Chapter 26

"Damn..." The eerie sound fell into Lin Yun's ears, and he was instantly startled. As he quickly retreated, a spark of light also appeared at his fingertips.

Bathed in the sudden light, Lin Yun discovered that where he had just been standing, a skeleton was emerging from the ground. The skeleton was covered in black soil, holding a rusty curved sword, and two points of phosphorescent light flickered in its hollow eye sockets...

"Undead creature?" Lin Yun was startled. This was clearly the lowest form of undead creature, a skeleton warrior. Could it be that his luck was so good that he randomly found a path to the infamous Undead Plane?

This joke is a bit too big...

Even during the peak of the magical civilization, mages would not easily venture into the Undead Plane, as it was far too dangerous. Even the most powerful mages could fall here.

Endless undead creatures, tireless and fearless of death, and an inexhaustible source of power made the Undead Plane one of the most difficult planes to conquer.

Lin Yun had once read a note that clearly stated that during the entire Planar Colonization Era, only three people had truly conquered the Undead Plane!

Think about it, the Planar Colonization Era lasted for ten thousand years, during which countless great mages appeared, but only three truly conquered the Undead Plane...

"What should I do?" Lin Yun felt a bit uneasy. This was no joke; the infamous Undead Plane was not a place for a mere 9th-level mage to step into. Even a High Mage or an Archmage would be courting death by entering the Undead Plane.

He must leave as soon as possible; otherwise, once more undead creatures are alerted, he won't be able to leave at all.

With this thought, Lin Yun recited a spell, and the faint light at his fingertips instantly became intense. As the spell was cast, a blazing rocket shot towards the skeleton warrior, while Lin Yun quickly retreated, reciting more spells and making gestures, causing the magical fluctuations around him to intensify...

The rocket hit the skeleton warrior, and there was a muffled explosion. Amidst the scattering sparks, pieces of white bone flew. The skeleton warrior's entire left arm was shattered. Such an injury would be a severe wound for a regular warrior, but for an undead creature, it was far from enough...

The skeleton warrior, hit by the rocket, only retreated a bit and then climbed out of the ground as if unaffected. It raised its rusty curved sword and swung it at Lin Yun, who was retreating.

This was the terrifying aspect of undead creatures; they were hard to truly kill. Losing an arm or a leg was just like losing a part, and it would only slightly inconvenience their movement.

However, Lin Yun had anticipated this. After the rocket shattered the skeleton warrior's arm, he continued to chant without stopping. Almost as soon as the skeleton warrior raised its sword, Lin Yun cast his second spell...

Thunder Hammer!

As Lin Yun completed the spell, a golden hammer appeared in front of the skeleton warrior, surrounded by lightning, and struck it with tremendous force...

There was a muffled "bang," and a deep crack appeared on the skeleton warrior's chest, extending with a series of faint cracking sounds until it finally shattered with a crisp "snap"...

The skeleton warrior, as an undead creature, could not scream, but the phosphorescent light in its hollow eye sockets burned fiercely, and its curved sword fell with astonishing speed.

But what awaited it was another Thunder Hammer.

Another muffled "bang," and this time the Thunder Hammer completely shattered the skeleton warrior's skull. The burning phosphorescent light instantly went out, and the curved sword clattered to the ground, followed by the skeleton warrior collapsing...

"Phew..." Lin Yun finally breathed a long sigh of relief. He skillfully examined the skeleton warrior's shattered skull while carefully observing his surroundings, ready to use the planar path to return to Noscent at any moment.

Soon, Lin Yun found a black piece of necrotic essence in the shattered skull. This was the material left behind after the soul fire had extinguished, containing extremely powerful death energy, making it an excellent material for enchanting weapons. Weapons enchanted with necrotic essence would附加 death energy with each attack, causing various negative emotions in the enemy. Against opponents with weaker resistance, these negative emotions could determine the outcome of a battle.

Such a piece of necrotic essence could be worth as much as a superior magical artifact in the Thousand Sails City market.

"Pretty good luck..." The skeleton warrior's soul fire was too weak, and the chance of it forming necrotic essence after extinguishing was actually very small, so Lin Yun's luck was indeed good to find one.

However, despite the good luck, Lin Yun's mood remained terrible.

Each planar path meant endless wealth and opportunities. Most of the powerful mages during the peak of the magical civilization rose to the top of Noscent by discovering a planar path.

Unfortunately, this planar path led to the infamous Undead Plane.

Lin Yun had no choice but to give up...

At least for a long time, he would not dare to touch anything in this plane again.

This time, he was lucky to encounter only a skeleton warrior and obtain a piece of necrotic essence, but what about next time? Who could guarantee that his luck would continue? What if he encountered a lich right away? That would be a terrifying existence at least equivalent to an Archmage, and such terrifying beings were not rare in the Undead Plane. A plane where even dark dragons could be described in groups, having dozens or hundreds of liches would be nothing...

"Wait..." The memories of the Undead Plane suddenly made Lin Yun realize a problem.

Why was there only one skeleton warrior?

According to legend, the Undead Plane was filled with endless undead creatures. Skeleton warriors, the lowest form of existence, should be described in "seas." How could he have only encountered one skeleton warrior after being here for so long? This didn't make sense...

"Could this not be the Undead Plane?" This sudden thought made Lin Yun's hands tremble.

The difference was too great. On one side was endless wealth and opportunities, and on the other, nothing. To determine this, Lin Yun decided to take another risk. He interrupted the rune to open the planar path and instead cast a spell for the Mage Eye.

Three Mage Eyes merged into the night, flying close to the ground under the dark red moonlight.

From the perspective of the Mage Eyes, Lin Yun could clearly see that there were no traces of undead creatures on the entire black wasteland.

This discovery made Lin Yun's breathing quicken.

However, after some thought, he still felt uneasy and cast another spell to detect undead creatures.

This time, Lin Yun sensed that there were indeed undead creatures on the black wasteland, but they were all sleeping underground. They might not wake up for ten or twenty years if undisturbed.

Moreover, Lin Yun discovered that the most powerful of all the undead creatures was just a Bone Demon!

A Bone Demon's combat strength was at most equivalent to that of a top-tier Great Mage...

This didn't make sense. In such a vast black wasteland, the most powerful undead creature was just a Bone Demon. In the legendary Undead Plane, there were banshees everywhere and liches were as common as dogs. How could a mere Bone Demon dominate such a large territory?

At this point, Lin Yun was almost certain that he was not in the Undead Plane. One, the number of undead creatures was too few, and two, the power levels were too low. If this place were the Undead Plane, the mages of the peak era would have been better off smashing their heads against a block of tofu.

But if it's not the Undead Plane, then what is it?

It was also filled with undead creatures, had a dark red crescent moon, and the death energy in the air was the same as in the Undead Plane...

"The Bone Plane!" With all the clues, Lin Yun slapped his forehead and finally remembered. Yes, this place was most likely the Bone Plane, a plane with characteristics very similar to the Undead Plane but with much lower power levels.

This was a significant difference for Lin Yun...

In that vast, decaying library, there were many documents from the Planar Colonization Era, which Lin Yun had read out of boredom.

The Bone Plane was discovered during the mid-colonization era. Three young mages from the Ivory Tower accidentally obtained the coordinates of the Bone Plane and used them to establish a new planar path. They conquered the Bone Plane within three months.

Yes, just three months...