Free Web NovelChapter 1258: Chapter 73: Enlightenment
The hand of the Undead Elder was raised, his wrinkled hand trembling slightly.
Ding ling~
Beside him, the Undead Elder rang the bell, and at that moment, an undead sitting cross-legged under the Tree of Shelter opened its eyes, flames like green blaze burning within. Its bare chest was full of scars.
With several leaps, the shirtless undead arrived in front of the treehouse. After tidying up its appearance, it raised its hand and knocked on the wooden door lightly.
"Come in."
An aged voice came from within the wooden door. The undead outside gently pushed the door open, and as he saw the scene inside, his pupils shrank rapidly, a terrifying aura exploding forth.
"Enlightenment, what’s wrong?"
The shirtless undead hurried forward. The elder sitting on the wooden bed lifted his head, blood covering his mouth and nose.
"Iron Hand Bai Ye, find him and kill him. Only then will we have a future."
The Undead Elder pressed a single hand to his chest area.
"Dig out my heart; it will guide you."
After uttering these words, the Undead Elder lost his strength, leaning against the wooden wall behind him as the wall’s branches enveloped him.
"En...Enlightenment."
The shirtless undead froze in place, tears rolling down his cheeks. His strength even surpassed Dunk Nik, whom he frequently sparred with, and he never lost to Dunk Nik before his death.
Two hours later, cries rose and fell from beneath the Tree of Shelter, thousands of undead kneeling around it, some heartbroken, others half-fainted from crying.
Undead King Semiel kneeled on one knee in front of the Tree of Shelter. The Undead King was passed down generation after generation, while ’Enlightenment’ was a rare occurrence once in a century. To the undead, each generation’s ’Enlightenment’ was their most revered figure, a firefly guiding in the dark night.
Enlightenment did not interfere with the undead’s military or finances, but his sole purpose was to ensure the survival of the undead clan. Without Enlightenment, the undead would have disappeared millennia ago.
Undead King Semiel held a bleeding heart with both hands, an imprint upon it. If Su Xiao saw this imprint, he would be astonished to find it resembled the one on his hand by over 90%.
"Cease the war with the Human Race."
Undead King Semiel stood, raising the heart high.
"Find that human, kill him, and use his blood to commemorate Enlightenment."
...
Within the Undead Spirit Area, in the Kronin Desert.
Su Xiao walked in the desert, yellow hues as far as the eye could see. Whenever sandstorms arose, large swaths of rocks and dry grass were swept along.
Su Xiao had been deep within the undead’s territory for over two hours. The map he possessed was somewhat crude, but it was sufficient to determine his approximate current location.
Su Xiao ventured here alone, deep within enemy territory. Earlier, he went past a small village, where he encountered an undead civilian, even intentionally getting discovered by the other party as a test to see if he was adversarial to all undead.
The Undead Farmer, upon seeing Su Xiao, instinctively retreated a few steps, then pathetically lay on the ground, raising his hands high.
In prolonged wars, those who endure the most agony are not the soldiers, for even if they die in battle, they suffer only briefly, whereas humans and undead civilians suffer the burden of ongoing conflict.
Human appearances on undead land were not rare occurrences. When large-scale wars broke out, small factions would inevitably be scattered, subsequently infiltrating each other’s lands.
The farmer’s reaction assured Su Xiao of one thing: his imprint did not provoke hatred from all undead. For instance, this undead showed only fear and no other emotion, overwhelmed with fear to forget hatred.
To be sure, Su Xiao deliberately displayed the imprint on his hand to the farmer, who looked confused, then, after contemplating a while, offered a thumbs-up to Su Xiao, driven by a strong desire for survival.
The danger might not stem from the hatred attracted by the imprint, puzzling Su Xiao. Even if the undead pursued him, there must be a reason; Reincarnation Paradise couldn’t possibly manipulate the undead into hunting him.
Unbeknownst to Su Xiao, Reincarnation Paradise did not control the undead, but it did cause the death of their Enlightenment and showed him a terrifying vision.
Initially, the imprint on Enlightenment’s heart couldn’t completely pinpoint Su Xiao’s location; it only informed the undead of his general area. In such a situation, the undead needed to dispatch troops for search missions, so Su Xiao would only encounter small factions, marking the initial phase.
Once the undead confirmed Su Xiao’s location, their vast army would launch an attack, moving Su Xiao into the second phase—Survival Phase.
Following the deployment of the undead army were the Undead Strongmen. When the undead dispatched these elites, Su Xiao then entered the third stage—Purgatory Phase.
After the third phase lasted for six hours, it would transition into the fourth stage—Nightmare Phase, the final stage. By then, Su Xiao would not only face the undead’s siege but also be repelled by this world.
Su Xiao sat under a tree, a cigarette between his lips, a map in hand, while Bubu Wang lay nearby, sound asleep.
From the Human Capital to the undead’s territory, Su Xiao hadn’t paused even briefly and felt some fatigue, which led to his decision to rest for an hour.
The location where Su Xiao currently rested was approximately 200 kilometers from the Wall of God. There was a long way yet to reach Dark Moon Marsh—even without rest and at full speed, it would take over ten hours.
The Relic of the Annihilation Law was near Dark Moon Marsh. Su Xiao’s plan was straightforward, relying on the relic to complete the Adventure group’s ascension assessment. As long as he remained within the relic, the undead could do nothing but watch helplessly.
The relic was very close to the undead’s capital, yet none of the undead had ever managed to enter it, indicating one thing: the undead couldn’t access it.
Considering this, Su Xiao dropped the cigarette butt from his hand and stood up. As long as he could reach the relic before the undead army encircled him, he would achieve success.
"Let’s go."
Su Xiao awakened Bubu Wang and called A Mu, who was gnawing on a tree trunk, back. They set off again.
At full speed, time flew by quickly. Eight hours later, a slightly breathless Su Xiao halted, and the sound of something falling came from behind him. It was Bubu Wang and A Mu, exhausted and rolling their eyes.
Do not assume that running for eight hours is easy. With Su Xiao moving at high speed, Bubu Wang and A Mu needed to exert themselves fully to barely keep up.
Su Xiao stopped, sweat droplets dripping from his chin, not because he was fatigued, but because the environment was eerily quiet.
Suddenly, Su Xiao vaguely heard the sound of metal clashing, coming from dozens of meters away. He drew his long knife from his waist and swung it forward.
Clang.
The pale blue Blade Aura separated from the blade, slicing forward, eventually cutting into the soil dozens of meters away.
A ditch several meters deep appeared, holding a corpse cleaved into two halves, still clutching a metal ball.
Ka-da, ka-cha...
The metal ball rotated, and a finger-thick barrel emerged, releasing with a whoosh a red smoke that shot into the sky at high speed before exploding with a roar.
Despite it being daytime, the crimson smoke ball in the sky was conspicuously bright and lingered for a long time.
At this moment, Su Xiao was 425 kilometers from Dark Moon Marsh and 436 kilometers from the Relic of the Annihilation Law.
The initial phase had begun—no, the initial phase wouldn’t last long, for the vast undead army was about to assail, shifting Su Xiao into the Survival Phase.
