Chapter 13

White Leaf Village lay in Silence. A faint chill still seemed to linger in the air, but the houses had already fallen into ruin. A thick layer of ash covered the ground, and scattered remains could vaguely be seen amid the ashes.

Sui Xiong watched from afar, shook his head, and let out a deep sigh.

He already knew what had happened, and he also knew why the old high priest had suddenly plotted against him—good and evil had always been mortal enemies.

The struggle between good and evil, the struggle of ideals, the struggle of positions... put plainly, it was ideological conflict. On Earth, such conflict had once developed into two camps led by two superpowers, brandishing enough weapons of mass destruction to wipe out all humanity several times over. In this world, the various pantheons, nations, races, and sects were even more prone to fighting over ideology. Against that backdrop, the old high priest repaying kindness with betrayal and launching a vicious sneak attack was hardly remarkable.

But hundreds of people in all of White Leaf Village had lost their lives because one old high priest wanted to play at ideological conflict.

He did not regret striking with all his strength and inadvertently harming innocent people. Back then, he knew very little about this world and faced an enormous crisis. What was wrong with struggling with everything he had? Yet he was filled with sympathy for the villagers who had died unjustly. And he was deeply dissatisfied with this world, where ideological conflict was so sharp and fierce as to be incomprehensible.

"This world is seriously sick..."

With a sigh, he controlled the giant jellyfish and circled the village. Tentacles far stronger and more powerful than any hoe dug deep furrows into the ground, forming a simple magic array.

It was a protective array, capable of preventing the dead within it from turning into reanimated dead.

So-called reanimated dead were deceased creatures whose bodies became reactivated under the corrosion of dark power—what this world called negative energy—turning into mobile monsters. These monsters possessed no intelligence. Following the principle that positive and negative energy clashed, they instinctively attacked anything nearby that contained positive energy—most commonly, all kinds of living creatures.

Before crossing over, Sui Xiong had been a gaming enthusiast and had played many games. In his view, anything revived as a monster after death should be called undead. But in reality, the so-called "undead" were divided into two categories: reanimated dead and true undead. The former were merely mindless monsters, while the latter were dangerous demons with intelligence and power, capable of constantly growing stronger.

True undead came from many sources and had gods and demonic monsters backing them, making them a force not to be underestimated in this world. Reanimated dead, on the other hand, lacked even basic intelligence. They could not provide the power of faith and could not perform even slightly complicated work, so they received no attention or protection. Even most true undead despised them. They were the absolute bottom rung—even though many true undead had evolved from reanimated dead.

Yet it was precisely these lowly monsters that posed the greatest threat to the people living in Black Forest.

Black Forest's proper name was Ash Forest. Legend said that in the distant ancient past, some gods had fought a great battle here. The dead gods turned to ash and contaminated the forest. Since then, the forest had become a source of negative energy, constantly emitting it, corroding the surrounding land while merging and condensing every bone within the forest into reanimated dead.

Strangely, no matter how strong the reanimated dead here became, they never advanced. This made Ash Forest worthless even to villains seeking to recruit undead servants. The only people willing to cultivate land here were poor farmers.

By analyzing the power in the Shrine of the Sleepless God, Sui Xiong had already mastered a method of absorbing negative energy. The magic array he had designed now was meant to draw out the negative energy within it and disperse it into the distance.

Without the support of negative energy, the corpses of the dead would naturally not transform into reanimated dead.

Being huge was convenient. Sui Xiong used no tools at all; his powerful tentacles alone quickly completed the magic array. Thanks to the skills he had developed in the art department of a third-rate art school, the entire array was drawn perfectly, without the slightest flaw.

Before activating the magic array, he entered White Leaf Village once more and inspected it carefully.

This magic array would greatly reduce the concentration of negative energy within it. If undead had already appeared in the village, it would kill them.

True undead were rare, but there might still be an exception.

Just as he had guessed, he really did find an undead creature among the ruins.

It was a ghost with only its soul remaining, holding a fighting stance and battling enemies that did not exist.

Sui Xiong recognized it at once—bald, tall, quick-moving. Wasn't this the strongest warrior in the village?

According to the information obtained from the Shrine, this burly man was named Gerald Caban and had once been a mercenary. After offending an important figure outside, he fled to the remote Ash Forest to live in seclusion. He lacked faith and held no respect for gods, believing only in his own axe. Yet he loved lecturing others and enjoyed considerable prestige in the village, making him a thorn in the old high priest's side.

The powerful people of this world were roughly divided into three ranks: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The sign of advancement was a change in one's life form. Above Gold were the legendary creatures with long lives and overwhelming power, and beyond that... were gods and demons. Gerald and the old high priest were both Bronze-ranked. In terms of strength, twenty or thirty ordinary strong men would not be enough to fight either of them. But the old high priest was old and frail, while Gerald was in his prime. They had clashed several times, and the old high priest had always come out worse.

As a priest of an evil god, he had quite a few spells at his disposal. But Gerald was a seasoned veteran who had roamed the world for many years and was extremely cunning. He had never given the old high priest an opportunity to ambush him. Until that night of fierce battle, when the old high priest sacrificed himself to use Enslavement against Sui Xiong, only to drag Gerald and the entire village down with him.

Sui Xiong gazed at Gerald's ghost. Most of the soul's body had already become dim and insubstantial. Only a spark of light at the heart continued to pulse. If nothing unexpected happened, before long he would completely dissipate and become part of the negative energy filling all of Ash Forest.

But since Sui Xiong had arrived, there was still a turning point.

After thinking briefly, Sui Xiong released his magic power, forming it into a gray sphere that enveloped Gerald.

The sphere was filled with pure negative energy. Under Sui Xiong's control, it continuously seeped into Gerald's soul, rapidly strengthening the weakened ghost. Before long, the ghost's features became as clear as those of a living person, and the light of intelligence returned to his face.

He stopped, standing there and staring around in confusion.

"What... is going on?"

"You're dead," Sui Xiong said.

Gerald turned to look at the enormous Giant Beast. The confusion in his eyes had not completely faded. "But what exactly happened?"

Sui Xiong sighed and explained the entire sequence of events to him in detail.

"So that's how it was..." After listening to Sui Xiong's account, Gerald fell silent for a long time. In the end, all his emotions turned into a long sigh.

"What do you plan to do?" Seeing his low spirits, Sui Xiong asked. "Go to hell or go to a divine kingdom?"

In this world, if a dead soul did not wish to dissipate or become undead, it had only two destinations. It could either go to hell and gamble on its luck, seeing whether it would fall into an evil monster or enter the great River Styx that ran through countless worlds, washing away its past and entering reincarnation; or it could go to the divine kingdom of the god it worshipped, transform into a creature of that divine kingdom, live for some more years, and eventually merge completely into it, becoming part of the divine kingdom.

Sui Xiong had not obtained much information, so he did not really know what life in hell or a divine kingdom was like. But in his opinion, neither option seemed very good.

If someone wanted reincarnation, why not reincarnate directly? What was the point of becoming a monster first? Living in a divine kingdom was not necessarily bad, but why would one eventually have to merge into it and become building material?

Gerald was silent for a while before saying, "I once worshipped the God of Thieves, but later abandoned that faith. Now I am faithless, and no divine kingdom will take me in. As for hell... I don't want to go..."

"Then there's no other way. You only have two paths: dissipate or become undead. Which do you choose?" Sui Xiong said. "If you want to dissipate, then so be it. If you want to become undead, I have some skill at that too. I can help transform you, and at least preserve more of your sanity."

"I don't want to become a wraith or a death knight..."

"You're rather demanding."

Gerald smiled. "I never expected that when I was alive, I'd be chased like a dog by several Bronze-ranked assassins, yet after dying, I'd be chatting and laughing with a powerful legendary creature... Forget it. I've accepted it. Let me dissipate like this."

Death was the hardest thing to let go of through all the ages. Now that he had let even death go, his entire bearing became calmer and nobler.

But Sui Xiong did not want him to die completely like that. Gerald seemed like a decent man and had some ability. More importantly, he had traveled far and wide for many years, with broad knowledge and abundant experience. Sui Xiong was unfamiliar with this world, and the information from the Shrine looked less and less reliable the more he examined it. If he could win Gerald over and use him as a guide or something similar, it would certainly be much more convenient.

To say nothing else, if this bald guy pretended to be a great mage while Sui Xiong pretended to be the legendary creature he had summoned, it would save them a great deal of trouble! Sui Xiong was so huge that, without a suitable identity, he would surely cause panic the moment he went outside!

So he thought for a long while before finally making up his mind.

"Well... I'll try making you a new body..." he said.

"What?" Gerald froze, not understanding what he meant.

"I'll find a way to create a new body for you. See if you can attach yourself to it and come back to life."

Gerald was overjoyed, but he also hesitated—necromancy was infamous, and he could not help being afraid.

But then he reconsidered. Would such a powerful being really need to deceive a tiny mortal like him? In those folktales about devils tricking mortals into signing contracts, the victims were talented people with promising futures. Who would spend that kind of effort on a down-and-out adventurer who was already dead and on the verge of having his soul scattered? Wouldn't it be easier to simply cast a spell to command undead...

With that thought, he relaxed, though he could not help asking, "Can this really work?"

Sui Xiong chuckled. "Let's give it a try. You were already prepared to wait for death anyway. Even if the resurrection fails, you won't lose anything, right?"

Those words were extremely convincing. It was like someone who had already decided to quit a game anyway—what was wrong with using their account to test a cheat?

Okay, no problem!

After giving it some thought, Gerald accepted the proposal and began cooperating with Sui Xiong to recreate his body.

After reading the update, please remember to vote and support me. Your support is what motivates me to keep updating. Updates are posted daily at noon and 8 p.m.