Sensing the presence of the living, the undead charged like mad toward the gate to the Undead Demiplane that Electrolux had opened. They could hardly wait to leave the Undead Demiplane and slaughter.
"Retreat!"
At Electrolux's command, all the undead frantically retreated as though they had encountered their natural enemy.
Several skeletal foot soldiers who ran the slowest even had their heads knocked off in the crush.
Unable to see the way, they had no choice but to stop, pick up their skulls from the ground, and run off with long strides, carrying them in their arms.
With the undead creatures no longer interfering, Electrolux dispersed the staff in his hand and reached into the Undead Demiplane.
"Yang Xingchen's" hand closed gently, and vast swathes of pure death power surged into "Yang Xingchen's" palm.
Only when the undead power in "Yang Xingchen's" hand reached saturation did the undead power around his palm gradually disperse, leaving just a dark red pearl resting quietly in "Yang Xingchen's" palm.
"This is the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl I condensed for you. When you cultivate, activate it with Soul Power, and it will release pure undead presence to temper your spiritual power."
"Once you have exhausted the undead presence stored within it, you can begin practicing Necromancy."
After explaining the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl, Electrolux returned control of the body to Yang Xingchen and turned into a mass of gray energy, remaining in a corner of Yang Xingchen's Spiritual Sea.
The moment Yang Xingchen regained control of his body, he pinched the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl in his palm between his fingers and held it before his eyes, examining it in the sunlight.
Under the sunlight, ghostlike white phantoms swam wildly within the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl.
When they noticed Yang Xingchen watching them, the white phantoms vanished in unison, replaced by pairs of blood-red eyes pressed against the pearl's inner surface, staring fixedly at Yang Xingchen.
"Teacher truly lives up to his title as the Holy Necromancer. Even an undead creation he casually made is this sinister. Anyone a little less courageous would probably have been scared out of their wits by now."
After getting a fright, Yang Xingchen decisively looked away from the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl. This thing was far too sinister.
It had clearly been condensed from pure undead power, yet to Yang Xingchen, it felt as though Electrolux had fused together the flesh, blood, and souls of a heap of living creatures to make it.
An hour later, Yang Xingchen felt he had adjusted his condition and was ready to use the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl. He found a relatively open spot, sat cross-legged, and took the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl out of Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
"Snow Empress, if you notice anything wrong with my mind later, please use your power to bring me back to my senses immediately. Sorry for the trouble."
Recalling the instructions Electrolux had given him before falling asleep, Yang Xingchen specifically entrusted Snow Empress with this task, in case the undead power affected his faculties during his first use of the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl.
"If I freeze you into catching a cold, I won't take responsibility."
Hearing this, Snow Empress, who was refining Emperor Mirror: Thousand Illusions Without a Trace, specifically issued a disclaimer. If she wanted to unleash Ultimate Ice capable of affecting the soul, Yang Xingchen's slight frame might not withstand the power she would need to use.
"Surely it won't come to that? My body endured even the fourth seal. How could you possibly freeze me into catching a cold!"
"Achoo! Snow Empress, you-you never told me you would freeze me for half an hour!"
Wrapped in three quilts, Yang Xingchen sat cross-legged before the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, trembling all over.
"I already warned you. Besides, you've used Ultimate Ice so many times yourself. You ought to know that casually unleashing Ultimate Ice can't affect the soul!"
Snow Empress had been studying Emperor Mirror: Thousand Illusions Without a Trace in his Spiritual Sea and acted the instant she noticed something wrong with Yang Xingchen, but she still failed to stop the undead power from affecting his soul.
In just a few breaths, Yang Xingchen's Spiritual Sea was stained dark red by the violent undead power, and an evil, savage presence filled every corner of it.
To prevent the undead power from damaging Yang Xingchen's Spiritual Sea, Snow Empress immediately unleashed her power, freezing his entire body into an ice sculpture to let him "cool down."
"Still, with this lesson, I more or less know how much undead power I can withstand. From now on, I'll keep each cultivation session under half an hour."
When the undead power had affected his soul earlier, an intensely seductive voice had urged Yang Xingchen to indulge his desire to kill.
But before Yang Xingchen could react, he had completely lost consciousness. When he came to again, Snow Empress had already frozen him into an ice sculpture.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
At that moment, Yang Xingchen was cultivating cross-legged beside the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Most of the dark red color of the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl in his hand had long since faded, revealing a grayish-white hue.
A moment later, Yang Xingchen's clothes and hair stirred without wind, and ripples rose across the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
A wave of spiritual power centered on Yang Xingchen instantly swept over the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"The method Electrolux gave him works surprisingly well!"
"Yang Xingchen's total spiritual power clearly hasn't increased, yet the strength of the presence he unleashes is several times greater than before."
Snow Empress could not help marveling. As expected, even though someone who had nearly become a god was now merely a fragment of divine consciousness, his methods remained extraordinary.
If Snow Empress had to do it herself, she would be groping in the dark. Soul Beasts truly could not compare to humans when it came to spiritual power and souls.
Even if the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, a spiritual-type Soul Beast, were brought here, Snow Empress did not think he could surpass Electrolux in the application of spiritual power.
The instant Yang Xingchen opened his eyes, the spiritual fluctuations that had enveloped the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well vanished.
"What a surprise. You actually finished tempering your spiritual power so quickly!"
The sleeping Electrolux woke immediately upon sensing the dense spiritual power Yang Xingchen displayed.
According to Electrolux's original expectations, Yang Xingchen would need at least two or three months to finish tempering his spiritual power after receiving the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl.
After all, cultivating with the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl for too long would temporarily affect Yang Xingchen's faculties.
But all of that had been predicated on Yang Xingchen being someone who followed the rules.
"I'm the Holy Necromancer's disciple, after all. Of course my cultivation speed would be different from an ordinary person's."
Yang Xingchen answered Electrolux with a smile and held the now completely grayish-white Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl out before him.
"Teacher, is this Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl still useful?"
Watching the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl roll between his fingertips, Yang Xingchen questioned Electrolux with some curiosity.
When the last wisp of undead power disappeared, Yang Xingchen had quietly circulated his Soul Power to test the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl's hardness.
Yang Xingchen discovered that the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl showed no sign of damage even after taking an impact at fifty percent of his Soul Power.
He had therefore conceived the idea of using the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl, now devoid of undead power, to make a hidden weapon.
"How could it not be useful? I didn't expend all that effort just to make a disposable cultivation tool!"
"From now on, this will be your aid in casting Necromancy. This world has no magic staves, so I had no choice but to resort to this."
Having recovered a little of his power, Electrolux curled a finger, and the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl flew before him.
Using his finger as a brush and his own power as ink, Electrolux inscribed runes Yang Xingchen had never seen before onto the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl.
The instant Electrolux set his finger to it, the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl erupted with a powerful suction, swallowing the Heaven and Earth Yuan Power within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well like a whale.
This continued for a full quarter of an hour before the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl was finally "fed." It stopped absorbing Heaven and Earth Yuan Power and dropped into Yang Xingchen's hand.
If the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl without any trace of undead power had previously looked like an ordinary grayish-white pearl,
then the Undead Soul-Devouring Pearl now looked like a precious pearl shrouded in gray mist.
"Next, I will teach you what Necromancy is!"