If there is any place in the kingdom of Ed that is forbidden for the living, then even an old farmer in the countryside will blurt out a name to you:

Mary's Forest!

This is the most famous haunted forest on the continent.

It is said that more than 300 years ago, the founding emperor of the Ed Kingdom led 3,000 elite soldiers to pass through this place and camp for the night, but more than 1,000 soldiers died mysteriously that night.

They either killed themselves by hitting a tree, or killed themselves with their swords, or drowned by jumping into a lake...... And so on and so forth, and so on,

What is in common is that before they die, they look terrified and keep shouting words like "Mary" and "Mary".

Since then, the horror legend of Mary's Forest has been completely immortalized.

The passage of time, more than 300 years, has not diluted this legend.

The precipitation of the years has made the reputation of this forest more and more far-reaching, and people who are idle dare not approach it at all.

……

……

"Well, Miss Samantha, I think you can relax properly."

Five days later.

Mary's Forest, Periphery.

Between the lush trees, a group of six people walked slowly.

To be exact, three people, two demons, and a cat.

They had been on the road for five days in a row, and six people had come from the town of the Rhine, including Qi Lin, Joseph, Samantha, Irena, Catherine, and the little white cat Luruth.

At this point,

Samantha's pretty face was a little pale, and she looked frightened, her hands clutched Qi Lin's right arm, and she looked around as she walked, as if she was afraid that something "unclean" would come out of the nearby bushes.

From the moment she stepped into Mary's Mori, the purple-haired witch looked extremely nervous and scared.

She was supposed to follow Joseph at first, but this middle-aged wizard always deliberately scared the young girl, suddenly screaming as she walked, and then looked at Samantha who was crying and laughed.

Samantha was so frightened that she cried three times in a row, and then she turned to Qi Lin's side and followed closely, not daring to lag behind a single step.

"I really don't understand."

Qi Lin looked at Samantha beside him and said in surprise: "In the burning ground of St. Georgetown, you are not even afraid of being burned to death, but when you come here, you are actually afraid of a ghost who doesn't even know if it is real?" And you are a sorcerer, as a seeker of truth, why are you afraid of ghosts? ”

"This—this is Mary's Forest!"

Samantha's voice trembled, and she looked around in horror, "Mr. Qi, you are the son of a demon king from another world, and you don't understand how terrifying it is here......

"I think I should have understood."

Qi Lin shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "In the past five days, especially at night, you have told me more than thirty derivative ghost stories of Mary's Forest, from the collective death of Emperor Eddard's army, to the collective madness of the caravan that got lost and strayed here, I think I know this forest well enough." ”

"So, it's normal to be afraid, it's not normal to be afraid like you and Deacon Joseph!"

Samantha said as she hugged Qi Lin's right arm tightly.

"Hey, hey, Samantha, give me some attention!"

Seeing this, Irena's eyes widened suddenly, "Just talk, why did you hug it back?!" ”

"Then I can hold you......"

Samantha immediately let go of her hand, walked to Irina's side, and instead hugged Irina's right arm, and said pitifully: "Miss Irina, people are really scared......

"You ......"

Irena was speechless and said helplessly: "Hey, Samantha, you are a wizard who has mastered magical powers, you are actually afraid of ghosts?" What's there to be afraid of this thing? I really don't understand. ”

"That's it."

Qi Lin smiled and agreed: "You are simply ...... Well?! ”

Before he finished speaking, Qi Lin suddenly stopped, looked at the woods in front of him, and the smile on his face stiffened slightly.

He saw a figure in a white dress floating through the forest.

Although in the blink of an eye, the white shadow disappeared as if it had never appeared, Qi Lin knew very well that with his physical strength at the peak of the fourth order, there would never be a situation where he was dazzled and mistaken.

Mary's Forest......

Qi Lin frowned slightly.

So are there really ghosts in this forest?

And that white shadow is Mary?

"Qi, Mr. Qi, what are you looking at?"

Samantha grabbed Irena's right arm tightly and looked at the woods with a horrified expression, "Y-Did you see something?!" ”

"That's right."

Qi Lin nodded, and then said in Samantha's ear: "I just saw Miss Mary, and she said that her favorite kills are those women who are so scared as soon as they enter the forest that they keep holding other people's arms......"

"Ahhh!!hhh

Samantha screamed in shock, immediately let go of Irena's arm, and subconsciously wanted to run to Joseph's side.

However, remembering that Joseph had just scared her three times in a row, the purple-haired witch hurriedly changed objects, picked up the little white cat, sat down on the ground, and cried.

"Meow."

The little white cat held tightly in her arms looked loveless.

"Deacon Joseph."

Qi Lin didn't scare Samantha anymore, but walked to the middle-aged wizard's side, and said in a deep voice: "I just saw a white shadow floating past, I shouldn't be mistaken." ”

"Are you sure?!"

When Joseph heard this, he was first surprised, and then he smiled, and said with a smile: "Interesting, it's a pity that I didn't see it, I really hope that in the next few days, I can also bump into ghosts...... If ghosts really exist in Mary's Forest, it will be an epoch-making discovery. ”

"Huh?" Qi Lin was a little surprised, "An epoch-making discovery? Why? ”

"Because the existence of ghosts can prove the existence of souls."

Joseph looked emotional and said, "It's a shame to say that we wizards rely on magic and spiritual power to perform magic, but we don't know where the spiritual power comes from.

A small number of people believe that it comes from the nerves of the brain, and most people believe that it comes from the soul.

But to this day, we can't effectively prove the existence of souls, so if there are ghosts here in Mary Forest, then I will be very excited, even if it is worth it to be killed by ghosts. ”

"Huh?"

Qi Lin was stunned.

And so on and so forth, so listening to Joseph, the aborigines of the civet world, even to this day, are not completely sure of the existence of souls?

This thing is a bit outrageous.

As Joseph himself said just now, in addition to the magic power used as the energy base, the casting of magic also requires a certain strength of spiritual power to be successfully released.

And where does the "spiritual power" come from?

It comes from the soul!

The higher the soul strength, the stronger the spiritual power that can be released!

Therefore, in the heavenly worlds, all civilizations that have mastered magic have basically determined the existence of souls early, which is almost inevitable for the development of magic.

But the civet world is not sure?

"Forehead ......"

Qi Lin looked at Joseph in front of him and hesitated: "Mr. Joseph, may I ask, what was Mr. Li Haoran's opinion on the matter of 'soul'?" ”

"Well, he said 'weird.'"

Joseph thought for a moment and said, "Back then, Mr. Li claimed that all the creatures in our world were strange, whether it was humans, civet cats, or other animals, their bodies were very strange, and their souls were so hidden that they could hardly be detected by normal means.

He also said that some ordinary soul attack methods cannot attack our souls.

Overall, Mr. Lee is a staunch supporter of the existential theory of the soul.

He believed that there is a soul in us, and he believed that there is a soul in every living being, but on the other hand, Mr. Li could not come up with strong evidence to prove the existence of a soul in our body...... Ha, the soul thing, it's really interesting. ”

Joseph shook his head and smiled.

"Hmmm......"

Qi Lin fell into deep thought.

In other words, the creatures of the civet world are actually a little special in terms of soul structure? That's why the existence of souls is still not completely certain?

Forget it, I can't figure out anything by myself now, so I don't want to think about it for now.

When the time comes to go to the headquarters of the Wizards Association and get the research notes left by Li Haoran before his death, he should be able to understand a thing or two.

"By the way, Mr. Qi Lin, like Mr. Li, you also feel that the soul exists?"

At this time, Joseph looked at Qi Lin in front of him, smiled and asked.

"Of course."

Qi Lin nodded and replied truthfully: "In your words, I, like Mr. Li, are both staunch supporters of the theory of soul existence, the soul absolutely exists, the body is just the shell, the soul is the core, what really determines who we are is not this flesh and blood, but the mind, and the thought comes from the soul, but, as Mr. Li said back then, your soul may be a little special, so it will lead to undetectable ......"

"Nonsense."

Suddenly, a deep old voice sounded from the distant woods.

Qi Lin and Joseph hurriedly followed the prestige.

Not far away, a sturdy old man who was more than two meters tall, wearing linen short sleeves and carrying a giant sword walked slowly, "The soul does not exist at all, and the ghost is the same, the world says that Mary's Forest is haunted, but the old man has lived here for more than eight years, but he has never seen any ghosts and ghosts, people's fear comes from the unknown, and people outside do not know the real situation here, so they can only speculate wildly to spread falsehoods." ”

Qi Lin noticed that he had a pair of crimson cat's eyes, as if they contained flames.

"Who are you?"

The old man looked at Qi Lin and the others, and his voice was deep: "The rumors of Mary's Forest are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and no one should choose to travel to Mary's Forest." ”

"You're ...... Mr. William?! ”

Joseph looked at the old man and asked in disbelief.

(End of chapter)