Perhaps it was because he had lost all vital signs—
The man leaning against the wall was deathly pale.
His features were delicate, yet not at all feminine.
His facial structure was sharp and defined, and even with his eyes shut, he gave off an unmistakable aura of being difficult to approach.
Zhang Xianyu was observing the man’s face when her gaze fell to his pronounced Adam’s apple.
Subconsciously, her eyes drifted lower.
When she caught sight of a certain raised area, her doubts eased.
Though their facial features were somewhat similar, their auras were completely different.
Besides, one was male and the other female.
With over a billion people in the country, it’s not rare to find someone with a similar face.
Zhang Xianyu laughed at herself for having an overactive imagination.
She picked up Wang Yi and continued deeper inside.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the conflict, Lin Wushui was in a precarious situation.
He and Xie Dingxin had reached the core area of the Corpse Breeding Ground.
It was a massive natural stone pit, filled with thick red liquid in which countless corpses were soaking.
These corpses weren’t dead—they were thrown into the pit and left to devour one another like a vat of poisonous bugs, using the accumulated corpses of the grounds as nutrients, producing all sorts of monsters.
The monsters and ghostly figures on the outermost edges of the bunker were likely discarded defects from the breeding pit.
Their strength was average, and their intelligence low.
They had only two instincts left: devouring and submission to the center zone.
From this brutal process of mutual devouring emerged the Corpse Kings—the dominant creatures at the heart of the breeding ground.
The closer to the center, the thicker the red moss, and the more red liquid it secreted.
Though disgusting and toxic to humans, the liquid was a great tonic to these creatures.
This was all Xie Dingxin’s deduction based on the information they’d gathered.
Before arriving, they knew there were several Corpse Kings, but in actual battle, they discovered the number was far greater than anticipated.
No wonder these creatures had suddenly tried to break the seal and escape.
The corpses in the pit were no longer enough to satisfy the ever-growing appetites of the Corpse Kings.
To gain an edge in battle, Lin Wushui had already voluntarily separated from his physical body.
Now, he resembled a dense black mist, free from all physical restraints and fully at ease in his soul form.
Surrounding him on all four sides were four terrifying Corpse Kings.
Their forms were grotesque and unnatural—some born from corpses devouring one another, others from vengeful spirits consuming each other.
Despite differing origins, all shared the same disturbing and revolting appearance.
The black mist in the center writhed like a predator, picking its weakest target among the four.
It lunged and enveloped one of the Corpse Kings—a red slime-covered creature with two heads and four arms.
Enraged by the attack, it howled and split four huge gashes across its featureless heads.
Using both hands and mouths, it began frantically devouring Lin Wushui’s black mist form.
These creatures were both predators and prey to the mist.
After all, they had all clawed their way up through repeated battles of mutual consumption.
The remaining three Corpse Kings roared and leapt in, trying to tear the black mist apart together.
Xie Dingxin skewered a charging ghost with his sword, panting as he glanced over at Lin Wushui’s battlefield.
Since finding the corpse pit, the fighting had never stopped.
At the start, they had killed five Corpse Kings together, but the breeding ground’s nourishment was ridiculously potent—six more had appeared almost instantly.
They had managed to kill two, but the remaining four were more cunning.
After letting out a strange cry, countless monsters began flooding in through the surrounding tunnels.
The two were forced to split up.
Lin Wushui took on the four Corpse Kings; Xie Dingxin was left to fend off the endless wave of minions.
“Hurry up! I can’t hold on much longer!”
Xie Dingxin shouted, his coin-sword flashing through the air like a raging storm.
But these monsters and ghosts were endless.
No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t withstand such relentless waves forever.
He was distracted for a second and a monster tore a chunk of flesh from his back.
The yellow-brown slime began to corrode his skin.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Xie Dingxin bit his finger and smeared his blood on the coin-sword, growling,
“Screw it! Let’s die together!”
As the blood touched the sword, a faint red glow enveloped it.
“Wuyang draws iron! From the South, the Red Phoenix’s blood. The true light rises like the sun, earthfire ignites in the southern realm. Thunderfire erupts from the mountain—burn away all evil!”
At the end of the chant, the coin-sword gleamed blood-red.
Xie Dingxin stabbed it fiercely into the ground and gritted out: “Separation! Flame! Extermination! Evil!”
Instantly, white mist burst from the air. In the once-cold cavern, the temperature soared.
The red moss on the ground shriveled as if seared by true flames, leaving only scorched roots behind.
The oncoming monsters instinctively tried to flee, but under the Corpse Kings’ command, they had no choice but to keep charging at Xie Dingxin.
Having unleashed a massive area-of-effect attack, he no longer had the strength to dodge.
Gripping his coin-sword tightly, he channeled the last of his energy into it—
The power of the coin sword surged into the ground, and the ghosts charging toward Xie Dingxin were incinerated into ash by the underground “Li Fire”—but immediately, more monsters filled their place.
Like ants crossing a river, these low-level ghosts used their corpses to pile up a path.
Xie Dingxin stared grimly at the monsters in front of him.
The wound on his back had burst open again, and blood soaked his clothes.
He was completely exhausted, barely able to remain upright by leaning on the coin sword stabbed into the ground.
Just moments ago, a half-melted creature had nearly lunged at him and bitten off his head.
He glanced upward—
Lin Wushui had already devoured two of the Corpse Kings, but he was injured as well.
The humanoid form formed from black mist had lost one of its forearms.
“Looks like I’m really going to die here today,”
Xie Dingxin muttered, licking his cracked lips and letting out a self-deprecating laugh.
He knew that if he pushed any further, this ultimate move would completely drain him.
“You hurry up! If you’re fast enough, maybe I’ll have a whole body left!” he shouted toward Lin Wushui above.
Xie Dingxin gritted his teeth, thinking—even if he was going to die, he would drag a few more down with him!
Just as he was about to make one last effort, a pair of cold hands suddenly rested on his shoulders, stopping his movement.
“Take a break—I’ll handle it,” someone said.
Xie Dingxin paused and turned around in shock to see Zhang Xianyu dragging a girl with him.
Zhang Xianyu dropped Wang Yi on the ground and immediately fed her the last five golden talismans in one go.
Then, he stepped in front of Xie Dingxin.
Xie Dingxin recognized him and was surprised, even slightly moved.
“There are too many of them—you won’t be able to handle it alone. While I can still hold out, hurry up and get out of here.”
“It’s fine. I’ve got this.”
Zhang Xianyu didn’t say much.
He pulled all the talismans from his pockets, then hesitated and asked uncertainly,
“If I accidentally blow this place up, will anyone come dig us out?”
Xie Dingxin stared, dumbfounded, at the thick stack of talismans in his hands.
What was he seeing?!
A.
Whole.
Stack.
Of.
Talismans!
In this era of spiritual decline, with techniques dying out and talent scarce, someone could actually afford to whip out a pile of talismans like that?!
Xie Dingxin’s eyes lit up.
His weary heart began to thump wildly again.
“There are people guarding outside.”
“…”
With that reassurance, Zhang Xianyu relaxed.
Holding the stack of talismans, he stood at the front like a one-man army guarding a narrow pass——and began to furiously fling talismans.
There was no way out behind them, and the monsters continued to pour in from the front tunnel.
The space was cramped, and the monsters were packed together.
One Five Thunder Talisman could blow up a whole group.
Xie Dingxin stood in the back, slack-jawed and heartbroken.
Five Thunder Talismans!
Wuyang Talismans!
Exorcism Thunder Talismans!!
All of them were lost talismans, priceless and irreplaceable!
Yet Zhang Xianyu was tossing them like confetti to blow up mobs!
Xie Dingxin shut his eyes and felt short of breath.
Just as Zhang Xianyu was bombarding the enemy with talismans, above him, Lin Wushui finally devoured the last Corpse King.
The ink-like black mist rippled, and his missing arm regrew thanks to the nourishment.
He had already noticed Zhang Xianyu below and felt both nervous and pleased—nervous that Zhang might recognize him, pleased because of course the person he had chosen was strong.
Very strong.
The black mist drifted cautiously closer to Zhang Xianyu, hoping to touch him.
Alert, Zhang Xianyu instantly turned his head and slapped a Five Thunder Talisman at him without hesitation.
Lin Wushui narrowly dodged and protested in great indignation,
“Why are you bombing me?!”
Zhang Xianyu: ???
He stared blankly at the black mist in front of him.
Who are you?
Do we know each other?
You’re just a suspicious mass of black fog—clearly a hostile, better to blow you up.
Lin Wushui hadn’t yet realized he’d been classified as an enemy.
Still eager, he tried moving closer to Zhang Xianyu again.
Seeing him in full attack mode only made Lin Wushui like him more.
He really, really wanted to touch him.
Zhang Xianyu narrowed his eyes, a dangerous gleam flashing.
Thankfully, Xie Dingxin glanced between the two and suddenly realized what was going on.
He weakly shouted,
“Stop! He’s an ally!”
Zhang Xianyu paused his hand that was reaching for the purple talismans and casually pulled it back.
The black mist in front of him still felt dangerous—regular yellow talismans probably wouldn’t even work on it.
He had just been thinking of trying out his freshly drawn purple ones.
But since it was an ally…fine.
Zhang Xianyu regretfully resumed bombing the smaller monsters.
Lin Wushui, reminded by Xie Dingxin’s shout, suddenly realized that he was still in his soul form.
After witnessing the talismans’ power firsthand, he gave up on getting too close to Zhang Xianyu and said to Xie Dingxin,
“These Corpse Kings probably aren’t the strongest. I think the real danger hasn’t shown up yet.”
Just as he finished speaking, a baby’s wail echoed through the empty cavern.
The sound was no different from that of a normal infant—sharp and high-pitched.
But with it came a violent quake of the entire bunker.
The horde of ghosts turned to ash in an instant.
Even the half-dead Wang Yi managed to roll over and kneel, her frail body trembling.
Lin Wushui looked toward the corpse pit and said grimly,
“The real threat…is here.”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.