That night, after confirming there were no immediate issues, Wei Huan lay down in the Captain's room and entered the Professional Temple.
As the mist parted, he found himself deep within the great tomb again. Squatting here were 21 Two-Headed Phantom Demons, whose Fires of Death had been ignited and strengthened to Tier 5. The successfully recruited Phantom Demons violated their nature by converging on him when they saw him approach. Some walked slowly on the ground like frogs, others spread their wings and flew into the air, and still others twisted their bodies and blended with the surrounding colors, making them hard to spot without a close look. They were ferocious in appearance and robust in build, each looking brutally combat-capable, like a fierce tiger charging up a mountain. Yet, they were 100% subservient to Wei Huan, guarding him at the center and protecting his safety.
Looking ahead, his visible distance had reached approximately 500 meters. The 21 Two-Headed Phantom Demons only provided about 100 meters of sight distance, and the other 400 meters were gained through his cultivation during this period. He currently had the Sudden Enlightenment effect and was perpetually under the blessing of the World Tree, which contributed to a cultivation progress that far exceeded the standard recruitment rate.
However, even with double the effort, he had only increased his visual range by 200 meters over the past 20 days. The tomb was too vast, practically a world in itself. The territory of the Two-Headed Phantom Demons was also extensive, and he rarely encountered one. Wei Huan did not rule out the possibility that some of the stronger and more intelligent ones might be deliberately avoiding him. After all, once Wei Huan successfully recruited them, he would, depending on the situation, erase any unnecessary consciousness. Naturally, these Undead creatures that had developed self-awareness were unwilling to submit to him.
Most notably, when he was at Sequence 4, some Phantom Demons would occasionally try to make contact with him. At that time, Wei Huan could sense that the opposite entity's consciousness was very active and clearly plotting something. Perhaps they thought they could control him when his sequence was low? Back then, Wei Huan felt his strength was insufficient and warily ignored all such "luring" consciousnesses. Still, he occasionally wondered if these self-initiated Elite-grade Undead were just exhibiting a shared trait of Elites, much like when the Butt-Ripper was very active and enthusiastic upon first meeting him. He had been tempted at one point.
Now, looking at these somewhat wooden, instinct-driven Phantom Demons, Wei Huan was immensely grateful for his initial caution. He hadn't realized that cultivating in the Professional Temple also carried risks; one could be easily led astray or possessed.
***
As Wei Huan thought this, he proceeded as usual: the Hound carried him, the Bear guarded the front, the Demon Eye Lord hovered overhead, the Ghost Crow and Green Cloud perched on his shoulders, the Butt-Ripper and its Barghest army brought up the rear, and the Crusader explored ahead. Coupled with the Ghost Crow, Wei Huan had packed the area within a 500-meter radius around him so densely that not even water could splash in. If a Phantom Demon were to drop from above, it wouldn't hit him.
He walked randomly for about an hour, encountering nothing. Clearly, today wasn't his lucky day either. Wei Huan wasn't discouraged. Every time he captured one, his strength would increase a little. Furthermore, the process of searching for the Phantom Demons allowed him to continue cultivating. With every immersive session, his visual range would increase by half a meter to a meter, and every time he added a circle of Barghests, he gained over a hundred more to protect him.
The constant feeling of increasing strength was excellent. He firmly believed that with unremitting persistence, his vision would eventually cover this entire world, and he would simultaneously control all the resources within it. He would become strong, even stronger!
Just then, a rustling sound came from the front. Wei Huan's eyes lit up. Without considering whether he had heard the sound before or if it differed from the Phantom Demon's sound, he commanded the Undead army to charge straight toward it. In the silent world of the great tomb, any sound was worth investigating!
The sound was actually very close, and Wei Huan's reaction was swift. The Undead army surged forward as a single entity! The very next second, they successfully surrounded a peculiar mass of black mist.
Wei Huan stared at the object, frozen for just a second, then was overcome with immense joy. He hadn't expected it to be a Mindsleuth Beast!?
Although the Mindsleuth Beast had the word "beast" in its name, to Wei Huan, it was more like the Dark Beast race's Wi-Fi. It could not only connect to the souls of every Dark Beast to command and drive low-level Dark Beasts, but most importantly, it possessed the ability to update genetic fragments. If one Mindsleuth Beast collected intelligence about Wei Huan and returned to the Dark Beast plane, the entire Dark Beast race, even newborn Dark Beast pups, would be 'born knowing' that "Wei Huan is an enemy, Wei Huan is strong, Wei Huan must die." Moreover, this memory, awakened in their genes and bloodline, would be accompanied by details of Wei Huan's abilities and specialties, his strengths and weaknesses, including what tactics to use upon encountering him that might lead to his demise.
The importance of the Mindsleuth Beast to the Dark Beast race was comparable to the importance of the internet to humanity. If humanity lacked the internet and satellite signals, they would revert to ancient times, and everything would regress accordingly. Dark Beasts, leaving the Challenger World, would not have been able to fight humanity for so long, and even gain the upper hand, without an effective means of transmitting information.
Seeing that it was a Mindsleuth Beast, Wei Huan didn't even have time for detailed thought. As if fearing it would flee the next second, his consciousness transformed into a sharp spike and fiercely plunged into the depths of the Mindsleuth Beast's soul.
His vision flashed!
It was a mass of soul aggregation—the largest Wei Huan had ever seen. Wei Huan couldn't describe the twisted, tangled mass, which looked like countless threads interwoven into a slowly wriggling object, so he could only describe it as such: "soul aggregation."
Perhaps it was the Necromancer's instinct? The moment Wei Huan saw this dark, tangled object, he knew that each of these threads seemed to be a separate consciousness. Though very small and weak, perhaps fainter than a firefly, when tangled together, they became incredibly vast—even larger than Wei Huan's consciousness. The comparison was like the difference between a bowl of water and a spoon.
But Wei Huan wasn't afraid. This chaotic, senseless mass of tangled souls was completely different from his Spiritual Spike. His Spiritual Spike, though small, was incredibly condensed and sharp. Under Wei Huan's control, it pierced straight into the aggregated mass with a 'whoosh', like a steel spoon slicing through tofu, penetrating effortlessly to the core.
Then, this condensed, sharp Spiritual Spike seemed to melt, softening as a green flame ignited. This was the Fire of Death, derived from Wei Huan's Ethereal Power. Undead whose souls were ignited by the Fire of Death would "resurrect" through him, obey only his commands, and be dominated and controlled by him, forever and ever.
***
The Fire of Death burned from the center of the soul aggregation. The black threads it touched were ignited like kindling, emitting green, cold flames. Wei Huan completed the step of igniting the Fire of Death with virtually no resistance. Logically, at this point, he could withdraw his consciousness, having successfully completed a summoning.
However, before Wei Huan withdrew, he instinctively scanned the mass and discovered that the object had a "flame spread" process. The green-flamed threads quickly extended outwards, but because these threads were so incredibly long, seemingly endless, the outwardly rapid spread was actually very, very slow. And once Wei Huan withdrew his consciousness, losing the continuous supply of the fire source, the spread would slow down, possibly even stop, and the illuminated flames might even disappear, reverting to the initial state.
Wei Huan had no choice but to keep his consciousness inside the soul aggregation, continuously providing energy for the burn. But the entire process took longer than he had imagined—it felt like an eternity. Time passed second by second. His consciousness could not leave this soul mass and could not return to the great tomb world. It certainly couldn't return to his body to wake up.
It was less that he was igniting the Mindsleuth Beast's consciousness and more that he was trapped by it. Perhaps his grade wasn't high enough? Even without any resistance from the Mindsleuth Beast, simply igniting it seemed to drain all of Wei Huan's energy.
Finally, when the green flame finally covered more than half of the mass, the Fire of Death could spread forward on its own. But Wei Huan, just in case, continued to stay until the very last fine soul thread was illuminated.
Wei Huan felt its consciousness. It was faint and tiny, like the most ordinary Undead, yet it was genuinely a Tier 8 Dark Beast. In that consciousness, so weak it seemed it might dissipate the next second, Wei Huan felt its submission. Only then did Wei Huan confidently withdraw his consciousness.
Returning to the great tomb world, he found his vision greatly enhanced! It wasn't just doubled; it had tripled! His visible distance reached about 1,500 meters? This distance was extremely far. Human eyes could clearly see less than a thousand meters, but within Wei Huan's visual range, he could clearly see a single rock on the ground. The macroscopic view and the microscopic detail were extremely fine, clear as a torch flame, as if he possessed his own exclusive domain.
Wei Huan was slightly surprised by this phenomenon, but before he could ponder it further, a strong rebound appeared, 'vibrating' his soul out of the Professional Temple. The Professional Temple allows for a five-hour stay in reality, with an internal time flow ratio of 1:5. Wei Huan thought, 'Did I spend 25 hours so quickly?' The experience in the soul state was clearly different from that in the body, but the specific differences would require him to gradually comprehend them...
"Captain, you have been cultivating for 20 hours." Before his consciousness fully returned to his body, the AI Butler's voice rang out. It said, "We have reached the final boss. Vice Captain Mu has visited three times during this period. Should I contact Vice Captain Mu?"
Upon hearing this, Wei Huan sprang from his seat, completely awake.
"Tell him I'm awake."
As Wei Huan spoke, he opened his door and strode out, reaching the driving cabin in just a few steps. He saw Mu Zhong, who had received the message and was just about to get up.
"My cultivation has made some progress," Wei Huan's first sentence explained what had happened to him. Then he asked, "How much time is left?"
Mu Zhong didn't waste words, saying, "It is now 4 PM on the tenth day. There's plenty of time. I was just worried about your condition, but it's fine now. Also, all of us chose to forgo the transmission out at the 80% line at 12 PM, and the outside world hasn't received any news from us, so they might be very anxious."
Wei Huan nodded; he understood the source of Mu Zhong's anxiety. They were the pioneers of humanity on Blue Star in the Challenger World, the navigators. If they failed on the path of advancement, the blow to humanity would be immense. Their victory was not just an emotional comfort to their families and friends; most importantly, they had become the spiritual leaders of Blue Star. They could not fail. Ideally, they should have delivered the good news to the world at 12 PM. But by choosing to continue forward and challenge the final boss, their lack of communication had become a source of worry worldwide. This was why Mu Zhong was somewhat anxious.
Of course, Wei Huan was now awake, and his cultivation had made a significant breakthrough, which was good news. A smile returned to Mu Zhong's face. He looked deeply at Wei Huan, then turned and pointed outside the vehicle, saying, "Look. This is a Platinum-grade ruin. It seems the Challenger World is compensating us."
Wei Huan narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance. Located deep on the seabed, a mass of twisted, sprawling, and aggressive plant life grew, stretching as far as the eye could see. It looked like the core of the Remnants Clan, but aged by time, as if it had lived for ten thousand years, having grown twisted and deformed, exuding an aura of decaying vitality near death. The sea leaves were ragged and tattered, and in some places, they were draped with twisted masses resembling accumulated fatty tumors, pulling a large bulk downwards, seemingly incubating something ominous inside. Its presence seemed to pollute the seawater. The already dark seawater became dense, like ink, near the sea leaf plant. Even with the Tier 7 headlights, visibility was restricted, preventing them from seeing too far.
The reason they knew this was a Platinum-grade monster was that the war vehicle's scanner had detected its grade. On the projection map, there was a huge Platinum Treasure Chest icon ahead, but also a Ruin icon.
***
Ruins took more time than treasure chests. A chest appeared directly, opening upon touch. Small ruins required them to exit the vehicle and explore. Large monster lairs like this one, called "relics," were even more time-consuming to explore. However, ruins often contained multiple chests. With luck, a Platinum relic could yield a Platinum Chest, a Gold Chest, and several Silver Chests—a complete haul.
The Platinum relic before them looked extraordinarily terrifying and sinister, clearly marked with a "Keep Out" sign. Unfortunately, Wei Huan wasn't afraid of it.
Wei Huan checked his Ethereal Power. After summoning the Mindsleuth Beast, it was depleted by more than half. He said, "I need to recover. We'll start in three hours."
Mu Zhong nodded, turning to Cousin Mu, "Send out the notice. Call a combat meeting." Cousin Mu received the signal and began contacting the team captains.
Soon, everyone was assembled in the conference room. Wei Huan's way of recovering was to take a light nap. Cultivating in the Professional Temple, while seemingly like sleep, was not true sleep; it consumed more spiritual energy and was more tiring than being awake.
But with things on his mind, Wei Huan couldn't sleep at all. He simply sat up, opened the teleportation gate, and a black-mist-like Mindsleuth Beast floated out. Wei Huan gazed at the black mist, checking its state, and after studying it for a while, he reached a rough conclusion. This creature looked like it had just died, its soul was transferred to the Underworld, but it hadn't had time to form a consciousness before Wei Huan encountered it. That's why his cross-grade summoning encountered no resistance.
At Wei Huan's current ability level, the success rate of summoning a Mindsleuth Beast was very low. This creature's soul was naturally vast, and its star-grade was high. If it didn't want to be summoned, even though it couldn't naturally attack Wei Huan, it would have enough time to escape. Summoning it was purely luck. Wei Huan even suspected, *if it was a nascent Undead, was it possible that I killed it myself?* What would you call that? Self-sufficiency?
Unfortunately, after becoming Undead, past memories all vanished, the soul was extinguished in the void, and a new consciousness was born in the empty shell, completing a rebirth. Whether the answer was what he suspected was likely impossible to ascertain.
Next, Wei Huan researched the Mindsleuth Beast's ability. He was then greatly surprised. This Mindsleuth Beast was an Attachment-type summon. It could attach itself to Wei Huan, increasing Wei Huan's Ethereal Power value during attachment and also improving the 'quality' of his Ethereal Power when it circulated.
The former was easy to understand: in the attached state, Wei Huan's Ethereal Power value would increase by 10%. With his current total Ethereal Power of 10,100, attachment added 1,010 Ethereal Power. 1,010 Ethereal Power allowed him to summon one extra Two-Headed Phantom Demon per day, or 33 extra Crusaders if used for that purpose. The latter, increasing Ethereal Power 'quality', allowed Wei Huan to achieve better results when using his "Spirit Talker" ability to sort the souls of the Undead or when selectively cultivating high-quality Undead. This ratio was also around 10%.
And this was the ability of just one Mindsleuth Beast. Mindsleuth Beasts could merge with each other. The more they merged, the stronger they became, and the higher the amplification Wei Huan received when attached. Initially, the increase was only in Ethereal Power, but after merging more Mindsleuth Beasts, his strength, agility, stamina, and so on would also increase.
The Gravekeeper, as a Summoner, has the body as his greatest weakness. Even though Wei Huan hadn't stopped physical training and had been regularly fed high-quality meals by Liu Chengzhi, as various professions continued to deepen, Wei Huan's physical data still showed a clear distinction from true melee combat professions. However, if he could cultivate an Elite-grade Mindsleuth Beast, the attached Wei Huan would gain Elite-level base stats. If he cultivated a Hero-grade Mindsleuth Beast, Wei Huan could engage in physical combat with most Sequence 5 melee fighters on the vehicle. If it reached Epic Hero-grade, he could join Xu Qingqiang and the others on the frontline. Legend, Pseudo-God, and God-grade—needless to say, he would be able to tear Dark Beast Kings apart, trample the Dark Beast realm, and dare to destroy a dimension alone.
Of course, the latter states were all ideal scenarios. How many Mindsleuth Beasts would it take to merge to reach that level? Wei Huan, who was currently struggling to summon even one, probably didn't need to worry about such things until he cultivated to Sequence 8. Even in the present, the boost the Mindsleuth Beast provided him upon attachment was enough to pleasantly surprise him. Did his strength increase by 10% all at once?
***
Wei Huan continued to study the Mindsleuth Beast, testing the negative effects of the attached state. When he saw the combat meeting, which had been going on continuously in the conference room, finally drawing to a close, Wei Huan had to put aside his research and step out of the Captain's room.
On his war vehicle, the primary combat force was always the Undead. The battles of all other combat teams were merely meant to cooperate with the Undead army. Even though Mu Zhong had done an excellent job, Wei Huan still needed to make an appearance and provide a few final instructions.
Wei Huan said, "The Undead will go in first. Once they reach the location, they will teleport into the space. You will clear the space, and I will also teleport in. This period is the most dangerous time. Afterward, coordinate well with the Undead army. If there's danger, let the Undead take the hit. If there's a need to sacrifice, let the Undead sacrifice. Prioritize your own safety and steadily push forward step by step. That's all. You have half an hour to rest and prepare."
He truly only said a few words. Earlier, Mu Zhong had conducted various tactical analyses and combat plans with the teams, detailing things down to the individual level. But when Wei Huan arrived, he boldly established the combat framework. The previously vague points immediately became clear and precise, and the combat objectives were crystal clear. This was the role of a leader—always able to lightly guide the direction at critical moments.
Everyone dispersed, and Mu Zhong returned to his driver's seat; it wasn't time to rest yet. His two hours of busy work weren't useless, of course. Wei Huan established the framework, and he filled in the details. The combination of the two—broad strokes with meticulous detail—was one of the reasons why this vehicle was unified and strong.
Comparatively, even with Yake on the vehicle, he temporarily struggled to find his exact place. Fortunately, Mu Zirui was eager to learn and often followed Yake, and slowly, Yake finally found some sense of belonging within the ranged team.
After separating from Mu Zhong, Wei Huan saw Yake, who was also preparing to leave. Wei Huan called out to Yake and asked, "In this battle, I will be with the melee team, so I only know the melee team's combat requirements. Do you have any ideas for the ranged team?"
Yake had clearly thought about it and immediately replied, "This ruin allows vehicle entry, but I believe those seaweeds are not just decorations. My suggestion is for the ranged team, along with the other war vehicles, to push forward and attack from both inside and outside."
Wei Huan nodded, "That works. I'll leave the external pushing work to you. I also hope you can maintain constant communication with the other war vehicles and ensure coordinated action."
Pausing, Wei Huan added, "If you feel you are not ready yet, we can do it next time..."
"No, it's fine." Yake shook his head. "I owe no one anything by joining your war vehicle. It was Aosam that ruthlessly pursued me, and you were the one who offered timely assistance. I haven't wronged anyone; they wronged me. They should be the ones who feel ashamed and avoid me, not the other way around."
Wei Huan nodded. For a moment, there was sympathy in his eyes as he looked at Yake, but knowing that wasn't what Yake wanted, he displayed an expression of recognition and appreciation, nodding, "That settles it then. I'll leave the ranged combat to you so I can focus on the fighting inside."
"No problem. Leave it to me." A smile appeared on Yake's face, and his eyes sparkled.