Chapter 73: Enlightenment
The undead elder raised his hand, his wrinkled fingers trembling slightly.
*Ding ling~*
The undead elder pulled the bell beside him. The moment it rang, an undead sitting cross-legged under the Shelter Tree opened its eyes. Within its pupils, it was as if green flames were burning, and its bare upper body was covered in scars.
After a few leaps, the bare-chested undead arrived before the treehouse. He first straightened his attire, then raised his hand to lightly knock on the wooden door.
"Come in."
An aged voice came from within the wooden door. The undead clan member outside gently pushed the door open. When he saw the scene inside the treehouse, his pupils rapidly constricted, and an incredibly terrifying aura erupted.
"Enlightenment, what happened to you?"
The bare-chested undead quickly stepped forward. The undead elder sitting on the wooden bed lifted his head, his mouth and nose covered in blood.
"Iron... Iron Hand · Bai Ye, find him, kill him. Only then will the undead clan have a future."
The undead elder pressed one hand against his chest.
"Dig out my heart. My heart will guide you."
After speaking these words, the undead elder lost his strength and leaned back against the wooden wall behind him. The branches and leaves on the wall wrapped around him.
"En... Enlightenment."
The bare-chested undead stood frozen in place, tears streaming down his cheeks. His strength even surpassed Dunk · Nick. He often sparred with Dunk · Nick, and until the latter's death, Dunk · Nick had never once defeated him.
Two hours later, waves of sobbing rose from beneath the Shelter Tree. Tens of thousands of undead clan members knelt around the Shelter Tree. Some were heartbroken, others had already fainted from crying.
Undead King · Senmaier knelt on one knee before the Shelter Tree. The title of Undead King would be passed down through generations, but an 'Enlightenment' appeared only once every hundred years. For the undead clan, every generation's 'Enlightenment' was their most revered figure—a firefly guiding the way in the dark night.
The Enlightenment did not interfere with the undead clan's military power, finances, or the like. His sole purpose was to ensure the undead clan's survival. Without the Enlightenment, the undead clan would have perished a thousand years ago.
Undead King · Senmaier held a bleeding heart in both hands. On this heart was a mark. If Su Xiao saw this mark, he would be astonished to find that its similarity to the mark on his own hand exceeded 90%.
"Cease the war with the humans."
Undead King · Senmaier stood up, raising the heart high.
"Find that human. Kill him. Use his blood to honor the Enlightenment."
...
Within the undead clan's territory, the Kroeinny Desert.
Su Xiao walked across the desert. As far as the eye could see, everything was a hazy yellow. Whenever a sandstorm surged, large amounts of gravel and withered grass would sweep in.
Su Xiao had been deep in undead territory for over two hours. The map he had was somewhat crude, but it was enough for him to determine his approximate location.
By venturing this deep, he was alone in enemy territory. Earlier, he had passed by a small village. Near that village, he had found an undead civilian and deliberately let himself be discovered. He was testing whether he was hostile to all undead.
When the undead farmer saw Su Xiao, he instinctively stepped back several paces and, utterly spineless, lay flat on the ground with his hands raised.
In prolonged wars, it was not the soldiers who suffered the most. Even if they died in battle, their pain was fleeting. But the civilians of both humans and undead endured the hardships of war year after year.
A human appearing in undead territory was not a rare occurrence. Once large-scale wars broke out between the two sides, small units would inevitably be scattered and end up wandering through each other's lands.
The undead farmer's reaction confirmed one thing for Su Xiao: the mark on his hand did not draw the hatred of all undead. For instance, this undead showed nothing but fear in his eyes—nothing else. His fear was so great that he forgot to hate.
To be safe, Su Xiao deliberately showed the mark on his hand to the other party. The undead farmer was utterly bewildered. After thinking for a long time, he gave Su Xiao a thumbs-up. His will to survive was strong.
Perhaps the danger did not come from the hatred drawn by the mark. This left Su Xiao puzzled. Even if the undead clan was hunting him, there had to be a reason. The Reincarnation Paradise was unlikely to be manipulating the undead clan to chase him.
What Su Xiao did not know was that the Reincarnation Paradise had indeed not manipulated the undead clan. However, the Reincarnation Paradise had killed the undead clan's Enlightenment and made him see a certain vision—a very terrifying vision.
The mark on the Enlightenment's heart could not fully lock onto Su Xiao's position at first. It only allowed the undead clan to know the general area where Su Xiao was. In this situation, if the undead clan wanted to find Su Xiao, they would need to send out troops to search. Thus, Su Xiao would only encounter small units. This was the initial phase.
Once the undead clan confirmed Su Xiao's location, a vast army would surround him. When the undead clan mobilized large-scale forces, Su Xiao would enter the second phase—the survival phase.
After the undead army was deployed, the undead elites would follow. When the undead clan dispatched these elites, Su Xiao would enter the third phase—the inferno phase.
When the third phase lasted for six hours, it would enter the fourth phase—the nightmare phase. This was the final stage. At this point, Su Xiao would not only face the undead clan's siege but also be rejected by this world itself.
Su Xiao sat under a tree, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he held a map. Beside him, Bubu Wang lay on the ground, snoring loudly.
From the human capital to the undead territory, Su Xiao had not rested for a moment. Now, he was inevitably a bit tired, so he decided to rest for an hour.
Su Xiao's current location was about 200 kilometers from the God Wall. To reach the Dark Moon Swamp, there was still a long way to go. Even if he did not stop for a moment and moved at full speed, it would take over ten hours.
The Law-Destroying Shadow ruins were near the Dark Moon Swamp. Su Xiao's plan was simple and brutal: use the Law-Destroying Shadow ruins to complete the adventure group's promotion assessment. As long as he stayed inside the ruins, the undead clan could only stare helplessly.
The Law-Destroying Shadow ruins were very close to the undead clan's capital, yet no undead had ever been able to enter. This could only mean one thing: the undead could not get in.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao flicked away the cigarette butt, stood up, and thought, as long as he reached the Law-Destroying Shadow ruins before being surrounded by the undead army, he would win.
"Let's go."
Su Xiao woke Bubu Wang and called back Amu, who was gnawing on a tree trunk. The group set off again.
Traveling at full speed, time passed quickly. Eight hours later, a slightly breathless Su Xiao stopped. Behind him came the sound of falling bodies—it was Bubu Wang and Amu, both exhausted to the point of rolling their eyes.
Do not think that traveling at full speed for eight hours was easy. Under Su Xiao's high-speed movement, Bubu Wang and Amu could only barely keep up at their maximum speed.
Su Xiao stopped in place, sweat dripping from his chin. The reason he stopped here was not because his stamina had given out, but because the surroundings were too quiet—eerily quiet.
Suddenly, Su Xiao faintly heard the sound of metal clashing. The noise came from a few dozen meters away. He drew the long blade at his waist and made a slashing motion into the air.
*Zheng.*
A pale blue blade aura detached from the edge, slashing forward and eventually cutting into the soil a few dozen meters away.
A trench several meters deep appeared. Inside the trench was a corpse cut in two. The corpse still held a metal ball in its hand.
*Click, clack...*
The metal ball rotated, and a finger-thick cylinder popped out. With a *whoosh*, a red smoke shot straight into the sky, moving extremely fast, and finally exploded with a bang.
Although it was daytime, the red smoke ball in the sky was particularly conspicuous and lingered for a long time.
At this moment, Su Xiao was still 425 kilometers from the Dark Moon Swamp and 436 kilometers from the Law-Destroying Shadow ruins.
The initial phase had begun. No, it would be more accurate to say that the initial phase would soon end. The vast undead army was about to descend, and Su Xiao would enter the survival phase.