Chapter 507: Corpse Soldiers

"Zhang family's ancestral spirit's divine sense is so strong—swallowing and refining it should definitely let me break through the bottleneck and reach thirteen-stripe divine sense…"

Mo Hua muttered to himself.

Thirteen-stripe divine sense…

For a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator, the upper limit of divine sense is thirteen stripes.

Once divine sense reaches thirteen stripes, it's just one step away from what my master said is needed for divine sense Foundation Establishment…

Mo Hua felt a flicker of anticipation.

Then he hesitated.

"Eat it now?"

Zhang family's ancestral spirit's lingering soul-fragment is too strong—if I swallow it raw, I'll probably be overwhelmed and need a long time to digest it…

But Mo Hua still didn't know what was happening outside.

He had already spread the news of the corpse mine.

Yet in Nan Yue City, there was no force capable of standing up to the Lu family.

Now Zhang Quan is dead, Lu Chengyun controls the Corpse King alone, and with the Ten Thousand Corpses Revival Array active, he can refine corpses while controlling them—his power will keep growing, and in a second-grade prefecture, no one can stop him…

"A bit troublesome…"

Mo Hua thought for a moment and decided to refine Zhang family's ancestor first.

Meat in your mouth must be eaten early.

Swallowing the Zhang family's ancestor will make me stronger, and even if something goes wrong, I'll have more confidence to fall back on.

Moreover, Zhang family's ancestor was no ordinary force.

Though I blasted him into blue smoke, there's no guarantee he doesn't have some trick to revive and restore his divine sense.

These old bastards are always treacherous.

Actions must be cautious—cut the grass, remove the roots, eliminate every possible threat!

Swallow it whole, leave no residue!

Mo Hua acted immediately, forming a divine sense array to refine the copper corpse's lingering spirit-fragment of Zhang family's ancestor.

To be safe, he first sealed the blue smoke formed by Zhang family's ancestor with the Golden Lock Array, then manifested the Meltfire Array, slowly roasting it with crimson flames.

After roasting for a while, Mo Hua suddenly remembered.

The Zhang family didn't just have an ancestor—they also had those iron corpse elders.

Of the original eleven iron corpses, six were near death, reduced to faint shadows.

The remaining five iron corpses were all crippled in the final war of attrition: four were destroyed by Zhang family's ancestor, and the last one, Zhang family's Grand Elder, was barely clinging to life…

Mo Hua felt a surge of relief.

Zhang family's ancestor had strong divine sense and many tricks.

Thank goodness I was timid…

No—cautious!

I used these iron corpses to draw out Zhang family's ancestor's moves, drain his strength, and take his beatings…

Then I ambushed the old zombie.

Finally, I wore him down until he died.

Otherwise, the outcome might have been uncertain…

Control the iron corpses, turn them to my use, use his own spear against his shield.

"The Ling Shu Array is truly useful!"

Mo Hua marveled.

The iron corpses shouldn't be wasted…

Mo Hua gathered all the iron corpses and tossed them into the Meltfire Array along with Zhang family's ancestor.

From top to bottom—from disciples to ancestors, including all the Liezulie Sect forebears—the Zhang family was boiled together by Mo Hua…

Only when the blue smoke turned to white smoke did Mo Hua swallow it whole, then slowly refine it…

This process took a long time.

From the moment Mo Hua defeated and controlled Zhang Quan and the two elders "Song" and "Si," to setting the ambush, hunting the other Zhang iron corpse elders, to commanding the iron corpses to corner and finally kill Zhang family's ancestor…

Five or six days had passed.

Mo Hua, hidden inside the sealed white coffin, knew nothing.

But outside, the great battle had already erupted…

Foundation Establishment cultivators clashed with iron corpses, shattering mountains and splitting earth.

The mine was ravaged by spells and force—rocks shattered, slopes cratered.

Below Foundation Establishment, the Dao soldiers formed arrays, fighting the corpse tide.

The Dao soldier formations were disciplined, obeying orders without hesitation, striking with ruthless decisiveness; the walking corpses swarmed the land, grotesque and hideous, fearless of death.

The two sides clashed in a grand, brutal slaughter.

Across the Nan Yue City territory, walking corpses littered the ground, thousands surrounding the city.

Nan Yue City's gates were tightly shut; mine cultivators gathered along the walls, defending against incoming walking corpses and cultivators bitten by walking corpses or iron corpses, whose bodies were overrun by corpse poison and turned into mindless undead.

Dark clouds hung heavy over the city walls, a chilling atmosphere pervading.

Everyone was anxious, uncertain whether tomorrow would bring bright sun or torrential rain.

If the Dao Court ultimately triumphs and suppresses the corpse mine, exterminating the zombies, all will be well.

If the Dao Court loses, the surging corpse tide will instantly swallow Nan Yue City whole.

At that time, every cultivator in the city will become food for the zombies.

Some families and sect cultivators in the city, unwilling to perish with the city, sneaked out—but most were ambushed along the way by scattered walking corpses.

During combat, whenever someone was wounded and bled, the scent of blood spread out.

Soon, large swarms of walking corpses arrived, drawn by the scent of blood.

There was even a chance they might attract Iron Corpses.

Once an Iron Corpse appeared, fleeing cultivators had virtually no chance of survival.

Amidst the endless sea of corpses across mountains and fields.

Even Foundation Establishment cultivators could die at the hands of countless Rank-One walking corpses.

During the chaos a few days ago, a Foundation Establishment Dao Soldier commander was wounded by an Iron Corpse, broke away from the Dao Soldier formation, and was swallowed by a tidal wave of walking corpses.

No matter how many walking corpses he killed, more would surge toward him, like a drowning man overwhelmed by a tide of corpses—no matter how he struggled, he could never reach shore, and was torn apart alive by the undead…

Yang Jishan's heart felt as if cut by knives.

These Dao Soldiers were brothers who had shared life and death with him—and he never imagined they would die before his eyes in such a horrific manner.

But he was powerless to stop it.

The zombies were too many, and too strong.

Yang Jishan never expected that despite such thorough preparations, they still suffered such a heavy blow.

Everything had been going smoothly…

Three days ago, they moved at Mao Hour, striking the Lu family with Lei Ting's might.

The Lu family was suppressed.

Although some elders and disciples fought desperately and escaped the city to join Lu Chengyun,

most Lu family members still feared the Dao Court and dared not resist.

The Lu family elders had their cultivation sealed, the disciples imprisoned, and arrays deployed at the gates to prevent anyone from leaving, pending post-event judgment.

Later, when zombies surrounded the city, some Lu family disciples developed rebellious intentions, secretly opening the city gates to let the zombies in so they could defect to Lu Chengyun.

But once the zombies entered, they recognized no kin—the first ones they devoured were the Lu family disciples who had opened the gates.

Later, the Dao Soldiers and mine cultivators, along with cultivators from the local Nan Yue Sect, paid a heavy price to repel the walking corpses and reseal the gates.

Yang Jishan flew into a rage, selected several Lu family disciples and elders who had caused trouble, and executed them all before the eyes of the Lu family cultivators, thereby intimidating the rest.

Since then, the main Lu family had become considerably more subdued.

The problem lay in the Corpse Mine…

The battle at the Corpse Mine proved far more grueling than they had imagined.

At the time, they split into two forces: one to suppress the Lu family, the other to exterminate the Corpse Mine.

The intelligence was sound, the formation diagrams were accurate, they knew the array layout, and breaking the array was straightforward.

Over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators, together with Dao Soldiers, struck together, shattering the stone wall near the Corpse Mine's entrance, breaking the array patterns, shattering the rocks, and causing the natural giant stone gate to collapse and shift, revealing an opening.

The two Iron Corpses at the gate, though powerful, were clearly no match for the combined force.

They then pushed forward relentlessly, all the way to the entrance of Shi Dian.

But Yang Jishan realized the corpse cultivators were fully prepared, awaiting them.

Moreover, within the pitch-black mine shafts, corpse qi filled the air, and countless red dots lit up in dense clusters.

These were the bloodthirsty eyes of the zombies.

This was within Yang Jishan's expectations.

Though it was a surprise attack, direct confrontation was inevitable.

Yang Jishan, born into the Yang family and a Dao Soldier commander, had fought countless battles and naturally did not fear combat.

The Foundation Establishment commander charged ahead, Dao Soldiers formed their formation behind him, other family and sect Foundation Establishment cultivators provided flanking support, and ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators followed to press the assault.

Corpse cultivation techniques were sinister, but in open mass combat, under frontal charges, they were nothing but a rabble, easily shattered.

The zombies they summoned mostly fought independently, unable to match the Dao Soldiers, and could not hold back the Dao Soldiers' charge.

Once a corpse cultivator died, his zombies lost control and turned mindlessly hostile, attacking any cultivator indiscriminately—including other corpse cultivators.

The Dao Soldiers were momentarily unstoppable.

Until Lu Chengyun appeared.

Behind him walked a massive zombie, its fangs long, eyes blazing crimson with faint golden hues.

"Corpse King!"

Cultivators who had heard the rumors of Dao Nie trembled in their hearts.

They had either calculated it, heard whispers, or been secretly warned by their sect or family's cultivators.

This Corpse King was the embryo of Dao Nie!

Though his heart recoiled, Yang Jishan's eyes flashed with cold light.

The embryo of Dao Nie must be crushed in its cradle!

"Kill!"

Yang Jishan waved his hand; Dao Soldiers, clad in armor and wielding weapons, charged forward with unified fury, their armor arrays linked, resonating with each other, coalescing into the spectral image of a ferocious tiger.

Lu Chengyun's expression remained calm; he shook his arms.

The Corpse King's chest markings glowed, and it roared to the heavens, shaking mountains and hills.

Twenty nearby iron coffins trembled violently, their lids flew open, and Iron Corpses leapt out, rigid and upright.

From within the mine shaft, tens of thousands of walking corpses roared in unison, like ten thousand ghosts marching at night, surging forth and sending chills down spines.

Fierce battle erupted.

Cultivators and zombies, blood qi and corpse qi, spells and corpse arts, clashed, resisted, and intertwined…

This was the largest cultivator battle in Xiao Huang Zhou in nearly eight hundred years.

After the fierce battle, the Dao soldiers failed to capture the Corpse Mine and suffered heavy casualties.

Lu Chengyun still held the Corpse Mine, controlled the Corpse King, commanded dozens of Iron Corpses and tens of thousands of Walking Corpses; no matter how fierce the Dao soldiers' assaults, he remained unmoved.

Yang Jishan could not break through, and his troop losses kept mounting.

Moreover, during the fighting, Corpse Cultivators were stealing corpses.

These fallen Dao soldiers and cultivators might soon be turned into zombies, and before long, they would turn their fangs upon their own side on the battlefield.

With no other choice, Yang Jishan ordered a temporary retreat.

Most of Lu Chengyun's forces were zombies—he could afford to waste time.

But his own men were living people—he could not afford to waste them.

Worse still, every dead cultivator only strengthened Lu Chengyun's power.

Yang Jishan could only order a retreat, but after withdrawing, he stationed the Dao soldiers outside to encircle the Corpse Mine, hoping to trap Lu Chengyun into starvation.

Lu Chengyun released thousands of Walking Corpses, commanding them to attack Nan Yue City, employing the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.

Thousands of Walking Corpses formed a tide of corpses.

All living cultivators they encountered along the way either became blood food or were transformed into Walking Corpses, joining the tide.

Yang Jishan had no choice but to split his forces to defend the city.

He also ordered all Mine Cultivators, Free Cultivators, and clan or sect cultivators to remain inside Nan Yue City and not venture out.

The matter of exterminating the Corpse Mine would be reconsidered later.

The Dao soldiers, defeated in their first engagement, along with various factions of the Dao Court, stationed themselves outside the mine, taking pills to heal and rest.

In the council cave, everyone looked solemn.

Someone, furious, shouted out:

"That beast Lu Chengyun!"

"He turned so many corpses into zombies and let Walking Corpses attack the city."

"For his own selfish gain, he committed such atrocities—he truly deserves to die!"

"This is normal for Demon Dao practitioners—you're just inexperienced."

"Just because it's the Demon Dao, does that make evil deeds normal? Does that mean we shouldn't curse him?"

"Why are you getting angry with me…?"

"With your mindset, you'll eventually fall into the Demon Dao…"

"Don't spout nonsense!"

"Enough, enough—stop arguing…"

"Sigh, to be honest, in all my years, I've never seen such a heartless tactic, nor have I ever seen anyone turn out so many zombies…"

"Since the Dao Court unified the realm, few Demon Cultivators dare act so openly…"

"That's because Demon Cultivators usually operate in secrecy—you simply don't see them."

"How could that be?"

Someone sneered, "How do you know the men who appear noble and righteous aren't secretly cultivating the Demon Dao behind their backs?"

"Take Lu Chengyun's case—if it hadn't been exposed, who would have known?"

"That's a slanderous accusation!"

"Hmph—you just don't understand…"

…

The large cave was filled with a clamor of voices.

Yang Jishan ordered silence, then spoke in a deep voice:

"We'll deal with other matters later—our immediate priority is to pool our strength and find a way to capture the Corpse Mine!"

"The longer we delay, the greater the damage!"

Yang Jishan's gaze was solemn.

After all, this Corpse King might be connected to the Dao Deviation.

The Dao Deviation was the most terrifying thing of all…

Everyone fell silent; many felt discouraged.

Some present came from small clans and minor sects; participating in such a large-scale battle was unfamiliar and unsettling, and now they dared not speak.

Others were indeed from great sects and powerful families.

But clearly, this was their first encounter with such a massive confrontation.

They, too, were at a loss.

And their opponent was an endless horde of zombies.

Only when they actually fought did they realize that in such large-scale chaos, individual cultivation level could achieve very little.

One cultivator asked: "Commander Yang, I have a question…"

Yang Jishan nodded, signaling him to continue.

The cultivator said: "Logically, we have many troops, and this assault included Dao soldiers leading the charge—even if we couldn't capture the Corpse Mine, we should at least have severely damaged these Corpse Cultivators…"

"In group battles among cultivators, Dao soldiers have always been invincible."

"Yet why, instead of gaining ground, have we fallen on the defensive?"

Many cultivators present also looked puzzled.

In the chaos, their blood had surged; they simply followed the fight, using whatever spiritual weapons, martial arts, or spells came to mind.

They followed Commander Yang's orders, advancing and retreating together.

Fight if they could win, retreat if they couldn't.

As for anything else, they paid little attention to it, and gave it little thought.

Why they held the advantage, and why they still couldn't win — they were completely baffled.

Yang Jishan sighed, frowned, and said after some deliberation:

"If my guess is right, this Corpse King can simultaneously control several dozen Iron Corpses, as well as nearly ten thousand Walking Corpses."

The group exchanged glances. "So what?"

Wasn't that known from the very start…

"It's not the same," Yang Jishan shook his head. "This isn't ordinary corpse control."

He knew the Dao Court strictly forbade demonic Dao inheritances, and ordinary cultivators didn't associate with demonic cultivators.

Even cultivators from some major powers who did have inheritances only had a superficial understanding of demonic cultivators.

The deeper aspects, they simply didn't comprehend.

Yang Jishan continued his explanation:

"Ordinary corpse control is very crude — it can only issue simple commands, like 'kill', 'eat', 'attack', or 'defend' — that sort of thing."

"And once the number of controlled corpses grows large, though their actions share the same objective, each one fights on its own, still like headless flies."

Yang Jishan's expression grew grave. "But this time's corpses are completely different…"

"They are still corpses, but the method of controlling them is very special — meticulous down to the finest detail."

"All the corpses move in perfect unison, their offense and defense, advance and retreat, forming their own systematic order. This is simply unbelievable…"

"Even if the corpses are still the same corpses, and a single one's strength unchanged, once they have order, once they have discipline, once their actions are unified, their overall strength becomes something utterly incomparable to before."

Yang Jishan sighed. "Something like this, similar to Dao Soldiers, we generally call it the demonic Dao 'Corpse Soldiers'…"

Corpse Soldiers…

At his words, everyone's expression changed.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lu Chengyun looked at the Corpse King before him and gave a slight nod.

Zhang Quan was right — with the Corpse King, these corpses could indeed form 'Corpse Soldiers'.

In today's battle, the corpses had become soldiers, and matched the Dao Court's Dao Soldiers evenly, without falling behind.

Moreover, because they felt no pain and feared not death or injury,

the Corpse Soldiers were even stronger than Dao Soldiers.

Lu Chengyun gave a cold laugh.

Though he didn't know why, the Dao Court had received word and sent Dao Soldiers to encircle and suppress him.

But this was a second-grade prefecture, with a second-grade Corpse King commanding Iron Corpses and Walking Corpses — for the time being, they could forget about taking the Corpse Mine.

Even if the Corpse Mine fell in the end, he had plenty of ways to escape.

When the time came, he'd just find a scapegoat.

He could even shake off the irksome identity of Lu Chengyun, start fresh, and make a comeback…

As long as the Corpse King remained in his hands.

As long as he still mastered the Lingshu Formation…

After all, formations were the foundation of a Formation Master.

Lu Chengyun smiled gently, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Suddenly, his thoughts stirred, and he thought of Mo Hua again…

Mo Hua had been used by him as a sacrifice and fed to Zhang Quan's Ancestral Master Painting.

He wondered whether, after all this time, he had been completely consumed…

Lu Chengyun had originally wanted to go check long ago, but the Corpse Mine had been under siege, and he'd been held up — for the moment, he couldn't get away.

Lu Chengyun said silently to himself:

"In a while, once he's been completely consumed, I'll go take a look. While I'm at it, I'll refine that little cultivator's corpse into a small zombie too, and keep it by my side to attend me…"

Lu Chengyun's gaze darkened slightly.

What he didn't know was that Mo Hua hadn't been consumed — instead, he was about to 'consume' the entire Zhang clan…

(End of chapter)