Projection of the Heavens: I prove my immortality through slaughter.

The energy turbulence caused by the complete collapse of Bone Mountain was like a boulder thrown into this desolate land, the aftershocks of which lingered for a long time.

The lingering aura of heat and decay, a result of the violent clash between holy light and death energy, permeated the air, refusing to dissipate. This provided Lin Xuan with the best cover.

While the members of the Church of Light were busy protecting themselves and stabilizing their formation, horrified by the unprecedented and bizarre undead that could dissolve the holy light, he had already, with his more refined control over the power of death and the strange teleportation technique he had incorporated into this heavy body from the cultivation world's "Star Step" teleportation concept, silently escaped from that place of right and wrong, like a ghost truly blending into the shadows.

He did not look back; the fire of his soul burned calmly, its deep blue light illuminating the path ahead. He knew that confronting the entire Church of Light head-on at this moment would be unwise.

Those clergymen may not be the strongest individually, but the holy light they wield is naturally effective against the undead. They often travel in groups, coordinate perfectly, and may even have a more powerful entity behind them, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

The brief encounter just now was less a battle and more a dangerous test and a valuable learning experience. The pure and ultimate power of "life" in the Holy Light, and the rules of order and purification contained within it, gave him a firsthand understanding of the "opposite" of this world.

He sped along, the cracked black earth beneath his feet receding rapidly. The low-ranking undead along the way—stiff skeletons and rotting corpses reeking of stench—trembled at the sight of the cold and majestic death pressure emanating from him, belonging to a high-ranking death knight. They instinctively prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to raise their heads, as if they were worshipping their king.

This was a world apart from the situation he had faced when he traveled through this area before, when he had to be constantly on guard against sporadic attacks.

He found a natural cave formed by the massive skeleton of some ancient behemoth and took temporary shelter there. The bones were stark white, the huge ribs stood like protective pillars, and the hollow of the skull seemed like an eye socket gazing at the gray sky.

Deep within the cave, he sat cross-legged (although his body didn't require this posture, it helped him concentrate), immersing his entire consciousness into his body to carefully examine the gains and losses of this fierce battle.

The brief confrontation with the Church of Light, especially the process of forcibly using the concept of Yin and Yang to neutralize the Holy Light and reverse-analyze its essence, greatly depleted his divine consciousness, even more so than when he continuously devoured several powerful soul flames.

However, the immense power derived from devouring the death crystal also requires time to be fully digested, stabilized, and perfectly integrated with this body.

He first examined himself. The strength of his body and the total amount of death energy had indeed increased several times over. His bones were more crystalline and tough, and his muscle fibers (although they were condensed from death energy) were full of explosive power, firmly establishing him as a high-ranking death knight.

If we were to roughly compare it to the cultivation realms, it would be roughly equivalent to the late stage of Qi Refining, or even close to the peak. But more importantly, his understanding and control of the power of death has already surpassed the pitiful instincts of the original owner of this body, carrying a trace of his own "Dao," which originates from higher-dimensional cognition.

The energy vortex that flashed into his mind when confronting the Holy Light, simulating the concept of "yin and yang circulation," was only a hastily made prototype and extremely imperfect, but it undoubtedly opened a new door for him.

Life and death, light and darkness, creation and destruction... Can these seemingly absolutely opposing concepts transform into each other at a higher level and achieve dynamic balance and unity? This idea, which originated from philosophical speculation in his previous life and has been initially confirmed in this world, captivated him, as if he could see a broader world ahead on the path of enlightenment.

"Although the power systems are different and the rules manifest differently, the great path they pursue may indeed lead to the same destination." Lin Xuan's understanding deepened. Cultivating in this world, analyzing death, and confronting its opposite—light—might allow him to gain a deeper and more transcendent understanding of the laws of life and the dialectical relationship of the essence of energy. This is far more significant than simply enhancing the power of this projected body.

In the days that followed, he did not rush to seek out more powerful undead challenges or venture into exploring the deeper secrets of this world.

Instead, like an ascetic practicing in a harsh land, he began a new round of planned and purposeful "hunting" and "cultivation" in this land of the dead.

His target was clearly those mid-to-high-level undead who possessed a certain level of intelligence, had relatively condensed soul fire, and higher energy levels—cunning and treacherous liches who were skilled in ranged curses and bone magic.

A terrifying knight who charges into battle, his death aura solidified into a tangible form;

A formless and intangible banshee that specializes in attacking the soul;

There are even some rare elemental creatures formed from mutated death energy condensed under extreme conditions, such as the Skeleton Flame Demon whose body is engulfed in a ghostly blue flame.

The process of hunting itself is the best training ground.

He no longer relied solely on the Death Knight's powerful physical attacks and simple release of death energy. He began to actively try to use the necromancy he had gleaned from those fragmented memories and learned through observing and analyzing the spellcasting processes of other undead with his powerful divine sense.

Facing a lich hiding behind a horde of skeletons, he raised his skeletal hand covered in armor, and the power of death rapidly condensed along a mysterious and efficient trajectory, pressing forward—

"Death Coil!"

In an instant, several black energy tentacles, made of extremely pure death energy and almost tangible, suddenly shot out from the cracked ground like living venomous pythons!

Ignoring the low-ranking skeletons blocking their path, they precisely wrapped themselves around the lich's skeleton. The powerful binding force immediately caused its bones to make a teeth-grinding "crunch," and the chilling power of death, like a bone-deep affliction, frantically eroded the soul fire leaping in its eye sockets.

He attempted to mimic the lich's spellcasting from his memory, vibrating the air with the power of death to produce low, awkward syllables imbued with specific rules. Simultaneously, his skeletal fingertips rapidly traced several simple yet ominous gray runes in the air—

"Curse of Weakness!"

A barely perceptible gray halo instantly traversed space and landed on a terrifying knight who was launching a death charge in the distance. The knight's charge speed visibly slowed down, as if it had sunk into an invisible quagmire. Even the black battle aura burning around its body dimmed, and the soul fire in its eye sockets conveyed a wave of doubt and uncertainty.

He even boldly attempted to mimic the Banshee's most insidious and unpredictable soul attack. He concentrated his highly refined divine sense, mixing it with a sharp, deathly power, and with a unique frequency, suddenly unleashed a silent shriek—

"Soul Spikes!"

Not far away, a lich wielding a bone staff inlaid with skulls and burning with green ghost fire suddenly froze as he chanted a spell. It was as if he had been struck on the head by an invisible hammer. The soul fire in his eye sockets flickered violently, as if it would be extinguished at any moment. The entire undead instantly fell into complete daze and chaos.

These necromancy spells are bizarre and malevolent, often targeting the weaknesses of life and soul, and are filled with negative emotions and destructive desires.

However, when Lin Xuan used the transcendent perspective of a cultivator and his high-dimensional divine sense to unleash the spell, he lacked the innate ferocity and chaos of undead creatures, but possessed more calmness, precision, and absolute control, often unleashing power and effects that surpassed the level of the spell itself.

With each successful hunt, after completely dismantling the opponent's resistance, he would unhesitatingly devour the relatively condensed soul fire of the defeated.

Unlike the almost barbaric energy infusion of directly devouring death crystals, devouring these soul flames is more like a refined absorption of "information," "experience," and "origin."

Each soul fire, especially the soul fire from intelligent undead, is like a fragmented piece, carrying fragmented memories of the original owner, an understanding of specific undead magic, and the experience accumulated during their long (or short) undead lives, focusing on different aspects of the power of death.

Initially, Lin Xuan simply followed the body's instincts, primarily absorbing the pure essence of death to strengthen the "quantity" of his own soul fire. But soon, he keenly discovered a phenomenon that surprised and delighted him—

When he took the lead, guided by his powerful divine consciousness, which had been baptized by the origins of two worlds and nourished by the power of faith, and actively "sorted out" and "digested" the soul fires he had absorbed, the process became completely different!

He can not only extract the pure essence of death more efficiently, but also, like the most skilled craftsman, carefully peel away and absorb the valuable fragments of memories and knowledge contained within!

Moreover, this active process of "analyzing" and "digesting" can, in turn, greatly nourish and refine his consciousness itself!

It was as if... his consciousness was "feeding" on this soul energy and information, and growing rapidly at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary meditation and cultivation!

Originally, due to his fortuitous encounter, the strength of his divine sense far surpassed that of other cultivators of the same level, comparable to the late stage of Qi Refining, and even touching the threshold of Foundation Establishment. In this continuous, efficient, and purposeful process of devouring and digesting the soul fire, the range of his divine sense began to expand steadily at a considerable rate, and his microscopic perception and exquisite manipulation of energy (especially the power of death) became increasingly unbelievable!

He could even clearly "see" the subtle trajectory of the power of death flowing through the air like a gray stream, accurately perceive the subtle differences in the fluctuations of other undead soul fire, and judge their strength, state, and even some simple emotional changes (if they had any)!

At the same time, a large number of fragmented memories about various necromancy from different types of undead, like rivers flowing into the sea, were absorbed, organized, refined, and integrated by his powerful divine sense. His knowledge of necromancy was no longer limited to the few types he had initially acquired, but quickly became richer and more systematic.

He analyzed and mastered the core principles of various necromancy spells, including the multiple condensation techniques and throwing trajectories of [Bone Spear], the energy structure optimization of [Skeleton Armor], the rune improvements and reduced mental energy consumption of [Summon Skeleton], the coverage area and poison control of [Plague Cloud], and the self-damage repair efficiency of [Dark Healing]... Whether focusing on attack, defense, summoning, or support, or even some obscure curse-type spells, he began to try to integrate them into his own unique combat system, forming a distinctive style.

He was no longer merely a death knight who fought with his powerful physique and instincts; he began to transform into a "death warlock" or "necromancer," a master of various necromancy spells. This transformation made his fighting style more flexible, unpredictable, and elusive.

This method of rapidly increasing one's spiritual awareness and knowledge by devouring soul fire is certainly highly efficient and fast, but it also carries a hint of sinister and domineering nature that cannot be ignored. It is completely different from the orthodox cultivation method of gradually and steadily tempering the soul, and is even somewhat similar to demonic methods.

However, Lin Xuan's Dao heart was as firm as a rock. His experience of living two lives and his will as vast as the starry sky allowed him to always maintain a dominant position. He kept his original mind clear and only took the essence (pure origin and valuable knowledge) and decisively discarded the dross (chaotic fragments of memory and violent will of the dead). He was not eroded or polluted by it. On the contrary, he felt that his divine consciousness became more and more condensed, pure and agile under this unique "tempering", and even had a unique quality of insight into the netherworld.

On this day, he had just successfully hunted a rare and powerful three-headed hellhound undead using a combination of spells—first, "Weakening Curse" to slow its movements, then "Death Coil" to restrict its massive three heads, and finally, a highly compressed "Death Finger" to precisely shatter its three core soulfire points. After devouring its exceptionally vigorous soulfire, which contained violent and fiery characteristics, he was quietly digesting the knowledge it contained about aura tracking, death stealth, and the use of death power related to hellfire when he suddenly had a sudden realization.

His powerful and keen divine sense, like an invisible radar, detected the familiar holy light fluctuations that instinctively disgusted and oppressed his body, coming from the distant horizon!

Moreover, this time, it wasn't just one stock!

There were more of them, and their aura was like a gathering of flames, even more intense and powerful than the last group we encountered!

They appear to be conducting a comprehensive search, with a clear objective.

Clearly, the Church of Light has not given up its search for him. His previous failure, and the strange abilities he displayed, have instead aroused the attention and... murderous intent of the church's higher-ups.

The dark blue soul fire in Lin Xuan's eyes flickered calmly and steadily, without the slightest sign of panic.

He slowly rose to his feet, his tall figure, clad in jet-black armor, casting a majestic shadow in the beast-bone cave. He carefully sensed the surging, all-encompassing power of death within him, and the vast divine consciousness and all-encompassing knowledge of the undead in his mind, far surpassing anything he had ever known, were like an army ready for battle.

"You've come at the perfect time."

He muttered to himself, his cold voice echoing in the deathly silent cave, carrying a faint hint of expectation.

"Perfect, I'll use you to verify the results of my training and hone my understanding of death."

"And let you understand that death is not just about savagery and destruction..."

"...What is the true art of death?"