Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Fang Zhou rode on Uriel and stopped, asking, "What is this place?"

Uriel silently glanced around.

"This could be the Endless Blood River, or perhaps a branch of the Endless Blood River...

after all, the Blood War Furnace, this fragment of the Undead Realm Lord, is immensely colossal.

Nearly everyone can see the Endless Blood River, so it likely has countless branches."

Hearing Uriel’s explanation, Fang Zhou understood a little.

He approached the Endless Blood River, wanting to see this miraculous river.

The situation in the Blood War Furnace was far more complex than imagined.

The death energy here was more frenzied, and equally more difficult to manipulate.

Uriel beneath Fang Zhou seemed to recall something and said, "Lord, do not casually release your soul fire in the Blood War Furnace, especially when facing the Endless Blood River."

Fang Zhou halted his steps, lowered his head to look at Uriel, and asked curiously, "Why is that?"

Uriel thought for a moment and said, "The Endless Blood River is a massive river bearing countless souls.

Souls here are eroded by the river, wearing away their memories...

so if your soul fire seeps into it, it may also affect you."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhou nodded thoughtfully, and he no longer hastily moved toward the Endless Blood River.

The saying ’A mountain looks closer than it is’ applies in the Blood War Furnace as well.

Even though Fang Zhou had already seen the Endless Blood River, it took quite some time to truly approach it.

Finally, man and dragon neared the Endless Blood River.

The Endless Blood River flowed with red river water, but upon closer inspection, there was no smell of blood, making one question what it truly was.

The flow of the river was not fast, but many things floated within, some of which were grim limbs.

The shapes of these limbs were bizarre, some with scales and bone spines.

Others resembled ordinary human corpses.

There were also various demon corpses that Fang Zhou had seen or heard of, and some he had never even heard of.

Every so often, a whirlpool appeared on the river surface, spewing out new demon corpses.

These were special products of the Blood War Furnace.

When demons or undead perished in the Blood War Furnace, their souls would be absorbed and devoured by the Endless Blood River.

The souls that fell into the Endless Blood River would obtain a spiritual body akin to a corporeal one.

Some spiritual bodies were still wailing, helplessly reaching out, wanting to grasp something.

But in the Endless Blood River, all their actions seemed to make no sound.

Even though Fang Zhou was only two or three meters from the river surface, he could not hear the wailing of a spiritual body floating past him.

Suddenly, the nearby river water surged, as if something colossal was thrashing beneath it.

Fang Zhou watched this scene and quickly distanced himself.

Although unclear about the situation, it was safer to stay far away.

"Boom!"

A giant wave in the Endless Blood River made a tremendous noise, a large wave crashing onto the shore, sending much of the river water onto the bank.

As the water slowly flowed back into the Endless Blood River, many spiritual bodies were left behind on the shore.

Of course, amidst this wave, not only were there corpses, but also some active things.

Skeletons.

This lowest tier of undead in the Blood War Furnace appeared within Fang Zhou’s sight,

Low-level skeletons lacked wisdom, but could obey the mental commands of other undead.

They obey the commands of all undead higher than them in rank.

Skeletons were the laborers during the high-level undead’s work, toys during boredom, and cannon fodder in battles.

One could say the prosperity of the Undead Realm relied on the skeletons’ contributions, yet no high-level undead would commemorate the skeletons.

Fang Zhou looked at these skeletons and couldn’t help but shake his head.

The power of these skeletons was mostly at the apprentice tier, not even reaching the Black Iron Tier.

However, thanks to the Blood War Furnace’s high energy environment, these skeletons were like perpetual motion machines here.

As long as they weren’t killed, they live almost eternally.

Needing no food, tirelessly doing whatever is asked, with no complaints even when slain.

These skeletons, once washed ashore by the giant wave of the Endless Blood River, stood still for a moment, then began to move.

They walked among the many spiritual bodies, crafting these already twisted spiritual bodies into even more bizarre and painful shapes.

This wasn’t out of a skeleton’s perverse interest, quite the opposite, it was for the benefit of these spiritual bodies.

Those spiritual shells washed ashore would almost remain there forever without the skeletons’ operations.

Unless one day destroyed by a fireball falling from the sky, or kicked back into the Endless Blood River.

Such existence for these souls was virtually the most excruciating torment.

They were trapped in the small prison of their spiritual shells, unable to do anything.

But corpses remodeled by skeletons would one day successfully become new skeletons.

Though they’d lose consciousness, wisdom, memory, their pain would also end entirely.

Fang Zhou quietly watched the activities of these skeletons not far away. Uriel at his feet said nothing.

So the foundational skeletons of the Undead Realm were born incessantly in this way.

No matter how detailed the records of the Naraku Civilization or the inherited memories of Bone Dragons, nothing was as stunning as seeing this scene firsthand.

Hundreds of various spiritual bodies, under the manipulation of these dozen skeletons, formed various twisted and painful forms.

And for the spiritual bodies, this sort of treatment wasn’t favorable.

Their shells, now detached from the Endless Blood River, could feel pain.

Their bodies tormented and transformed by skeletons inflicted far more pain than they bore in life.

Fang Zhou thought about it for a moment.

If these spiritual bodies were to be slain again, could it yield soul power?

He decided to try.

Fang Zhou casually waved a spear, the domineering spear wind blowing some shells’ heads off, but after waiting a moment, there were no gains on the attribute panel.

Fang Zhou thought it over and it made sense; these were already spiritual bodies, how could they be slain?

So he turned his target to the skeletons, waved his spear again, and slew all the skeletons.

This time, he gained a trace of soul power.

Though pitifully small, it indeed existed.

This made Fang Zhou nod in satisfaction.

Uriel, puzzled, asked, "Lord, what are you doing?"

Fang Zhou, hearing this, casually explained, "Oh, nothing... just conducting an experiment."

However, with such a small sample size this time, Fang Zhou planned to find another chance for a broader experiment.

Without skeleton activity here, the remaining spiritual bodies probably wouldn’t turn into skeletons.

So the kind-hearted Fang Zhou had Uriel toss these corpses back into the Endless Blood River.

...

After leaving that place, Fang Zhou and Uriel continued to follow the Endless Blood River.

Compared to wandering the unchanging wilderness away from the Endless Blood River, the river’s edge was more intriguing.

At the very least, they occasionally encountered skeletons and spiritual shells washed ashore by the river; though devoid of wisdom, they at least could move.

But to prevent accidents, Fang Zhou kept a certain distance from the Endless Blood River.

He also summoned twenty Blood Spirit Knights for protection.

After all, this was the Blood War Furnace, where the danger was far greater than the Wasteland of Strife and the Corpse Hill.

Fang Zhou dared not be careless.

.......

As Fang Zhou controlled his clone to explore the Blood War Furnace along the Endless Blood River, the Undead Mage’s military training finally concluded.