Chapter 23: Walking Corpses

The words had barely left his lips.

Not far from the two of them, a thatched hut suddenly erupted with a sharp, piercing roar. Xiao Yu spun around abruptly, and what met her eyes were two monsters possessing only a vague human shape; they numbly burst through the door and began limping toward her.

Their skin was greenish-purple, their pupils milky white.

Moreover, their bodies were wreathed in an indescribable stench, as if several dead rats had been soaking for months in a sour pig trough, emitting a scent that quietly fermented within the warm rot.

If one looked closely, one could even spot numerous fat, white maggots wriggling beneath their dark yellow skin, like schools of tadpoles patrolling a ditch.

"Are these... Walking Corpses?"

Xiao Yu widened her eyes, barely discerning their living features from those two highly rotted chunks of flesh.

She had seen this young couple when entering the village; they were just ordinary farmers, so she hadn't paid them much attention.

Could a body really decay to this extent in less than a day?

What kind of evil art is this?

"Slay demons and expel evil, uphold the True Lineage?"

Xiao Yu suddenly let out a cold laugh: "Is this how you refine living humans into Walking Corpses?"

"My heart is the Heart of Heaven, my will is the Will of Heaven; only the Fa I practice is called Five Zheng Fa, only the Dao I tread is called the True Lineage!"

Yin Yin Gonghao replied with a chilling tone: "Apart from me, all are heterodox paths, all are Yao Fa! Do you not even understand this?"

Boom!

Dust sprayed everywhere!

The two Walking Corpses lunged forward fiercely, pinning Xiao Yu beneath them; the stench pressed against her face, so overwhelming it made her head spin and nearly induced vomiting.

But in the next instant.

Suddenly, a sharp tearing sound rang out.

A rotted human head flew off in a spinning arc, rolling several meters across the ground as yellow-green fluids spilled everywhere; shortly after, another head flew up, and the corpse collapsed softly to the ground.

"Old scoundrel! Did you not know my maiden family worked as escort guards?"

Xiao Yu was covered in foul-smelling pus, some of which had even splashed into the corners of her eyes, yet at this moment she merely gripped her shears, a faint smile spilling from her lips:

"Even if you, a wild Daoist Priest, have learned some left-path arts, so what? Do you expect me to beg for mercy? Even if I die, I will tear a layer of skin from you!"

Her maiden family had worked as escort guards for generations, so naturally, she possessed some skill in fist and foot techniques; furthermore, to make their time in bed more enjoyable, the Daoist Priest of Yang Mountain had used Breath of the Embryo to warm and nourish her body on several occasions during their moments of deep affection.

It could be said that in this martial world where no Innate Grand Masters had emerged for ages, she could barely count as a competent mid-tier fighter.

Yin Yin Gonghao merely remained silent with a faint expression.

Xiao Yu grinned ferociously, stepped forward, grabbed his lapel and yanked it down, then drove the shears into his chest and abdomen.

Without any resistance.

One strike penetrated his body.

Blood flowed down the shears to her wrist, then dripped pitter-patter onto the tops of her feet.

"How could it be this easy?"

A thought flashed through Xiao Yu's mind.

Those capable of casting Daoist arts must at least have reached Breath of the Embryo, but isn't the flesh and blood of someone at Breath of the Embryo supposed to be as hard as gold and iron?

Yet at this moment, there was no time for careful deliberation.

Xiao Yu viciously stabbed Yin Yin Gonghao more than ten times, each strike exerting her full strength, blood spraying wildly as if slaughtering a pig during the New Year festival.

"Old thing!"

Covered in blood from head to face, Xiao Yu finally tore at Yin Yin Gonghao's neck with her teeth; only after feeling the tangible sensation of his windpipe being bitten through did she release her bite with satisfaction and shove the corpse into the well.

"So... cultivators are this easy to kill? Haha, hahahaha!"

After staring blankly for a moment, Xiao Yu threw her head back and laughed wildly, stumbling forward.

Yet all around.

The fog, thick as rice slurry, still had not dispersed; instead, it showed signs of growing ever larger...

She had not walked far.

When suddenly her body trembled, and disbelief flowed from her eyes.

Ahead, seated leisurely on a red rattan longevity chair, was Yin Yin Gonghao, who was supposed to be dead; hearing the footsteps, he did not even bother to lift his eyes.

"Using teeth to bite, truly a creature of the canine kind."

Xiao Yu wasted no words on him, simply lunging forward to pin both the red rattan longevity chair and Yin Yin Gonghao to the ground.

By the time she climbed up again, covered in blood, another shattered, fragmented corpse lay on the ground.

With a dark expression, she spat viciously upon the broken remains.

She raised her head.

As expected.

Before her stood yet another Yin Yin Gonghao...

The old man with long eyebrows hanging to his cheeks finally lifted his eyelids this time, casting a lukewarm glance at her; his figure was tall, thin, and upright, like an ancient, unchanging stone peak, carrying in his gaze a daunting aura of evil intent and demonic malice.

Stirred by this gaze, a murderous intent instantly surged within Xiao Yu's heart, impossible to hide, constantly drilling into her mind, urging her hands, wishing nothing more than to slaughter every one of the billions of living beings across the Nine Provinces and Four Seas, tearing them all into fragments!

"What, can you not endure it already? The real show is yet to come."

Yin Yin Gonghao nodded slightly, his expression seeming both approving and regretful.

He did not move, yet countless roars and shrieks erupted from all around.

Wooden doors were burst open one after another; dense crowds of Walking Corpses swarmed over, live maggots leaping about, a rotting stench shooting skyward, so potent it could be clearly smelled even several li away.

"So, you have refined everyone in this village into Walking Corpses."

No wonder this village was as silent as a grave mound, devoid of human sound; it was because everyone in this village was already dead!

Whether young and strong, or old, young, women, and children, all had unknowingly been refined by this man into Walking Corpses!

"Come, let me see just how mad you are!"

Yin Yin Gonghao chuckled:

"This trip was ill-fated; I didn't even meet a single satisfactory disciple. That Tian Buqi had poor aptitude and an unlikable nature. Although your aptitude isn't much better, who made this old man take a fancy to your mad dog appearance..."

As for the rest of the words,

Xiao Yu could no longer hear them clearly.

Countless walking corpses flooded over him like a tide; though Xiao Yu struggled and twisted off several heads, two fists cannot fight four hands, and with one careless moment, he was still pinned to the ground.

The walking corpse pinning her down wore the honest, simple face of a farmer; its belly and organs had long since split open, revealing countless gray-black viscera within.

"It's you?"

Xiao Yu recognized this farmer, who had once bestowed wheat rice upon her, only to be killed by her own hands afterward.

"Roar!"

The walking corpse did not reply.

It merely opened its mouth and bit down hard with its yellowed teeth.

Flesh and blood flew in all directions.

Yin Yin Gonghao watched all this with cold indifference; even seeing the walking corpse bite Xiao Yu's neck, he showed not the slightest intention of intervening to save her.

Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly, and he looked toward the southwestern sky.

There, a sharp, unmatched cyan-black escape beam slashed through the void, transforming into a startling rainbow spanning the heavens, rushing straight toward him.

"Is this the Xiantian Mo Zong's Nether Panic Nine Splendors Great Escape?"

Yin Yin Gonghao sneered disdainfully, then transformed his body into a brilliant galaxy of aurora light and shot skyward; in an instant, he easily intercepted that cyan-black escape beam, leaving it no chance to escape.

Without another word,

he extended a giant hand of magic power and grabbed fiercely!