare gem Elder Lu created with her alchemy. The array to create a living ice gem was complex enough that we had to ask Elder Meng for assistance. Elder Kun put the finishing touches to integrate my wife’s body into this living ice gem. It could not be done without their help. Moreover, your shifu was the person who proposed the snowy peaks for my research location because of the harsh but ample yin energy required to power an artificial living ice gem."

Confused why the sect was supporting something that was known to be wrong, Anji’s frown grew deeper. The dead cannot be brought back to life. That was a universal rule. Surely, Elder Zhu cannot be oblivious to it.

"Ci Wang understands that knowledge is not inherently wrong. It is the wielder of truth that defines whether the knowledge is good or evil. However, what does Elder Zhu want to do with this knowledge? In the laws of this world, the dead cannot return when their time is over."

Instead of taking offence, Elder Zhu calmly nodded and guided Anji away from the ice. When he first started researching necromancy, Yan Ping had also asked him the same thing. Anji resembled her shifu closely, even if he doubted Yan Ping had taught the child to ask these questions. If anything, Anji’s curiosity and yearning for clarity are the closest mirror to Yan Ping’s. Nobody knew if the youngest daughter of the Celestial Dragon Sect was like this before Yan Ping found her, or if it was the influence of the researchers in this crazy place that affected her.

"I’d be lying to say if I don’t want to turn back time," Elder Zhu admitted. "However, it has been at least fifty years since the passing of my wife and unborn child. The pain is muted, and clarity has returned to me. I know that I cannot bring them back the way I want them back. However, necromancy is not about reviving the dead. It’s about understanding soul arts. Even our sect leader has yet to understand it fully. Only those who master soul arts can ascend as true sages. Necromancy is a form of soul art. We believe that by understanding it, we can gain new enlightenment. More importantly, this research is giving us an insight into how the demonic cult uses their dark arts to mass control others. While part of me still feverishly wishes to join my wife, my research proves a greater purpose."

Soul arts.

It’s the same thing Grandpa Jin mentioned. The special training Anji did with Grandpa Jin and the reason why Yan Ping wanted to take Anji in as her successor were all because she was able to tap into it even without a functional golden core. Her Heavenly Eyes were more than just a requirement for the Mystical Qilin’s successor or a gift to compensate for her cursed fate.

"What do you wish to accomplish when you reach sagehood?" Anji asked, realising that there was more to necromancy than bringing back the dead.

To master soul arts was to become a sage and ascend past the cycle of mortality and endless rebirth.

Smiling, Elder Zhu recounted his vows to his wife.

"Even death will not do us part," he told Anji. "I promised her that. When I reach sagehood, I will be able to find her soul and be reborn exactly where I can be by her side again. It does not matter if I become reborn as her brother or a dog, as long as I can be by her side, everything I do now is worth it." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Although Anji did not understand the love between a man and a woman, she had a feeling that the emotions Elder Zhu had for his wife went deeper than that. To dedicate sagehood for one person, how deep was that love? Anji always thought sages ascended to leave the world of suffering behind. Yan Ping’s shifu did that for eternal rest. Many other sages also left their legacy behind to embrace peace.

"It’s my first time hearing you can choose to return to the cycle of life after achieving sagehood," Anji admitted. "Do you think you would be able to achieve sagehood a second time if you do that?"

Hearing this, Elder Zhu laughed. Anji was truly adorable. However, for someone like him who had yet to achieve it once, that was too far a future for him to imagine. Yet, he did not want to discourage the child.

"I don’t see why not. If you can do it once, it might be easier the second time."

Nodding along to that logic, Anji beamed. It was not a terrible idea to use sagehood to spend more time with the person you love until you get tired of it. After all, peace and eternity can wait. Anji would rather spend an eternity with the people she loved than an eternity without them. Until the day they could all be together again, Anji would sacrifice as many sagehoods as needed if she had the choice.

"Thank you, Elder Zhu. Ci Wang has learned a lot today again. Before I leave, I want to inform you that I will be finally entering isolated training next week. Elder Quan finally perfected the recipe and is mass-producing it in batches for me. Shifu said I can only begin the successor art training after mastering my energy control. I should be able to increase my Refined Core base level to intermediate in that time. Thank you for your guidance all this time, but I won’t be visiting for a while."

Hearing how Anji finally received permission to enter isolation training for an indefinite time, Elder Zhu gave her his blessing and escorted the child to the teleportation circle to get down the mountain.