Chapter 144: 【Never Letting the Book Leave One's Hand, Fishing in Troubled Waters】 (First update, seeking)

Lu Runping can be certain that before he headed to Xihai Bingchuan Yu, there were absolutely no signs of a zombie scourge.

This matter truly only just emerged recently.

It is only natural that the zombie outbreak in Lianze Yu is the most severe, as there are indeed a great many tombs there; although he only knows of a very small portion of the large tombs, he also knows that there is certainly no lack of bodies of cultivators at the Golden Core Realm or even the Nascent Soul Realm among them.

Cultivators have jade-like skin and bones, with Spirit Qi attached to their bodies; if not for spirit insects gnawing at them, they would not decay for a thousand years.

Not to mention, with the addition of ice-jade coffins and array protections, it is very easy for the body of a Foundation Establishment ancestor from an ordinary Foundation Establishment clan to be preserved for three to five thousand years without being damaged.

Therefore, the entire Lianze Yu contains a large number of corpses of high-level cultivators.

But these corpses are all protected by arrays; under normal circumstances, there is absolutely no possibility of a corpse transformation, unless they were contaminated.

The two great immortal sects of Lianze Yu, the Qingyang Immortal Sect and the Kongming Immortal Sect, are both investigating this matter, and their disciples have been almost entirely mobilized to suppress the zombie disasters in various places.

Lu Runping arrived in Lianze Yu and, holding a token, met with Elder Qiu Huiqing, the person in charge from the Kongming Immortal Sect.

The name of Lv Gong has spread throughout the entire Zhongzhou Shisan Yu within the past three days; a cultivator at the Harmony Dao Realm at only two hundred years of age, a supreme prodigy, the hope of the righteous path, and an absolute figure of the moment.

Upon their first meeting, Elder Qiu appeared very enthusiastic.

"For Elder Lv to have such cultivation at such a young age, it truly makes an old man like me feel ashamed. With Elder Lv coming to help this time, we will surely be able to completely quell this disaster."

Lu Runping smiled upon hearing this:

"As immortal sects of the Eastern Region, we should naturally watch over and help one another. Furthermore, eliminating demons and defending the Dao is our duty. Elder Qiu, please just give the order for whatever you need me to do."

The Zhongzhou Shisan Yu is simply divided into four parts—East, South, West, and North—with several immortal sects close to each other in each, helping one another.

This is also the reason why the Tianyu Immortal Sect took the initiative to send personnel to support Lianze Yu.

"Haha, since that is the case, I will not say much more about thanks; let us begin our actions immediately.

We just received news that a large-scale zombie transformation has occurred in Tonglin Fu, with ten million zombies breaking out of the ground, among which are many zombies transformed from the corpses of powerful cultivators. I will leave that place to you, Fellow Daoist. A group has already been sent out; you can take the token and go directly to rendezvous with them to obtain the latest information."

As Elder Qiu spoke, he gave Lu Runping a compass; this was a conventional map-pointing compass that could accurately display location information and guide the way.

After Lu Runping agreed, he immediately flew toward the target location.

His persona now is that of a young, hot-blooded prodigy who hates evil as much as he hates a personal enemy; having learned the location of the evil demons, he naturally has to rush over to slay demons and eliminate devils.

In fact, Lu Runping had no intention of investigating this matter deeply.

Although he is already a cultivator at the Harmony Dao Realm, in reality, the power that truly controls the Zhongzhou Shisan Yu is the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Monarchs and the Earthly Immortals; they are the most powerful forces, and no matter what happens, the final decision-making power lies in their hands.

A cultivator who has just entered the Harmony Dao Realm has a lifespan of three thousand years, while one who has just entered the Tribulation Transcendence Realm has a lifespan of six thousand years.

Harmony Dao Realm cultivators are merely a group of people pushed to the forefront; those who truly stir up the winds and clouds of the world are the rarely seen Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Monarchs, or even the Earthly Immortals.

The zombie king in Beihuang Yu was not killed even after being hunted by an Earthly Immortal last time, so its strength is evident.

The current zombie disaster, involving such a large scope, has a very high probability of being related to that zombie king, and it is simply not something he can deal with.

Therefore, it is still better to prioritize self-preservation.

Killing some zombies is nothing; he can certainly charge into the fray, as there is no danger after all, but as for conducting a deep investigation, there is no need for that.

However, this Top-Grade Spirit Tool given by Nong Yunqian is truly not something to fool around with.

This is a top-tier treasure; even among Top-Grade Spirit Tools, it is extremely rare and very precious.

The 【Haoran Sutra】 is in the form of a bamboo slip, resembling a piece of cyan jade; after opening it, the characters written upon it are the divine script of an ancient immortal sect.

The bamboo slip emits a rich aura of Haoran Righteousness; even just carrying it by one's side, one can feel that aura nourishing the primordial spirit, which is truly very comfortable.

After refining this treasure, one gains the ability to use Haoran Righteousness to transform into various attacks, and it also has defensive effects; to say nothing else, just the 'Haoran Jade Armor' can protect him from various mental illusions and attacks from evil spirits.

If not in use, holding the scroll and studying it bit by bit can also calm the mind and spirit, allowing one's state of mind and cultivation to improve.

Lu Runping's cultivation time is too short; compared to other Harmony Dao Realm cultivators who are over a thousand or two or three thousand years old, he is truly lacking too much in his state of mind.

While cultivating in Xihai Bingchuan Yu, Lu Runping had already discovered this problem, and he had been trying to improve his state of mind through extensive reading.

But the effect was not very obvious.

Now with this 【Haoran Sutra】 in hand, combined with the 【Learning from the Past】 Supernatural Power, he can almost steadily and significantly improve his own state of mind and temperament.

Never letting the book leave his hand!

Even while on the road, Lu Runping still held this bamboo slip, silently reciting and studying it.

New insights were constantly being generated, and the Haoran Righteousness transformed by his own self connected with the Haoran aura within the Haoran Sutra, merging into one, giving Lu Runping a temperament like a gentleman as pure as jade.

Upon entering the territory of Tonglin Fu, one could see zombies appearing; for any he saw, Lu Runping would point a finger, and the Haoran Righteousness would transform into a white Flying Sword, piercing into the zombie's head with one strike before detonating.

The zombie would turn into fragments, and the Haoran Righteousness would purify the corpse aura.

Before long, Lu Runping saw a group of people engaged in a great battle with tens of thousands of zombies.

It was not strange for the number of zombies to be high, but these zombies all appeared to be transformed from cultivators; although they were not very strong, how could so many low-level cultivators be buried at once?

Based on Lu Runping's early tomb-raiding experience, he judged that this might be a large-scale zombie evolution, where ordinary zombies had evolved to a level comparable to cultivators.

The group from the Kongming Immortal Sect consisted of about twelve people: one at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, two at the Nascent Soul Realm, and the rest were at the Golden Core Realm.

On the zombie side, there were two Flying Yakshas comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm, and there were many other powerful zombies; no wonder the battle was so difficult.

The spells of the Kongming Immortal Sect leaned toward yin energy, which had no restraining effect on things like zombies; only by relying on Dharma Treasures could they maneuver for a while, and after a period of time, winning should not be a problem.

But there was no hope of achieving a quick victory.

With Lu Runping's arrival, his body was shrouded in white Haoran aura, just like a small sun in the dark night, releasing a scorching radiance that caused all the surrounding zombies to instinctively dodge.

"I am Elder Lv Gong of the Tianyu Immortal Sect, here specifically to assist you all! Leave this place to me!"

Before his voice had even faded, a cold, icy aura spread out from beneath his feet; with him as the center, traces of frost appeared on the earth, quickly spreading to the feet of each zombie, and then those zombies became completely rigid.

Under Lu Runping's Ice Cold True Intent, whether they were Black Zombies, Hairy Zombies, or Flying Yakshas, they all met the same fate of being turned into ice sticks.

In the blink of an eye, ten thousand zombies turned into blocks of ice, losing their ability to move.

But they were not dead, or rather, they had not been eliminated.

Freezing has very low damage to things like zombies; it could even be said to be a protective measure, as freezing them allows their physical bodies to be preserved for longer.

Therefore, after causing the freezing, Lu Runping opened the Haoran Sutra, a passage of text was chanted from his mouth, and then circles of Haoran Righteousness rippled out; the first circle of Haoran Righteousness directly turned tens of thousands of zombies below the Golden Core Realm into fly ash, and after ten circles of Haoran aura were superimposed, even the Flying Yakshas shattered into slag.

To deal with evil paths like zombies and evil ghosts, there are three most restraining methods: the first is Haoran Righteousness, the second is the Golden Light of Buddhism, and the third is the magnificent Thunder Spell.

Lu Runping possesses the Five Thunders Orthodox Method Supernatural Power, but using that thing does not befit his status, so using Haoran Righteous Qi is the most appropriate.

The effect is quite good, a direct steamroll.

That said, he is already a Dao Integration Realm cultivator; steamrolling these low-level Zombies is only to be expected.

Seeing that Lu Runping had finished casting his spell, several people hurried over to pay their respects.

"Junior Geng Ziyu, many thanks to Senior for the assistance."

The cultivator at the Soul Formation Realm spoke up.

Lu Runping nodded and said:

"There is no need for polite pleasantries; let us go as quickly as possible to eliminate the other Zombies, and on the way, tell me what you have discovered."

With Lu Runping's cultivation base placed here, his words held the most credibility and immediately received everyone's agreement.

While walking, Geng Ziyu quickly explained the situation they had investigated.

The things they found were also very limited; for the time being, they had ruled out the possibility of human-guided Zombie creation, because no traces of anyone actively triggering the Zombie disaster had been discovered.

But it was not a total loss.

The key point is that the outbreak of all the Zombie disasters seems to present a tree-like distribution, extending from a main trunk to other branches, and at the same time, the location of the main trunk is very close to the direction of the Spirit Vein.

The direction of the Spirit Vein does not refer to Spirit Stone mineral veins, but the trend of mountains and rivers where Spirit Qi gathers.

In fact, many immortal cultivation families will actively bury corpses on the path of Spirit Veins in order to intercept Spirit Qi and maintain the operation of graveyard arrays.

Therefore, it is also possible that it is precisely because of this place that there are powerful Zombies, which is why this result was investigated.

Regardless of the reason, Lu Runping does not want to delve into it.

Therefore, he had Geng Ziyu go report the investigation results to Elder Qiu of the Kongming Immortal Sect, while he himself continued to lead people to run about various places to kill Zombies.

The Zombie disaster, like the demonic chaos of the past, caused a large number of deaths.

Although Lu Runping did not study it very deeply, he could still discover that death energy and blood energy were gathering and entering the Spirit Veins, as if something was being gestated within Lianze Yu, constantly transporting nutrients.

A few days later, Lu Runping discovered that Geng Ziyu had not returned, and when he casually mentioned it at the Kongming Immortal Sect, he learned that he had died.

Lu Runping became vigilant.

He immediately guessed that the Kongming Immortal Sect and the Qingyang Immortal Sect might have problems.

Because all the Spirit Vein paths in Lianze Yu are converging toward the headquarters of these two sects; they must be plotting something.

He pretended to know nothing and continued to rush about on the path of killing Zombies, and his fame became even greater.