Chapter 156: The Golden Skeleton King

The climate has entered the bitter depths of midwinter. While the people in the southern regions are still enduring the oppressive, damp cold, the northern expanse is already a world of frozen earth and drifting snow thousands of miles wide.

Jinzhou is equally vast and desolate. In the Yunqiu Mountains, goose-feather-like snowflakes drift endlessly downward, blanketing the earth in a thick, pristine carpet of white.

The icy environment causes the spiritual energy to lose its purity, imbuing it instead with a biting chill.

This place has transformed into a paradise for ice-attribute practitioners. Whether they are cultivators practicing ice-attribute Daoist techniques or martial artists cultivating ice-attribute martial arts, everyone is in their element.

On the other hand, practitioners of other attributes and attribute-less practitioners must expend much more effort to refine the spiritual energy drawn into their bodies, neutralizing that chill.

Ao Jin is a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, the imperial royalty of the dragon clan. He possesses an all-attribute constitution, capable of adapting to spiritual energy of any attribute, which is quite different from practitioners of attribute-less techniques.

Red is a fire fox, however, and she naturally dislikes this freezing environment. Drawing ice-attribute spiritual energy into her body makes her feel thoroughly uncomfortable.

Ceasing to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, she instead takes out spirit stones to absorb the spiritual energy stored within them.

On the day Ziwei handed the storage ring to Li Yunfei, Red received one as well. At this moment, that storage ring contains several cubic meters of spirit stones and a vast array of spiritual treasures.

The techniques practiced by both Li Yunfei and Zhang Ziying belong to attribute-less techniques. Therefore, through incantations and true formulas, they can transform into any attribute. The techniques of the majority of cultivators are attribute-less.

Those who specialize in a single-attribute technique can only use spells and martial arts of that specific attribute. Because they are specialized, their power is extremely pure and extreme, making them rather difficult to fend off, though they are also easily countered by the principles of mutual generation and restraint.

From this, one can see just how formidable Ao Jin's physique is. He possesses an all-attribute constitution, allowing him to push the power characteristics of spells and martial arts of any attribute to their absolute limits, and he is never countered—he only ever counters others.

Although practitioners of attribute-less techniques need to spend more time refining and purifying spiritual energy, with Li Yunfei, a Great cultivator of the Core Formation late stage, guiding her, Zhang Ziying's cultivation poses little problem, and her cultivation speed has not been severely impacted.

On the ninth day after Li Yunfei returned from headquarters to the Yunqiu Mountains, Zhang Ziying finally and smoothly broke through the late stage of the Yin Spirit realm, ascending to the peak of the Yin Spirit realm and possessing a level of martial prowess at the second tier of the Great Xia cultivation world's pyramid.

After dressing, as the two of them buttoned each other's clothes, Li Yunfei suddenly said, "Last time I returned to the Zixiao headquarters, I took on a mission. I'll be going out for a while recently and might not be able to spend the New Year with you."

Zhang Ziying asked reflexively, "What mission? Can I go with you to execute it?"

Li Yunfei shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not. It's difficult to speak of this mission right now; it wasn't assigned to me by Ziwei."

"If the news is not leaked, it will never be leaked, and it won't be too late to tell you then. If it is leaked, you will understand without me saying anything."

Zhang Ziying turned to ask, "What is the confidentiality classification of the mission?"

Li Yunfei thought for a moment and said, "It is considered Top Secret - Core Level."

Zhang Ziying's breath hitched slightly, her delicate brows furrowing as she asked nervously, "Is this mission... dangerous?"

She did not inquire any further about the details of the mission, caring only for Li Yunfei's safety, because she understood the weight of the "Top Secret - Core" level.

The confidentiality levels for national secret missions and classified information are divided into four tiers: Top Secret - Core, Top Secret, Confidential, and Secret.

A Confidential-level mission alone already demands that no second person other than the mission executor may know of it, to say nothing of a Top Secret - Core-level mission.

At this level of mission, let alone telling outsiders, perhaps even the ultimate executors of the mission do not know the contents themselves until they are informed of the details just as the mission is about to begin.

As for the relevant preparatory work, other people will complete it in a divided manner, with each person knowing only the specific part of the mission they are responsible for. Aside from the mission issuer, no one can comprehend the entire content of the mission.

While Li Yunfei's mission can certainly be called top secret, practically speaking, it is not truly top secret.

Because quite a few people have seen the Shield-Breaking Asura Spear: Ziwei, Guo Qilin, Yan Hexiang, Zhang Ziying, Liu Bin, as well as those factory guards and rapid-response team patrol members have all seen it. The number of insiders is at least over 30.

This actually disqualifies it from being Top Secret - Core level, and it doesn't even reach the Confidential level—at most, it is considered Secret level.

If the Holy Knights of the Holy See suffer heavy casualties because of the Asura Spear, and once the Asura Spear is acquired by people from the Holy See and the news spreads, these people will immediately realize that this matter is connected to Zixiao, or rather, to Li Yunfei.

However, Li Yunfei will stay close to the skeleton army to ensure as much as possible that this matter is not leaked.

As long as the Asura Spear does not fall into the hands of the Holy See, this secret will not be leaked, and only Ziwei will know what happened.

Calculated this way, it entirely qualifies as Top Secret - Core level.

Therefore, Li Yunfei chooses not to tell Zhang Ziying for now, saving the explanation until everything has settled.

He said to Zhang Ziying, "The one executing this mission is me, so there will be no danger. With my strength, no one on the Blue Earth Star can trap me, and besides, I have Red to help me. You can rest easy!"

Hearing this, Zhang Ziying said with a touch of jealousy, "Isn't it a Top Secret - Core level mission? Why can Red go? Do you think my strength is insufficient and that I'll hold you back?"

Li Yunfei sighed and said, "To be honest, it's actually quite unfair to Red. Her life is bound to mine, existing in dependence on me; if I die, she dies too, yet if she dies, it won't affect me in the least."

"So every time a battle occurs, she desperately bears more, protecting my safety with all her might. Sometimes when I think about it, I really feel quite apologetic toward her."

Upon hearing Li Yunfei's words, the trace of jealousy in Zhang Ziying's heart instantly vanished, and she too felt that this was terribly unfair to Red.

However, naturally siding with her own man, she instead consoled him, saying, "You don't need to think like that. Although she bears this unfairness, she is also able to share your special physique because of it, making it easier for her to grow stronger."

"If you truly feel apologetic toward her, just treat her a little better."

Li Yunfei smiled faintly, pinched her cheek, and said, "Do I not treat her well usually? I've always regarded her just like my own younger sister."

"Mhm." Zhang Ziying nodded, smiled, and instructed, "Then be careful yourselves. I'll go back to the Qingyuan Villa and wait for you to return."

Li Yunfei nodded in agreement. "Very well. After returning to headquarters later to see Ziwei, I'll have Ao Jin escort you back to the villa. Although I won't be able to spend the New Year with you, I will try my best to return before the Lantern Festival to spend the fifteenth with you."

"Help keep an eye on Dabao and Xiaobei. Once they break through to the Core Formation stage, they will be of great use."

"I will."

Stepping out of the tent, he went to ask the commander—who had already returned to the team—about the situation of this grotto-heaven ruin.

According to the commander, based on past experience, this grotto-heaven ruin is essentially fully brewed and will open completely within a month at the latest.

There is a high probability that this grotto-heaven ruin holds no danger; after all, Emperor Zhenwu could hardly leave behind traps to harm posterity.

If nothing of value was left behind, so be it; at the very least, it has already provided them with a period of spiritual energy eruption.

If any treasures or precious inheritances were left behind, at most there would only be trials set in place, not enough to endanger human lives.

When the ruins open, he will notify Ziwei, who will personally lead the team to explore them.

Having heard the commander's words, Li Yunfei set his mind at ease. Calling upon Red and Ao Jin, the four of them returned to the Zixiao headquarters.

Along the way, Li Yunfei informed Ao Jin of the matter, asking him to escort Zhang Ziying back to Qingyuan Villa.

Ao Jin naturally expressed no objection. He originally hailed from eastern Chongqing, which was his homeland as well.

Now that he is a Great cultivator of the Core Formation stage and the imperial royalty of the dragon clan, shouldn't he look after his compatriots in his hometown?

With him currently being the only dragon of the entire dragon clan, how could they be considered a "clan"? If he can nurture a few more dragons, it would help strengthen the dragon population.

Returning to the Zixiao headquarters, Zhang Ziying unsurprisingly received the relevant credentials prepared in advance by Ziwei, and her appointment as the Rabbit Elder was broadcasted on the internal network.

With this, only three positions of the Zixiao Earthly Branch Elders remain: Rat, Sheep, and Monkey.

Following Li Yunfei and Ao Jin becoming the male deities of all female practitioners in Zixiao, Zhang Ziying has also become the goddess of all male practitioners in Zixiao.

There is no helping it; among the venerable elders, even the youngest are middle-aged people in their forties, and the oldest are nearing eighty.

Furthermore, they are either already married or are Quanzhen Daoist priests and ordained monks who will never marry.

The sudden appearance of such a few young, immensely powerful, and strikingly handsome men and beautiful women naturally makes it easy for them to be elevated to "altars" and become male and female deities.

Li Yunfei and Ziwei made another trip to the Grade-A warehouse, taking out another 300 storage rings and a number of magical treasures and equipment, further replenishing the warehouse.

A portion of the equipment he took out last time has already been distributed. During this period, over 200 people in Great Xia have successively broken through the Spirit Movement peak and entered the Yin Spirit stage.

They all received Ziwei's rewards, claiming a set of genuine-qi armor and various divine weapons and magical treasures, further strengthening Great Xia's high-end combat power.

The reason genuine-qi armor is only distributed at the Yin Spirit stage is because one must reach the Yin Spirit stage to refine magical treasures, absorbing them into the body for a union of person and artifact, allowing them to be equipped with a single thought when needed.

Otherwise, when encountering a battle, one would need to put them on on the spot—where would there be time for that? Is one supposed to carry a set of armor everywhere? Or wear a suit of armor casually all day long?

During the journey to the warehouse, Li Yunfei learned from Ziwei that the French Skeleton Legion has advanced into Turkish territory during this period.

Their main force is less than a day's march away from "Mount Erciyes" in Turkey's Kayseri Province.

If Li Yunfei wishes to rendezvous with them, he can go wait there, as they will most likely pass by that location.

...

Li Yunfei departed with Red, not traveling along the same route as Ao Jin and Zhang Ziying.

The two transformed respectively into a streak of lightning and a streak of fire, streaking across the sky like a blue and a red meteor.

From the Zixiao headquarters to Mount Luofeng, the straight-line distance is a full 1,300 kilometers. When they pushed their flying speed to the limit, they arrived in less than half an hour.

Within a wide gorge on Mount Luofeng lies the boundary between Yin and Yang. Dark clouds linger here year-round, blocking out the sunlight, and due to the terrain being extremely steep and perilous, ordinary people can hardly reach this place.

Within the churning dark clouds, a majestic archway three zhang wide and two zhang tall stands firm. Inscribed on its plaque are four forceful characters: "Ghost Gate Pass."

Li Yunfei smiled at Red and said, "They really made this look the part!"

Red nodded and said, "It looks just like what one imagines the Ghost Gate Pass to be."

As their voices rang out, a ghost general immediately rushed out from within the archway accompanied by eighteen nether soldiers. Pressing a hand to the longsword at his waist, the ghost general stepped forward and inquired, "Who goes there?"

Li Yunfei flipped his hand, and a golden tally appeared in his palm. One side of the tally was carved with a coiling dragon, while the other was inscribed with the characters "Chen Dragon."

Upon seeing this, the ghost general immediately clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Elder Chen Dragon."

Li Yunfei nodded and asked, "Let me ask you, must this Ghost Gate Pass remain continuously exposed like this?"

Through their studies over this period, the nether soldiers and ghost generals have become capable of communicating in modern plain language, though their linguistic habits still lean slightly toward the ancient style. Hearing the question, he replied, " Reporting to the Elder, that is not the case. The Ghost Gate Pass has long been completely stabilized and can be concealed or revealed."

"When concealed, the path between Yin and Yang is severed, making the two realms unable to communicate; only when revealed can the realms of Yin and Yang be connected."

"When the Ghost Gate Pass is concealed, ordinary living people in the mortal world cannot see it or enter it; only cultivators with the Heavenly Eye and nether ghosts can."

"Even if ordinary living people were to come here, they would merely pass right through the valley without accidentally stumbling into the underworld, which would otherwise cause nether energy to invade their bodies and drain their vital yang energy unto death."

"Likewise, nether ghosts cannot see or walk out of the Ghost Gate Pass. To the living, the Ghost Gate Pass is an absolute forbidden zone; to the ghosts, the Ghost Gate Pass permits entry but not exit."

"According to regulations, the Ghost Gate Pass is only permitted to open for three days during the Zhongyuan Festival; it is not allowed to be opened on ordinary days. Only we, the upper echelon of Zixiao, can summon it at any time using the tally."

"It is just that the underworld has only recently begun construction; to facilitate the leaders of Zixiao entering and exiting at any time to inspect and guide the work, we have not caused it to be concealed."

Li Yunfei nodded with satisfaction. "Very well, this arrangement is extremely appropriate. Was this the handiwork of Daoist Master Yuling and Celestial Master Zhang?"

With reverence in his tone, the ghost general said, "It is indeed the merit of the two venerables."

Li Yunfei asked, "Where is Great Emperor Fengdu at present?"

The ghost general replied, "The Great Emperor is currently inspecting the project progress at the construction site. This subordinate will lead the Elder there; this way, please, Elder."

Li Yunfei waved a hand and said, "There is no need for that. We came here merely to use the Ghost Gate Pass as a passage to go elsewhere. Since the Great Emperor is busy inspecting the project, we won't go disturb him. You may all return to your posts."

"As you command."

The ghost general retreated with the nether soldiers. After stepping through the Ghost Gate Pass, Li Yunfei and Red cast a layer of spiritual energy to protect their bodies, then soared into the sky, rushing high into the clouds and speeding fiercely toward the west.

At the construction site of Fengdu City, Fu Rong turned his head as if sensing something, looking back toward Mount Luofeng. Seeing two streaks of light—one blue and one red—shooting toward the west, and knowing it had nothing to do with him, he paid it no further mind.

With a million nether soldiers and a massive engineering team, he is currently building Fengdu City in full swing, leaving him almost no time to spare for other matters.

Fu Rong is quite helpless as well. Had he known that he would still have to build it himself brick by brick in the end, why bother thinking about picking up ready-made results in the first place?

If they had chosen to build their own residential settlement in the underworld from the very beginning instead of fighting living people for territory, they would probably still retain their complete freedom today.

However, depending on living people also has its advantages. Since he has already surrendered his true spirit, he simply stops dwelling on it—thinking about it is useless anyway, and handling his duties well is the wise course of action.

That he was able to be enfeoffed as the Northern Yin Great Emperor of Fengdu is already the best possible outcome, marking the pinnacle of his ghost existence.

Come to think of it, even if they hadn't attached themselves to living people today, they wouldn't have remained carefree for much longer. Once terrestrial immortals above the Yang Spirit realm emerged among the living, the underworld would sooner or later have caught their eye.

Because upon reaching the Yang Spirit realm, one is no longer bound by the barriers between Yin and Yang and can freely enter and exit the two realms at any time.

When that time came, they still would have had to submit; otherwise, it would mean the scattering of souls. It is far better to submit early; at least that way, one can secure the seniority of a founding elder.

To say nothing else, if they waited until terrestrial immortals appeared among the living before trying to seize control of the underworld, the position of Northern Yin Great Emperor of Fengdu probably wouldn't have fallen to him no matter how they spun the wheel.

Moreover, after attaching themselves to living people, even undertaking construction is much easier.

If they had to build cities by themselves, even if it were merely constructing a simple encampment, they would have to cut down trees and quarry stones themselves, building it bit by bit.

But look at things now: the planning and design are done by professional ghost engineers brought in by Zixiao, and the actual construction is assisted by various engineering machinery burned via paper offerings.

Those operating the machinery are professional technical ghost workers, and the scaffolders, steelworkers, carpenters, and masons doing the physical building are also ghost migrant workers who spent many years in the construction industry. Even the coolies carrying bricks are paper figurines burned through offerings.

If they had to do it themselves, where would they ever find such favorable conditions?

Those skilled ghost talents were specifically acquired by Ziwei issuing missions to gather skilled workers who died across all parts of Great Xia.

Zixiao is still unable to preserve the souls of all deceased people at present, primarily due to a lack of manpower, forcing them to prioritize selecting the talents they need.

Newly deceased people lack spiritual intelligence for the first seven days after death, and Team Tian cultivators use Daoist methods to preserve their souls.

Once the seven days have passed and they regain their spiritual intelligence, they are allowed to return home for one final glance at their loved ones, after which they are sent through the Ghost Gate Pass and handed over to Fu Rong.

This is the prototype of nether runners; the Team Tian cultivators are essentially moonlighting in the work of nether runners.

Those migrant workers are truly miserable too: they earned a bit of hard-earned money while alive, and after death in the underworld, they still revolve around construction sites—truly exasperating.

Someone once asked: Are you tired? If you're tired, that's right, because comfort is reserved for the dead.

That is sheer nonsense; you're tired while alive, and you're just as tired after you're dead.

Fortunately, they aren't working for nothing; they receive wages as well, and comfortable days await them in the future!

The wages for working for the nether administration in the underworld are "nether virtue," which is a form of currency designed by Ziwei, similar to digital currency in the mortal world.

However, it is not entirely equivalent to digital currency because nether virtue can be exchanged for anything within the nether administration, including official positions within the nether government.

People who frequently do good deeds in the mortal world are also recorded by the nether administration, which credits them with a certain amount of nether virtue.

In other words, doing good deeds in the mortal world is equivalent to saving money for yourself after death—the so-called "accumulating nether virtue."

If someone is a great philanthropist in the mortal world, upon dying and reaching the underworld, they instantly become a multi-millionaire.

Based on the amount of nether virtue, the positions one can exchange for vary, and the authority one wields naturally differs as well.

For instance, exchanging for a position as a nether runner allows one to frequently and lawfully enter and exit the realms of Yin and Yang, or alternatively, to directly exchange for an assignment under a certain City God in the mortal world, stationed there permanently.

Nether virtue can also be exchanged for cultivation resources. Various cultivation resources exist within the underworld as well, the most basic being "nether dark stones," which are the spirit stones of the underworld containing the purest nether energy, serving as a great tonic for ghosts.

There are also other nether spiritual objects and materials, all waiting for Fu Rong to collect.

However, manpower cannot be spared for that at present. Construction is the current priority, and everything else can be postponed.

Those paper figurines do not need to be paid wages because they are consumables and can only do heavy coolie work.

Because they lack spiritual intelligence and possess extremely low artificial intelligence, they cannot handle slightly complex work, and depending on the mastery of the paper artisan, their lifespans vary.

The longest-lasting can persist for over a month, while the shortest dissipate within a week.

As for the engineering machinery, because they are crafted by paper artisans of the highest mastery, their lifespans are the longest, reaching over three months.

The energy consumed by the engineering machinery naturally consists of nether dark stones, but every three months, the paper artisans must craft a fresh batch of machinery and burn them over.

The work of the paper artisans is no walk in the park either, because to be of any use, they must craft life-sized paper artifacts and then imbue them with spirits using unique techniques exclusive to paper artisans, rendering them effective only after being burned across.

Just imagine how large an excavator is—that takes an immense amount of effort.

Fortunately, they only need to craft the outer shell and outline; they don't need to handcraft every single part on a 1:1 scale, or they would go mad.

In fact, the higher the mastery of a paper artisan, the simpler the paper artifacts they need to craft, because the transformation of paper artifacts into physical objects upon being burned to the underworld relies primarily on the artisan's spirit-imbue technique.

A paper artisan of sufficiently high mastery can even scale down the proportions without having to pursue a strict 1:1 ratio.

However, simpler paper artifacts consume more cultivation. Conversely, the more exquisite and realistic the artifact, the smaller the consumption.

Therefore, paper artisans would rather go through a bit more trouble and craft them more realistically to save on cultivation. After all, the time required to recover cultivation is far longer than the time spent crafting a life-sized paper artifact.

Paper artifacts burned in the mortal world appear at the exact same location in the underworld. Consequently, paper artisans with any degree of proficiency across the country are now almost entirely concentrated in Pingdu County, because this place corresponds to Fengdu City in the underworld.

The nether soldiers simply perform auxiliary tasks such as maintaining order and mining nether dark stones, which is already considered exceedingly relaxed.

Apart from receiving generous wages in the mortal world, paper artisans also receive a share of nether virtue income as a reward for contributing to the construction of the underworld. The same logic applies to geomancers and Daoist priests.

After all, paper artisans and geomancers are not orthodox cultivators; they cannot possess the long lifespans true cultivators enjoy, making this nether virtue exceptionally important to them.

...

To return to our story: as Li Yunfei and Red flew westward, the terrain grew increasingly desolate and barren.

They swept over the Tibetan Plateau, crossed the Himalayan mountain range, and successively crossed the underworld borders of Nepal, Tianzhu, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and other nations.

Roughly two hours later, having crossed a straight-line distance of approximately 6,500 kilometers, Li Yunfei and Red entered Turkish territory.

After flying for a few more minutes, a towering mountain with an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters appeared before their eyes. This was an extinct volcanic cone and the principal body of Turkey's Taurus Mountains.

Li Yunfei breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly, "Our luck is good; the direction and angle of our flight were entirely correct."

Red said, "It seems they haven't arrived yet."

Li Yunfei checked the time and nodded. "They probably still need six or seven hours to reach here. Let's find a place to recover our cultivation first. Being in the underworld constantly drains spiritual power, so we need to maintain our peak condition as much as possible."

"Mhm."

Li Yunfei summoned the Bone Spirit Banner from within his body, waving the banner to release 46 super skeletons.

Observing their striking flame armor and the magnificent flame swords in their hands, Li Yunfei thought for a moment and put away their equipment.

He then purchased 46 black robes and 46 skull masks specifically prepared for them from the system mall.

These robes came with hoods; once put on with the hood pulled up, nothing of their appearance could be seen except for the lower half of their faces behind the masks.

Li Yunfei also had them wear a pair of white gloves on their hands and Martin boots on their feet. In this way, their colorful diamond and red diamond-like bodies were almost completely concealed.

Skeleton monsters do not distinguish between their own kind based on appearance; instead, they judge an opponent's strength by aura and soul fluctuations.

Therefore, being completely covered up does not hinder the super skeletons from contacting the French Skeleton Legion.

However, doing so prevents their morphological traits from being exposed, as the super skeletons produced by the system have overly distinct features that diverge completely from the evolutionary direction of skeleton monsters in reality.

Skeleton monsters in reality either become gigantic or possess various attributes, but their bones can never evolve into a crystalline state.

Having equipped the super skeletons, Li Yunfei fitted each one with two Asura Spears, completing their preparations.

Accompanied by Red, Li Yunfei led the super skeletons toward Mount Erciyes. Finding a spacious volcanic lava cave on the mountain, he spent 3.6 million gram spirit stones to purchase 3,000 Asura Spears, neatly stacking them within the cave.

This time, in order to trap those Holy Knights to their deaths, Li Yunfei spared no expense. His own skeleton legion had only been equipped with 10,000 Asura Spears to begin with, and the power that 3,000 Asura Spears can unleash is already terrifyingly vast.

It is not that Li Yunfei was unwilling to provide more, but rather that he could not.

He intends to take these spears back eventually. If he gave away too many, it would inevitably lead to a situation where the tail wags the dog, and those spears might ultimately become sharp weapons used against him—why put himself through that?

After giving strict and repeated instructions to the super skeletons, he had them march three kilometers northwestward to wait there. Meanwhile, he and Red took out spirit stones to replenish their cultivation.

Once the 46 super skeletons marched three kilometers away as instructed by Li Yunfei, they lined up abreast, standing motionless like statues, with the super skeleton warrior designated as Spirit 01 serving as their leader at the very front.

Time ticked away second by second. Roughly six and a half hours later, it was a little past four o'clock in the afternoon.

Li Yunfei, sitting cross-legged inside the cave, suddenly opened his eyes, stood up, and said, "They've arrived. Let's go take a look."

Li Yunfei handed Red a mid-level concealment talisman, and the two affixed and activated them, completely erasing their figures and auras.

However, both possessed divine sense, so they could naturally perceive each other.

Ascending to the summit of the mountain, the two looked toward the northwest and saw a white line appearing on the horizon, stretching endlessly beyond the limits of vision.

As the white line spread forward, it slowly formed a white ocean—an ocean composed of skeletal frameworks.

As the old saying goes: a million soldiers are boundless and vast; a million soldiers cover the sky and earth. But what about six million soldiers? It is beyond description.

Yet here was an army composed of a full six million skeleton monsters; merely seeing this spectacle was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

The undead calamity—truly well-deserved.

At the edge of the skeleton sea, namely at the very front, was a group of skeleton monsters that appeared exceptionally distinct.

Among them was a skeleton monster nearly six meters tall, golden throughout, holding a great golden sword the size of a door panel, with a crown extending from its own skull atop its head.

This fellow had long since become famous internationally: it was the leader of the French Skeleton Legion—the Golden Skeleton King.

Its most formidable trait lay in its ability to resurrect shattered skeletons—specifically, skeletons that had been battered to pieces by physical attacks.

Only physical attacks can smash skeleton monsters to pieces, and only shattered skeletons can be resurrected.

Skeletons whose soul fires are shattered by energy attacks are essentially reduced directly to dust, a process known as being "purified."

Behind the Golden Skeleton King were a group of normal-sized golden skeletons wielding golden sabers, forming its personal guard numbering around forty to fifty thousand.

Flanking the Golden Skeleton King were various skeleton kings of normal size yet manifesting various elemental powers, such as the Green Poison Skeleton King, Flame Skeleton King, Frost Skeleton King, Lightning Skeleton King, and so on, totaling over thirty.

According to Zixiao's intelligence, this Golden Skeleton King's cultivation—meaning its soul strength—was at the Core Formation late stage, but its actual combat prowess was far inferior to Great Xia's Core Formation early stage cultivators.

If it were to fight one-on-one with a Heavenly Stem Venerable of the Core Formation early stage, the one who died would definitely be it.

As for the various skeleton kings around it, only four possessed Core Formation cultivation—some mid-stage, some early-stage—while the rest possessed Yin Spirit stage cultivation, and the golden skeleton guards possessed Spirit Movement stage cultivation.

The remaining skeletons, with white or silvery-gray bones holding bone sabers and bone spears, were ordinary skeleton soldiers with cultivation levels in the Qi Gathering and Light Opening stages.

Yet among the Holy See army pursuing them, there were a full 8 religious inquisitors and 120 cardinals.

The Inquisition, the highest martial institution of the Holy See, is equivalent to Zixiao's Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, boasting a total of 16 religious inquisitors, all possessing Core Formation cultivation strength.

This time, in order to annihilate the skeleton legion, the Pope directly dispatched half of the religious inquisitors.

The Inquisitor-General shares the same cultivation level as the Pope, both being at the Core Formation mid-stage.

However, in terms of actual combat power, because the Pope possesses several Holy See divine artifacts to rely upon, he is far stronger than the Inquisitor-General.

Judging purely from data, the Holy See's high-end combat power seemed to surpass Zixiao's, but as the saying goes, cultivation realms do not equate to actual combat power.

As long as it does not exceed a major realm, among practitioners within the same major realm, Great Xia cultivators possess the highest comprehensive combat power; minor realm discrepancies simply cannot bridge the gap in combat strength between the two sides.

Cardinals, also known as red-robed archbishops, all possess the cultivation strength of the Yin Spirit stage. The Holy See has 216 cardinals, and 120 were dispatched this time.

In terms of high-end combat power, the Holy See already crushed the skeleton legion, and the average combat power of the Holy Knights was also far above that of the skeleton monsters.

Consequently, the six-million-strong skeleton legion was chased relentlessly by an army of 80,000 Holy Knights, losing three million troops at the cost of fewer than 2,000 casualties.

Moreover, those 2,000 casualties were basically inflicted by the golden skeleton guards; the ordinary skeleton soldiers were merely cannon fodder, and a single Holy Light spell could purify a massive area, serving no purpose other than consuming some of the Holy Knights' spiritual power.

When the skeleton sea spread to within less than a hundred meters ahead of the super skeletons, the super skeletons raised their arms in unison, pointing their dual firearms diagonally toward the sky on either side, and pulled the triggers in rapid succession.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Fires three rounds in succession. 92 guns fired simultaneously, their 92 gunshots merging into a single sound, making the report particularly ear-splitting.

Having fired three rounds, Spirit 01 raised its head toward the sky and emitted a silent, prolonged howl. An invisible fluctuation originating from the soul swept out like a shockwave, spreading at extreme speed across the skeleton sea.

The Golden Skeleton King likewise opened its wide maw, emitting a similar soul fluctuation, and the skeleton army gradually came to a halt.

It looked ahead with a mixture of shock and suspicion, its golden soul fire flickering and jumping incessantly.

The super skeletons did not conceal their soul power fluctuations in the slightest, releasing them without reservation.

Thus, the Golden Skeleton King clearly sensed that this group of peers from parts unknown each possessed a soul strength on par with its own.

Forty-six golden skeleton kings—what kind of concept was that? With this kind of strength, let alone launching a counterattack against the Holy See army, it would even dare to go straight to the Vatican and stroke the Pope's beard.

They had been chased by the Holy See army like dogs; by day, when the Holy See army could not enter the underworld, they seized the opportunity to hurry along and widen the distance between them.

Then, at night, they would emerge once more to seek out cities and slaughter living beings to strengthen their power.

Yet every time they thought they had shaken off their pursuers and were fully enjoying the slaughter, those bastards would catch up before long, encircling them from three sides and purifying vast numbers of their troops, leaving them no choice but to keep fleeing, fleeing endlessly.

They did not know where they would end up fleeing in this direction; they only knew that fleeing this way meant they wouldn't run into people from the Holy See.

Now, encountering so many peer skeleton powerhouses in the underworld—was this a blessing or a curse for them?

The Golden Skeleton King turned its head slightly, its jaws parting and closing as a soul fluctuation swept out, conveying commands to all the skeleton monsters under its command: "Don't move. I'll go over and engage with them."

Having given the instructions, it strode forward on legs over three meters long, coming to a halt twenty meters in front of Spirit 01.

"Clack, clack, clack..."

The Golden Skeleton King's jaws parted and closed, its teeth colliding to produce a clicking sound as its soul fluctuation transmitted toward the super skeletons.

Clearly communicating via soul fluctuations, it nevertheless still subconsciously moved its mouth when "speaking"—an instinctive habit retained from when they were once human, for humans always had to open their mouths to speak, after all!

Much like the telepathic arts of human cultivators, communication at the soul level entirely eliminates the barriers of different languages.

"Respected powerhouses, why block our path?"

Standing before an army of six million behind it, the Golden Skeleton King still spoke with a lack of conviction; its attitude could at best be described as neither humble nor arrogant.

Spirit 01 said, "We are here to assist you."

The soul fire in the Golden Skeleton King's eyes brightened, yet it still asked cautiously, "Why?"

Spirit 01 replied, "The Holy See is the mortal enemy of all undead creatures. Do we need a reason to unite with our own kind to deal with them?"

Overjoyed, the Golden Skeleton King nodded repeatedly and said, "What you say is entirely correct, Your Excellencies! Welcome, my brothers. With everyone's joining, we will be more than enough to wipe out those damned Holy Knights."

Spirit 01 said, "No, you misunderstand. For various reasons, it is not yet suitable for us to appear before the living world at present, so we will not take action."

"The assistance I speak of is providing you with a batch of equipment capable of eliminating the cardinals."

The Golden Skeleton King was slightly disappointed, but upon second thought, if these powerhouses joined its ranks, would it still be able to sit securely upon its throne?

Thinking of this, it felt that the other party's approach was the most appropriate after all. Immediately, gratitude colored its tone as it said, "Thank you very much, my friends. I wonder what kind of equipment you intend to assist us with."

The Golden Skeleton King was pragmatic; seeing that the super skeletons had no intention of joining their ranks, "brothers" instantly became "friends."

Spirit 01 raised the Asura Spear in its hand and said, "This is a divine artifact. Held in the hands of your personal guards, a single strike is enough to shatter a cardinal's defense. When a large number of divine artifacts are unleashed simultaneously, no matter how many cardinals there are, it won't be enough to kill them."

"If it is held in your own hands, even the Pope might not be able to block it—provided you manage to see the Pope."

The soul fire in the Golden Skeleton King's eyes flared brilliantly. As an extremely ancient skeleton, it naturally had never witnessed near-future projectile weapons like firearms.

Much like ancients encountering firearms, nine times out of ten it would mistake them for magical treasures or immortal artifacts.

"How many such divine artifacts can you provide?"

Spirit 01 raised three fingers and said, "3,000."

The Golden Skeleton King's soul fluctuation faltered for a moment. Then it looked to the left and to the right—no matter how it counted, the other party only had 92 weapons in total!

Spirit 01 said, "Don't bother looking. We naturally couldn't carry that many divine artifacts on us."

With that, it turned around, pointed toward Mount Erciyes a few kilometers away, and said, "The items are in a cave on that mountain. You can go retrieve them yourselves."

Turning back around, it continued, "Now I will teach you how to use this divine artifact. Send one of your subordinates over; your hands are too large and cannot use it."

The Golden Skeleton King felt rather depressed at this, but having no other choice, it called over one of its guards.

Spirit 01 handed an Asura Spear to the guard, first teaching it the proper stance for holding the gun before saying, "What you need to do next is very simple: input your soul power into it, and then pull the trigger."

"Bang."

The golden skeleton guard successfully learned how to fire the weapon. The soul fire in the eyes of the Golden Skeleton King flashing beside them, it said, "You just said this divine artifact can break a cardinal's defense with a single strike? I'd like to test that myself."

Spirit 01 said, "No problem."

The Golden Skeleton King walked fifty meters away, outputting golden soul power that rapidly condensed into a golden shield on its forearm.

Holding the golden shield before itself, it said, "Come on!"

Spirit 01 instructed the golden skeleton guard, "Input one-twentieth of your soul power, and then fire."

A Spirit Movement stage cultivator requires only one-tenth of their cultivation—namely ten percent—to shatter the defense of the Sun-Golden Wheel.

However, the defensive strength of the Golden Skeleton King was clearly far inferior to the Sun-Golden Wheel, roughly equivalent to the strength of Ziwei's own protective spiritual energy, meaning half that amount of cultivation was more than enough.

"Bang."

As the gunshot rang out, the golden shield of the Golden Skeleton King instantly shattered. It stared blankly at its forearm before saying excitedly, "How formidable!"

Spirit 01 took back its Asura Spear from the golden skeleton guard, saying to the Golden Skeleton King, "The weapons are on the mountain over there; go get them yourselves. If you perform well in this battle, I will grant you a wondrous stroke of good fortune. Farewell, and I wish you success."

With those final words, the 46 super skeletons vanished into thin air right before the eyes of the skeleton army.

Startled, the Golden Skeleton King swept its soul power outward, instantly blanketing a radius of two kilometers, yet it detected not a trace of unusual energy.

This phenomenon only served to heighten its apprehension. This group of peers was truly unfathomably mysterious; they likely hailed from a massive organization beyond its imagination. What could that "wondrous stroke of good fortune" they spoke of possibly be?

No matter; it would get its hands on the divine artifacts first. Tonight, it would slaughter those damned Holy Knights.