Chapter 268: Not a Single One Can Be Missing!

The golden Merit Light of the Soul-guiding Lamp lit the road ahead; at every anchor point I would feel a brief suffocation, but I would quickly suppress it.

I walked forward firmly, not knowing exactly how many mine tunnels I had passed.

The environment in the mine tunnels was almost identical, except for a narrow path in the middle; everywhere else were piled-up coal heaps.

My throat grew dry, while all around was silent; instead I could feel fighting going on above.

From the moment I came down, everyone would gather around the pit to escort and protect me.

The longer I stayed below, the more dangerous it became above.

So now I was actually a little anxious; logically, the Merit in the Soul-guiding Lamp should attract them strongly, and besides, 'going home' was their obsession in life, so they couldn't possibly have no reaction.

Could it be that the power of the Nine Heavens Confining Soul Formation is too great, suppressing them so they can't sense outside changes?

Just then I suddenly heard an ancient bronze bell sound from behind, followed immediately by the howls of corpse phantoms, accompanied by a chorus of croaking toads.

These sounds came and went quickly, and the fighting that followed became even more intense.

It seems the other side is also leaving no stone unturned to find a gap, trying to summon the 81 zombies below.

Obviously, they also failed.

Why is that?

The Nine Heavens Confining Soul Formation was originally set up by them; if the formation were suppressing the 81 zombies, I wouldn't be able to summon them, and they should have easily captured them.

But they couldn't do it either… Could it be that someone else is suppressing those 81 zombies below?

Besides the miner zombies, who else is under the Nine Heavens Confining Soul Formation?

In a flash, I seemed to understand something, and I loudly shouted: 'Huixiao Tiao, come home… Huixiao Tiao, your grandma sent me to fetch you home…'

Thus I kept shouting while walking forward; after only a dozen steps, a gust of yin wind poured in from the tunnel's end, and my heart stirred.

The next moment, I felt a chill behind my back.

That yin cold qi was too obvious to ignore.

I dared not look back.

Anyone who often walks at night knows that if you sense something behind you or hear someone calling your name from behind, you must never casually look back or answer, lest you lose your soul.

I continued forward, holding the Soul-guiding Lamp.

This time I walked slower; with each step I would attentively sense what was behind me, discovering that it truly followed my footsteps forward.

I silently took a deep breath, then continued calling the name on the list before Huixiao Tiao: 'Wu Yongchang, come home…'

As soon as the name fell, I felt the yin cold qi behind me grow a bit heavier.

Thus I walked forward, calling names all the way, with waves of yin wind behind me.

The Merit Light in the Soul-guiding Lamp flickered, and the ghostly face on the lamp's cavity became twisted and distorted.

I knew I had succeeded.

Following behind me were the zombies I had named.

One after another.

Although I felt excited, I also noticed that as the number of zombies I summoned grew, the ghostly face on the lamp's interior became more ferocious, and my steps grew heavier.

By the time I had chanted over forty names, a layer of cold sweat had appeared on my forehead, my lower legs felt as if filled with lead, and each step forward was extremely difficult.

Seeing the next anchor point approaching, I stepped over it, but I stood there unable to move, gasping for breath.

The hand holding the Soul-guiding Lamp trembled.

It seems that moving more than forty zombies is already my limit, yet there are eighty-one zombies down there!

What to do?

Having come this far, I cannot give up halfway; I must bring them all out.

Not a single one can be missing!

Even if I had to inch forward like a snail, I must persevere.

I rested for half a minute, circulating the true qi accumulated in my lower dantian from this period of practice; my entire spirit, energy, and mind eased a little.

I was about to continue calling the next name when suddenly a chill came from behind, and a hand rested on my right shoulder.

That hand was bone-chillingly yin cold; I glanced at it with my peripheral vision—its nails were pitch black, covered with black hair—what else could it be if not a zombie?!

I had already accumulated over forty zombies behind me; I could sense their presence, and even feel the airflow stirred when they tiptoed and jumped.

Yet none of those zombies had placed a hand on my shoulder.

People have three flames of yang fire, one on the head and one on each shoulder.

Being pressed by such a fierce entity on the shoulder, the yang fire on my right shoulder is likely to be extinguished.

At this moment I cannot turn and confront it head-on, for behind me are more than forty zombies; if they were all startled, the consequences would be unthinkable.

All I can do now is raise the Soul-guiding Lamp and press it against the claw on my right shoulder to repel it.

But just as I lifted the Soul-guiding Lamp, a young yet somewhat hoarse voice came from above right: 'Get to the back of the line!'

The zombie's claw on my right shoulder instantly withdrew, and the oppressive feeling greatly lessened.

I looked dubiously toward the sound's source and saw a gaunt but large-bodied giant rat crouched on the coal heap, its hazy-blue eyes fixed on me without blinking.

I almost instinctively called out his name: 'Huixiao Tiao?'

'Who are you?' Huixiao Tiao said cautiously, 'Who sent you down here?'

I quickly said: 'I am Xiao Jiu, the proprietor of the Wufu Town Pawnshop in Jiangcheng; your grandmother commissioned me to come down and find you—she has been waiting for you to return. Listen carefully: above, our people are fighting the enemy, buying time for me to bring you out, and your grandmother is also up there.'

With such a commotion, how could Huixiao Tiao not have heard it?

The moment the corpse phantoms leapt out of the pit, Huixiao Tiao must have already known—it was he who was controlling these eighty-one zombies.

From his earlier words subduing the zombies, one can see that over the past century he has been trapped in the Nine Heavens Confining Soul Formation, not only surviving but successfully mastering this zombie troop.

Although he is skinny to the point of being frightening, there is no doubt he is powerful.

'You can't beat the corpse phantoms,' Huixiao Tiao said, 'He has a three-eyed golden toad, and that toad is plated with a golden scale, greatly increasing its power; I've tried many times, but I simply cannot break through…'

"The owner of that Golden Scale is also up there." I told him truthfully, "He will find a way to retrieve the Golden Scale, restrain the corpse fiends; the faster we act, the less pressure they'll feel."

Hui Xiaotiao still seemed hesitant, their scrutinizing gaze fixed on me.

I thought for a moment, then added, "By the way, besides our Dang Pu folks and your grandmother, there's someone you might know well also leading a team fighting outside—she's called Hui Yuemo, the sister of our Dang Pu Grey Immortal Hui Moqiong..."

I hadn't even finished speaking when Hui Xiaotiao murmured, "Yuemo... also came?"