The Corpse Industry Chain

If the Devouring Curse is the foundation of a wizard's power, then curses are the wizard's means of survival in this world.

A wizard who cannot cast curses is destined to be disliked by any power.

Although the book in my hand is not thick, it contains the essence of all the Frogfolk wizards' knowledge.

Each Tadpole Script meticulously records the materials, magic circles, rituals, and utensils required for the curse, even down to the order of their placement. The most important element is the spiritual Sacrifice.

The caster infuses their spiritual energy into the spell array they have drawn. The spell array compresses the spiritual energy, turning it into a primal Curse Primer. Under the influence of the spell array, the Curse Primer gradually forms a primal Curse Grudge Force, thereby triggering the curse.

After that, it is necessary to continuously generate the Curse Grudge Force, condense and compress the Curse Grudge Force, and finally produce a fully formed curse power.

Li Ziran was somewhat excited because the word "comprehension" was not mentioned in the entire Curse Book, which meant that there was no need to communicate with the unique Elemental Bug that were nowhere to be found, unlike with Healing Curse.

Objectively speaking, as long as you follow the specific steps and procedures exactly, you can make the Elemental Bug gather and achieve the effect of a curse.

The casting steps are similar to those of a Transformation Spell, only a bit more complicated.

Li Ziran is least afraid of trouble. As long as it's not something like comprehending elements, he's confident he can master it.

This is the very foundation of a wizard's survival, yet his master was completely unwilling to teach him this technique, ultimately due to the backlash inherent in the curse itself.

Mental power is the key to unlocking a curse, and it also tightly binds the caster to the curse.

The longer the curse lasts, the stronger the connection becomes. When the curse reaches its full eruption, the two spirits are almost completely merged. In the final eruption, the caster's spiritual power is completely transformed into a part of the curse.

This is a long and complex process. If the curse is interrupted due to external reasons, the Curse Grudge Force in the curse array will be returned to the caster. The curse will spread uncontrollably in the Spirit World and eventually even infect the mysterious Soul Realm, thus completely destroying itself.

The curse is powerful, but its backlash causes many wizards to die in agony.

Li Ziran couldn't help but imagine the horror of peeling off his skin layer by layer until not a single piece of skin remained, leaving only bare flesh.

And the festering sores caused by the Sludge Curse —just thinking about them sends chills down my spine.

Li Ziran could understand his teacher's good intentions; without a certain level of spiritual cultivation, it was clear that he would not be able to control such methods.

This is not a joke, but a misfortune that could very well befall me.

But he has to give it a try. He can't back down just because it's dangerous, or he'll quickly become mediocre, and mediocrity means losing the very foundation of competitiveness.

"Isn't that right!" Jili still had a smile on her face. She didn't understand Tadpole Script and had no idea what the two books she had given away represented. Right now, all she could think about was how many girls Li Ziran could train.

Li Ziran smiled and nodded. "That's right, it's the teacher's stuff. San Niang, go out and pick a girl."

As if receiving an order, Jili rushed out the door and sprinted down the stairs; the sound of roll call could be heard even from one floor away.

Li Ziran sat on the large soft chair, put the precious Curse Book into his spatial ring, and stared blankly at the Mill ceiling.

This involves both the casting and uncasting of a spell.

There are two ways to completely remove the curse. The first is to break the spiritual energy contained within the curse, which is the Curse Primer. This is very difficult, as this spiritual energy is contained within layers of curses. Only by having dozens of times more spiritual energy to break down the mysterious curse layer by layer can it be broken.

The second method is the simplest and most common on the Red Soil Continent: follow the spiritual power to find the caster, kill them, and once the caster dies, the spiritual power immediately dissipates. Without its Origin Essence, the curse will also disappear.

Li Ziran looked at his still noticeably stiff arm and felt a faint stinging pain under his ribs, and smiled bitterly to himself.

The Medusa Bloodline Curse is more difficult to deal with than ordinary curses. In addition to breaking the Curse Grudge Force, it also requires dismantling the bloodline surrounding it, making it extremely difficult.

As for killing the spellcaster, Annie now has the Swamp Dragon Heart, or Medusa, while Li Ziran, standing on tiptoe, looked at Anfuni was quietly waiting outside, and when he looked at the Copper-Yellow Frog, he immediately gave up.

He wanted to live a little longer.

Fortunately, the curse wasn't deadly. Although it stung a bit, it was bearable, and there was no sign of it getting worse.

It seems we can only wait until his mental strength is stronger enough to dissect bloodlines or see the Curse Grudge Force, which would basically break the curse. Besides, he now possesses the Devouring Curse, so there's no need to worry about his mental strength increasing.

Slowly pulling himself out of his thoughts, he realized he needed to go home. He wondered if his little home had changed in the few months he'd been back.

To be honest, after traveling through the Wasteland, I quite miss this place that allowed me to stay.

When Li Ziran came down from the third floor, ten Rainbow-tail Girl were already waiting for him. Each of them was incredibly pure and charming. They were laughing and joking together, but when they saw Li Ziran come down, they all quieted down, looking very nervous.

"You're very lively!" Li Ziran smiled. He was only twenty-two years old, but he seemed like a middle-aged man. It was probably because he had been under too much pressure lately and hadn't had the time to relax.

It has to be said that Jili put a lot of effort into it. These girls were all around fifteen or sixteen years old, with skin as smooth as if they had been coated with lotion. Knowing that Li Ziran liked big curly hair and perfume, all the girls had permed their hair. The two slightly older girls in the middle had even dyed their colorful hair golden, which sparkled in the sunlight.

That's so extravagant!

In the Wasteland where life is difficult, there is simply no spare money to spend on such useless decorations.

The large, golden curls were still damp, clearly indicating they hadn't been permed or dyed long ago, entirely to cater to Li Ziran's taste. As for perfume, Jili made sure every girl smelled wonderful.

"What liveliness? They're just ignorant little girls. You can do whatever you want with them!" Jili chuckled, but when her gaze turned to the girls, her face instantly turned serious, and she scolded them directly, "Don't be so impulsive when you go out. Don't let Ziran's youth fool you; he's got a lot of skills. Learn a little and you'll live comfortably for the rest of your lives. Let me tell you, Ziran has a good temper and won't kill you, but I'm warning you now: if you're sent back, I'll sell you all to the Ogre and have you all eaten. Also, take good care of Ziran. He's a man, so there are many things that are inconvenient for him. You have to take care of him, be considerate of him, and show it through your actions..."

"San Niang, I think we should go!" Li Ziran quickly interrupted, knowing that if they continued talking like this, they might start talking about their old profession again.

Jili chuckled, clearly realizing she'd gone a bit too far. "Of course, then I won't keep you any longer. By the way, while you were away, I've had people tidying up the cottage, especially your back garden; I haven't let anyone in."

Li Ziran nodded, indicating that he appreciated the gesture, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, he went downstairs.

Anfuni, who was waiting on the first floor, was already impatient. As soon as she saw Li Ziran, she urged him, "What have you been doing up there for so long?" When she saw the neat row of Rainbow-tail Girl behind him, she became even more unhappy. "What do you need them for?"

"My place needs some help to manage," Li Ziran said.

"Manage? So many people?" Anfuni didn't believe it at all. Even if manpower was needed, it didn't have to be all such young and energetic people.

Li Ziran ignored him and walked straight ahead.

Blackwind Pass is a straight town with only one road in the middle. There are simple storefronts on both sides of the road, but behind the storefronts is the most valuable part of the town.

The warehouse of the corpse transporters.

These were underground spaces where corpse transporters from afar would store the bodies in the basements, then quietly line up to sell them to Necromancer for money.

The entire Blackwind Pass was entirely dedicated to serving the three Necromancer.

Necromancer need a huge number of corpses, so naturally, many creatures in the Wasteland form merchant caravans to transport corpses. Some large corpse transport groups even enter human areas and the Rhine Grassland to buy corpses.

This has become a system; roughly a third of the corpses in the Wasteland end up in Blackwind Pass.

Such horrific corpses surged towards Blackwind Pass, but they couldn't be carelessly thrown into the nearby Corpse Mountain. These corpses all needed to be inspected by the Necromancer's Apprentice, who would then offer appropriate prices based on their quality.

Only the most worthless and worthless corpses are thrown into the Corpse Mountain to rot slowly. This will earn the corpse transport team one copper coin. After that, some relatively intact corpses will become the simplest Skeleton under the command of the Necromancer. These Skeleton generally don't have much combat power and are considered cannon fodder. Their price is roughly between 2 and 5 copper coins.

As for the higher-quality corpses, the Apprentice would actively select them and store them in the Corpse Repository. These corpses accounted for less than one-tenth of the entire corpse transport team, but they were the most profitable batch of corpses.

Because the Necromancer would personally inspect these corpses, the price would rise to between 13 and 30 copper coins, and that's the kind of corpses Li Ziran was dealing with.

As for high-quality items, such as advanced human mages, High Elves corpses, or advanced Beast Race warriors, the price will be increased to 50 copper coins. These are enough to barely create Corpse Witch, Zombie, or Undead knights.

There were even more unusual corpses above, but those were incredibly valuable, and only large Slave-Catching Group could supply them. At least the corpse transporters in Blackwind Pass didn't have that capability.

Even so, this consumption of corpses is enough to support the corpse industry in Blackwind Pass.

Li Ziran walked down the street, greeting the corpse carriers next to him. He knew these people quite well, since they all made a living from the same pot.

Before they knew it, they were out of the whole street. Anfuni followed behind, wondering why the boy had left the town. But soon her expression brightened as she smelled a familiar scent of moisture.

Having spent so much time in the Wasteland, she had almost forgotten what Water Element like.

But soon, he frowned; the dampness carried a pungent, fishy smell, like some kind of sweat.

At the edge of Blackwind Pass Town, a rare meadow came into view. In the very center of the meadow was a sizable pond. At the top of the pond was a huge transparent canvas net, and at the very front of the canvas net was a two-story wooden building.

There's a wooden sign in front of the small building that clearly reads, "Li Ziran is not home. Leave a message if you need anything!"