Chapter 54: As Long as You

Although she had never truly fought using a human body, the Human Dao's bestowal granted her certain fundamental knowledge (Note ①), so Liu Yunxi would not merely possess great strength without knowing how to use it.

Her left hand, gripping the Jin Shen Zhou jade tablet, wrapped in the extended sleeve, blocked the swinging claws; with a clang of metal on metal, Liu Yunxi stepped back to absorb the force, while her right hand whipped out like a serpent's tail!

The staff infused with Exorcism Qi cut through the air with a silver gleam, striking precisely at the zombie's swinging arm—producing a sound like water poured onto red-hot iron, accompanied by a plume of black smoke; the blunt iron rod burned a bone-deep char mark into the zombie's bluish-purple arm, yet this was insufficient to counter the zombie's immense force, and the recoil left Liu Yunxi momentarily off-balance.

Seizing this opportunity, the female ghost clinging to the zombie suddenly thrust half her body forward, her crimson eyes leaving two streaks of bloodlight in the air—but at that instant, pale-blue Lei Guang flashed abruptly!

Pah!

A lightning bolt, like an arrow, shot out from behind Liu Yunxi; though it lost much of its power by the time it reached the ghost, the exploding Lei Guang still disrupted her spellcasting.

"Ah…"

A piercing scream erupted from the ghost; the high-frequency sound waves shattered glass one after another in the room. Feng Xue felt his head spin—he had no time for thought, only pouring all his Qi into his feet.

The Shen Xing Zhou, infused with Qi, activated: two clusters of wind-element Qi wrapped around Feng Xue's legs; with just a tiny step, he leapt as if stepping on a spring. Having never experienced such excessive force, Feng Xue nearly split himself into a split.

Fortunately, his strengthened soul-spirit had enhanced his reaction speed; just before losing balance entirely, his left leg—also wrapped in wind-element Qi—thrust forward forcefully. Though he again felt the sensation of being catapulted, this time he was somewhat prepared.

Feng Xue bounced like a rubber ball across the modestly sized living room, so violently that even Liu Yunxi's left-hand Jin Shen Zhou could no longer be maintained.

Fortunately, Liu Yunxi had never expected this "creditor," who had only begun cultivating spells for a few days, to be of any real use; she shifted her shimmering silver staff from a slash to a thrust, stabbing straight at the seemingly electrocuted ghost.

"Hmph!"—whether from emerging sentience or merely a reflexive sound, the zombie spontaneously spun and leapt; with a pungent stench of burning and spreading black smoke, the silver staff pierced the zombie's back without flourish.

But for the zombie, even this wound, imbued with Exorcism Qi, was not fatal; as it fell under gravity, it twisted its body again, using the rotational leverage to unleash a sudden burst of force!

Crack!

Under the conflicting forces of the shapeshifter's body and the zombie's body, the spirit-infused iron rod gave way first; though Liu Yunxi felt a slight sting in her arm, she stepped forward sharply and drove the broken end of the rod toward the zombie's skull.

Liu Yunxi had once heard stories from the Fox Immortal Grandma about Daoist Priests fighting zombies, but now there was no glutinous rice, her Daoist cultivation was still that of a novice, and lighting a fire risked granting the enemy "Flame Spirit Infusion" if it failed to kill instantly—her only option now was to destroy its head!

Though she didn't fully understand why a corpse's weakness was its head, Liu Yunxi, who firmly trusted the Fox Immortal Grandma, held her breath and stabbed fiercely at that dry, pitted, wrinkled skull.

Though the zombie could not see nor sense a breathless enemy, the female ghost atop its head clearly perceived everything; abandoning her pursuit of the flea-like "Ten-Perfect Tonifying Human," she forcibly issued an evasion command to the zombie through their spirit-link.

Feng Xue had finally adapted to the speed of the Shen Xing Zhou; seeing Liu Yunxi's dire situation, he shook his jade tablet, unleashing another bolt of lightning.

He had not yet developed a spell-device linkage system, nor mastered Qi shaping rituals; the Lei Guang he launched scattered after five or six meters—but fortunately, Feng Xue's Qi was abundant. As the saying went: force enough could make a brick fly. Despite the immense waste, even with 99% dissipating mid-flight, a significant amount of lightning still reached the zombie's side.

"Damn it!" Liu Yunxi's decisive thrust missed; she saw the zombie's claws retaliating, while behind her came a force of pure yang thunder—her long hair began to stand on end.

Thunder magic not only had special efficacy against ghosts and evil spirits, but was especially devastating to yin-element cultivators; under her teammate's attack, the zombie's lunge now seemed almost cute.

Liu Yunxi silently resolved to give this creditor some combat training later; her body shifted half a step, her maid's dress rapidly growing additional layers, and she deliberately charged into the sweeping claws.

With a muffled grunt, Liu Yunxi was flung upward by the zombie's force; even with her Life-Snake Skin Armor protecting her, her internal organs were shaken—but she felt no sense of failure, only smiled.

"You've fallen for it, zombie! This is my escape route!" Feng Xue, struck by sudden inspiration, squeaked a commentary for Liu Yunxi; in the instant Liu Yunxi was about to retort, the endless column of Lei Guang pouring from Feng Xue's hands finally slammed into the zombie.

"Aaaaaaah—"

The heart-rending scream seemed ready to pierce Feng Xue's eardrums; the pungent stench of burning flesh mixed with ozone from the massive discharge made him nauseous.

Feng Xue didn't care whether the attack had sufficient lethality; his Qi nearly depleted, he pushed off with his feet and shot forward like a rocket to Liu Yunxi's side, where she had just rolled twice—he snatched up the snake spirit, poured his last Qi into the jade tablet in his shoe, and burst straight out the window of the villa.

The memory of previously refining Yuan Qi to aid the enemy was still fresh; Feng Xue would not repeat the same mistake.

As for fleeing—it wasn't fleeing, because he could already feel…

Mo Ying, is back!

…

"It's this way, hurry!"

Mo Ying floated in midair, while three or four Daoist Priests scrambled behind him; fortunately, the county magistrate had taken it seriously, assigning Daoist Priests on night patrol—Mo Ying's cries along the way immediately drew attention; after a brief exchange, the Daoist Priests struck the bronze bell they had prepared, grabbed their gear, and charged forward—yet…

"Such powerful Lei Guang!" Far off, they sensed the intense aura of Lei Guang despite the hundreds of meters between them; staring at the youth bursting from the house, the Daoist Priests were speechless, unsure whether to assist—after all—

"You called us here to help, not to watch you, Young Master, perform your heroic demon-slaying act?"

Note ①: The knowledge granted here is akin to how the Holy Grail War grants Servants modern common sense; this is not a temporary patch—it was mentioned earlier. When Liu Yunxi was a snake, she had no human sense of shame, but after transformation, she developed modesty about nudity.

As for combat, she will not instantly become a martial arts master—only that she can use her human body to fight as naturally as she once did with her snake body.

To be precise, this is not a combat power boost, but basic bodily control knowledge—or rather, without it, a snake accustomed to moving without limbs, using ribs, might take a long time to even walk like a human.

Wild animals inherently possess combat instincts; once they learn how to use their bodies, combined with their innate ferocity, they can unleash instinctive, wild combat techniques.

PS: Regarding the issue of shortened lifespan versus immortality, this primarily concerns the Golden Finger's judgment. The Golden Finger ensures lifespan won't change unnaturally, but does not prevent disability.

That is, if zombie transformation occurs after death is first confirmed, then the Golden Finger activates: even if infected with zombie poison, the body suffers no irreversible damage—eating congee or soaking in glutinous rice water cures it.

But if the zombie poison infection is judged as a species transformation (or even an immortality elixir), using the Uncle Nine movie as an example—like Wencai being scratched and turning into a zombie while alive—then lifespan does not increase, and the zombie poison is not negated, because the transformation occurred before any lifespan change. In other words, he becomes a zombie with only nine years of life.

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(End of Chapter)