[One wisp of extraordinary death energy.]
[Ten wisps of extraordinary death energy.]
[One hundred wisps of extraordinary death energy.]
Two hundred wisps, six hundred wisps, one thousand wisps—
Refine! Refine!
Refine them all!
The black hurricane was rapidly pulled and compressed into a vortex, unfurling and expanding around the youth's figure.
It blotted out the sky and veiled the moon, like a natural disaster!
All the black energy surged and poured into the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls in his hand, the gale furiously swirling back toward the ancient tome.
With a hum, the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls flared with a crimson radiance akin to the red moon.
Amidst the endless "black," this touch of "red" in Bai Zhou's hands appeared exceptionally striking.
Judging purely by appearance, if one were to place the current Bai Zhou alongside the Undead General, while no one would doubt that the Undead General was a villain,
far more people would probably suspect that Bai Zhou was the mastermind pulling the strings behind the Undead General—
This was no longer in the realm of some heinous wanted fugitive!
This was outright a world-destroying archdemon, an undead scourge capable of unleashing cataclysm!
Even the Undead General was utterly shocked at the sight, retreating in fear.
"What a commotion!"
Bai Zhou could not help sighing in amazement.
To the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls, this place was like a rat falling into an oil depot, or a grey wolf wandering into a village of sheep.
Bai Zhou didn't need to do a thing; he only had to draw close to the Undead General and its "army."
The forbidden tome moved on its own.
It swallowed heaven and earth like a whale, gorging itself to its heart's content.
The unrivaled suction was truly a wonder to behold.
Like a waterspout, a colossal black pillar connected heaven and earth in an extraordinarily magnificent spectacle.
Whoosh—!
The winds howled as the towering black energy on the Undead General was frantically siphoned away.
One look at its agonizing expression was enough to know it was being drastically weakened.
Meanwhile, the unlocking progress of the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls was advancing by leaps and bounds.
Everything was proceeding just as Bai Zhou had anticipated.
With a crisp crack, the uppermost of the thick chains binding the spine of the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls suddenly snapped apart.
Hum—
In Bai Zhou's hands, the forbidden tome fell open of its own accord, its pages rustling as they flipped rapidly.
It sounded as though hundreds, thousands of souls had abruptly shrieked beside his ears, rattling him until blood seeped from his ears.
Yet in the very next moment, these screeching souls transformed into a hymn drifting from a distant realm.
Mysterious, bizarre, yet somehow bringing a strange serenity to the heart.
High above, the red moon cast down crimson moonlight.
Moonbeams poured in torrents over the cover of the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls.
In a daze, Bai Zhou seemed to see a blood-red moon plunge from the heavens straight toward the crown of his head.
The First Chapter of the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls—
Successfully unlocked!
[Those who turn beyond this page should know: "comprehension" is the beginning of "annihilation."]
[This is no realm for the foolish; this is the reality where all things creep and writhe—]
[The Thousand-Faced Moon awaits you in dream!]
The grand eulogy echoed in his ears.
Ripples spread across the depths of Bai Zhou's soul.
The twisted ancient script wriggled like living creatures, eventually coalescing into a frigid deluge that poured into him.
—It was a kind of knowledge hard to describe.
For this knowledge originally had no form; only after flowing through Bai Zhou's Fate Principle did it take shape.
Yet in the end, it all flowed back into the secret scroll in Bai Zhou's hands—
Immediately after, as if guided by sudden inspiration, a profound realization dawned in Bai Zhou's heart: the so-called Dead Sea Secret Scrolls contained knowledge of a foreign pathway that strictly did not belong to the Adventurer pathway.
Logically speaking, Bai Zhou's Fate Principle could not accommodate or bear knowledge from another pathway.
However, the existence of a forbidden tome itself shattered that impossibility!
Every original forbidden tome was like a living vessel, which was precisely what made them most precious.
To summarize it in the most concise terms: an Extraordinary from a different pathway could use a forbidden tome as a medium to unleash the secret techniques recorded within.
However, the caster had to bear the corresponding side effects.
Furthermore, after unleashing each secret technique, there was an associated cooldown time.
"Does that mean I effectively have an 'external avatar'?"
Bai Zhou's heart thumped wildly.
Surprisingly,
the entirety of the First Chapter of the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls contained only a single secret technique: [Thousand-Faced Moon]!
Though called a "single" technique—
[Thousand-Faced Moon] was exceptionally unique.
One was a thousand! A thousand was one!
For it could generate corresponding special "transformations" based on the "special enemies" Bai Zhou had encountered and defeated in the past.
Such enemies had to have left a sufficiently profound impact on his life and cast a deep enough shadow across his "destiny."
The more such enemies, the more transformations the [Thousand-Faced Moon] could project.
Regrettably, Bai Zhou had not faced many enemies, and truly special ones were even rarer.
Thus, [Thousand-Faced Moon] had only successfully generated one transformation for him—
The First Transformation: [Cursebound Colossus]!
It integrated the knowledge of "curse" and "expansion" contained within the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls.
Its archetype stemmed from the Pale Giant Bai Zhou had encountered.
His very first combat teacher.
This transformation was neither a blessing nor an evolution, but rather a controlled, terrifying curse directed at oneself.
Every transformation was a dance with the abyss!
It allowed the user's body to swell, turning them into a massive, ambulatory amalgam of curses.
Its effects granted boundless strength, immunity to most curses, and an innate psychological oppression against those weak of will.
It could cause Bai Zhou's combat prowess to skyrocket several times over out of nowhere!
Naturally, its side effects were equally pronounced.
Remaining transformed for too long carried the risk of permanent physical necrosis, and the process of expansion and decay was typically accompanied by excruciating agony.
Bai Zhou etched all of this firmly into his mind.
"Must be used with caution, but it's unquestionably powerful."
In certain critical moments, it would definitely be a life-saving trump card.
If nothing else—
just having this meant that the inescapable net outside the unfinished building was no longer so difficult to tear apart.
Who was the hunter and who was the prey—
remained to be seen.
Clack-clack—
The crisp clatter of bones brought Bai Zhou back to his senses.
The howling of the black winds grew distant as the absorption of the death energy of the undead by the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls drew to an end.
Suddenly,
Thud, thud!
A shiver ran through Bai Zhou, and he took two wary, tense steps backward.
Because the Skeleton General, crowned with that massive last wish of [Let Me Rest],
stood not far away, its back turned to him.
Before it lay the dozen or so grave mounds Bai Zhou had dug with his own hands earlier.
Hovering above each mound was the exact same last wish: [Let Me Rest].
Only, compared to the one above the Undead General, they were vastly smaller in size—
"You have done well."
The Undead General slowly turned its head to look at Bai Zhou.
Familiar ghostly green will-o'-the-wisps flickered slowly inside its dark left eye socket.
Yet on the right half of that skull, the weathered face of a middle-aged man had grown at some point.
Half skeleton, half human face—
Contradictory, horrifying, yet bearing an inexplicable divinity.
He gazed across the distance, meeting Bai Zhou's eyes.
"Do you remember my request from last time?"
His voice was completely different from before.
No longer a rigid imitation or awkward bravado, let alone the raving madness of talking to himself.
All that remained was an eerie calm.
"..." At those words, Bai Zhou remained silent.
The request from last time?
Was it that absurd duel invitation?
Yet looking at that serene, half-human, half-skeletal face—
Bai Zhou felt that wasn't what it meant.
After the "death energy of the undead" had been siphoned away,
it seemed it was no longer that vile skeleton talking to itself, that megalomaniac playing at being a general—
So, what did the death energy of the undead truly signify to it?
"Not a duel."
"'Make my bones your altar to ascend to heaven—and grant me release.'
"That was the phrase."
Its jaw clicked as it opened and closed, the Undead General's voice seemingly tinged with a trace of "humanity."
"—This request
remains unchanged."
He said:
"As the sole living soul to set foot here in countless years,
"I beseech you: grant me death!"
Bai Zhou remained silent, his lips pressed thin as he met its gaze.
Above its head, that colossal [Let Me Rest] was flickering frantically.
The dead who could not rest once again extended a plea to Bai Zhou.
This time, his last wish—
Bai Zhou had received it.
So Bai Zhou nodded and said, "All right."
No sooner had the words left his mouth
than the Undead General revealed a radiant smile on the human half of its face.
Then, it handed over its extraordinary long blade. "Use this!
"My blade is swift!"
Bai Zhou: "—"
His palm gripped the hilt,
a scorching sensation transmitting into his hand.
A purple current flowed from the gem embedded in the hilt, making the blade as light as a feather.
Yet a gentle sweep through the air drew a ringing whistle that sliced the wind.
Bai Zhou never imagined that the extraordinary weapon he had once coveted would end up in his hands like this.
Stowing away the Dead Sea Secret Scrolls, he gripped the hilt with both hands.
Bai Zhou looked at the Undead General, his gaze turning earnest.
"Since this is your request—"
Tightening his grip on the long blade with both hands, he said solemnly:
"Bear with it. I'll make it quick!"
Neigh—! Across the wasteland, the tall undead steed reared up on its hind legs, whinnying toward the moon.
A blazing blade-light erupted, slicing across midair.
[Moon Cinder Holy Oath Slash]!
Bai Zhou swung with all his might.
To be frank, accustomed as he was to using a bench leg, Bai Zhou had never experienced such exhilarating release.
With merely a single wisp of spirituality, a surging blade-light blossomed, illuminating his face.
This extraordinary blade boosted the might of [Moon Cinder Holy Oath Slash] by at least double!
He wondered how it compared to Crow's—
Yet,
in the next instant,
Clang!
As if striking something indestructible, a reverberating chime echoed like a bronze bell.
A massive recoil surged violently back along the blade.
Bai Zhou grunted, his arms going numb and the webbing of his thumbs tearing open instantly.
Fresh blood trickled down the hilt and onto the purple gemstone, causing it to glow faintly.
"What is—?"
Bai Zhou was stunned, unable to believe his eyes.
Because the blade of his strike, swung with all his might using an extraordinary weapon, was stuck right at the surface of the Undead General's neck, unable to advance a hair further!
Bai Zhou could not remain calm.
The guy stood right there letting him hack away freely, and he couldn't even cut through?
How humiliating!
The gap between people might really be wider than that between a person and a maggot—
"Thank you, young Adventurer."
A voice intermingling vitality and death energy echoed in Bai Zhou's ears.
That voice carried a touch of reminiscence, along with a faint, imperceptible teasing:
"If you ever have the chance, go visit the Sun Temple in Sky City.
"In our time, every fledgling Adventurer could find their path forward there!"
With that, a heavy token was tossed over.
Bai Zhou caught it in bewilderment.
Upon it was engraved the Adventurer insignia of a "shield, saber, and sword."
And then, two finger bones pinched the blade wedged against the bone.
Gently, he pushed inward—
Bai Zhou felt an unfathomable, torrential force suddenly surge through the blade, and then—
Neigh—! Beneath the crimson moon, the warhorse let out a final sorrowful wail.
Thud, roll, roll—
A head tumbled to the ground.
The ghostly green fire sputtered and slowly extinguished.
The figure collapsed limp into a pile of white bones, shattering across the earth.
The whip that had always strung together countless undead quietly dissolved into ash.
Clatter—!
Without the whip to sustain them, over a thousand skeletons and desiccated corpses collapsed to the ground one after another.
As far as the eye could see, fallen corpses and white bones carpeted the earth, leaving scarcely any room to set foot, resembling a living purgatory on earth.
Whoosh—
A weary wind whistled mournfully past.
Bai Zhou snapped back to reality in a daze.
Only then did he realize that he was standing at the very center of this purgatory on earth, alone atop over a thousand corpses and bones.
At that moment,
with a rumbling boom, the last wish hovering above the Undead General's head flared with brilliant light and shattered with a roar.
Yet that incomparably massive last wish suddenly disintegrated into countless densely packed small last wishes, flying out in all directions.
These small last wishes flew toward the shattered skeletons and mummified corpses, taking their respective places one by one.
They too were all titled [Let Me Rest!]
Only their number was beyond count—at least a thousand!
Coincidentally enough,
they were the exact same size as the [Let Me Rest] wishes atop the dozen-odd grave mounds not far in front of Bai Zhou.
Only at this moment did Bai Zhou understand why the last wish upon the Undead General had been so massive, so peculiar.
Because it had never belonged to just one person—
What in the world had he been carrying upon his shoulders?
In the next instant, heaven and earth seemed to shudder.
The last wishes across the entire expanse shattered in unison.
The magnificent spectacle of over a thousand last wishes shattering at once manifested across the ruins of the deep Ruin Realm.
Bai Zhou lifted his head and drew a deep breath.
He watched as the crimson shards gathered in swirling multitudes, blotting out the moon, covering the sky above the wasteland, and then, blotting out the heavens and the earth, plunged toward him like a dragon!
Chapter 50