Chapter 187: Will You Choose a Duel or a Brawl?

When a thousand gather, they block out the land and sky. When ten thousand gather, they form an endless sea. When a hundred thousand gather, they cover the earth and the heavens!

At this moment, the number of undead creatures coming toward them was far more than a hundred thousand, surging like waves in the ocean.

Regardless of whether it was hills, plains, pits, or swamps, everywhere was filled with the shadows of undead creatures. Under the call of the Necromantic Scourge and the Arch-Lich Electrolux, they came from various places within the demi-plane of the undead.

At the forefront of the undead army were towering, stiff-faced, but limbless liches. Each lich held a bone staff, and there were over a hundred of them.

These liches didn't advance, but instead formed a protective circle around Huo Yuhao. They chanted in strange voices, raising their staffs high as waves of sinister energy radiated outward, casting various buffs on the undead army behind them.

Electrolux had once explained to Huo Yuhao that necromancy and undead magic are actually two distinct fields, each with different capabilities. However, he had mastered both.

In undead magic, the five major branches are curses, plagues, summoning, darkness, and alchemy. Electrolux specialized in curses and summoning, particularly in summoning rituals and soul ceremonies.

Although Electrolux wasn't as proficient in plagues, darkness, or alchemy, he could summon liches, undead creatures capable of using undead magic, to cast those spells for him without depleting his own energy.

Back in the Mingdou Mountain Range, the strongest Soul Emperor at the time, the Death Messenger, had transformed himself into a lich-like state, but it wasn't a complete transformation. The liches surrounding Huo Yuhao now were far more powerful than the Death Messenger.

If Electrolux were still alive, he would have been a level above even Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao, who was at the peak of the Limit Douluo stage. According to the classification of a certain great figure, Electrolux would be at least at the level between demi-god and true god.

And this was because Electrolux had chosen not to ascend to godhood. If he had desired it, given his record of annihilating an entire continent with undead magic, his divine rank would have been unimaginably high.

Moreover, Electrolux had originally possessed the physique of the Child of Light. Before encountering undead magic, he had practiced light magic and reached the rank of an eighth-tier Archmage. Thus, the undead magic he wielded could be considered a pure form of Light-attribute undead magic, a category he created himself. This was also the reason behind the "Saint" title in his name as the Sacred Necromancer.

Groups of skeleton soldiers and skeletal cavalry rushed forward, led by death knights mounted on towering warhorses.

These death knights wore ashen-gray armor, and their helmets flickered with a golden soul fire. Their warhorses were nothing but bone, but they were enormous, with their hooves stepping on pale golden flames.

Around them surged countless zombies, abominations, bone dragons, liches, and blood mages—horrifying, grotesque, and monstrous undead creatures rushing toward a single target: the elderly man in black.

The elderly man's face turned pale, and seeing this, he no longer dared to hide anything. He tore off the black cloth covering his face and shouted loudly at Huo Yuhao, who stood at the top of the hill, "I am Cheng Gang, the Guardian Douluo of the Star Luo Empire. I offended you earlier, please forgive me!"

"To cultivate is to struggle against the heavens, the earth, and other people! Seizing wealth, killing and plundering are merely part of the process. There is no distinction between good and evil." A flash of light appeared from an ancient black ring, and Yao Lao appeared beside Huo Yuhao.

"However, if you decide to make a move, you must also be prepared for retaliation."

"Yuhao, though I once told you that vengeance should not be excessive," Electrolux's figure also emerged from Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, standing beside him.

"But there's also the saying: 'Repay kindness with kindness, and enmity with enmity. A true man avenges his grievances!' Furthermore, if you decide to seek revenge, you must be thorough—leave no future troubles!"

Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded at his two teachers before calmly speaking again to Cheng Gang below: "Choose. A duel or a brawl?"

"A duel, I choose a duel!" Cheng Gang's heart trembled, and he quickly replied.

"Very well, brothers, attack!" Huo Yuhao waved his hand, and a wave of greed surged in the eyes of the surrounding undead creatures.

For the undead, the flesh, bones, and even brain matter of sentient beings were the ultimate delicacies. With Electrolux's divine imprint upon him, the undead did not dare attack Huo Yuhao, and they even had to obey him. But the only other living person in the undead demi-plane, Cheng Gang, naturally became their target.

"Wait!" Cheng Gang cried out in panic. "Didn't you say it would be a duel? Why are they all attacking me?"

"That's right, it's a duel—you versus all of them," Huo Yuhao replied with a grin.

"Then what about the brawl?"

"In a brawl, all of them would gang up on you."

Hearing this, a surge of anger and despair rose in Cheng Gang's heart: "Huo Yuhao, you—!"

"Second battalion, fire the cannons! His blood, his flesh, all of it belongs to you!" Huo Yuhao called to the undead below. "But leave his soul. I still have use for it."

The Hellish Nether Dragon let loose a blast of blue dragonfire, signaling the start of the attack. The surrounding undead surged forward like a tidal wave, instantly engulfing Cheng Gang.

Faced with a scene that resembled something from an apocalyptic zombie movie, even a Titled Douluo would likely fall, let alone ten of them. After all, a Titled Douluo was still human, and as long as someone is human, they feel pain and fear.

But most undead had no intelligence, and their greatest trait was their fearless, relentless nature. Even if Cheng Gang could destroy ten or a hundred undead creatures, more would just replace them, all eager to tear off a piece of his flesh.

In the face of the undead onslaught, Cheng Gang quickly activated his martial spirit possession.

His left foot stepped forward slightly, and a thick black aura erupted from within him. His skin turned a shiny, inky black, as if covered with a layer of black armor.

The most peculiar thing was his eyebrows. Both of his eyebrows grew longer, coiling upward until they reached over twenty centimeters in length, floating above his head like two antennae.

Two yellow, three purple, and four black spirit rings appeared on his body. As the rings pulsed, the terrifying aura of a Titled Douluo filled the air.

Yet even such a powerful Titled Douluo found all his defenses shattered by the blue breath of the Hellish Nether Dragon. His black armor nearly melted away under the assault.

With a casual flick of the dragon's head, half of Cheng Gang's body was swallowed by the Hellish Nether Dragon. Seeing this, the surrounding undead creatures swarmed in, frantically tearing at Cheng Gang's body.

Listening to Cheng Gang's agonized screams below, Huo Yuhao shrugged with a grin.

Originally, he had no clear reason to act against the Star Luo Empire. But this time, it seemed he had found an opportunity.