Life Is Like Dew

The howling gale swept up dust and haze that filled the sky, while the wanton Flying Zombie kindled boundless terror.

The Flying Zombie had emerged, piercing heaven and cleaving earth!

With but a single glance, Mo Chuan felt as though he had been struck by lightning at the sight of that figure soaring upward. The blood throughout his body nearly froze solid!

Though it was called a Flying Zombie, it was in truth no different from a human.

Clad in a flowing azure robe like a refined scholar, it appeared no more than thirty years old. Yet the wicked aura coiling around its body, so dense it was nearly solid, made all who saw it quake with fear.

Rolling demon winds accompanied it on either side, blowing until even the sun and moon seemed to lose their light.

Mo Chuan had seen zombies in Changlan City, and he had also seen the Great Five-Armored Demon with its three hundred years of cultivation.

Yet the majesty of that Great Five-Armored Demon, beside this thousand-year Flying Zombie, was like a firefly before the bright moon, a trickling stream before the vast ocean.

There was no basis for comparison at all!

He could not even summon the will to resist. Like a mouse seeing a cat, terror and submission rose from the depths of his soul.

That sense of submission filled him with particular shame and fury.

But that fury swiftly turned to horror.

"Kunlun..."

A deep murmur suddenly came from the figure suspended high in the air. It echoed through the empty valley and struck at the secret buried deepest within Mo Chuan's heart.

"Sir, run! This poor Daoist has a way to escape. Let this poor Daoist test the mettle of this thousand-year-old demon!"

After shouting his warning, Mo Chuan abruptly halted in the midst of his flight.

He turned and raised his head to look at the figure hanging in the sky.

"Fellow Daoist—" Wei Lai instinctively stopped as well.

"Run! Stop dawdling!" Mo Chuan barked.

"Take care, Fellow Daoist. We shall meet again in Jiang City!"

Gritting his teeth, Wei Lai unleashed the yuanqi throughout his body, transforming into a streak of light as he fled madly beyond the village.

Mo Chuan watched Wei Lai's retreating back, drew a deep breath, and cupped his hands toward the Flying Zombie floating overhead.

"This humble Rogue Cultivator Ming Chen greets you, Senior!"

The thousand-year Flying Zombie seemed drawn in by Mo Chuan's greeting.

Without even sparing a glance for the fleeing Wei Lai, it seemed to grow a stairway beneath its feet and drift lightly down.

Once it drew near, it actually examined Mo Chuan closely. After a long while, it gently shook its head and sighed.

"What a pity. It was nurtured with blood and vital essence. No wonder its divine abilities never awakened—it is ultimately but mortal flesh and ordinary eyes!"

An Earth-born Fetus was also known as a Kunlun Fetus.

Only after ten thousand years could it develop sentience and comprehend divine abilities.

It was a mountain god bestowed by heaven.

Yet the Kunlun Fetus Mo Chuan occupied had ultimately been nourished by the Great Five-Armored Demon, Lu Fengbei, using the fetal breath and blood essence of countless people.

It had been crippled from birth. Forget divine abilities—even the various mysteries of an Earth-born Fetus were absent from it.

Calling it mortal flesh and ordinary eyes was no exaggeration.

Mo Chuan knew its origins. Seeing the thousand-year Flying Zombie expose them in a single breath, he was shocked—but also seized by the urge to probe further.

Suppressing the fear in his heart, he cupped his hands. "Senior, you have keen eyes indeed! May I ask how someone in this junior's condition might resolve it?"

The thousand-year Flying Zombie watched Mo Chuan with a smile that was not quite a smile. Thinking Mo Chuan was merely buying time for his companion, it gave a soft laugh.

"Neither difficult nor simple. Find the acupoint of an earth vein, bury yourself within it anew, and reconnect with the earth vein's qi. A few thousand years later, divine abilities will naturally arise!"

Mo Chuan forced a shameless smile. "This junior's body may perhaps last a thousand years, but my soul would likely have scattered long ago. May I ask, Senior, whether there is another method?"

The thousand-year Flying Zombie said, "Then find a great baleful acupoint and bury yourself there for one or two sixty-year cycles. You will surely become a Flying Zombie, and perhaps even obtain a trace of Hanba's intent!"

Mo Chuan was dumbfounded!

"A thousand years is too long, and in a hundred years, too many dreams may arise. I have another method—one that can grant immortality between dawn and dusk!"

A smile emerged on the thousand-year Flying Zombie's face.

"What method?"

"Return this body's blood and vital essence to me, and you and I shall share immortality."

As the thousand-year Flying Zombie finished speaking, it suddenly raised a hand. Mo Chuan's entire body shuddered, and the blood and vital essence around him began to boil, pouring from his seven apertures and nine orifices toward the thousand-year Flying Zombie.

Sacrificial Dao Furnace

Mo Chuan instinctively prepared to cut off the incense offering supply and make a run for it—the best course was to flee.

Yet just then, an angry roar rang out.

"You old demon, do not take human lives!"

The shout had barely risen when a bolt of lightning, blazing across the nine heavens and swallowing rainbow vapors, descended from above and engulfed the thousand-year Flying Zombie entirely.

The scattering arcs of electricity that landed on Mo Chuan even gave him the sensation that his soul was about to be extinguished.

Mo Chuan forcibly suppressed his urge to flee. The Art of Ascending and Copying sprang to life, and he darted backward like a nimble fox.

At the same time, as he glanced back, he discovered to his astonishment that Wei Lai had... returned after leaving.

"Why the hell did you come back? Is something wrong with your brain?"

Mo Chuan stared at him as though he were an idiot. Fuck, I was already preparing to grab my bucket and run. Why the hell did you come back?

"I knew it—your plan to escape was merely a stopgap excuse! This began because of me. How could I abandon you and leave alone, Fellow Daoist?!"

Wei Lai smiled at Mo Chuan. His face was still deathly pale, but it now bore a few more traces of the resolve to die righteously.

Mo Chuan continued to look at him as though he were an idiot.

"Do you think this is a play? What, we've even got a deus ex machina now?"

"A deus ex machina?"

Wei Lai found the words strange and was just about to ask when the rolling thunder exploded with a boom. A pitch-black figure burst from within and crashed toward Wei Lai.

It moved so swiftly that the eye could not grasp it.

By the time Mo Chuan's vision caught it, the ten-zhang distance was filled with nothing but afterimages, while Wei Lai's body had already been hurled into the air.

A dim talisman wrapped around his body, spinning without end.

It was precisely this talisman that had blocked the thousand-year Flying Zombie's brutal collision.

"Taiyi Dao!"

The thousand-year Flying Zombie's expression shifted slightly upon seeing the talisman. Then it broke into a savage grin. "Blood and vital essence nourished by talisman water must surely be even sweeter!"

With that, its figure streaked through the sky like a startled swan and lunged straight at him.

As Wei Lai watched the Flying Zombie charge at him like a ferocious beast, time itself seemed to freeze at that moment.

A thousand thoughts flooded his heart, ultimately turning into a single sigh.

"...A life like dew!"

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the ferocious beast crashed into his body.

The damaged talisman rose to meet the force. It had time for only a mournful cry before it turned into wisps of green smoke and scattered between heaven and earth.

"My life is over!"

Wei Lai sighed inwardly. In an instant, endless darkness swallowed his vision.

"...Is this death?"

Wei Lai murmured. He instinctively tried to gather his soul and cast off his corpse to emerge as a Yin Spirit... but as his mind concentrated, his soul remained firmly embedded in its mortal shell.

He was not dead?

Th-this... how was that possible?

As his mind trembled, the endless darkness suddenly dispersed in that very instant.

The incomparably valiant thousand-year Flying Zombie was gone!

The ancient village had vanished as well.

In its place stood an exquisitely furnished dwelling, bizarre beyond measure.

Wei Lai's eyes were full of bewilderment.

As he looked around, crystal bead strings glimmered from the vaulted ceiling;

Delicate paintings hung upon the snow-white walls, though their stories were impossible to discern;

A square mirror with a black backing stood before him, reflecting his astonished expression;

The table was piled with brushes, ink, yellow paper, and talisman fragments;

Beneath the table lay rolls of Daoist scripture, casually stacked together.

"Click!"

A faint opening sound drew Wei Lai's attention.

Following the sound, he saw Fellow Daoist Ming Chen opening a silver-gray metal cabinet, from which billowing cold air poured.

He took out two bamboo-joint-shaped crimson objects and tossed one toward him.

"Here, calm your nerves!"

As he spoke, he casually opened the other one, brought it to his lips, tilted back his head, and gulped it down in one go.

"Phew—refreshing!"

Fellow Daoist Ming Chen drained the contents in one gulp and exhaled in immense satisfaction before setting the crimson object on the table.

"Fellow Daoist, what is this?"

Wei Lai stared at the icy object in his hand, cool against his skin and hard as mysterious iron, his heart filled with doubts.

"Cola. Want to try it?"

Wei Lai glanced curiously at the cola Fellow Daoist Ming Chen had set on the table.

With a thought, he imitated the fleeting image he had seen and pulled open the round aluminum ring.

Pop!

In an instant, a great gush of dark brown liquid surged forth, bubbling like the poison of witchcraft.

Wei Lai looked up in astonishment at Mo Chuan.

Mo Chuan: "..."

The next chapter will be very late, so do not wait. Also, the secret of transmigration will not be exposed, so do not worry. Just watch as I unfold the tale.