Chapter 70: Inspecting the Necromantic Plane

"City lord Kanansen, do you have any planes for sale in your hands? We can discuss the price, the conditions don't matter, but they must be delivered in the near future."

"I don't have any, but if you are in a hurry, I do know who is selling one. However, this is a necromantic plane, and normal people cannot use it directly. Of course, don't think about various rare minerals, and the elemental channels are also very chaotic, which will take some time to clean up. If you have the intention to take it over, I can arrange it in these few days."

"I need to consider this matter. Can I go there for an on-site inspection?"

"I can help you ask, it shouldn't be a big problem. You know, there are not many people who want this kind of plane that has no value. You wait for me for a few days."

…………

Three days later, Sakavi and Vierna stood on a watchtower built of pale giant bones. The scene before them made even Sakavi, who was well-informed, pause. Looking around, this is a world without sun, moon, or stars. The sky is an eternal, sickly dark purple, and occasionally semi-transparent wraiths float silently like jellyfish, emitting subtle, annoying whimpers.

The earth of the entire plane is grayish-black, covered with a thick layer of dust like bone ash. The distant mountains are twisted, strange shapes that seem to be squeezed by countless corpses. Several turbid rivers flowing with dark yellow liquid penetrate the earth like sores, and gray dust visible to the naked eye floats in the air.

"Vierna, do you think this plane is worth our investment?"

"It's hard to say now. We currently only have one druid, Gelapu. It's a bit difficult to clean up here. However, he won't be able to help in the upcoming war, so it's just right for him to come here to work."

"Let's go, let's go ahead and see. A plane that has broken down like this actually dares to ask me for 70 million gold coins, plus 300 refined steel rune swords. I think this group of guys is really crazy, daring to say any price."

A towering giant tower built of skulls was broken at the waist, countless skulls scattered on the hillside, their empty eye sockets looking at the sky.

The two walked forward. A place that should have been a "Soul-Binding Forest" only had charred and twisted tree trunks left, and the souls that were once bound on them had long since dissipated. Further away, a huge palace complex with a strange style only had broken walls and ruins left, as if it had been gnawed by some giant beast.

"It seems the 'cleanup work' was done very thoroughly." Sakavi commented. His humanoid form seemed more adapted here. The shadow robe moved without wind, quietly absorbing the negative energy particles that tried to approach. His dragon pupils scanned this wasteland, as if evaluating a wheat field that had just been harvested.

As the intelligence stated, powerful necromantic monarchs, liches, and death knights have disappeared. Under the pale bone platform, on the grayish-black wilderness, only some low-level residents wander aimlessly.

Skeleton soldiers are mostly incomplete, dragging rusty weapons, stumbling in the dust like headless flies, their lower jaws opening and closing unconsciously. Some shadows and wraiths with almost exhausted energy float like thin mist, their shrieks becoming weak and unable to cause substantial damage to the souls of the living.

A small amount of ghouls search for possible residual "meat scraps" in the piles of corpses, fighting meaninglessly for a little bit of residue. Sakavi noticed that in some inconspicuous corners, a few wild rabbits were appearing, still living tenaciously on this dead land.

"Sakavi, you are a professional in the necromantic aspect. Are there any mineral deposits worth mining here?"

"I can feel that there are several negative energy veins that have not yet been exhausted deep in the earth. Although there are no powerful existences to drain them, this is the foundation for maintaining the plane to generate low-level undead, and it is also a precious resource for cultivating specific undead creatures or casting large-scale necromantic spells.

It is said that a few kilometers away, there is a place called the Withering Swamp. We can take a look. I think it should bring us unexpected surprises. You know, the development difficulty coefficient of swamps is very large, and they are often places where some unwilling-to-fail forces, or some liches who don't want to be seen, like to hide the most."

The two looked down at the swamp shrouded in dark green mist from the air. It was like a festering scar on the earth that emitted strange vitality. This is one of the few places in the "Eternal Silent Wasteland" that still maintains high "activity" and dangerous output.

It is vast and boundless, with muddy black water areas and rotten land intertwined, forming a labyrinth-like area. The water surface floats with thick, oil-like dark green mist. This mist is not completely static, but crawls slowly as if it has life, blocking the line of sight and swallowing sound.

The air is filled with a complex smell: the strong fishy smell of humus, the sweet and greasy fragrance of some strange sickly flowers, and a pungent chemical smell similar to strong acid mixed together, forming a poisonous miasma sufficient to make ordinary creatures dizzy and vomit.

Growing in the swamp are ghost-face mushrooms, a type of massive, pale mushroom with patterns resembling pained human faces on their caps, which occasionally spray clouds of hallucinogenic spores.

And the blood-weeping orchid, a dark red, orchid-like plant. Its petals ooze a viscous sap like fresh blood, emitting a cloying, sweet fragrance, but this scent is a lethal neurotoxin.

Of course, there are also strangler vines, black as iron, lurking in the water or coiled around dead trees like snakes, ready to launch swift entangling and piercing attacks on any living creature or energy entity that passes by.

The sparse trees standing in the swamp have long since died; their branches are pale and twisted like raised arm bones, their bark peeled away and covered in glowing moss. Like clusters of ghostly green, cold orbs of light, they flicker in and out of the mist, providing an eerie and dim illumination that adds to the gloomy horror of the entire swamp environment.

"Lady Tali, do you think there might be a powerful lich hiding here?"

"Why, has your taste become so heavy now? You aren't even planning to let a lich go."

"What on earth have you experienced over these past few years to become like this? I remember you weren't like this before."

"Because you were still young back then, hahahaha! At that time, you were either swindling people, conducting various magical experiments, or developing high-lethality necromantic spells. You had no time to know what I liked to do. Besides, Drow Elves are naturally like this; did you think we were Wood Elves?"

"I thought you were different from other Drow Elves; it turns out I was wrong about you. I forgot, you ran away because you failed in internal power struggles, not because you couldn't stand the behavior of the Drow Elves."

"Don't trust those defectors either, because most of them are scoundrels; nothing good can grow in that kind of environment. Speaking of checking for the lich, I have a good suggestion: how about we bring a few High-Level Rangers from the territory to scout it out? If the two of us go, no lich would dare show its face."

"That works too, but it will take time. Let's go look at other places first!"

Standing at the entrance of the massive, low-slung fortress-style building located at the junction of the swamp and the Pale Forest Plains, the sight inside makes one gasp. This place appears to be a facility for manufacturing and assembling high-level undead creatures like flesh golems and bone giants. It is a combination of a slaughterhouse, a stitching workshop, and an enchanting studio. Although abandoned, it still retains a large amount of cadaverous material, blueprints for stitched monsters, and semi-finished creatures waiting to be reactivated.

Black steles standing at key energy nodes throughout the factory are covered in blasphemous runes used to channel and amplify the negative energy of the entire plane. They are part of the "Death Barrier," and approaching them causes continuous mental erosion and life-force drain.

"It's a real pity that such a factory has been abandoned like this. Sakavi, do you have any plans to reactivate it later? There are quite a few good things here."

"This place can be renovated. When we carry out plane transformation work later, it can provide a large amount of skeletal labor. I don't intend to manufacture undead combat units."

"Fine! That's a real shame. You're a chromatic dragon, why do you care so much? The lawful factions are still colluding with the Bailong Sect behind the scenes anyway."

"Let's go, let's head to the capital. We might be able to find a plane map there to make a comprehensive assessment."

Nakshir is the only massive ruin in this plane that can be called a "city." It was built entirely to serve the undead. The streets were designed for skeletal warhorses and ghost carriages, and the buildings have ramps instead of stairs. The center of the city is a massive soul furnace, once used for large-scale refining of soul crystals. I originally wanted to search here to see if there were any cursed scrolls or the like, but I ended up deeply disappointed.

"Sakavi, is there any need to look at the remaining places?"

"There's no need anymore. If I'm not mistaken, the Silent Forest on the map is a forest composed entirely of undead vegetation. The trees are pitch-black iron-bone wood, the leaves are mourning moss like ash, and the ground is covered in sound-capturing flowers. The entire forest is deathly silent; any creature that makes a loud noise here will be collectively attacked by all the plants, which will drain their life force until they are gone."

"When clearing it, tell people to be careful about the Pale Forest Plains. That kind of place is not an ordinary area. I saw it in ancient books before; I thought it had completely vanished under the strikes of the Guangmingjiao Society. I didn't expect to see it here. It's truly unexpected."

"Oh? Is there something special about that place? I've never heard of this matter."

"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. It was developed by a Divine Rank lich. It is said that by spreading a specific type of spore in a forest, it will derive a region that belongs only to the dead, and it is extremely difficult to clean up. These fungus-infected plants look like terrifying combinations of bone, fungus, and withered vines. They constitute a pale, silent, yet slowly 'breathing' and 'growing' death ecosystem."

"This kind of blasphemy against life is naturally not tolerated by the Pantheon, especially the Guangmingjiao Society, which views it as a provocation against itself. Eventually, under the joint suppression of the Sandajiao Society, these spores disappeared without a trace, and only books recording necromancy mention them."

"Then our inspection mission ends here. By the way, do we really have 70 million gold coins? I'm afraid we wouldn't have enough even if we sold the Grand Duke's territory!"

"We indeed don't have that much money, but we can borrow it. There will always be someone willing to pay this money for us."

"Your credit with the Fengongzheng Sect isn't enough to borrow that much, and we don't have any dealings with the Temple of Wealth; they won't lend it to us. Are you planning to ask the Trade Alliance for this money?"

"No, I'm asking the Bailong Sect for it. They aren't short of this bit of money, and they will be willing to give it."

"Then they must have lost their minds to give money to a black dragon that just beat them up, though it could also be some black dragon having a daydream."

"Don't forget, the Bailong Sect is more than just the Heimugong Society. The largest force is actually the Jinshulong Sect. They are of the lawful alignment and are very wealthy."

"It seems you really are daydreaming. The one supporting you chromatic dragons is the Huoxiongdi Society. It's one thing to get the name wrong, but you just beat up their subordinate unit; there's no chance they'll cough up any money."

"Who said I was going to buy the undead plane? It's clearly Aikui Long who wants to buy it. As a pure-blooded metallic dragon, he needs to contribute to the lawful good alignment. For such a good deed, the Metallic Dragon Sect must support it."

"Does Aikui Long know you're planning to frame him? Come to think of it, this move of yours is actually quite good."

"How can this be considered framing him? This is clearly helping him spread a good reputation. Maybe the Jinshulong Sect will even send people to help, and the interest might be lower."

"If they don't send anyone, are you planning to just brazenly demand it?"

"Hahahahaha!"