Dumbfounded, Han Shuo stared at the tall, skinny zombie warrior. His eyes swept over the little skeleton and the Earth Elite zombie before he finally asked in surprise. "One of ours? One of you?"
Nodding, the little skeleton and the Earth Elite zombie seemed a little proud. Their empty hands gestured at Han Shuo as a flood of messages bombarded Han Shuo like electromagnetic waves.
After taking a while to sort through the information, his heart was filled with astonishment as he looked at the two guys in disbelief. "You mean you have your own minions and domain in the other dimension?"
The two of them puffed out their chests at the same time, their faces filled with pride. They looked like they were roaring with laughter as they nodded. Han Shuo had obviously hit the nail on the head.
On the other side, Gilbert watched as Han Shuo slowly communicated with the dark creatures and also found it incredible when he understood what was going on. He couldn't help but say "Eh?" to express his astonishment.
After recovering from his surprise, Han Shuo's thoughts spun around as he couldn't help but laugh heartily, "Not bad, not bad, both of you have done well!"
With Han Shuo's current knowledge of necromancy, he knew that if he continued to improve, he would one day be able to directly cross the boundary of space and descend into that wondrous dimension alongside the little skeleton and the Earth Elite Zombie. Furthermore, when Han Shuo reached the level of a Magister Necromancer, he could even use large-scale teleportation formations to directly connect the two dimensions and teleport personnel. In this case, if the Little Skeleton and the Earth Elite Zombie developed a powerful faction in the other dimension, they would be able to fully share resources once Han Shuo's necromancy reached a certain level. The possibilities made Han Shuo very excited.
The little skeleton and the earth elite zombie were both more than happy to hear Han Shuo's praise. The little skeleton pointed to the zombie warrior he'd been supporting, and then pointed to the hole next to him, gesturing for Han Shuo to use this zombie warrior to refine into a wood elite zombie.
Han Shuo nodded and gave a slight smile to show that he understood. He waved at the little skeleton and signalled for it to drop the tall and skinny zombie warrior into the hole.
As the little skeleton and the earth elite zombie carried the zombie warrior to the hole, the little skeleton put it down and then looked up at it. The purple eye kept emitting purple light, as if it was giving the zombie warrior some kind of command.
After a while, the little skeleton stood on its tiptoes and comically patted the zombie warrior's shoulders, seemingly telling him to "work hard", like a general encouraging his subordinates. It was as if the tall, skinny zombie had only the intelligence to obey. After receiving the order from the purple eye, the zombie warrior nodded stiffly, understanding the little skeleton's meaning, and jumped down into the hole. It lay down in the hole in a docile manner and looked at Han Shuo, waiting for his next move.
Seeing that everything was in place, Han Shuo took a deep breath and familiarly dropped two drops of blood essence onto the zombie warrior, then cast a dark seal spell, gaining a deeper connection with the zombie warrior.
After that, Han Shuo crossed his legs and sat down. He gave an order to the Earth Elite Zombie, then sent rays of black light from his hand into the prone Zombie Warrior.
After receiving Han Shuo's order, the earth elite zombie dove into the ground and instantly disappeared like an eel. With the efficiency and speed of a swimming earth dragon, it quickly filled in the forty-nine holes, restoring the area to its former level.
As Han Shuo's final seals landed on the body of the thin and tall zombie warrior, the surrounding soil of the hole quickly flowed over his body, covering it as if guided by some kind of force. The earth elite zombie then stood up and dusted off his hands with a relaxed expression.
"Wood Spirit, listen to my commands and take your place immediately!" Han Shuo formed two hand seals as he thundered, sending a cloud of black light into the tall, thin zombie.
Suddenly, the forty-nine holes that had been filled and flattened rose up. Natural, green threads gradually joined together to form a dense web, as if woven by spiders. At the centre of this net was the hiding place of the thin and tall zombie warrior.
In the blink of an eye, the thick earth energy gathered towards the centre, as if connected by the green threads. From a distance, it looked like small streams flowing towards the river in the middle, creating a powerful visual effect for the spectators.
As this was happening, some of the thick weeds further away were beginning to wilt. Even the largest of the ancient trees, full of mighty branches, was slowly changing at a rate visible to the human eye due to the loss of earth energy. Everything was being absorbed by the thin, tall zombie warrior in the centre. In order to create him, all the surrounding vegetation had to wither.
"This, this is amazing! Master, how did you do that? Gilbert couldn't help but exclaim as he stared at the huge changes around him.
"All the plants around the place of extreme wood have to spit out all the wood qi they have absorbed over the years. The day the wood elite zombie forms is the day they will completely wither and die. Survival of the fittest. Only the most superior will survive in this kind of environment, that's their destiny!" Han Shuo said cruelly.
Gilbert looked around and then stared at the Earth Elite Zombie and the little skeleton, "What do we do now?"
"Nothing much, let's go and have a look around the forest trolls' residence. With the protection of the forest troll warriors, there shouldn't be anything untoward. The changes in this area will become more obvious as time goes on. I'll tell the forest trolls not to worry about it.
"When the zombie here absorbs all the wood qi and transforms into a wood elite zombie, it will naturally contact me and I'll come to wake it up!" Han Shuo said weakly.
He left with the little skeleton and Gilbert and headed towards the forest troll village, arriving after half a day's journey.
When Han Shuo arrived with the little skeleton, they were greeted by a holiday atmosphere. As their protector, the little skeleton was regarded as the materialisation of the great god Datara in this world. The successful raid last time and Han Shuo's large supply of necessities had made the forest trolls trust Han Shuo more and more.
After a short while, the old forest troll priest appeared in front of Han Shuo, kneeling down and kowtowing to Han Shuo and the little skeleton.
"Hello, how have things been lately?" Han Shuo asked with a faint smile after telling the priest to stand up.
"Thanks to your noble and wonderful leadership, we have enough rations to get us through the winter. No merchants are willing to travel through the Dark Forest in the cold of winter, so we are all resting in the village and have not gone out to hunt!" The old priest replied respectfully and seemed quite at ease.
Nodding, Han Shuo said warmly, "Good. Train some more warriors and priests for the tribe this winter. Train them well, they'll be put to good use when spring comes again!"
"We promise to follow the orders of the liaison and train the children well! The old priest nodded and promised.
"Mm, send some more warriors to protect the sacred ground. The great god Datara will rest there for a while. No one is to enter the sacred ground without my orders. All abnormal occurrences within the sacred ground are due to the great Datara. Don't be surprised."
Han Shuo knew that the formation of the wood elite zombies would change the area. He had informed the forest trolls beforehand, just in case, so that they wouldn't interfere with Han Shuo's plans.
"Don't worry, we'll do as the liaison says and guard the area well!" The old priest didn't ask why before promising confidently. He seemed quite at ease when he didn't have to worry about everyday life.
"Well, if I have further orders, I can come myself or send this fellow. Hehehe, I think you must know who he is?" Han Shuo smiled and pointed at Gilbert behind him.
"Of course, this is the mighty Mister Dark Dragon, the humble servant of the Liaison!" The old priest had been with Han Shuo on his last trip to the underground cave and knew everything about how the Dark Dragon had made a deal with Han Shuo. Of course, he understood where Gilbert was coming from.
When he had thoroughly gone over everything that needed to be done, Han Shuo did not linger and left the forest troll village. After sending the little skeleton back to his old home, Han Shuo rode on Gilbert and headed further into the depths of the Dark Forest.
In the farthest reaches of the Dark Forest, there was a mysterious tribe full of very powerful and terrifying beings. Of course, in such a place, there would be even more ferocious magical beasts, mystical plants, and some natural treasures that only existed in legends.
Han Shuo wanted to refine some pills, so he decided to try his luck in the depths of the Dark Forest, hoping to find some mystical grass to replenish some of his basic materials.
After flying for a while, Gilbert took the initiative to let Han Shuo down. He actually muttered with a hint of fear, "This Dark Forest really isn't right, just now I felt like my back was getting cold, like something was treating me like prey. It's too unbelievable!"
"You must be right, I also felt a very powerful aura surrounding the two of us just now. However, I couldn't figure out what kind of powerful aura it was or where it came from. It looks like the Dark Forest is truly beyond mysterious. Let's stop flying in the sky so that we don't attract the attention of some powerful beings!
When Han Shuo felt that powerful aura, he immediately sent the three Yin Demons to scout around. However, he was unable to determine where the aura came from. After the three Yin Demons completed a scouting mission, they couldn't find any irregularities. However, this didn't make Han Shuo feel at ease, but rather made him even more cautious.
What was surprising was that the depths of the Dark Forest did not seem to be affected by the cold winter. The freezing air gradually disappeared as the two of them ventured deeper, while the surrounding temperature gradually rose. Indeed, it bore similarities to the place of Extreme Wood. Here, the thick and dense trees reached up to the sky. There were springs along the way as they entered, some of them adorned with white mist rising from them.
Thanks to the vision of the Yin Demons, Han Shuo saw all sorts of fierce, high-level creatures along the way. Harpies, Deep Water Pythons, Frost Eagles, Medusas, Manticores... all of these rare creatures kept appearing in the Yin Demon's vision. Sometimes, he would even see more than one together.
These high-level creatures were hard to see on the outskirts of the Dark Forest. Often, there was only one of these high-level creatures in a large area. Most adventurers would avoid them if they encountered them, for fear of being attacked by them.
However, they'd become the most common existence in the depths of the Dark Forest. There were even many exotic plants growing in certain places that Han Shuo had never heard of or seen before. Huge flowers were growing on this strange fauna.
Han Shuo saw through the Yin Demons that a giant flower bent as a Windblade Wolf passed by, ensnaring the wolf with its stamens. The thick stalk moved like a neck as it chewed and swallowed the wolf. The wolf was quickly digested in a thick pool of blood, and not even the bones were spat out.
There were some strange looking plants with leaves like human hands. They also had the same terrifying destructive power. As soon as magical creatures approached them, their thick branches would entangle them and strangle them to death.
"Follow me closely. Danger lurks everywhere in the Dark Forest. No wonder Trunks kept reminding me that even though the profits in the forest were great, one could lose their life at any time!" Han Shuo spoke calmly to Gilbert and moved cautiously forward.
However, even though he spoke those words of warning, it was actually he who lost his cool right afterward, sprinting towards something with a face full of glee.