With the intentional dissemination of information by Wanbao Pavilion, the news of the undead army slaughtering the cosmic pirates swept through the entire universe.
For any civilization that had reached the level of interstellar exploration and exchange, the undead army had become the hottest topic of discussion.
The Land of the Undead was considered one of the more mysterious among the six special worlds.
Hell was tyrannical, with its demon legions igniting war after war across the myriad worlds, making it the nightmare of all civilizations.
Heaven was holy, its fame spread far and wide by the propagation of faith. As the vanguard against Hell, Heaven’s status in the myriad worlds was among the highest.
The Elemental Spirit Realm was a resplendent jewel. While the temperaments of the elements were strange, they were not impossible to communicate with; these darlings of nature interacted frequently with the outside world.
The Sea of Spirit could be entered by anyone, making it arguably the special world with the least privacy. According to the statistics of a certain technological civilization, the number of creatures that had entered the Sea of Spirit exceeded the number of those who had died at the hands of Hell.
As for the Land of the Undead, it remained relatively mysterious.
Aside from a few Necromancers who communicated with the Land of the Undead to obtain undead creatures, and certain dying mages who sought to extend their lives by using secret arts to transform into liches, the outside world’s knowledge of the Land of the Undead was extremely sparse.
Only those Dao Lords who had interacted with the previous generations of the Lord of the Undead, along with the forces under them, possessed some records regarding the Land of the Undead. However, these records were generally not circulated.
After all, knowledge was a precious commodity, especially knowledge involving the mysterious Land of the Undead.
Consequently, the Land of the Undead was like a legend passed down from ancient times—everyone knew of it and had heard of it, but no one had ever seen it with their own eyes.
Now, the reappearance of the undead in the world sparked intense gossip as well as deep concern.
Although those slaughtered by the undead were notorious cosmic pirates, some still worried whether the Land of the Undead would, like Hell, begin to conquer the various worlds and massacre living beings.
In particular, the hideous countenances and terrifying forms of the undead made the living feel uneasy.
The shadow cast by Hell was too profound. Every living being feared that a new man-eating shark would emerge in these already turbulent myriad worlds.
Fortunately, Big Boss stepped forward in time. Through his distribution channels and the various branch pavilions of Wanbao Pavilion in major worlds, he issued notices stating that this undead force was a partner of Wanbao Pavilion and its newest escort team, and that its master was a very powerful necrotic archduke.
Subsequently, Heaven provided an assist.
A divine oracle descended, informing every territory that followed the faith of Heaven about the news: Angel Priest Alifa and necrotic archduke Chen Xu had joined forces to defeat the Hell Archduke Mogli.
The Heavenly pantheon was incredibly vast, possessing tens of thousands of worlds. This oracle’s information spread from ten to a hundred, and then to a thousand, causing the popularity of the undead to explode once more before the initial heat could even fade.
【Heaven Adds Another Victory! Hell Archduke Slain!】
【Mysterious Undead Reappear in the World: Friend or Foe?】
【Shocking! The Untold Story of the Angel Priest and the Necrotic Archduke!】
【Heaven and Undead Collaborate: Will the Myriad Worlds' Landscape Be Restructured? (Paid content, unlock for 5 Star Coins)】
A massive influx of news emerged instantly, including official propaganda from Heaven, rational analyses from neutral civilizations, and absurd stories fabricated by trolls.
However, the most common type of inquiry was actually asking how to obtain the protection of the undead army.
In the myriad worlds, there were many merchants like Big Boss who traveled between worlds, as well as a large number of other transcendent beings engaged in cross-realm business.
With the endorsement of Heaven and Wanbao Pavilion, along with the freshly minted combat example, numerous merchants flocked to Wanbao Pavilion, hoping that the pavilion could help them establish a connection and exchange messages with the mysterious necrotic archduke.
Thus, Big Boss brought several famous newspapers from the myriad worlds and a large number of tokens from his peers to see Chen Xu.
“You’re saying that in the City of Miracles, my Skeleton Labor Company is now packed with people?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Chen Xu was currently inspecting the construction of magic technology on Guixu with Gandalf when he was suddenly interrupted by Big Boss.
Looking at the newspapers in his hand and the sack of communication tokens, Chen Xu’s expression was complex.
Originally, he had only wanted to show off his strength so that those cosmic pirates wouldn't dare provoke Wanbao Pavilion, lest it affect his supply of world fragments.
He hadn't expected such an accidental harvest. It seemed that in this transcendent world, might truly was right.
Seeing Chen Xu remain silent, Big Boss continued.
“My Lord, my peers have offered very generous compensation. Furthermore, they said...”
Before Big Boss could finish, Chen Xu raised his left hand and cut him off.
“Ignore them for now. I don't have the time to expand the business at the moment. The primary goal is still that Supreme Throne.”
Chen Xu tossed the newspapers and tokens back to Big Boss casually and turned his gaze toward the mages assembling magic technology in the distance.
“Strength is the eternal truth.”
Seeing Chen Xu’s explicit refusal, Big Boss packed up his things, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.
Beside him, Gandalf sighed with some regret. “Sir Chen Xu, your heart is broader than the myriad worlds. To just walk away from such a massive fortune..."
“If it were our Eternal Heart civilization, we would have taken this big order no matter what.”
To this, Chen Xu merely smiled and did not reply.
The racial advantage of undead creatures manifested once again. For an undead kingdom with a population of tens of billions, the daily expenses were almost negligible.
But if it were tens of billions of humans or other biological races, the costs would be astronomical.
A civilization like Eternal Heart was not lacking in strength; they were leaders among magical civilizations, capable of building floating cities.
Yet they were still pressured by economic strain, forcing the entire civilization to invest in one invasion after another to scavenge for resources.
There was no other way. An Archmage’s experiment could easily last decades, or even over a hundred years, and the annual expenditure during that time was like flowing water.
Even the lowest-tier mage apprentices needed enough experimental materials to practice on to ensure the civilization had a sufficient supply of fresh blood.
The advancement of transcendent power was a process of extreme resource accumulation.
Realms, intent, skills—no matter which it was, all were built upon the consumption of vast amounts of resources.
Those peerless geniuses who could attain enlightenment just by sitting and watching the clouds rise and fall among mountains and rivers were the minority of minorities. The vast majority of transcendent beings still relied on consuming resources to raise their realms.
Someone like Gandalf had to think about everyone else in his 'family' while filling his own stomach. As for Chen Xu, when he was full, his entire 'family' was effectively full. His perspective on resources was naturally different.
Chen Xu didn't want to brag in front of Gandalf. After all, he was still thinking about building a fleet of floating cities. Guixu was only the beginning; in the future, there would be 'Penglai', 'Yingzhou', and 'Fangzhang'. He needed to maintain a good relationship with this technology-supplying contractor.
“Sir Gandalf, can your people work any faster? The necrotic tide will end in three or four days. I want to complete the first stage of the second phase of the magic technology construction project before the tide ends.”
“Oh, respected Sir Chen Xu, our mages are already operating at full capacity. Working on such high-precision magic technology is a heavy mental task; it’s very easy to suffer from mental fatigue.”
“They are currently only resting for two hours a day to perform meditation and recover their mental strength.”
“Can’t it be sped up a bit more? I am very satisfied with Eternal Heart’s technology. If the efficiency could be increased just a little bit, just a tiny bit...” Chen Xu gestured with his thumb and index finger in front of Gandalf.
“If possible, I think the subsequent ten-plus floating city projects can also be given to your Etern—”
“Ten-plus!” Gandalf cried out in shock, his voice even carrying a hint of a mental shriek.
“Respected Sir Chen Xu, the client's needs are the truth. And when it comes to treating the truth, we of Eternal Heart are definitely number one in the myriad worlds!”
Gandalf turned his head immediately and teleported into the center of the group of mages.
A powerful wave of mental strength spread out, accompanied by Gandalf’s excited voice.
“Every squad, speed up! If your mental strength is low, take medicine! Don't be stingy with the mental potions, use them to the max!”
With that, Gandalf took off one of the bracelets from his left arm and pulled out several large bags of mental potions, placing them on the ground.
Then, he pointed to a mage on the right.
“Old Tom, you manage these potions. Whoever’s mental strength drops, you pour the potion down their throat!”
“If anyone is unwilling to drink, use your water magic to fuse the potion directly into their body!”
“Yes, Lord Councilor.”
Although mental potions could replenish mental strength, not everyone was willing to use them. The potions would introduce extremely minute impurities, requiring time to be spent later on purifying the soul.
Therefore, facing Gandalf’s command, the mages showed significant resistance.
“Lord Councilor, your order violates the regulations of the Magical Truth Law. We have the right to refuse, even if you are a councilor.”
“That’s right. The necrotic aura here is so dense it’s almost liquid. Working here already makes it easy for our mental strength to be contaminated. Taking mental potions on top of that will seriously harm our souls!”
The mages spoke one after another, and the scene immediately became chaotic.
Not wanting Chen Xu to see a joke, Gandalf directly brought out his ultimate move.
“The Truth Points for this mission’s reward will be doubled—no, tripled! Furthermore, for every mental potion you use now, I will personally gift you an extra one after the mission is over.”
The moment his voice fell, the entire area went silent.
Then, praises rang out one after another.
“Truth be praised! Lord Councilor, you are the incarnation of truth!” *N
Driven by high rewards, the mages had no more complaints. Bottles of potions were delivered to their hands, and the installation speed of the magic technology reached a new level.
...
Time flew by, and the necrotic tide’s eruption concluded.
The sub-system trait of the Undead Divine Court allowed it to share in the necrotic tide. Now, with the Undead Divine Court and the Land of the Undead combined, over five billion new undead creatures had been added to Chen Xu’s undead legion.
Although these were primarily low-tier undead like skeleton brothers and ghouls, for Chen Xu, it was still a massive enhancement.
At this moment, Chen Xu stood at the northern edge of his territory in the Land of the Undead, along with a host of Black Knights, skeleton heroes, and high-end combatants like Kunpeng and Sindragosa.
The army was ready and waiting; the Northern Expedition was resuming.
“All forces, advance! For the Northern Expedition!”
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