Journey to Become the Zenith

The Price of Resurrection

Alibaba laughed softly.

It wasn’t a loud laugh. It was the kind of quiet, amused sound a man might make when someone asks the exact question he had been waiting for.

”What is your question... young lady?”

Clara almost let out a sigh of relief.

Almost.

But she caught herself just in time.

Good. He’s talking.

That meant time—time to gather information before things spiraled into violence.

Her purple eyes shifted briefly toward Victor.

At first glance he looked completely calm. Relaxed, even. Standing there with his arms loose at his sides as if he were simply observing a conversation.

But Clara had spent enough time around him to notice the small details others missed.

His fingers were trembling.

Barely.

Just enough to betray what was really going on.

He was itching to fight.

The moment the conversation stalled, he would attack.

Clara felt a flicker of irritation.

Idiot...

She needed to move this along before Victor’s patience ran out.

She stepped forward slightly.

”What have you done with the villagers?”

The moment the question left her lips—

Alibaba burst into laughter.

A deep, delighted laugh that echoed through the underground chamber.

”I was waiting for you to ask that.”

The masked man took a few slow steps forward. His grey cloak brushed the stone floor as he approached. He didn’t move aggressively—if anything, he looked like a scholar preparing to explain a fascinating discovery.

Once he stopped at a comfortable distance, he folded his hands behind his back.

”It was an experiment.”

His voice was calm.

Measured.

”I was trying to revive them.”

Clara’s brows furrowed.

”Revive...?”

She frowned slightly.

”You mean... resurrect them?”

Beside her, Victor’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.

The word revive made something tighten deep inside his chest.

In his previous life, the concept of immortality had been almost ordinary.

Ancient monarchs.

Immortal cultivators.

Eternal bloodlines.

There had always been ways to extend life—or return from death.

But in this world...

Things were different.

Here, only humans existed.

There were no immortal races.

No ancient demons.

No divine bloodlines walking the earth.

Powerful individuals could delay death through mana refinement, through discipline and knowledge.

But no one escaped death entirely.

Resurrection?

That was something even the greatest scholars dismissed as myth.

Yet this man...

Victor’s golden eyes sharpened.

”How do you know a way to revive them?” he asked quietly.

Alibaba turned his masked face toward him.

Behind the mask, Victor could almost feel the man smiling.

”Interesting question.”

Clara and Lane both looked at Alibaba more carefully now.

He tilted his head slightly.

”I believe it was... seven years ago.”

He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

”Yes. Seven years.”

”I was traveling through the Red Cliff Mountain range.”

The name alone made Clara stiffen.

The Red Cliff Mountains.

One of the most forbidden places in the known world.

The mountain range stretched for hundreds of kilometers—jagged crimson cliffs and endless forests crawling with powerful demonic beasts.

Human explorers rarely dared venture more than seven kilometers inside.

Beyond that point...

People simply disappeared.

Some claimed there were ancient ruins deeper inside.

Others believed the mountains themselves were cursed.

Either way, no one who ventured too far ever returned.

Alibaba continued calmly.

”I was attacked by a furious demonic beast while passing through the outer range.”

His tone remained casual, as if describing an inconvenient rainstorm.

”It was a particularly aggressive creature.”

”So I ran.”

Lane blinked slowly.

Ran?

”I fled deeper into the mountains to escape it.”

Alibaba gave a soft chuckle.

”I traveled... more than fifteen kilometers into the Red Cliff range before I finally found shelter.”

Clara’s eyes widened.

Fifteen kilometers?

That was impossible.

Even elite adventurer parties rarely survived that deep inside.

Yet this man stood here casually telling the story.

”I found refuge inside a mountain cave.”

Alibaba continued.

”And there... I discovered something fascinating.”

”A stone tablet.”

He lifted a finger.

”Carved into that stone were ancient writings.”

”Instructions.”

”Knowledge.”

”The method for reviving the dead.”

Silence fell over the chamber.

Even the torches seemed to flicker more slowly.

Victor’s mind was already racing.

Red Cliff Mountains...

Fifteen kilometers inside...

If a stone tablet with forbidden knowledge truly existed there—

Then the mountains might hold far more secrets than people realized.

Victor’s golden eyes glinted faintly.

I should go there someday.

Clara’s voice cut through the silence.

”If you really went fifteen kilometers inside that mountain range...”

Her tone carried clear disbelief.

”How did you come back alive?”

”Everyone knows that anyone who travels more than seven kilometers into Red Cliff dies.”

Alibaba chuckled softly.

”Well...”

He spread his hands slightly.

”I suppose my luck is simply superb.”

Lane narrowed her eyes.

They all knew that wasn’t the real answer.

But it was obvious he had no intention of explaining further.

Alibaba clapped his hands lightly.

”Now then.”

”Where were we?”

He tapped his chin dramatically.

”Ah yes.”

”The resurrection.”

He nodded as if remembering a pleasant conversation.

”Yes, I did succeed.”

Clara blinked.

”You succeeded?”

Her gaze swept across the silent villagers standing in the chamber.

”Then what about the bodies we saw in the graves?”

”Who were those people?”

Alibaba answered without hesitation.

”Those were the original bodies of the villagers.”

”...What?”

The three adventurers exchanged confused looks.

Seeing their expressions, Alibaba decided to elaborate.

”You see,” he said calmly, ”I killed the villagers of this place for my experiment.”

Clara’s breath caught.

Lane’s expression hardened.

”Once they were dead, I attempted to raise them from the dead.”

Alibaba sighed lightly.

”Unfortunately, the result was disappointing.”

”They became nothing more than walking corpses.”

”Mindless.”

”Empty.”

”That was not true resurrection.”

Victor remained silent, listening carefully.

”So I tried other methods,” Alibaba continued.

”But the bodies began to deteriorate. Some of them were destroyed entirely.”

Clara’s hands slowly clenched.

”I realized the original bodies were too weak.”

”So I created stronger ones.”

”New bodies.”

”Perfect replicas of the villagers.”

Lane’s eyes darkened.

Creating a human body from scratch required horrific materials.

Living flesh.

Blood.

Bone.

Alibaba continued as if lecturing students.

”Of course, I initially thought replacing the body meant it would no longer be true resurrection.”

”But then I had a realization.”

”The problem was never the body.”

”It was the soul.”

”Even if I recreated their bodies perfectly, I could not retrieve their original souls.”

”So they remained mindless undead.”

Alibaba’s voice grew slightly excited.

”So I changed my approach.”

”I summoned evil spirits.”

”And allowed them to inhabit the bodies.”

Clara’s eyes flashed.

That confirmed it.

Forbidden arts.

This man was a practitioner of necromancy—someone who manipulated corrupt mana and death energy.

But in this world where only humans and demonic beasts existed...

Such practices were even more abhorrent.

Alibaba continued happily.

”You’re probably thinking that this would create completely different individuals.”

”Well...”

”What makes two identical bodies different?”

He raised a finger.

”Memories.”

”I extracted the memories from the dead villagers.”

”And placed them into the new bodies.”

He gestured toward the silent figures around the chamber.

”And the result...”

”Is what you see before you.”

The revelation was horrifying.

To create even a single artificial human body required human materials.

This village had at least forty people.

Which meant—

Alibaba hadn’t only killed the villagers.

He had killed every traveler who had passed through this place.

Clara felt her blood boil.

The monster behind the mask had slaughtered countless innocents for his twisted experiments.

At that moment—

She remembered Soren.

The frightened boy.

The strange marks on his neck.

Her rage burned even hotter.

Beside her, Lane remained silent.

But the killing intent leaking from her body had begun to rise.

It was subtle.

But deadly.

Alibaba didn’t care.

He continued speaking proudly.

”I believed my experiment had succeeded.”

”But unfortunately...”

He sighed.

”The new villagers still possessed traces of the wild evil spirits that inhabited them.”

”They were no longer human.”

”And as you can see...”

”They have no free will.”

He spread his arms.

”A failure again.”

”But...”

His voice filled with excitement.

”I am closer than ever to achieving true resurrection.”

His masked face tilted upward.

”Isn’t that wonderful?”

”I am about to achieve something only the hateful gods could accomplish.”

For a moment—

No one spoke.

Then Victor finally opened his mouth.

His voice was quiet.

Cold.

”For what reason...”

”...do you do this?”