Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-545

[Reanimation] was among the most devastating abilities of a Necromancer. In fact, it was this technique that ended the Sky God Era and triggered the Shrine Era.

[Reanimation] was a technique that could either be incredibly weak or impossibly strong depending on the way it was used. Due to this, some often called it the Origin technique of Necromancers in a facetious way.

Though this namesake was given in jest, the more one thought about it, the truer it seemed.

[Reanimation] could be used by any Necromancer with death qi regardless of power or strength. That was in line with how Origin techniques functioned. The only reason [Reanimation] was not considered an Origin technique was because it couldn't be used on any target.

An Origin technique would function irrespective of who it was aimed at. Of course, its strength would vary depending on who was using it… But it would work.

[Reanimation], however, couldn't work on just any corpse. If you were too weak, you could forget about reanimating a Sky God. This was the small and seemingly insignificant detail that separated it from true Origin techniques. It was almost like splitting hairs.

When one understood this, it was easy to see how the term 'Origin technique of Necromancers' came about.

By now, what [Reanimation] did was obvious. It was capable of reanimating the dead to fight for a Necromancer. But, how was this different from simply refining a corpse?

The answer was simple: ease.

Refining a corpse took time, effort and stamina. Reanimating a corpse, however, was a quick process that could be completed in just a few seconds. When used in the midst of battle, especially against large groups, it could even turn the tide of war!

Of course, [Reanimation] had its weaknesses.

For one, those reanimated corpses would only have a fraction of its original power whereas a carefully refined corpse had the potential of being even more powerful than when they were alive. Secondly, [Reanimation] could only be used on a fresh corpse the soul had yet to leave. Thirdly, [Reanimation] could be resisted by the target should their soul be strong enough to remain lucid. Fourthly, the decay of a reanimated corpse was accelerated in their reanimated state.

This fourth weakness not only causes the rapid weakening of reanimated corpses—most of which would last a few months at most—it was also the reason that many still saw Necromancer as a disgusting and vile profession to this day.

By this point, Ryu had interacted with many Necromancers. But, not a single one of them had ever taken out a rotting corpse to battle with. The root of the stigma had come from [Reanimation]. After all, if it wasn't for such a technique, how could the bodies of powerful cultivators rot so easily, especially if they were taken care of?

For many of the reasons stated, along with the fact this technique ended an era, [Reanimation] had been banned for a very long time, even longer than Ryu's Tatsuya Clan had banned Mental Realm cultivation.

Back during the Sky God Era, some of the most powerful Necromancers of all time had existed. That was because before the Sky God Era had come the Ancient Beast Era.

With the war having ended in the retreat of the Ancient Beasts, one could imagine how many enormous beast corpses still existed. These corpses became the foundation of some of the most powerful Necromancer Clans and Sects to ever exist, but it also became the root of competition.

It was funny. The Sky God Era was the almost undisputed strongest Era for Humans. It was the representation that they could fight against the darlings of the Heavens—The Ancient Beast. And yet, it was humans themselves that ended their prosperous Era all on their own… Purely out of greed.

Now that Ryu thought about it, it was no wonder the Zu Clan inheritances had so few Necromancy techniques. They probably had a huge stigma against Necromancers despite being Mental Realm Masters themselves.

Ryu wasn't sure what to do with this technique now that it was in his hands.

Did this mean that the Martial Gods also had a Reanimation technique? The answer was almost certainly yes if this Nether Palace was indeed build and run by them. But… What did they mean by giving him such a technique?

Something was telling Ryu that things weren't so simple. Why did he feel like this wasn't the intention of the Martial Gods?

As Ryu's sensitivity increased and his pupils grew stronger, his innate intuition grew even without activating [Intuition]. He was able to see the subtle push and pull of Karmic Strings. And at the moment, he didn't sense enough of these strings leading back to the Martial Gods.

There were some there, definitely. But… Not enough for him to think that this was a ploy of theirs.

This was why the wielders of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils were so fearsome. To be able to guess at such a thing purely based on feel is why they were so feared and revered at the same time…

But just because Ryu had a feeling, didn't mean it was correct, nor would it give him the answer like a pie out of the sky.

He could only turn his attention toward the surroundings once more… Was this really the doing of the Dream Wraith? Or was it something or someone different entirely?

[Reanimation] in the hands of someone with Primordial Chaos Death Qi… Did they want him to destroy the world?

Ryu's eyes narrowed as he slowly put this technique away. This time, however, a swirl of death and spatial qi manifested, sucking the scroll into his eyes before he moved on. He couldn't casually store this technique in his spatial ring like he had done for the others.

Ryu felt like he was walking on pins and needles, expecting the other shoe to drop at any moment. What once was a casual stroll to snatch up resources and rewards suddenly felt far heavier.

However, when he defeated the eight spirit, the technique he got couldn't have been more ordinary.

[Bone Armor].