Xu Qin’s face flushed with alternating shades of green and white after being stung by Shi Pengpeng’s words.
If he hadn’t just used a blood sacrifice on the sword and his body wasn’t too weak to fight, he would have insisted on battling her again.
Everyone else’s gazes involuntarily flickered between Xu Qin and that huge pile of Zombie Meat, comparing which of them looked more like a beast.
Xiao Lingshu stroked his chin and said, “At least beasts have a chance to reincarnate. The Imperial Preceptor and Old Ouyang probably don’t. This round goes to the beasts.”
“You’d better worry about whether you have a chance to reincarnate yourselves,” Xu Qin said, his face twisted.
Only now did he realize, just as Shi Pengpeng had pointed out, that those slaughtered animals carried some lingering resentment, though not enough to turn into Jiangshi.
Shi Pengpeng’s success in raising the corpses was mainly because this batch of Zombie Meat had been stored with the Millennium Wandering Corpse these past few days, absorbing its Yin Energy.
Back then, they’d only thought of using Zombie Meat to hide the Jiangshi, and never considered what would happen to the leftovers.
Who could’ve thought Shi Pengpeng would even make use of that?
This woman, who looked completely harmless on the outside, had destroyed his plans again and again!
Xu Qin nearly ground his teeth to pieces, shot a look at Ouyang Jue, and said, “Ouyang Dong, quick……………”
“You think I don’t want to?” Ouyang Jue’s shriveled face was unreadable, but his tone was full of resentment and fury.
“How did you handle things?”
“A dignified descendant of Xu Fu, and after taking so much money from him… From Biannan to here, every step of the way, Shi Pengpeng has blocked us completely.”
Xu Qin’s jaw trembled as he gripped the Zigan Sword tighter, but in the end, he didn’t dare answer.
Though Ouyang Jue cursed, his hands never stopped moving.
The Imperial Seal stamped repeatedly into the void, massive power urging the Bingma Yong forward, now surging with even greater Yin Energy as they attacked the Mystic Sect disciples.
But the very next moment, they were blocked by the surging mass of Zombie Meat.
The Zombie Meat wasn’t very big, but there were countless pieces, each frozen rock-solidāno less tough than stone.
Zombie poultry flapped their wings, soaring into the Mudstone Warhorse army, shielding Xiao Lingshu and the other Mystic Sect Daoists.
Like woodpeckers, they pecked furiously at the clay soldiers with their hardened beaks, making a “duo duo duo” sound.
Zombie pigs, cows, and sheep crashed in like cannonballs, clashing head-on with the Mudstone Warhorses.
Not just Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin, even their Mystic Sect companions were left dumbfounded.
“What a marvelous sight…”
“I’ll never be able to look at Zombie Meat the same way again!”
“I swear, as a Daoist, I’ll never eat KFC again!”
“Too bad there aren’t any security cameras here. We should record this for research…”
“Senior Sister, you’re the number one Necromancer in all West Luo!” Xiao Lingshu was especially excited.
“Let me play too! Give me some zombies to play with!”
As he spoke, he somehow produced a Brass Talisman Bell from nowhere.
“Just so happens I bought this Sanqing Bell at the Auction House a few days agoāan antique from the Song Dynasty! Perfect for corpse driving!”
Shi Pengpeng: “….”
Her junior brother really had a lot of trinkets.
She formed a hand seal and actually split off a batch of Zombie Meat for him.
“Catch! If you still can’t win, I’ll beat you up when we get back.”
With the Zombie Meat army, the Mystic Sect’s pressure eased tremendously.
One Daoist, badly wounded, was even carried off the battlefield on the back of a zombie pig, finally able to catch his breath.
To be fair, this batch of Zombie Meat was no real match for the Bingma Yong, but Shi Pengpeng never intended to win with themāshe just needed to buy time.
Ouyang Jue understood that too.
His hand seals flew ever faster, and the Yin Energy of the mortal tomb surged, nearly blotting out the sky.
But in the end, he was still one move short.
Suddenly, the sky flashed bright.
A thick bolt of lightning tore through the heavens, ripping apart the shroud of murderous Yin Energy over the tomb.
“Boomāā”
Thunder crashed down in a ball of flame, smashing into the Mudstone army, shattering dozens of clay soldiers in an instant.
Zhong Ziqing’s face lit up with joy.
“My master is here!”
The newcomer was none other than Abbot Zhang Huai, head of Qinglian Monastery.
He led the other Qinglian disciples and the main Mystic Sect forces, rushing off the vehicles, joining hands to form an array as he anxiously called out, “Everyone, is the situation under control…?”
Even from several km away, they’d seen the Yin Energy surging skyward from here.
The first group to arrive was barely a dozen strongāsurely not enough to hold out, and he feared something terrible had happened.
Halfway through his words, Zhang Huai suddenly choked.
Waitāwhat was he seeing?
Thinking he must have been mistaken, Zhang Huai blinked hard, making sure he hadn’t forgotten his contact lenses.
His vision should be fine, but still, he was baffled.
“Are these frozen chickens and ducks………………?”
Not just himāeveryone who came with him was frozen in place.
‘Was this a battlefield?’
‘Are you sure this isn’t the fresh food section at RT-Mart?’
“Master, those are the zombies Senior Sister raised… cough, the Zombie Meat she raised,” Zhong Ziqing explained.
“Luckily they helped us hold out, or we wouldn’t have lasted until you arrived.”
Zhang Huai: “…..”
Mystic Sect main force: “……”
Seeing the Mystic Sect main force arrive, Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin knew the tide had turned.
Not daring to linger, they immediately turned their horses and fled into the mountains.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Xiao Lingshu shook the Sanqing Bell, arrogantly leading hundreds of zombie poultry in hot pursuit.
“Young friend, don’t chase them!”
Zhang Huai quickly cast a hand seal, blocking him.
“Eh? But we couldn’t beat them before, and now we’ve got so many peopleāwhy aren’t we going after them?” Xiao Lingshu protested.
“Don’t let that old geezer get away again…”
“They won’t escape.” Zhang Huai turned to Zhong Ziqing.
“Are there any of our Daoist friends in those mountains?”
After getting a negative reply, Zhang Huai sent another signal to the rear.
The next second, something trailing a fiery tail streaked across the sky, falling into the open mountain gate ahead.
“Boom!”
A deafening blast shook the earth.
Xiao Lingshu: ?
Xiao Lingshu’s eyes widened.
“What was that…?”
Zhang Huai replied, “The Special Police brought some weapons. I think it was a missile or something.”
Xiao Lingshu: “…..”
‘…Whoa!’
The official forces really know how to handle thingsāwho could possibly stand against that?
Xiao Lingshu felt a chill.
“Daoist Master, the mountain isn’t that bigāyou guys aren’t calling in a Dongfeng, are you?”
Zhang Huai waved his hand.
“How could a humble Daoist compare to Kongming…”
Xiao Lingshu: “No, I mean that Dongfeng…”
Zhang Huai broke out in a cold sweat.
“No, no, it’s just a fraudsterāwe don’t need a National Treasure for that.”
After a few more rounds from the Special Police, Ouyang Jue’s old lair was reduced to rubble.
Seeing it was done, they waved to Zhang Huai.
“Daoist Master, it’s your turn.”
“May fortune and longevity be with you.” Zhang Huai cupped his hands, exchanged some quick info with Yin Cong and the others, and said, “Fellow Daoists, go!”
The Mystic Sect elites surged forward, forming an array and casting spells, surrounding the entire tomb, ready to trap Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin like turtles in a jar.
Ouyang Jue, seeing the situation turn desperate, frantically activated the Imperial Seal, sending the Bingma Yong charging everywhere, but no matter how he struggled, it was just the last stand of a trapped beast.
Yan Jing breathed a sigh of relief.
With the Mystic Sect holding the front, he finally found a gap to retreat to his girlfriend’s side, asking with concern, “Pengpeng, are you…?”
Raising thousands of Zombie Meat at once was no easy feat.
Even with Shi Pengpeng’s robust spiritual veins, the drain was considerable.
“I’m okay…” Shi Pengpeng had just spoken when she suddenly sensed a surge of abnormal Yin Energy.
Almost instinctively, she hugged Yan Jing tightly.
“Carefulā!”
Her vision spun, and a Mudstone Warhorse appeared out of nowhere, like a ghost, charging straight at them.
To be precise, it was aiming at Yan Jing, but since Shi Pengpeng was holding him, she was caught in the impact as well.
Everyone around saw this strange scene and shouted in alarm.
“Watch out!”
Their voices were faint, and vanished in an instant.
The Ghost Warhorse, trailing a gust of Yin Wind, passed through both of them.
It felt as though they were carried by the warhorse, wind howling in their ears, galloping through a misty haze.
It was the Thousand Mile Stone’s teleportation spell!
Shi Pengpeng was about to draw a talisman, but in just a moment, the Yin Wind vanished, the mist cleared, and their vision returned.
The two of them looked around and realized they were standing inside a massive Stone Palace.
Or rather, inside a tomb.
The hill outside had just been blasted flat by the Special Police, but here, there wasn’t a scratchāclearly this place was dug deep, with protective spells.
No wonder it had never been discovered after all these years.
This stone palace was much like the Benan Ling Palace in Biannan, built into the mountain, its walls hung with vividly colored paper effigies, pavilions, carved beams, and painted rafters.
Both side walls were lined with Eternal Lamps, illuminating the entire burial chamber.
At the very center of the chamber was a black Lianhua Stone Altar.
Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin were standing atop it, staring at them from afar.
Ouyang Jue’s body was even more decayed, his wrinkled old skin was like a wall left in disrepair for yearsāmoving even slightly caused pieces to flake off.
His eyeballs were clouded, and at some point, maggots had begun to breed inside the sockets, writhing as they gnawed at the viscous corpse fluids.
Yet the last glimmer of sanity in his pupils was only growing more deranged.
“Yan Jing, you still ended up in my hands.” Ouyang Jue stared at Yan Jing with a ravenous hunger, bursting into wild laughter.
Yan Jing’s face was calm, his voice indifferent.
“So what?”
“Heh, you’ll find out soon enough.” Ouyang Jue waved his hand, and a wave of Yin Energy swept out.
The paper effigies hanging on the walls burst into flame without any fire, instantly turning to ash and revealing the walls behind.
Shi Pengpeng’s pupils contracted slightly.
“Corpse Dissolution Immortality Technique!”
On those walls, strange runes drawn in fresh blood covered every inch.
The runes were ancient and bloodyāa wicked ritual for Corpse Dissolution Immortality.
This burial chamber was, in fact, a massive Corpse Dissolution Formation.
Not only that, but the formation faintly resonated with the Lianhua Stone Altar beneath Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin.
That black altar was emitting a faint halo.
The Thousand Mile Stone.
It was a complete slab of Thousand Mile Stone.
Back on Longevity Island, just a tiny piece of Thousand Mile Stone had been enough to abduct Yan Jing from West Luo to Biannan.
Later, that piece was shattered by the Evil God, and Shi Pengpeng had thought there was no more Thousand Mile Stone left in the world.
Who would have thought that tiny piece had only been cut from a giant boulder?
The original Thousand Mile Stone had been here all along.
A complete Thousand Mile Stone, a sinister Corpse Dissolution Formation, the Zigan Sword, the Imperial Seal…
And, the Unwithering Bone that Ouyang Jue and Xu Qin had searched so long to find.
At this moment, Shi Pengpeng finally saw through their ultimate scheme.
“Run Yin Yang!”
Ouyang Jue had committed countless sins and was rejected by heaven and earthāneither the living world nor the underworld would let him go.
So, he not only sought immortality, but to vanish from both the Yin and Yang realms.
The disturbances among West Luo’s Yin spirits had not only distracted the Mystic Sect, making it easier for them to build the tomb and set up the formation, but also served to lure out the Unwithering Bone.
Ouyang Jue must have long ago suspected the existence of the Unwithering Bone, but couldn’t pinpoint its location, so he stirred up so much trouble in West Luo.
The Yin Spirit led the way, and finally found Yan Jing.
Ouyang Jue intended to use the Corpse Dissolution Immortality Art to discard his mortal body and possess the Unwithering Bone, so he could move freely between Yin and Yang, escaping the control of both realms.
Neither living nor deadāhe would become undying.
No, it was more than that.
If it was just about possession, there was no need for the Thousand Mile Stone…
“Hahahahaha!” Ouyang Jue raised the Imperial Seal and laughed madly.
“Shi Pengpeng, Yan Jing, what use are those few thousand Bingma Yong outside to you? Once I obtain the Unwithering Bone, I can unleash the true power of the Imperial Seal, enter the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, inherit the will of Qin Shi Huang, and revive the legendary army that once unified the world. Then, I shall shatter the void and become the master of both Yin and Yang. What can the living do to me? What can the dead do?”
This mortal tomb, and those clay soldiers fed on resentful blood, were just a small rehearsal for his inheritance of the great mandate.
Ouyang Jue’s true ambition had always been the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum outside Changan, thousands of km away.
Ouyang Jue not only sought immortality and escape from Yin and Yang, but also to continue his boundless power.
“I think you’ve eaten too much Crazy Thursday and started hallucinating. You think you can compare to the First Emperor?” Shi Pengpeng summoned a talisman soldier, her tone light.
“Try beating me first.”
“Very well, Shi Pengpeng. Once I possess the Human Sovereign Power, you will be the first I sacrifice to Heaven.” Ouyang Jue shouted fiercely, slamming the Imperial Seal down.
Heaven’s Mandate, Longevity and Prosperity.
The Eight Seal Characters burst forth in blazing red light, stirring the forces of Yin and Yang.
The blood runes on the stone palace walls began to flow.
The Stone Palace instantly became a giant vortex, a malignant power surging toward the Unwithering Bone at its center.
The force was overwhelming.
Shi Pengpeng’s face changed, and she immediately gripped Yan Jing’s hand.
Her palm was pressed gently.
Shi Pengpeng was startled and turned to see Yan Jing, his face pale, shaking his head softly.
“Wait…”
“Ge…” Shi Pengpeng frowned, thinking Yan Jing was afraid she couldn’t beat Ouyang Jue.
But that thought lasted only a moment before she dismissed it.
No one believed in her strength more than Yan Jing, and he would never try to act strong in front of her.
Sure enough, Yan Jing continued, “Don’t forget, I have a family skill passed down for generations…”
Shi Pengpeng: ?
She was stunned for a second, then suddenly understood, and made her decision at once.
“Alright, this time, I’ll listen to you.”
With that, she really did stop casting spells.
Seeing the two give up struggling, Ouyang Jue’s laughter grew even more wild.
“Hahahahaha, Yan Jing, at least you know your place. Surrender quietly andā”
Yan Jing’s face was like Misty Eyes, but his expression was as disdainful as ever.
“You’d better be careful of your own Imperial Preceptor.”
Ouyang Jue: “What do youā”
He never finished his sentence, because the jade seal in his hand suddenly made a cracking sound.
It split open.
Ouyang Jue’s laughter froze, his eyes wide in disbelief.
“What happened? How could this…?”
“Hehā” Yan Jing looked at him coldly.
“Because, of course, the Imperial Seal is a fake.”
Back in the mountain hollow, it had been too dark and too far away; they’d only seen the rough outline of the jade seal.
Only now, under the bright light of the Eternal Lamps, could they see the seal’s true appearance.
And Yan Jing’s family had been in the antiques business for generations.
He’d grown up attending Auction Houses with his family, and his eye for appraisal was among the best in the business.
“This Imperial Seal,” Yan Jing announced his verdict, “is fake.”
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