The bad news brought by Big Boss sent a surge of blood to Chen Xu’s head.
Although he had already broken through to the eternal-tier and merging more space fragments would no longer allow him to advance his realm, the special territories of the Undead Divine Court were a vital component of his strength. His undead troop bonuses and various other functions all relied on these space fragments.
Moreover, even if they couldn't raise his realm, the boost to his mental strength from merging space fragments was very real.
Now, hearing that his space fragments had been stolen, he couldn't help but be furious.
“Give me the details. What exactly happened?”
“Sigh.”
Big Boss let out a sigh, beckoned toward someone behind Chen Xu, and shouted loudly.
“Vagi, Kane, get over here!”
A tall tauren scurried over eagerly. He was one of the members of the merchant caravan that had just emerged from the teleportation array.
“Boss Big Boss.”
Two voices rang out simultaneously. One was as dull as a bell, coming from the tauren, while the other was high-pitched and shrill, coming from the tauren's arms.
A green head poked out from the tauren's embrace—it was actually a goblin.
It was a strange combination: a small, cunning goblin and a simple, honest tauren mixed together.
“This is Lord Chen Xu.”
“Lord Chen Xu!” the two cried in unison.
Chen Xu nodded and asked, “What’s the situation? How did you suddenly get robbed?”
Kane the tauren spoke first. “It was a group of cosmic pirates! We had just finished our last trade with Heaven and received payment. As we were returning along the Cosmic Sea Star Corridor, we ran into that group of cosmic pirates.”
Vagi the goblin added, “The original administrator of that region, the Morton Civilization, has been affected by the war between Heaven and Hell and is unable to manage the star corridor. It’s been occupied by the notorious Gnoll Pirate Crew.”
A hint of fear appeared on Kane's face as he continued, “We were ambushed, and our escort was crushed instantly. Their pirate crew has several mythic-tier powerhouses.”
“And that's not all!” Vagi cut in excitedly. “They stole our goods and ignored the rules of the myriad worlds. They even tried to kill us merchants! Poor Pusa and Pur... the sisters were kidnapped by them.”
“In the end, they declared that if anyone wants to use this star corridor in the future, they have to pay a tribute. The passage fee is a hundred Divine Power Crystals per person, every single time.”
At this point, two tears actually rolled down Vagi's face. It was unclear if he was crying for the two kidnapped sisters or for the hundred-crystal toll.
Hearing this, Big Boss raised an eyebrow. His lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he held back.
Chen Xu turned to look at him. “What is it?”
“My Lord, a head tax of a hundred Divine Power Crystals... they are clearly making it impossible to cooperate. Even the most powerful cosmic pirates in the myriad worlds—the Interstellar Vicious Beast Pirate Crew, known as the cosmic emperors—only charge a toll of twenty crystals.”
“Furthermore, those people only took the sisters, Pusa and Pur, while leaving the rest of the team behind. This is definitely no ordinary group of bandits.”
“What race are Pusa and Pur?”
“My Lord, they are very rare variant Night Goatmen. They were born with a mutation that turned their fur from black to white. To be able to pick them out specifically means they aren't ordinary cosmic pirates. There must be a powerful slave trading organization behind them.”
In the myriad worlds, the trade of people and the trade of goods were two completely different fields. Big Boss and his Wanbao Pavilion dealt in traditional goods.
Compared to goods merchants, slave traders who dealt in human traffic were all ruthless individuals who lived on the edge. This was especially true for the great slave traders who crossed multiple worlds to capture slaves; they were the worst of the worst.
Slaves and populations were very sought-after commodities. They could be used as sacrificial materials for cults, as resources for evil cultivators to practice their arts, or sold to gods to be brainwashed into followers.
A slave trader capable of cooperating with such villainous factions was naturally no simple character.
However, 'simple' was a relative term. To Big Boss, they were certainly not simple, but to Chen Xu—an eternal-tier necrotic archduke and the future Lord of the Undead—cosmic pirates and slave traders were all trash.
Just now, Chen Xu had searched through the inherited knowledge of the Lord of the Undead for information on cosmic pirates. He found only a few brief mentions, more like a general glossary of terms for the myriad worlds.
Something that didn't even qualify for a detailed entry in the inheritance was not worth Chen Xu's concern. They were just some dregs who dared to steal his things.
It just so happened that the large batch of newborn undead spawned by the necrotic tide in the Land of the Undead had yet to experience actual combat. He would use these cosmic pirates as an appetizer to test the waters.
Chen Xu then turned his gaze to the goblin.
“Vagi, right?”
“Yes, my Lord!”
Hearing Chen Xu call his name, Vagi detected a hint of anger in his tone. He shuddered, shaking the tears from his face, and lowered his head to reply.
“Did you leave any traceable marks on those people?”
It was well known that goblins were an extremely vengeful race. If you offended a goblin, you had better hope it never became stronger than you. Otherwise, a goblin would cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers to seek its revenge.
When they were weaker than their enemies, goblins would use various methods to leave marks on them, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike back.
This was why Chen Xu asked Vagi.
“Oh, of course.” Vagi pulled a crystal bottle from his robe. Inside was an insect resembling a scarab, its back covered in strange patterns. “My Lord, when those despicable bandits reached out to snatch the goods from Kane, I secretly left a mark on them. This Soul-Seeking Bug can guide you to their location.”
“Very good.”
Chen Xu manipulated his mental strength to take the crystal bottle.
Then, with a thought, four wisps of his soul split off, transforming into four Black Knights.
“My Lord.”
The four Black Knights knelt on one knee before Chen Xu.
Chen Xu tossed the crystal bottle to one of them.
“Xuan Zhou, Xuan Hong, Xuan Huang... and as for you.”
Chen Xu pondered for a moment. He had used up the characters for the universe, the primordial, and the desolate. Next, he would use the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
“Xuan Jia.”
“We thank our Lord for the names.”
“The four of you, take the newborns from the Land of the Undead and the Undead Divine Court. Go and teach those insolent bandits a lesson. Oh, and make it a loud one.”
“As you command.”
The four turned to leave to assemble the army. Chen Xu watched their departing backs and felt that four mythic-tier generals might not be enough of a guarantee, so he called out to them again.
“Wait.”
He snapped his fingers, teleporting Zhenyuan, Bone Guard Two, and the soul beast Hades over.
“The three of you go as well.”
“We obey your will.”
Bone Guard Two bowed slightly. Zhenyuan waved its Yin Stone, its paper cranes fluttering excitedly. Since the necrotic tide, Zhenyuan had been confined to the territory by Chen Xu and was bored to death every day.
The wild power within it made it crave battle, but everyone in the territory knew Zhenyuan was not to be trifled with, so no one was willing to fight it.
Now, it finally had a chance to release its long-suppressed battle intent.
With a flash, Zhenyuan appeared behind the four Black Knights. It used its branches to push them forward while wrapping another branch around one of Hades' legs, dragging the soul beast along despite its protesting roars.
Seeing this, Chen Xu shook his head. The wild beastification aftereffects of the Tree-Born Worms were quite strong; the naturally quiet Heaven-Earth Spiritual Root had actually turned into a battle maniac.
After arranging the revenge plan, Chen Xu looked up at Guixu in the sky. The mages of the Eternal Heart civilization were busy with construction. It just so happened that he needed a set of experimental instruments to analyze the demon blood and the angel light wing fragments he had just obtained.
With a teleport, he arrived atop Guixu. Gandalf sensed the spatial fluctuation and Chen Xu's soul aura and immediately came to greet him.
“Hahaha, Sir Chen Xu, it’s been a long time.”
...
On a certain drifting celestial body in the Cosmic Sea, blood flowed like a river, bones were exposed, and wails filled the air.
“Undead! It’s the undead!”
“Tree demon! Where are the fire mages? Where are the interstellar ships? Why aren't they firing!”
“Ah... Mercy! I’m just a captured slave, I’m not a pirate, I’m not a—”
Before he could finish, a branch sprouted from the ground, piercing through the pirate's head.
“Fight! Fight!”
Zhenyuan let out a sinister roar, its battle intent soaring. Above it, a massive phantom of the Ginseng Fruit Tree loomed, baring its claws and fangs with overwhelming might. A terrifying pressure enveloped the entire celestial body.
Even the allied undead forces found it difficult to move under this aura.
The phantom of the Ginseng Fruit Tree released a terrifying wave of energy. Under its influence, the corpses of the fallen bandits actually floated up, drifting toward the tree phantom.
From a distance, the hanging corpses looked like fruits growing on the tree.
Bone Guard Two, holding a spear, had just finished off a bandit. Seeing the scene in the sky, he let out a sigh of admiration.
“A natural-born Lord of the Undead... As expected of one who obtained the inheritance as a living being. Even his Heaven-Earth Spiritual Root has undergone such a transformation.”
Unfortunately, Bone Guard Two's words were not sent through the soul channel; otherwise, Chen Xu would have surely dragged him out and sued him for slander.
After a long time, only two living beings remained on the celestial body: two trembling attendants from the Wanbao Pavilion.
The terror of the undead army was soul-shaking. Even though they were battlefield journalists arranged by Big Boss and knew these undead were allies who wouldn't harm them, they couldn't help but feel fear.
Enduring their terror, they used their instruments to take photos of the surrounding battlefield and the phantom of the Ginseng Fruit Tree in the sky—no, it should be called the Human-Corpse Fruit Tree.
...
A few days later, the photo of the Human-Corpse Fruit Tree spread throughout the myriad worlds via the Wanbao Pavilion's sales network.
Becoming equally famous alongside the photo were the massive hordes of the undead army pictured beneath it.
Rate on N.U.
