When a door appears before you, distinguishing which side is inside and which side is outside seems simple enough. But if you ponder it deeply, that simple matter turns into a philosophical question, or even... a theological one.
Karen did not silently mock the little girl for failing to realize she was already inside the gate, nor for claiming that he had come from inside it.
For upon entering this Gate of Samsara, Karen clearly sensed that the God of Samsara's original intent when constructing it had never been to create a storage closet to hoard souls.
Quite the opposite.
The God of Samsara had intended to treat the original world as a storage closet, harvesting souls from it and casting them inside the gate.
Therefore, from the perspective of "inside the gate," the "outside" was more like a supply warehouse—or an orchard.
Karen began communicating with soul power. Normally, this was an exhausting task; exchanging thoughts through the soul required establishing a mental channel, often stabilized with the help of a magic formation. But here, that was unnecessary. One only needed to radiate soul messages outward, and to those before you, it was just like speaking.
"We have only just arrived here. Now, I want to know your purpose."
The elder immediately said with deep reverence, "Our entire village has come to welcome you, Lord Auspices. You are the blessing of our village, the hope for our village's revival. We will arrange everything needed for your onward journey, so long as it is within our power."
"Everything needed?"
"Yes. Long, long ago, back when this village was still a great city, it would have been the City Lord himself welcoming you, Lord Auspices. But now, we have fallen into decline. So we will help guide you to a great city and receive a reward from its City Lord to rebuild our village."
Karen understood.
The elder addressing them as Auspices matched the intelligence he had gathered from the dog. To the great powers inside the Gate of Samsara, trial-takers were vessels through which they could leave together. This was an opportunity for them—no, an astronomical stroke of luck!
Back when this village was powerful, the City Lord could have directly "enjoyed" the Auspices; either the City Lord himself or his direct lineage would claim the chance to depart alongside a trial-taker.
Yet once the faction declined, even if they still wished to "enjoy" that privilege, Karen and his companions would never choose to form a soul contract with them.
This was fundamentally a mutual selection process, though forced transactions were always possible.
For instance, if an overwhelmingly powerful soul inside the gate wanted to seize a chance to leave, it would forcibly claim a trial-taker and depart with them.
In that scenario, if the trial-taker were the weaker party, they would have no choice. They would be an Auspice displayed on a shelf—no, a prize.
There was also the alternative scenario where trial-takers held the upper hand, choosing souls suitable for contracting—those whose abilities complemented or augmented their own.
Yet in neither scenario would there ever be a "charity case" contract.
Signing a contract with such feeble souls would be an utter waste of the qualification to enter the gate; most trial-takers would rather suffer the lash and influence of a mighty soul instead.
Moreover, those who could enter the Gate of Samsara were the elite of the church's younger generation. Just as Barat had said in class, once they emerged from the Gate of Samsara, the church would assist them in negotiating with whatever soul they brought out, and could even provide the courtesy of sealing it.
Evidently, the elder understood this well. Thus, his initial aim was simply to treat his village as a waystation, escorting the Auspices to a great city to collect a reward—acting as a petty broker taking a commission.
After all, they could influence which city the Auspices went to next. Even if they couldn't, wherever the Auspices were delivered, standard kickbacks and benefits would be shared.
The opening of the Gate of Samsara once every ten years was more than enough time to foster such a mature supply chain.
Besides this, Karen also confirmed another detail: meadows like this one—what the elder called an altar—must exist in vast numbers throughout the world inside the Gate of Samsara, and the probability of a trial-taker landing on any specific one was random.
That was why several generations of villagers guarding this altar had never seen an Auspice appear.
"Understood. The two of you stay here. In a short while, I will bring my companions to meet you. Also, tell those people behind you to return to the village."
"Yes, Lord Auspice. We obey your command."
...
Karen began heading back. Through his previous interaction, he felt that the world inside the gate possessed its own established order rather than complete chaos, which lowered the danger for trial-takers to a degree.
However, Karen also knew this was because he had only just entered and remained on the outer perimeter without venturing deeper.
Once they pressed further inward toward the so-called great cities, things would surely change.
*We're like ginseng fruits dropped from the sky.*
Mars had already constructed the communication formation. By the time Karen returned, he was attempting to use it to establish a connection with the other end.
In the sky, a big clumsy bird was flying—the very one previously summoned as a target dummy whose tail feathers had all been shot off.
"Captain." Aside from Mars, the others gathered around Karen.
"There's a village out there, and it's fairly safe. They'll provide us with guides and some supplies, though what supplies they have, I'm not yet sure. For now, you can relax a little."
Maintaining high alert for extended periods quickly bred fatigue, and Karen didn't want everyone worn ragged with paranoia along the way.
In this world inside the gate, keeping one's mental state sharp was paramount, as almost everything here was a soul creature—which was precisely why phantom beasts had been used as guardians during the final selection.
"Captain, communication established!"
Karen walked over to the formation. A small trumpet hovered there, and Paxio's voice came through:
"Captain, the link is ready!"
"Hello, this is Karen."
"Karen, this is Muri."
"All clear on my end."
"All clear here as well."
"Have you located our distance?" Karen asked Mars.
Mars immediately replied, "Located. We can only sense each other's direction and distance. It's not very far. Given our squads' travel speeds, assuming no delays, I think we can link up in a day."
"A day isn't far?" Karen frowned slightly.
Though, a day really wasn't that far, considering there were no teleportation formations here, nor cars.
Moreover, judging by a one-day journey, he and Muri's squad were likely on two adjacent altars.
Still, Karen looked up at the gray moon in the sky. The interval between the opening and closing of the Gate of Samsara every ten years was seven to thirty days.
Spending a whole day right off the bat—one team merely waiting while the other solely traveled—was indeed a steep cost.
Yet another problem was that Karen didn't know how deep they had to go before Gaitanbert and Furnites could sense him and Muri—or whether they had already noticed the moment he and Muri stepped through the gate.
It was even possible they were already heading toward the two of them.
If they didn't regroup early, Karen worried Muri wouldn't hold out alone if Gaitanbert found him, not to mention that the two Liberation Pills his grandfather had given him were still in Karen's keeping.
He had already promised to preserve Muri's life.
"Muri, can Paxio and Digat lock onto my position on your end?"
"They say they can. It's a day's journey, though I think if we catch some beasts along the way to use as mounts, we could make it faster."
"I'm currently at the meadow where we landed. I'll wait for you in a village at the foot of the meadow. Come over. Our two squads joining forces is our greatest security for the operations ahead."
Karen spoke that last sentence not to Muri, but to Muri's squad members. He worried those teammates might be reluctant to spend a day traveling, since the natural inclination would be to rush into the depths to find strong and suitable souls to contract.
Muri's control over his squad was clearly not as firm as Karen's over his own.
"Yes, this is the Church of Samsara's home turf after all. Only by grouping our two squads together can we best ensure our safety," Muri said, raising his voice as well. "We'll set out immediately!"
The communication ended.
"We'll head down to the village now and wait for Muri's squad to meet us."
"Yes, Captain!"
...
Karen did not lead the group into the village itself; instead, they made camp on a hillside at the village entrance. The vantage point was excellent, offering a clear view of both the village below and the expanses beyond.
The elder and his granddaughter personally brought up a large amount of "clothing" and "food."
The garments were grass skirts, straw sandals, coir raincoats, and the like. Since everyone wore divine robes endowed with self-cleaning properties, there was no need to change.
The food was made from a kind of plant prepared through various methods—essentially one raw ingredient made into several dishes, ample and filling.
However, after Karen picked up a piece and cautiously took a small bite, he spat it out at once.
This stuff could not be eaten by the living.
"Ah... Lord, is the food not to your liking?" the elder asked in confusion.
Seeing Karen spit the food out, the granddaughter wore a pained expression.
"You can eat this food, but we cannot," Karen explained.
"Oh, so that's how it is. It was thoughtless of me. May I ask what kind of food you Lords desire?"
"Just ordinary plants." Karen touched the basket used to carry the clothes; it was woven from bamboo. "Do you have bamboo shoots?"
"Yes, but we never eat those," the little girl said, giggling behind her hand. "Lord Auspices truly have peculiar eating habits."
"I'll head back right away and lead the villagers to fell some bamboo for the Lords," the elder said, standing up.
"Bamboo shoots."
"Yes, yes, fresh bamboo shoots."
The elder left with his granddaughter.
Before long, Karen saw figures bustling in the village below. Everyone had been mobilized to cut and dig bamboo shoots for the Lord Auspices.
Meanwhile, Karen picked up the piece of food he had bitten and spat out earlier, which resembled a cornbread bun. He broke it open, revealing a yellowish interior.
Then, Karen pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket—point coupon cigarettes he had taken from the hotel at the Dinge Region training base.
Karen took out a cigarette. Beside him, Ventura quickly produced a lighter, ready to light it for him.
"I'm not going to smoke."
Karen tore the cigarette open, exposing the shredded tobacco, and prodded it with his fingertips.
The others leaned in to inspect it. Aisli said at once, "Why does this look a bit like shredded tobacco?"
Mars wondered aloud, "Could they be the same species?"
Aisli asked in astonishment, "So people here eat tobacco leaves?"
Karen said, "When I took that bite earlier, the taste felt familiar. Now I'm sure: the raw material of their food is very close to the tobacco in these point coupon cigarettes. Perhaps not identical, but certainly related varieties without much difference.
"Smoking point coupon cigarettes produces an effect far stronger than nicotine because it intoxicates your soul, giving the smoker a floating, euphoric high.
"In truth, whether it's these point coupon cigarettes or ordinary ones, both cause severe chronic harm—one to the soul, the other to the body.
"Eating such leaves directly would bring even harsher side effects, causing irreversible damage to the soul."
"Then eating this food is harmless to them?"
"Which explains why they age. Logically, soul bodies undergo a progression from weak to strong, such as absorbing soul power to solidify themselves and achieve a certain degree of evolution and elevation.
"But have any of you ever seen a soul age on its own?
"Even when facing death, they should simply grow increasingly faint and transparent until finally dissipating.
"So I suspect their aging is entirely due to the food they consume."
"Don't they know better than to eat it?" Aisli asked.
Bart shook his head. "No, they have no choice. Their standing in this world is too low; they have no other means of obtaining soul power directly. Thus, they can only rely on eating this to replenish it. It's a choice between starving to death now or 'dying of old age' later, and most people would choose the latter."
"Bart is right—they have no other choice," Karen said. "So before we find a sustainable food source, ration the provisions in your packs carefully.
"I now suspect we might not even be able to eat those bamboo shoots either. For living beings of flesh and blood like us, this world is very likely completely contaminated."
"What about water?" Aisli asked. "Captain, is this water drinkable?"
Karen lifted the jug crafted from some unknown black material, took a tiny sip, and spat it out. Shaking his head, he said, "The water has a strange taste. Blanche, filter it with your priest spells.
"To be safe, all drinking water from now on must be treated by Blanche."
"Yes, Captain."
An hour later, the little girl arrived first. Carrying a bamboo basket on her back, she sat down, set the basket aside, and took out other varieties of food. "Grandfather had me bring these over to see if you Lords could eat them. What we brought at first was fine food our villagers normally can't bear to eat; these are what we eat every day."
Karen picked through them, taking a nibble of each, then shook his head.
These foods had even harsher side effects than the tobacco in the point coupon cigarettes. Even tasting a tiny bit left his tongue slightly numb; swallowing them would likely cause an acute toxic reaction.
"I'm sorry, but we still can't eat these."
"Then we'll just have to wait for Grandfather and the others to return with the bamboo shoots." The girl smiled, packing the food back into the basket.
Aisli asked curiously, "What's your name?"
"I'm Nailu, Nailu Tagima. Our village is called Tagima Village; everyone living here shares the same surname."
"No outside surnames?" Aisli asked.
"None. And aside from our village, other villages don't have outside surnames either. Basically, each village has its own single surname."
"Then don't you intermarry with other villages? Or do people change their surname when moving to a new village, regardless of gender?"
"We don't intermarry."
"You don't intermarry?" Aisli's eyes widened. "Then isn't that all inbreeding?"
Mars whispered a reminder, "For soul bodies, inbreeding probably isn't an issue."
Aisli blinked. *Right.*
Soon, however, another question occurred to her. "How do you have children?"
Nailu's face flushed instantly, and she squirmed with embarrassment, making her grass skirt rustle.
Aisli quickly added, "I'm only curious about your reproductive method."
This wasn't mere gossip on Aisli's part; in truth, these were professional questions straight out of the research institute, given that her parents worked in breeding rare monster beasts.
Nailu answered, "Two people lie in bed and embrace. If one night doesn't work, they hold each other for two nights; if two nights don't work, they keep holding each other until it happens."
Aisli asked in surprise, "Just hugging makes a baby?"
"Mm. Both parents become a bit weaker, and a new life begins growing inside the mother. And according to the married older sisters, lying in bed holding each other at night feels very comfortable."
Aisli analyzed, "So soul consciousness blends to birth a new consciousness, and soul power is drawn from both soul bodies as a foundational nursery to birth a new soul."
Nailu looked at Aisli and asked, "What about you? How do you Lords from inside the gate have children?"
Aisli answered, "Oh, ours is much more complicated and troublesome."
Hearing this, Nailu asked again, "I see. Does it feel good?"
Aisli replied, "That depends on the person."
Just then, the grandfather arrived carrying a bamboo basket himself. Nailu hurried over to help him bring it across. Inside was a large pile of bamboo shoots, though these shoots had a dark, almost black hue.
Karen picked up a bamboo shoot and took a bite. To his surprise, even without being cooked, it was tender, crisp, and sweet—like eating fruit. It was astonishingly delicious, and neither his body nor his soul showed any adverse reaction.
Karen took another bite, chewing as he said, "It's good."
The others immediately reached for bamboo shoots, following their captain's lead and munching away raw. Their eyes lit up one after another—crisp, refreshing, and delicious!
Nailu and her grandfather stood together, watching the Lord Auspices eagerly vie for the raw bamboo shoots and crunch on them with such relish, and smiles naturally spread across their faces.
Karen chewed on his bamboo shoot while observing his surroundings. At first, he thought the grandfather and granddaughter were simply happy.
Gradually, however, he sensed something familiar behind those smiles.
When Karen looked back at his teammates enthusiastically munching on the bamboo shoots, he finally realized where that familiar expression came from.
Those two...
were watching pandas!
Chapter 354