Midsummer nights were sultry, the insects' chirping hidden in the gloom.
The night wind carried the sounds of patrolling soldiers through the cracks in doors and windows, yet it could not bring Changlan City's residents the slightest sense of safety.
Even in the scorching summer heat, every household kept its doors tightly shut.
This was especially true in the west of the city.
Deep within a shabby alley, behind a tightly barred wicker door, darkness was so complete one could not see one's own hand.
Pure moonlight filtered through a crack in the door, casting a patch of light onto the hard bed and illuminating a bare-chested figure whose snores rumbled like thunder.
Suddenly!
Ripples spread across the mud-plastered wall, like fish lips kissing the water's surface, and spat out a pale, bloodless head.
It was a human head, seemingly fourteen or fifteen years old, its skin deathly white and covered in livor mortis.
Clouded gray-white eyes reflected every corner of the shabby room.
Once it had confirmed that everything was normal, it opened its mouth and exhaled a puff of green smoke.
The instant that green smoke left its mouth, it rolled thicker and thicker. In the blink of an eye, it filled the entire room, driving away the last trace of light.
It also seeped into the nostrils and mouth of the man on the hard bed.
In an instant, the thunderous snoring stopped abruptly, and the man sank into an even deeper, deathlike sleep.
The corpse-spotted head was satisfied.
It extended two arms, likewise covered in corpse spots, from the ripples, braced them against either side of the wall, and slowly pulled its body out.
—It was actually a zombie!
For some reason, however, one of its feet was missing a section.
Still, that did not affect its movements.
Like a ghost, it drifted to the hard bed, seized the man by both shoulders, and slowly opened its mouth.
Its mouth opened wider and wider, even exceeding the limits of its jawbone. Like a gluttonous giant python, it swallowed the man's head in one bite, then smoothly gulped down his entire body.
"Crack..."
A hair-raising sound of breaking came from the zombie's stomach.
Yet the sound was crisp, unlike the breaking of human bones.
"Bleurgh!"
Suddenly, the zombie's face twisted. It threw open its mouth and vomited out the man it had just swallowed.
"Splash..."
Who would have thought that what the zombie swallowed had been a man, yet what it spat out was... a lifelike paper effigy?!!
Viscous gastric fluid bled into the ink of the paper effigy, blurring its face. Like a clown, it seemed to mock the man-eating zombie that had succeeded in crime time and again.
"Does the paper man I personally made taste good?"
A teasing laugh came from outside the door. It was Daoist priest Yi Qian.
The zombie's expression changed drastically at the sound. It lunged at the wall, opened its mouth, and spewed out green smoke.
Spray Transformation.
—There was a prophetic saying: spray an object, and it could be transformed.
Unexpectedly, the Spray Transformation Technique, which had worked time after time, failed today.
After being touched by the green smoke, the mud wall swiftly lost its color and turned into a paper house painted with doors and windows.
"You've already enjoyed the paper man. Why not stay in this paper residence a few more days?"
Daoist priest Yi Qian's mocking voice came again.
At the same time, brilliant golden light suddenly burst forth inside the paper residence. Streams of Daoist scriptures flowed through it, intending to refine the zombie alive.
"Roar—"
This zombie clearly possessed intelligence. Hearing this, it let out an angry roar and lashed out with a claw.
The paper residence that could block its Spray Transformation Technique could not block its sharp claws. A huge tear instantly split across it.
The clamor of Changlan City surged in, magnified through the opening.
"This fiend is ferocious! Don't let it escape!"
Daoist priest Yi Qian's voice changed sharply.
"I'll do it!"
An utterly furious roar rang out!
Along with it came the shriek of a blade cutting through the night!
The zombie that had just broken free of the paper residence looked up to see a Zhanmadao with a three-foot blade and a four-foot handle whistling toward it!
"Whoosh—"
The zombie opened its mouth and spat out green smoke.
Unexpectedly, the long blade seemed to have anticipated this. It abruptly changed direction, veering aside to avoid the green smoke—and missing the zombie's face as well.
Behind the cover of green smoke, Luo Feibai's eyes were bloodshot. His bull-like eyes flew wide as he stared at the zombie in shock.
His lips trembled. "...Jialiang."
—Jialiang was his eldest son, the one eaten by a monster.
"Roar!"
Mockery flashed through the zombie's eyes at those words. With a low growl, it thrust out a venomous claw!
In an instant, Luo Feibai was sent flying backward. He hit the ground and vomited blood without end.
Having dealt with its immediate threat, the zombie opened its mouth again and exhaled green smoke. The smoke seeped into the ground; grass and trees withered, insects perished.
Yet the transformation the zombie sought did not occur in the slightest.
Its prophetic power had been exhausted!
—Even a yellow-furred weasel seeking canonization consumed human lifespans and lives. How much more so a dead man's body?
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Just then, countless projectiles split the air. Buddhist martial monks had arrived together to kill it!
Sabers, swords, halberds, staffs, cudgels... weapons of every kind came chopping down.
"Roar—"
The zombie roared in fury, no longer concealing its human appearance. Black fur surged over its body, and it grew as burly as a wild black bear, forcibly taking all eighteen kinds of weapons with its flesh alone.
Ignoring everything else, it fixed on one direction, dropped to all fours, and charged forward in a trampling rush.
"Bang!"
Though these Buddhist martial monks possessed a trace of Mana, how could they be a match for a great demon versed in sorcery?
Several martial monks were immediately smashed flying, opening a gap in the encirclement.
The zombie had no intention of fighting further. After crashing through the crowd, it rushed straight for a mud wall. It did not even use the firewood gate—truly cautious and cunning!
Little did it know that the Buddhist martial monks' mission had never been to kill the enemy.
That brief obstruction had already bought Abbot Tianbao enough time!
"Amitabha!"
A Buddhist invocation rang out, followed by a flash of golden light.
As the zombie turned its head at the sound, it saw a golden Buddhist seal blazing with fury slam down from above.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."
The Buddhist seal entered its body like a branding iron thrust into snow, burning out billowing white smoke. The acrid stench was enough to make one dizzy.
Yet the zombie with the Buddhist seal in its body acted as though nothing had happened. Its body did not even pause. Agile as a cat, it climbed the mud wall and darted out.
"Not good! This zombie may have cultivated into a great demon! Quickly, launch fireworks as a warning!"
Abbot Tianbao's face changed drastically after his strike failed, and he immediately shouted the warning.
Streams of fireworks rose into the sky.
They lit the vast city bright as day!
At that moment, all of Changlan City suddenly fell silent.
Countless people of the Jianghu looked up at the night sky in astonishment.
The dazzling fireworks rising steadily overhead painted the city in color, and painted everyone's faces in gaudy reds and greens.
Like those motley ambitions and desires!
"Hahaha, the evil beast has appeared!"
"Move, move!"
"To build merit and make a name, to win a wife and shelter one's sons—it all happens tonight!"
In an instant, the entire city erupted, its clamor boiling over the heavens.
Countless Jianghu experts' eyes turned red as they risked their lives rushing toward the fireworks.
"Bang!"
Another firework shot into the sky, marking the evil beast's escape route.
"Quick, quick, quick! Don't let someone else seize the first move."
Seeing another firework shoot up, the crowd grew ever more frantic. How could those be fireworks?
They were clearly embroidered balls thrown by a wealthy young lady!
"Fellow Daoist, this old monk will take his leave first!"
In the small courtyard in the west of the city, Abbot Tianbao called out before leading his Buddhist disciples away in a rushing gale.
They went after the zombie.
As for Daoist priest Yi Qian, he had not even offered a farewell before he vanished without a trace.
One moment, the courtyard had been as noisy as a marketplace; the next, it became as silent as a secluded mountain forest.
Mo Chuan, who had witnessed everything from beginning to end, let out a sigh full of emotion.
No one had expected that their carefully arranged trap still could not hold this great demon.
No wonder it had come and gone through Changlan City like the wind, abducting countless people!
It turned out that, after visiting and investigating, Abbot Tianbao, a local man, had discovered that the birth dates and times of everyone who vanished in Changlan City belonged to those of extreme yin or extreme yang!
Though he did not know the evil entity's purpose, that did not stop him from laying a trap around it.
That was how the scene before them had come to be.
The reason he had invited Mo Chuan was also because of Mo Chuan's reputation, to share some of the risk.
Fortunately, Mo Chuan had stated early on that he excelled at dealing with ghosts. He had not made a single move against the zombie this time, so it could not be considered a betrayal of trust.
"Daoist, cough, cough... th-that... was that my son?"
A bitter voice came over.
The small courtyard had not been completely emptied.
Luo Feibai, who looked like a corpse, shakily pushed himself up with his Zhanmadao. Hope shone in his eyes as he looked toward Mo Chuan.
"What did you say?"
Mo Chuan's pupils contracted sharply, and the image of the zombie's missing foot suddenly flashed through his mind.
If that zombie was Luo Feibai's son, and he had died only a day ago, where had such heaven-reaching cultivation come from?
Before you continue