Chapter 181: Three Changes of the Corpse

"This movement is not even comparable to that Golden Armor Zombie in Xiangyin a thousand years ago. This is the capital region, and it is also the place where the imperial mausoleum's dragon energy gathers. What kind of demon dares to do this?"

Thunder clouds gathered on Mount Zhaoshi. Outsiders couldn't see through the scene in the dark clouds and could only make subjective inferences.

"That's right, yang thunder restrains demons and evil, and it's a narrow escape. This is heavenly thunder, and this evil spirit has no chance of survival, so it has no scruples. If it were me, let alone the imperial mausoleum, I would even go to the Celestial Master's Mansion!"

Southeast of the imperial mausoleum, white air rose on the vast river surface of a hundred miles. In the clouds and mist, a pair of golden pupils like torches and abysses looked toward Mount Zhaoshi.

The ancient symbols in the golden pupils were constantly arranged and combined. When a certain balance was reached, the secret of heaven would be revealed.

However, just as the behemoth on the river was about to peek at the secret of heaven, the thunder descending from Mount Zhaoshi in the distance suddenly split into a path and struck it directly!

"???"

The behemoth widened its eyes. After a moment of astonishment, bone-chilling horror swept through its whole body.

Before the divine thunder arrived, it already felt electricity running through its body!

No, I'm just watching the fun. This thunder disaster has nothing to do with me. Why are you striking me for no reason?!

A thunderbolt spanning hundreds of miles struck the misty river. The yellow blood stained the river, and dozens of cyan-gold scales reflected a dazzling light.

The behemoth roared in grief and indignation, then fled into the bottomless river and disappeared without a trace.

April 25th: suitable for bathing, cleaning, and doing nothing else; avoid trading and divination.

Outside the capital, inside the Celestial Master's Hall.

Jiang Jingchen, one of the Seven Sons of Xuanji, was listening to the teachings of his master, Celestial Master Lu, when he suddenly heard the sound of thunder from outside the hall.

Celestial Master Lu took out a spare treasure mirror, put his left hand into a sword finger, and wrote a talisman in the air at a distance of an inch from the mirror surface.

After the talisman light merged into the mirror, the situation of Mount Zhaoshi, more than a hundred miles away, appeared on the treasure mirror.

The Celestial Master frowned and was about to raise his hand to pinch and calculate, when Jiang Jingchen suddenly said: "Master, the divine thunder on Mount Zhaoshi is strange, and it is not suitable for divination today. It is better to wait for the thunder tribulation to pass, and the disciple will go to investigate, and then make a decision."

Jiang Jingchen had his own little thoughts. Everyone knows that heavenly thunder cannot be avoided. After the thunder disaster, if you go to the scene to investigate, you might be able to pick up some good treasures.

Celestial Master Lu looked at Jiang Jingchen and said lightly: "Secular taboos are just shackles for mortals. How can they bind me?"

For this disciple in front of him, Celestial Master Lu didn't like him very much.

As for why he didn't like him, it was because half a year ago, Jiang Jingchen met a temple with extremely prosperous incense when he was walking in Jinmen.

If it were a wild temple without much incense, it would be fine. He would just turn a blind eye, treating it as a blind bird looking for food, and no one would care about those few grains of rice.

But if you eat big fish and meat every day, you have no sense of proportion. After all, you are a small wild temple, without imperial canonization or official endorsement. Where did you get the courage to compete with a tiger for food?

Jiang Jingchen felt his eyes heat up when he saw the temple, and his heart was sour. Even if he burned the temple, he still felt uncomfortable.

This was not it. The first thing Jiang Jingchen did when he returned to the Celestial Master's Mansion was to report to Celestial Master Lu about how the Goddess Temple illegally held incense.

It is said that not a family, not a family. Celestial Master Lu was not a generous person.

He didn't care about the struggle of the same path, and he could tolerate bald donkeys grabbing incense, but you are a small temple, can't I, the Taoist, handle you?

So that day, Celestial Master Lu was struck by thunder.

After this incident, Celestial Master Lu went into seclusion for half a year.

"Once or twice, how can there be a third or fourth time?"

Celestial Master Lu heard Jiang Jingchen's advice and became more determined to ask for divination.

An evil spirit that is about to be collected by heaven, can't he, the orthodox Celestial Master, ask for divination?

Pinching the fingers, the star number and life theory appeared. However, the next moment, a divine thunder suddenly crossed a hundred miles, pierced through the Celestial Master's Hall, and struck directly on Celestial Master Lu's forehead!

Rubble and smoke filled the air. The Celestial Master's Hall, which had just been repaired, had another big hole. In a short moment, the gray-headed and face-covered Celestial Master Lu had made a trendy perm hairstyle.

It was also on this day that the Seven Sons of Xuanji became the Six Sons of Xuanji.

The thunder clouds on Mount Zhaoshi could be seen for thousands of miles. Except for the Celestial Master's Mansion, there were many capable people who knew how to calculate, or who could use divination, who couldn't help but make a calculation.

Outside the capital, a lame fox fled in embarrassment.

Cizhao Temple, the fat monk who escaped the first day, finally did not escape the fifteenth day.

In the season of April and May, summer thunder rolled.

Today is destined to be the overtime day for the gods of the thunder department.

The Great Yong Imperial Mausoleum opened a skylight. By the time the Demon-Hunting Division and the Si Tian Jian arrived, the demon had long since disappeared.

The government official in charge of imperial clan affairs personally led people into the mausoleum to verify. After half a day of investigation, except for the coffin of an empress during the Wengeng Emperor period, there were no other abnormalities.

After this incident reached the capital, the whole city was in an uproar.

The current country was already turbulent, and now such a thing happened. People with intentions discussed privately that the Great Yong Dynasty was about to perish, otherwise why would the ancestral grave be struck by thunder?

This is probably what God is implying...

What implication, this is clearly telling you that the Great Yong Dynasty is about to end!

Spies from the Southern House, rebels from the northern border, and rebel informants from Yaozhou took the opportunity to spread various remarks.

For a time, the entire capital was surging.

Emperor Jingxing was furious and immediately ordered to investigate all those who spread rumors. Anyone caught would be punished by cutting their tongues, paraded through the streets, and left for beheading in the autumn!

At the same time, he ordered the Clan Mansion to repair the imperial mausoleum immediately and choose an auspicious day to perform a grand sacrifice on the altar to pray for the stability of the country.

At this time, in the Baisha River basin, Xu Qing, who had shaved off his corpse hair, had already taken a light boat and was rushing to Jinmen.

The imperial mausoleum is adjacent to the capital. This thunder disaster was so loud that it would inevitably attract many people to peek, so Xu Qing left Mount Zhaoshi decisively as soon as the thunder disaster ended.

Standing on the bow of the boat, Xu Qing's spirit was better than ever before. The sunlight shone on his skin, and there was even a moist luster like warm jade.

Compared to his pale and bloodless appearance before, now even if he said he was a dead person, I'm afraid no one would believe it.

The three types of wandering corpses are ultimately in the ranks of mortal corpses. Now he has been in seclusion in the imperial mausoleum for more than a hundred days, and while achieving the Golden Armor Zombie, he has chosen the evolutionary path of the corpse in advance.

Zombies are naturally close to the earth. Iron armor, silver armor, and golden armor zombies do not need to choose a path, and naturally possess the heaviness of earth and the killing of gold.

Only the Hair Zombie, Black Zombie, and Fire Zombie need to choose the mountain forest, water marsh, and red land to practice.

All zombies have changes, which are corpses. Xu Qing has been in seclusion for months, experiencing changes every day. From the moment he was born, he was a golden corpse and a corpse.

The three changes of the corpse, one change and one knowledge. Xu Qing had already opened his eye knowledge early. If he were an ordinary corpse, perhaps he could choose to nurture his body and bones at this time, looking forward to the realm of non-decaying bones.

Non-decaying bones are to refine a part of the bones. This part of the bones is the root of the zombie's immortality. As long as the non-decaying bones exist, even if the flesh and bones are sparse, as long as one bone remains, he can be reborn.

Xu Qing read the Corpse Theory, and there was such a rumor on it, saying that ten thousand years ago, a practitioner's Taoist companion exhausted her lifespan, so the practitioner nurtured his Taoist companion into a zombie and nurtured her right hand bone into a non-decaying bone.

Later, the practitioner was exposed and attracted attacks from his peers.

It is strange to say that although the zombie had no original memory, it was extremely obedient to the practitioner.

The practitioner also stated clearly that he had never indulged or driven the zombie to harm the world, and the zombie was like his shadow, following him wherever he went, that's all.

But at that time, raising a zombie was the original sin. No matter how obedient your zombie is, even if it has immeasurable merit and can carry an old lady across the river, it is still an evil way!

And evil spirits have only one end, and that is to be executed!

The practitioner knew he couldn't escape the attacks of the crowd, so when the zombie wife was about to be executed, the practitioner took off a hand bone of his wife in advance.

That bone was the non-decaying bone.

Seeing that the alien was executed, the crowd no longer made things difficult for the practitioner.

Since then, the practitioner found a quiet place and boiled beast and bird bone soup every day to soak his wife's hand bone.

As time went by, the wife's hand bone gradually grew skin, flesh, tendons, and membranes, followed by arms, head, and body.

The story of the Corpse Theory about raising a wife as a zombie ends here, and Xu Qing doesn't know the ending of this couple who crossed the boundary of life and death.

But this story also indirectly explains two things: one is the importance of non-decaying bones to zombies, and the other is about human prejudice.

Not to mention people, even the prejudice in God's heart is a mountain.

Xu Qing still remembers the heavenly thunder that wanted to strike him. If there were no merit to resist, he would be a handful of corpse ash floating on Mount Zhaoshi now.

"I don't know why the practitioner chose to refine his wife's hand bone, and the Corpse Theory doesn't give an explanation, otherwise I could refer to it."

Xu Qing definitely intended to refine all his bones, but he hadn't thought about which bone to refine first.

It wasn't until the boat docked and rested that Xu Qing saw the boatman's hands cooking fish soup, and he realized.

"That's right, human hands are the most dexterous. Even if the zombie dies, as long as a section of the palm is still there, he can walk freely, and even hunt to nourish his body. But if it were other bones, it wouldn't be so convenient."

The corpse has three changes and one knowledge. After Xu Qing opened the three changes, the tongue knowledge, nose knowledge, and ear knowledge were all clear.

If you add the eye knowledge

A Prostrate Corpse gains one consciousness with each transformation; after Xu Qing unlocked his third transformation, his tongue, nose, and ear consciousnesses were already fully opened.

If one adds the eye consciousness that opened automatically when he first obtained the Heavenly Eye Yin Pupils, he was already a Prostrate Corpse with four consciousnesses opened.

Humans possess nine consciousnesses, yet a person might not even open one in their entire lifetime.

With four consciousnesses now open, what Xu Qing heard and saw was vastly different from before.

The ear is for the ear consciousness, capable of hearing ghost talk and divine sounds; those with rich spirituality can even decipher the sounds of the wild, communicating with birds, beasts, and insects.

Xu Qing originally understood the language of birds and beasts, and after opening his ear consciousness, he reached the standard of rich spirituality without needing any further cultivation.

The nose is for the multi-scent consciousness, capable of distinguishing the thickness and thinness of destiny and the slightest discrepancies, remembering every detail. Regardless of the four directions or above and below, divine realms or ghost domains, and without distinguishing between incense or evil, the scent of yin is as clear as if it were right before him.

Xu Qing felt that even a dog's nose was not as sensitive as his; if a person's scent were recorded by him at this moment, he could track them within a thousand miles.

The tongue is for the five-flavor consciousness, where all things, from immortal treasures to evil poisons, can be combined into one meal, their flavors distinguished and clearly understood.

The Prostrate Corpse is a watershed for zombies, eating without restriction; now with the bonus of the tongue consciousness, he finally didn't have to chew on those candles all day long.

The boatman brought over fresh fish from the fishing hold, and before long, a pot of delicacies was stewed.

Calling it a delicacy was really just fresh fish meat with some ginger and salt.

However, although the cooking method was simple, it best highlighted the fresh and delicious taste of the river fish.

Xu Qing's nostrils flared, and his lips and tongue were almost secreting corpse fluid!

"This fish is truly delicious, it's just a pity Xuanyu isn't here."

Xu Qing didn't mind the scalding heat, swallowing and chewing the fish meat along with the soup and juices, then took out some silver to have the boatman make another pot.

"It's a pity, guest. This old man only caught one fresh fish today. If you aren't in a hurry, allow me to go catch another, though I fear it might delay the time."

Hearing this, Xu Qing said casually, "I am slightly versed in fishing and hunting; please, lend me your fishing rod."

Taking the rod, Xu Qing walked along the riverbank, and when he reached a place where the boatman could no longer see him, he put away the rod and jumped straight into the river.

Upon entering the water, Xu Qing initially tried to use the Water Travel Art to control the water, but as the river enveloped his body, he discovered he no longer needed the art to do so.

At this moment, he was even more at ease in the water than on land.

Black Zombies are close to water; rivers, lakes, and seas are their home turf. In the water, Xu Qing's magic power was inexhaustible and endless; if fighting someone, the water was undoubtedly an excellent place to be.

Like a swimming fish, Xu Qing galloped to his heart's content within the vast Baisha River.

Only now did he truly experience the feeling of "the sea is wide for fish to leap."

When his interest slightly waned, Xu Qing moved his intent, and without even casting a water-control spell, the water within a ten-mile radius was under his command.

He caught several spirit fish at will, and after surfacing, Xu Qing took out the Box Garden, storing most of the fish and leaving only two for cooking, while the rest were for Xuanyu to take back.

Putting away the Box Garden, Xu Qing turned back, and just as he was about to return to the shore, he suddenly smelled a thick, bloody fragrance from afar.

"Hmm? What blood is this, to be so sweet?"

Zombies love to eat blood, especially human blood. Xu Qing knew the scent of human blood, but this fragrance was definitely not that.

Besides the strange bloody fragrance, he also distinguished the fishy smell of over a dozen other types of blood in the air.

Xu Qing followed the scent for about twenty miles and saw several large fish fighting in the middle of the river.

A fish demon had just swallowed a blue-gold scale the size of a bowl when other large fish swarmed it, tearing it into pieces and devouring it.

Xu Qing carefully distinguished the nuances of the blood scent in the air and discovered that the strange fragrance came from the blue-gold scales the fish were fighting over.

Controlling the water flow to summon the scales, he caught them in his hand and stored them in the Mountain and River Map.

Some fish demons with a rough understanding of cultivation tried to approach and compete, but were sliced into chunks of fish meat by the foot-long sharp claws Xu Qing extended.

After searching for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Xu Qing had already collected five or six strange scales.

When he could no longer smell a similar scent in the river, Xu Qing returned to the shore.

The boatman had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw the spirit fish, the old man was clearly stunned.

"The young master has good fortune. If this old man isn't mistaken, these are extremely rare spirit fish. If sold at the port fish market, they could fetch at least a hundred taels of silver."

"Does the young master really intend to eat this fish?"

Xu Qing laughed: "Eat!"

"This..." the boatman hesitated, "This old man only has some ginger and salt on the boat, no other seasonings. I fear it will ruin this precious fish of yours."

"No matter, it is this fresh taste I want. If it were suppressed by other flavors, it would not be as good."

After the boatman finished cooking the fish, Xu Qing shared a bowl with him and began to enjoy the delicacy before him.

As the fish meat entered his mouth, Xu Qing's whole body trembled.

It was so delicious that his corpse body shivered!

Having not eaten a proper meal in nearly two years, Xu Qing felt for the first time the taste that only the living could experience.

"To live as a zombie like this, what more could one ask for."

(End of chapter)