Chapter 545: Section 332: Performing Head Technique
The mist did not dissipate with the end of the battle, but grew even denser.
A strong surge of magical energy suddenly erupted from the Ghost Ship.
The surge swept across the area, quickly covering every corner of the battlefield and causing the mist to churn.
The magic fluctuation came quickly and left just as fast.
Seconds later, the dense fog returned to calm.
From the numerous pirate corpses, spirits gradually emerged.
Golden Level Spell—Intermediate Soul Summoning Technique!
Cang Xu, Little Prince, and the others did not take action, but floated above the battlefield, quietly watching the Ghost Ship cast the spell.
This was the Intermediate Soul Summoning Technique deployed by the Ghost Ship.
More precisely, it was the spell cast by the ship ghost.
When the ship ghost transformed into a complete ghost form and fused with the Ghost Ship, any spell he cast was greatly amplified!
“In a way, this Ghost Ship is a spellcasting tool for the ship ghost,” Cang Xu thought to himself.
These days, as he traveled on the Ghost Ship along the Nether River, he had gained a lot of understanding about this special vessel beneath him.
Strictly speaking, the Ghost Ship was not like the Deep Sea Monster Fish, Iron Lump, or White Bandage.
The latter were demon energy ships, constructed through alchemy techniques. The ships were equipped with various alchemy components, enhancing the demon energy ships’ functions to be powerful and diverse.
Meanwhile, the Ghost Ship was similar to ghosts, zombies, and skeletons—types of Undead Life. Its life form just appeared as a ship.
Cang Xu had also once asked the ship ghost how to create a Ghost Ship.
The ship ghost responded to him: This was a higher-order Soul Vein Spell, not taught publicly. It could only be imparted to others through deeper trials and by signing a contract.
The ship ghost also briefly introduced the information about this Undead Magic Spell.
From this, Cang Xu understood that to cast this spell, the spellcaster’s level had to be at least at the Golden Level, and although the success rate was quite high, the material selection was strict—it must be the wreckage of a spirited ship.
The Ghost Ship in the ship ghost’s possession wasn’t crafted by his own hands.
It was collected from the Nether River by his master during an exploration.
The Nether River, the main artery of the Netherworld, was filled with the richest negative energy and inhabited by countless types of Undead Life.
This Ghost Ship was gifted to the ship ghost by his master.
Thus, when the ship ghost deployed the Plane Teleportation Technique through the Ghost Ship, he returned to the Nether River.
Because this Ghost Ship originated from the Nether River and was closely related to it.
Under the influence of the Advanced Soul Summoning Technique, large numbers of spirits hovered in midair, enveloped by the dense fog.
Although Little Prince was a Bone Vein Mage, he still knew a lot about Soul Veins.
Seeing such a scene, he couldn’t help but exclaim,
“Nearly every corpse has summoned a spirit.”
“Such a success rate is close to 100%. Indeed, worthy of Lord Ship Ghost!”
Cang Xu added, “Not only is the success rate extremely high, but look at the quality of those transformed spirits; they are mostly at the Life Level of their bodies before death.”
The effect of the Soul Summoning Technique was to use the souls within the corpses as material to create spirits.
If left to Cang Xu to cast the spell, he would never achieve such success rate and efficiency.
“Such a high-level Soul Summoning Technique is truly a battlefield level spell.”
“The combination of the ship ghost and the Ghost Ship is very powerful; just this spell alone is enough to overturn the outcome of a battlefield.”
Meanwhile, Cang Xu also quietly paid attention to the surrounding dense fog.
This was the Spell—Soul Binding Mist.
The effect of this spell was to temporarily detain and conceal the soul of a living being, ensuring it was not discovered by the deities worshiped by the living being before death, nor taken away by the Abyss or Hell. Naturally, it wouldn’t dissipate voluntarily into the environment either.
It was because of such dense fog that most of the souls within these corpses were preserved.
Otherwise, by the time the ship ghost deployed the Soul Summoning Technique, at least half of the spirits in the pirate corpses would have disappeared.
The ship ghost reappeared on deck.
He divided these spirits into several groups, most of which were infused into the Ghost Ship, while the rest were mainly assigned to the present Undead Mages.
The criterion for distribution was based on the Mages’ contributions in this surprise attack.
The more battle achievements one had established, the more spirits they received.
The human-shaped spirits emitted sharp, pitiful screams as their bodies rapidly twisted and distorted, continuously condensing.
After just a few seconds, the essence of human-shaped spirits was infused into the Ghost Ship, and the remaining soul residues turned into specks of gray light and swiftly dissipated on the deck.
“This is the soul healing technique,” Cang Xu recognized.
He also possessed this spell, albeit at a rudimentary level. What the ship ghost used was clearly not it.
The ship ghost used the newly acquired spirits to heal the Ghost Ship.
The essence of the Ghost Ship was not a demon energy ship but an Undead life entity, so it could be healed by the soul healing technique.
The ship ghost quickly used up all the recently acquired spirits.
“Still far from enough.”
“To fully restore the Ghost Ship to its prime condition, at least 1,000 ordinary human-shaped spirits are needed. Of course, if they are Transcendents, the required number would greatly decrease.”
“Hopefully, we will encounter such pirates next.”
“If not, we’ll have to resort to hunting marine fish, but then, the number needed would be even greater.”
The ship ghost took the initiative to explain the damage status of the Ghost Ship.
“The Ghost Ship is very important. I think we should repair it as much as possible. I am a Bone Vein Undead Mage, and these spirits aren’t much use to me. Lord Ship Ghost, I’ll give all these to you,” offered the Little Prince, voluntarily contributing his spirits.
Ku Feng said, “I’m just a samurai, I have no need for these ghosts.”
Cang Xu obtained seven ghosts this time. After some thought, he kept three Extraordinary Level ghosts and gave away the rest of the ordinary ghosts.
“Let’s make a trade,” the ship ghost said. Although he accepted the ghosts, he did not take them for free; he offered money that corresponded to their market value.
“Finally, I have money,” Cang Xu sighed.
He was truly penniless.
Even his own body was given to him by someone else.
Next, they would distribute the bodies of the pirates.
The Little Prince showed interest in their bones, but upon seeing Cang Xu, he asked, “Do you need their heads?”
Though Cang Xu’s body had been taken by the Fragmenting Corpse Surgeon, he wasn’t left empty-handed.
The Fragmenting Corpse Surgeon had directly taught Cang Xu his original Flying Head Skill.
Cang Xu nodded, “I only want the heads of the Transcendents, at least five.”
The ship ghost said, “We’re all curious about the Flying Head Skill; you can take all of the heads to use.”
The Little Prince nodded, “That’s right.”
The value of the Flying Head Skill, an original creation from the Fragmenting Corpse Surgeon, was difficult to assess.
Such innovations usually required lengthy practical validation to determine their true value.
Throughout history, many major mages’ original creations had received lukewarm responses. In contrast, some less significant figures had created things that had a widespread impact. There were also many unintended innovations that generated immense value or whose byproducts outshone the original innovation.
“Alright,” Cang Xu nodded. “I indeed need fresh heads to experiment with the Flying Head Skill.”
“I’ll have to consider the extra heads I take as a debt for now.”
Cang Xu expressed his thanks to the others.
He was also eager to see the practical effects of the Flying Head Skill.
After distributing the spoils of war, Cang Xu dove into his cabin on the ship to cast spells on the pirate heads.
The development of the Undead Magic System had, up to now, branched into three veins: the Bone Vein, the Soul Vein, and the Corpse Vein.
The Fragmenting Corpse Surgeon was an outstanding figure in the Corpse Vein, and naturally, his Flying Head Skill also belonged to the Corpse Vein.
However, after Cang Xu’s research, he discovered that while the Flying Head Skill was an Undead Spell, it involved extensive alchemy knowledge.
It wasn’t just a single spell but a compilation of multiple spells.
The most important skill, the head-making skill, could transform a normal living being’s head into a special Undead Life form—a Death Skull.
Death Skulls all had the ability to move by floating, so floating was a trait of Death Skulls.
Like the ship ghost controlling ghosts and the Little Prince manipulating skeletons, Cang Xu could produce a large number of Death Skulls using the head-making skill and command them.
“Ghosts can be modified to become Water Ghosts, Frozen Ghosts, Scapegoats, Ghost Horses, and so on.”
“Death Skulls can similarly be modified.”
“Even an Undead Mage can transform their head into a Death Skull. That way, their life essence becomes just a flying head, and the body can be exchanged at will.”
Cang Xu thought of himself.
His situation was this: not only was his original body taken away, but it was also transformed into something else.
All he had left was his head.
“The Fragmenting Corpse Surgeon gave me the Flying Head Skill; ostensibly it was as payment, but in reality, he was more eager to see me practice the Flying Head Skill and observe how his innovation performed in actual use.”
“And yet, I can only act according to his wishes!”
“How detestable…”
But, with no practical experience, Cang Xu naturally didn’t dare to mess around with his own head.
After all, if the spell failed and he lost his head, he could only turn into a ghost.
Without his main body, Cang Xu cherished his own head even more.
The head-making skill was quickly released by him.
He was very familiar with the spell.
In recent days, he had been studying the content of these spells and practicing them.
Under the effect of the spell, a pirate head quickly shriveled up, its flesh nearly drained of moisture, and the blood that remained turned blue.
The skin color changed from its normal wheat color to a pale color.
The pirate’s head, which had a twisted expression before death, seemed to be smoothed out and became peaceful.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
His pupils turned blue, filled with icy coldness and ruthlessness.
Cang Xu let go, and the head slowly floated into the air, moving slowly, easy enough to be a target for arrows.
One by one, as the heads were released from the head-making spell, they became Death Skulls, floating in the half air of the cabin, like balloons.
They floated slowly, occasionally lightly bumping into each other, then bouncing apart.
Negative energy filled the cabin, creating a very eerie scene.
Cang Xu displayed a hint of peculiar expression.
From his practice, he discovered that the success rate of the head-making skill was very high.
As long as he successfully cast the spell, he could almost always create a Death Skull. This success rate was much higher than that of the Advanced Soul Summoning Technique, Summoning Skeleton Skill, or Summoning Zombie Skill.
Just on this point alone, the Flying Head Skill had a unique advantage.
“Next, it’s about deeply communicating with my mind, bringing these skulls completely under my control.”
“Then, to further explore the traits of these skulls, aiming for targeted modification and strengthening.”
With a good start, Cang Xu methodically continued.