He stretched out his foot and kicked the skull that had rolled to his feet.
Looking at the motionless head with its mouth tightly shut and a faint green Netherfire still visible in its eye sockets, the Black Warrior King still felt rather confused.
As for the headless corpse lying afar, he simply ignored it.
And this was exactly what Gu Erdan wanted to see.
That's right, this was his plan, commonly known as sacrificing a minor piece to save the major one!
Don't you want the soul fire? Here's the head for you! Use it as you like!
As for the corpse? There were skeleton corpses all over the place now. What was wrong with having one more of his?
As long as he stayed still, only a ghost would guess that he was alive!
Although there were indeed skeleton soldiers born without heads, with their Netherfire hidden in their chests, it was extremely rare for one to have a skull on top as a disguise. No normal undead would ever expect that he was alive.
The Black Warrior King, who had picked up the head and inspected it for a while, couldn't figure out how this guy had ended up like this after thinking for a long time.
If it was due to fear, then this guy was incredibly timid. He actually scared his own head off.
Shaking his head, the scene that Gu Erdan had envisioned, in which the Black Warrior King directly devoured the Netherfire inside the skull, did not occur. On the contrary, perhaps because Gu Erdan behaved too peculiarly, the Black Warrior King didn't seem intent on killing him.
Taking steps forward, the Black Warrior King found Gu Erdan's body and actually picked it up, intending to put the head back on.
However, with this yank, everything was revealed.
Looking at the soul fire in the chest covered by the armor, then turning to eye the soul fire inside the skull in his hand, the Black Warrior King's eyes popped wide open, wearing a look of utter bewilderment.
Damn it! Two Netherfire flames!
(It's over!)
Gu Erdan, who had been picked up, also let out a scream in his heart at this moment.
Without hesitation, this guy gave a powerful yank and actually tore apart the tattered armor on his body, making a hasty escape like a cicada molting on the spot.
Then, the bare skeleton turned around and bolted. As he passed a skeleton soldier, he didn't forget to yank off its head and hurl it at the Black Warrior King behind him.
However, this flashy struggle ultimately proved futile. The Black Warrior King, who had tilted his head to avoid the flying skull, suddenly reached out and grabbed at him.
He unleashed the Soul Absorbing Hand. This time, instead of absorbing souls, he used it to pull the enemy.
Gu Erdan only felt his feet lose weight, and his entire body was sent flying backward. In an instant, he covered several meters and was grabbed by the Black Warrior King by the cervical vertebra.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I have an 8,000-year-old bone above! And a newly sprouted bud below! More than four thousand members of my family all depend on me for survival! If you kill me! Our family of headless skeleton riders will be extinct! Boss!"
Before the Black Warrior King could say a word, Gu Erdan had already let out a miserable cry, which left the Black Warrior King stunned.
Although there were nearly ten thousand undead in his castle, and there were over a thousand third-tier Black Warriors alone.
But Black Warriors were ultimately just undead, and they were low-tier undead at that, barely touching the threshold of mid-tier undead. They had some intelligence, but it was limited.
After all these years, the Black Warrior King was encountering such a lively undead for the first time.
"Shut up!"
"But I don't have a mouth! I don't even have a head! I can't eat! I can't drink! I can't have offspring! I'm so miserable!!!"
"If you don't shut up right away! I'll pull out your soul's ghost fire!"
The Black Warrior King, who was continuously bombarded by Gu Erdan's stream of chatter, wanted to reply but couldn't quite keep pace.
Helpless, he could only resort to threats. And this behavior was evidently very effective. Gu Erdan, who was yelling and struggling frantically, fell silent immediately upon hearing this.
The two looked at each other in silence. The Black Warrior King sized him up with keen interest.
"Are you a skeleton soldier?"
"No, I'm a headless knight. I just haven't reached adulthood yet, so my strength is a bit lacking."
"Tsk, you call yourself a headless knight? The weakest headless knight is of the seventh rank. Not to mention being a headless knight, you couldn't even defeat his horse!"
"But I'm truly a headless knight. See! Headless and being discriminated against."
At this time, the Black Warrior King had already carried Gu Erdan to the side and sat down.
Compared to the scrawny Gu Erdan, the Black Warrior King was much bigger in build. Of course, this was mainly due to the armor.
Casually tossing Gu Erdan to the ground, the Black Warrior King's voice was a bit excited.
"You have wisdom, right?"
Hearing this, Gu Erdan instinctively touched above his neck. After failing to find his head, he quickly grabbed the head of his enemy from the Black Warrior King's hand and snapped it on.
"Yeah! Of course I do!"
With his head recovered, Gu Erdan held his head up proudly. Unfortunately, this head didn't obey him. At this moment, it suddenly snapped around and turned to face backward.
Seeing Gu Erdan forcefully turn the head back, the Black Warrior King's tone was full of amusement.
"Wisdom has emerged among low - level skeletons? This isn't something common. You know, even among my Black Warriors, none of them possess true wisdom. Did your wisdom form spontaneously? Or is the wisdom from your human days still not dissipated?"
"It should be the latter."
"Oh, did you wake up with the wisdom from your mortal life..."
The Black Warrior King seemed to have thought of something and suddenly lapsed into a long silence. It was only after a long while that he heaved a sigh.
"Cherish your hard - won wisdom well. You don't have much time left, kid."
"Huh?"
Originally, seeing that the Black Warrior King didn't seem to want to kill him, Gu Erdan thought he was basically safe.
But who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the Black Warrior King actually told him that he didn't have much time left? Could this guy tell fortunes or read faces?
But that's impossible! Gu Erdan had never heard of anyone being able to read the face of a skeleton!
Seeing that Gu Erdan couldn't understand, the Black Warrior King didn't choose to tease him but instead explained in a deep voice.
"You were resurrected with your past memories, which means your soul hasn't been completely assimilated by the Netherworld's ghostly aura. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that you can remember your previous memories, but the bad thing is that this kind of memory won't last long. As the ghostly aura invades, your memories will gradually become blurred and chaotic until you become one of them."
As the Black Warrior King spoke, he motioned to the side. Gu Erdan looked in that direction at those muddled skeleton soldiers and couldn't help but shiver all over.
"Then, then how can I preserve my memories?"
"It's very simple. Break through the limit of the ninth rank and become the legendary Undead Lord. By then, your soul will be almost indestructible, and naturally you won't have to fear the erosion of the aura of the undead anymore."
"Is this the only way?"
"There is another way, and that is to obtain the top treasures made by humans, the kind that can protect the soul from erosion. With such a thing on you, naturally you won't be afraid of erosion either."
The Black Warrior King explained in great detail. Hearing this, Gu Erdan kept nodding. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked.
"Then may I ask, Your Excellency the Black Warrior King, which situation are you in?"
"I...."
Hearing this, the Black Warrior King was silent for a second, then raised his hand to caress the crimson rose pendant on his chest and said slowly.
"I have been resurrected here for five years. Although I live with the will of a living person, after such a long time, I can no longer clearly remember my previous memories...."