Chapter 398: Treatment Fee? I

In the Abyss of Rest, upper-tier undead beings are those possessing a soul heart, such as Golden Skeletons, Iron-Skinned Zombies, Lich Kings, and Necro-Saints, with even higher ranks like the Lord of Mourning.

But in this world, because undead are so numerous, Golden Skeletons and Iron-Skinned Zombies can no longer be called 'upper-tier'—they're merely ordinary.

Here, 'upper-tier' refers to those who possess their own territories and can dominate other undead; none of these beings are anything less than overwhelmingly powerful.

Yet, how dare these necromancers venture out to drive back the undead tide, if not because those top-tier beings have all followed the Monarch into the heavens?

The necromancers exchanged glances, then slowly, quietly, turned and fled.

When they realized a top-tier undead being lay ahead—one capable of suppressing the entire undead tide—they panicked; this was power far beyond their capacity to resist.

Moreover, undead creatures wield too many eerie methods—if caught, death would be a mercy.

As they ran, the fat necromancer at the rear failed to notice a transparent hand reaching beneath his feet—he stepped directly onto it, and something on that palm was imprinted onto his shoe sole.

When they were far away, Du Luo Kan slowly materialized, gazing at the direction the necromancers had vanished, muttering: "A dozen necromancers managed to drive off so many undead? Necromancy here is intriguing. I'll pay you a visit later."

The uncontrolled undead tide gradually dispersed; undead skeletons possess strong territorial instincts—in any area, if one powerful skeleton exists, the rest obey it.

If their soul strengths are roughly equal, they fight; if no victor emerges, they part ways.

When Ang first arrived in the Abyss of Rest, countless undead wandered about, coexisting precisely this way.

Had the little zombie not gone around provoking trouble, Ang might still be sitting there, basking in the wind.

The skeletons bumped into each other, moving chaotically, spreading out; within days, the entire Desert Town and surrounding desert and sparse grasslands would become an ocean of skeletons.

Dawn broke; sunlight spilled across the land. The skeletons turned toward the rising sun, stood still for a moment, then began digging into the ground, carving out pits large enough to fit their bodies, lying down and covering themselves with sand.

Yet a small number of skeletons did not dig—they continued wandering, completely ignoring the sunlight.

Du Luo Kan observed for a while and said: "I noticed earlier that sunlight in this world harms undead less than in ours. I thought it was an illusion, but now it's clear—it doesn't fatally damage souls, merely causes discomfort."

Nage Lisi isn't undead and has no direct experience, so he hadn't noticed; upon hearing this, he froze: "There's such a difference? Why?"

Du Luo Kan spread his hands: "I don't know. Two possibilities: either the sun here isn't the same as ours, or the sky contains something we can't detect that weakens sunlight's harm to souls."

Nage Lisi and Du Luo Kan discussed for a while, but found no answer—there was simply too little information.

At that moment, two humans crept back from the desert direction; the female mage in luxurious robes murmured in confusion: "Why did it disperse? Did the undead tide just… vanish? Because the sun came up?"

"That doesn't make sense—if sunlight alone disperses it, can it even be called an undead tide?" Huan Mian replied. "Could the ones who drove it off have fled?"

"Ah, whatever. It's gone, and that's good. I hope my Little Black is alright—I left it behind to escape. Do you know how much it hurt me?" the female mage choked out.

Huan Mian said nothing, only muttered under his breath: "Then why did you run faster than me?"

Little Black was the female mage's horse. It hadn't died—only its front hooves were fractured, lying motionless.

Seeing the unharmed black horse, the female mage shrieked and dashed over: "Little Black, Little Black! Thank goodness, you're safe—ah! Who are you? Did you drive off the undead tide?!"

Seeing Ang and Du Luo Kan behind the horse, the female mage grew alert, her magical energy surging violently.

Ang's gaze instantly locked onto her.

But before Ang could unleash his attack, Huan Mian clamped a hand over the female mage's mouth and grinned apologetically: "Misunderstanding! Sorry, please don't take offense."

As he spoke, he dragged her away, whispering urgently: "Are you crazy? Look closely—that's a Gray Bone Skeleton. How could it drive off the undead tide? The other one's human—I saw him before the tide came. He has nothing to do with it."

The female mage wrenched free of Huan Mian's hand, shocked: "You covered my mouth? You dare offend me?"

"Oh dear, Noble Miss Tina, I was just panicked—I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Huan Mian hurried to apologize.

"Hmph. When we get back, you'll clean the stables." Miss Tina straightened her robe, glaring fiercely. For a noble lady, being grabbed and silenced by a servant was a grave insult—cleaning stables was lenient.

"If it wasn't you who drove off the tide, why are you afraid? Then hurry up and get my Little Black rescued!"

Huan Mian smiled bitterly. Miss Tina wasn't evil by nature, but she'd been raised in a golden cage—she had zero sense of danger.

Though these two weren't the ones who drove off the tide, they might be even more dangerous than those who did.

Besides, they were in the middle of nowhere, and her followers were reduced to just him—if he couldn't protect her, didn't she fear being… violated?

Arrogance must be timed right—not everyone bows to noble ladies.

After thinking, Huan Mian asked: "Miss Tina, do you have money?"

"Huh? Money? Yes, of course." She patted her waist and pulled out a platinum card.

Huan Mian sighed: "Too high a denomination—we can't make change. Do you have smaller bills?"

One platinum card equaled ten thousand magic crystals—enough to buy the entire desert town and hundreds of kilometers around, yet here, land was worthless.

Tina shook her head.

Huan Mian winced as he patted his own wallet: "Put the card away. I'll use my savings, Miss Tina—you'll repay me later. This is money I saved up over years."

"Huh? What about your salary? My father pays you well—why can't you save? Why not use my card?"

"Sigh. My tiger-headed family stole it. Your card's too valuable—I was already thinking of stealing it even without the tide." He muttered under his breath, too low for her to hear: "If my whole family weren't under your roof, I'd have stolen you and run."

After calming Tina, Huan Mian stepped before Du Luo Kan and bowed: "Hello, friend. We meet again. Could you please help treat my lady's horse? We'll pay you well."

Du Luo Kan glanced at Ang, then asked casually: "The horse's bones are broken. How do you plan to fix it?"

"I want to lift it up, brace the fracture with wooden boards, then use water magic to heal it," Huan Mian said.

"You mean have us carry it up?" Du Luo Kan's expression turned odd.

Huan Mian nodded.

Du Luo Kan waved his golden rod—the sand beneath the horse solidified, then he waved again, causing a deep pit to collapse beneath the horse's injured foreleg, lifting it into the air.

"Isn't this better?" Du Luo Kan said.

All you needed was working space—why bother clumsily lifting the horse?

Huan Mian blinked, glanced at Tina, and both simultaneously felt like fools.

Then Du Luo Kan added: "Water magic healing takes too long. Want to try Holy Magic? I'll give you a discount on the treatment fee. How about it?"

PS: Catching up from yesterday. One more chapter coming. After taking medicine, I felt a bit better, but still aching faintly—couldn't focus, so I slept.