Death God Hall

However, seeing so many powerful Undead Creatures within Death God Castle still made Bai Xiaowen quite eager.

Through the Visage of the Death God Mask, he released Death God's Power and tried to influence these Undead Creatures, making them serve him.

In Bai Xiaowen's view, it was understandable that the Divine Bloodline Grade Undead Creature at the entrance—the Gargoyle—could not be taken under his command. After all, Divine Descendant Creatures possessed divinity. But these High King Rank Undead Creatures before him were worth a try.

No one knew what dangers Death God Castle concealed, or what trials still awaited before he obtained the Death God's final bone.

Making preparations and increasing the team's combat strength could never be a bad thing.

Sure enough, just as Bai Xiaowen had expected, the Visage of the Death God combined with Death God's Power could influence the vast majority of creatures in the castle and bring them under his command!

The conversion process was somewhat lengthy, though. Bai Xiaowen had to remain within ten meters of the target for at least ten seconds—and the more powerful the Undead Creature, the longer it took.

Bai Xiaowen was patient. He converted the High King Rank Undead Creatures along the way. Though it took quite some time, his forces gradually grew stronger.

Along the way, Bai Xiaowen also encountered quite a few maze-like forks that required solving puzzles. They felt somewhat similar to Amotawa Underground Palace on the Black Tide Plane, though they were more difficult.

Of course, that level of difficulty was still no match for Bai Xiaowen.

After pushing open one heavy rusted iron door after another and passing through one moldy corridor after another, Bai Xiaowen finally arrived at a grand and magnificent hall.

The vaulted ceiling rose several hundred meters high and was carved with all manner of strange reliefs. There were Skeleton Knights with three white skulls and blood-red armor; Banshee Queens whose bodies were entirely pale, with bloody tears streaming from both eyes; and monsters curled into shapeless masses, like countless wriggling earthworms clumped together.

The entire place felt cold and sinister.

The hall's interior was vast, its end nearly impossible to see at a glance. Pillars like mountain peaks supported the ceiling, their sides likewise covered in cold, sinister reliefs.

The floor of the hall sloped downward on all sides, while the center rose up like a gentle hill.

Coffins of all sizes were scattered everywhere. Notably, they were arranged somewhat haphazardly, and some coffin lids had not even been fully closed, which did not quite fit the hall's solemn, chilling atmosphere.

At the center of the hall, at its highest point, lay a black coffin adorned with elaborate carvings and numerous symbols etched in God's Script. A faint resonance came from within it. Wearing the Visage of the Death God Mask, Bai Xiaowen could clearly sense the mask throbbing.

Clearly, inside the black coffin was the final piece of Death God Bones—the most important torso bone.

The lid of this black coffin was also tilted to one side, as though someone had opened it before.

Bai Xiaowen glanced behind him. The several dozen High King Rank Undead Creatures he had additionally controlled stood there silently, awaiting his orders.

"You. Go over."

Bai Xiaowen controlled one of them, a four-meter-tall Giant Bone Hound. It was a Level 18 Bone Clan creature with a King Rank template.

The Giant Bone Hound leaped nimbly through the hall without touching a single coffin.

Crack!

The sounds of nails popping free and coffin lids sliding open rang out.

One powerful Undead Creature after another crawled out of the coffins!

At the same time, an invisible Rune light screen lit up over the entrance to the passage Bai Xiaowen had entered through, cutting off his retreat.

Bai Xiaowen's eyelid twitched slightly.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, this hall was the most terrifying place in all of Death God Castle. These hundreds, perhaps thousands, of coffins all held powerful Undead Creatures in slumber!

Anyone else, even a powerful Chosen, would have faced an enormous crisis.

"Fortunately, I have the Visage of the Death God. I have Death God's Power. I am the Death God's successor..."

Bai Xiaowen tried to activate Death God's Power and use the mask to influence the newly appeared Undead Creatures.

But Bai Xiaowen suddenly noticed that something was wrong.

The influence had no effect!

Bai Xiaowen's mind immediately sharpened to the utmost, forming a Spirit Power Ray as he focused on sensing the conditions of several nearby Undead Creatures.

From Bai Xiaowen's Spirit Power perspective, these Undead Creatures possessed no ability to act independently. It was as if several invisible Puppet Threads extended from the void, controlling them and manipulating their movements.

At the same time, they regarded every Living Being and Undead Creature not belonging to this hall as enemies!

The feeling was inexplicably familiar.

Crack!

A massive skeletal hand reached out from the coffin closest to the Giant Bone Hound and suddenly seized the hound's leg bone.

The Giant Bone Hound let out a soul-deep Roar, then turned and spat out a crackling black energy sphere surrounded by powerful currents of dark Spiritual Power.

With a thunderous boom, the energy sphere struck the coffin containing the skeletal hand and shattered it. The skeletal hand loosened as a result, and amid flying dust and fragments, an equally massive Skeleton Knight rose to its feet.

This Skeleton Knight had lost one bone claw.

The Giant Bone Hound and Skeleton Knight were both High King Rank creatures of similar strength. The difference was that the Giant Bone Hound received a boost from Bai Xiaowen, the Death God's successor. The aura emitted by the Visage of the Death God could not only impose Suppression on hostile Undead Creatures, but also grant bonuses to allied ones.

However, even a good dog could not withstand a pack of wolves.

As coffins continued to burst open with repeated cracking sounds, more and more slumbering Undead tore open their coffins and rose, flooding over the Giant Bone Hound.

Sharp black energy blades dismembered the Giant Bone Hound.

Bai Xiaowen had lost a High King Rank fighter, but he was not distressed. He still had several dozen such fighters beside him, all of them lured into his service along the way through Death God Castle.

Now, the most important thing was to find the source of the "Puppet Threads"—the Mastermind controlling the slumbering Undead Creatures in the hall—and defeat him.

"Array Formation."

Bai Xiaowen's consciousness instantly split into multiple streams as he meticulously controlled several dozen High King Rank Undead Creatures, arranging them into a Solid Wall Formation before him.

There was no helping it. These Undead Creatures had never undergone formation training, nor did they understand the coordination needed for combined Spiritual Power attacks. Bai Xiaowen had to employ the precise control ability he had gained from the Spirit Guide, making several dozen individuals move as one, before they could successfully form up and coordinate their attacks.

Spirit Power Manifestation took shape above Bai Xiaowen's head.

This time, the Spirit Power Manifestation evolved into a Giant Shadow holding a black Giant Scythe and a book in one hand.

Death God Manifestation!

"It seems to have been affected by this hall." Bai Xiaowen silently assessed the situation.

As the Undead Creatures pounced one after another, their movements stiffened when they approached the Firm Wall Formation, like robots that had gone too long without maintenance or lubricating oil.

Within ten meters of Bai Xiaowen, the Visage of the Death God exerted even stronger influence, trying to convert hostile and neutral Undead Creatures!

If not for the Puppet Threads, these Undead Creatures would have defected long ago.