Undead Space.
Skeleton soldiers marched in formation.
In their hollow eye sockets, pale blue ghostly flames flickered.
Xu Cheng examined them, as if inspecting soldiers who once carried weapons in life.
According to Elder Yi, most of these skeleton soldiers were transformed after dying in battle against his undead army.
Electrolux truly lived up to his name as the Calamity of the Undead.
Wherever he went, not even grass could grow. The bone dragons, knight soldiers, and various bizarre creatures in this undead space all originated from those conquests.
This space was initially created by him as a means to observe death and understand its meaning.
Now, it was filled with a deathly silence—and slowly falling under his complete control.
Xu Cheng opened his palm.
From the bodies of the soldiers who had just marched past, clusters of soul flames suddenly emerged, floating before Xu Cheng like ghostly lotuses. In the pitch-black surroundings, they appeared especially bright and eerie.
At the same moment the souls left their shells, the skeletons collapsed to the ground, shattering into scattered bones.
"Is this life?" Xu Cheng murmured.
He could clearly sense the presence of souls within these undead—yet it felt as though something was missing.
The souls were clean, pure white, as flawless as newborn infants.
But they could not think. They were like numb, emotionless spirits.
"If we're being strict about definitions, they do count as life. Though transformed into undead, from the moment they changed, they began a new life..." Electrolux appeared beside Xu Cheng at some point.
He had no legs—drifting like a ghost.
The two stood atop a high mountain, overlooking the entire undead world.
"From the moment they were transformed?"
Xu Cheng pursed his lips. The moment Elder Yi described sounded much like the transition between life and death for an ordinary person.
"By the way, Elder Yi, can you control the laws of death in this world?" Xu Cheng suddenly asked, as if a thought had struck him.
"The laws of death? In my current fragmented soul state, it's not quite enough. But once I recover a bit more, I might be able to give it a try," Electrolux said, deep in thought.
"You mean… there's no god of death in this world?" Xu Cheng's eyes narrowed.
"From what I can sense, there isn't. The death authority in this world remains untouched by any deity. It's chaotic, disorganized—far inferior to the world of my past life. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare speak so boldly if a godly throne were already in charge," said Electrolux.
Whether a divine authority was held by a god mattered greatly.
If the authority of death was truly in the hands of a god, trying to steal it would be nearly impossible—unless Electrolux's complete form descended personally.
"So? You have another idea? Go on, tell your teacher," Electrolux said with a smile.
"Do you think this world is complete?" Xu Cheng countered.
"It's not. In fact, I'd say it's more of a space than a true world. From the very beginning, it was just a tool I created to study death. Who would've thought that over countless years, it would evolve into what it is today," Electrolux sighed.
"These undead creatures—though their souls are lacking, they're able to grow stronger..."
"Perhaps… they're not lacking," a flash of excitement lit up Xu Cheng's eyes.
The boundary between life and death.
Between the living and the undead.
Perhaps it was already very close.
In other words, Elder Yi may have unknowingly touched upon the true threshold between life and death.
Simply put, in Xu Cheng's original world, there's a belief: after death, a soul enters the underworld, drinks the Soup of Forgetfulness offered by Lady Meng, is guided by Ox-Head and Horse-Face, judged before the Yama Kings, and then either reincarnates or falls into eternal hell.
The process of transforming a living soul into an undead—just now, when Xu Cheng sensed the souls, they were like newborn infants, ignorant and pure. In other words, like beings about to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.
As for why they hadn't gained intelligence even after so long—why they hadn't grown like human babies?
It was because something was missing from this world.
After listening to Xu Cheng's explanation, Electrolux lowered his head in thought for a long while before he finally came to and patted Xu Cheng's shoulder:
"I understand what you mean, Ah Cheng. What you've said… perhaps that is the true meaning of death."
He exhaled deeply.
"From now on, I'll focus on restoring my power and prepare to seize the authority of death..."
"That might not be enough," Xu Cheng closed his eyes.
Was the disorder of death's order in this world solely because there was no god of death to oversee it?
Perhaps the abyssal creatures had interfered as well...
Not long ago, Xu Cheng had stirred the authority of the undead world, and from the perspective of death, looked down upon the Douluo Planet. He had noticed something wrong.
At the boundary of shadows, countless souls drifted. Some were lucky and entered reincarnation through fragmented laws, but many simply wandered without guidance or order.
And some beings that didn't even belong to Douluo Planet had mingled among these drifting souls.
Elder Yi had likely noticed this as well, but knowing his personality, he probably wouldn't care much...
In truth, there was another sign proving the death laws in the Douluo World were incomplete:
The widespread rise of evil soul masters.
Many evil soul masters gained strength by devouring souls. Examples include someone from the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, Aversion, and Ye Yeshui's Death God Tower. They captured souls and forced them into eternal servitude—not destroying them, but imprisoning them forever.
If the death laws were complete, there wouldn't be so many souls that could be trapped. No matter how powerful Ye Yeshui was, even a Limit Douluo couldn't go against the laws of death.
Souls would enter reincarnation—not be treated as tools by evil soul masters.
A flicker of excitement passed through Xu Cheng's expression.
If he could succeed, this would be a legendary, world-altering good deed.
The system's rewards would be beyond imagination.
In the original story, the Abyssal Plane was a chaotic mix of species from across the universe—collectively known as abyssal creatures. But unlike planets, it had substantive differences.
They sought to devour entire planets to grow stronger—and they had their eyes on Douluo.
Our God-King Tang San eventually discovered a major issue with Douluo Continent: the growing conflict between humans and soul beasts, and the looming depletion of all resources.
So, he launched a millennia-long plan.
He lured the Abyssal Plane in, planning to personally suppress its strongest beings and guide Douluo Planet in devouring the Abyssal Plane instead.
But unexpectedly, midway through this plan, the God Realm was swept away by a space storm...
Leaving Douluo Planet to face the abyssal threat alone. Humanity suffered great casualties from the powerful abyssal creatures.
Let's set aside the absurdity of God-King Tang's plan. What Xu Cheng found more interesting was—why had the abyssal creatures shown up early?
Could it be… another trick of Tang San's?
Either way, it was a good thing.
A faint smile crossed Xu Cheng's face.
"Elder Yi, this world... still lacks a few things."
"Lacks what?" Electrolux rubbed his chin, curious.
"A river. The power of judgment. And a name," Xu Cheng replied with a smile.
"The Netherworld."
(End of Chapter)