Chapter 496

In the altar, terrifying corpse qi filled the air.

The former Lu family ancestor had now been refined into a "Corpse King."

Its eyeballs were pitch black, with pupils tinged a faint blood-red, and within that red, a sliver of dark gold—utterly unlike other zombies.

Thick corpse qi clung to the Corpse King like viscous gray-black blood, coiling around its body.

Its body suddenly swelled; the withered corpse flesh hardened with veins, growing muscular and towering over nine chi tall.

The Corpse King radiated rampant demonic power, its aura cold and terrifying—a brutal savagery beneath icy indifference, and a fearsome majesty.

Zhang Quan's eyes glowed with obsession as he murmured:

"Good! Good!"

"No wonder it's the Corpse King!"

"No wonder it's the Corpse King who commands ten thousand zombies—this corpse qi, this majesty, truly is extraordinary!"

"I, Zhang Quan, have not disappointed the expectations of my Ancestor, nor betrayed the blood of the Zhang family—I have finally refined the ultimate Corpse King of the Zhang family's Corpse Dao!"

Zhang Quan fell to his knees with a thud and bowed his head several times toward an empty patch of ground.

"Ancestor, your descendant Zhang Quan has brought glory to our lineage!"

After bowing, Zhang Quan rose, drew a deep breath, then pulled forth the black corpse-controlling bell—neither stone nor wood, neither copper nor iron—and shook it to command the Corpse King.

As the bell rang, the Corpse King's gaze shifted, as if it had come alive.

Simultaneously, the iron coffins of the Ten Thousand Corpses Array began to tremble.

Coffin lids flew open; iron-blue hands reached out, and one by one, iron corpses rose from their coffins under the Corpse King's command, bowing to the Corpse King, then bowing to Zhang Quan.

Zhang Quan was overjoyed!

He could feel that through commanding the Corpse King, he could now control all twenty-plus iron corpses at once!

Twenty-plus iron corpses!

That meant over twenty Foundation Establishment combatants, under his command.

And this was only the beginning—there would be more in the future!

As long as he directed the iron corpses to swarm and kill Foundation Establishment cultivators, then refine their corpses into new iron corpses, and use those to kill more Foundation Establishment cultivators…

Repeating this cycle, his army of iron corpses would grow ever larger.

Without the Corpse King, he could control at most one or two iron corpses at a time.

But with the Corpse King, he could control even a hundred iron corpses simultaneously.

Thus, he now possessed a fully obedient army—a demonic "Corpse Army" rivaling a second-grade Dao Troop!

In a second-grade prefecture, this Corpse Army could sweep all before it, invincible!

For a moment, Zhang Quan's heart bloomed with joy.

But as Zhang Quan drowned in his fantasy, he failed to notice that behind him, one iron corpse's stiff eyes rolled slightly, its gaze faintly green, slowly turning to stare at him.

The iron corpse opened its mouth, revealing iron-blue fangs.

It moved soundlessly to Zhang Quan's back, opened its bloody maw—fangs sharp and foul, dripping with emerald-green corpse poison—and bit down hard on his neck!

Cold winds howled—danger approached!

Zhang Quan jolted awake, sensing a chilling frost at his back—as if something stood behind him, its stench breathing onto his nape, raising every hair on his body.

In his peripheral vision: a grotesque iron-blue corpse face, and a pair of venomous fangs!

Zhang Quan was terrified—he twisted his body sideways.

But it was too late; he barely avoided the vital spot, yet his right shoulder was slashed by the iron corpse's fangs, leaving two bloody gashes—his clothes torn, soaked in blood.

Cold, unnatural corpse poison seeped into his wound, spreading through his blood.

Zhang Quan felt a subhuman, bloodthirsty consciousness slowly seizing his mind.

Iron corpse poison!

Zhang Quan's heart pounded—he staggered back several zhang, pulled out a vial of pills, and swallowed them, temporarily suppressing the poison.

With the poison suppressed, Zhang Quan exhaled slightly, then his gaze turned icy as he fixed it on the iron corpse.

This iron corpse tried to kill him?!

But to his surprise, the iron corpse bit him once, then fell utterly still—motionless.

Zhang Quan frowned. "What's going on?"

He approached cautiously, wary.

He found no other anomalies—only the fangs, stained with his blood.

Zhang Quan tried to command it.

The iron corpse moved precisely as he willed—no sign of loss of control.

Zhang Quan frowned.

Just as he puzzled over this, without warning, another iron corpse's eyes rolled, its pupils shifting, fangs bared, and lunged at him.

This time Zhang Quan was slightly prepared—he rolled backward, barely dodging.

Yet this iron corpse, too, attacked once, then froze—pupils gray-white, motionless.

Zhang Quan's face darkened, his mind racing.

"How is this possible?"

Intermittent loss of control?

Was the Corpse King poorly refined—or was his corpse control flawed?

Was it because there were too many iron corpses, and he couldn't manage them all at once, causing them to reanimate?

Zhang Quan was bewildered and uneasy.

But before he could think further, another iron corpse suddenly surged up from behind him and attacked.

This time, it wasn't one corpse, but two—each attack halted after a single strike, and moments later, the ambush corpses gradually increased to three…

Zhang Quan was overwhelmed, his body now covered with more and more zombie bites…

Yet he remained utterly confused, having no idea what was happening.

Lu Chengyun, hidden in the shadows, controlling the iron corpses, gave a cold, sinister smile.

Mo Hua, who had seen everything, silently cursed Zhang Quan as an idiot.

Lu Chengyun is playing with you—how could your head be so dense? Can't you figure out such a simple thing?

Only when Zhang Quan was battered and bruised by Lu Chengyun's manipulation did he finally realize.

Someone is controlling these iron corpses!

The iron corpses are controlled by the Corpse King.

And in this corpse mine, who could control the Corpse King?

Zhang Quan gritted his teeth and shouted: "Lu Chengyun!"

"You fucking—"

"Come out from hiding, you coward!"

With no more room to hide, Lu Chengyun slowly stepped out from behind the altar.

Zhang Quan froze, then spat out bitterly:

"It really is you!"

Lu Chengyun spoke gently: "Brother Zhang, I treated you with sincerity, yet I never expected you would deceive me, plotting to steal my Corpse King and ruin my grand plan?"

Zhang Quan's expression twisted with shock and suspicion; he frowned and asked:

"When exactly did you find out?"

Lu Chengyun smiled without answering, instead saying calmly:

"Now that things have come to this, does it even matter anymore?"

Zhang Quan's eyelid twitched.

Indeed, at this point, the mask was gone—their faces were torn apart, and it was now a fight to the death. Knowing this now meant nothing.

Zhang Quan sneered:

"When did this Corpse King ever belong to you? It was forged using my Zhang family's bronze coffin and our Zhang family's corpse-cultivation method—it rightfully belongs to my Zhang family!"

Lu Chengyun shook his head: "Brother Zhang, you're mistaken. The Corpse King's body is that of my Lu family's ancestral patriarch."

Zhang Quan scoffed: "What do you mean 'your Lu family'? You're nothing but a son-in-law, climbing up through your wife's influence, groveling for power—what do you have to do with the Lu family?"

These words struck a nerve in Lu Chengyun.

His eyelid twitched slightly; his smile grew even more sinister. After a moment of silence, he sighed:

"Brother Zhang, I've known you had divided loyalties all along…"

"I told you—everyone has divided loyalties. I don't blame you."

"But you should never, never have laid hands on this Corpse King."

"This Corpse King is not something a man of your meager caliber can control!"

Zhang Quan, enraged, laughed bitterly: "You? A petty, scheming coward obsessed with fame and profit, with a spine as weak as dirt, hoarding spirit stones and bribing everyone you meet—what caliber do you even have?"

Lu Chengyun's face twisted; he drew a slender sword in one swift motion, its blade flashing toward Zhang Quan's face.

Zhang Quan spat a curse, swallowed a Corpse Blood Pill, and instantly transformed—his flesh turned iron-blue, his eyes blazing crimson—as he clashed with Lu Chengyun.

In an instant, swordlight flared everywhere, and corpse qi surged wildly.

The surrounding coffins were shattered into fine debris by sword waves and fist blasts.

Mo Hua glanced afar and saw that the coffin of the small zombie he controlled was far away, safe from the battle's reach. He exhaled softly, then resumed watching.

These two had long harbored grudges, but both had concealed them—now, the old hatred erupted, and neither held back.

Yet Zhang Quan, even after taking the pill, was clearly no match for Lu Chengyun—add to that his injuries from the earlier iron corpse ambush, and he was barely holding on.

After fighting for a while, Zhang Quan landed a punch that forced Lu Chengyun back, then turned to seize control of the Corpse King and kill him.

The Corpse King, under his command, narrowed its pupils, the blood-red hue deepening.

But at the same moment, Lu Chengyun stirred his spiritual sense, activating the Spirit Pivot Evil Array to seize control of the Corpse King.

Both controlled it at once.

The Corpse King's pupils flickered between bright and dim, its blood-red hue deepened and faded, its killing intent surged and ebbed—then, after a while, it fell utterly still, like wood or stone.

Mo Hua's thoughts stirred.

It seemed that when both sides' control clashed and neither could overpower the other, the Corpse King refused to side with either.

Seeing they could no longer control the Corpse King, Lu Chengyun and Zhang Quan began using it to command the iron corpses.

Zhang Quan rang his bell; Lu Chengyun manipulated the array.

After a prolonged stalemate, each gained control over a portion of the iron corpses.

Zhang Quan controlled eleven; Lu Chengyun, stronger, controlled thirteen.

Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun resumed their duel.

The iron corpses under their command also began slaughtering each other, plunging the scene into even greater chaos.

Mo Hua climbed higher up the altar, avoiding the battle's fallout.

As he climbed further and looked down again, the situation became clearer.

Zhang Quan's strength was already inferior to Lu Chengyun's, and he controlled two fewer iron corpses—he was clearly losing.

After a fierce battle, Lu Chengyun's robes were torn, but his expression remained calm, his breath steady.

Zhang Quan, by contrast, was a mess—covered in wounds, gasping for air.

Mo Hua shook his head. If this continued, Zhang Quan was finished.

If Zhang Quan falls, Lu Chengyun will dominate, and it will be harder for me to stir up trouble in the chaos.

Should I help Zhang Quan?

Mo Hua blinked, a faint stir in his heart.

Sneakily, make a few small moves…

This would also be a good chance to test whether the Spirit Pivot Array I drew has even taken effect.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up, then he sat cross-legged, held his breath, and quietly sensed.

Thus, during the chaotic battle between Zhang Quan and Lu Chengyun, none noticed another subtle spiritual sense quietly linking to the Corpse King's chest array, silently manipulating the Corpse King—and through the Corpse King, controlling part of the Iron Corpses.

An extra chapter, written before midnight~

Also an extra chapter for Alliance Leader Guoke Liuwang~

Thank you, Great Lord, for the Alliance Leader support~

Because I write slowly, this extra chapter took a long time—sorry about that.

Finally, just between the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, I wish everyone a happy festival~

(End of Chapter)