Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1525 - 1086: Mourning Undead Soldiers? Collecting Taxes?

Chapter 1525: Chapter 1086: Mourning Undead Soldiers? Collecting Taxes?

"I don’t know, they just don’t have souls. My previous form was the Plane Consciousness, and every soul of every lifeform that died within the plane would return to me. However, I’ve never perceived the souls of the Celestial Descendant Clan," Kram said.

Seeing that everyone was engaging in long discussions, Ange sent each person over one by one, including Durken and the silver coin.

Anthony stretched out his arms and legs before asking, "Is it possible that they didn’t die, or didn’t die within the plane you govern? Which is why you couldn’t sense their souls? I mean, they obviously seem like a long-lived race. Their lifespan should be extremely lengthy, right?"

"Ah..." Kram froze for a moment, stunned, before responding, "That could be possible, but when they captured me later on, I managed to kill two of them. Even then, I wasn’t able to sense their souls."

Then he pointed at the white crystal. "The intention originated from here."

Negris looked toward Ange.

Ange shook his head. "There’s something there. It doesn’t move. Not a consciousness."

Negris analyzed, "There’s something, yet it doesn’t move. It’s certainly not a consciousness. But then, what is it?"

Durken chimed in, "Something’s there, but it’s not a consciousness, and yet the intention emanated from here. A Relay Spirit?"

"Isn’t a Relay Spirit just a type of soul?" Negris asked.

Durken explained, "What I mean is something similar to a Relay Spirit but without self-awareness, acting only as a tool for relaying intentions."

Anthony immediately interjected, "Impossible. Under the constraints of the Divine Shell Mark, even Lord Nage’s thought projections were nearly severed. Something like that couldn’t maintain a connection."

Even something as potent as the Farming Origin of the Seven Forces Unification almost lost connection under the Divine Shell Mark. There’s no way the North Corona could stay connected. If the Celestial Descendant Clan were this powerful, there’d be no reason to fight; we’d just surrender outright.

If it isn’t a relay, and there’s no soul, then what form of existence is it? Negris and the others exchanged glances but couldn’t figure it out.

Ange scratched his head, seeming to have thought of something. He pulled out the Yellow Mud Book, flipped through its pages, and stuffed the white crystal inside.

Negris tensed up, shouting urgently, "Hey, hey, hey, that’s real—"

He was about to say that the white crystal was a solid object and couldn’t possibly fit into the Yellow Mud Book, but before he could finish, a flash of white light occurred. The white crystal disappeared into the pages, leaving him dumbfounded.

"Huh? Lord Nage, your book hardened? It looks like it’s turned to stone. Did it level up?" Durken noticed something else. The original Yellow Mud Book had shrunk slightly and appeared more solid.

Everyone quickly gathered around to touch it. Just as they were about to touch it again, Negris slapped their hands away. "Touching it once is enough! That’s my body, don’t mess with it."

Anthony nodded. "It’s definitely upgraded. Now we can call it the Book of Yellow Stone. No matter how hard you rub it, there won’t be any dirt coming off."

"Bah, as if there was dirt coming off before!" Negris retorted. He took back his main body and rubbed it several times. Sure enough, it felt a lot harder, like the difference between an air-dried clay embryo and a fully kilned ceramic. It was undeniably an upgrade.

Negris pondered for a while, unable to figure out how he had upgraded. Ever since following Ange, he didn’t bother worrying about his strength anymore. After all, he couldn’t beat anyone anyway, so why care?

The Book of Yellow Stone floated up, its pages opening as it expanded rapidly. It then slammed down on the ground like a standing door.

On the open pages, Ursman was circling around a tall and thin humanoid figure resembling a candle, his face showing a contemplative expression.

Negris approached the book pages and asked, "Do you recognize him?"

Ursman replied, "He seems to be a member of some legendary race. I think they’re called the Star Descendant Clan or Divine Star Clan. My research data is incomplete, so I’m not entirely sure."

"You actually know about them? They’re called the Celestial Descendant Clan. Do you know what they’re known for?" Negris asked expectantly.

Ursman shook his head. "That, I don’t know. There’s just too little information available about this race."

Negris wanted to ask more questions, but Anthony stopped him. "Don’t ask yet; he seems a bit off."

Anthony was referring to the North Corona, which had manifested into a humanoid form. At the moment, it stood there in a daze, its expression blank. Its gaze slowly passed over the faces of Negris and the others outside the pages, but there was no reaction at all, like an amnesiac fool.

"Could he have lost his memory? Does the white crystal not retain memories?" Negris wondered.

"No memories? Then where did his memories go?" Anthony and Durken instinctively turned to look at Kram.

Kram gave an awkward laugh. "Did I blow them up?"

The memory-less, dazed North Corona was even less useful than Ursman. Left with no other choice, Ange retrieved him, reverted him back into the white crystal, and pocketed him.

Watching this scene unfold, Ursman remarked thoughtfully, "He can be placed into the Consciousness Space and then transformed into something physical. Could this be a Manifestation Mark?"

"A Manifestation Mark? What’s that?" Negris asked.

Ursman explained, "It’s a mark that can truly exist in the physical world. To make it simpler, you’re all familiar with Undead creatures, so let me use that as an analogy. A solitary soul cannot independently exist—it needs to rely on a corpse or skeleton, resulting in things like skeletons or Necromancers. However, an Undead can exist on its own. A Manifestation Mark is similar to Undead—a mark that can exist independently."

Roughly understanding, they likened it to a mark that doesn’t need to be imprinted on something physical to exist independently. So, was the North Corona merely a mark?

"That’s why he seemed muddled in the Yellow Mud Book: the Book gave him the ability to think, but his memories were lost, leaving him unable to recall the past." That’s how Negris interpreted it.

"So the Celestial Descendant Clan consists of physicalized marks? That feels... odd," Durken said with a furrowed brow.

Anthony commented, "It only feels weird because you’re thinking of them as marks. Think of them as Heroic Spirits. Isn’t a Heroic Spirit just a materialized mark?"

Negris slapped his thigh decisively. "Heroic Spirits, yes! The Celestial Descendant Clan are Heroic Spirits."

"But isn’t that wrong? That North Corona, standing there all dazed, doesn’t seem like a Heroic Spirit," Durken argued.

Red Star and the Truth Cannon were prime examples of Heroic Spirits. They spent their days acting like fools, squabbling and fighting whenever given a chance. Even if the North Corona was dazed, it didn’t seem to fit as a Heroic Spirit.

"Look at Ursman. Where does he seem dazed? As long as there’s the ability to think, a Heroic Spirit can possess the wisdom of a Wise Man," Negris countered.

"Thinking ability? His body?" Anthony’s mind flashed, and he turned toward Kram.

Kram awkwardly twisted his hands together and shrank back, retreating into the Divine Shell and shutting himself inside.

Clearly, the North Corona’s body had also been destroyed by Kram. Centuries of resentment had driven him to pulverize the North Corona into nothing but dust.

Anthony sighed and said helplessly, "It seems we’ll need to capture another member of the Celestial Descendant Clan to verify this theory."

At that moment, Ange suddenly cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something.

Everyone had grown used to this. They immediately fell silent. Whenever Ange made this gesture, it meant he’d either discovered something, received a report, or someone was calling for his help. In any case, it was always important.

After listening for a while, Ange said, "The Leo Royal Court sent people to collect taxes."

"Pfft... taxes? The Sea of Omniscience?" Negris was struck by the absurdity of it all.

Here they were, discussing the profound topics of the Celestial Descendant Clan and Manifestation Marks, when suddenly, the mundane matter of taxation interrupted. It felt as if even the gods had to pay taxes—a truly ludicrous notion.

The silver coin quickly said, "I’ll go check it out."

Ange teleported the silver coin back, and the group resumed their discussion about the Celestial Descendant Clan. Not long after, Ange tilted his head again.

"The silver coin says there are six Mourning Undead Soldiers and a Truth Sword leading the tax collection," Ange reported.

Six Mourning Undead Soldiers? Tax collection?