Chapter 794: Undead Will

"I said there's no need for it; don't come to Yilaientu," a booming voice echoed through the palace.

At the same time, a towering Spirit-absorbing Monster appeared before Lei En's mage duplicate; it had a disproportionately huge head, a chin from which dangled six pale‑purple tendrils, a gaunt body clad in an ornate magical robe whose long hem dragged on the ground, and with its desiccated hand it grasped a silvery‑gray staff.

It is Augulevi Master.

It is exactly the same as when we last met, with no change at all.

The Spirit-absorbing Monster's main brain has a pair of fish‑bubble‑like eyes, devoid of any emotion, coldly staring at Lei En's mage duplicate; each syllable it utters is laced with terrifying spirit energy, enough to cause any non‑legendary transcendent to die instantly.

Lei En's mage duplicate sensed a great danger.

Augulevi Master was displeased, like a volcano about to erupt, burning himself until no ash remained.

"Master, I mean no disturbance," the mage duplicate's mouth wouldn't open, quickly using transmission magic to explain, "but I have something very important I wish to ask you, Master."

Augulevi remained unmoved, as if he had not heard a word.

It simply stared coldly at him.

The surrounding space froze; the mage duplicate could not move, not even swivel his eyes, terrified by the other's gaze.

Suddenly, Augulevi let out a surprised whisper.

"Um?"

It seemed to discover something novel; its eyes glowed with a strange light, and Lei En's mage self instantly felt as if he were being seen through—this is the effect of the All-Seeing Eye.

Far away in the Obsidian Tower, Lei En couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Before the mage duplicate entered Yilaientu, he had already shut down the MutatedPhone.

Moreover, he had previously tested that once the phone is off, even the Key of Doors activating the All-Seeing Eye cannot detect the phone's presence.

The Soul Eye can see a mysterious Element shaped like a Little Red Flower within the soul, but the Soul Eye is a feature of the phone, unique worldwide, so it need not fear exposure. Additionally, the mage duplicate maintained a constant spiritual shield to prevent the Heart Energy Myriad from reading his thoughts; although its protection is far weaker than the Will of Truth, it can still be sensed for emotional shifts, yet it is sufficiently safe.

If I weren't confident, I wouldn't dare send the mage duplicate before Augulevi Master.

A few seconds later.

Augulevi snorted coldly, "Is this the duplicate you created?"

"Yes, Master."

The mage duplicate replied respectfully, feeling a sigh of relief. His emotional shift was immediately sensed by Augulevi, who said lightly, "You are nervous, and you kept a constant spiritual shield—are you hiding something from me?"

Lei En had fully witnessed the power of the Heart Energy Myriad.

Fortunately, he had a prepared excuse and replied with a helpless yet humble expression, "Can one not be nervous when meeting a great figure like you, Master? If unnecessary, I would never dare disturb you."

The words were nine parts truth, one part false, hard to discern.

As expected, Augulevi did not press further, waved his hand to lift the spatial freeze, yet still maintained the True Word Immobilization Technique, allowing the mage duplicate to speak more easily.

"Speak, what do you need?"

Lei En's mage duplicate immediately said, "Master, I discovered a strange undead on the Carod Icefield; it is an Apocalypse Knight under the Lord of the Dead's command, yet it retains a degree of free will. This is unusual—a undead that can break free of soul shackles…"

"So you suspect it is related to me?" Augulevi interrupted Lei En's words.

"Yes." The mage duplicate nodded and flattered, "After all, a figure as great as you, Master, has no equal in the world. If you created it, I would be relieved. If it is merely an accidental product, perhaps you would be interested in it, and could help after studying it."

Augulevi waved his hand, "Thank you for your kindness, but it is unnecessary."

"Master, what do you mean?"

"The Apocalypse Knight you encountered should be the blood elf Sanaviyah," Augulevi said casually, "She is indeed connected to me."

"About two hundred years ago, I was deciphering the most crucial step of soul control in the Lich transformation ritual; I needed a batch of test subjects, so I casually selected a group of undead on the New Continent for research, all freshly transformed undead, and performed some experiments within their souls."

"She was one of them."

At this point, Augulevi paused, as if recalling the scene, "Those undead could hardly endure the soul experiments and dissipated outright; only Sanaviyah persisted to the end, she is the sole successful case."

"Her soul's transformation validated my hypothesis, partially restoring free will."

"I originally did not intend to keep her."

"But considering her contribution, I softened momentarily and did not act," Augulevi's face showed a hint of coldness.

Lei En thought to himself, indeed.

Breaking free from the undead's will is extremely difficult; it is impossible for two to emerge simultaneously in the same era—the probability of such a coincidence is too low, so there must be a connection between them.

As for Augulevi Master claiming he softened momentarily, Lei En did not believe it at all.

"Master, Sanaviyah does not know of your existence, does she?" Lei En's mage self asked cautiously.

Augulevi retorted, "What do you think?"

Of course not.

Lei En's mind was as clear as a mirror; if Sanaviyah realized she was a product of a soul experiment and even knew Augulevi Master's existence, Augulevi would never allow her to remain in the world to prevent the secret from leaking.

From Sanaviyah's perspective, her regaining will must be due to divine favor or a chance occurrence.

Thinking that way is not wrong.

She was fortunate to receive such favor; although Augulevi Master is not a deity, his research into magic and souls is by no means inferior to the gods, perhaps even surpassing them.

Lei En thought rapidly and asked sincerely, "Master, since Sanaviyah has regained free will, why is she still bound to the Cataclysm Legion?"

"Her will has broken free of control, but her body has not," Augulevi replied calmly.

The mage duplicate wore a puzzled expression.

"Do you think undead creatures are merely souls enslaved?" Augulevi snorted, "All undead are under dual control: first the soul, then the body."

"When they are transformed into undead, their souls are sacrificed to the Lord of the Dead, a curse—also called a dead spirit blessing—making them His slaves."

"Simultaneously, the undead lose control over their bodies."

"Who obtains that control depends on the circumstances of the transformation. The Lich transformation ritual is the highest‑grade undead rite; the Lord of the Dead does not value bodily control, and with prior preparation a Lich can reclaim body control."

"Aside from Liches, most other undead are transformed by higher‑ranked undead."

"Their bodily control thus falls into the hands of those high‑rank undead, remaining under control for life; even if free will returns, they cannot escape it."

Lei En wore a look of sudden enlightenment.

Augulevi Master truly lives up to being an expert in this field!

"Master, is there any way to regain control of my body?" he asked.

"It's simple."

Augulevi smiled, "Kill the undead that have transformed you, devour the opponent's undead fire, and do it quickly. The higher the rank of the undead, the more control power their fire contains; if it is swallowed by another undead, you can still seize it back."

"Otherwise, the undead's soul, bearing the control, will fall into the Abyss Netherworld, hehe…"

The rest need not be said; Lei En understood.

The Netherworld is part of the Abyss, the Lord of the Dead's lair; no mortal knows how vast it is, rumors say it spans dozens of Abyss layers, boundless, and finding a single undead soul within it is harder than fishing a needle from the sea.

Moreover, moving in the Netherworld is like acting under the Lord of the Dead's very nose—purely courting death.

When undead are slain, their souls fall into the Netherworld.

In the past, I have absorbed countless undead souls, numbering in the hundreds of thousands; each soul was not fully devoured but, like a Demon, had most of its soul power stripped away, leaving only a trace of spiritual essence to return to the spirit realm and be reborn.

Under the Lord of the Dead there are billions of undead; a mere few hundred thousand or even a million souls undergoing mutation are less than a drop in the bucket, unlikely to be noticed.

However, among the absorbed undead, many were above high rank, and quite a few were legends.

They inevitably possessed a great amount of control power.

Could a lack of soul power cause loss of control over lower‑rank undead?

If so, hunting high‑rank and legendary undead might disrupt the Heavenly Disaster Legion's control system, cause command chaos, and thus affect its combat effectiveness?

Lei En's thoughts instantly scattered.

Pioneering the New Continent, even reclaiming the New Continent, the Heavenly Disaster Legion is an unavoidable foe. In some respects, the Heavenly Disaster Legion is stronger than the other three forces under the Abyss and harder to eradicate.

Forget it; these matters are too distant.

Lei En shook his head and withdrew his thoughts.

The mage clone sighed, "Sa Na Wei Ya was transformed into undead by the Death Lord; to fully regain freedom she must kill the Death Lord. With her power, that is almost impossible."

"You intend to save her?" Augulevi glanced at him.

"No."

Lei En immediately denied, not being so reckless, and whispered, "I only want to use her to achieve certain goals."

Augulevi showed no interest, "Do you have anything else?"

The mage clone shook its head.

"Don't bother me with such trivial matters again," Augulevi gave Lei En no chance, raised a finger, instantly unleashed a Nine Ring Annihilation Art, "This is your punishment, and the price for seeking knowledge; next time a single clone won't be enough to offset it."

As the words fell, the Annihilation Art turned the mage clone into powder, utterly vanishing.

Inside the Obsidian Tower.

"Huh…"

Lei En's complexion turned grim as he wiped cold sweat from his forehead.

Augulevi Master's spirit remains unstable; politely, it's capricious, bluntly, he's a madman.

The scariest part is that this madman wields power unmatched in the mortal world.

Fortunately, I'm relatively clever.

I only sent one mage clone to Yilaientu for counsel; the loss is minor. If the original went, or Reslin made a trip, who knows what the outcome would be.

Lei En resolved that unless at the brink of life and death, he would never seek Augulevi Master again.

After a brief rest, he turned his attention to Naksa's Fu Kong Cheng.

In the past three days, Sa Na Wei Ya has returned to her old habits, training death power and archery daily, while the rest of the time she zones out, unchanged. But Lei En knows she has been trying to locate the source that watches her; fortunately the brain fragment crystal is sufficiently concealed, so she hasn't detected it.

At this moment, she sits motionless in the room.

After careful consideration, Lei En decided to take a gamble. If he can turn Sa Na Wei Ya, seize Fu Kong Cheng, his chance to snatch the Iola Core would increase by at least half!

Even if it fails and is exposed, the brain fragment crystal can self‑destruct in time.

There are two more brain fragment crystals available in Fu Kong Cheng.

"General Sa Na Wei Ya."

The brain fragment crystal triggered telepathy, a voice devoid of any emotion resonated in Sa Na Wei Ya's mind.

"Who?"

Sa Na Wei Ya's body shivered slightly, emitting a low roar.

She moved with extreme speed, the scarlet eyes beneath her hood flashing, sweeping the room in an instant, finally landing on herself, she looked down at her belt and found the brain fragment crystal's location.

A tendril of viscous black mist rose from Sa Na Wei Ya's hand.

She snapped the belt, a surge of death power seeped in, enveloping the brain fragment crystal, pulling it out and gripping it.

The brain fragment crystal made no resistance.

Lei En continued via telepathy, "General Sa Na Wei Ya, do you wish to regain your freedom?"

The scarlet gaze beneath the hood flickered, but gave no immediate reply.

She stared at the metallic fragment in her hand, as if trying to see through it, but the brain fragment crystal's nature was beyond her comprehension; she saw nothing.

After a long pause, Sa Na Wei Ya finally whispered, "Who are you?"

"Who I am is irrelevant," Lei En didn't want to reveal his identity, "What matters is whether you wish to regain freedom, break free from the Death Lord's control, destroy the Heavenly Disaster Legion, and avenge the countless dead blood elves."

Sa Na Wei Ya's scarlet eyes contracted into two dots, and she said gravely, "You know me well?"

"Hehe…"

The brain fragment crystal emitted a laugh full of meaning, "General Sa Na Wei Ya, I know you better than you know yourself. Everything you know, I know. Everything you don't know, I also know."

Sa Na Wei Ya snorted coldly, clearly unconvinced.

But Lei En sensed from the brain fragment crystal that her emotional fluctuations were intense, and she was very wary of him.

He pressed on, "All you need to know is that the Heavenly Disaster Legion is also my enemy; the enemy's enemy is a friend. General Sa Na Wei Ya, this is your perfect chance to regain freedom, unless you wish to remain forever under the Death Lord's control, obeying his orders to assault Yongge City and kill your own kin."

Sa Na Wei Ya still gave no response, clutching the brain‑splitting crystal like a statue.

Lei En no longer tried to persuade, patiently waiting.

After waiting for half a day, Sa Na Wei Ya finally spoke: "What should I do?"

(End of chapter)