Chapter 323: The Polluted World, Mr. Vampire

A few minutes later,

the protective barrier surrounding them grew dimmer and dimmer, until it finally vanished.

Everyone set aside their complicated thoughts and devoted themselves entirely to the Main Quest.

Noisy sounds appeared by their ears.

The previously hazy image began to gradually clear; in the very center of the 【Ren Family】 graveyard, a group of people had gathered.

They were digging up a grave.

A thick, heavy coffin was pulled out by a crude hoist.

"Everyone, today Ren Gong Weiyong sees the light of day again; all of you, offer your sacrifices."

A figure draped in a scarlet Daoist robe, with withered skin like a malevolent ghost, stood in the center, issuing orders to those around him.

An eerie, cold wind began to blow for no apparent reason.

Those Ren family servants, laborers, and the strongmen hired to carry the coffin suddenly felt a chill run through their entire bodies.

*Splut. *

A sound like fruit splitting open rang out.

A servant's head rolled away with a thud, and a gushing fountain of blood surged from his neck, nourishing the coffin.

The coffin, having seen the light of day again, seemed like a living thing, greedily sucking up the fresh blood on its lid.

Yet those laborers and servants seemed to have lost their senses, their eyes staring straight ahead,

and even as Xuepao Daoren hacked off their heads, they felt not the slightest bit of fear or panic.

They just stood there blankly.

Xuepao Daoren raised his hand and brought his blade down, a cold smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

【Xuepao Daoren Lv. 17 (Lord)】

This scene made the faces of Clare and the others look extremely ugly; the worlds they came from were none of them peaceful—Pirates, Yoma, man-eating demons... they had seen many bloody and cruel sights.

But they had never seen such a weird scene as this.

Those humans were like numb lambs, letting Xuepao Daoren slaughter them.

【Side Quest Activated】: Before the true 【Yi Mei Dao Zhang】 arrives, stop Xuepao Daoren from continuing to feed the evil corpse.

Quest Reward: 3000 Reward Points, 600 Contribution Points.

Hint: Completing this side quest can lower the difficulty of the Main Quest.

"To actually use humans to raise a ghost-thing, unforgivable!"

Tanjiro's eyes widened, and he drew the Blade at his waist, ready to charge forward, but was stopped by Nohara Rin.

Nohara Rin shook her head and said, "Don't be impulsive. Follow the plan we just discussed: fight with Clare as the core."

"We just arrived and already ran into a Lord-level monster."

Kuina drew her sword and said worriedly, "Can we really deal with this guy?"

They were all newcomers who had just become players; their equipment, skills, and items were all very crude, and they had no qualifications to challenge a Lord at all.

According to Zoro's judgment, if one wanted to hunt a Lord, even a Tier 1 Lord, one needed several pieces of Purple-grade equipment and core Sword Skills with proficiency raised to Lv. 15 or higher.

Yet they, even Clare, who had the greatest strength, only had a few scattered green items on her.

In terms of skills, Nohara Rin's Medical Ninjutsu was judged by the system as a Lv. 8 Blue Skill.

Clare's 【Half-Yoma Flesh】 was judged as an inferior Bloodline, carrying the Blue Skill 【Yoma Energy Burst】.

As for herself, she had Lv. 5 Pirate Sword Skill.

The strongest was actually Tanjiro; his Dance of the Fire God was treated as a type of breathing Sword Skill and judged as a Purple Skill.

But it had absolutely no level and was directly in an 【Incompletely Mastered】 state; he couldn't even use it.

With this group of stragglers, they wanted to kill the Lord Xuepao Daoren? They might as well be delivering more nutrition to the evil corpse.

"The quest didn't say we need to kill Xuepao Daoren, but rather, before a certain Daoist arrives, stop him from continuing to feed the evil corpse."

Nohara Rin's gaze shifted, but she only saw countless gloomy graves, with no sign of anyone coming.

But the Samsara Game would certainly not be wrong.

She said, "If that's the case, we don't need to fight Xuepao Daoren to the death at all. We only need to stall for time until that Daoist arrives; that way, the danger level and difficulty will be greatly reduced."

Everyone frowned and pondered.

Clare nodded and said, "If it really is like that, I will lead the attack, and you take the opportunity to carry away those who are under the Genjutsu."

After a brief exchange, Clare charged toward Xuepao Daoren with her Claymore. At this moment, Xuepao Daoren's palm, sharp as a Blade, was about to land on a servant's head, but he instinctively raised it after faintly hearing the sound of wind.

*Clang. *

The sword edge collided with his palm, emitting the crisp sound of metal clashing. The iron sword, forged by the Claymore Organization to be unbreakable even against Yoma, was actually struck with a tiny nick.

"Who are you?"

"Westerners, no... invaders!"

Xuepao Daoren's expression changed slightly, then turned into a ferocious grin: "Another bunch of stupid fellows who want to resist the pollution? With just you small fry, you want to defeat me?"

He merely waved his hand lightly, and a massive force pressed the tall Clare down to her knees, her knees shattering the ground.

*Hmph! * Clare had no choice but to turn and retract her Claymore to avoid a head-on collision with the opponent.

As expected of a Lv. 17 Lord; based on the previously estimated four-dimensional attribute differences, the opponent's Strength attribute was likely around 【30】.

And,

Strength was very likely the opponent's weakest attribute.

Because judging from how he controlled the laborers and servants, raised the evil corpse, and his thin, withered body, he didn't look like a Strength-type monster at all.

*Blade-Sharp Talisman! * Clare pulled out a golden talisman paper and stuck it onto the Claymore that had developed a tiny crack.

A wisp of faint golden light flickered, and the talisman paper melted directly into the sword body, as if plating the Claymore with a thin layer of pale gold.

"Overestimating your own capabilities."

Xuepao Daoren chuckled, his fingers forming a blade to block the descending sword edge.

It was still a crisp collision.

His flesh, blood, and bones remained completely intact, showing no signs of injury despite the sword edge being imbued with a Slicing Talisman.

Just at this moment,

Tanjiro and the others suddenly rushed out from both sides,

taking advantage of the gap in the two's exchange to grab the rope that had just hoisted the coffin,

throwing it out,

encircling most of the servants and slaves, and then pulling it tight.

"Leave it to me!"

Nohara Rin formed hand seals with both hands, and as a cloud of smoke dissipated, several Shadow Clone Jutsu appeared, dragging the servants and slaves toward the distance.

However, she did not possess the Monster Strength of Lady Tsunade; even with the help of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, her speed in dragging over a dozen people was not fast.

"To think you would try to take away my offerings!"

Xuepao Daoren's face was full of malice as he directly formed hand seals and sneered: "Yingzhou Yin-Yang Arts?... Mere petty tricks that stole incomplete techniques from the Yin-Yang School, yet you dare to show off before me? You are truly courting death!"

As he formed the hand seals, waves of Yin energy suddenly surged from the nearby graves, so dense it felt like a cold, bone-piercing mist, shrouding the entire area.

Those tombstones began to shake, the ground split open,

and zombies covered in long white hair crawled out one by one.

【White-haired Zombie Lv. 11 (Elite)】

"Oh no, it's the same ability as an Undead Mage!"

Clare took a deep breath and hurriedly swung her Claymore, hacking repeatedly at the opponent's hands to prevent him from continuing to form his hand seals.

She had just seen this game ability in the Mall of 【Qingguo Guishi】,

which came from the inheritance of a 【Corpse-Driving Warlock】.

The Xuepao Daoren before her was actually a Corpse-Driving Warlock, an ability that cost a full 200,000 Reward Points to redeem.

"Then let me kill you first!"

With his hand seals interrupted, those zombies that had been rapidly trying to crawl out of the graves suddenly became sluggish.

They looked completely aimless.

If not for the lingering might of Xuepao Daoren, they would have even wanted to crawl back into their graves.

Because this Graveyard,

was a Yang Shi Di capable of automatically gathering Yin energy, allowing the corpses buried here to transform rapidly, which is why it was used by Xuepao Daoren to raise evil corpses.

Yoma energy erupted!

Clare's pupils turned golden, emitting a faint, beast-like glow.

Her aura surged abruptly; not only did she dodge the hand-blade that should have pierced her abdomen, but she actually backhanded and severed Xuepao Daoren's withered wrist.

"Hmm?... What a unique aura!"

Xuepao Daoren's palm was severed, but instead of being angry, he was delighted. He looked at Clare, who was erupting with Yoma energy, with a greedy expression and said: "This is the scent of a Yoma. The Qing Country Dragon Vein is weak, and it has been a long time since a Yoma was born here, but this scent is very chaotic, something is not right..."

Xuepao Daoren did not even care about the offerings that had been snatched away, staring fixedly at Clare as if he had discovered new prey.

(End of this chapter)