Another World: When a Necromancer Possesses the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls

This terrifying demonic banner... its most dangerous core—the spirit that possessed its own will and fed on all things, along with the powerful and evil banner spirits under its command—was completely annihilated in the terrifying consumption of time and space!

What remains is a super cheat that is ownerless, spiritless, risk-free, yet retains its core functions (storing soul power, communicating with the world of the dead, and opening the space of the dead)...

What he received was not a double-edged sword that could turn on him at any moment, but a treasure trove that had lost its guards but whose doors were now wide open to him... a treasure trove of death!

"Hahaha...hahaha..." Li Xingyao laughed silently deep within his consciousness, a laugh a mixture of exhaustion from the dissipation of immense fear and unbelievable ecstasy. A cold ocean of soul power flowed before his "eyes," radiating an alluring light. He knew that, at this moment, the gears of his destiny had truly begun to turn wildly with unstoppable force!

After learning about the Myriad Soul Banner, Li Xingyao's consciousness sank into her mind again, like a diver diving into the deep sea. An energy surfaced in her mind, as if she had known it innately—this was "spiritual power." Although she had learned about it when she was in school, spiritual power could not be used without activating her star energy.

As the mental energy deepened, the surrounding senses rapidly faded; sight, hearing, touch… all the senses were isolated by an invisible barrier. In their place lay an eternal grayness—the realm of the dead.

The space, roughly ten square meters in size, was bordered by slowly swirling, seemingly solidified, lightless gray mist. The interior was empty and deathly silent; the air (if it existed) was as stagnant as lead. Only in the center, a tiny, eerie blue flame burned silently. It was no bigger than a bean, its light faint yet strangely pure, emanating a chilling aura, like an eternal lamp in a tomb.

Li Xingyao's "consciousness" hovered in the grayness, cautiously probing into the faint blue flame. The instant he entered, an indescribable chill instantly rushed in through the mental connection! It wasn't a physical cold, but a chill that could freeze the soul and annihilate life!

Suddenly everything went black!

Immediately afterwards, endless scenes rushed into his consciousness like a flood bursting its banks!

It wasn't a specific image, but rather a stream of information, reflecting visual and auditory "perceptions." He "saw" a barrier, a wall he felt he couldn't overcome, and his mind interpreted it as the "Wall of Sighs," a barrier to the world of death, constructed from the pure concept of death!

Beyond the barrier lay unimaginable vastness and darkness. Billions! No, countless! An endless array of undead! Some were skeletons or ghosts, some resembled rotting corpses, and others looked like perfectly intact creatures! Densely packed, like cosmic dust, they filled every corner of perception! They stood and moved silently. This was the ultimate destination after life ended! The overwhelming, suffocating aura of death, like an invisible giant hand, gripped Li Xingyao's consciousness, threatening to crush and assimilate his own existence!

Fear! A primal terror of annihilation gripped him instantly! His consciousness trembled violently, his mind contracting sharply as if branded with a hot iron! He felt like a tiny speck of dust, about to be completely submerged in this boundless sea of ​​death!

"This was so exciting!" Li Xingyao exclaimed in amazement as he came to his senses.

At the very moment that consciousness stood still—

hum! ! !

Deep within his mind, the dormant Banner of Ten Thousand Souls suddenly erupted with unprecedented commotion! The ancient banner surface began to billow, and the starlight tassels along its edges shone brilliantly! A surge of soul energy, even purer than the guiding star energy flowing into his body, burst forth from the banner!

This soul power, through Li Xingyao's spiritual power, connected to the death space and entered the eerie blue flames. It then appeared within Li Xingyao's "body."

"BOOM!!!"

It was as if a silent thunderclap exploded in my mind!

The Sighing Wall, which separated life and death, changed instantly upon contact with the soul energy originating from the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls. Blue and white lines appeared on the Sighing Wall, depicting a gate! As the image of the gate became clearer, the completed gate slowly opened a crack.

Li Xingyao's perspective was suddenly pulled! He was directly pushed and swept into that desolate world filled with countless undead! The scene before his eyes changed instantly.

"Is this a soul or spiritual force traversing space?" Li Xingyao was somewhat bewildered. He felt as if he were suspended beneath an endless, leaden-gray sky.

The earth was a dry, cracked, dark red, like congealed, putrid blood. There was no wind, no sound, only a bone-chilling cold and an extreme, deathly silence.

Below, there is a boundless sea of ​​the dead.

As you can see, the neatly arranged skeleton soldiers, like randomly placed statues, are layered upon each other, stretching to the horizon. The bones gleam a ghastly grayish-white in the dim light, and the stench of decay seems to penetrate consciousness and reach the very soul. Further away, a dark gray mist flows slowly like a giant curtain, obscuring the terrifying scene that may lie hidden deeper within.

"Is this the world of death?"

On this sea of ​​skulls, scattered like stars, drifted... some dark figures. "What are those?"

Li Xingyao withdrew his gaze. Most of the skeletons before him moved sluggishly, their joints grinding together with a teeth-grinding "creak," their eye sockets hollow and black. They wielded rusty or even broken bone knives or rusty weapons, wandering aimlessly, exuding an aura of decay and decay. These were the lowest level of "creatures" in the world of death, endless in number.

Amidst this "standard" sea of ​​skeletons, a few more conspicuous figures are scattered about: several tall, rotting zombies, dragging festering, pus-filled remains, exuding a nauseating stench; several translucent, wispy ghosts, like condensed smoke, float silently, their presence seemingly casting a deeper hue over the surrounding decaying skeletons; and even in the far distance, a blurry, tall silhouette riding a skeletal warhorse, radiating an even stronger aura of death—that seems to be a higher-ranking being.

Li Xingyao's consciousness was lifted by spiritual power, hovering above this land of the dead, a feeling of insignificance mixed with awe filling his heart. This was the source of the necromancer's summons? So vast, yet so...despairing.

As he was immersed in this scene of death, a strange, faint sensation arose.

It didn't come from the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls, but from the sea of ​​skulls below!

Some extremely faint "spiritual fluctuations," like candles flickering in the wind, emanated from the densely packed wandering skeletons below! These fluctuations were so subtle that they were mixed in with the boundless silence and decaying atmosphere. If it weren't for the Myriad Soul Banner amplifying his soul perception infinitely, he would have been completely unaware of them.

These fluctuations were not proactive communication, but rather more like... instinctive information? An instinctive attraction to the presence of the living, to a possible "exit"? They were like invisible electromagnetic waves, gently brushing against Li Xingyao's consciousness.

"What is this feeling? It's like it's trying to express something to me."

A sudden thought struck Li Xingyao! The "General Knowledge of Necromancers" he'd read on the way back mentioned that the essence of summoning was that the necromancer communicated with the world of the dead through mental power, issuing a contract invitation to a random undead, binding a part of its soul core to the summoner, and then using stellar energy to construct a temporary channel to summon it! Mental fluctuations were precisely the manifestation of the undead's faint consciousness or instincts! An undead possessing mental fluctuations meant it might have stronger attributes, greater plasticity, and be easier to level up, but also less likely to accept summons!

An opportunity! An opportunity to become stronger! Li Xingyao snapped out of his daze.

He quickly locked onto one of his targets—a relatively tall, sword-wielding skeleton located on the edge of the area. Deep within its eye sockets, compared to its completely empty companions, there seemed to be a faint, almost imperceptible, dim glimmer of light, like the embers of death. That's it!

Next, we'll practice the summoning. Following the textbook knowledge and incorporating feedback from the Netherworld, the basic summoning process clearly replays in my mind: gather spiritual power to construct a summoning channel; infuse with stellar energy to form a temporary contract connection; and through the channel, pull the soul core of the undead into the Netherworld!

"start!"

Li Xingyao stirred his thoughts, attempting to mobilize his nascent spiritual power. However, the immense mental exhaustion from his recent encounter with the world of death had not yet fully recovered, and forcibly consolidating it now immediately caused a stinging, needle-like pain and a feeling of stagnation. His spiritual power was like scattered sand, unable to effectively coalesce into a cohesive form!

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath. His first attempt to construct a summoning portal had failed. The portal distorted for a moment before disintegrating into nothingness. The sword-wielding skeleton below remained unresponsive.

Textbook knowledge is theory, but actual practice is a completely different matter! Mental power is not star energy; it cannot be simply invoked. It requires exquisite control and guidance! After all, Li Xingyao had never expected to awaken this profession beforehand, nor had he learned about the relevant knowledge in advance.

What to do? Give up? No! Li Xingyao remembered the existence of the Myriad Soul Banner, his greatest asset!

Li Xingyao's mind raced, and he turned his attention back to the ancient banner deep within his mind. It was the power of the Myriad Souls Banner that had pulled him here. Could it also assist him in completing the summoning?

He no longer forced himself to rely on his meager spiritual strength, but instead tried to "communicate" with the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls using his mind, just as he had done when wearing the crystal pillar device, to "request" its power to intervene. His mind was filled with a desire for a successful summoning.

hum!

The Banner of Ten Thousand Souls seemed to sense his plea, its surface glowing slightly. A soul force far purer, more refined, and gentler than Li Xingyao's own, flowed into his consciousness like a gentle stream! This soul force swiftly merged with his own spiritual power, becoming perfectly harmonious, as if it were an integral part of him!