Chapter 153: Red-Haired Zombie

On the altar, a row of urns was arranged; three thick black‑red incense sticks were inserted in the central incense burner, and eerie magical implements such as bone flutes and soul bells surrounded it.

As the five people formed hand seals and chanted the evil sutra, yin wind and ghostly images visibly emerged from the urns, forming a layer of black mist that then flew toward Mu Yi and the others.

The altar, one of the features of the Great Journey World, has an effect similar to a formation, allowing spells to unleash multiplied power; the more accumulated, the stronger the effect.

The five half‑human, half‑ghost evil cultivators use a yin‑soldier altar; every school has such a thing—for example, the City God Temple subdues fierce ghosts and places them in the City God and Earth God temples for disciples to command, or Buddhist monks subdue evil ghosts and wandering souls, transforming them into Asura yakshas to be driven.

However, the orthodox yin‑soldier altars have been accumulated over hundreds of years for subduing demons, suppressing evil, and searching for spirits; the five half‑human, half‑ghost evil cultivators naturally lack this foundation, so being able to set up such a heaven‑covering formation must have relied on evil methods.

"Begin the formation!"

The five let out a fierce shout, simultaneously spitting a mouthful of heart‑blood onto the central incense burner.

Instantly, the heaven‑covering black mist became even more turbulent, enveloping Mu Yi and the others in the center.

In the eyes of the few, the sky suddenly turned gloomy, green ghost fire drifted about, and shadowy figures brandished claws and fangs—truly sinister and terrifying.

"Be careful!" the disheveled old man shouted, forming a sword seal with both hands; his flying sword instantly tore apart the surroundings.

Boom!

A violent explosion rang out; in an instant the altar was blown to pieces.

Although he did not die on the spot, the incendiary fire attached to the arrow had already spread onto his body.

At this moment, Su Meiniang's eyes had completely turned almond‑shaped; a peach‑red aura swirled around her body, yet the blood‑red on her shoulder still told everything.

Beside him, the child of the City God Temple had a deathly pale face, surrounded by a thin incense‑fire force, appearing strained as well.

When they landed, they were already breathing more in than out.

Several soundless ghostly images fell onto the golden light and were instantly obliterated by the holy, stern radiance; however, the Daoist's face twitched slightly—his golden light had cracked.

"We must destroy the opposite altar; a frontal assault offers no chance of victory." The disheveled old man gave Mu Yi a strange glance, then roared.

For the others it might be troublesome, but for him he easily located the core node within—presumably what these people called the altar.

"Pff~"

The white‑bearded old man connected to the altar was blasted into the air; before he could even land, the backlash from the destroyed altar erupted upon his soul.

"What is this?" the quick‑reacting gloomy youth stared blankly.

No matter how powerful the formation, the altar is its foundation; smash the altar and the formation collapses on its own, and the caster will suffer a severe backlash.

The enemy had prepared too thoroughly—blood sacrifice, an altar, and thus even the golden light that normally suppresses all yin and evil seemed feeble.

"Om mani padme hum!" the usually silent monk shouted the six‑syllable great bright mantra, instantly driving back all the surrounding ghostly images; even the gloomy surroundings seemed to disperse together.

Seeing the old man injured, nobody dared be careless; they all immediately employed their methods.

"Stupid old man, you make it sound easy!" Su Erjie kept twitching her nose, trying to pinpoint the enemy's position, but no matter how hard she tried, the air was filled with the stench of bloody ghosts.

Soon Mu Yi and the others arrived beside the altar.

Besides that, they could smell nothing abnormal; dealing with yin ghosts was never the forte of their family spirits, and now they were utterly powerless.

However, a ray of sunlight had already pierced the gloomy environment; the ghostly shadows and yin wind began to fade.

Yet they were still half a beat late; three bloodstains appeared on his chest.

"He's already been discovered…… the ghost wall doesn't work on him……" The white‑bearded old man furrowed his brow; although the arrow's landing point was far from them, it also meant the enemy had located the altar's position.

"Amitabha! How many people have these beasts killed?" The usually silent monk glared angrily.

The five ghosts setting up the altar were startled; suddenly an arrow tore through the black mist and howled toward them.

"Use whatever you have, hurry—here they come again!" The disheveled old man took a deep breath, pulled out his wine gourd, and prepared to fight to the death.

"Be careful!"

"Heaven Earth Mysterious Sect, origin of myriad qi, cultivated through countless eons, attest to my divine powers; my body bears golden light, shining upon me…" The Daoist formed a strange hand seal with both hands, whispered the incantation, and instantly a layer of golden light radiated from his body.

He noticed that in the previous attack, no yin ghost dared approach within three feet of Mu Yi; he did not know what method Mu Yi used, and it seemed somewhat different from the Military Strategist Colonel he remembered.

The evil cultivator beside him shouted, retreated, and the white‑bearded old man, not understanding, had not yet reacted.

"But it's useless; once they rush over, you'll see what cruelty really means."

With the altar shattered, the souls bound in the ghost altar appeared between heaven and earth, emitting shrill screams, unable to be reborn.

But he had no time to ponder further; they had already entered the enemy's formation—a formation that already had an altar set up. If they could not find the opposite altar, they might very well die here today.

With a swish, the arrow imbued with heaven‑and‑earth essence shot forth instantly.

But closely after, the dark environment accompanied by yin wind swept toward them again.

Another piercing arrow tore through the air, transfixing the gloomy youth's chest; had he not already been half‑human, half‑ghost—his heart not being a vital point—he would have died there.

To deliver a killing blow, he had been gathering power for half a day!

"The formation is broken! Run!" The gloomy youth, suffering the backlash from the destroyed altar, spat out a large mouthful of blood and turned to flee.

"Go!" Unwilling to linger even a moment, the gloomy youth ignored the white‑bearded old man lying on the ground and ran off without looking back.

"Don't worry, I've already found it!" Mu Yi said calmly.

"Where is the altar? Such a huge altar?"

Mu Yi's words shocked Shi Potian; before anyone could question, after half a day of drawing the bow and nocking the arrow, it wasn't that they hadn't found the enemy.

The explosive arrow, after storing power, allowed Mu Yi to stand in place and gather strength for half a day—this was the evil cultivators' greatest blunder.

"Beast!" the disheveled old man pointed furiously; a flash of sword light severed the life of the old man lying on the ground.

"Let's go! No time to waste."

Mu Yi waved his hand, gathering all the wandering souls into the Hell Path; the purifying fire will cleanse them of the evil arts on their bodies, and after the affair ends they will be sent to the Underworld for rebirth.

As for the white‑bearded old man, he will be completely incinerated in the Hell Path, turned into the power of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and utterly dissipated in the human world—never again to undergo rebirth.

"Over here!" With the formation broken, Su Erjie's tracking ability instantly came into play; just a sniff and she knew the direction the evil cultivators had fled.

Several people strained to chase; soon they reached their destination—the Yin Temple.

The Yin Temple is half‑embedded in the mountain cliff; its black plaque bears gold‑lacquered huge characters—Yin Emperor Temple.

"Yin Emperor Temple? That's really a daydream!" The child of the City God Temple sneered; seeing everyone's gaze turn to him, he immediately spoke up to explain.

"This should have just been hung up; it was originally a plaque meant for an emperor's tomb… I know what they're targeting!"

"No wonder they chose this spot!" the child muttered.

"This place is already the farthest from the imperial capital and the weakest point of the great dragon vein's control; they chose it to leverage the residual qi of the previous dynasty to pry the dragon vein and use the vein to cultivate zombies…"

"For such a young age, you know quite a lot!" a gloomy voice echoed. "If you're capable, come in!"

The entrance of the pitch‑black dark temple exuded a surge of chilling aura, sending a shiver through anyone.

"What a thick stench of corpses!"

A few zombies immediately shuffled out of the entrance, lunging toward the group.

"Watch out, these zombies are infested with corpse insects!" the child shouted loudly.

Hearing that, the scruffy old man grabbed a wine gourd, gulped a mouthful of strong liquor, and spat it toward the zombies.

The liquor ignited violently in midair, turning into a fire dragon that surged toward the horde of zombies.

In an instant, the flames illuminated all directions.

As the saying goes, where there is a corpse there are insects; corpse insects often appear paired with zombies, mutually generating and restraining each other. They were originally tiny insects that cleaned bodies, but became infected during the corpse‑to‑zombie transformation and merged with the zombies.

However, they are extremely fragile; a single fire can burn them all to death.

After the fire dragon, the corpse insects were all incinerated, falling from the zombies and emitting a charred odor.

Yet the zombies, unabated, lunged at the group.

The old man flicked his sword point; the blade light turned into a flash of white, instantly slicing several zombies into fragments, then he stepped back behind the group and began sitting cross‑legged to recover his breath.

The flying sword is indeed formidable, but its consumption is staggering; after all, he's not some ancient demon, and being able to use it this long is already the reward of his lifelong diligent cultivation.

The Temple Caretaker of the City God Temple stood beside him to protect him, and the faint incense flame power summoned a golden‑armored warrior to guard them.

The scruffy old man gave the Temple Caretaker a glance, his heart full of regret.

He now seems stronger than the City God Temple's Temple Caretaker, yet… this is already the end of his life, while the caretaker hasn't even officially begun; the gap between genius and mediocrity is almost obvious.

Mu Yi fired arrow after arrow at the zombies; he sensed a strong killing intent, and the few escapees who slipped away earlier seemed to be lying in ambush nearby, so he deliberately feigned weakness, disguising himself as a frail archer.

The Taoist priest and the monk each raised their respective implements at the front.

Especially, the monk's zen staff resembled an angry‑eyed vajra; even zombies, notorious for their thick flesh and boundless strength, could not withstand its power.

Su Meiniang is not adept at offense, but she handles these low‑level zombies with ease; her sword light weaves into a great net, slicing a lone zombie into fragments.

None of them are ordinary mortals; a handful of blows reduced the horde of zombies to scattered fragments on the ground.

Huff~

At that moment, a strong cold wind rose all around, and a bizarre figure emerged from the dark temple.

It turned out to be a white‑faced, red‑cheeked, big‑headed baby, yet on this baby were four eerie faces continuously wailing.

They were the four who fled earlier; now they have fully merged with the ghost infant, looking utterly bizarre.

Mu Yi furrowed his brows; compared with the demons and monsters of Jiuzhou, the demons in the net now seemed considerably kinder.

The Temple Caretaker's face turned pale. "This is a Ghost‑Sealing Technique; it originally sealed a vengeful spirit's resentment inside a human so they could borrow its power, but now it's reversed—this will be extremely tricky!"

Before the words finished, the ghost infant already flashed forward, moving as fast as a specter.

"Watch out!"

The Taoist's magical sword whirled in his hand, a golden light spell coating the blade, emitting a stream of sword light.

The sword light fell on the ghost infant, as light as nothing, unable to move it a hair.

The Taoist was alarmed; his golden‑light spell is meant to suppress yin entities, yet it cannot harm the target—what kind of evil art is this?

Before his alarm could finish, the magical sword was instantly seized by the ghost infant, and a vicious face suddenly burst from its body, lunging at the Taoist.

Clang!

The monk blocked the attack, but the other three faces also sprang out at once; in the chaos he was scratched several times.

Fortunately, he had cultivated the Arhat Golden Body, which restrains yin ghosts and is impervious to blades; the ghost claws merely tore his monk robe, leaving white scars on his body.

Su Meiniang darted like a cat, her sword light forming a net that enveloped the ghost infant, yet it could not harm it at all.

"He's stalling for time!" the Temple Caretaker shouted.

"Stop shouting; the Colonel has already entered. Guard the law for me, and I'll behead this ghost infant!" the scruffy old man said helplessly, opening his eyes.

Though a genius, his experience was still a bit raw; such an obvious stalling tactic had long been spotted, and this kid only just realized it.

The Temple Caretaker froze for a moment, realizing that Mu Yi's form, though still in place, was merely an illusion—not a real person.

—Military Strategist Divine Skill·Secretly Fill the Warehouse.

It was meant to condense a clone with most of his power, but Mu Yi's cultivation is still incomplete; leaving a false body is already the limit.

Yet without close observation, one would not notice it at all.

The moment they saw the tattoo on the ghost infant, the few of them silently agreed; the opponent had even sacrificed all his subordinates, showing how desperate he was.

Mu Yi threaded his way inside the dark temple, which was built against the mountain, containing a micro‑cosmos within, winding down to the mountain's interior.

The blazing fire lit the darkness; in the lowest level lay a coffin, surrounded by several large cauldrons.

The cauldrons, originally meant to hold incense flames, were now filled with thick black blood, an abnormal gore.

Mu Yi hesitated not at all, nocked an arrow and shot straight at the coffin.

He could feel a monster reviving inside the coffin.

The arrow burst the coffin, revealing a zombie covered in red hair lying still.

As Mu Yi hesitated, the red‑haired zombie suddenly opened its eyes, glaring at Mu Yi with venomous resentment.

"You scoundrel! I will tear your body to ten thousand pieces!"

Just a little more—just a little more—and he would have fully transformed into a flying corpse; it was clearly that close!

But everything was ruined by the scoundrel before him.

"You die for me!"

The red-haired zombie's body turned into a bolt of lightning, directly lunging at Mu Yi, intending to use Mu Yi's entire essence blood to make up for the loss!