Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Lich
Day 206
This morning, I managed to break through to the confirmed stage of body forging.
Mr. Ouyang taught me that the meridian network can be divided into four sub-networks: the main circuit, which runs through my bones, the secondary circuit, which runs through my muscles, the external circuit, which runs through the various layers of the dermis and the organs, and the synaptic circuit, which runs through my neurons and nerve endings.
The initial stage of body forging strengthened my bones through my main meridian system.
The second stage involves repeating the same process with the secondary circuit.
Now, I can release much more energy than before and my control over internal energy has become much more refined.
On the other hand, my silhouette has become somewhat slimmer.
This had already started when I broke through a month and a half ago, with my height suddenly increasing.
With this breakthrough, my muscles have "melted." I have been training for as long as I can remember, and I had developed quite a bit of muscle, but it's as if I lost it all.
Nevertheless, my strength has not decreased. On the contrary, it has even increased with the rise in my muscle density.
...
"Filthy undead bastard!"
"Kill them all!"
"For the kingdom!"
Spells flew through the air and exploded everywhere.
Thousands of soldiers stood on a large wall nearly thirty meters high, reinforced by a multitude of defensive spells.
There were pugilists, knights, mages, druids, and many other professions, including several different races ranging from five or six-meter-tall giants to small beings less than half a meter high, along with treants and beast-men.
Nevertheless, they seemed to have set aside their differences and were all fighting side by side on top of the wall.
Below, a writhing mass of skeletons, ghouls, and zombies trampled each other and continuously struck the wall while trying to climb it.
The wall's magical formations glowed brightly, resisting the impacts, while the ranged professions bombarded the moving corpses.
At least 500 000 undead were there.
The majority were simple mortals or rank 1, but there were still about a thousand rank 2 and fifty rank 3.
On the defenders' side, there were barely 20,000 on the walls, but they were all at least rank 1, including about a thousand rank 2 and fifty rank 3.
Fortunately for them, the undead were stupid and relied only on brute force to overwhelm the defenses.
Even so, human wave tactics were quite effective, and the defenders felt their endurance rapidly diminishing.
Fortunately for them, the wall was high and strong enough to ensure their safety, at least that's what they thought.
BOOM
A massive ball of dark energy fell from the sky and directly blew up an entire section of the wall.
Slowly, a strange being clad in a tattered black robe descended from the sky.
He held a long scepter in one hand and a severed, still bloody serpent's head in the other.
"Die, you bunch of insects!"
The being infused some energy and exploded the scaly head like a watermelon.
With their leader's return, the undead roared and rushed into the breach of the capital to massacre everything in sight.
On the walls, a rank 3 wolf-woman fell to her knees, observing the blood dripping from the skeletal fingers of the being threatening their entire realm.
"It's over, his majesty is dead, we're all going to die..."
She looked in despair at the massacres around her and the rivers of blood.
"When? When did it all go wrong?"
They say you see your life flash before your eyes when you're at death's door, and that's exactly what was happening to her.
She was the archduke's daughter.
She didn't know it, but their world was relatively poor and weak in spiritual energy, probably because it was still young. There were only three rank 4 beings, including the king, her father the archduke, and one of the giant beasts living in the ocean.
Since she was a child, she had always had everything served on a silver platter and had never had to answer for her actions.
When she joined the academy at 15, she was already extremely arrogant and haughty, not putting anyone in her eyes.
So when a young orphaned peasant dared to confess his love to her, she became furious and devised a plan to make him lose everything.
She made his life hell for the three years of the academy before trapping him in one of the forbidden zones of their world.
It should have ended there, with his despairing death in a bottomless ravine.
However, something allowed him to come back to life and control death itself.
When he emerged from the ravine twenty years later, he was already one of the four most powerful beings in this world.
He directly attacked the nearest towns to the kingdom and began moving towards the capital.
After each town was massacred, his strength increased, and his army of undead grew larger.
The ducal city was destroyed in the early days, and her father was killed in moments.
Within a few weeks, the kingdom was almost entirely destroyed, and only the capital remained, which itself was about to fall.
"It's all my fault... Why? Why did I have to do that? Why didn't I just say no to him? Why?"
Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret, and she could only watch the bloodshed in front of her eyes before being sliced in half by a giant undead.
...
For the next few hours, Herald stayed in the air and watched the massacre until the city was painted with blood and corpses littered every corner.
He had accomplished his revenge, but now there was only a vast emptiness in his chest. Now, he had nothing left: no family, no friends, no purpose... nothing.
"Damn, we arrived too late, Brother Zheng."
He heard a female voice and suddenly turned around.
A dozen strangers dressed in long white robes were flying in the air and holding swords.
"It is indeed a pity for this world, Sister Qiyue, but it is not our problem, and we must complete the mission. With this, we can become inner disciples and maybe even gain the elders' favor."
Herald looked at them strangely with his empty eyes, and the soul flames in his eyes grew brighter.
"Who are you? There shouldn't be any other supreme powers here."
The dozen characters stared at him, mouths agape.
"Pfft."
"Hahaha."
"Supreme powers, haha."
Only their leader, a man who seemed to be in his twenties, remained serious and looked at him with a gaze that was neutral but sharp.
"In fact, we do not come from this plane. Where we come from, our current level of existence can barely be called powerful. But enough of that, we did not come to debate. Our sect is here to find something. Tell me, have you seen this?"
With that, the man pulled out a long scroll from a spatial ring. With his consciousness, he unfolded it, revealing a magnificent artifact.
It was a beautiful ten-floor purple pagoda covered with intricate patterns and numerous runes.
The soul flames in Herald's eyes burned brightly, and he responded in a dry tone.
"No, never seen it."
The leader narrowed his eyes.
"In that case—"
Suddenly, he drew his sword and unleashed a large energy blade that decapitated Herald before he could even react.
"You shouldn't lie, but don't worry. We will take your soul to one of our elders for interrogation. I advise you to cooperate with him, or you might suffer a bit."
The man took out a gourd from his spatial ring, and Herald immediately felt his spirit being pulled out of his body.
At that moment, the pagoda in his soul released an energy field that enveloped his soul.
"Damn it, we need to move. The pagoda recognized him!"
With a panicked cry, all the disciples tried to flee at full speed.
The pagoda shone brightly and released a massive energy discharge.
The world's will sensed the threat and sent all its energy to hurl the pagoda away, but it was already too late.
BOOOUUUMMM
The entire plane trembled under the massive explosion, and a mushroom cloud rose into the air.
Even though it was furious, the world's will could only observe the damage.
Where the capital once stood, there was only a gigantic crater about a hundred kilometers in radius and ten kilometers deep, topped by a column of smoke that would soon plunge the plane into an ice age.
...
Herald felt the sun caress his eyelids and slowly woke up.
"Haa, where am I?"
Groggy, he sat up and looked around.
He was in a small room about 25m². The walls were a magnificent white, and the floor was made of splendid white tiles.
There was a large wardrobe, a desk, two large bookshelves, and a mirror. All were beautifully carved from fine wood and adorned with lovely patterns.
One of the walls had a large window overlooking the outside, lighting up the entire room.
He was lying in a big, soft, and plush bed.
Suddenly, he felt his mind clear, and all the numbness disappeared.
Immediately, he closed his eyes and introspected his soul.
"Whew. It's still there."
He couldn't help but sigh in relief as he sensed his familiar connection to the pagoda.
Although the first four floors of the pagoda were still unlocked, he felt that the artifact had lost a lot of energy.
Currently, he could only access the first floor.
After a long analysis, he felt there was no real problem with the pagoda.
Sighing inwardly, he struggled and barely managed to get out of bed.
As he tried to walk, he stumbled and fell to the ground.
"What the hell?!"
He looked down at his legs, but they were gone!
Instead, there was a Instead, there was a long snake tail extending from his pelvis. The scales on his torso were light beige, and those covering the rest of his body were a dark green.
He widened his eyes and dragged himself with his arms to the mirror.
When he finally saw his reflection, he could only gape in shock.
He had a streamlined, serpentine head with well-defined features and piercing red eyes. His temples were topped with two long, pointed ears covered in small green scales.
"What... What is this?"
He turned around and, still lacking any control over the snake tail, dragged himself to the window.
With difficulty, he finally managed to reach the window ledge and pull himself up.
For the third time that day, he was left speechless at the view that greeted him.
The sun seemed to be setting, illuminating a magnificent city. He overlooked the entire area and couldn't help but marvel at its beauty.
Unlike the dirty and disorganized cities he was used to, this one was very clean and structured. The streets were wide and straight, allowing plenty of space for people and convoys pulled by various beasts to move freely without hindrance.
The buildings were medieval in style, but all were very large, clean, and spacious, with three, four, or sometimes even five stories.
People wandered the streets, and from what he could see, there were only three races: small blue and black humanoids, beings similar to himself, and others with tails and purple horns, white hair, and white skin.
In the distance, he could see an immense wall protecting the city. Comparing it with the surrounding buildings, it must have been at least fifty meters high.
On the horizon, he could see several pieces of land floating in the air, covered with trees and various plants.
"This... This is not my world anymore!"
He was almost sure of it. Whether it was these three races, the architecture, or the floating islands, he had hardly ever seen anything like it.
Crack
"Release the young master!"
A group of naga guards burst through the door of the room and rushed in.
Under the oppressive aura of the group leader, Herald was pinned to the ground, feeling his head emptying and his thoughts slowing.
He struggled just to stay conscious.
"Damn it, why is there someone so powerful here?!"
Fortunately, it didn't last long before the nagas withdrew their aura. The guard captain looked at him incredulously and turned around.
He gave a light slap to the soldier behind him, who immediately came to his senses.
"Go inform Madame, the young master has awakened!"
"Yes, Captain!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Myrdalein
Myrdalein Hello guys. I've failed my exams, so now I will also update Monday and Wednesday
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