Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1489 - 1050: Whose Soul State Does He Want to Sense?

Chapter 1489: Chapter 1050: Whose Soul State Does He Want to Sense?

Seeing this scene, Nagris was briefly stunned before turning to Anthony and saying, "He picked himself up by pulling his own hair."

Durken froze, looking at Nagris in confusion, clearly not understanding the meaning. But Anthony understood immediately.

Back in Iron Sand City, Nagris once had a conversation with Anthony, stating that a person couldn’t lift themselves into the air by stepping on their own foot. At the time, Anthony stepped on his left foot with his right and flew.

Nagris got furious and then claimed, "No one can pull themselves up by pulling their own hair," but Anthony didn’t fall for it. Enraged, Nagris cursed him, saying he’d never have toilet paper when he needed it. From that day on, Anthony never had toilet paper—either he forgot to bring it, or it got wet when it fell on the ground.

Upon hearing Nagris’s comment now, Anthony immediately understood. The distant shadow was literally "lifting itself by pulling its hair."

The figure extended its hand and pointed forward. In the direction it pointed, a black sphere materialized, identical to the black sphere Ange had conjured a moment ago. It created a powerful suction force, devouring the surrounding light and pulling the shadow forward.

As the shadow moved forward, the black sphere advanced as well, continuously drawing the shadow along. Wherever it pointed, the suction pulled in that direction.

This was a literal demonstration of lifting oneself by pulling their own hair. It was entirely different from the Lord of Mourning’s Void Step, the White Dragon Transparent Dragon’s Dark Element Wingbeat, or Feiti’s Space Compression Travel. Instead, it was a unique ability to pull oneself using Abyssal Power.

No wonder they were called the Sage of the Abyss—this Void being even mastered the Origin Power of the Abyss.

"A sage? An Undead Saint?" Nagris exclaimed in surprise.

Anthony shook his head, "No, its soul is in the stele. Is its body an undead formed by the stele?"

Don’t think this is something bizarre—such occurrences are far too common. The core of an undead is its soul, and the body is merely a vessel to house that soul. In fact, the vessel isn’t always necessary. Consider the undead, ghosts, or wraiths...

If a body isn’t necessary, why be surprised at the variety of bizarre vessels? A horse-shaped or ox-shaped one would be considered normal. Even stranger ones, like the shoulder blade of a ferocious beast that happens to form a cavity where a Soul Fire is born, would count as a skeleton, wouldn’t it?

Or imagine a femur buried with a heart, both decaying over time and merging into one. If it birthed a soul, would it then be considered a necromancer’s leg? Such amalgamations often form in Chaotic Burial Mounds or mass graves.

If bones fused with a stele and birthed a soul, or if a spiritual body attached to it, the situation of a soul within a stele could easily occur.

The Sage of the Abyss observed the situation from afar, retracted its finger, causing the black sphere to disappear, and slid the stele forward using the momentum.

Its gaze swept over everyone present and finally landed on Deke. Surprised, it said, "It’s you, little Deke. I just sensed an Abyssal Power fluctuation. Did you manage to grasp it?"

Deke replied, "Not me. Was it you? I only came out because I sensed the Abyssal Power fluctuation, and then I saw you."

The Sage of the Abyss, upon hearing this, turned its gaze back to Ange and the others. After scanning them twice, it asked, "And who might these people be?"

"Oh, right, I was just about to introduce them to you. Merchants, merchants! Didn’t you often want to trade with merchants? These are traders, and this one here is Merchant Silver Coin," Deke quickly began introducing them.

The Sage of the Abyss skeptically scrutinized the group of enigmatic individuals. "Merchants? Hello, I’m the Sage of the Abyss, Cabu. Are you truly merchants?"

"Pfft. You’re called Cabu? I’ve met Cabu Twelve and Cabu Twenty-One. What’s your relationship with them?" Nagris couldn’t help but laugh.

Sage Cabu shook his head. "No relation. It’s just that few here bother with naming. Newly born souls often take my name and add a numeral to it, using it as their own. That’s why there are many named Cabu, and quite a few named Deke too."

Anthony was curious and asked, "If there’s no relation, how do they know whether someone else already used a number in front of the name? What if two souls both pick Cabu Twelve?"

"That won’t happen. There’s a Nameless Stele in the city. If a soul doesn’t have a name and can’t think of one, they just go to the stele, pick a favorite and add a number to it. There are tens of thousands of names on it, all created by other souls who can name. Since Deke and I are rather well-known, it’s common for many to share our names."

As Cabu explained, he continued observing Ange and the others. From his expression, it was evident he had many questions, but he politely answered Anthony’s queries first.

Anthony nodded thoughtfully. "A Nameless Stele? Is that just a ’Nameless Stele’? If you lack names, you could use that, but don’t you have other ways to pass down knowledge?"

"Other ways? Oh, do you mean books? If you could provide us with books for trade, that would be amazing," Sage Cabu said.

"Sure, no problem." Of course, Anthony wasn’t referring to books but rather to the Undead Holy Fire. However, judging by Cabu’s reaction, it was evident they didn’t have the Undead Holy Fire here.

The Undead Holy Fire is a Divine Artifact for knowledge transfer used by higher-class undead. By channeling one’s consciousness into it, one could instantly learn knowledge—Magic, eagle language, mathematics—anything. It was that simple.

What’s even more impressive is that individuals could imprint their own knowledge and memories into the Holy Fire, making them available for everyone to share. The more entities maintain the fire, the more vigorous it becomes.

The Resting Camp also possesses Undead Holy Fire, but it isn’t flourishing because there are too few higher-class undead. Besides, they don’t particularly need it; souls simply exchange information by touching directly.

Just like when Nagris taught Ange Holy Light—you learn it immediately with just a poke of a finger.

However, in a world with hundreds of thousands of higher-class undead, the Undead Holy Fire truly becomes a Divine Artifact. Imagine tens of thousands of intelligent souls maintaining it—the magnitude of its brilliance is hard to fathom.

After answering a few more questions with patience, Sage Cabu finally couldn’t hold back. "So, what merchandise do you have? Can I take a look? I’m in urgent need of some supplies."

Silver Coin immediately rubbed his palms together and stepped forward. "What items are you looking for, Lord Cabu? I mostly brought daily necessities this time..."

"Soul Stones. Do you have any?"

"Soul Stones? Do you mean Soul Crystals?"

"No." Sage Cabu described the Soul Stones in detail.

Anthony whispered quietly to Silver Coin, "Doesn’t that sound like some kind of soul container?"

Silver Coin shook his head. "We don’t have that. But there’s no need to worry. I’m a merchant, and satisfying a client’s demands is my duty. You can place an order with me. For instance, how many Soul Stones do you need? Where can I find them? What are their uses? My trade network is very expansive, so I can arrange for someone to procure them for you. Once I secure them, you can pay—how does that sound?"

"Really?" Sage Cabu’s spirit lifted as he hurriedly placed an order with Silver Coin, meticulously detailing all specifications and requirements.

Even Nagris found it hard to watch. "Souls here are so naive. If you specify the requirements so thoroughly, won’t others know exactly what you’re planning to do?"

Anthony furtively asked, "And what is he planning to do?"

"Soul Stones," Nagris replied, "Didn’t he just say so? Remember Void Ghost Hayden? He had Soul Stones. After Ange killed him, the Soul Stones he had placed in the Starburst Array shattered. These are items that can sense the state of a soul. Why does Cabu need them? To sense whose soul state?"