Chapter 211: Section 211: Self-Detonation


    “What, what happened to me?” Zi Di looked at her body and limbs in shock, noticing they appeared semi-translucent and gray-black in color.


    On the ground lay her body, lifeless and pale from blood loss.


    “So, have I become a ghost?” Zi Di realized in a daze.


    At that moment, Cang Xu’s voice came through, “Miss Zi Di, did you ever practice Undead Magic?”


    Zi Di paused slightly, then remembered her days at the Magic Academy. There was an admirer who had given her the forbidden knowledge—a scroll of Soul-devouring Skill.


    Back then, she was driven nearly mad by her bleak prospects and despairing talent, so she had practiced the Soul-devouring Skill in desperation.


    ...


    However, she had never used it even once before she saw that admirer killed on the spot for practicing Undead Magic.


    Although Zi Di was also scrutinized, perhaps because she had practiced the Undead Magic for only a short period and her cultivation was shallow, she was not detected.


    Zi Di was tremendously shocked and learned a great lesson, never touching Undead Magic again.


    “I never imagined that ultimately, it would be this Undead Magic that indirectly saved me.” Zi Di murmured to herself and nodded at Cang Xu.


    Cang Xu understood, “I see.”


    He wasn’t surprised that Zi Di could have had access to the knowledge of the Undead Mage.


    Undead Magic, being one of the major Magic Schools, was founded by You Can.


    When You Can first established it, he only taught a few apprentices. Undead Magic slowly developed in a concealed environment.


    Eventually, there came a day when the Undead School was exposed. Both mortals and gods were terrified!


    The Undead School naturally repelled people because it targeted life itself and touched upon the secrets of the soul—a forbidden area for gods—prompting immediate divine retribution.


    As a legendary figure, You Can was forced to hide and wander. He became the enemy of almost everyone, even the gods.


    As one means of resistance, You Can began to disseminate the knowledge of the Undead School widely, spreading it as much as he could.


    The Undead School had unique advantages, offering new hope to many people limited by their talents and cultivation abilities.


    In no time, Undead Mages were popping up frequently, proving impossible to suppress entirely. This greatly distracted the forces trying to suppress the movement while also allowing the truly elite among the Undead Mages to hide even better.


    “Thank you, Cang Xu. I couldn’t have gathered my spirit and transformed into a ghost on my own,” Zi Di expressed her gratitude, “and thank you for killing Jia Sha. I had a contract with the Tower Spirit that required me to eliminate the priest to fulfill it.”


    With the contract fulfilled, Zi Di’s spirit was no longer burdened, finally freeing her from the last shackles and converting her soul into a ghost.


    “Zi Di.” The substitute boy approached the Ghost Girl, his expression complex. He slowly reached out his hand, but touched nothing.


    “My lord…” The Ghost Girl Zi Di watched helplessly as her fingertips passed through the boy’s palm, feeling empty and lost. sea??h thё n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, their gazes remained locked, gazing deeply at each other.


    “Cough, cough.” Cang Xu coughed twice, unable to resist reminding them, “The two of you, don’t forget we’re still in a perilous situation. We should think of a way to escape this island.”


    Reminded by Cang Xu, the young boy and girl quickly broke their engrossed gaze.


    Zi Di, with a serious expression, said, “This is the Central Tower of the War Merchant’s underground alchemy factory, the most critical place. I’ll continue to erode the Tower Spirit and take over the authorities here. Can we find a way to escape? It’s very likely we could find Elemental Crystals in the War Merchant’s stores to replenish the Mana Pool. With enough Mana, we’ll be able to teleport out of here.”


    Zong Ge walked over, his arm lost and the wound hastily bandaged, “Actually, we have another option—that is the King of the Flame Dragon. If all else fails, we can negotiate with him. Forgoing some of our gains, we may receive his assistance.”


    “This… should be the last resort, right?”


    “We did seriously offend him before.”


    “He is a legendary Dragon King, does he even care about mere ants like us?”


    “Perhaps, we could help him escape his confinement.”


    “Without us, I see him escaping on his own.”


    “Not to mention, if we want to negotiate with him, don’t we at least need to deal with those Puppets first?”


    The group whispered among themselves.


    During the process of Jia Sha being tortured to death, the Teleportation Gate had disappeared. The third layer was still being chaotically struck by lightning, and the first and second layers were teeming with man-made magical beasts fighting each other.


    They could only find another way out.


    Zi Di began to reclaim authority again.


    The process was incredibly smooth and progressed rapidly.


    “With no Jia Sha obstructing and the Tower Spirit seemingly gone, I’ve encountered no obstacles!” Zi Di quickly gained all teleportation authorities, all weather control authorities, and more.


    She first stopped the lightning, then controlled the odor valves, taking control over the group of man-made magical beasts beneath the tower.


    Under the watchful eyes of the beasts, some of the group left the Central Tower while the substitute boy and several others stayed on the fourth layer to protect Zi Di as she continued to take over authorities.


    “The Mana Pool is now under my control, but there’s very little Mana left.”


    “I’m gaining control over the Alchemy Puppets.”


    “There are many warehouses here, and they likely contain Elemental Crystals.”


    Good news kept coming from Zi Di.


    Those who had left the Central Tower, led by Zong Ge, split into several groups heading toward the warehouses potentially containing the Elemental Crystals.


    Along the way, despite encountering Alchemy Puppets and Magic Traps, Zi Di controlled them using her authorities. The groups advanced quickly, nearly unobstructed.


    Once in position, the metal doors of the warehouse opened on their own with a thunderous noise.


    “This place is all ore.”


    “This is a processed alchemical material, there is actually Aojin!”


    “These parts seem to belong to an alchemy puppet. I see, these are components of an alchemy puppet.”


    “Good news, I’ve found several boxes of magic scrolls.”


    Among the magic scrolls, there were numerous healing scrolls, which were quickly sent back to the Central Tower.


    On the fourth floor of the Central Tower, the wounded used the scrolls for healing, Zong Ge’s severed arm was temporarily reattached, but still bandaged as it couldn’t be used immediately. Zi Di’s body also received potent healing.


    Cang Xu slightly shook his head, “No, her heart has entirely stopped beating, she has been dead for quite a while, conventional healing methods can only preserve the body perfectly.”


    “Her organs have already begun to decay; we must encase her in ice to slow down the decay.”


    The magic scrolls contained the power of frost, and Cang Xu, being an Undead Mage, was also adept at handling corpses.


    Thus, Zi Di’s body was encapsulated in ice, forming an ice coffin.


    Boom Boom…


    Another earthquake occurred.


    “Hurry up!”


    “At this rate, the King of Flame Dragon might break free any moment.”


    “We should monitor the Molten Lava Battlefield.”


    The exploration team grew more anxious, racing against time to continue exploring.


    Finally, they located their target.


    “This must be the warehouse where the Elemental Crystals are stored!”


    However, to everyone’s great disappointment, this warehouse had already been emptied.


    Along the way, a few Elemental Crystals were left on the ground.


    “This passage leads directly to the Mana Pool, it seems the action of transferring Elemental Crystals to replenish the Mana Pool has already been executed by the Tower Spirit.”


    “How are we going to escape without replenishing our Mana?”


    “Keep looking!”


    “Perhaps, in the War Merchant’s inventory, there might be an Alchemy Airship or something.”


    Despite the setback, the group did not give up hope.


    Another door was opened by Zi Di using her access rights.


    This warehouse was almost completely filled with a semi-transparent white crystal pillar.


    Barely making out what it was, the group realized these white crystal pillars were not native ores but alchemical products.


    Zi Di was delighted at this discovery, “This is the Tower Spirit. To be precise, it is the vessel that houses the Tower Spirit, like the relationship between a soul and a body.”


    Zi Di no longer wanted to stay on the fourth floor of the Central Tower.


    She had obtained all the access rights she could get, which she could use anywhere.


    Soon, she personally arrived at the location of the white crystal columns.


    “There is a huge amount of databases and memory banks inside, containing the secrets of the War Merchant and this alchemy factory!” Zi Di said, beginning to invade with her spirit.


    The substitute boy was also suddenly excited; thinking of the Demon Core in his heart, he was sure these crystal columns must contain related information!


    “I’ve found the structure diagram of the alchemy factory, there are three Elemental Crystal warehouses in total.”


    “Wait, this is a record sheet. The Elemental Crystals have all been consumed to replenish the Mana Pool.”


    Zi Di continually reported, causing the mood to swing between hope and despair.


    Sanda urged, “Quick, see if there’s an airship landing platform?”


    Zi Di shook her head, “There’s no such facility, wait, what’s this?”


    “I found the travel records of the War Merchant and his apprentice…”


    “An Alchemy Ship!”


    “There is an Alchemy Ship hidden on the island, which the War Merchant sometimes used to go out.”


    Zi Di’s discovery made everyone cheer.


    They couldn’t replenish the Mana Pool or find any Alchemy Airships, but an Alchemy Ship was enough to carry their hopes of escape.


    “Warning, warning!”


    “The Tower Spirit vessel is undergoing a spirit invasion, intruder detected, full access lost…”


    The voice of the Tower Spirit resounded again, making everyone extremely tense.


    But the voice of the Tower Spirit soon became intermittent, repeatedly self-checking, and found all the rights were in the hands of Zi Di.


    “It seems the Tower Spirit really can’t hold up,” the group just breathed a sigh of relief when they suddenly heard the voice of the Tower Spirit again.


    “Unable to counterattack, self-destruct countdown initiated, data vault destruction countdown initiated.”


    The group was horrified.


    The towering, huge crystal pillars also started to disintegrate. On its surface, countless cracks rapidly spread, the originally solid crystal quickly decomposed, turning into puffs of dust that settled on the ground.


    “The countdown has begun, this is the last self-destruct measure. Unless you are the War Merchant, no one can stop it!” Zi Di cried out.