Please stop talking...
"Burp."
To shut the two of them up, Qi Dian had ordered an extra-large serving of fried chicken and cola. The meal had left Old Huang burping nonstop.
As night deepened, the old man finally stepped out of the little room. "I'm off. You two get back to work. Xiao Qi, there's some yellow—"
"Sir, you'd better get going. Your electric scooter's probably getting impatient." Yue Wen hurriedly gave him a push, cutting off his chant.
After seeing the old man off, Yue Wen turned back to Qi Dian. "I'll take care of the Lantern Monsters here, then. Thanks for letting me have the job, Brother Qi."
"No problem." Qi Dian remained as aloof as ever.
There was fog in the eastern suburbs that night. A thin layer of white mist hung over the cemetery, making the atmosphere even more eerie.
Half of the cemetery had been cleared the previous night, and no new Nightmares would appear so soon. Yue Wen went straight to the other half, beyond the hillside. Ghost flames were already flickering there again.
These days, it wasn't easy to find a few Demonic Evils in the city to kill. There were plenty of demons in the Wasteland Zone outside, but his current strength wasn't enough to venture out there.
That was why Yue Wen especially treasured the Lantern Monsters he'd fought so hard to claim. He sprang into action, taking them out one by one with his sword, without the slightest hesitation.
The Lantern Monsters had been clawing and snarling one moment; the next, they were two smoking heaps of wreckage.
He estimated that clearing all the Lantern Monsters in the cemetery would earn him over thirty Demon Suppressing Coins—a pretty substantial haul.
In terms of value for effort, killing Lantern Monsters might be more worthwhile than fighting larger Demonic Evils. They posed no risk, came in large numbers, and kept regenerating endlessly.
Easy kills, no exhaustion, and a bargain to boot.
Yue Wen was already thinking of getting in touch with the other cemeteries in the city once he got back, so he could take on more Lantern Monster-clearing jobs.
It was barely midnight, and Yue Wen was already working at full throttle, nearly done clearing the entire cemetery.
The few Lantern Monsters left were scattered far apart. He needed to put on the Demon-Slaying Mirror and carefully follow the traces of yin energy to make sure he didn't miss a single one.
As soon as he put on the Demon-Slaying Mirror, Yue Wen sensed something was off.
There was no demonic energy tonight, but the yin energy around him was far stronger than the night before. Gray waves of mist filled the entire area!
The gray mist stirred, sending gusts of cold wind through the cemetery.
That didn't make sense.
It was normal for a cemetery to have yin energy, but that energy was mixed with spiritual energy and Nightmare Objects. It would dissipate as the Nightmares were cleared. Since Yue Wen had taken care of most of the Lantern Monsters, the area should have remained clear for a while.
Yet the yin energy was growing thicker. There could only be one explanation.
Something carrying an immense amount of yin energy had arrived.
"This cemetery sure is lively..." Yue Wen muttered, scanning the surroundings for the direction where the yin energy was thickest.
If he were here just to clear Demonic Evils for money, he'd probably be annoyed... Working overtime every day just to earn a couple of coins. Seriously.
But Yue Wen was excited.
As he surveyed the situation, the yin energy grew stronger, and the cemetery's cold winds began to howl. Suddenly, a ripple of spiritual energy stirred in the unseen realm.
Pfft—
A withered, emaciated hand reached out from the ground in front of Yue Wen!
"Hm?" Yue Wen's expression sharpened. "A corpse turning into a zombie? No, someone's using a technique to stir the bodies buried underground!"
As the ground crackled, corpse after corpse—some whole, some mangled—burst from the earth!
The dead had risen!
They groaned and howled miserably, their heads drooping. They didn't attack Yue Wen, who was nearby, and seemed unable to sense him.
They simply walked toward the same place, moving in strange, awkward postures.
Yue Wen looked in that direction. After a moment's thought, he twisted his body and imitated the corpses, drooping his head and contorting his arms and legs as he joined their ranks. As he walked along with them, he mimicked their muffled cries. "Waybi baboo, shee ba shee ba..."
Whoever had caused such a commotion—
Yue Wen wanted to see exactly who it was!
On the western side of the cemetery, at the edge of a wooded slope, stood a dark figure.
He was a tall, slender man dressed in an unmarked black tracksuit. His face was hidden beneath a large hood, with only the faint outline of a hooked nose showing.
A long banner stood beside him. As he formed a hand seal and channeled his power, the banner billowed fiercely, sending out waves of yin energy like the sea. The waves spread through the entire cemetery, awakening the recently buried corpses from their slumber underground.
Intricate patterns in the earth spread out beneath his feet like a spiderweb.
After death, most people retained at least a little spiritual power. Even in ordinary people with weak souls, it took around seven days for that last trace of spiritual power to vanish completely.
The technique he was using was clearly drawing on the remaining spiritual power in the recently buried corpses throughout the cemetery. He turned them into something like puppets, capable of performing simple actions.
The Corpse Summoning Technique.
At a single command, a hundred corpses marched through the night!
In less than five minutes, the recently buried corpses had gathered in the open space below the slope. They stood packed tightly together, a sight that made one's hair stand on end.
Yue Wen was among them. Just as he'd expected, the overwhelming waves of yin energy completely concealed the aura of a living person.
Seeing the crowd of corpses fall into formation, the black-clad man on the slope let out a sinister laugh. Then he flipped his hand and pulled out... a phone.
He opened a messaging app and began recording a video. As he filmed the corpses from left to right, he said, "Boss, take a look. The mission's going smoothly. Everyone buried recently in the cemetery east of the city is here. There are a lot of them. Most of the corpses are too bloodied and mangled to identify from photos, so just tell me the target's name. I only need to call it out, and I can make him step forward."
Seconds after he sent the video, the other party replied with two words.
The black-clad man read them, put away his phone, and looked down at the group of corpses. In a low voice, he chanted, "The law is ever-changing; my command rules yin and yang! Whoever hears the name I call, take one step forward... Zhang Wei!"
As he used his supernatural power, the corpses began to sway their heads, stirring restlessly. At the call of that name, over ten corpses suddenly shuddered all over and stepped forward in unison!
Smack.
Their synchronized footsteps landed with a dull thud.
"..." The black-clad man seemed at a loss for words. Then he took out his phone again and sent a voice message. "Boss, do you have any more information? There are over ten people named Zhang Wei here... I can't exactly haul all of them back, can I? Try to give me something related to what the person did before he died. Otherwise, whatever's left of his spiritual power might not respond."
The other party took only a few seconds to reply.
"Heh heh." The black-clad man gave a sinister chuckle and called out again. "The law is ever-changing; my command rules yin and yang! Whoever fits what I describe, take one step forward... Zhang Wei, who'd just been working unpaid overtime at his company before he died!"
At his shout, half of the ten or so Zhang Weis who'd stepped forward took another step!
"..." Staring at the six or seven corpses in front of him, the black-clad man frowned deeply and muttered, "Capitalists these days really are awful."
He sent another voice message to the person on the other end. "Several of them had worked overtime before they died. Do you have anything else? Maybe an obsession the deceased had throughout his life?"
A moment later, the other party finally sent another reply.
"This should do it, right?" The black-clad man lifted his head and called out once more. "Whoever fits what I describe, take one step forward... Zhang Wei, who worked overtime at the company every day and had never had a girlfriend his entire life—a lifelong bachelor!"
"Waybi baboo, waaah!"
At his command, four corpses came forward, wailing as they went!
Listening closely, their "waybi baboo" clearly meant, "Please, stop talking..."
"Damn it, are you people ever going to stop?" The black-clad man completely lost it. "What kind of world is this? There's more than one person this miserable?"
Hidden among the corpses, Yue Wen noticed that one of them was wearing a tracksuit with suspenders and had a middle-parted hairstyle. He suddenly recalled what Black Meow had said the day before.
The employer behind this black-clad man was looking for the same person as the three cat demons had been yesterday!
Just as the black-clad man seemed on the verge of breaking down and was about to message the other party again, a sharp shout suddenly rang out in the distance.
"Reckless heretic—"
Good morning!
Before the book goes on sale, I'm planning to hold a monthly-ticket raffle for a month. I've never done this before, so I thought I'd give it a try. Anyone who has voted for this book with a monthly ticket from October 20, the day it was published, through the third day after it goes on sale can enter. There are lots of prizes, so you've all got a chance!
Haha, though I'm too lazy to prepare a bunch of gifts, so I'm thinking of just sending out cash red packets.
(Thanks to the operations manager for all the hard work.)
[Activity Requirements]
Take a screenshot of your monthly-ticket voting record for this book, covering the period from the release of I Have Seen Dragons through the third day after it goes on sale, and post it in the activity thread to enter the raffle. You're welcome to vote in multiple batches. The last four digits of the screenshot's ticket number will be used as your raffle number.
[How to Participate]
Qidian APP:
My Account—Monthly Tickets—Monthly Ticket Commemorative Album—Screenshot of this book's voting record
[Prizes]
Grand Prize: 1 winner, 200 yuan
First Prize: 4 winners, 100 yuan each
Second Prize: 8 winners, 50 yuan each
Third Prize: 16 winners, 1,000 points each
Fourth Prize: 32 winners, 500 points each
Fifth Prize: 50 winners, 200 points each
Consolation Prize: 80 winners, 100 points each
There will also be 10 fan titles awarded to readers with at least disciple-level fan value for any of Pei Bu Liao's books. (You'll need to provide a screenshot showing your fan value for any of his books.)
[Total Prize Explanation]
Each person can receive a maximum of 3,000 points. Any points exceeding that amount will automatically be returned to the prize pool and drawn again.
Before you continue