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

The absorption process was a bit awkward, as if something that didn't belong to me had entered my mind, giving me a sense of "foreignness".

The branding stone from the vengeful spirit was somewhat better, but the branding stone from the bone dragon was more difficult. The dragon's might contained within it nearly caused Li Xingyao's mental branding to collapse, and it took some twists and turns to succeed.

After successfully transferring the imprint in the mental space, Li Xingyao did not pause at all. He walked directly to the relatively spacious area in the center of the living room, sat down cross-legged, and his consciousness quickly sank into his sea of ​​consciousness.

The next moment, his spiritual body had already crossed the boundary between reality and illusion, appearing before that vast, desolate, and deathly world.

Looking at the Wall of Sighs before him, Li Xingyao's goal was not to pass through it. He hovered in the void before the Wall of Sighs, concentrated his mental energy, and began to guide the gray-black mark.

*Whoosh!* The mark was activated, emitting a strong directional fluctuation. Li Xingyao immediately felt his spiritual body being pulled and drawn by a tremendous force, as if it had transformed into an invisible stream of spiritual water, rapidly "flowing" towards a certain direction in the world of death at a speed far exceeding his own flight speed!

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly. The monotonous gray-white background gradually deepened, revealing many rugged and menacing mountain outlines. Occasionally, enormous, terrifying flying undead shadows swept across the sky, their oppressive power causing Li Xingyao's spiritual body to tremble. He dared not look too long, focusing all his efforts on maintaining the connection with the mark, following the guidance from the darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, seemingly in an instant, Li Xingyao finally arrived at his destination.

This is an incredibly peculiar and awe-inspiring region. Countless enormous, pitch-black mountains rise abruptly from the ground, piercing the gray sky. They do not appear to be naturally formed, but rather creations condensed from some kind of governing force.

The concentration of death energy here is terrifyingly high, even forming a faint black mist that ordinary undead dare not approach.

Li Xingyao's spirit "floated" upwards along one of the massive mountains. Near the middle of the mountain, a huge platform and cave, seemingly forcibly carved out, appeared "before his eyes".

And right there in that cave lay his target—a bone dragon!

Although I already knew about it through the branding, the visual and spiritual impact of seeing it with my own eyes was still incredibly strong!

Its length was nearly twenty-five meters, and it was not the skeletal dragon that Li Xingyao had initially imagined, made purely of bones. Its main body was supported by a huge skeleton, and its surface was covered with a dull, lifeless, grayish-white dragon skin and scales, with what appeared to be muscles supporting it beneath the skin!

This makes it look less like a skeleton and more like a gray dragon that has had most of its flesh and blood drained away and is terminally ill! It has a kind of beauty of death and decay, a feeling that is mixed with a suffocating dragon's might, which comes over you.

On its enormous head, two cold, icy-blue flames of soul fire burned in its eye sockets, as if capable of freezing everything.

Atop its head were a pair of enormous, menacing dragon horns that snaked backward, gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen. Its wings were astonishingly large, their membranes also a lifeless grayish-white, only a darker shade than its body, thin yet resilient, folded behind it.

Its limbs were relatively short and somewhat slender compared to its body, ending in terrifying, pale white claws. A long, spiked tail coiled around its body.

Even from a considerable distance, the dragon's might at the Super Rank still caused Li Xingyao's spirit to feel waves of stinging pain and an indescribable sense of heaviness.

"Summon--Bone Dragon!" Without the slightest hesitation, Li Xingyao began to construct the summoning contract according to the method guided by the mark!

He mobilized his own star energy and simultaneously drew upon the soul power stored within the Myriad Soul Banner. The two began to resonate, transforming into an invisible bridge imbued with the power of specific rules, attempting to establish a connection with the bone dragon and pull it toward the undead space!

However, as soon as the summoning contract was activated, Li Xingyao's expression changed drastically!

"Star Energy -500, Star Energy -1000, Star Energy -2000!"

The summoning had barely begun when the vast majority of his 3955 points of star energy were instantly drained! It was as if an invisible giant hole had appeared, frantically devouring his remaining star energy! At this rate, it would be impossible to complete the entire summoning ritual!

Under normal circumstances, this summoning would have already failed and would certainly have resulted in severe backlash.

But just as Li Xingyao was starting to feel numb, the domineering effects of his soul power began to manifest!

"Soul Power -1000, Soul Power -1000, Soul Power -1000..."

The vast soul power that had been prepared beforehand surged out like a floodgate being opened, instantly filling the huge gap in star energy, forcibly stabilizing the summoning contract that was about to collapse, and reinforcing the bridge in a more direct and stable way, applying the summoning contract to the skeletal dragon!

The next five seconds felt like five centuries to Li Xingyao.

His spiritual body was under unimaginable pressure. The skeletal dragon was clearly unwilling to be summoned; even as the lowest-ranking skeletal dragon, it possessed its own pride and immense power. It let out a furious roar, and powerful mental fluctuations surged forth like a tsunami along the summoning contract!

Li Xingyao felt as if his head had been struck hard by an invisible hammer! His vision went black, and his spiritual body trembled violently, as if it were about to collapse! His sea of ​​consciousness was in turmoil, and he was in excruciating pain.

He relied entirely on willpower to maintain his mental clarity, gritted his teeth and persevered, relentlessly outputting soul power to overwhelm the bone dragon's mental resistance and complete the imprint of the contract.

Finally, after expending 5000 points of soul power, the powerful resistance disappeared. The summoning channel stabilized, and the contract was formed! The massive body of the bone dragon began to be enveloped by the power of rules, becoming blurred, and was about to be teleported to Li Xingyao's undead space.

However, Li Xingyao was also nearing his limit. His mental energy had been severely damaged by the impact, and the mental fatigue and stinging sensation continued to torment him.

His spiritual body was instantly bounced back into his physical body.

"Ugh..." Li Xingyao, sitting cross-legged on the ground, let out a suppressed groan of pain, his body swaying as if he almost collapsed. He braced himself with his hands on the ground, panting heavily, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, his face as pale as paper. His temples felt as if steel needles were constantly piercing them, throbbing violently. The meridians throughout his body also felt like they were being pricked by needles due to the sudden and massive extraction of stellar energy; this combined internal and external pain was excruciating for him.

This was the first time since he gained his power that he had been truly "drained," and he also suffered a significant mental shock.

Li Xingyao endured the discomfort and laboriously assumed a meditative posture, trying his best to guide himself into a meditative state, intending to restore his nearly depleted stellar energy and mental strength. The process was painful and slow, but it gradually reduced his discomfort.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Xingyao slowly opened his eyes and let out a long sigh. His energy had mostly recovered, and he no longer felt the weakness of being completely exhausted, but the mental confusion and lingering pain remained, like the fatigue after recovering from a serious illness, and he felt that his brain's thinking had slowed down.

Li Xingyao lay on the carpet, rubbing his still throbbing temples, his thoughts gradually returning to normal.

His eagerness to summon the bone dragon immediately, even at the cost of great risk and pain, was primarily due to the allure of the high-ranking undead. However, his deeper motivation stemmed from the further processing of his memories of those 33 enemies while recovering his body in the medical pod the previous night.

Those fragmented memories revealed that the three unfortunate squads' target wasn't their group at all. Their encounter was purely accidental. Their true objective was a cave hidden deep within the vast mountains behind Chentang Town!

According to the fire warrior's memory, he obtained some information from a dying teammate in his previous team, as well as his own subsequent exploration and speculation, that there was an extremely valuable item hidden in the cave!

According to the team leader's complaints, this mission has been going on for 20 years. The item itself has likely been there for over two decades. He roughly estimates that if they succeed, besides himself taking the lion's share, everyone else involved will receive enough to cover five to ten years' worth of income, or even longer!

That was a fortune that would drive any intermediate or even advanced professional crazy!

Looking back at his memories, the Flame Warrior's previous team was a large mercenary group. They were regularly hired to go to the mountains to search for an item. During the mission he participated in, they unfortunately encountered a terrifying horde of giant apes in the mountains, and almost all of the members were wiped out.

He was one of the very few who managed to escape and discover clues, which gave him the idea to try and salvage the situation. After resting, he gathered a team to try and take advantage of the situation, but instead of finding anything, he attracted the Shadowmoon Wolves, which ultimately led to a series of tragedies.

"An item that would entice a large mercenary group to venture deep into dangerous mountains for over twenty years..." Li Xingyao's pupils gradually focused, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. This item was worth the risk of going back!

However, that area is extremely dangerous, as evidenced by the known giant ape packs and Shadowmoon wolves. His current undead force is adequate in number, but lacks a main force capable of handling extreme situations and a strong frontal presence.

And this newly contracted bone dragon is the best choice he can think of right now! It can fly and has great strength; its super-rank strength is a qualitative leap in terms of overall strength, whether it's clearing the field, launching a strong attack or escaping.

Li Xingyao has made up his mind to cultivate this bone dragon as a core trump card, sparing no expense to develop it into a true elite unit or even a hero unit, making it the strongest force in his hands!