At the same time, in the Jiao Mu Kingdom underground city.
Chen Zhou turned the snake bone carving over and over in his hand. A red glow emanated from within, making it look crystal clear and translucent.
“How on earth do I activate this?”
He frowned, lifting the bone carving to his eyes and squinting at it against the dim light of the tunnel.
He could faintly see lines inside, resembling either runes or a dense network of blood vessels interwoven together, but he couldn’t make out exactly what they were.
As Chen Zhou pondered, the system’s notification sounded in his mind.
【Detected special bone material: Wing Constellation Spirit. This item can be used to upgrade your Bone Summoning skill.】
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. Upgrade Bone Summoning?
Before he could take a closer look, the system popped up several more messages in quick succession.
【One Wing Constellation Spirit has been automatically consumed for you.】
【Your Bone Summoning has been upgraded.】
【You can now summon a special Ghost Servant unit—Wing-Fire Snake.】
【^_^】
Chen Zhou: “...”
Fine.
I get it.
He was just a pawn just following the script, just like when he fused the godhead. The system didn’t give him any room to choose.
However, this also indicated that the bone carving was indeed a rare treasure, perhaps no less precious than a godhead.
The question remained: how was this thing activated? Someone must have done something.
Chen Zhou immediately submerged his consciousness into his sea of consciousness and contacted several believers located in Tianchi Province.
Wu Gou responded quickly, giving a brief account of what had just happened.
Chen Zhou soon understood. Wing-Fire Snake’s true form had died, her wish was fulfilled, and she had turned to ash. This was likely why the Wing Constellation Spirit had been activated.
If that were the case, to activate the other jiao bone carving, he would have to kill Jiao Mu Jiao.
Chen Zhou then asked Wu Gou, “Wing-Fire Snake’s strength shouldn’t be inferior to Jiao Mu Jiao’s. How is the situation on your end? Any casualties?”
Wu Gou replied, “This monk is unharmed. Benefactor Chaoxi overexerted herself and is unconscious. Benefactor Su Xue is tending to her.”
Chen Zhou frowned. “Is it serious?”
“Su Xue says she’s fine. There are no obvious problems, so her life isn’t in danger. She probably just needs to sleep it off.”
“Let her rest well.”
Wu Gou acknowledged the order, then asked, “Lord, do you need this monk or Benefactor Chaoxi to come over and help? The little white snake’s purification ability is quite useful. Wing-Fire Snake only regained her senses because of her.”
Chen Zhou shook his head. “No need. She’s still unconscious, so let her rest. You too. Recover well. Why are you running around when you’re missing a layer of skin?”
Wu Gou was stunned for a moment. “Ah? How did you know this monk is missing a layer of skin?”
Chen Zhou snorted. “Your voice is so weak. Do you think I can’t hear it?”
Wu Gou smiled softly. “You have wise eyes, Milord.”
“Alright, enough flattery,” Chen Zhou said. “Recover well. Report back if anything happens.”
“Yes.”
Cutting off the communication, Chen Zhou opened his eyes.
He looked down at the remaining jiao bone carving in his hand. Its grayish-white surface was smooth and warm as it lay quietly in his palm.
He stood up and stretched his muscles.
Seeing him stand, Jian Huaishuang rose as well and asked, “Milord?”
Chen Zhou waved a hand. “It’s nothing. Just testing a new ability.”
He closed his eyes and used Bone Summoning.
In the next second, Chen Zhou felt the death qi within his body surge violently, as if being sucked away by something.
His expression shifted slightly. This wasn't right; the consumption was a bit high.
In the system warehouse, the bone materials he had accumulated for over half a year began to disappear rapidly.
Fifth-stage bone material: ten thousand units.
Sixth-stage bone material: five hundred units.
Chen Zhou watched the numbers in the warehouse plummet, and his eyes twitched.
These bone materials were the savings he’d accumulated over half a year, and this one move had cleared out more than half of them.
But it wasn't over yet.
The death qi continued to drain.
Chen Zhou felt nearly half of the death qi in his body get drawn out, followed by a thunderous boom.
A ball of fire appeared out of thin air.
Transparent flames carrying terrifyingly high temperatures instantly illuminated the entire tunnel.
Jian Huaishuang’s expression changed. His greatsword unsheathed, and he stepped in front of Chen Zhou, but Chen Zhou reached out to stop him.
“Don’t move.”
Chen Zhou stared at the flames thick with death qi. The fire burned brighter and fiercer, then began to twist, deform, and condense.
After a few breaths, a bone snake appeared in its place.
Its entire body was stark white, and its bones were smooth and lustrous, as if each one were carved from jade. However, transparent flames were burning all over the bone snake’s body.
The flames seeped from the gaps between the bones, erupted from the eye sockets, and flowed over every inch of its skeletal surface, making the entire bone snake glow a brilliant red.
The bone snake was massive, measuring ten zhang in length with a girth thicker than a water vat. Coiled there, it looked like a small mountain.
It raised its head, transparent flames burning in its eye sockets, and looked at Chen Zhou.
Then it lowered its head, as if bowing in greeting.
Chen Zhou sensed the bone snake’s aura.
Seventh-stage fifth symbiosis contract.
Chen Zhou marveled, his eyes shining with brilliance.
Bone Summoning had always had the ability to produce a special Ghost Servant unit when using special materials, but those special units were usually not much different from ordinary Ghost Servants and were always far below his own cultivation level.
For instance, back in Dead Man’s Forest, he had used a snake skeleton to summon a bone snake, but that bone snake was useless except for being a bit larger.
Later, he had tried using other special bone materials to summon bone horses, bone bears, and bone tigers, but the facts proved that those things weren't very useful.
Low-rank Ghost Servants were meant to be cannon fodder anyway. Consuming extra materials to summon a special unit was far less cost-effective than summoning ordinary skeletons.
Ordinary skeletons were so cheap—five units of bone material of the corresponding rank could summon one. He didn’t feel bad if they died.
But this time was different.
The special Ghost Servant Wing-Fire Snake was at the seventh-stage fifth symbiosis contract, even stronger than his true form.
If he took this thing back to the City of the Wrongfully Dead and enhanced it with the Bone Forge, what kind of combat power would it eventually show?
The more Chen Zhou looked at the bone snake, the more he liked it. Just as he was thinking, a cry of surprise came from behind him.
“Holy crap!”
Yang Dingding stood not far away, clutching a large basket of mushrooms. He stared at the Wing-Fire Snake with his eyes wide and his jaw nearly hitting the floor.
Several little demons followed behind him, also holding piles of mushrooms, but they were all frozen in place now, mouths agape and eyes bulging.
“What... what on earth is this thing?” Yang Dingding stammered.
Chen Zhou didn’t answer.
Yang Dingding stared at the Wing-Fire Snake for a few moments, and his face suddenly changed.
“Wait.” He swallowed hard. “These flames... this color... isn’t this that Red Tail from just now?”
The little demons scrambled back a few steps in terror. Some even dropped their mushrooms and turned to run.
Yang Dingding was nervous too, but he was someone who had seen the world after all. He forced himself not to run, though his legs were shaking.
“M-m-m-milord...” he stammered. “Is this... is this thing... friend or foe?”
Chen Zhou glanced at him. “One of us.”
With that, Chen Zhou walked directly to the Wing-Fire Snake. The bone snake lowered its head, looking docile and harmless.
Chen Zhou stepped onto its bones and climbed up the snake’s head in a few strides, standing at the highest point and looking down.
The transparent flames burned beneath his feet, casting a red glow over his figure.
Chen Zhou patted the bone snake’s head.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Pick up the mushrooms, then we’ll go pay a visit to Jiao Mu Jiao.”
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