Chapter Seventy-Four: The Little Skeleton Who Yearned to Soar

Passing through the teleportation array, Han Shuo arrived at the Cemetery of Death just as dawn was breaking. From departure to return, exactly a day and night had passed. He hurried to the Abyss of Prime Demons to infuse it with fresh blood and demon essence, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

The operation of the Abyss of Prime Demons could not be interrupted for even a day. If blood and demon essence weren't infused daily, the efforts of the past twenty days would be wasted. Han Shuo sat heavily on the ground, and the battle energy that Darnell had forced into his body finally began to stir up chaos. A sudden surge made his throat taste sweet; he nearly spat out another mouthful of blood.

Instead of fear, Han Shuo felt joy. He jumped to his feet, laughed heartily, and quickly left the Cemetery of Death, heading toward the waterfall where he cultivated his demonic arts. Once there, braving the torrent cascading down like a mighty river, he settled into his usual spot. After a moment of violent trembling, Han Shuo plunged once more into the cultivation of his demonic art.

For seven consecutive days, apart from regularly infusing the Abyss of Prime Demons with blood and demon essence, Han Shuo remained beneath the waterfall, tirelessly cultivating his demonic technique.

Through relentless cultivation, his strength advanced rapidly. Utilizing Darnell's lingering battle energy and the fierce impact of the waterfall, Han Shuo's meridians and bones in his chest and abdomen were reforged. By the time he sensed Darnell's battle energy had vanished, he clearly felt his body was in the best condition it had ever been.

Over the next few days, Han Shuo temporarily ceased his cultivation of demonic arts. While attending to the Abyss of Prime Demons, he immersed himself in the study of the "Beginner Necromancy Manual," reading it until he could nearly recite it from memory.

He marked all the points of confusion, and with continuous meditation using the green orb, his spiritual power grew stronger each day. Through persistent experimentation, Han Shuo finally succeeded in casting the spell "Soul Pain," and was overjoyed. After months of accumulation and a significant increase in spiritual power, he had finally advanced from a magic apprentice to a novice mage.

A novice necromancer could master three spells: Soul Pain, Zombie Summoning, and Bone Spear. Yet, despite numerous attempts, Han Shuo had only managed to grasp Soul Pain, unable to cast the basic Zombie Summoning and Bone Spear spells.

Reflecting on his study of the "Beginner Necromancy Manual" and the many unclear points, Han Shuo realized that merely reading was not the fastest way to improve. It seemed he should seek out Fanny to ask her about the mysteries of magic, and take the opportunity to retrieve the materials and black gold ore that Phoebe had promised for forging his weapon.

However, before deciding to return, Han Shuo wanted to finish refining his Prime Demons. The Abyss of Prime Demons had been running for thirty-four days and would be complete in two more. Not in a hurry to leave, he first visited the dwarven settlement to reconnect with the dwarves.

He returned to the mine and spent a day excavating, obtaining a small piece of black iron ore and several dozen pieces of iron and copper ore.

From Phoebe, Han Shuo learned that black iron ore was extremely rare and valuable. Even after a day’s digging, he could only find a tiny piece. He immediately stored it in his space ring, while the iron and copper ore he deposited in an empty storage room in the main hall of the Cemetery of Death after returning.

On the eve of the Abyss of Prime Demons’ completion, Han Shuo stayed in the main hall, took out the space rings he had acquired from Darnell and Yuna, and removed the broken fingers from the rings—those had long since been discarded. The two rings, one black and one green, belonged to Darnell and Yuna respectively.

If the owner is alive, the spiritual imprint inside a space ring never fades, making it impossible for others to retrieve the contents even if they possess the ring. Now, with both Darnell and Yuna dead, their spiritual imprints had disappeared.

Han Shuo first took Darnell’s black space ring and focused his spiritual power, immediately probing inside.

The space was similar to his own ring. Aside from several longswords, crossbows, spears, and a piece of silver gleaming armor, there was a manual for cultivating battle energy, some spare clothes, a few aphrodisiacs and hallucinogens, a crystal card for storing coins, and over a hundred loose gold coins.

He discarded the clothes, tossed the unused weapons into the storage room with the iron and copper ore, and kept the armor, battle energy manual, aphrodisiacs, hallucinogens, and the gold coins for himself. The crystal card, likely containing a large sum, was useless without Darnell for authentication, so Han Shuo tossed it aside as well.

After emptying Darnell’s space ring, Han Shuo turned his attention to Yuna’s green ring, obviously crafted for a woman. It was beautiful, with a soft green glow.

But when Han Shuo tried to enter the space with his spiritual power, he sensed a barrier. He cursed Yuna’s caution—she had set a ward inside. Even though her spiritual imprint was gone, a foe would need spiritual power at least a level higher than hers to break the barrier and claim the ring’s contents.

Han Shuo had originally intended to give the emptied ring to Fanny, but realized that with Fanny only an advanced mage, she wouldn’t be able to break the ward. Besides, if he gave her the ring with its contents, she would surely suspect its dubious origin.

With a sigh, Han Shuo decided to keep the ring for now, planning to destroy the ward in the future and then give it to Fanny.

On the final day, Han Shuo stepped out of the Abyss of Prime Demons early, infused it with blood and demon essence, and remained standing nearby, watching intently.

Three Prime Demons were about to emerge.

The grotesque, ghastly Abyss of Prime Demons looked even more terrifying today. Perhaps because Han Shuo had infused it with blood for thirty-six consecutive days, its once gray-brown surface was now stained a vivid crimson, eerily bright.

After injecting six drops of blood, the six remaining wraiths inside went mad, fighting and biting each other, their bodies shifting between tangible and intangible. They tore and devoured each other in their final frenzy. Amidst this chaos, the little skeleton remained utterly relaxed, crossing its tiny leg bones as if sunbathing on a beach—the contrast between its comfort and the wraiths’ madness was striking.

Han Shuo watched, waiting most of the day as the six wraiths intertwined. At last, dark red blood mist rose from the Abyss, enveloping it so thoroughly that even Han Shuo couldn't see inside.

With the emergence of the blood mist, intense waves of sinister energy erupted from the Abyss of Prime Demons. Red flashes, like lightning, appeared and vanished within.

After a long while, a crisp crack sounded from within, like shattering glass. The bizarre phenomena above the Abyss vanished in a sudden gust of cold wind.

Three dark red, ethereal figures, each with a strange, long tail, circled Han Shuo joyfully, celebrating their new birth. An inexplicable sense of connection flowed from the Prime Demons to Han Shuo’s heart. Responding to his will, the three Prime Demons obediently soared into the sky, shifting from solid to intangible, disappearing in an instant.

It was as if he had gained three new pairs of eyes. With the Prime Demons stationed at three points around the Cemetery of Death, Han Shuo could observe every corner—nothing could escape his scrutiny.

With a thought, the three Prime Demons rushed before him, then darted into his body, shrinking to ant-like size and settling atop a bone in his neck.

“Haha! This is fascinating. With these three Prime Demons, I have three extra pairs of eyes. Letting them out, I’ll never fear being tracked or ambushed again. If I use them for assassination, they’ll be a nightmare for my enemies!” Han Shuo laughed aloud, repeatedly releasing and recalling the Prime Demons for practice, relishing the experience.

At that moment, the little skeleton lying in the Abyss suddenly rose, slowly crawling out. The seven bone spurs on its back began to flutter rapidly. With a sudden burst of strength from its leg bones, it shot skyward.

Six of the bone spurs were arranged in two rows like insect wings, while the seventh jutted straight down like a tail. As the skeleton soared, it flailed its limbs, the two rows of bone spurs beating furiously, and the tail-like spur swaying as if it were a bicycle handlebar, apparently helping it steer in midair.

When the tail swung left, the skeleton drifted left; when it swung right, it veered right—a curious sight!

Han Shuo watched in astonishment as the little skeleton wobbled through the air, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

After a moment, the skeleton crashed to the ground with a clatter, its bones shaking. Dizzy, it staggered up with its little bone knife, and, like a drunk, walked in circles, wobbling unsteadily.

“You rascal, only a few days since you learned to walk and now you want to fly!” Han Shuo, distressed, hurried over and knocked gently on the skeleton’s smooth forehead.

Remarkably, the skeleton immediately stopped its drunken wobbling, sat down like a child, and scratched its head, as if unsure what it had done wrong.

From the first time Han Shuo summoned it, he had cared for the little skeleton with meticulous attention. Through continuous cultivation, it had begun to exhibit human-like behaviors. Han Shuo’s affection for it surpassed that for anyone in this world; seeing it fall from the sky worried him deeply.

Once he saw the skeleton was intact, only shaken by the fall, Han Shuo finally relaxed.

On closer inspection, he noticed the skeleton’s bones, once jet black, now carried a faint dark red hue. It was no longer pure black—hard to notice unless examined closely.

“How odd. The Abyss of Prime Demons was meant to refine little demons, but this rascal insisted on crawling in, basking in apparent comfort. Now its body has changed, even trying to mimic the Prime Demons’ flight. It seems this little fellow has transformed again, but I can’t tell whether it’s for better or worse. I have no idea what it’s become now.” Han Shuo muttered as he observed the skeleton.

After pondering a while, unable to understand the skeleton’s changes, Han Shuo shook his head and decided not to dwell on it. Seeing the Abyss of Prime Demons had returned to normal after the Prime Demons’ emergence, he intoned a spell and sent the skeleton back to another dimension.

Now that his injuries were healed, the three Prime Demons were refined, and even the little skeleton had regained mobility, Han Shuo gathered his things and, with unresolved magical questions and Phoebe’s debt of black gold ore in mind, used the teleportation array to return to Orson City in the Empire.