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However, before that, I still have a question.

"Senior, the content in the first half of this scroll doesn't seem to target my skills. Instead, it seems to describe another form of martial arts. Although I haven't seen the first half of my own copy of the manual, I am certain that those skills do not reach the level of a Sword Saint. However, if one trains according to the methods described here, the fourteen Nine Yin ultimate skills will merge into one, and future achievements might rival your ultimate Sword Saint realm." I asked Lei Men. It wasn't that I looked down on the original Nine Yin Manual, but the world I was in was different. In my previous life, the lands of Central Plains never had places like the Sea of Star Souls, where one could freely borrow power.

Lei Men smiled slightly and nodded. "You're right, Xuan Feng. The first half of the scroll was indeed not created by me. In fact, after spending a century, I still couldn't decipher its content. It was only after exchanging martial arts insights with you that I glimpsed a bit of its mystery. The descriptions in the second half are the results of my work over the past two years. As your cultivation deepens, you can continue to explore its mysteries with your own talents and develop even more profound martial arts."

"Thank you, Senior. But if even you couldn't understand the content of the first half, I can't imagine what martial arts in this world could stump you. Good heavens, could it be... Leinster’s... Sword Deity...?"

"That's correct. The first half is indeed the Sword Deity Realm written by the 'Ancestor of Sword Saints,' Leinster. However, it wasn't entirely created by him. This mythical concept that transcends all known powers originates from the Codex of Deification written by the great gnome scholars of the past. The so-called Sword Deity Realm is the path to attaining divine status, but its difficulty far surpasses anyone's imagination. The gnomes' shortcut of 'virtual deities' has been proven wrong, and Leinster couldn't find a viable path before he died. Most of the Sword Deity Realm is based on the virtual deities' understanding of the world's origin, as recorded in the Codex of Deification. Leinster knew of it but couldn't open a new realm from it. With even less talent than Leinster, I spent a century without making any progress. It was only after seeing your unique skills that I sensed a glimmer of hope. It seems that using battle qi as a path isn't the right approach, but your 'true energy' is closer to the world's essence. It seems this path to deification will have to be explored by you."

"I never thought something like this would happen. But wasn't Leinster's Sword Deity Realm hidden inside the Nameless Sword? Did you go to the Yellow Dragon Empire and raid the Moonlight Tower?" I asked curiously.

The old lion, Lei Men, shook his head and laughed. "No, although I once attempted to seek out the Moonlight Tower to glimpse the martial mysteries of the 'Ancestor of Sword Saints,' the Nameless Lake has always been deeply hidden. Even among the warriors of the Yellow Dragon, most only know its name but not its location. I never found that mysterious place. This copy of the Sword Deity Realm came from another source. I once swore not to reveal its origin, but if you truly achieve something in the future, you'll eventually understand the circumstances. There's no need for me to explain further now."

Knowing that a strong individual like Lei Men, who had lived for nearly two hundred years, must have many secrets, I didn't press further and took my leave. As I was leaving, the Battle Saint said something unclear: "A dead man will come to see you. Be friendly with him; he will be of great help to you in the future."

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Ghost Bone Walking by Day, Mermaid Illusion

The concept of a dead person is simple. Excluding any insults, it refers to a corpse after death.

In my previous life, my nickname was 'Copper Corpse,' but I was still a person, not a corpse. If I had become a corpse, I definitely wouldn't be moving, let alone dominating the martial world with my unique Nine Yin White Bone Claw.

All the above are just nonsense because I never imagined that one day I would sit face-to-face with a dead person, greeting and chatting with each other. Naturally, I felt a bit dazed.

The dead person in front of me could be identified with the naked eye because no living being should be just bones without flesh, and what I was facing was a completely white skeleton, like any corpse buried for ten years. The only difference was that this skeleton was currently wobbling in the chair in front of me, criticizing the lack of artistic sense in my temporary residence while using magic powder to brand mysterious runes onto its bones.

The incident began yesterday when, after returning from the Heavenly Martial Palace with Katherine and Siegfried, we heard that Hai Ruo, the meritorious female mage of Fontainebleau, had arrived with her newly acknowledged teacher. I hurried to meet this supposedly powerful necromancer, only to be greeted by a very clean skeleton. I initially thought it was a skeleton summoned by the necromancer, but it turned out to be the necromancer himself. Even Katherine was startled because, half a year ago, when this necromancer passed through Fontainebleau and was coincidentally accepted as a disciple by Hai Ruo after viewing the Twelve Zodiac Gates, a creation of the Twelve Sages, he was still a complete human.

Many people think necromancers are dead, but that's not the case. The vast majority of necromancers are living people who practice necromantic magic. Although many like to use spells to partially necrotize parts of their bodies for specific purposes, they are fundamentally still alive. Only a tiny number of top necromancers can master the ultimate power of necromancy, completely deadening their bodies to become eternal beings who do not age. These individuals at the pinnacle of necromancy are called—Liches.