This necromancer is going to seduce the beautiful girls who are already dead.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The entire imperial court was in complete chaos.

The next morning, all the high-ranking nobles of the Western Empire received a shocking message.

The current emperor's mother, Empress Dowager Cianna, summoned her trusted ministers overnight, signed documents, and arranged a series of events: publicly revealing that she had used various means to murder the heir of the former emperor Roman III and had single-handedly promoted her son's ascension to the throne; ordering her intelligence organization to cease surveillance of Golden Griffin City and the surrounding area; and donating 34 million imperial coins that she had embezzled, along with a large amount of jewelry, to the national treasury. These jewels had not yet been appraised, but it was certain that they were absolutely priceless.

Without funding, Queen Mother Sian's supporters scattered and sought other avenues for survival.

Early this morning, the Empress Dowager was found dead in her bedroom. According to the imperial physician, she died of old age, but for some reason, her body looked like that of someone who had been dead for a long time.

Although the Empress Dowager used cruel methods to secure Emperor Beos's ascension to the throne, her actions did not implicate the emperor, who remained firmly seated on the throne. However, the emperor, suddenly deprived of his mother, appeared somewhat bewildered early in the morning. The Empress Dowager had wielded immense power during her lifetime, and now, with her death, all that power had been returned to the emperor, leaving him, accustomed to a life of leisure, at a loss. The influx of a large sum of money into the national treasury, in particular, threw his mind into disarray. This money could certainly accomplish many things, but this great emperor was completely unaware of the empire's current needs and had no idea where to spend it.

The emperor didn't know what he should do, but his ministers knew perfectly well. They gathered in the palace early in the morning, discussing incessantly how best to use such a large sum of money.

Some people even rushed over without having breakfast. Everyone knew that when the emperor was at a loss, everyone had a chance to secure these funds and spend them on things they could profit from. Thirty million imperial coins, plus these jewelry pieces, were enough for the entire population of Golden Griffin City to live comfortably for a year; the potential profits from this were considerable.

Fortunately, even an incompetent emperor is not a fool. Although the nobles and ministers were desperately describing how much benefit they could gain from using the money in their own fields, he did not make a hasty decision. Instead, he decided to hold onto the money for the time being and spend it when a truly good idea came to him.

“ABC, haven’t you ever thought about taking a portion of the Queen’s private savings?”

Leona leaned against a large, leafless tree, warming herself by a campfire, snuggling with Flora as they ate roasted meat. She casually asked Abyss, "This is the wild boar Abyss caught in the forest last time. Its meat has been stored inside the magical catfish, and because time has stopped, it's still incredibly fresh and delicious."

The one who just informed the Abyss's forces stationed outside the city was a ghost sent out by the Abyss. This unseen ghost had been wandering around the palace all night, witnessing the entire chain of events following Queen Sian's death.

“Take a cut? Why? I don’t need the money.” Abyss said, gnawing on a pork rib with hardly any meat on it. “It’s not like I can just dig up graves whenever I pay.”

"Don't you have anything you want to do with the money?" Leona nestled comfortably into Flora's chest. "Like buying some expensive medicinal herbs, or opening a shop or something."

“I do have such an ideal: to buy my own cemetery, and then build a large castle underground to serve as an inn, where weary travelers can rest and tell me their stories.” Abyss also entered his imagination mode, gazing wistfully at the high-rising sun. “However, my current ideal is to obtain the power of the gods and then kill our beloved creator god. Opening an inn depends on fate.”

“Who would stay overnight in a cemetery?” Leona retorted.

Flora felt ticklish as Leona nuzzled her chest with her head. She asked, "Abyss, you said we should camp outside the city to rest, but nothing has happened all night."

"Yeah, yeah, I don't feel sleepy at all after you resurrected me, but you still insist that we get some sleep."

“After all, nobody knows you’re undead,” Abyss shrugged. “I’m waiting for someone. He should be coming to us soon, but I don’t know exactly how long it will take.”

"What's his name?" Leona asked curiously. "One of yours?"

“I don’t know, he’s not one of us.” Abyss said, taking out three gems from his pocket. “He’s a member of the Council of the Dead, and he’ll definitely come and take back these three gems at all costs. I live outside the city so as not to harm the people inside.”

"You mean the Council of the Dead will definitely come to you to retrieve the three gems so they can complete their 'Hellish Faces'?" Flora asked.

“Yes, that’s right.” Abyss nodded, casually tossing aside the cleaned ribs. “If we set off to do something else right away, they won’t be able to keep up. We might as well wait here patiently. Even if they know I’m waiting for them, they will still act. Otherwise, how can their Fallen Lord be resurrected? We’ve already made all their years of hard work go to waste. They won’t just give up like this.”

"So we're just going to wait here? Isn't there anything else we can do?"

Leona was a little bored, so she snuggled into Flora's arms a couple more times. Even though Flora was an undead and had a low body temperature, the soft, bouncy feeling on the back of her head still made Leona feel great.

“If you don’t mind, you can come with me into the Underworld and be my assistant to develop some novel and fashionable necromancy,” Abyss said earnestly.

"No! Bah! Are all necromancers this disgusting!"

“Don’t generalize from the actions of a few individuals to the whole group—but we necromancers are indeed like that.” Abyss spoke with a hint of pride. “If you don’t like it, we can also take a stroll around the city during the day. If the other side is from the Council of the Dead, they probably won’t choose to attack during the day, because as far as I know, apart from me, almost all necromancers are nocturnal.”

"Why must you choose to go out at night? Is it for concealment?"

"Concealment is one factor, but the biggest influencing factor is the vitality of the undead during the day. The undead are afraid of light, especially sunlight during the day. Necromancer spells may even break down under strong light conditions—of course, my unique necromancy spells can ignore sunlight, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Since there's no problem, why don't we set off and go into town to have some fun!" Leona, who had already eaten and drunk her fill after devouring half a pork chop, immediately stood up. "I want to go back to my mother's house. Although I don't remember much about her, I still want to see how she's doing!"

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Leona's Hometown

Leona's ancestor was a transmigrator summoned by the creator god from another world called "Earth". When the Abyss told Leona this, Leona was not surprised at all, but rather quite disdainful. She even said that if her ancestor had not been given the power by the creator god, with his playful mind, he would probably have been beaten to death by the cruel world long ago.

People on the mainland are quite familiar with Leona's ancestor, whose life was quite remarkable. Many romantic stories in chivalric novels popular among aristocratic girls today are based on him.

Starr Platinu was originally the son of a fallen knight. His father deserted during a war, and from then on, honor and dignity were abandoned to his family. Because of his father's downfall, Starr was jilted by his fiancée at the age of fifteen. Devastated, he attempted suicide by drowning. Everyone thought this desperate young man had died in the river, but three days later, he returned home soaking wet. He was no longer the decadent playboy he once was. He practiced his battle qi every day, and his progress was extremely rapid. Generally speaking, even if a fifteen-year-old battle qi master trains from a young age, he would only reach the level of a third-tier battle qi master. However, in just two months, he went from a useless first-tier fifth-grade battle qi master to a fourth-tier second-grade battle qi master.

Thus began Starr's legendary journey. In order to restore his father's lost honor, he participated in various martial arts tournaments across the country and even the world. At first, the battles were very difficult, but he became more courageous with each setback. It seemed that every time he was defeated, he would become stronger within a few days and even create new martial arts techniques. What was even more bizarre was that he was beaten to the point of being unable to survive in many no-rules matches, but he could always get up after being bedridden for a period of time and become even stronger.

By the age of twenty, Starr had already become a ninth-tier, ninth-grade Qi Warrior, the highest rank for Qi Warriors. The people of the continent of Haitevel believed that the tenth tier was the realm of gods; only those who could perform miracles without divine magic were qualified to advance to the tenth tier. Otherwise, no matter how strong they were, they would remain ninth-tier, ninth-grade. Even so, it didn't prevent him from being bestowed a title by the emperor of the then-unsplit Minia Empire based on his outstanding achievements, becoming a knight with unparalleled honor. Later, he even helped the Minia Empire's courageous princess, who had lost her right to the throne in a conspiracy, to ascend the throne in the west of the continent, ruling over half of the Minia Empire and becoming the Empress of the Western Empire.

He was very popular with women. It is rumored that even after marriage, he still had more than ten mistresses, and his wife tacitly approved of it. There are also rumors that he had an affair with the former empress, but he had to keep it a secret for the sake of the royal family's reputation.

Despite being surrounded by beautiful women, he did not have many children and grandchildren. He and his wife had only two children, one of whom died in infancy, while his daughter grew up healthy and was named Qiao Lin.

This man was not only a distinguished warrior but also a prominent figure in the entertainment industry. He was the first to invent card games, a popular activity among the mainlanders, and created various variations such as Skullstone Cards, Kunte Cards, and Slave Master Fighting. He also improved the mainland's drinking culture, pioneering a method of mixing different wines with spices; Leona's favorite "Fiery Deer" was created using this technique. Furthermore, he single-handedly revitalized the Western Empire's cultural industries, including drama and novels. It can be said that among the nobles of the entire Western Empire at that time, Starr was the most adept at entertainment.

After Starr's death, his daughter, though equally intelligent and courageous, did not inherit his extraordinary talents. Coupled with the Empress's son, the new Emperor, who inexplicably suppressed the Platinum family, the family gradually declined, and by Leona's mother's generation, they had become an ordinary, fallen noble family.

However, this fallen, single noblewoman later met and fell in love with the outgoing Emperor Roman III, and they eventually had an illegitimate daughter, Leona. Although Leona, as an illegitimate child, did not have the status of an emperor's legitimate child, she was still considered a princess, which, to some extent, gave her child a relatively better future.

She could never have imagined that her child, innocent, carefree, and exceptionally talented, would die in a palace conspiracy, or rather, be killed as a result.

“I remember this is my mother’s house… I came here secretly when I was a child, but my mother didn’t seem to want me to come to her. She wouldn’t even open the door for me, and I never came here again after that.”

Leona had led Abyss and Flora to the outside of a dilapidated courtyard. Looking through a small window in the wall, it was clear that the courtyard had been uninhabited for a long time. The snow on the ground was thick, and there were no footprints. A three-story house stood there all alone, covered with withered vines. The trees around the house had grown very lush because they had not been pruned, and some branches had even broken through the glass and entered the house.

"When did your mother die? After you died?" Abyss glanced at Leona. Having been brought to the palace at a very young age, Leona didn't have many memories of her mother. Her eyes didn't show much sadness, but they were still filled with a sense of melancholy.

“Yes, she died after me,” Leona said. “I don’t even know what she looked like.”

“Let’s go in and take a look.” Abyss ruffled Leona’s hair. “This house hasn’t been lived in for a long time, has it? By the way, should I let you meet your mother?”

“If you dare to resurrect her, I’ll shove that streetlight into your ass.” Leona shook off Abyss’s hand and glared at him.

"I can use Holy Light to help clean the house," Flora volunteered.

"Look at Flora, and then look at you! Is what you're saying even human language?!" Leona glanced at Abyss with disdain, but without hesitation, she lightly jumped over the two-meter-high wall.

Flora was also pinned down by Abisto's foot, and although it was a little awkward, she managed to flip over without much effort.

Abyss, on the other hand, calmly cast a spell and walked directly through the wall into the enclosure.

Passing through the yard, which was covered in thick snow, Abyss used his wall-penetrating magic to enter the house and opened the door for Leona from inside.

"This place has really been abandoned for a long time; it's covered in dust." Leona frowned as she slowly walked into the house.

The house was neatly arranged and odorless, but a lot of dust had inevitably accumulated in various places, suggesting it hadn't been cleaned for years. Leona wasn't familiar with everything in the house, but as the owner's daughter, she carefully examined everything.

"Any special discoveries?" Abis asked with a smile.

“No, there’s nothing here that brings back any memories… I was really too young when I left.” Leona said, somewhat dejectedly. “But I want to take some of my mother’s belongings with me.”

“I have made a small discovery,” Abis said mysteriously. “I just discovered that this house has two basements, one in the open and one in the dark.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Secrets in the Diary

Abyss has an amazing intuition for underground spaces. As long as he stands around these places, he can keenly sense whether there are any man-made underground spaces. This ability was already evident when he was a child digging graves all over the world with his master, and now he has honed it to perfection.

According to the Abyss's master, this is because the flow of magical elements is affected by the terrain, and the Abyss is most sensitive to the flow of underground space—in other words, the Abyss is a born grave-digging king.

Under the Abyss's illusion, Flora used Holy Light to clean the dusty room until it was spotless, as if it were still inhabited. After Flora finished cleaning, the Abyss went into a room on the second floor.

This was clearly a bedroom, with a simple-looking large bed, an empty wardrobe, and a dressing table with a mirror—that was all the furniture in the room. It seemed that someone had cleaned the place after Leona's mother died, removing all her personal belongings.

"Where are the rooms?" Leona looked around. The rooms were empty, and there didn't seem to be any mechanism to open the doors.

Abyss paused for a moment, then quickly recited the incantation and snapped his fingers.

A spot in the room immediately lit up. It was a circular wooden scar on the wooden floor, which looked like just a common wooden pattern, but it lit up under the Abyss's magic, indicating that there was indeed a magical reaction.

Abyss crouched down and placed his finger on the magic reaction point. There was no reaction, but he wasn't surprised. He stood up and said to Leona, "Press it on with your finger."

"Is this a mechanism triggered by magic?" Leona crouched down and pressed a finger against the glowing wood grain.

Before she could react, the floor next to her flipped and deformed, quickly creating a downward staircase that could only accommodate one person at a time.

“Let’s go in and take a look.” Abis smiled slightly and went in first.

It must be said that this secret room is very cleverly designed. Unlike the clichéd mechanical mechanisms that are easy to guess and open, this magical mechanism that can recognize its owner is different. Not only is it extremely well hidden, but outsiders simply cannot open it. As the owner's biological daughter, Leona may have been granted this authority after birth, but her mother never had the chance to tell her this secret until her death.

Walking down the stairs, after about five or six meters, I arrived at a dark basement. Although it was very deep, the air was slowly circulating and there was no suffocating stuffiness due to the depth. It seemed that activating the entrance also activated some ventilation mechanisms inside, which was very thoughtful.

He casually summoned a will-o'-the-wisp, and its bright green light illuminated the scene inside the secret room.

The most conspicuous thing was a desk, with books and parchment scrolls neatly arranged on the bookshelves. A closed notebook lay on the table, next to several quill pens and a bottle of ink with its cap on. A dusty little picture frame sat beside the desk.

Surprisingly, it wasn't very dirty. There were no insects or rodents, and the still air meant there was only a thin layer of dust inside. It was very dry and showed no signs of mold.

The secret room wasn't very big; it felt a little crowded even with three people inside.

Leona spotted the small picture frame on the table immediately and went over to pick it up.

Blowing away the surface dust revealed a tiny, exquisitely painted oil painting, no bigger than the palm of a hand. Such small and detailed portraits are only mastered by a handful of painters, hence their exorbitant price. The one who paid for it was likely the emperor who had fallen in love with Leona's mother. The painting depicted a beautiful, tall, silver-haired woman with features strikingly similar to Leona's. She held a white cat in her arms, her expression gentle and serene.

“Is this your mother? You really look like her.” Abyss looked at the portrait of Leona’s mother and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Your face is almost exactly the same as hers, except you are much shorter than her.”

"It's not like I like short people!" Leona hugged the portrait to her chest, pretending to hit Abyss.

Flora followed behind, using holy light to clean the secret room. The books on the bookshelf, which had been covered in a layer of dust, were cleaned away, and their somewhat dull appearance became bright and vibrant.

“This looks like just a small study. Could there be some secrets recorded in these books?” Flora immediately asked.

Her question was quite reasonable. If it was just for reading, there was no way this three-story mansion wouldn't have a suitable study. There was no need to enter a secret room and burn small candles in such a dark place to damage one's eyesight.

"Abyss, put this away. I want to see what the books on the shelf contain." Leona handed the portrait of her mother to Abyss. She did so very carefully, showing that although she had little memory or affection for her mother, this girl, whose mother had not been by her side since childhood, still cherished this opportunity to see her mother in the portrait.

Abyss also carefully put away the portrait of Leona's mother. Leona picked up the notebook on the table and looked at it from both sides; the cover was blank, without any writing on it.

Turning to one of the pages of the notebook, a densely packed sheet of small writing appeared before Leona.

"Ah, it's a diary." Leona immediately realized what it was and began to read it.

"On April 4th, I felt my body begin to weaken. It seems that no matter how strong one's fighting spirit is, it cannot prolong life. Even heroes grow old. The world turns according to its own order, but its future fate still worries me."

Everyone's expressions began to turn strange.

"Let me look behind me... May 7th, Qiao Lin got married today. I am very gratified, but she does not have the ability to complete this task for me. I can only hope that I will live to see the day her child grows up and that her child will have the same ability as me."