Just as the Guangqiu was questioning life.
Edegar had already dug out all of Leaf Zhi’s bones.
He set up a barrier on the spot to shield against the raging Magical Wind Barrier.
White bones clattered and assembled on the ground, forming a complete skeleton.
Because 10 points of divine power had solved the fracture issue, Leaf Zhi’s skeleton was quite intact, with no sign of severe injury at all.
Two clusters of faint blue Soulfire lit up in the skull’s eye sockets, bringing him fully back to life.
Leaf Zhi moved his neck to confirm that his head was still attached.
He cheerfully greeted the other.
“Good morning, Edegar!”
Leaf Zhi had survived the pursuit of countless Churches for centuries—not by fighting alone, of course.
No matter how vast and dominant the Church forces were in Aeltia, there would always be those who walked their own path.
That’s why Leaf Zhi had created an organization called the Watchers.
It specifically recruited those without faith in gods, or even anti-god “Heresy.”
The group’s daily tasks included stopping gods from kicking open coffin lids to resurrect, and opposing all Churches.
They’d also help other members solve troublesome issues.
Though small in number, the organization’s members were all extraordinary.
For example, the Edegar before him.
He had once been a Paladin raised from childhood by the Bright Church.
After the Light God’s fall, he was the human with the highest magical talent discovered by the Church in centuries.
At age 20, he was bestowed the title of Dawn Knight.
He was the default candidate for the next Pope.
Unfortunately.
On his road to becoming Pope, he encountered Leaf Zhi.
After a round of Leaf Zhi’s persuasion.
Edegar successfully realized the importance of gods.
—Gods are important precisely because, without them, it’s crucial for Humans and all races!
Thus, he decisively betrayed the Bright Church and joined Leaf Zhi on the Church’s wanted list.
“There’s no morning on the Rinwind Plains.”
Edegar glanced at the pile of unknown white bones he’d dug up behind him, and the chaotic Bloodflesh Altar.
Many had died on the Rinwind Plains.
To find Leaf Zhi, he’d dug up several times more bones than the original Leaf Zhi himself.
The workload was immense.
Edegar frowned slightly; he disliked the lingering scent of blood in the air.
“It really wasn’t easy to find you. After thirty years, how did you end up like this again?”
Leaf Zhi used his hand bones to prop himself up and barely sat.
“Experiment failed and your old employer was chasing me, so I accidentally got a bit hurt.”
“If you’d come four days later, you’d have dug up a real skeleton—”
Leaf Zhi tried to stand, failed after several attempts, and sat back down.
It was fine underground, but once he came out, everything hurt.
His whole body was suffering from the aftereffects of Forbidden Magic failure.
His body felt like a huge funnel, constantly leaking magic.
Edegar immediately pressed him down.
“Don’t move!”
He then took out the Magic Potion he’d brought and performed emergency healing.
Leaf Zhi had a history of injuries from his obsession with Forbidden Magic to revert to a Human.
Edegar was already experienced, so he treated the wounds quickly.
With Undead, all that remained was a pile of bones; there wasn’t much to treat.
Recovery potions were applied directly to the bones.
At most, mental-healing potions were more complicated to use.
The more he treated Leaf Zhi, the deeper Edegar’s frown became.
Leaf Zhi’s injuries were far too severe.
The worst injuries he’d treated before weren’t even a tenth as bad as this!
Leaf Zhi’s “four days of survival” comment wasn’t a joke!
After emergency treatment, Edegar’s expression turned grave.
“Your wounds are too serious. I can only keep them from getting worse for now; we must leave immediately to heal you!”
“This can wait. I won’t die for now.”
Leaf Zhi leaned against some broken stones and looked behind him.
“Are you alone?”
If he remembered correctly, his distress signal should have reached every Watchers member.
He was the leader, after all.
The leader was injured, and only one person came to save him?
A bit too heartless, wasn’t it?
Edegar’s eyes darkened, as if he’d known Leaf Zhi would ask this.
He stuck his hoe into the ground and began to name names.
“The Sea Demon is preparing for the Sea God’s resurrection festival again, so Clare went back to deal with it.”
“The Elf King is gravely ill, so Kasha had to return to the Elven Forest.”
“Xilong was dragged back by his clan as well…………………”
“Right now, only I didn’t have any major trouble, so I could come save you.”
Though Edegar’s tone was emotionless, Leaf Zhi still heard a sense of resentment between the lines.
He laughed awkwardly.
“Uh, haha, looks like everyone’s been living, uh, quite eventfully these years?”
In recent years, the Bright Church’s pursuit had been intense, and magic regarding Necromantic Resurrection had made new progress.
He’d been so busy that he’d neglected the organization’s management.
As a leader, he’d been somewhat of a failure……
Leaf Zhi’s voice paused, and he asked casually.
“By the way, what about Selkan? Why didn’t I hear his name?”
“…….”
Leaf Zhi’s laughter stopped abruptly.
After a moment, he returned to normal, his voice lowering by two tones.
“By the calendar, the time has come.”
The last time Leaf Zhi met that Dwarf craftsman was fifteen years ago.
Back then, the man had joked about having Leaf Zhi turn him into an Undead to prolong his life.
But Leaf Zhi had been missing two key Magic Potions, so it never happened…………………
The atmosphere suddenly grew cold.
Edegar calmly put away the Magic Potion bottle.
“The point of saying this is to remind you—don’t mess around. We don’t have many people left.”
Leaf Zhi was obsessed with researching Forbidden Magic for Necromantic Resurrection.
He’d always dreamed of shedding the Undead identity and becoming Human again.
But magical research progressed slowly, and after centuries, he’d never succeeded.
Each time a spell failed, not only did Leaf Zhi suffer severe backlash, but a pile of Human Remnants—failed products of Undead transformation—would be left behind.
Plus, since the materials for creating Human Remnants were Monster corpses—
Undead, Black Mage, Human Remnants, Monsters.
Just these four words together would let the uninformed public imagine all sorts of villainous deeds.
Thus.
For the past two hundred years, Leaf Zhi’s already notorious reputation had grown even worse.
He’d even acquired the infamy of “Undead Butcher.”
The Watchers suffered by association.
No new members had joined in over a century…….
And now.
Another old member was gone.
The total number of members had dropped to single digits.
The remaining ones each had their own troubles and couldn’t even gather.
For their organization, true collapse was only a word from the leader away………………