Breaking free from the state of Temporal Stasis, Anbaixiu found his head cradled in the hands of the white jade-sculpted beauty, exactly as shown in the prophecy.
Looking at the noble, elegant beauty before him and then at the imposing Death Knights flanking her, Anbaixiu had already guessed her identity.
"Are you... Lady Rose?"
Anbaixiu's tone was somewhat awkward. He had never imagined meeting this major client of his under such circumstances.
So that prophetic vision of having his head held hadn't been about someone lopping it off; it had simply meant he would only regenerate a head!
With a smile, the Rose of Decay set Anbaixiu's head down on a nearby table. Then, extending a finger, she tapped one of the Death Knights standing beside her.
Her fingertip seemed like a black hole, instantly swallowing the Death Knight whole. Flesh, bone, armor—everything was crushed and reduced to pure dark magic.
Immediately after, the Rose of Decay touched her finger to Anbaixiu's head.
This dark magic transformed into millions of threads, continually intertwining and weaving together from Anbaixiu's neck downward. Anbaixiu felt a tingling itch in his bones as, aided by this power, new bones rapidly formed, restoring him to his skeletal frame. Though far from returning to his peak state, he was now capable of exerting thirty to forty percent of his original strength.
Flexing his newly formed body, Anbaixiu remarked with genuine admiration, "Lady Rose, compared to you, my control over dark magic is child's play."
This demonstration had left Anbaixiu awed. It wasn't just a difference in raw power, but mastery over dark magic itself. Truly worthy of being the Undead Queen of the Underdark; in necromancy, Anbaixiu couldn't catch up to her even riding a bone dragon.
The Rose of Decay smiled. "Merely different specializations. I couldn't see through the City of Alchemy's secrets, yet you uncovered the truth from nothing more than a fragmentary map."
She wasn't merely being polite. In her eyes, although Anbaixiu was a subpar legend, his erudition was genuine. Likely because he knew so much, he had been able to create such a unique creature as the mercury soul puppet.
"Still, that you actually entrusted your phylactery to my safekeeping took me by surprise."
Anbaixiu felt profoundly awkward. He could hardly admit now that it had been chosen at random.
Damned fate truly left no wiggle room. Still, having his head held by the Rose of Decay was vastly better than being cradled in the hands of a paladin.
Anbaixiu could only brace himself and say, "We are business partners; of course I chose to trust you. Besides, even though you suspected this phylactery was a decoy, didn't you still go out of your way to protect it? A magic scroll of Temporal Stasis... your generosity made my soul tremble."
That last line was his honest truth—this Lady Rose truly did not lack money.
The Rose of Decay neither explained nor made polite demurrals. She genuinely valued Anbaixiu, and working with him had been a pleasure—one with boundless wealth, the other with rare skill, a match made in heaven.
In all these years, Anbaixiu was the only undead she had met capable of improving soul puppets.
Regardless of whether the core technique had been obtained from someone else, magical research was inherently built on the achievements of predecessors. That Anbaixiu had combined the City of Alchemy's methods with soul puppets—that creative leap alone was his achievement.
If her mentor Morgan were to know, he would surely be pleased as well.
Precisely because of this, the Rose of Decay had hesitated for quite a while over whether she should seize this opportunity to enslave Anbaixiu, with his phylactery right in front of her.
However, enslaving an undead required tampering with the target's soul—like brain surgery on a human, there was no guaranteeing it would be foolproof.
If Anbaixiu attempted to resist, his soul was very likely to suffer severe damage, turning him into a true puppet and stripping away his will entirely.
The Rose of Decay valued his intellect, not his raw might; reducing him to an idiot would make the loss outweigh the gain.
An eighty percent chance of turning him into an imbecile, a ten percent chance of utterly destroying his soul, and only a remaining ten percent chance of achieving flawless control.
Had Anbaixiu been a reckless, rampaging undead like Gareth, she might have risked a try. But since Anbaixiu relied on his mind to get things done, the risk far outweighed the reward.
Evidently, it was far better to bind him through emotional ties.
After all, without her lifting a finger, he had already sent his phylactery over. The Rose of Decay felt she might have already grasped the way to move an undead's heart, even if she hadn't quite sorted it out herself yet. Next time she consulted with that young lady bone dragon, perhaps she would succeed completely.
Anbaixiu had no idea what was running through the Rose of Decay's mind. Undead, unless deliberately making an expression, could remain utterly expressionless indefinitely; reading human micro-expressions was entirely meaningless when applied to them. The beauty before him, looking almost entirely human, merely maintained a polite smile from start to finish, giving away nothing.
After exchanging pleasantries, each harboring their own thoughts, the Rose of Decay asked about his plans regarding the City of Alchemy.
"Appearing here in such a battered state suggests an accident in your plans," she offered warmly. "Do you need my assistance?"
Hearing this, Anbaixiu was indeed tempted, but he shook his head. "Lady Rose, were I to ask for your aid, I could not afford adequate compensation. The opportunity granted by the Wish spell is not something I can surrender to you."
He hadn't previously considered asking the Rose of Decay for help, only passively receiving intelligence from her.
The primary reason was that this Wish spell could only benefit a single person.
One must never contemplate drawing up a long list and wishing, "My wish is for everything written on this paper to come true."
Don't bother trying such tricks; a wish is a single wish, or the laws of the world will teach you a very painful lesson.
The Rose of Decay replied, "The Wish spell holds no value for me. You should already know my obsession: I want to destroy Ryan, and a Wish cannot accomplish that."
Anbaixiu pondered for a moment, then nodded. "True. The Lord of the Dawn would never permit a Wish to destroy Ryan."
The Lord of the Dawn was an extraordinarily powerful deity, while the essence of a Wish was altering reality through the power of worldly laws—something that, to a god, was as effortless as lifting a hand.
The Lord of the Dawn would only need to exert the slightest effort, and the effect of the Wish would vanish completely.
Such were the benefits of faith. When one worshipped a generous and mighty god, one truly gained divine protection. Provided, of course, that one adhered strictly to the deity's dogmas—otherwise, the backlash could be horrifying.
"Even if you have no need for the Wish, I still can't offer equivalent compensation," Anbaixiu said after a brief hesitation. "Or... I could give you a discount on the remaining payments?"
The Rose of Decay laughed aloud and told him, "Consider it an advance investment. Who knows? Perhaps this Wish will turn you into a deity."
Anbaixiu shook his head. "I wouldn't make such a greedy wish. Besides, couldn't you wish for godhood yourself? Your odds of success are higher than mine."
"Then I could not destroy Ryan with my own hands. Deities have their own rules; otherwise, why couldn't the gods of the nations invaded by the Ryan Empire intervene? As long as I remain in the Material Plane, I face the Ryan Empire. Once I become a deity, I would face the direct intervention of the Lord of the Dawn, and my odds of victory would be even slimmer."
Truly clear-headed. For the sake of vengeance, this Undead Queen had done thorough research and preparation, accounting for every single angle.
"So, you're genuinely willing to help?" Anbaixiu asked with a touch of anticipation.
"Naturally. You entrusted your phylactery to me; I must repay that trust. Besides, judging by appearances, your plan was already sound. The only reason things went awry is simply that your strength is too feeble."
Anbaixiu: ...
Though her words bruised his pride a little, Anbaixiu knew it was the truth. Had he not forcefully tapped into the power of the School of Divination, that golem-riding alchemist would have beaten him into the dirt. Unable to exert demigod-level might, knowing endless spells was meaningless.
Anbaixiu said to the Rose of Decay with utter solemnity, "In that case, I will trouble you. Lady Rose, please lend me a hand once more. If you ever need me in the future, I will do my utmost."
"For free?" asked the Rose of Decay.
Anbaixiu was silent for a long while before grinding out through clenched teeth, "Consulting fees entirely waived. As for the rest... I can give a discount. A real discount."
The Rose of Decay shook with laughter, her long hair spilling loosely over her shoulders with an exquisite charm.
Yet that failed to sway Anbaixiu's resolve; no matter how beautiful, nothing looked better than gold coins.
After laughing heartily for a moment, she regained her dignified composure and said, "Then let us begin. What do you need me to do for you right now?"
"First, I need to know where I am. This should be your palace, right? Have you returned to the Underdark?" Anbaixiu asked.
"Not at all. We are still inside the City of Alchemy, merely hidden for the time being."
Her answer startled Anbaixiu. Hadn't the City of Alchemy politely escorted the Queen out? How had she fooled everyone?
Sensing his confusion, she explained, "The alchemists tasked with seeing me off were refined into undead and turned into my puppets. Thus, every report the City of Alchemy received was false, and I went into hiding."
Hearing this, Anbaixiu could only marvel at how impressive she was.
The window of time between the order to escort her out and reporting back should have been exceedingly brief. To turn those administrators into undead puppets in such short order without drawing any suspicion? Just how terrifying was her necromancy?
He could only say that she truly lived up to the title of legend; a subpar fraud like himself simply could not compare.
Thinking this over, Anbaixiu's longing for the Wish spell burned even hotter.
Anbaixiu continued, "Since we're still in the city, that makes things much easier. The Wish ritual currently lacks two crucial components. One is the sacrifice of a legend. They originally intended to sacrifice me; although I escaped, they definitely have a contingency plan. But for the second component, they likely have no substitute. So we need to locate that second key first and seize it ahead of time."
"Oh? What is the second key?" the Rose of Decay asked, intrigued.
"A druid girl named Naomi Watts. She should be imprisoned somewhere in the City of Alchemy right now, and we need to find her. If I'm not mistaken, she is currently held in the City of Alchemy's famous Hall of Wisdom."
The Rose of Decay repeated doubtfully, "A druid? The key to the Wish spell?"
"I find it absurd as well, but my reasoning shouldn't be wrong."
It wasn't based entirely on deduction either. In the prophetic fragments he had obtained initially, that druid chick had appeared out of nowhere. Back then, Anbaixiu couldn't fathom what this girl could possibly have to do with the destruction of the City of Alchemy.
Only when he saw the map drawn by the Rose of Decay, along with the mixture of true and false documents in the high tower, had he pieced it all together.
"What exactly is so special about this druid?" the Rose of Decay asked.
Anbaixiu did not hide anything, stating his greatest deduction plainly: "She is very likely a blood relative of the President of the Alchemists' Council—and the most important, irreplaceable sacrifice."
Chapter 77