Lu Shimming sat on the ground, his back resting against a rough boulder. It had been quite some time since he fell from the top of the cliff and found himself in Rotten Valley. Life had been harsh here, but he was beginning to adapt.
Every day was a battle, pushing himself to the brink of what could be called death—if he weren't already undead. As an undead, he didn't need food, and pain was a distant memory as long as he had enough spiritual energy. He called it limited immortality.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching. He recognized the familiar rhythm; it was Bai.
"What's that?" Lu Shimming asked in surprise, noticing the long piece of bone in Bai's hand. It was at least eight feet tall.
Bai gripped the bone spear and started swinging it around clumsily. On his next step, he stumbled and crashed to the ground in a heap. But he quickly got back up and continued his awkward training.
'Is he… training?' Lu Shimming wondered, his curiosity piqued. The more he observed, the more astonished he became. With each swing, Lu Shimming could sense the Spiritual Qi within Bai quiver and grow stronger.
'Is he about to rank up?'
Excitement welled up inside him. He had heard about this phenomenon and witnessed it over the past few days. An Undead Skeleton would pick up a weapon, and as it gradually learned to use it, it would rank up to become a Skeleton Soldier.
'This guy is a real genius. There's no doubt he was someone important before his death…'
As Lu Shimming's thoughts raced, a realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Wasn't he going to be left behind at this rate?
He had studied countless Qi Cultivation Techniques and even possessed his Master's Inheritance. But what use was all that knowledge when he couldn't circulate Qi in his body? His dantian, which had never fully opened, had dried up after his death.
"Damn it!"
He punched the rock behind him in frustration, shattering it into chunks with a single blow, even surprising himself with the force.
Sure, he was getting stronger day by day, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. Even someone at the 1st Layer of Qi Cultivation could shatter rocks like these. As for why he was growing stronger, well, he had a theory. He was dead—an undead. And one characteristic of the undead was their ridiculously strong physique, their bodily limits lifted after death.
'Should I try cultivating my body?' Lu Shimming pondered. But the idea felt absurd the next moment. Body cultivation was the path of mortals, not something immortals pursued. Only Severance could lead one to the true path of eternal life—nothing else.
'What eternal life? I don't even have a f*cking life...' he cursed, feeling the irony of his situation. Unbeknownst to him, he had started to change little by little. If anyone from the Servant Quarter saw their polite Senior Brother Lu cursing, they would be at a loss for words.
He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside. He decided to think about it after getting out of the valley.
"Crash!"
Lu Shimming turned his head and saw Bai lying upside down on a now-shattered boulder.
"Come here. You might have been a general in your previous life, but it seems you don't have all your memories." He looked around, then picked up a massive piece of bone, as tall as his head. "Let me teach you how to use a spear."
Despite his current state, Lu Shimming had mastered the basics of all kinds of weapons. He was at the peak of what you would call a Mortal Martial Artist.
"Come, I'll show you how it's done." He beckoned Bai with a smirk, and as if understanding, Bai swiftly swung the bone staff with all his might.
"W-Wait! Don't use all your str—" Lu Shimming started, realizing the mistake too late. The staff landed on his right cheek, sending him swirling through the air before crashing into a pile of bones in the distance.
"Okay… don't use all your strength. Match it with my level." Lu Shimming got up, stretching his body a bit. In his head, he imagined he must have looked cool—taking such a strong hit and getting up without showing any pain. But if he could see himself, he'd know better.
He might not feel pain, but that didn't mean his body didn't take damage. His cheek had swollen into a balloon, his cheekbone likely broken. He looked anything but cool. Comical might be a better description. It started with 'C' as well.
Sadly, Bai didn't laugh. He didn't have vocal cords.
The two of them began their training session, with Lu Shimming leading and Bai trying to follow his movements.
…
Another day dawned—or so Lu Shimming guessed. It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but that was how he marked the passing of time.
They had made significant progress in their journey across the rotten valley, even battling against undeads as strong as 5th and 6th Layer of Qi Refinement Realm. As they moved further into the valley, Lu Shimming noticed the valley around them thinning out. The path ahead had grown steeper, and the concentration of Yin Qi in their surroundings increased with every step.
"It seems we're getting closer…" He smiled as he looked ahead, his eyes catching the subtle changes in the sky. The dark abyss seemed to be slowly pierced by a faint light.
"Hmm…" Suddenly, Lu Shimming felt the Yin Qi around him grow oppressively heavy. It was so intense that he could almost feel it pressing against his skin like a block of ice. "What's going on?"
As they moved forward, a lake appeared before them.
'This is…'
Lu Shimming's eyes widened when he noticed that the lake's surface wasn't water—it was concentrated Yin Qi, so dense that it had turned into a liquid.
"Isn't this beneficial for you?" Lu Shimming asked, glancing at Bai.
But Bai only looked at him before picking up a piece of bone from the ground and throwing it into the lake.
"Whoosh!"
The piece of bone immediately froze. A layer of ice formed over it before it shattered into dust.
"…"
"I guess there's nothing we can do about this. Let's get out of here." Lu Shimming quickly turned around. A smart man knew when to give up. If he entered that lake, even he wouldn't survive.
Lu Shimming stretched his body and turned toward the rocky wall of the cliff. He began to climb, feeling a bit of light from this side, confident that if he made it to the top, he'd finally escape this place.
"Bai, follo—" As he turned to call Bai, he suddenly noticed something at the center of the lake from his elevated position, and his face immediately changed.