Chapter 843
Extreme Yin Returns to Yang, Flying Zombies Emerge from Their Cage
"Roar--"
The Mao Jiang roared deafeningly, using both hands and feet to charge towards Song Changsheng at top speed, leaving a crater more than a foot deep in the ground with each step.
The distance of several hundred feet was covered in the blink of an eye. With a bend and a stretch of his legs, he unleashed unimaginable power, shooting straight into the sky like an arrow released from a bow.
Without hesitation, Song Changsheng unleashed a sword strike. The sword energy struck the long-haired zombie's arms, sparking a series of sparks. Only a barely perceptible white mark remained where the strike landed.
"What terrifying physical strength! No wonder ancient books record that the body of the long-haired zombie is even harder than that of a spiritual treasure of the same level."
Zombies do not cultivate their souls or magical powers; they only cultivate their physical bodies.
In a sense, zombies are also very typical "body cultivators," and when they cultivate to the extreme, they become the legendary "Ba".
Wherever he went, the land suffered a severe drought, leaving thousands of miles of barren land. Traveling between the realms of Yin and Yang was commonplace for him, and he could shatter the void with the power of his physical body alone.
Unlike other living beings, the advancement of zombies does not attract the attention of the Heavenly Dao, or rather, the existence of "zombies" is outside the established rules of the Heavenly Dao.
In other words, the zombies' strength advancement is very stable and they are not threatened by heavenly tribulations. This is unique among all races in the world.
However, their vitality is extremely tenacious, and unless their physical body is completely pulverized, it is impossible to kill them completely.
Because of this unique nature, zombies pose a far greater threat than any other living being in the world, especially after a zombie horde is formed, which only those with great supernatural powers can control.
"Roar--"
The long-haired zombie emitted a foul stench of decay, and its two sinister fangs gleamed coldly in the night as it fearlessly lunged at Song Changsheng.
On the other side, the black-robed corpse raiser did not choose to join forces with the long-haired zombie to attack Song Changsheng. He knew that no matter how strong the long-haired zombie was, it was still weaker than him. Under such circumstances, even if they joined forces, they would most likely not be a match for Song Changsheng.
Rather than that, we might as well give it our all and fight for it.
He quickly dug through the soil and unearthed the soul-locking bronze coffin that had been buried beneath the collapsed space.
The zombie inside the bronze coffin had calmed down, but the aura emanating from it was now stronger than before, which even made the corpse raiser himself feel a little uneasy.
Without a doubt, this was the most powerful zombie he had ever raised in his life, but it was also the zombie he had the least confidence in controlling.
Things didn't go as he expected. According to his original plan, he wouldn't have awakened the zombie king in the coffin so quickly. He would have slowly planted a restriction in the body after making sufficient preparations, and then completely take control of it.
Now that the bronze coffin is open, even if it can be controlled, if the zombie goes berserk, even he will probably be the enemy.
This is why he used the Soul-Locking Copper Coffin to imprison it.
But the situation was beyond his control. Faced with the threat of death, he had no choice but to accept that this was the only way he could defeat Song Changsheng.
However, he still needs to make some preparations before that.
He slit his wrist, and the thick blood flowed in a thin stream, precisely into the zombie's mouth through a small hole in the bronze coffin.
"Gudong"
"Gudong..."
The zombie, like a shriveled sponge, frantically devoured the blood of the black-robed corpse raiser.
As a Golden Core cultivator, the power and vitality contained in the blood of the Corpse Raiser were naturally incomparable to those of the previous Purple Mansion cultivators.
Of course, this was also a deliberate result of his intentions; the blood was only used to maintain the life force within the zombie's body so that it would not be cut off, thus achieving his purpose.
If too much is injected at once, the zombie's power and vitality will be fully restored, and the Soul-Locking Copper Coffin will be unable to suppress it.
Inside the bronze coffin, the zombie, its body wreathed in deathly aura, greedily devoured the blood of the corpse raiser. In all these years, only this blood truly suited its taste.
As the deathly aura gradually faded, the vitality within his body began to recover. His previously withered skin and blood vessels gradually became fuller with the injection of fresh blood, and the long-lost power returned to his body.
"crash"
Inside the bronze coffin, the withered eyelids suddenly opened, revealing a pair of scarlet and lively eyes. It tried to raise its arms, but the cramped space restricted its movements.
"boom--"
He rammed his arms against the coffin lid, but several chains covered in runes were tightly wrapped around the bronze coffin. The more he struggled, the tighter the chains became, and an invisible force was constantly suppressing him.
He could only express his dissatisfaction through sharp screams.
Suddenly, with a loud crash, the chains wrapped around the bronze coffin fell to the ground.
The zombie king couldn't wait to open the coffin lid. With the obstruction gone, the bright moonlight instantly shone on his face.
The moon belongs to Yin, and the power of the moon's essence is extremely Yin. Absorbing the power of the moon's essence plays a vital role in restoring the vitality and cultivation of zombies.
His body hadn't absorbed the power of the moonlight for countless years, and he quickly became completely absorbed in it, as a terrifying power brewed and revived within him.
Just then, a discordant bell sound rang in his ears, and a string in his mind instantly tightened. The bell sound was like a demonic sound, constantly drilling into his body, as if it were about to form something.
"Evil Lord, heed my command and swiftly slay this fiend!" The black-robed corpse-raising man shook the [Corpse Control Bell] in his hand to imprint a soul mark on the Evil Lord while trying to give him orders.
But he underestimated Xie Kui. After only a moment of confusion and hesitation, Xie Kui went into a frenzy, and the first person he attacked was not Song Changsheng, but him!
The corpse raiser couldn't help but curse, rapidly shaking the [Corpse Control Bell] in his hand and roaring, "You bastard, Evil Lord, heed my command!"
Having made considerable preparations beforehand, Xie Kui had a vague mark forcibly imprinted on his body. Under the "brainwashing" of the [Corpse Control Bell], he gradually began to be controlled by the corpse raiser.
Just then, Zhuang Yuechan, who had been quietly observing for a long time, decisively took action after confirming that the corpse raiser had no other means to control the zombies.
With a gentle wave of her hand, she summoned the last sword talisman Song Changsheng had left her when she decided to descend the mountain to travel. (See Chapter 119 for details)
The sword talisman transformed into a streak of light and shattered in mid-air, unleashing a sharp sword beam that slashed directly at the Corpse Control Bell in the hands of the corpse raiser.
This sword talisman was made by Song Changsheng a long time ago, and it posed a limited threat to Golden Core cultivators. However, the corpse raiser had been severely injured by Song Changsheng earlier, and now all his energy was being diverted by the zombies. He was unable to defend against Zhuang Yuechan's sneak attack, and the [Corpse Control Bell] in his hand was instantly cut in half by that sharp sword light.
The evil lord, whom he had finally managed to control, had his brand shattered when the [Corpse Control Bell] was destroyed.
"Roar--"
The evil lord regained his freedom, his scarlet eyes flashing with ferocity, and before he could say a word, he pounced on the corpse raiser.
"Out of control."
The black-robed corpse raiser was shocked. The situation had completely exceeded his expectations. Without the [Corpse Control Bell], not only had the Evil Lord lost control, but even the long-haired zombie would gradually go out of control.
"Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!"
Seeing Zhuang Yuechan curse three times, the black-robed corpse-raiser gritted his teeth, his black robe billowed behind him, and he transformed into a streak of black light, disappearing at lightning speed.
Seeing this, Song Changsheng was not in a hurry. Instead, he looked at the Jade Cleansing Sword in his hand and said, "Follow him and find his lair."
After saying that, he placed a spatial mark on the Jade Cleansing Sword, allowing it to silently merge into the spatial barrier and follow the black-robed corpse-raising man at a distance.
"It's time for the farce to end."
A cold glint flashed in Song Changsheng's eyes. He transformed his palm into a fist, his arm veins bulging. The [Law of Power] converged, and with a crisp sound, the hairy zombie's right arm bent into a strange arc, and sharp bone fragments pierced out from behind his head.
"bang bang bang"
The punches fell like rain, each punch representing the extreme of the "Law of Power".
The long-haired zombie was unable to withstand the onslaught and was transformed into a giant punching bag, being unilaterally and brutally beaten. Even with his arm shattered and his thigh broken, his extreme thirst for blood and slaughter still drove and dominated his actions.
There is no pain, no fear, and not even fear of life and death.
The most terrifying aspect of zombies is that they are ruthless killing machines, like puppets.
"【Purple Void Divine Fire】"
Song Changsheng opened his mouth and spat out a ball of crimson flames. The flames landed on the long-haired zombie and spread in the blink of an eye. No matter what, the most yang and most powerful method is always the only way to deal with zombies.
Coincidentally, he not only possessed divine fire, but was also proficient in thunder magic.
The greenish corpse gas was ignited by the divine fire, crackling like bamboo joints and accompanied by a foul stench. In less than a quarter of an hour, it was burned down to a skeleton, with black corpse oil dripping down and corroding large holes in the stone.
"That zombie named Xie Kui has also escaped," Zhuang Yuechan said, looking at the distant mountains.
"Although it was awakened prematurely, this creature's intelligence has already fully formed. Its constitution is different from that of this long-haired zombie. Once it absorbs enough yin energy and moonlight, its body will transform into a true extremely yin body, becoming a flying zombie that is rare to see in ten thousand years."
"The flying zombie can tear through space with just its two sharp claws, making it a worthy opponent of a Nascent Soul True Monarch. That corpse raiser is only at the late Golden Core stage, yet he dares to start raising such a powerful zombie. The thinking of the corpse raiser is indeed beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."
"It was also his good fortune that he was able to find a perfectly preserved Nascent Soul True Monarch's body, and this body happened to be buried in a place with abundant Yin energy, causing the corpse to turn into a zombie."
Even Song Changsheng found it hard to believe when he heard this. Throughout history, those who have achieved the position of Nascent Soul True Monarch have all been unparalleled geniuses who have dominated their respective regions.
His extraordinary talent, coupled with the accumulation of numerous rare and precious materials, ultimately led him to the position of True Lord.
It is no exaggeration to say that the body of a Nascent Soul True Monarch is equivalent to that of a fifth-order spiritual plant of the same weight. If not handled properly, being dismembered would be considered treating the senior kindly.
With their wisdom, it's impossible that they didn't consider what would happen after they passed away.
When a true lord passes away after exhausting his lifespan, he will often destroy his own spiritual body, leaving only his nascent soul to complete the final journey of his life.
If one dies in battle, their spirit body is even less likely to be preserved. After all, falling into enemy hands would only lead to a worse fate; it's better to detonate the nascent soul and fight to the death. Therefore, a nascent soul spirit body that can be preserved intact is almost nonexistent, and one that happens to be in a place with abundant yin energy and causes a corpse to turn into a zombie is even rarer.
Song Changsheng had read countless books, but he had only seen scattered records of them in the "Wonderful Canon of Creation," and they were all man-made.
That's why he said the corpse raiser was lucky.
The art of raising corpses is both difficult and simple.
To summarize everything, there are only three points.
The spirit body, the spirit body, still the spirit body.
A good spiritual body is better than any secret method of raising a corpse.
The Evil Demon is a typical example of this.
In his previous life, he was a Nascent Soul True Monarch. Even without any treasures to nurture him, by slowly absorbing Yin energy, he would eventually advance to the Flying Zombie realm. The methods used by the corpse raisers are merely to accelerate this process and satisfy their own selfish desires.
Whether it's controlling beasts or puppets, the master's cultivation level must be stronger than the spirit beast's, or at the very least, equal. Because the servant is stronger than the master, the most likely outcome is that the servant will turn against the master.
Therefore, very few people would do this.
However, the thought process of the zombie-raising group is particularly novel. They don't think that way. In their view, zombies are the henchmen of slaughter, and the stronger they are, the better. They look down on those who are too weak.
This is also the main reason why the black-robed corpse raiser, even though he already had a fourth-tier long-haired zombie, still wanted to raise a zombie king.
Even the weakest zombie raiser harbors a dream of commanding the zombie king.
Under such circumstances, being a corpse breeder is undoubtedly a high-risk profession. Throughout history, countless corpse breeders have died under the sharp teeth of the zombies they carefully cultivated.
If this evil spirit hadn't been released from its coffin prematurely, before its power had fully recovered, the heavily injured body of the black-robed corpse-raiser would certainly not have been a match for it.
"These things are reminding me of some of the past events of True Monarch Yu Shu," Zhuang Yuechan said softly.
Upon hearing this, Song Changsheng raised an eyebrow and said, "Could it be the method of restoring yang from extreme yin?"
Zhuang Yuechan nodded slightly and said, "That's right, the current situation is exactly the same."
When Yu Shu Zhenjun failed her tribulation and was on the verge of death, she calculated that her time was running out. Because she was unwilling to accept this, she began to prepare a method to "bring the dead back to life".
She ultimately chose the method of "deceiving the heavens and crossing the sea".
This involves feigning death by dissolving one's physical body, using the "Rebirth Array" to conceal the secrets of heaven and hide one's nascent soul, and then seizing the opportunity to possess another's body and usurp its place.
Her plan was just a hair's breadth away from success, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and the "Creation Manual" ruined everything.
Clearly, the success rate of this plan is extremely high.
This was not actually the original plan of Jade Dew True Monarch.
The method she initially chose was the "extreme yin to yang method" mentioned by Song Changsheng. This method was much simpler to operate. It involved burying one's body in an extremely yin place, waiting for it to turn into a zombie and give birth to a new consciousness, and then possessing it again, turning one from a human into a "zombie" and achieving "rebirth" in an alternative way.
Zombies are not within the rules of the Heavenly Dao, but they are heretics among heretics. No normal human cultivator could live in such a form for long.
Therefore, another secret method is needed: after fully cultivating an extremely yin body, one must find an even more powerful extremely yang place to wash away one's yin energy, transform yin into yang, and truly live out a second life.
This method is extremely risky, but the rewards are proportional. As long as you find the right method, the zombie body can advance very quickly, allowing you to return to your peak in the shortest amount of time.
However, to use this method, several key issues need to be addressed first.
The most pressing issue is the preservation of the spirit body, because the process of corpse transformation is very long, often taking thousands or even tens of thousands of years. If one is not careful, one may end up like the evil lord, having benefited others.
Even if the spirit body undergoes a transformation after absorbing Yin energy, a completely new consciousness will be born within it. Driven by instinct, it will leave its birthplace to feed on fresh blood.
This is the most vulnerable and easily destroyed stage.
Therefore, anyone who dares to use this method must have a dedicated guardian to look after their physical body.
This process can take thousands of years, and even a Nascent Soul Supreme might not be able to endure it. It requires at least several generations to take over, and if anything goes wrong in the middle, it will all be in vain.
In addition to protecting the spirit body, one must also preserve one's true spirit using secret methods, and a wisp of remnant soul must be placed above the true spirit, which is the only guarantee to regain the spirit body.
Throughout her life, Yu Shu Zhenjun never truly trusted anyone. Growing up in an extreme environment, the people who died the fastest were those "closest to her".
In the final moments of her life, she even suppressed the spirit of the Jade Cleansing Sword.
A true loner!
She was unwilling to entrust her spirit to anyone, so she had no choice but to choose the second path.
The evil lord who has escaped is, without a doubt, a special product of this background.
"If he really achieves the Flying Zombie Realm, not only will this Chaotic Ancient Domain be in turmoil, but even the surrounding cultivation worlds will never be able to live a peaceful life again," Zhuang Yuechan said softly.
Actually, what she said was a conservative estimate. The danger of a flying zombie is far greater than that of the demonic Nascent Soul True Monarch who previously attacked Hundred Cauldrons Pavilion.
If the danger of a Nascent Soul True Monarch in the Demonic Path is ten times that of an ordinary cultivator, then the danger of the Evil Lord is ten times that of a Nascent Soul in the Demonic Path. It would only take a few days for him to form a zombie horde.
Song Changsheng stretched lazily and said, "After all, we caused this mess, so it's not good to let others clean it up for us."
In addition, I am somewhat curious about the identity of this True Lord. The fact that he dared to use such a secret technique indicates that he must have possessed at least one extremely yang place during his lifetime.
If I could utilize the land of extreme Yang, my mastery of the Yin-Yang Laws would undoubtedly reach a new level.
"So you mean we should deal with the zombie first?"
"The corpse raiser is seriously injured and will need at least half a month to recover. With the Jade Cleansing Sword with him, he shouldn't get lost. But if this zombie gets lost, then it's really lost."
After saying this, Song Changsheng waved his sleeve and put away the empty Soul-Locking Coffin on the ground.
This Soul-Locking Copper Coffin is also a rare treasure, and in some ways, its value even surpasses that of the Yin Pearl.
As is well known, when a cultivator reaches the end of their lifespan, the first thing to decay is the physical body, followed by the soul. When the soul completely dissipates, the true spirit will enter the Netherworld and wait for a new cycle of reincarnation.
The greatest function of this coffin is to slow down the decay of the physical body and soul, which is equivalent to extending lifespan in a roundabout way, similar to the "Heavenly Cold Pool" that the Song family spent a lot of money to build.
The only difference is that this coffin had no cost, although it looks somewhat ominous.
"Let's go meet him."
Reaching out from the bronze coffin, he "grasped" a wisp of corpse energy left behind by the evil lord, and used a tracing spell to pinpoint a vague direction.
"Such speed." Song Changsheng raised his eyebrows slightly. In just a quarter of an hour, the other party was already tens of thousands of miles away, and their whereabouts were very elusive, obviously deliberately hiding their location.
The intelligence of the other party was somewhat beyond Song Changsheng's expectations, even though at the beginning he acted no different from an ordinary zombie.
In retrospect, it was nothing more than a disguise on the other side.
"A fierce battle is inevitable on this journey. Why don't you go back into the city and wait for me?"
"Please go ahead, my lord. I will wait for you at the inn."
Zhuang Yuechan knew that her current cultivation level would only distract Song Changsheng, so she might as well stay at the inn and wait.
Song Changsheng took out a jade tablet, squeezed out a drop of blood from his fingertip, and drew a strange pattern on the surface of the jade tablet.
"Edict!"
With a sudden slam of his fingertips, the pattern drawn in blood was completely absorbed into the jade pendant.
"This jade tablet contains a trace of my Daoist principles, enough to unleash my full power. Keep it for self-defense. If anything unusual happens, remember to escape as soon as possible. I have a way to find you."
Having learned from his previous experience, he left a law mark on Zhuang Yuechan, allowing them to clearly sense each other's location no matter how far apart they were.
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself."
Song Changsheng watched Zhuang Yuechan return to the city of rogue cultivators before following the direction indicated by the corpse energy to pursue the evil lord.
Shortly after he left, a streak of light flew in from afar.
The fight between Song Changsheng and the corpse raiser caused quite a stir, alerting almost all the cultivators in the city, but only a handful dared to come and investigate.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man with a pale face and a pair of eyes that reflected an eerie light. He wore a long robe that covered his skin, especially his hands, completely. He looked at the chaotic battlefield below and couldn't help but feel a jolt in his heart.
"They've all disappeared. It seems a powerful figure passed through this area... cough cough cough... I wonder which sect they belong to. If I ask for their help, I wonder if they can solve my problem... cough cough cough..."
The middle-aged man waited there until dawn, but the person he wanted to see never came. Helpless, he could only drag his tired body back into the city.
Beneath that long robe, his body was undergoing a tremendous transformation...
P.S.: I had too much fun yesterday and failed my daily 10,000-word challenge. I should have kept it simple, but I'm only one in a million, so I'll punish myself by writing more than I should. I'll never talk big again.
I'll update 6,000 words today, not counting towards the bonus chapter for monthly tickets. I'll add more tomorrow~ (End of this chapter)