In the underground hall, seven sword bearers had collapsed, completely exhausted, while five death warriors stood guard around them like corpses. Two of the most unique humans from the Shining Empire were confronting each other.

One was the continent ruler from a thousand miles afar, the Pope of the Necromancy Sect, an outsider with golden hair and blue eyes, Ming Jiejin.

The other was the mysterious Sword Holder of the Holy Sword Radiance, Tea Shiyin, the curator of the White Box Library at the Imperial Academy.

Though they were supposed to be worlds apart, the two were now less than five meters apart; moreover, Le Yu faintly understood that the reason Ming Jiejin traveled across thousands of miles to Shining Empire was to pursue Tea Shiyin!

"So, are you representing the Necromancy Sect to declare war on the Shining Empire?"

"That was indeed my father's initial thought." Ming Jiejin didn't deny it: "But after a simple investigation, my father quickly dismissed the idea: with the four Barbarian Races watching, the Shining Empire's weapon upgrades are happening faster than those of the Western Continent, even to the point of being able to completely outclass the Western Continent. Aside from maritime technology, the Western Continent has no technology that surpasses the Shining Empire."

"Even though the Shining Empire suffers from severe land annexation and class conflicts, it's still a powerful empire—so powerful that if it were to fall, it would be for being too strong."

"Therefore, after I took over as Pope, I changed my mind. After all, invading the Shining Empire was never our ultimate goal, only a shortcut toward it. Since the shortcut doesn't work, I have to take a more circuitous route."

The ultimate goal... Le Yu looked at the Holy Sword Radiance held in Tea Shiyin's hand, fully aware that Ming Jiejin's ultimate goal was certainly not this power over the world.

Tea Shiyin's face was calm, seemingly already aware of Ming Jiejin's intent, and he sighed: "Although I've known since childhood that my second brother values family the most and loves his relatives dearly, I didn't expect he would pass everything down."

"Everyone has their own selfish motives, and even Taiyue Ancestor simply wanted to protect his descendants." Ming Jiejin smiled and said: "After all, aside from the Shining Empire's ancestors, whether it's you or the other ancestor, there's a possibility of you visiting the Western Continent. If they weren't warned, and they treated you poorly, wouldn't that be a disaster?"

"I see my second brother is worried we might settle old scores after his death, so he wants you all to know what we're capable of, to set traps and counterattack us." Tea Shiyin said coldly: "So, in all these hundreds of years, have you seen the descendants of the fourth brother?"

"No." Ming Jiejin regretfully shook his head: "Although I'm also curious about that Absolute Divine Weapon capable of 'escaping destiny,' the Necromancy Sect has had no records of another ancestor's descendants for two thousand years."

Tea Shiyin showed no expression: "I'm glad you didn't find the descendants of the fourth brother, given your actions in the Shining Empire, I don't believe you would treat distant relatives well."

Ming Jiejin chuckled: "Actually, the reason I founded the National Relief Association, colluded with the Barbarians, allied with the Sea Barbarians, and combined forces with the Mountain and Grass Barbarians, was a move of desperation. I simply had no way to find you, Ancestor Shiyin."

"I know you're in Yanjing, know you're guarding the Imperial Family, but you're hiding too deeply, and you haven't stepped into the world for many years. Unless Yanjing is overturned, you'll never set foot into the mortal realm."

"Especially after learning of some of your 'restrictions,' I became even more certain that I could only succeed by taking risky actions."

This sentence seemed to trigger some taboo, Tea Shiyin suddenly squinted his eyes, the atmosphere instantly turned murderous, and the five death warriors assumed a combat stance, an intense battle looming.

After a moment of silence, Tea Shiyin seemed to suppress his anger and coldly said: "Did you uncover the Imperial Mausoleum?"

"Don't worry, I didn't enslave those distant relatives. After some cordial exchanges, I let them return to eternal rest." Ming Jiejin said: "It's also because of this that I realized, Ancestor Shiyin, you're not having an easy time either."

"Either?"

"There's not a single Absolute Divine Weapon that's easy to be associated with, Ancestor Shiyin, you must feel this even more." Ming Jiejin said: "Although I still don't understand the workings of the Holy Sword Radiance, using it would surely cost lifespan, making it, even as the strongest Absolute Divine Weapon, also the least used."

"Similarly, the Book of the Dead that our Taiyue lineage holds has the same drawback." He sighed: "The Book of the Dead is said to be able to 'conquer death,' and in fact, it does. Ancestor Shiyin, you have been to the Western Continent, surely you were amazed by the flourishing civilization there, right?"

"Indeed." Tea Shiyin said: "Every place had grand and magnificent buildings, skyscrapers dozens of meters high sprouted up like mushrooms after rain, skyscrapers over a hundred meters tall were not uncommon, the people lived peacefully with joyous chatter everywhere, and this was my experience hundreds of years ago. I imagine it's even more splendid now."

"But you also know who is responsible for the great achievements of the Western Continent." Ming Jiejin said: "All this credit belongs to the fifty million undead who neither rest nor eat or drink, or rather, the Resurrectionists."

He patted the yellowed book in his hand: "The most powerful ability of the Book of the Dead, called 'Necro-soul,' can give rise to souls from bodies. Though there are various methods of use, the most basic is to create an undead with memories from its previous life, to be commanded for one's tasks."

"But as the holder of the Book of the Dead, the Pope can usually only command fifty undead at most. Although the number fluctuates, it never exceeds a hundred. A mere hundred undead can at most protect the Pope, but what can that mean for the country or the continent?"

"Thus, Taiyue Ancestor founded the Necromancy Sect, whose core doctrine is to resurrect and reunite with loved ones in the mortal realm."

At this point, Ming Jiejin's tone was somewhat inexplicable, seemingly out of shame, yet like resignation: "But as a price, the populace must pay a heavy 'Undead Tax' to obtain control over the Resurrectionists. If they can't afford it, they can also take the Resurrectionists to serve, which can offset the 'Undead Tax,' and even earn wages."

"The Necromancy Sect's ability to dominate the Western Continent within a century is closely tied to this 'miracle of mercy.' With such a vast number of laboring Resurrectionists who require no sustenance, the Western Continent could develop so rapidly and foster a civilization even more glorious than the Shining Empire."

"Yet beneath this splendid era lies a multitude of skeletal corpses." Ming Jiejin said: "If the Pope can only control fewer than a hundred undead, then how do the millions and millions of undead across the Western Continent exist?"

"Because the Pope has given control of the undead to mortals."

"They think they've gained control over their relatives, so they can reunite when their relatives return from work every day. Their relatives earn wages from work and don't need food or drink, so naturally the people are eager for it. Some even want to kill and resurrect their loved ones... Before I left the Western Continent, even though it had been strictly prohibited, there were still cases of children who disliked their parents' nagging killing them and resurrecting them, and parents who killed and resurrected their disobedient children."

"However, the Pope can easily control the undead because he holds the Book of the Dead; mortals without the Book of the Dead can only directly use their souls to dominate other souls."

"The contact between souls is an extremely dangerous affair. A day might be fine, a week might be fine, but a year, two years, three years... The souls of the undead are void, and over time, the mortals controlling the undead also become void."

"Furthermore, research has shown that the energy source of the undead is sunlight and the vitality of the living. Though vitality is invisible and intangible, it certainly exists; it is unrelated to age or health, as every person striving to survive radiates vitality."

"So what happens when the undead exist in large numbers?"

Ming Jie Jin closed his eyes, as if recalling a scene thousands of miles away: "The gathered undead are like a vortex, continuously absorbing the vitality of the entire city; the populace controlling the undead gradually become void, uninterested in anything, like a walking corpse."

"Thirty-five years old is a threshold. Before thirty-five, a person's vitality can barely maintain a positive cycle, and thoughts are hard to be assimilated by the undead; but once over thirty-five, a person's vitality can no longer resist the siphoning by the undead, and thoughts rapidly fall into vanity, leading to natural death in a year or two."

"That's why you feel that the Western Continent is filled with joyous laughter everywhere," Ming Jie Jin explained, "Anyone who can't laugh is either at home waiting to die or already dead."

Cha Shi Yin seemed unsurprised, even saying, "Thirty-five years old isn't bad."

"Yes, for ordinary people, living happily for thirty-five years can be considered bliss," Ming Jie Jin nodded, "But what about us?"

"When the number of undead is small, there isn't much issue. But as their numbers grow, an unforeseen flaw emerges."

"When a controller dies, the undead automatically perish. The soul of the perishing undead returns to the Book of the Dead, transforming into a Spiritual Power feedback to the holder."

"Originally, this was beneficial. If the holder's undead perished in battle, the holder could receive additional Spiritual Power replenishment to continue fighting."

Le Yu also understood, that's precisely "Deathrattle," an effect where the player gains extra Spiritual Power when followers die.

"One undead perishing is fine, a hundred are fine too, but a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million?" Ming Jie Jin sighed, "The Western Continent sees nearly one and a half million undead perishing each year, approximately 4,100 perishing daily. While we're chatting, dozens of undead souls have returned to the Book of the Dead from the distant Western Continent."

"Such a high frequency and large volume of soul feedback, even if it's a good medicine, becomes poison." Ming Jie Jin tapped his temple, "Throughout history, no Pope has lived past fifty, thirty is more common, my father died at the age of thirty-four, dying even earlier than ordinary people of the Western Continent."

"You could stop this," Cha Shi Yin said without any sympathy, "If you stopped creating undead, there wouldn't be such danger."

Ming Jie Jin nodded, "You're right. Although the undead have become an indispensable force of the Western Continent, if the order of the undead clergy were forcibly ceased, other powers would be helpless against us. But the problem is, once each Pope has taken possession of the Book of the Dead, none has willingly stopped creating undead."

"Ancestor Shi Yin, you probably can't imagine what that feels like," he closed his eyes, a look of delight filling his face, "Every moment, a soul returns to the Book of the Dead, transforming into pure Spiritual Power to nourish your soul. Every moment, the world in your eyes becomes more splendid. Every moment, you feel closer to that supreme realm."

"It's poison, yet it is a cup of poison one would willingly drink to ruin. In our family, there is a legend that sitting on the Pope's throne for thirty years, assisted by the undead feedback, one can become a true god."

"Very interesting," Cha Shi Yin glanced outside, "Seems like there is a Demon Race also saying, as long as one drinks enough Immortal Blood, one can transcend the mortal and become an immortal."

"Of course, I don't believe in this legend," Ming Jie Jin laughed, "How could it be possible in just thirty years?"

"Then what about fifty years? A hundred years? Five hundred years? Two thousand years? If one lives long enough, can they stand at a higher place and see a more beautiful view?"

At this point, everything has already revealed the hidden dagger.

"Having lurked in Yanjing for over ten years, formed the National Relief Association, allied with the Barbarian Race, planned the assassination of the emperor, interfered in the search for the sword, vying for the throne. I did all of this just so I could meet you, Ancestor Shi Yin."

"Even though I think it's impossible, I still want to ask—"

"Ancestor Shi Yin,"

Ming Jie Jin looked at Cha Shi Yin, his eyes brimming with unabashed greed, a terrifying aura erupted from him, Le Yu could even see billions of vengeful spirits appearing behind Ming Jie Jin, sweeping across like a tempest!

"Can you give me your 'undying heart'?"