The Essence of Undead Operation

The tender protective membrane stretched wider bit by bit like flowers in early spring. Within those delicate leafy membranes, crisscrossing dragon meridians began to emerge. Like sprawling highways, they extended straight from the gums into the Corpse Dragon's head.

Unlike normal bright-red meridians, these were filled with densely packed red particles, and among those particles were even more completely pale grains the size of rice.

Li Ziran drew a breath. He had overlooked one detail—the one detail he should never have overlooked.

The difference between life and death.

He had treated this Corpse Dragon as a living species. As long as it was alive, it would be controlled by nerves. Yet the gradual shriveling and decay before him told him that this behemoth no longer had any nerves at all.

How could he make this big fellow move? The answer was simple: an Undead Mage. Unfortunately, that was precisely the field Li Ziran understood least.

He felt somewhat relieved.

This was a genuine problem, so there was no need to deliberately put on an act.

"Li, there's still a way, right?" Karen asked hopefully. "You definitely have a way. Your experience tells me that you're an experienced Organ Witch Doctor!"

Experience?

Li Ziran shot Karen an odd look. That word put him on guard. Perhaps this was Karen's greatest ability, but the current situation was entirely Li Ziran's weak spot. If it had been a living dragon, he might have had a solution. But a dead thing...

There was nothing he could do!

"There is a way, but that would require me to be a Necromancer and understand how the undead actually operate!" Li Ziran said with a bitter smile. "Unfortunately, I don't know the first thing about that. Sorry, Karen. I truly wanted to complete this mission—not just for you, but for myself as well. After all, this is a dragon."

Silence quickly descended over the dragon's gums. Karen looked terrible, his eyes fixed tightly upon that intricate neural network.

From time to time, he reached his hand inside, closed his eyes, and sensed it, looking just like an old traditional physician taking someone's pulse.

Li Ziran also studied the dragon nerves exuding a rotten stench. He wanted to use knowledge from Earth to untangle the problem before him, purely as an exploration of his own field.

Unfortunately, no matter how advanced medical civilization became, there might be a solution before death. But once death came, even the finest professors would give up immediately.

The dead could not be treated.

That was basic medical common sense. Though Li Ziran wanted to make one last effort, reality told him to accept this failure.

If neural surgery could truly be performed on a corpse, Li Ziran would rather believe he was genuinely caught in some conspiracy.

Because if it succeeded, it would truly be a new field he had never set foot in.

Karen said nothing, but someone else's face went even paler—the mantis blade wielder fortunate enough to have come up here. His two bulging eyes kept darting between the two men, and with every glance, his face turned another shade whiter.

He understood his current predicament better than anyone. If the mission failed, the two people before him might only suffer a minor loss, but he would be punished directly by Captain Giant Elephant. Whether he became cannon fodder or a corpse after torture, neither outcome was good.

"Mr. Karen, there's always a way to solve anything, isn't there?" he asked tremblingly.

Karen raised his head and glanced at him, then expressionlessly returned his gaze to the neural network. His fingers pressed bit by bit upon the nerve endings, lightly flicking them with his index finger.

But he looked despondent.

The mantis turned his gaze toward Li Ziran again, like a drowning man clutching at a lifesaving straw. "Mr. Li, the captain invested heavily in this dragon and has great expectations for you. If we can't complete the mission in time, our Cannon Slave Corps may be destroyed here as well. You understand how serious this is."

Such a grave warning coming from a mantis's mouth had a peculiar flavor to it. Li Ziran had not considered things so dire. When catastrophe came crashing down, he would simply find a way to hide.

Still, he could imagine that the financial resources consumed by such an enormous Corpse Dragon could not possibly be a small sum.

Precisely because the number was so enormous, Li Ziran had no initiative to act. He merely wanted to see how much influence he could have over this Corpse Dragon, even if he could not modify its teeth.

Perhaps he did not even need an answer. Li Ziran could already guess it.

Negligible.

Li Ziran did not reply, nor was there any need to. What he needed to consider now was how to escape, not waste time.

But just as he was racking his brains for a way out, Karen suddenly spoke.

"If you understood the operating principles of the undead, would you have a way?"

The question came abruptly, as though Karen had made an enormous decision.

Li Ziran gave a start and blurted out instinctively, "I could basically complete it, but I wouldn't dare guarantee it absolutely..."

The moment he finished speaking, he regretted it. This person seemed to understand organ transplantation even better than he did.

"Good!" Karen interrupted him before he could continue. Raising his head, his eyes suddenly turned silver as he shouted at Li Ziran, "Look into my eyes!"

Li Ziran only felt a strange force forcibly lift his head. At that moment, he saw the most unbelievable sight.

Karen's irises were silver. Within those pupils was a vortex, and that vortex carried a peculiar suction force as it began madly tearing at Li Ziran's spiritual power.

In an instant, Li Ziran's spiritual space collapsed. What little spiritual power he possessed was torn directly to pieces.

"Psychic Mage!"

Medusa's startled cry suddenly rang out in Li Ziran's mind, but it quickly fell silent.

Li Ziran could not feel any of that. What he sensed at that moment was a hurricane spinning at terrifying speed like a tornado, its winds tearing at his thoughts and spiraling endlessly toward the sky.

Sizzle!

A scarlet flame was pulled out and destroyed within the hurricane. A wisp of azure wind blade was pulled free as well, shattering amid the hurricane's rotation. A chunk of yellow earth rose from the ground and was extinguished, while a clear drop of water appeared and evaporated at once.

Fire, wind, earth, water!

At that moment, Li Ziran inexplicably sensed vast elemental power. Those powers were vanishing, yet the hurricane in his mind had not disappeared. Instead, it spun ever more violently.

As it rotated at high speed, a strand of light was finally pulled free and shot straight into the hurricane's very center. The instant that light vanished, Li Ziran fell completely into darkness. Both thought and vision disappeared utterly, and he felt as though he had been cast into an ethereal universe of nothingness.

Yet that vast hurricane still raged. After an unknown amount of time, Li Ziran suddenly felt a black speck dragged out by the hurricane. At that moment, there was no color in his vision, no gloom—only absolute, complete whiteness.

Yet amid that whiteness, thread after thread of bizarre energy was still being drawn out, like moisture evaporating into the air.

Strand after strand drifted into the hurricane and was torn to pieces.

After an unknown period of time, the hurricane suddenly stopped.

Li Ziran sensed a peculiar chill. It was not ice, but a chill that froze the soul. That coldness was completely freezing his soul.

Or rather, his soul was transforming into a kind of frozen energy. Beneath the hurricane, he sensed a pale pool of water gathering drop by drop toward the center.

Clang!

Li Ziran opened his eyes. In his mind, pale rivers seemed to stretch infinitely from beneath his feet, crossing one another ahead of him and outlining the shape of a giant dragon.

Beneath the dragon was an enormous circular magic formation. At its center were thirteen pale straight lines, forming two inverted hexagrams.

The two hexagrams slowly revolved. Each time they collided, a thread of pale power was squeezed out and injected into the dragon's network.

This was...

The flow network of Necromantic Power!

The foundation that allowed the entire Corpse Dragon to move. And those two inverted hexagrams were precisely the Corpse Dragon Summoning Formation for this mission.

Li Ziran's throat tightened. This was the first time since arriving in this world that he had so clearly sensed an energy beyond his understanding. At the moment the limitless elements were extracted, a spring had been nourished within him.

That spring was like a well of magic, allowing him to touch a world the naked eye could never capture.

So Necromantic Power meant stripping away every last trace of element. It was entirely contrary to the Elemental Tide upon which living beings depended.

If living things relied on elemental energy within the Elemental Tide, then the undead could not contain even the slightest trace of an element.

Completely discarding the elements gave birth to Undead Force. This was the most mysterious power of all.

"Karen... this is..."

Li Ziran came to his senses. What had seemed like a long time had actually taken only an instant.

Looking at Karen, it was obvious that all of this had been his doing. Li Ziran could not imagine what kind of person could make a magic idiot like him comprehend magic.

Psychic Mage!

He suddenly recalled Medusa's abrupt remark. It was the most mysterious profession from the human kingdoms. With powerful spiritual force, they could infiltrate others' minds to read memories and even control them completely.

Your experience?

Li Ziran recalled Karen's earlier words. Karen had infiltrated his mind, yet he had not noticed in the slightest. No wonder Karen had such confidence in him. No wonder he could perfectly control his slave corps.

Along with his shock, a deep sense of danger rose within him.

Today's operation... could it have been for Karen to practice on?

A strange suspicion suddenly came to Li Ziran. Ever since they had arrived at the dragon's gums, this man had seemed more like an Organ Witch Doctor.

"It's nothing. Just the inheritance of an Undead Mage. Congratulations—you've become an Undead Apprentice. Now, can you tell me whether you're confident you can complete this tooth transplant?" Karen's smile had vanished, replaced by a majesty that should not have belonged to someone his age.

"Of course!" Li Ziran nodded. At this point, he could no longer refuse, but he needed to verify his suspicion.

Was the other party really stealing his skills?