Chapter 711: Section 498: 3%
Cang Xu stood in the center of the Bloodline Purification Array, his heart filled with emotion.
He vividly remembered the difficulties he faced when building this array, exhausting his wits and means, unable to make a breakthrough.
When he left the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and temporarily joined the ship ghost crew, the other survivors managed to construct the Bloodline Purification Array.
"The squad leader has never let anyone down. Miss Zi Di is also quite reliable!" Cang Xu sighed to himself.
He stood at the center of the Bloodline Purification Array.
And the Fishman youth stood at the edge, using his spirit to mobilize the Blood Core, forming a stream of blood-red energy.
The energy flowed into the array map plates, and the entire alchemy array immediately erupted with a blood-red brilliance, forming a three-dimensional array with the Seven-pointed Star at its core.
The array was not large, occupying only a quarter of the Alchemy Cabin.
Cang Xu was bathed in the blood light, the hints of tension on his face gradually dissipating with time.
In the end, he closed his eyes slightly, silently sensing the changes in his own bloodline.
He didn’t feel anything.
When the blood-colored energy was exhausted, and Cang Xu emerged from the array, his only comment was, "This is much more bearable than enduring the Undead Bloodline Detection Technique."
The Fishman youth said, "After this purification, the concentration of your Corpse Hanging Tree bloodline is 3%. With such a concentration of a Holy Domain bloodline, it hasn’t reached the level for you to feel it immediately."
"You’ll have a clear sensation during meditation."
The concentration of Corpse Hanging Tree bloodline in Cang Xu’s body was initially less than 1%; now it had reached 3%, marking significant progress.
"Now, you should be able to cultivate up to Silver Level," said the Fishman youth.
Even a minor increase in a Holy Domain-level bloodline could bring powerful changes to a low-level Transcendent.
Cang Xu could hardly contain his excitement.
Transcendent aptitude was a lifelong pain, and now he finally saw improvement!
He was Black Iron Level, blending in with the ship ghost crew, constantly relying on Deception and Disguise Skill to pose as a Silver Level Mage, under great psychological pressure!
"Now the problem is that we’ve run out of Undead Materials to absorb," said the Fishman youth.
Since leaving Mysterious Monster Island, the survivors had been secretly collecting Undead Materials.
Half of the materials they had painstakingly collected were now gone.
These Undead Materials were not something the Fishman youth was reluctant to use, but rather they were unusable.
The Corpse Hanging Tree bloodline reached Holy Domain Level, occupying not the very tip but certainly the upper layers in the Bloodline Map.
The most ideal absorption targets were those on the layer below the Corpse Hanging Tree, the subordinate lifeforms connected to the Corpse Hanging Tree bloodline, mostly Gold Level.
The next best targets were one more layer down, belonging to Silver Level.
One layer further down were Black Iron Level Extraordinary Life Forms, whose absorption resulted in poor effects.
The Undead Materials collected by the survivors were mostly low-level, with very few of Gold Level.
"We urgently need suitable Undead Materials now!"
The Fishman youth and Cang Xu looked at each other, both falling into silence.
Acquiring these Undead Materials was not easy.
The current state of the Undead Faction was one of universal condemnation.
Even if Undead Materials were produced, they were tightly controlled by local forces. What flowed into the market were often "borderline" materials.
Without a doubt, the world’s largest source of Undead Materials was the Netherworld.
In this alternate plane, Undead abounded everywhere.
But having been to the Netherworld, Cang Xu explicitly told the Fishman youth: only those of Holy Domain Level had the qualifications to explore the Netherworld and counter its risks. Apart from that, even the ship ghost and Ghost Ship combo struggled greatly and faced perilous dangers!
The ship ghost, with the Ghost Ship in hand, normally dared not covet the Netherworld. It was only out of sheer desperation that they risked teleporting into the Netherworld for refuge.
This also reflected the advantage of the Undead Orthodoxy forces.
The leader of the Undead Orthodoxy was ancestor You Can, a Legendary figure. His personally taught apprentices, known as the Twelve Saints, included numerous Holy Domain Level individuals!
With such powerful individuals exploring the Netherworld and bringing back vast amounts of Undead resources, they could nourish direct-line Mages like the ship ghost.
Though, other Undead Mages also had their ways to obtain Undead Materials.
For some rogue Mages and Wandering Mages, their primary means of acquisition was to create it themselves.
After the death of a living being, its flesh could be used to create zombies, its bones turned into skeleton warriors, and its ghosts transformed into spirits.
Previously, the sudden surge of Undead forces people like ship ghosts had experienced was a result of extensive hunting in the White Hair Sea Trench.
"Netherworld is not a place we can meddle with for the time being. Apart from purchasing in the market, most Undead Mages have to rely on doing it themselves to make ends meet," Cang Xu glanced at the Fishman youth, his meaning pointed.
The Fishman youth sighed, "No wonder the whole world is against the Undead Faction. In the ranks of the Undead, all life can be turned into Undead Materials. To some extent, the whole world is filled with Undead Materials!"
Cang Xu shook his head slightly, "To turn into an Undead, you need negative energy. High-grade Undead often require corresponding Level Undead Magic. And these spells can only be cast by Advanced Undead Mages."
"The same is true for other magic factions. For instance, Fire Magic, there was a time in history when a large number of Fire Mages hunted Fire Dragons to use their Dragon Scales, Dragon Eyes, Dragon Roots, and so on, to create superior casting materials."
The Fishman youth nodded in agreement, "Cang Xu, you’re right, the main reason the Undead Faction is killed and suppressed is because they dwell in the mysteries of the soul!"
The Fishman youth was also a genuine Undead Mage.
The Undead Inheritance he had come into contact with reached as high as Middle-level. The resources he possessed and the knowledge he accessed far surpassed what most Undead Mages in the world had.
Realizing this, the Fishman youth suddenly understood the underlying meaning of what Cang Xu had just said to him.
He stared at Cang Xu, expressionless, "Cang Xu, are you planning to go after these sea beasts and the followers of Mei Lan? To kill them and turn them into Undead Materials?"
Cang Xu immediately felt the Fishman youth’s displeasure and quickly bowed his head, "Sir, these were your own words, I didn’t suggest it."
Cang Xu understood their squad leader well.
After following ship ghosts for a while, he had come to understand his true nature.
And having spent even more time with the Fishman youth, he naturally understood the youth’s personality even better.
It was because of this understanding that he was willing to follow the Fishman youth, to regard the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps as his true camp, and when the Fishman youth had previously intervened to rescue him, it made Cang Xu feel both guilty and grateful.
The more talented a person is, the more difficult it is to recruit and utilize them. Even if one manages to use them, it’s hard to earn their loyalty.
It wasn’t just because of the Blood Core, the core benefit, that the Fishman youth could unite Zi Di and Cang Xu.
His shining human qualities made a scheming Undead Mage like Cang Xu respect him, willing to trust the Fishman youth, follow his commands and accompany him.
In fact, Cang Qiong was an incredibly talented person!
His personal achievements were quite limited solely because of the constraints of his Bloodline, which capped his Life Level very low.
In a world of the strong, without a high enough Extraordinary Level, one would not be taken seriously. Even if one accumulated great wealth, it could easily be taken away—Purple Vine Chamber of Commerce was a prime example.
In the current Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, although Sanda clearly possessed the talent to lead mercenary corps, his rich experience was restricted by his own Black Iron Level Cultivation, preventing him from taking a direct public role. He could only arrange personnel and tasks behind the scenes.
In Snowbird Port.
Sanda was working.
He studied the financial statements intently, his brow deeply furrowed for a long time, before setting them down.
He leaned back in his chair, taking a deep sigh.
Ever since their last Magic Potion transport was intercepted by Golden Level adversaries, their shipping channels had been greatly impacted and narrowed too much.
Bu Quan deserved her reputation as an alchemy prodigy, even if Magic Potions were not her forte, she had perfectly completed the task Sanda assigned her—increasing the Magic Potion production yet again.
But the transportation issue could not be resolved.
Using other delivery methods was far too costly. The most economical way was via merchant convoys.
Sanda wrote to Zong Ge and Zi Di explaining the situation, suggesting to cease training due to the short time, yet to receive a reply.
But Sanda had already halted Menshi and Chi Lai, asking them to stay at the port permanently; even if they trained, they used rented spaces within Snowbird Port.
Moreover, Sanda also contacted the Mercenary Guild, took on many tasks, and distributed them among the corps members.
With his seasoned experience, he picked appropriate tasks for the right people.
Because of this, their task completion rate was far beyond an average Mercenary Group.
However, the income from these tasks was far from enough to cover the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ expenses.
"Sigh, I hope Chi Lai will have some gains from this visit to the City Lord of Snowbird Port!" Sanda thought, looking instinctively in the direction of the City Lord’s mansion.
Inside the Snowbird Port City Lord’s mansion, the City Lord was personally hosting an important figure in the dining hall.
Hearing that Chi Lai, a core member of Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, was asking for an audience, he smiled faintly, "Let him in."