“Can you summon undead?” Chen Qingjue didn’t rush in with Qu Weichen.
Instead, she pulled a cylindrical tube from her spatial ring and shook it twice in her hand.
“I can.” Qu Weichen had no idea what the Hall Master wanted.
If she wanted to use her undead to open the door… Qu Weichen figured it probably wouldn’t work.
They weren’t even the same system—how could system skeletons summon abyssal undead? But she couldn’t say that, so she just summoned a skeleton grunt.
Chen Qingjue stared at the scrawny skeleton that stepped out of the magic circle, speechless for a moment.
Why, after two and a half years, was Qu Weichen still summoning this kind of trash? Maybe sensing Chen Qingjue’s disdain, Qu Weichen quietly summoned a skeleton archer as well.
If that still wasn’t enough… well, she was going to keep stacking skill points in undead summoning anyway, so she might as well learn Skeleton Heavy Axe Warrior and summon that next.
“Do you want more?”
“What about their souls?” Chen Qingjue stared at the two skeletons, waved her hand to grab at the soul flames, but they didn’t budge at all… That wasn’t even real soul fire, more like a decorative effect.
“They don’t have souls.” Qu Weichen answered honestly.
Number Nine had said it too—skeletons were mass-produced, and while they could fight, they were basically no different from intelligent robots.
[…But on the Floating Continent, undead have souls.
Even skeletons after death retain some soul power.
The stronger the power, the stronger the skeleton.]
Qu Weichen: Oh, crap.
She had a bad feeling, and sure enough, Chen Qingjue was staring at her with a blank expression.
“You should be glad I’m not interested in research.” Chen Qingjue got annoyed just looking at these two soulless weakling skeletons, especially since they reeked of undead energy and looked no different from the abyssal grunts.
She’d really miscalculated this time.
Forget it, time for the backup plan.
Chen Qingjue twisted the tube in her hand three times, then raised it high and pressed the mechanism at the bottom—“Whoosh—bang!” A grand and dazzling daytime firework exploded, the huge sound and bright red light shooting into the sky, visible even in broad daylight.
With that commotion, anyone deep in Beastcall Mountain would definitely see it.
“Retreat, retreat now! Evacuate Beastcall Mountain!” The dragons and prison troops fighting nearby shouted and stopped fighting.
They didn’t even care about the undead still pouring out of the abyssal passage, just ran for the edge of the mountain as fast as they could.
The dragons took to the air, using all sorts of ice magic to slow the enemy and trap them near the passage, blocking any pursuit.
“Seal the passage, retreat first!” The Demon Suppression General felt a vague unease and immediately gave the order.
“Hah, what’s there to be afraid of? Who knows where Chen Qingjue ran off to, most of the prison troops are dead, and how many dragons did she even bring? Now that they’re losing, they’re probably just running for their lives.” A tiger general from the beastmen shouted, “We’ll give chase! You Demon Suppression Army guard the passage, and when it’s over, we’ll control it together.”
The hundred-strong giant tribe army hesitated.
Imperial reinforcements were still on the way, and the beastmen were stronger than they were.
They’d already taken losses fighting the dragons, and if they kept going… but they didn’t want to give up halfway either.
They had to get a share of the passage, no matter what.
“Forbidden: Frozen Wasteland!”
In the sky, three ice dragons had been charging up for a while, and now a massive ice magic array covered all three armies.
The ground froze inch by inch, ice creeping up the soldiers’ legs.
Many stomped hard, shaking off chunks of ice.
“Hahaha, see you!” As the ice spread, the dragons in the sky vanished in an instant.
The Demon Suppression General saw them even using lightness techniques, with wind elements helping them escape.
His face changed: “Not good, all Demon Suppression Army, form up and defend, retreat now!”
“Rumble—” Like thunder, like a landslide, like divine punishment, like the end of the world.
Azure light seeped up from underground, dyeing everyone’s faces blue.
The Demon Suppression Army had already formed a defensive formation, and the general had pulled out plenty of defensive items, but when he saw the blue light shining from beneath his feet, he couldn’t help but roar in fury: “Chen! Qing! Jue!”
Countless explosions merged into one, long and earth-shattering.
Qu Weichen felt her head buzz, and suddenly she couldn’t hear anything at all.
Chen Qingjue grabbed her and quickly dragged her away from Beastcall Mountain.
Qu Weichen watched as a blue sun flared up deep in the mountains, and tears streamed down her face.
[Are you stupid? Is that something you should be looking at or listening to?] Number Nine’s voice rang in her mind.
Qu Weichen: How was I supposed to know there’d be an explosion like that?! How many magic crystal bombs did that take? With that much, you could blow up the imperial capital! Beastcall Mountain… it’ll probably be Beastcall Valley from now on.
Chen Qingjue never planned to use those magic crystal bombs unless it was the last resort.
That was her entire fortune, enough to blow up the whole mountain.
Years of saving, making, and buying, sourcing materials from everywhere… Chen Qingjue had always kept them as her trump card, constantly stockpiling.
She hadn’t planned to use them now—moving that many bombs to the capital for a “boom” wasn’t realistic, but to just blow them all up like this—
Chen Qingjue’s face was cold, and she’d already marked the Third Prince as her enemy.
And those beastman and giant tribes who didn’t know their place—after this blast, they’d learned their lesson, if they even had a future.
As for the little one in her hand… Chen Qingjue gritted her teeth: How can there be such a useless necromancer in the world!
But she was also unique, different from every other necromancer.
Chen Qingjue pulled out another cloak and wrapped Qu Weichen up in it.
With the chaos breaking out, all sides had lost more people.
Chen Qingjue thought, these idiots never learn.
When she first took over the Prison Sanctuary, they tried to take advantage and a bunch died.
Now, seeing profit, they rushed in again and died some more.
Chaos, chaos.
Could Uvino ever stabilize? After dealing with this, would the Church of Light try something else? The dragons had come to help, so all the bodies and loot from Beastcall Mountain belonged to them.
Chen Qingjue dragged Qu Weichen back to Uvino, and before they even got inside, she saw a bunch of elves scattered around, treating the wounded with the Church of Light.
She spotted a girl among the elves with red, tear-swollen eyes, and when she shook Qu Weichen, she found Qu Weichen’s eyes unfocused, face pale, like she couldn’t hear anything.
Chen Qingjue: …
She took out a potion from her ring and forced it down Qu Weichen’s throat.
When Qu Weichen’s eyes finally focused on her, she said, “You’re my personal guard.
Don’t run off with the elves again.”
The Hall Master in front of Qu Weichen was still a bit blurry, but her hearing was coming back, and she could make out what Chen Qingjue was saying.
Judging by the faint sounds and lip movements, Qu Weichen immediately replied, “Got it.” She clearly didn’t realize how loud those words were with her hearing damaged.
Chen Qingjue: …
She suspected this brat was getting back at her, but she had no proof.
But Chen Qingjue didn’t show it.
Instead, she smiled gently and praised, “Good girl.”
She gathered the remaining prison troops—time to start clearing out Uvino’s spies.
As for Beastcall Mountain—well, Beastcall Valley now—the dragons and army had retreated in time.
According to the plan, after the explosion, they’d return to the passage once the shockwave faded, wipe out any survivors, and guard the passage.
This round, she’d barely scraped a win.
The Pingyuan General’s estate was reduced to rubble.
The prison troops searched it and found no survivors.
Qu Weichen sat at the city gate, staring blankly at the wounded and the piles of bones outside.
The land at Uvino’s gate was scorched black, not a single green plant left.
She watched the guards dealing with the bodies of fallen heroes and suddenly felt how fragile and small life was.
He Muman? General Pingyuan? Qu Weichen hadn’t forgotten that assassination attempt.
The Hall Master had taken revenge, but the target was the Third Prince behind it all.
Qu Weichen also knew Chen Qingjue had kept the Pingyuan estate to maintain peace for a while, not wanting to completely break with the other side or declare war on the Empire.
But now, all of it was gone in a single day.
A breeze brushed Qu Weichen’s hair, swept across her brow, over the charred land piled with bones, and blew off into the distance.
Qu Weichen looked at the scene and let out a long breath.
Tu Weierxi came over just then, hugged Qu Weichen from behind, then quickly let go.
“I thought something happened to you.”
“It was the Hall Master.
She was worried I’d be in danger, so she took me away first.” Qu Weichen reassured her.
“Is this what war is?”
“No,” Tu Weierxi said.
“War is a hundred times worse than this.
This is just a man-made disaster.”
“Good thing the elves didn’t get involved.” Qu Weichen sighed.
She looked toward Beastcall Mountain, but it was too far to see anything.
Qu Weichen stood up and looked back at the city, so different from its usual bustling self.
“Are you all going back?”
“Uvino’s troubles are just beginning.” Tu Weierxi looked at Qu Weichen, her eyes still a little red but her mood calm.
“After all, your Hall Master can’t pull out that many magic crystal bombs again.”
Qu Weichen fell silent too.
She looked at the prison troops—many of their uniforms were torn, white stained red with blood.
Did the Hall Master have any more tricks up her sleeve? Even if she recalled all the forces from the Prison Sanctuary’s branches, would it be enough? She couldn’t even find another necromancer—Qu Weichen guessed the Hall Master had had a rough time in the Abyss, probably the kind with not a single necromancer under her.
In silence, Qu Weichen put her skill point into [Skeleton Heavy Axe Warrior Summon] and learned it.
[Skeleton Heavy Axe Warrior Summon]: Summon a skeleton heavy axe warrior to fight for you.
(Max: 2) Skill cooldown: 5 minutes.
The skill tree lit up again, golden light circling and igniting the heavy axe warrior icon, then splitting into two branches—[Skeleton Knight Summon], [Wraith Summon].
Both required 7 skill points to learn.
Host: Qu Weichen
Class: Necromancer
Skill points: 1
Potential points: 1
She really was a “late bloomer” necromancer.
