Killing Intent in the Forest

In dark places, evil thrives.

This low-lying hollow deep within the dense forest had rainwater pooling in it year-round, turning it into a muddy swamp!

The swamp was not large, barely a hundred paces across, but whenever daylight came, Evil Creatures would hide within it.

Black shadows burst from the mire with savage roars and lunged at the group.

Wu Si'an recognized what they were at once and immediately warned Li Yuan and the others.

"They're zombies!"

"Watch their teeth and claws—they carry Corpse Poison!"

Before his words had even faded, the zombie had already pounced before Wu Si'an.

In a flash, Wu Si'an flicked his wrist. The treasured sword hanging at his waist instantly left its sheath, Inner Force surged swiftly through his body, and a streak of sword light slashed toward the zombie!

Li Yuan saw only a dazzling flash of sword light. A deep wound appeared across the zombie's chest and abdomen, nearly cutting it in two!

Struck heavily, the zombie was sent flying by Wu Si'an's sword and crashed down ten paces away.

Before the martial arts school disciples could celebrate, several explosions rang out from the nearby swamp. More black figures emerged and charged toward them!

At the sight of this sudden turn, Li Yuan's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He immediately warned the other four Body Tempering Realm disciples, "There are a lot of zombies! Fall back!"

When ordinary people died, if their corpses were left untreated and exposed in the wilderness, the monsters they were most likely to become were zombies!

Not to mention Corpse Fiends, those aberrations among zombies—even the most ordinary zombie was difficult to deal with.

These zombies had bodies as hard as iron and immense strength. Worse, they carried Corpse Poison. If one became infected, it would be troublesome.

For an ordinary person, encountering a zombie was almost certain death. Even Body Tempering Realm martial artists did not dare claim they could surely kill one. Only Inner Force Realm martial artists could handle them.

There were many zombies emerging from the swamp again—nine in all. Li Yuan and Wu Si'an, both Inner Force Realm martial artists, wore grave expressions as they stood between the zombies and the Body Tempering Realm disciples.

This was Li Yuan's first battle against Evil Creatures. With a loud shout, he struck out with his palm at a zombie already lunging before him.

Li Yuan shifted slightly aside, evading the zombie's slashing claws. Inner Force covered his palm as it landed solidly against the zombie's chest!

Cinnabar Palm!

The Shocking Force in his palm exploded!

A huge crater instantly caved into the zombie's chest as rotten flesh and shattered bones burst apart!

The tremendous palm force sent the zombie flying sideways, smashing it into a nearby tree!

The zombie's body twisted against the trunk into a grotesque arc. A crisp crack rang from its spine—Li Yuan had broken its back!

Yet even so, the zombie was somehow not dead. Its still-moving upper body continued to thrash and crawl across the ground.

Having succeeded with one strike, Li Yuan did not pause in the slightest. His palms whirled up and down, dense palm shadows weaving into a solid wall as two more zombies closed in.

"Ha—"

Li Yuan exhaled with a shout, dodged the zombies' claw strikes, and drove two heavy palms into their bodies.

Two afterimages flew out in opposite directions, tracing arcs before crashing down in the distance.

Li Yuan's moves were clean and decisive. With only three palms, he had brought down three zombies. The fierce, valiant aura erupting from him left the martial arts school disciples who witnessed it deeply shocked.

"So powerful!"

Even Wu Si'an, who was battling a group of zombies, could not help casting Li Yuan another glance at his performance.

His eyes were filled with astonishment. The abundance of Inner Force within Li Yuan was nearly beyond what a martial artist who had only just broken through to the Inner Force Realm could possess.

Could Li Yuan truly be a martial arts prodigy...?

Wu Si'an wielded his sword while Li Yuan used his palms. The two Inner Force Realm martial artists firmly blocked the charging zombies, and soon killed more than half of them.

As the two fought with all their might, a startled cry suddenly came from behind them. Li Yuan was alarmed and hurriedly turned around, only to see that one zombie had actually slipped past him and Wu Si'an and was attacking the junior brothers at the rear.

It was the zombie Li Yuan had sent flying at the start. It had not been fully killed. Even though half its body had been pulverized by the Cinnabar Palm, it had somehow retained the ability to move and charged into the group of junior brothers behind them.

Zombies feared neither death nor pain. Even with only one arm left, it clawed and bit wildly, throwing the junior brothers into chaos. They were now in grave danger!

Li Yuan stamped the ground with the tip of his foot and rushed toward the one-armed zombie, but he was a moment too slow. One martial arts school disciple raised his sword to block the zombie's arm, yet his own arm was still scratched by its claws.

As four disciples surrounded the one-armed zombie, a figure suddenly darted into their midst and slammed a palm heavily onto the zombie's forehead!

The palm force erupted, blasting the zombie's head apart!

The headless body shuddered violently, then collapsed limply to the ground.

After resolving the trouble here, Li Yuan's figure flashed as he returned to support Wu Si'an.

The two Inner Force Realm martial artists unleashed their full strength and quickly wiped out every zombie. Once the battle ended, Wu Si'an let out a long breath and looked at Li Yuan with admiration.

"Junior Brother Li, I never expected you to be this strong."

Originally, Wu Si'an had thought that Li Yuan had only just broken through to the Inner Force Realm, that his strength had yet to stabilize, and that this being his first mission dealing with Evil Creatures, he might lack experience.

If anything urgent happened on Li Yuan's side, Wu Si'an would immediately move in to assist him.

But he had never imagined that Li Yuan would perform so outstandingly. His fight against the zombies had been remarkable in every respect, far better than Wu Si'an's own first mission had been.

Hearing Wu Si'an's praise, Li Yuan gave a faint smile. "Senior Brother Wu, you flatter me."

After confirming that every zombie had been killed, the two came before the four ordinary disciples and looked at the disciple who had been scratched by the zombie.

This disciple was named Hu Guangting. The wound on his forearm had already been infected with Corpse Poison, turning a bluish purple. The veins around the wound had become clearly visible like a spiderweb and were slowly spreading up his arm.

This was the awkward position of Body Tempering Realm martial artists.

They were more than strong enough against ordinary people—one of them could fight ten without issue—but before Evil Creatures, they were not enough. Even four Body Tempering Realm martial artists ganging up on an injured zombie had still ended in disaster.

As the poison ate deeper into him, Hu Guangting found even the pain from his wound weakening. His entire arm was growing numb. The change left him looking at Wu Si'an in panic. "Senior Brother, I've been poisoned."

Zombies were common monsters, and Wu Si'an had traveled outside year-round with abundant experience dealing with them. He took out a yellow talisman from his clothes. It was a Detoxification Talisman he had specially bought from the Special Capture Division, capable of removing most poisons.

Wu Si'an pressed the yellow talisman onto the wound on Hu Guangting's forearm, and milky white spiritual light rose from it.

The yellow talisman turned to ash as the spiritual light enveloped the wound.

After several breaths, the light gradually faded. The bluish-purple color around Hu Guangting's wound had disappeared, and the numbness slowly receded. The Corpse Poison had been removed!

"It's fine. The Corpse Poison is gone."

"Go back, apply some medicine, and bandage it. You'll be all right in a few days."

Wu Si'an patted his shoulder, signaling that he was fine now. Hu Guangting naturally thanked him profusely.

Once everything had been handled, the group got busy again.

They took some iron hooks from their packs, then cut down several long, slender branches. They tied the hooks to the branches with cord and quickly made several long hooked poles, using them to dredge through the swamp.

It was not hard to tell from what had happened earlier that these zombies had killed the two hunters and dragged their bodies into the swamp.

Now that they knew this, they naturally could not leave the corpses here. Otherwise, before long, two more deadly zombies would appear.

Retrieving corpses was naturally not work for Li Yuan and Wu Si'an.

Wu Si'an leaned against a nearby tree to rest briefly, while Li Yuan reflected on the skirmish just now, pondering his mistakes and shortcomings.

The martial arts school disciples gripped the long wooden poles and stirred through the swamp. Before long, they hauled out the two dead hunters.

The two corpses lying on the ground were truly miserable to behold.

Zombies fed on the flesh and blood of living things. Not only were the hunters' bodies mutilated, but all the vital blood in them had been drained away, leaving their entire bodies dry as wood.

Wu Si'an let out a long sigh. "Bring the bodies back so their families can see them one last time."

Several disciples stepped forward, lifted the corpses, and hurried back toward Chen Family Village.