Chapter 1480 - 1442: Lingering Filth

The villagers who helped the village chief move in a pile of ceremonial odds and ends earlier are now starting to dismantle things again.

Meanwhile, after instructing his son, Kikuchi Daisuke moved next to Lann.

"Nowadays, times are unstable, and you can see corpses killed by bandits along the roadside."

Just like an ordinary old man complaining about the times, the old warrior casually spoke.

"Resentment and [Impurity] are accumulating more and more, and demons are becoming increasingly common, truly...sigh."

"The village is protected by the divine cherry tree, but who could have imagined that a hungry ghost from the Hungry Ghost Dao would appear in the village?"

[Hungry Ghost Dao].

Calmly, Lann focused mainly on capturing this term.

One of the six paths of reincarnation, if that hungry ghost truly came from the so-called Hungry Ghost Dao to the human world, it at least indicates that this world indeed clearly hosts a post-death realm and its corresponding order?

This is not something one can conclude easily.

The destination after death is one of the ultimate inquiries of life in countless worlds.

Until now, only in two worlds has Lann encountered a clearly defined post-death order.

Flame World, where the soul of life is born beside the Primordial Fire; without a soul, you are a living corpse.

After death, it is clearly a void of nothingness.

Ardan World, still under the watchful eyes of the Creator God, houses the souls of the deceased within Mandos’s halls. Even under the will of the gods beneath the Creator God, they could return souls to the mortal realm.

Such as the [Golden Flower Lord] Glorfindel Lann once encountered.

In this respect, worlds where the order of the afterlife can be confirmed seem quite complex.

It’s unknown to what extent this world is ’complex.’

"[Impurity]...is it?" Lann thoughtfully pondered over this term.

From Kikuchi Daisuke’s complaints, he could easily extract critical information.

Of course, war is a bad thing, but the resentment and [Impurity] it generates seem to be the main reasons for the increase in demons.

Among them, the so-called [Impurity] is a primary concept.

At the right moment, the Demon Hunter displayed a very patient listening expression.

An old warrior, firstly an elder, then a warrior. With children in the family not being the easiest to handle, having someone to listen to his ramblings naturally brings forth more words.

Lann’s precise handling and reaction to emotions made Kikuchi Daisuke naturally grumble more without feeling anything.

"Yes, [Impurity]." The old warrior lamented about the worsening state of the world, "It’s likely a trading caravan stopping briefly to rest and tend horses on the roadside encountered something unclean, bringing [Impurity] into the village."

"This has drawn hungry ghosts from Hell."

"Recently, there have been quite a few running out of Hell." Lann supported with what seemed like an emotional yet essentially irrelevant remark.

The old warrior agreed profoundly: "When the world becomes chaotic, not only humans but also demonic spirits and evil spirits begin to rampage across the realm."

"Tonight, forget about resting." Kikuchi Daisuke tightened the belt with sword sheath, saying seriously, "The patrol squad has to patrol, but I need to hurry and find the person or caravan carrying [Impurity] to purify them."

[Impurity] refers to the filth left in a mysterious sense by events such as death, disease, fire disasters, water disasters, etc., occurring at a place.

Lann could understand this term because, in Japanese horror films, most follow this type.

Chinese horror films typically involve ghosts killing people, primarily when grievances have a head, debts have a master; if innocent people are harmed, righteous experts consider the ghost to have fallen into the Demon Path and eliminate or send it back to reincarnation.

But, in Japanese horror films, even if ghosts kill people, it usually doesn’t follow the principle of repaying grievances with grievances, seeking revenge; it generally results in indiscriminate attacks.

This differentiation is due to the varied understanding of the ’harmful monster’ concept between the two cultural atmospheres.

Chinese culture believes that souls turning into ghosts after death still retain humanity, seen as individuals twisted by obsession. After resolving grievances, they should reincarnate.

However, in Japanese culture, they are no longer human, nor possess humanity; they are [Impurity], lingering filth.

Filth doesn’t recognize people; it pollutes everyone passing by.

Reflecting on victims, it expands the scope of indiscriminate harm.

In this world, [Impurity] seems to attract those impure elements.

Earlier, Kikuchi Daisuke mistakenly thought Lann wouldn’t cleanse the [World of the Living] because he didn’t want to dirty his hands.

This shows that in this world, even killing ghosts taints oneself with [Impurity].

Without corresponding purification methods, the more ghosts killed, the filthier the world becomes.

Merely staying near someone who kills ghosts will also attract impurities.

Thus making people hesitant to approach and causing fear and exclusion.

"You’re looking for people tainted with [Impurity]?" Lann looked at the villagers gradually dispersing and heading home, speaking to Kikuchi Daisuke, "Perhaps I’ve seen them."

"Eh?" The old warrior’s eyes widened with delight, saving him considerable trouble. "This is truly... immensely grateful!"

Saying so, another bow followed.

Concurrently, it seemed natural to get a torch from the patrol squad and follow Lann to find the person who lived next to the Demon Hunter and just recently got infected by evil.

Lann briefly shared the incident he witnessed with Kikuchi Daisuke.

"Unsettled mind, nearly fainting from fright, physically weak, and the room has already started to have strange noises." The old Warrior was somewhat angry. "This must be contaminated with [Residual Filth]! Why didn’t he mention it when he entered the village, idiot!"

"Maybe he didn’t know either?" Lann said as he led the way, "He looked just as surprised and panicked."

"Didn’t know? Hmph!" Kikuchi Daisuke sneered, "The [Residual Filth] that can summon demons, would at most have been accumulated over these past couple of days. The flesh of the dead probably hasn’t even been gnawed away completely by wild dogs and crows, how could he not notice when passing by?"

"I think that idiot caravan just doesn’t want to pay for the purification ritual! Damn it! They must be made to compensate for this!"

He spoke angrily as he walked.

The village is not big, and someone alone certainly wouldn’t dare run outside the village at night, so it wouldn’t take much to search around.

But before Lann and Kikuchi Daisuke could complete their circuit.

The young Warrior, Kikuchi Dingji, just coming down from the impurity cleansing ritual and resuming his nighttime patrol duties, rushed over hastily with a torch raised high.

"Father! Father!"

"What’s all the noise? Didn’t I tell you to go back and continue your patrol? The [Residual Filth] hasn’t been cleared yet, what if you summon a Hungry Ghost?"

"No, no, someone’s dead!"

"What?"

Just now reprimanding his son with a stern face, the old Warrior was suddenly shocked.

No matter that Kikuchi Dingji hadn’t steadied himself yet, he continued to question, "Has a Hungry Ghost appeared again? Where?"

"No, it’s not a demon." The young Warrior swallowed, his eyes reflecting the firelight showing puzzlement, "Someone hanged themselves, right by the river on a tree."

"Suicide?" Kikuchi Daisuke’s voice didn’t lower, instead it rose as he grew angrier, "Is the village not filthy enough already?!"

But Lann furrowed his brow, stepped forward and said, "Please, lead the way."

They reached the river not far away.

Amidst the rushing sound of water, a man wearing only a short upper garment was hanging wretchedly from a tree, without even a loincloth.

Strangling his neck was his already black and oily loincloth.

Those present wrinkled their brows and cursed the bad luck, haunted by Hungry Ghosts and suicides on one night, sure enough, there’d need to be an exorcism ritual to clear the [Residual Filth] again.

As for the corpse, people in this era mostly had a high tolerance for it, experiencing little feeling.

But when Lann recognized the man’s twisted face that had turned bluish, he stopped and softly spoke.

"It’s him."

Kikuchi Daisuke froze in surprise.

"Are you sure?"

The Demon Hunter simply nodded silently.

"This is truly..." The old Warrior’s face twisted, "Troublesome!"

Unlike modern people who might kill themselves after mentally breaking from hallucinations or bizarre events brought by [Residual Filth].

Ancient people, perhaps more inattentive to mental issues, perhaps struggling lives making them resilient.

Call it numbness or strength.

In Kikuchi Daisuke’s view, if demons summoned by [Residual Filth] killed, there wouldn’t be much more to say.

But being indirectly frightened to suicide by [Residual Filth], this was rare.

How scared must one have been?

What level of [Residual Filth] could do this?

"First, let’s see if it’s truly suicide."

The Demon Hunter spoke calmly, already moving closer to inspect.

Eventually, after scanning with his senses, Lann could only shake his head at the old Warrior.

This indeed was suicide.

"Go and bring the village chief over." Kikuchi Daisuke sighed, calling a militiaman to notify the village chief at the shrine before crouching down himself.

Examining, after Lann’s investigation, the released body.

"If he was going to hang himself, why block his ears?"

The old Warrior’s fingers dug into the corpse’s ears, pulling out two cloth balls made from torn clothes, revealing the twisted and bloodshot eyes staring wide open.

"I know about this." Kikuchi Dingji held up the torch, thought for a moment, then answered, "Before he ran over to hang himself, he was shouting wildly in a panic."

"Saying things like ’Don’t haunt me anymore, make those babies stop crying, I beg you’ and such."

"Maybe this was his way to block his ears."

"Infant-related [Residual Filth]?" The old Warrior sighed woefully, "Scaring someone to death like this... purely through [Residual Filth], is something this serious happening near us? Why haven’t I heard?"

Father and son lamented the world’s instability.

But Lann listening to their words had already creased his brow thoughtfully.