49: Chapter 49 The Undead Swarm, the Town's Doom

Su Ming gazed at the returned intelligence of the entire plane and murmured softly, "So this is the situation of the Chaoming Realm."

The Flying Hunter Falcons that had just gone out to scout returned through the air, and one of them steadily landed back in Su Ming's palm, transmitting all the collected complete plane information.

The cultivation system of this world used knights as ranks, with the first grade being the lowest and the ninth grade the highest. Above the ninth grade were the Paladins, corresponding to the demigod realm of the human system.

Above the Paladins, the Chaoming Realm had no more clear gradings. The entire plane only worshipped two supreme existences—Emperor Zhaoxi and the Lord of Mingyuan.

However, the intelligence also recorded that ever since that blood-red heavy rain sweeping across the heaven and earth a year ago, these two had completely fallen silent and never responded to any believers' prayers and wishes again.

"It seems that these two should have been purged by the Human Federation a month ago."

A trace of understanding flashed across the depths of Su Ming's eyes.

The indigenous creatures of the Chaoming Realm were still day and night looking forward to the return of the gods, but he knew better than anyone. Given the Federation's methods, these two native true gods probably had even their origins completely devoured, leaving not even a bone behind.

The gloomy plain he was currently in belonged to the territory of the Youying Dynasty ruled by the Yeyuan Clan, filled everywhere with gloomy yin Qi, desolation, and deadly silence.

After thoroughly reading all the intelligence, Su Ming locked onto the most suitable starting point.

"There is a border town three hundred miles away. My path of conquest will start from here."

Not long after, Su Ming arrived outside the town.

Looking from afar, smoke curled up from the town's chimneys, peaceful and quiet, presenting a scene of settled years and earthly warmth. Yet Su Ming's state of mind had not the slightest ripple, unmoved by half a fraction.

The basic education of the human star domain had long been engraved into his bones and blood: except for the native humans of Blue Star, all other extraterrestrial creatures, even humanoid beings, belonged to the scope of conquest, and there must not be the slightest sentimental mercy.

The next second, with a thought from Su Ming, the Gate of the Divine Domain burst open with a roar!

Within the gloomy divine domain passage, a dark mass of figures stepped out in an orderly manner. An Undead Army of one hundred thousand lined up and walked out, their dead Qi towering to the heavens, instantly enveloping all directions.

During these ten days, Su Ming had never stopped resting, recuperating, and developing.

First, he spent six hundred thousand divine crystals to elevate the three factions of retainers—yin soldiers, White Zombies, and Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens—each to the number of one thousand.

Moreover, after the soul fusion pool of the Jiuyou Divine Domain completely recovered, he even spent another six hundred thousand divine crystals to upgrade both buildings, the spirit-refining spring and the soul fusion pool, to D-rank.

The one hundred thousand Undead Retainers before his eyes were all Undead Retainers forged and reshaped by him exhausting all the corpse origins accumulated in Jiuyou.

[Name: Death Knight / Warrior / Mage / Archer]

[Potential: D+]

[Race: Netherworld]

[Realm: Tier 4 Transcendent]

[Skills]

Undead Body: Immune to toxins, plagues, lethargy, charm, fear, and aging; heart piercing and decapitation are both invalid kills; however, blunt damage taken is increased by 20%, and holy and fire attribute damage is doubled. After leaving the range of holy and fire damage, the body can continuously self-heal and repair.

Withering Mark: Attacking and hitting enemies stacks the Withering Mark, up to three layers. Each layer of the mark reduces the target's total health regen effect by 10%. When three layers are fully stacked, the mark self-destructs, bursting out high necrotic corrosion damage. (Can only be cleansed by high-tier holy purification)

Corpse Rampart: Guides the boundless dead Qi around the body to entwine itself, condensing thick bone armor that lasts for five seconds. When attacked during its duration, it automatically emits corrosive black fog. Enemies touching the fog instantly gain a layer of Withering Mark, own damage taken is reduced by 30%, super-armor crowd-control immunity, and cannot be knocked back or knocked airborne.

Dead Aura (Aura Skill): Spreads necrotic black fog in a ten-meter range, continuously depriving living creatures within the range of their vitality, amplifying the defense of all netherworld undead friendly forces, and strongly suppressing all low-level healing methods.

[Description: A mid-tier undead legion condensed by the soul fusion pool, absolutely obedient, fearless and without dread, fighting and killing to the death.]

Looking at the Undead Army under his command, Su Ming's eyes were filled with satisfaction.

However, compared with retainers like the yin soldiers, a trace of a sigh still quietly arose in the depths of his heart.

Even with equal realms and the same potential, the strength of these mass-produced Undead Retainers was still more than a notch inferior to retainers like the yin soldiers, White Zombies, and Red-Robed Grievous Women.

More importantly, the Undead Retainers before him mostly wore tattered, decayed armor, held mottled bone blades, and had extremely crude equipment.

Su Ming shook his head helplessly and sighed inwardly, "I'm still too poor. I heard from Lao Gu that he invested fifty million divine crystals to customize a full set of equipment for all his subordinates' retainers. With such a foundation, the current me indeed cannot compare."

In a flash, he suppressed his distracting thoughts, locked his gaze back onto the peaceful town in the distance, and the slaughter in his eyes abruptly surged.

"Attack!"

With an order given!

Ten thousand Undead Army soldiers moved simultaneously. The pitch-black torrent surged and crushed towards the town, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, unstoppable!

Su Ming had calculated that this town only needed two thousand people to capture it, and he sent out ten thousand troops, a full fivefold.

As for Su Ming, he watched from afar in the rear.

Inside the town, the originally cozy and peaceful atmosphere was instantly and completely torn apart.

"What is that?!"

"Help! What on earth is coming over!"

Panic-stricken screams, one after another, suddenly exploded, piercing through the entire town.

Above the town, black clouds suddenly pressed upon the border, and ink-thick dead Qi stacked layer upon layer, completely shielding the bright daylight and dragging the entire world into a dead and gloomy abyss.

This patch of black fog was by no means an ordinary celestial phenomenon; every wisp of mist carried bone-corroding, bone-chilling dead Qi. Wherever it passed, vegetation instantly withered and decayed, black veins spread across the bluestone ground, the aura of living creatures was instantly drained, and all things withered completely.

Looking into the distance, the Undead Army was boundless, unfolding from the end of heaven and earth. The densely packed skeleton legion reached right up to the town walls, with no end in sight at all.

Ten thousand skeleton warriors wore dark, decayed armor, and faint cyan-green soul fires leaped within their hollow eye sockets, gathering specks of cold light into an ocean of dead silence.

They held cold bone blades, their postures as upright as stone carvings, without anger, without terror, and without a sound.

There were no roars or growls, no clamor or restlessness, only the dull roar of millions of bone boots stepping on the ground. One sound after another, step by step, steady and heavy, like doomsday drumbeats, fiercely pounding upon the heart of every town resident.

Thud—thud—thud—

The deafening marching sound was continuous, shaking the town's earthen wall slightly, causing roof tiles to rustle down and gravel on the ground to bounce about.

Piercing coldness swept across the entire town, producing chill without wind, freezing everyone's bone marrow numb and their teeth chattering.

"Cold… Too cold… What kind of cold air is this…"

A traveling merchant who had roamed north and south for half his life clutched the window frame tightly, his pupils suddenly contracting and his face ashen.

In all his life roaming everywhere, he had seen ferocious demonic beasts and encountered fierce bandits and robbers, but he had never seen such a terrifying legion devoid of any vitality and purely for destruction.

Several town guards on duty atop the wall were scared out of their wits at this moment. The long spears in their hands dropped to the ground with a clatter, their legs grew weak and trembled, and they could no longer support their bodies, collapsing straight down onto the wall bricks.

Weapons forged from ordinary iron buzzed slightly and trembled under the suppression of the towering dead Qi, like ants facing the boundless vault of heaven.

Extreme fear gripped everyone's throat. No one dared to cry out loudly, no one dared to act rashly, and the entire town fell into an eerie dead silence, with only the doomsday marching footsteps echoing across the heaven and earth.

Amidst the dead silence, a collapsed roar suddenly exploded!

"Run! Run quickly!"

In an instant, the entire town fell into complete chaos.

The commoners fled in all directions like madmen. Adults dragged children, old men were accidentally pushed to the ground, and the sounds of crying, screaming, wailing, broken utensils, and overturned carts and horses mixed together, with despair spreading across every inch of the streets and alleys.

Everyone desperately rushed toward the town's exit, but looking at the pitch-black undead tide devouring everything outside, everyone's footsteps suddenly froze to a halt.

There was no path of life ahead, and no retreat behind.

They were completely trapped to death inside this town.