Chapter 100: Evil Buried Corpse

Wu Zhuoyue and his 100 archers lay in ambush on the mountainside of Dragon Fin Mountain; not long after Li Bucai left, they sensed a foul stench drifting from the direction of the river mist, accompanied by a writhing sound that made the odor even more piercing and unbearable, so much so that even Wu Zhuoyue's mount, the Qingwolf Beast, grew restless; he ordered everyone to cover their mouths and noses with headcloths as a black mass moved toward them.

When the thick fog cleared, moonlight appeared, and the maidens vaguely saw that the black mass bore many tentacles on its body.

"Could it be a Buried Corpse?" an archer beside Wu Zhuoyue exclaimed in alarm.

From the outline of the black mass one could see that it walked on four legs, but unlike ordinary quadrupeds whose legs are front‑and‑back, its four limbs grew laterally in a line; they were less legs than four thick tentacles alternating forward motion; its torso resembled a human's; its left arm ended in four writhing tentacles, while its right arm ended in a hand‑like tip bearing five slender tentacles, each clutching a stone axe—this axe was no ordinary axe but made of a special stone from the Buried Corpse Swamp, soaked in corpse fluids for ten thousand years, known as green nether stone, exuding a green poisonous mist that instantly corrodes copper and iron weapons on contact.

On its shoulders sat a coconut‑sized head bearing a single large eye; below the eye there was no mouth or nose, only several tentacles sprouting from the jaw; all tentacles—on the limbs and jaw—were covered with countless suckers, each sucker being a mouth through which they absorbed nutrients.

They had long parasitized the Buried Corpse Swamp, where the evil tribe discarded corpses; they survived on these bodies, gradually forming their own power; as their numbers grew, the swamp could no longer contain them, so many split off and often attacked weak tribes; after tasting fresh **, their ambition swelled; Tan Ping obtained a squad of Buried Corpses by bribing their leader with his own flesh and blood, for to the Buried Corpses, human flesh is more enticing than any other creature's.

The people of Sky City had encountered Buried Corpse attacks tens of thousands of years ago; aside from the powerful evil tribe, all historical records mention them; their strength ranks low among myriad races, but their wickedness is unsurpassed for humanity.

All the maidens recognized the writhing black mass below as a Buried Corpse, for only such bodies emit such a stench, since their suckers flow with a liquid even more foul than rotting corpses.

Before they could fully see the creatures' appearance, their shadows already frightened the maidens' hearts; having fully entered the ambush zone, Wu Zhuoyue urgently ordered the archers to fire; a volley of arrows rained down, hitting five or six Buried Corpses; the rest, hearing the sound, swung all their tentacles, spinning each at high speed before them; the maidens, already terrified by the sight, had weak limbs and could not draw their bows fully, so their arrows lacked force and were all deflected by the tentacles.

Tan Ping had once fought the Buried Corpses; they used this method to block arrow volleys, even more effectively than the shields of Blade Badge Warriors, so he named them the Whirlwind Unit; because they possess many tentacles, each can serve as a weapon, often allowing one to fight many; among them death seems nonexistent—they charge without hesitation at any opposing creature, even if that creature is a hundred times stronger, and will assault unless all are slain; they also bear no grudges—if a clan reduces them to a single survivor, after the war that survivor, upon meeting them elsewhere even an hour later, remembers no past enmity; they only remember those who have shown them kindness.

At this moment they were being attacked by the people on the mountain; the first arrow that came already enraged all the Buried Corpses, and without a leader they charged en masse up the slope; their speed was not slow—on a near‑45‑degree hill they moved as if on flat ground, their four tentacles alternating forward with the speed of a galloping wild buffalo.

Seeing the Buried Corpses close to within half an arrow's distance, the maidens on the hillside panicked; before Wu Zhuoyue could give an order, some began to retreat backward.

"Elder Sister Yue, we can't hit them; they'll rush up—what do we do?"

Wu Zhuoyue's heart pounded; he leapt onto the wolf's back and shouted, "Cease firing, everyone fall back behind the stone formation!"

At his command the maidens surged backward like a tide; from the wolf's back Wu Zhuoyue saw the Buried Corpses' speed was too great—if they continued, they would overtake the maidens before they reached the stone formation; he hastily took out his jade flute, playing the Soul‑Swaying Melody while shielding the maidens' retreat toward the summit.

As soon as the Soul‑Swaying Melody sounded, it indeed affected the Buried Corpses—their speed noticeably dropped; by the time everyone fell back to the second line of defense, the leading Buried Corpses were only ten‑odd meters away.

"Those in the rear, fire arrows to cover the front; push the stones down." This was Li Bucai's specially prepared second line of defense to ensure safety—a platform over a meter wide carved into the mountainside, piled with huge round stones.

The maidens retreated here; not far behind lay the summit cliff, with no further retreat, so they resolved to fight to the end, obeying commands anew: fifty stood on the slope behind the platform, drew bows, and loosed a simultaneous volley downward.

The Buried Corpses used their tentacles to deflect the feathered arrows while advancing; the arrow rain slowed them considerably, and with Wu Zhuoyue's flute resuming, it bought another fifty the time to shove the stones down the slope; countless rocks tumbled, striking the Buried Corpses and dragging them down the mountain.

The Buried Corpses' bodies consist entirely of cartilage, with no hard bone; when stones struck them they only suffered bruises; although rolled from hundreds of meters high to the foot of the mountain, only a dozen or so were killed by the largest stones shattering their viscera; the rest lay at the base awhile, then, after a brief struggle, crawled up, flexed their tentacles, and again sought to charge up the hill, even as stones continued to roll down, dodging while pressing forward.

Meanwhile, to the left and right of the Buried Corpses, the forces from the Water Fort, having let them pass, regrouped; the watchtower troops together with two detachments from the Water Fort totaled 180 men, who piled branches and large stones at the road junction to block their retreat; at White Horse Beach, upon hearing the slaughter here, Tan Jiang abandoned Li Bucai and turned back, with Li Bucai following closely; Shan Ji's sixty cavalry rode out, taking advantage of the enemy's retreat to split Tan Jiang's seven men and then follow Li Bucai; meanwhile, Tan Jiang's seven officers were at that moment surrounded by Yue Ji and the ninety garrison troops stationed at White Horse Beach……