Chapter 115: The Grey Immortal Clan's Bucket‑Grab Escape

A disorderly mob!

These three teachings and nine streams are only afraid that someone else will seize the zombie first, and they swarm forward one after another with no method at all, no different from street thugs fighting.

It leaves Chen Shicheng with no chance to act; even a casual blade slash would certainly kill the zombie, but the greedy cultivators would likely die a few as well, and most importantly, Chen Shicheng doubts that killing this zombie would complete the Task.

In the afternoon, while everyone discussed the action plan, they all consciously ignored the tiger demon behind the rogue spirit, and each set their target on the zombie.

It seems that killing the zombie would make the tiger demon behind it give up its rampage in the county city; the county magistrate also promises that whoever can solve the demon trouble will have the library gates opened immediately for the meritorious.

But is the fact really so?

Chen Shicheng does not believe that a person who could rise to the county magistrate's post is the kind of idiot who, once fooled, can't tell north from south.

Tonight's operation is probably just a farce.

"Senior?"

Zhao Dongyang's eyes were blood‑red, one hand trembling as he gripped the knife hilt at his waist, watching the zombies scurrying like wolves and mice in the arena, not understanding why Chen Shicheng still hadn't acted.

"If you want to go, go. Avenging with your own hands is better than borrowing others," Chen Shicheng lifted his chin, indicating that he should act himself.

Zhao Dongyang, who had long been unable to contain his inner fury, heard the words and, without a second thought, drew his knife and charged forward.

"Aren't you going to? If you don't act, the zombies will be taken down by them," Chen Shicheng asked without turning his head, watching Zhao Dongyang rush into the crowd swinging his great sword.

In the shadow behind him, the person who claimed to have a way to locate the zombie and use the paper‑binding technique to transform a house chuckled, "Senior is joking; I only have this one illusion technique that can catch the eye, I'm not good at shouting 'attack' or 'kill', and aren't you also waiting?"

Hm? Chen Shicheng turned his head back, slightly surprised, at this person; he hadn't expected that among these Evil crooked paths there would be a clever person who could see the essence of the matter.

Meeting Chen Shicheng's gaze, the person assumed a servile posture, only chuckling, as if nothing had been said earlier.

On the other side, the zombie stubbornly used its body to absorb the attack, then, heedless, aimed in one direction and surged forward at full speed.

Bang!

These three teachings and nine streams came for wealth; they can gang up and charge together, but the thought of sacrificing their lives to block the zombie is unthinkable.

Those in the zombie's breakout direction immediately split to both sides, revealing a path straight to the small courtyard wall.

The zombie, uninterested in fighting, passed through the crowd, smashed straight through the wall and rushed out.

"Bad, the demon is cunning, quickly block it!"

As the zombie burst out of the encirclement and ran toward the deep alley, a warning firework rose, illuminating the surroundings as bright as daylight.

In the next moment, the silent Huanglong Jun city instantly came alive; the clerks and soldiers waiting outside, and the three teachings and nine streams who had left the county magistrate's residence earlier, all looked up at the sky.

The slowly rising fireworks, while lighting the city, also dyed their faces in mottled colors, just like the complex desires in their hearts.

"Hahaha, they failed!"

"Quick, hurry to support."

"The path to the heavens is tonight!"

In an instant, the whole city roared, boiling over the sky.

What happened afterward Chen Shicheng paid no attention to, nor needed to; that soul‑bound zombie, under the siege of so many, was only a matter of time before its defeat, and now all that was required was to wait slowly.

After the matter is settled, there should still be some spectacle to watch inside the county magistrate's residence.

With a mindset that enjoys spectacle without minding the scale, Chen Shicheng leisurely returned to the empty county magistrate's residence, sitting with an air of composure on a chair, beginning to close his eyes and cultivate.

The person who possessed the paper‑binding technique also followed him back, sitting silently in a corner on the other side, waiting in silence.

Until dawn broke, good news finally came from outside: after a night of fleeing, the zombie was finally cut down by an old Daoist under a sword.

It is now being prepared to be bound to a wooden frame for a street display, to soothe the people's hearts.

However, according to the soldiers who reported back, last night's operation was not smooth; the zombie, while fleeing, also went on a massive, extremely brutal killing spree.

Along the way, countless broken walls and ruins lay; countless innocent residents' homes were destroyed, an unknown number of soldiers died under the zombie's claws, and even the attacking three teachings and nine streams were almost all wounded.

A general's triumph, ten thousand withered bones!

Even though these dead were tragic, after the zombie bowed, they would not cause any ripple; instead, the old Daoist who slashed the zombie with his sword had his power highlighted even further.

It is said the old Daoist has already announced that he will establish a Taoist temple in Huanglong Jun city, widely recruiting disciples to pass down the Dao lineage and protect the region's peace. And while the soldiers described what happened outside, Hui Siye, who had spent the night beside that youth, seemed to have obtained the clue he wanted, and flew back speechlessly.

After Chen Shicheng waved his hand for the soldiers to withdraw, he glanced at the person opposite who was trying hard to lower his presence, and via Divine Perception sent a mental voice asking, "How's it going, have you figured out what's happening with the Immortal Family?"

Hui Siye let out a long sigh, and began to recount the information he had gathered over the past two days.

It turns out that in the tenth year after Hui Siye formed his Golden Core and roamed the world, a tiger demon that affected the climate suddenly emerged around Huanglong Jun.

Although the Immortal Family is the largest force here, it is not so exclusive as to exclude other monsters; moreover, the tiger demon usually does no evil, occasionally rescuing hunters in danger in the mountains, so everything aligns with the Immortal Family.

Thus gradually, it was allowed to cultivate nearby, and peace persisted.

Moreover, as time passed, the tiger demon's rescues spread, and even the Dayu Dynasty heard of it, seemingly joining the fun by granting the tiger demon the title of Mountain Lord.

It is unclear whether this praised its rescues or was meant to trouble the Immortal Family as a counterbalance.

The turning point appeared after the tiger demon was officially enshrined.

No one knows where it acquired a cultivation method of incense flame similar to the Immortal Family's; as the Mountain Lord title spread, its incense flame grew stronger, even affecting the Immortal Family.

However, due to the court's official enshrinement, the Five Great Immortals could only reluctantly acknowledge it, tacitly accepting the tiger demon's seizure of incense flame.

But a few years later, one day, the tiger demon suddenly rebelled, using unknown means, and in a single night wiped out the weakest of the Five Great Immortals, the White Immortal, i. e., the Hedgehog Clan.

To outsiders, the Five Great Immortals are united like kin; after being exterminated, they would surely join forces to retaliate.

In reality, the Immortal Family is not a solid iron plate; Huanglong Jun is only so large, and incense flame has its limits—more for me means less for you—this already involves a contest of the Dao path.

Moreover, in the food chain, the Five Immortals are each other's prey.

Liu Immortal, Huang Immortal, and Fox Immortal have always fed on hedgehogs and rats; the grudges between each hall can even be traced back to when the very first Five Immortal ancestor appeared in the world.

Furthermore, the tiger demon's unknown bargains, and the other four Great Immortals made no move, seemingly tacitly accepting its actions.

There is a vague notion of elevating the tiger demon to the Immortal Family's position to replace the White Immortal! Of course, if it were only that, the Immortal Family wouldn't have vanished from Huanglong Jun.

Exactly three years ago, when the first Closed Beta players appeared, the tiger demon somehow found external support, allying with a group of Returnees clad in white robes, and assaulted the Grey Immortal Clan's lair.

However, since ancient times, Gray Immortal, Huang Immortal, and Fox Immortal have been famed for their wit, with Gray Immortal especially renowned for timidity and caution.

When the tiger demon broke in, it was shocked to discover that the Grey Immortal Clan didn't know when to grab the bucket and flee; even their ancestral graves had been dug into a huge pit and vanished, leaving not a single mouse hair behind.

And when the Yellow Immortal, Fox Immortal, and Willow Immortal three clans reacted and were about to question the tiger demon, the Bai Paoren proactively came to their door.

Thanks to the ability to revive after death, he actually treated these three clans as a dungeon to farm, thoroughly learned the sixteen-character mantra, launched guerrilla warfare, and dealt a shock of modern classic tactics to these natives.

Going out meant being surrounded and beaten; staying in meant being forced to ask the Horse Immortal to summon deities, after which they continued to be surrounded and beaten.

After the three clans' experts proactively came to their door, if they could run they ran; if they couldn't, they fought to the death, also making sure to leave two wounds on these experts, and then time and again used their lives to wear down the three clans' experts.

Now the Immortal Family was completely helpless; they couldn't beat them to death, and lacking the Gray Immortal's innate skill Five Ghosts Transport, the whole clan fled.

After suffering heavy losses, the three clans simply raised the mountain-protection formation, achieving an internal and external seal, and thoroughly turned into a shrinking turtle.

Thus came the present state of Huanglong Jun city: the Immortal Family vanished, the Horse Immortal was also asked by those Bai Paoren to summon deities, then died in battle; those who didn't die fled to relatives and friends.

"In other words, we've walked for half a month in vain, and your Gray Immortal ancestral graves are gone?" Chen Shicheng asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, that's about the situation." Hui Siye said, a little embarrassed.

"Then they didn't leave you any clues for you to find them when you return?"

"Of course they left something; they left a secret phrase known only to our clan with the Horse Immortal at the Gray Immortal hall." Hui Siye said, a little fearful, "Fortunately there is still a lineage of Horse Immortal left here, who also passed down the secret phrase; otherwise."

"Otherwise, bullshit!"

Chen Shicheng, with a forehead full of black lines, interrupted Hui Siye: "Running away definitely means going far; tell me, where else do you want me to take you?"

"Cough cough. The Shi Wan Da Shan" Hui Siye's voice was weak like a mosquito.

The Shi Wan Da Shan are located in the southern part of the Dayu Dynasty, basically the opposite direction from here, tens of hundreds of thousands of li away; not to mention traveling on foot, even using a teleportation array could ruin one's fortune.

That said, the Gray Immortal's choice was indeed very wise.

In the Shi Wan Da Shan live barbarian tribes; they don't worship gods or obey imperial decrees, instead they venerate the various Demon Kings of the Shi Wan Da Shan; the Gray Immortal Clan fleeing there is thus a suitable match, able to make a name for themselves, not worse than the northeastern side.

(End of chapter)