Chapter 64: As Long as You

Although she had never truly fought using a human body, the Divine Dao’s bestowal granted her certain baseline knowledge (Note ①), so Liu Yunxi was not merely strong but incapable of wielding that strength.

Her left hand, gripping the Golden Body Talisman, wrapped in the extended sleeve, blocked the swinging claws; with a clang of metal on metal, she retreated backward to absorb the force, while her right hand whipped out like a serpent’s tail.

The staff, infused with Exorcism Qi, slashed through the air with a silver streak, striking precisely at the zombie’s swinging arm—producing a sound like water hitting red-hot iron, accompanied by a puff of black smoke. The blunt iron rod burned a deep, bone-exposing char into the zombie’s bluish-purple limb, yet this was insufficient to counter the zombie’s immense force; the recoil still threw Liu Yunxi off-balance.

Seizing the moment, the female ghost embedded in the zombie suddenly thrust half her body forward, her crimson eyes leaving two streaks of bloodlight in the air—when suddenly, pale-blue lightning flashed!

Crack!

A lightning bolt, like an arrow, shot from behind Liu Yunxi; though it lost much of its power by the time it reached the ghost, the explosive lightning still shattered her incantation.

“Ahh…”

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

The Divine Step Spell activated, two clusters of wind-affinity Qi enveloping his legs; with just a tiny step, he leapt as if on springs. Never having exerted himself so violently, Feng Xue nearly split himself into a split.

Fortunately, his strengthened soul-spirit had enhanced his reflexes; just before losing balance entirely, his left leg—also wrapped in wind-affinity Qi—thrust forward. Though he still felt that spring-loaded lurch, this time he was somewhat prepared.

Feng Xue bounced like a rubber ball across the modest living room, so violently that even Liu Yunxi’s Golden Body Spell could no longer be maintained.

Fortunately, Liu Yunxi never expected this “debtor,” who had only begun cultivating spells days ago, to be of any real use; she shifted her shimmering silver rod from a slash to a thrust, stabbing straight at the seemingly electrocuted ghost.

“Hmph!” Whether from awakened sentience or mere instinctive reaction, the zombie spun and leapt, its back absorbing the silver rod with a stench of burnt flesh and spreading smoke—the rod pierced the zombie’s spine without flourish.

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

Crack!

Under the clash of the shape-shifter’s body and the zombie’s corpse-structure, the spirit-infused iron rod gave way first. Though Liu Yunxi felt a sharp 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 human Daoists fighting zombies—yet now there was no glutinous rice, her cultivation was still that of a novice, and lighting fire risked granting the enemy “Flame Spirit Infusion.” 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 trusted the Fox Immortal Grandma implicitly. She held her breath and lunged straight at the dry, pockmarked skull.

Though the zombie could not see nor sense a holding-breath enemy, the ghost atop its head clearly perceived everything. Abandoning her pursuit of the flea-like “Ten-Perfect Tonifier,” she used her possession link to forcibly command the zombie to evade.

Feng Xue had finally adapted to the speed of the Divine Step Spell. Seeing Liu Yunxi’s dire situation, he shook his talisman and fired another bolt of lightning.

He had not yet developed a spell-device linkage system or learned the ritual for shaping Qi; his lightning bolts scattered after five or six meters. But Feng Xue’s Qi was abundant—powerful enough to turn a brick into a projectile. Despite ninety-nine percent of the energy dissipating mid-flight, enough still reached the zombie’s side.

“Damn it!” Liu Yunxi’s sure strike missed; the zombie’s claws were already swinging back, and behind her came a force of pure yang thunder—her long hair began to stand on end.

Thunder magic not only excelled against ghosts and demons, but was especially devastating to yin-affinity beasts. With her ally’s attack from behind, the zombie’s lunge seemed almost cute.

Liu Yunxi silently resolved to train this debtor in combat later; her body shifted half a step, her maid’s dress rapidly growing new layers as she deliberately charged into the sweeping claws.

A muffled grunt escaped her as the zombie’s force hurled her airborne. Even with her Life-Snake Armor protecting her, the impact jolted her internal organs—but she felt no failure, only a smile.

“You fell for it, zombie! This is my escape route!” Feng Xue, struck by sudden inspiration, squeaked the line for her. In the instant Liu Yunxi nearly retorted, the continuous thunder column pouring from Feng Xue’s hands finally slammed into the zombie.

“Aaaaaaaaaa—”

The agonized scream threatened to rupture Feng Xue’s eardrums; the stench of burnt flesh mixed with ozone from the electrical discharge made him gag.

Feng Xue didn’t care whether the attack had lethal power—he drained his last Qi, kicked off the ground like a rocket, and shot to Liu Yunxi’s side as she landed, snatching up the snake spirit who had rolled only two turns, pouring his final Qi into the talisman in her shoe, and bursting straight out the window.

The memory of his earlier mistake—extracting primordial Qi to empower the enemy—was still fresh. Feng Xue would not repeat it.

As for fleeing? Not exactly—because he could already feel…

Mo Ying, was back!

…

“This way! Hurry!”

Mo Ying floated in midair, while four or five Daoists scrambled behind her. Fortunately, the county magistrate had taken it seriously, assigning Daoists on night patrol; Mo Ying’s cries immediately drew attention. After a brief exchange, the Daoists struck the pre-prepared bronze bell and rushed over with their gear—yet…

“Such powerful thunder magic!” Far off, they sensed the blazing aura of thunder even hundreds of meters away. They stared at the youth bursting from the house, momentarily speechless—unsure whether to assist, since—

“You called us here to help… or to watch you, Young Master, perform your heroic demon-slaying?”

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

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

To be precise, this is not a combat boost, but basic bodily control knowledge—or rather, without it, a snake accustomed to moving with ribs and no limbs 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, primal fighting techniques.

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

That is, if zombie poison first kills the person, then transforms them into a zombie, the Golden Finger activates: even if poisoned, the body suffers no irreversible damage; eating glutinous rice porridge or soaking in glutinous rice water heals it.

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

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(End of Chapter)