In the Undead Plane, the red skies were covered in dark clouds. It looked like a world eternally covered by a thunderstorm, except those clouds were serene and silent.
A skeleton lay on the ground on a plain filled with countless bones.
"Ahhh!"
The skeleton sat up all of a sudden. He looked around him and touched his ribs.
"W-Where am I?" Alsis looked around him in confusion.
There was nothing but bones as far as the eye could see.
"A-Ahhh!"
Alsis screamed when he saw the piles of rotting bones under him. It was horrifying to see so many skeletons of humans.
"Is this the afterlife?" Alsis guessed.
He slowly stood up and saw other skeletons walking around aimlessly.
"I'm also a skeleton?"
Alsis looked down and saw his empty rib cage and white bones. He placed his hand over his eyelids and saw his skeletal hand get illuminated by blue light.
"What is this light?"
Alsis was clueless. He looked at the nearest skeleton. It was about 75 meters away from him, and it had a blue fire burning inside its skull.
"What is that? Is that the legendary soul fire? I heard a legend of a land filled with skeletons with soul fires burning inside their skulls," Alsis muttered.
"So this is the afterlife…"
Alsis quickly realized where he was. He looked up at the dark sky and shook his head.
"That damned Henry. I should have flown high up in the clouds so no one could have detected me heading north," Alsis said bitterly.
He already accepted his fate. As a cultivator, it was easy for him to adapt.
Alsis walked around. He slowly approached another skeleton, hoping to get answers on where he was. Along the way, he almost stumbled from the uneven ground covered with bones.
"Hello?" Alsis called out.
The skeleton he was approaching stopped walking aimlessly and turned around. His soul fire stared at him before he suddenly dashed towards him.
"Wait! I'm not your enemy!" Alsis shouted with his arms raised.
But even though he did that, the skeleton continued its charge. It was determined to hit him.
"Sh*t!"
Alsis turned around and ran. This skeleton was brainless, literally. It didn't understand any of the words he said.
After running for a few minutes, Alsis was able to jump into a small trench and covered his glowing blue head with bones. If he didn't, the skeleton would be able to easily tell that he was pretending to be the bones on the ground as his blue soul fire was like a beacon.
He heard rattling noises above him for a few seconds before it moved farther away from him.
"Phew. Good thing he was stupid," Alsis muttered to himself and raised his head from the trench.
That skeleton continued running and managed to stumble into another skeleton. Immediately, the two of them started tearing each other.
Alsis watched the skeleton chasing him before smashing another skeleton's skull before he swallowed his soul fire.
"What the f*ck…"
Alsis felt chills run down his spine. If he were slower, he would have been killed.
"Wait, what am I doing? Didn't I learn martial arts when I was still in the Body Cultivation stage?"
Alsis was enlightened. If he wanted to get stronger, he would have to swallow the soul fires of other skeletons. It seemed easy enough for him.
He stood on the ground and started swinging his arms and kicking. He kicked his leg and flipped his whole body before recovering his stance when he landed.
"Wow. Am I really just bones? I feel like I still have muscles," Alsis muttered in admiration as he looked down at his white bones.
He tried doing a couple more punches and rolling on the ground.
"Damn. This body is so durable."
Alsis was now confident that he could take on any skeleton with that out of the way.
He looked around him and found that the skeleton from before had already left. He looked further and found another one. It was staring at the sky like an idiot.
Alsis sneaked behind him, and when he punched, the skeleton suddenly flipped and dodged his punch.
"What the f*ck!?"
The skeleton landed out of balance and stumbled on the ground. It raised its head and suddenly charged at Alsis like a maniac.
Alsis caught the skeleton's arms and pulled him to his back, causing him to fall forward. He took that chance and rode on the back of the skeleton.
"Heh. Even though you dodged my attack, you are still stupid, huh? What kind of an attack was that?" Alsis sneered.
He punched down on the skeleton's skull, and it cracked like an egg. With another punch, the skull shattered, and the soul fire floated out.
Alsis caught it in his hand and observed it.
"So this is a soul fire, huh… It burns like fire, but it doesn't hurt."
Alsis admired the flame one last time before swallowing it.
Well, he didn't actually swallow it. His own soul fire absorbed that skeleton's soul fire.
Suddenly, Alsis felt a sense of euphoria wash over his body.
"Whoa. That felt good…"
Alsis clenched his hands and felt the slight increase in his strength. It was minuscule, but if he did it enough times, he might be able to become as strong as a Core Formation Cultivator!
In his world, there were nine major cultivation stages. It was divided into two categories, Body Cultivation, and Energy Cultivation. Core Formation was the eighth and in the Energy Cultivation category, meaning he would have a long way to go to regain his previous strength.
The first stage in Body Cultivation was Marrow Cleansing. What he experienced just now was similar to what he felt when he first reached the Marrow Cleansing stage.
But that's not all. In all of these major cultivation stages, there were minor cultivation stages— Low, Mid, High, and Peak. Previously, he was a Peak Core Formation stage cultivator.
"I guess I'm a Low Marrow Cleansing stage cultivator now," Alsis said after he understood his strength.