Chapter 148

Chapter 148: Red Robed Female Zombie

Everything happened too quickly. Yu Qing Cheng and the other two instinctively followed Yun Xi’s warning and leaped back. After retreating from the marshy ground, Liu Hao Tian immediately cried out in alarm, “Not good! Yun Xi is trapped!”

Behind them, the marshland had already been sealed beneath a blood-red barrier.

Yu Qing Cheng swiftly slashed out a flaming sword strike, but her attack merely dispersed harmlessly upon the crimson screen.

Xia You urgently asked, “Fellow Daoist Liu, what’s going on?”

Liu Hao Tian did not reply immediately, quickly forming hand seals before calling out, “Follow me! We must strike the weakest part of this formation. Let us hope Fellow Daoist Wei can hold out until we break through!”

Yu Qing Cheng’s phoenix eyes flashed with icy determination as she immediately followed after him, Xia You close behind.

Within the formation, Yun Xi swung her staff with urgency. She could clearly feel the spiritual energy within her rapidly draining away, yet she dared not pause even for an instant. Instead, she poured even more spiritual energy into the Life-Ending Staff, determined to shatter the nine coffins buried beneath the earth.

This sinister array not only trapped her but also siphoned her spiritual energy, feeding it directly to the nine coffins below. Clearly, this was a malevolent formation intentionally set by demonic cultivators, designed precisely to ensnare and drain cultivators who stumbled upon this place.

Yun Xi had only reacted so swiftly due to Dian Dian’s timely warning, yet now her companions had escaped while she alone remained trapped inside.

“Master, what should we do? Dian Dian’s spiritual energy is being drained too!” Dian Dian’s worried voice echoed anxiously in Yun Xi’s mind.

Yun Xi could feel it as well—the speed of energy depletion was increasing rapidly. The demonic cultivator who arranged this formation was truly vicious, turning any living thing stepping inside into nourishment for these hidden corpses.

“Dian Dian, I’ll send you into the space first.”

“Master, what can Dian Dian do to help you—” Before Dian Dian could finish asking, Yun Xi had already moved the little creature safely into the space.

Being trapped under the gaze of others, Yun Xi couldn’t simply vanish without arousing suspicion. Thus, she grits her teeth and prepared to fight through this crisis, trusting that her companions outside were already working to rescue her. Only if escape proved impossible would she resort to the safety of her spatial refuge.

Ever since obtaining the spatial chat group, Yun Xi deliberately avoided over-relying on it. She’d read in the Scripture Pavilion that cultivators skilled in spatial laws could easily seal the surrounding space, rendering her unable even to access her own haven.

If that happened, she’d be dead without even knowing how it occurred. So, as long as she still had the strength to fight, she preferred facing her problems directly rather than running away.

Determined and desperate, Yun Xi slammed her staff down again with all her might, instantly consuming half of her remaining spiritual power. Finally, the ground cracked open, revealing a bright red coffin lid.

“There it is!” Yun Xi quickly swallowed a high-grade Rank-Two replenishing pill and immediately summoned her Purple Jade Coiling Dragon Cauldron, using her divine sense to violently slam it against the exposed coffin lid. She had no other choice but to destroy the coffins before being completely drained.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The relentless crashing noises echoed loudly in Yun Xi’s ears, but she refused to pause even for a heartbeat.

The Purple Jade Coiling Dragon Cauldron probably never imagined that one day its master would use it to smash coffins. Yet, the effect was undeniable. Under the combined assault of the cauldron and her Life-Ending Staff, after three furious blows, the coffin’s runes shattered, the lid breaking open to reveal the pale, white-haired face of a woman in crimson robes.

In that instant, fragmented memories surged through Yun Xi’s mind. She recognized this woman—one of the countless figures who’d appeared during her breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. She remembered her vividly because the woman’s sorrowful eyes seemed filled with unspeakable sadness, desperate to convey something, yet unable to utter even a single word.

“How is this possible?” Yun Xi hesitated, momentarily stunned.

Just then, the woman’s eyes snapped open, pitch-black pupils fixed directly upon Yun Xi as she stiffly rose from the coffin.

Yun Xi swiftly swallowed the pill she’d kept in her mouth and gripped her staff tighter, cautiously preparing another strike.

Then, the woman spoke. Her voice was rough, her speech broken and strange. “Kill…me! Don’t want…to be…a monster!”

Yun Xi’s grip on the Life-Ending Staff tightened further, a chill running down her spine. This was her first time encountering such a low-level zombie capable of conscious thought.

According to the Scripture Pavilion’s records, zombies were classified into nine ranks: starting from Purple Zombie at the lowest, followed by White Zombie—the current state of this woman—and upwards through Black Zombie, Green Zombie, Furred Zombie, Flying Zombie, Roaming Zombie, Ambush Zombie, and finally, Unmelted Bones.

When a zombie reached the Unmelted Bones stage, it would regain memories from its past life, its strength rivaling even Mahayana cultivators. Even without ascension, it possessed an immortal body. But White Zombies, especially those nurtured by demonic cultivators, were typically incapable of rational speech or thought. They existed only to devour flesh and blood, driven by base instinct toward strength and advancement.

“Kill me!” The woman pleaded again, desperately.

At that moment, Yun Xi felt the array holding her tremble slightly. Clearly, Yu Qing Cheng and the others were attacking from outside, targeting the weak points Liu Hao Tian had identified.

Refocusing, Yun Xi clenched her Life-Ending Staff, once more infusing it with lightning spiritual energy. Ignoring the strange female zombie’s pleas, she struck down on the earth again. Only one coffin had been uncovered; eight remained hidden beneath the soil.

The red-robed White Zombie stood rooted in place, eyes flickering bizarrely between black and white, seemingly locked in an internal struggle.

Yun Xi steadied herself, mustering courage as she continued smashing the ground, carefully watching the unpredictable zombie.

Another rapid succession of blows quickly drained her energy by half again, forcing her to pause and gulp down another pill.

But as Yun Xi recovered her breath, the female zombie seemed to conquer its inner turmoil. It suddenly turned and punched its own coffin into pieces, then furiously dug into the earth, violently pulling forth a black coffin and flinging it at Yun Xi’s feet.

Yun Xi instinctively stepped back, then struck heavily down with the Life-Ending Staff. The blow exhausted all the spiritual energy left in her dantian, breaking the coffin open to reveal yet another zombie.

Staring at the familiar, white-haired face within—despite its grotesque features—Yun Xi internally cursed in shock.

This was none other than Li Cang Yuan, the young city lord of Twin Peaks City, still clad in the robes he’d worn when he was executed. Yun Xi instantly understood the truth: apart from demonic cultivators, the only other suspect who could do such a deed was Li Cang Yuan’s own father, City Lord Li.

Between the two possibilities, she leaned toward the latter. No father would willingly let outsiders desecrate his son’s corpse—but turning his child into a controlled zombie, through the demonic corpse-refining arts, could still be rationalized.

The red-robed zombie continued desperately, “Kill us…or you…won’t survive!”

Yun Xi inhaled sharply. If City Lord Li was anywhere nearby, she truly was in grave danger now.