"The World of the Undead?"
Kong Deming's throat bobbed as he looked around. In this quiet and dark world, a column of skeleton soldiers was marching toward them. It seemed they had detected the presence of several unfamiliar auras and were patrolling their territory.
Even with his strength, Kong Deming could feel a faint sense of danger in this world.
"That's right, though it might be renamed soon…" Xu Cheng said as he gently touched the skeletal soldier before him. This was one of the lowest-tier undead, only about the level of a Soul GrandMaster. These chili-style skeletons were cute in appearance but otherwise completely useless.
The skeleton suddenly gave a sharp salute, as if subconsciously recognizing Xu Cheng as a former emperor it had served.
But its arm snapped off due to the force of the salute and fell to the ground with a clack.
"Heh heh…"
Xu Cheng chuckled.
"My teacher passed this world down to me. I can open the gate connecting both realms at will, and even control the undead here through spiritual power."
He snapped his fingers, and the disorganized ranks of chibi undead soldiers immediately halted. The leading one quickly picked up its fallen arm and reattached it to its shoulder with a snap, pretending like nothing had happened.
"Roooar!"
A dragon's roar echoed.
From the distant dark sky, ripples began to spread.
A bone dragon nearly a kilometer in length slowly emerged through the black mist, raising its head and looming before the group. It gazed down upon them from above, its eyes filled with remnants of ancient pride. Ghostly blue flames flickered in its hollow sockets.
"This is… the bloodline of a true dragon! All these undead were dragons with extremely pure bloodlines before their deaths!" Jing Hongchen exclaimed in awe.
"It's hard to imagine such a vast undead realm being controlled by your teacher. Old Cheng, your recent breakthrough in research, your sudden progress—could it also be related to Xu Cheng's teacher?" Kong Deming joked with a laugh.
But there was no response for a while.
He turned his head, puzzled, to look at Old Cheng, who was simply smiling without saying a word.
"You damn liar! You told me you had a rebirth experience and made a breakthrough before dying!"
"You little bastard, look me in the eyes!!!"
Kong Deming's veins popped in rage. The two of them were both mentors and peers—figures from the same era and both titans in the research world.
It was like discovering your best friend had been cheating all along while you were still playing fair.
Xu Cheng watched the two titans of the soul engineering world bickering and mock-choking each other with no dignity, and he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.
But in the next moment, he too was surprised.
"Elder Yi?"
"Yes! I've gained new enlightenment recently!" Electrolux's voice was filled with barely contained excitement, and he even gestured animatedly, not at all concerned about the puzzled stares from the others. He continued, "I've found the authority of death! In the future, if I want to take complete control, I can use this plane as an anchor. As for your idea of the Netherworld and the River of the Dead—feasible! Once my divine consciousness recovers a bit more, we can begin!"
Xu Cheng's face lit up with joy.
"Reviving the dead, rebuilding flesh and bone, cycling between life and death, endless reincarnation… So this is the true meaning of death! Hahaha! I've understood, I've truly understood!"
Electrolux laughed heartily as his figure gradually faded away.
Leaving the rest of the group dumbfounded.
Kong Deming's throat bobbed again.
"If I heard correctly, that man just mentioned the authority of death… Could it be he was a god in his previous life?!!"
The surrounding powerhouses also nodded, all looking expectantly at Xu Cheng.
"That's right. He is my teacher—Undead Calamity, Electrolux. If you want to call him a god… You wouldn't be wrong. He nearly toppled his world by himself, his power surpassing most ordinary deities. Even in our world, he would rival the gods."
Xu Cheng didn't bother explaining things like God Kings.
He just shrugged.
"This space? He made it out of nothing."
"Undead Calamity…" Xu Jiangnian whispered, his eyes filled with awe. "What a name. Truly extraordinary."
Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock.
"Wait—what did you just say?! He created this space out of thin air?!"
You must understand that even after tens of thousands of years of history on the Douluo Continent, gods remain mysterious and powerful. Very few are documented with confirmed authenticity. Even the legendary and powerful Tang San couldn't create a space on the same level as the Douluo Star out of thin air.
Such a feat would require the power of a Creator God!
Everyone turned to stare at Xu Cheng with deadpan expressions.
You're saying someone like that… is your teacher?!!
And he just handed you this kind of space like it was nothing?!
"Fuck!"
Jing Hongchen finally cursed aloud.
Truly, comparison only leads to despair.
"And you, Old Cheng… You know how to hide things…"
"This is Xu Cheng's good fortune. Just be glad you're along for the ride—cling to his thigh and count your blessings," Old Cheng said calmly."Besides, the artificial soul rings are nearly complete. Once we fully bring the Star Dou Forest under our control, we can begin dividing the original continent."
"You succeeded?" A flash of delight crossed Xu Cheng's face.
Old Cheng had always been cautious. For him to say this meant the results were real.
"Yes, but we can currently only replicate soul rings of up to ten thousand years. All attributes can be simulated. The hundred-thousand-year soul rings remain a bottleneck, partly due to limited materials. Even in the Star Dou Forest, it's extremely difficult to find suitable hundred-thousand-year soul beasts for experimentation."
"The soul skills obtained are a bit like opening a loot box, but they're also closely tied to the user's talent."
"Oh, and—there's no soul shock."
Old Cheng smiled.
"Ah!" Xu Cheng gasped slightly.
He had never suffered this kind of torment, purely due to his freakish talent. The souls of soul beasts always obediently behaved in his spiritual sea after death.
But it was very different for others.
Soul shock was unique to ten-thousand-year soul beasts. When absorbing a soul ring, they would strike a human's spiritual world. Those with insufficient strength could end up mentally damaged or even brain-dead from absorbing one prematurely.
That's why most people only began trying ten-thousand-year soul rings by their fifth ring.
But if there's no soul shock, the threshold for absorption would drastically decrease!
Even those with slightly above-average talent might absorb ten-thousand-year soul rings by their third ring!
For the Sun Moon Empire, this would be an achievement worthy of the history books.
"Heh, just yesterday, a Soul Elder absorbed a ten-thousand-year ring and advanced to Soul Ancestor. His talent is pretty average by Mingde Hall's standards, but he had zero issues. As for you… Well, your talent is beyond my comprehension," Old Cheng said with a grin.
"Once I optimize things a bit more and fix a few bugs, it'll be ready. The cost to condense each soul ring isn't cheap, but it's still far more economical than going out and hunting soul beasts."
"Honestly, I'm thinking of patenting it. This thing is going to be a cash cow in the future."
Old Cheng chuckled brightly.
(End of Chapter)