"It's all burned up... not a drop left."
Xu Qing's face had gone pale, his lips tinged faintly purple. He had never felt this way before—not since awakening his Martial Soul.
Could Soul Power actually run out?
"Heh heh heh... It was just a reward, a little thank-you for these Level Six gauntlets."
"Young friend, you really don't mean what you say."
Elder Yi appeared, looking much more vigorous than before.
He raised one hand, and the pair of black gauntlets appeared out of thin air, flecked with golden patterns.
"I've already inscribed a spatial array on them. It's not large, only about a thousand cubic meters."
"Thanks, brother..."
Xu Qing grabbed Elder Yi's hand with difficulty and pulled himself up. Then he casually took the black gauntlets, so thin they were like cicada wings and so light they felt weightless.
He slipped them on with practiced ease.
Really, calling them gauntlets was a bit misleading. They were more like gloves.
"Ahh~ Cool and refreshing. In this scorching summer, they feel amazing."
Thanks to Sky Dream Ice Silkworm for the million-year insect skin!
Elder Yi half narrowed his eyes as he looked at Xu Qing and spoke softly:
"Little fellow, would you like to test out this weapon?"
"Oh? Elder Yi, do you want to spar with me?"
Xu Qing had clearly gotten the wrong idea, perhaps because he was overly tired.
"If that's the case, I think you should teach me how to use physical attacks to hurt a spirit body."
"Otherwise, I'm a physical-damage carry fighting someone immune to physical damage. No matter how you look at it, I can't win."
"..."
Elder Yi's already ashen face grew even grayer.
What was going on with this kid's thought process? What on earth was he babbling about?
How had he come up with the idea of fighting an old man like me?
And here I was, praising him for being polite. Now he wants to beat up an old man?
"Of course not. These past few days, I've not only been absorbing the life energy leaking from the Life Carving Knife, but also nourishing myself with the spiritual power overflowing from your Sea of Consciousness."
"So my strength has recovered fairly well. I can just barely use a few techniques now."
"For instance..."
Elder Yi's tone was mysterious. The gray mist around him slowly faded into transparency, melting into the air.
The moment he finished speaking, a purple ring about two meters across appeared in midair, three meters in front of Xu Qing.
A black speck of light appeared in the center of the ring. As Xu Qing watched thoughtfully,
six black lines gradually emerged and grew at an even pace toward the ring's edge.
The space itself seemed to be corroded, making a sound like water sizzling on burning firewood.
Sss, sss—
He could summon the Undead Demi-plane already?
Tsk, Elder Yi's getting a bit greedy...
I was wondering why my head hadn't been feeling like it was swelling lately. Turns out he ate the thing I'd been using to challenge the limits of my spiritual power growth rate.
Elder Yi: Six-six-six. That's the first time I've seen a human call the feeling of their Sea of Consciousness about to burst "challenging the limits."
Xu Qing: Old man, what do you know about Self's Undying? This is called conviction! A headache just means my brain's growing.
"Xu Qing, actually, this old man has many nicknames. My favorite is—"
Elder Yi clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at the slowly growing Gate of the Undead in the air, lost in memory.
"Scourge of the Undead."
"Haha... Doesn't it sound like something you young people would find cool?"
Xu Qing looked at Elder Yi in confusion, frowning.
The other man seemed to freeze up. He coughed a few times, then continued:
"Perhaps you don't know what that means. Heh heh heh... But you'll find out soon enough. I'm sure you'll like it."
An unfathomable number of undead creatures, completely immune to physical damage!!
They'd make the perfect sparring partners for you.
"Keeping secrets, huh~"
Even if you don't tell me, I know. Undead creatures, right!
Heh heh heh, the skeleton gold-farming server is here!
If you're a brother, come to the Undead Demi-plane and hack me to pieces!
Whoosh—
The disturbance in space finally subsided with a deep, muffled boom.
A massive black door appeared. Chilly air seeped through its cracks, only to be snuffed out the moment it emerged by the purple hexagram array on the ground.
Elder Yi saw Xu Qing pouting and felt thoroughly satisfied.
Old geezers liked teasing little kids.
Mm... little kids who were eleven years old and six feet tall.
He gave his sleeve a light wave, passed Xu Qing, and slipped through the doorway. His aged voice came from beyond the dimensions.
"Come in..."
Undead Demi-plane.
The Eclipse hung overhead like a dead eye. Purple light stained the entire demi-plane in the cold hues of a world between dusk and midnight.
The ground felt like bone ash beneath their feet. Countless skeletons sensed the presence of the living and struggled out of the earth, gripping bone knives as they set off.
Iron-green zombies were among them, their bellies swollen and corrupt fluids dripping from them as severed limbs kept falling off their bodies.
Headless horsemen on skeletal steeds even ambled across the hills.
"How is it? A scene beyond words, isn't it?"
"It's... downright awful."
Xu Qing's Soul Power surged. He didn't care what kind of commotion it caused as he swept the gray dust floating in the air away.
"Elder Yi, your taste still needs work."
"This place is way too gloomy. It doesn't suit a sunny young man like me at all."
"Why are all those wriggling weird creatures crawling over here...?"
Elder Yi froze for a few seconds, then summoned his staff and tapped Xu Qing on the shoulder, leaving a purple hexagram there.
"All right, this old man is going back to the Sea of Consciousness to rest. Go play on your own. If you run into danger or get tired, just touch this with your Soul Power or spiritual power."
"Then you'll be able to leave."
With that, Elder Yi stepped backward and vanished into thin air, his presence disappearing without a trace.
"Heh heh heh..."
Xu Qing rolled his shoulders, twisted his waist, and swung his hips around.
"You... feel like dancing too?"
Whoosh...
A bone-chilling breeze answered for the mindless undead.
The Bone Dragon that had been circling above the clouds sensed the Plane Master's presence vanish. It let out a long roar, broke through the thick clouds, and plunged downward!
"Roar—!!"
Then the skeletons, as if they'd heard a command, began to slowly converge on a single place.
The Place Without Sky or Earth—the tower platform Xu Qing had just formed with Ultimate Ice.
It stood more than thirty meters off the ground, with ice pillars crisscrossing and bracing one another.
"Rumble—!!!"
At that moment, a storm formed from countless swirling grains of sand appeared high above the demi-plane!
Dozens-of-meters-long Bone Dragons swam through the towering tempest, charging toward the platform Xu Qing had built.
"Whoosh..."
A faint sound rang out. Behind Xu Qing, his silver-white Self Martial Soul suddenly appeared!
Then, Martial Soul Possession!
"Heh heh hahahaha!!"
"First Soul Skill..."
A massive golden ring, a million years old, appeared out of thin air and enveloped the surrounding area, forming a striking contrast with the ice blue beneath his feet.
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