Chapter 135: Death Is Equal To All (Fourth - Of Mass Release)

Chapter 135: Death Is Equal To All (Fourth Chapter Of Mass Release)

?Undead Summoning functioned by retrieving souls resting within the Nether World and binding them into suitable corpses.

The process was straightforward when dealing with natives of the Lord’s Domain, whose souls naturally passed into the Nether World upon death.

?But what about everyone else?

?Did the souls of beings who died outside the Lord’s Domain also enter the Nether World?

?It was a question that had sparked fierce, unresolved debate among scholar-Lords for generations.

?When a Lord utilized a standard summoning gate to produce troops, the entities brought forth were natives of the Lord’s Domain who had previously died within its borders.

Their souls resided in the Nether World until the system called them back into the land of the living.

?Some scholars maintained that summoning gates were linked exclusively to souls that had perished within the Lord’s Domain.

?However, that theory possessed a glaring flaw.

?If the Nether World received every soul that died within the Lord’s Domain, why didn’t summoning gates ever retrieve the souls of fallen Lords?

?Countless Lords perished within the Lord’s Domain during their campaigns of conquest.

Some fell to wild monsters, others to rival Lords, and many more met their end while attempting to expand their territories.

?Yet a summoning gate had never brought a deceased Lord back.

?Not even once.

?This anomaly gave rise to a counter-theory: perhaps the Nether World only accepted souls native to the Lord’s Domain, regardless of where or how they died.

Under that interpretation, outsiders could enter the Lord’s Domain, fight, and die, yet their souls would pass on to a completely different destination.

?Still, no one had ever established a definitive answer.

?The nature of the Nether World made direct investigation virtually impossible, and the system had never provided a formal explanation.

?As a result, the matter remained a total mystery.

’?If the Nether World only accepts souls native to the Lord’s Domain, then this experiment will fail before it even starts.’

?Cassian glanced down at the Arachnid’s body.

’?But if it accepts souls from other civilizations as well, I can expand my legion in ways no Lord has ever conceived.’

?The tactical implications were staggering.

?If Undead Summoning could draw forth the souls of those who died outside the Lord’s Domain, then every single battlefield across the cosmos would become an endless reservoir of reinforcements.

He would no longer be restricted to the corpses of domain natives.

?He could raise armies from the fallen remnants of entire alien civilizations.

?There was no guarantee the attempt would succeed.

?Yet there was only one way to know for certain.

?"My lord?"

?Nyxara’s smooth voice cut through his contemplation.

?Cassian turned toward her.

?The Undead Elf had noted his quiet abstraction and was now observing him with distinct curiosity.

?"What occupies your mind?"

?Cassian briefly outlined his hypothesis, explaining the ambiguity surrounding the Nether World’s boundaries and the possibility that Undead Summoning might fail on an Arachnid.

?Nyxara listened in silence.

?When he finished, her violet eyes drifted to the headless body before locking back onto his.

?"That will not be an issue, my lord."

?Cassian blinked.

?"...It won’t?"

Nyxara glanced at the Arachnid’s corpse before returning her attention to Cassian.

?"My lord, I believe you are overlooking something fundamental about the nature of death."

?Her tone was calm, almost academic, as she explained.

?"Every death, regardless of the deceased’s origin, ultimately leads to the Nether World. It does not matter whether someone dies within the Lord’s Domain or in a civilization that has never even heard of its existence. Death is an absolute law of existence."

?"Life may take countless forms, and the paths people walk may differ, but all paths eventually converge at the exact same destination."

?Cassian raised an eyebrow, quietly observing her.

?Nyxara continued, as though she hadn’t noticed his reaction. "My lord, you are aware that only cultivators who have reached the third rank of Mana Circuit cultivation can be summoned from the Nether World, correct?"

?Cassian nodded.

?He had learned about this in his past life as a Lord.

?"That is because reaching the third rank transforms a cultivator’s Mana Circuits into something more than a vessel for mana," Nyxara explained, raising a slender finger. "They become an anchor."

?"Upon death, that anchor latches onto the Nether World, preventing the soul from immediately entering the reincarnation cycle. The soul remains anchored there until something interferes with its state, such as being summoned by a Lord."

?Cassian nodded slowly.

?He had never given the matter deep thought, but the explanation was remarkably coherent.

The third rank represented a fundamental transformation in a cultivator’s existence, one that extended far beyond the simple accumulation of energy.

?Nyxara pressed on. "However, those who have not reached the third rank possess no such anchor. The same applies to beings who lack Mana Circuits altogether."

?Her gaze shifted toward the Arachnid’s corpse.

?"That does not mean their souls never enter the Nether World. They do. But without an anchor to hold them there, their stay is fleeting. They eventually proceed into the cycle of reincarnation, making them exceedingly difficult to retrieve through conventional summoning methods."

?Understanding dawned across Cassian’s face. "So the restriction isn’t about where someone dies, but how long their soul remains in the Nether World?"

?"Precisely, my lord." Nyxara nodded. "Everyone enters the Nether World after death, but not everyone remains long enough to be summoned. Third-Rank cultivators and above possess an anchor that keeps their souls bound there. Everyone else eventually moves on."

?"That is why ordinary summoning gates primarily retrieve natives of the Lord’s Domain. Their inhabitants have undergone the necessary cultivation or structural transformations that allow their souls to remain available. Meanwhile, Lords who die in the Lord’s Domain are not left behind as summonable souls; their Lord Seeds and the unique nature of their existence place them under entirely different rules."

?Cassian pondered the explanation for a moment before giving a firm nod.

?It was a surprisingly simple answer to a question that had puzzled Lords for generations.

?The difference wasn’t geographic.

?It was existential.