“I am not particularly skilled in the field of hidden weapons, but several other skeleton heroes can craft them. I only wonder, my Lord, what type of hidden weapon do you wish to create?”
Chen Xu tossed a box from the table to Ghost Axe, gesturing for him to open and examine it.
Ghost Axe opened the box and found a piece of dark red, constantly squirming, foul-smelling rotten meat inside.
Ghost Axe extended his Iron Fingers and poked the rotten meat. It instantly began to crawl up his bone finger, but quickly fell back into the box, seemingly uninterested in bone.
“My Lord, is this the Source of the Plague?”
Ghost Axe saw this kind of rotten meat occasionally—one might even say frequently.
Most of the demon corpses brought back from the battlefield by the skeleton heroes were infested with the virus from the Source of the Plague, their bodies covered in this exact rotten meat.
Once infected by the Source of the Plague, a demon's flesh would fester, and their body would become weak.
Furthermore, the virus reproduced at an incredible speed. Once contracted, it could render an adult demon immobile within three days and cause sudden death within five.
A demon who died this way would also undergo a violent explosion, their corpse bursting apart to scatter the virus further.
All instances of the virus were considered part of the Source of the Plague; therefore, the virus that invaded a demon's body could also call upon the skills hosted on the Undead Network.
The Source of the Plague would invoke Corpse Explosion, detonating the demons consumed by the virus to begin the next cycle.
It was also for this reason that the demon corpses collected by the skeleton heroes were, for the most part, fleshless skeletons.
The few that still had flesh were covered in rot, leaving only the demon bones usable.
This lack of crafting materials was exactly why they currently only produced Beautiful Bone Powder and had no other products.
“Yes, this is a part taken from the Source of the Plague itself,” Chen Xu replied casually, then raised his hand to point beside him.
“This is the elite disciple of the Yin-Yang Dao Lord, Bu Xingtian. He will handle the specific requirements with you from here on.”
“Greetings, Fellow Daoist Ghost Axe.”
“Greetings, Mr. Bu.”
This Bu Xingtian was the Master Brother of the Universe Daoist Academy, known as the Star-Plucker. The reason he had sought out Chen Xu was that the Martial Arts Alliance was currently in deep trouble.
Originally, with the combined strength of the martial artists and the Heaven's expeditionary forces, the demons were being suppressed by both sides.
However, the demons seemed to have gone mad. Hellgates began to rise one after another. No sooner had they finished clearing the demons than they would turn around to see the Hellgates reopening, filling their hearts with an indescribable dread.
The martial artists discovered in despair that for every demon they killed, two more would appear; kill two, and three would emerge.
By the time they killed those three, those damned Hellgates would open yet again, with countless demons surging out. The battlefield had entered an endless loop.
Demon corpses piled up continuously until eventually, neither side even had a place to stand.
Such a terrifying sight was something even the experienced Combat Archangel of the Heaven's expeditionary forces had never seen, let alone the martial artists.
Even when facing Heaven, Hell had never displayed such an inexhaustible offensive.
This frenzied momentum even carried a hint of the flavor of the War of Vengeance from years ago.
That was the war Heaven launched after a group of angels fell from grace and descended into Hell.
Had some demon been poached by the martial artists, leaving Hell to join the sect of a Martial Dao Lord?
The veteran archangel was currently like a raw recruit, constantly guessing at Hell's intentions while incessantly contacting his subordinate High Priests to request reinforcements.
Exhausted by the prolonged slaughter, the Heaven's expeditionary forces had long since become weary and begun to suffer casualties, and the martial artists were the same.
Though martial artists were known for their physical prowess and endurance that far surpassed other transcendents, even they could not withstand such intense, continuous combat.
Only a few core mythic-tier progeny disciples still had strength to spare. The other martial artists had already begun to flag, their killing moves no longer as sharp as before.
Seeing their junior brothers and sisters falling into such a predicament, some progeny disciples wanted to step in and help.
But as soon as they appeared, a Hell Archduke would charge at them, using a suicidal fighting style that focused entirely on offense over defense, trading injury for injury.
Under such an onslaught, they were unable to intervene in the situation on the battlefield below and could only focus on their own opponents.
However, the Martial Arts Alliance had prepared a backup plan, specifically keeping a portion of martial artists in reserve for battlefield support.
When the reinforcements arrived, they managed to hold on for a while longer until the High Priests from Heaven arrived and raised a Radiant Sun. This changed the environment of the battlefield world, preventing the Hellgates from opening and finally ending the battle.
However, even though they were ultimately victorious, the casualties among the martial artists were heavy, exceeding the expectations of the several Dao Lords.
They had originally launched this War of Vengeance to regain face and warn Hell, as well as to temper their disciples and let them become familiar with the corruption of demons to avoid being blindsided in the future.
But when the casualty list was placed before the Dao Lords, they found it difficult to accept.
Hell's stubbornness had exceeded everyone's expectations, and even the High Priests of Heaven could not see the purpose behind Hell's new tactics.
In reality, the reason behind the demon army's abnormal behavior was simply a Hell Demon King who had been tortured nearly to the point of madness.
Phili, the Demon King of Lies, had vanished once again after Chen Xu had swept through multiple battlefields in a single day—or rather, in just a few breaths—with his majestic unique-tier presence.
Phili had been deep in thought in Hell, unable to find a logical reason to explain Chen Xu's actions.
As the saying goes, delays lead to complications. Since he couldn't figure out that mysterious Lord of the Undead, Phili decided to deal with the Martial Arts Alliance first.
Thus, under the command of a Hell Demon King, the demons began this mad war plan.
After drinking the blood puree of the Original Blood Sea, waves of demons passed through the Hellgates and arrived on the battlefield against the martial artists, offering their lives to contribute strength to the plan of the Mother of Hell.
Although the Radiant Sun burned away the corruption on the surface, beneath the soil already soaked with demon blood, a terrifying existence that had never appeared before was quietly incubating.
The Martial Arts Alliance and Heaven were unaware of this, just as the Hell Demon King could not fathom Chen Xu's actions.
Bu Xingtian's visit this time was precisely to obtain aid to curb the power of the demon legion.
He had heard from a High Priest that on the distant battlefields between the undead and the demons, there existed a terrible plague that specifically targeted demons.
This plague only infected demons, could weaken their strength, and spread rapidly, making it perfect for the current martial artist battlefields.
“Fellow Daoist Ghost Axe, I want you to pack this Source of the Plague into this kind of hidden weapon. Once the weapon is triggered, it will project the plague inside outward.”
Bu Xingtian took out a blueprint and handed it to Ghost Axe.
It was a black sphere, its surface covered in tiny protrusions. It was hollow inside and contained a trigger mechanism that would explode instantly when activated by true qi.
Ghost Axe took it and saw that the craftsmanship was not complex, so he nodded.
“Mr. Bu, the structure of this hidden weapon is simple. Surely you could manufacture it yourselves?”
“Hahaha, under normal circumstances, our Universe Daoist Academy could indeed make them. But currently, all our energy is focused on the struggle against the demons; we truly have no strength to spare.
“Furthermore, this Source of the Plague is a great creation of the Lord of the Undead. It is better for you and your fellows to handle the installation.”
Bu Xingtian looked a bit embarrassed. The war with Hell had exceeded the martial artists' imagination, and the intense combat had pushed their logistics to full capacity.
They couldn't even keep up with making the various healing and qi-replenishing pills, heart-protecting mirrors, and robes, so they truly couldn't spare even a few more people.
“Then why not launch the plague in the form of artillery? We at the Necrotic Heavenly Crafts have existing cannons that can fire the flesh of the Source of the Plague into the demon army.”
“Fellow Daoist Ghost Axe, we martial artists are different from your undead. We fight in small teams independently. Artillery is too large a target and not convenient to move.
“We can't exactly have a martial artist shoulder a cannon into battle.
“These small hidden weapons are easy to carry, and the martial artists can analyze the situation themselves to decide when to use them. Any that aren't used can be given to support other battlefields.”
“I see. I understand. Mr. Bu, how many of these hidden weapons containing the Source of the Plague do you require?”
Bu Xingtian raised his right hand and held up five fingers.
“Fifty million.”
Rate on N.U.
