Shen Ye took out his phone and pressed the record button.
“Alright, now say your incantation. I’ll play it for the undead.”
The large skeleton stiffened, reluctant. “We usually chant it live. Do you really have to do it in such a passionless way?”
Shen Ye said, “Buddy, I know you’re upset, but listen—right now, you’re nothing but a head. You can’t participate in their battle, and if you try, you’ll just get destroyed. Recording it is the safest option. Don’t overestimate yourself.”
He was simply throwing the skeleton’s own words back at him.
“…Fine.”
The large skeleton grumbled.
If enduring this means regaining my strength, so be it.
Shen Ye placed his phone beside the ring.
The skeleton obediently recited the incantation.
Beep!
Recording complete.
Shen Ye took a deep breath and allocated all his attribute points to agility.
—Agility reached 10.1.
He suddenly pushed open the door, stepped into the long hallway, raised his microphone toward the phone, and played the recorded incantation.
At the same time, he deactivated Dark Whispers.
All the corpses stopped chanting.
The hotel fell into silence, leaving only the relentless clash of weapons echoing from the first floor.
The next moment—
The necromantic incantation resonated throughout the hotel:
“O shadows of the abyss lingering at the bottom of the underworld, by the will of our skeletal spirits, form the mandala, breach the barrier between life and death, and upon this grand feast of souls, merge with us into the throne of endless bones, summoning the mercy of the Supreme One.”
“—Mother of Dark Bones, King of Ghouls, Lord of the Underworld, Micteticahsiwa.”
“Grant me your blessing, so I may spread your majesty among all living beings!”
The incantation ended.
Shen Ye raised his microphone and shouted, “Friends, I just played a line. Do you all know what it is? Say it with me!”
—Dark Whispers activated!
Tens of thousands of corpses chanted in unison:
“O shadows of the abyss lingering at the bottom of the underworld…”
This was the recitation of the dead—completely different from a mere recording.
As soon as the first line was uttered, Shen Ye suddenly noticed wisps of pale flames rising from the floor.
“Soulfire is igniting!” The large skeleton exclaimed excitedly.
“We have to let them finish chanting, right?” Shen Ye asked.
“Exactly—this is just the first step, but it’s the most crucial one!”
“Good.”
By now, the countless undead had reached the second verse:
“…by the will of our skeletal spirits, form the mandala…”
The pale flames spread rapidly from the floor, engulfing the entire corridor and expanding in all directions.
The entire hotel transformed into a massive, ghostly-white torch.
Shen Ye immediately sprinted toward the top floor.
Such an anomaly—his enemies would surely assume he was hiding somewhere, preparing a devastating move.
They might even throw everything they had to kill him!
—He had to buy time!
The countless corpses continued chanting:
“Breach the barrier between life and death, and upon this grand feast of souls…”
The pale flames converged in midair, forming countless one-horned skeletons with bone wings, fluttering around the hotel.
“No—you damn brat, what the hell are you doing?!”
A furious, panicked voice roared from the first floor.
Xiao Mengyu’s sword aura flared, slashing at him with all her might, trying to keep him from going after Shen Ye.
But the man didn’t even care—he took the blow with his back, allowing a deep wound to be carved into his body.
He even used the force of the slash to propel himself outward, swinging seven or eight steel wires and yanking himself toward the upper floors.
“Shen Ye!”
Xiao Mengyu’s expression changed. She slashed open the ceiling and shot upward.
Both of them rushed toward Shen Ye at breakneck speed.
At that moment, however, Shen Ye stopped climbing higher.
The instant the man shouted, Shen Ye had just reached the ninth floor. The moment he heard the voice, he immediately turned and sprinted down the corridor.
He reached a certain room and placed his hand on the door—
The man had already landed in the hallway.
Xiao Mengyu hadn’t arrived yet!
“Merge with us into the throne of endless bones, summoning the mercy of the Supreme One.”
“—Mother of Dark Bones, King of Ghouls, Lord of the Underworld, Mictlantecuhtli!”
The undead chanted.
The flying skeletal creatures halted midair, surrounding the hotel in prayer.
Something was about to happen.
“I’ll kill you—right now!”
The man roared in fury and instantly vanished.
Shen Ye shoved the door open and rushed inside.
The man appeared right behind him, lunging forward—
Boom!
He crashed through the door into the suite, only to find a floor littered with corpses—no trace of the boy.
The door swung open again.
Shen Ye returned from the Nightmare World, landing in the hallway.
At that moment, Xiao Mengyu had just arrived.
As she and Shen Ye passed each other, she held her sword to block the doorway and clashed with the man, while Shen Ye sprinted at full speed down the stairs.
It all sounded slow—But it had taken only a few breaths!
The battlefield shifted in an instant.
The countless corpses chanted the final line:
“Grant me your blessing, so I may spread your majesty among all living beings!”
The void opened.
An inverted white bone altar emerged in the dark void above the hotel.
The giant skeleton trembled with excitement.
“It worked! It worked! Now, I just need the dead to willingly channel their power into me, and I’ll be able to regain my strength!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The air shrieked as countless steel wires crisscrossed the corridors and stairwells, relentlessly slicing toward Shen Ye.
—This was the decisive moment!
Shen Ye twisted his body, stepping rapidly along the walls to evade a round of slashes, then surged forward, dashing down the stairs at full speed.
The dense steel wires brushed past him, but he nimbly dodged each lethal strike.
Moonlit Deer Steps—
Dodge. Advance. Slip past.
This was an elven battle maneuver!
“Everyone, the time for revenge has come! Lend me your power—”
Shen Ye leaped into the air, letting himself fall downward.
“This is our one and only chance!”
“Give me your strength—I will avenge us all!”
“Help me—”
He clutched the microphone, his voice roaring with all his might:
“—I will kill him!!!”
The corpses no longer chanted any incantations.
Perhaps they were already dead.
Yet, at this moment, tens of thousands of corpses opened their eyes, letting tears stream silently down their cheeks.
Death—
A senseless death. Everything stripped away. Never to feel the warmth of life again.
How tragic was that?
If revenge was possible…
A pale glow gradually surfaced on the bodies of the dead.
These lights soared into the sky, merging into the inverted bone altar above.
Every intricate rune on the altar lit up.
The ritual was complete!
A towering, ethereal figure descended upon the altar.
She gazed down upon the earth—
And in the next instant—
A shriek of air being torn apart echoed beside Shen Ye.
“You think you can kill me?”
A mocking voice rang from behind him.
The man was drenched in blood, his body battered with gruesome sword wounds, yet he paid them no mind as he chased after Shen Ye.
He had finally caught up!
Slash—
He raised his hand high, releasing a cluster of razor-sharp steel wires that formed a tightly coiled, budding iron flower.
The moment it bloomed, a life would wither.
“Blood Rose, it’s your time to bloom once again.”
The man murmured.
This prey had repeatedly evaded his pursuit, proving he was no ordinary opponent.
Then—
He would kill him.
What he enjoyed most was standing behind his prey, watching as their life turned into a blood-red rose, fading into oblivion.
At this moment, the man was exhilarated.
“Die!”
With a furious roar, he unleashed all his wires.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A harsh, metallic clatter filled the air, accompanied by bursts of sparks.
The wires scattered chaotically, failing to bloom into the bloodstained flower he had envisioned.
Boom!
A deafening impact sent the man flying, crashing into the hotel lobby.
As soon as he landed, his eyes locked onto Shen Ye.
Shen Ye was still midair.
—He stood upon the shoulder of a four-meter-tall skeletal giant.
The towering skeleton blazed with pale flames, wielding a massive bone greatsword inscribed with dense, glowing runes. With a single swing, it had severed all the steel wires.
“It was never a joke—”
Shen Ye raised a hand, pointing at him, and spoke softly:
“When I say I’ll kill you, a single day or even a second’s delay would be my failure.”
“I will kill you now.”
“—Before all the dead!”
The man froze for an instant before suddenly letting out a shriek:
“Disaster! You can summon a Disaster?!”
