The Unexplored Land

Zhang Yuanqing returned to the main hall, bathing in the candlelight to soothe the sharp pain of his recurring old ailment while taking the opportunity to perform a purification on himself.

Based on his calculations, the vengeful spirit would be upon him within a minute or two; this was certainly not the time to enter the east courtyard and face the zombie head-on.

After resting for four or five minutes, his physical state only grew worse, with his headache accompanied by a slight dizziness. He knew the corpse poison was gradually eroding his body, and the initial symptoms were manifesting.

The candlelight in the main hall seemed unable to purify the toxins within his body.

I can't drag this out any longer.

He needed to take advantage of the Red Dancing Shoes' thirty-minute time limit to finish the fight quickly and clear the dungeon in one go.

Zhang Yuanqing left the main hall, following the pebble path as he wove through the overgrown weeds to reach the courtyard house.

Standing in the swaying weeds of the courtyard, he opened his inventory and summoned the Red Dancing Shoes.

Two dark red glimmers danced nimbly through the night, coalescing into a pair of brand-new dancing shoes.

Select second form!

Zhang Yuanqing silently chanted in his mind.

The Red Dancing Shoes dissolved back into dark red light, tracing two arcs through the air before wrapping around his feet.

In an instant, his running shoes transformed into a pair of oversized red dancing shoes.

This—isn't this just cross-dressing in disguise? At least they're red dancing shoes and not high heels. Zhang Yuanqing looked at his feet, feeling rather uncomfortable and strange.

He forced himself to ignore this detail, took out the Zombie Suppressing Talisman, and gripped it in his hand. Amidst the "rustling" of the large banyan tree, he passed through the arched gate and arrived at the east courtyard once more.

In the east courtyard, the weeds swayed under the bright moonlight, and the two large houses stood silently; everything was so tranquil.

He carefully scanned his surroundings, seeing no trace of the zombie, and immediately crossed the courtyard with caution, approaching the large house divided into four rooms.

The wooden door to the room displaying the coffin had already been knocked off its hinges. He didn't need to enter; he simply peered into the room from afar, over the threshold.

Moonlight shone in through a gap in the roof tiles. The corpse, the coffin, the overturned lid, and that Brass Pestle all sat quietly in their original spots, not moved in the slightest.

There was no sign of the zombie in the room.

Could it have crawled back into the coffin?

From his angle, he couldn't see the inside of the coffin.

Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly noticed the moonlight dimming as a black shadow descended from the sky, enveloping him.

Immediately after, the night wind carried a thick stench of rot, accompanied by a low, guttural growl.

It—it was hiding in the tree? Zhang Yuanqing was terrified, his heart constricting as he instinctively thought to dodge.

The next moment, the Red Dancing Shoes on his feet lit up with a dark red glow. Before Zhang Yuanqing could even react, his feet slipped, and he slid forward, carving a trench through the weeds.

Bang!

The zombie, wrapped in tattered rags, lunged into empty air.

Dodged—I dodged it. Zhang Yuanqing scrambled to his feet, overjoyed, his heart finally settling back into his chest.

The Red Dancing Shoes were truly miraculous; their evasion ability was even stronger than he had anticipated. With his own reaction time, it would have been impossible to dodge the zombie's pounce.

Zhang Yuanqing's confidence surged.

"Hrrgh."

The zombie, its hair like withered grass, let out a roar that vibrated his eardrums. Its bulging eyes grew even more ferocious as it bent its knees, lunging at its prey once more.

Its speed was like a car racing at high velocity.

Amidst the foul wind, the terrifying undead was already right before his eyes. Zhang Yuanqing's feet twisted uncontrollably, performing a ballet-like spin that smoothly carved out a semicircle, allowing him to avoid the sharp claws while cutting behind the zombie.

Immediately after, he "naturally" performed a split, his body suddenly collapsing. A gust of wind whistled over his head as two arms swept through the air.

I—I pulled a muscle! Zhang Yuanqing's face twisted, and he desperately wanted to clutch his crotch and scream, but the Red Dancing Shoes had already manipulated his legs to jump, springing him upward.

He soared high, his feet kicking hard against the zombie's chest.

Bang!

With a dull thud, fine dust kicked up from the zombie's tattered, ragged clothes.

It let out a roar of angry frustration, sent sprawling onto its back by the immense force of the kick.

Opportunity! Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing ignored the tearing pain in his groin and sprinted forward, slamming the Zombie Suppressing Talisman he held in his hand onto that highly decomposed, foul-smelling face.

He slapped it right onto its forehead.

Slap!

The violent, bloodthirsty zombie froze instantly, as if struck by a binding spell.

All movement ceased, and the area returned to silence.

The zombie lay stiffly in the weeds, the scarlet light in its hideous eyes slowly fading.

It had lost its "vitality."

Looking at the zombie, now turned into a clay statue unable to wreak havoc, Zhang Yuanqing panted heavily, exhaustion and joy surging into his heart together.

He had survived!

"Without the help of the Red Dancing Shoes, it would be difficult to deal with the zombie single-handedly. And the zombie is only one of the anomalies; as expected of an S-rank Spirit Realm, it's far too difficult."

"But the construction team had many people. Logically speaking, dealing with a zombie shouldn't have been a problem. A group of grown men—how could they have been so incompetent..."

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly sighed. He knew the reason now.

The Zombie Suppressing Talisman was found in the pocket of the corpse under the window. That predecessor had obtained this item, but instead of telling his companions, he had kept it for himself.

The human heart is more complex than ghosts and monsters, and far more terrifying.

With the zombie dealt with, the next step is to go to the well and find that shameless female ghost.

However, before that, there was something else that Zhang Yuanqing found very concerning.

He left the zombie behind and walked toward the room where the coffins were displayed. Supporting himself on the doorframe, he stepped over the threshold. In the dim room, moonlight poured in like a beam.

He paused before the desiccated corpse, bent down, and picked up the bronze pestle.

Despite being a bronze object, it didn't feel cold in his hand; instead, it felt as warm and smooth as jade.

Immediately, a message appeared in his field of vision.

[Name: Demon Subduing Pestle]
[Type: Weapon]
[Function: Purification, Spirit Suppression, Demon Breaking]
[Introduction: A weapon containing the divine power of the sun, the nemesis of all yin entities. Sacrifice essence blood to this pestle to obtain the power of the Sun God.]
[Note: Powerful? You paid for it with your life.]

It really was an item. Judging by the functional description, it seemed even stronger than the candle in the main hall. The predecessor from the construction team must have intended to use it to kill the zombie but failed. Sigh, they had already lost too many men before even dealing with the zombie. Zhang Yuanqing felt fortunate that he had made the right judgment.

He had cleverly utilized the Red Dancing Shoes to overcome the difficulty.

Of course, the predecessors from the construction team had no choice; they couldn't have subdued this rule-type item, and the vast majority of them had died under the trampling of the Red Dancing Shoes.

"With this item that specifically counters yin entities, combined with the Red Dancing Shoes, my probability of clearing the trial mission has greatly increased."

Holding the Demon Subduing Pestle, a surge of powerful confidence rose in his heart. Before the five minutes were up, he left the room and returned to the courtyard.

This time, he headed straight for the ancient well to conduct a final investigation.

The mouth of the well was deep and dark, and a damp, rotting scent of vegetation surged upward.

Go down and take a look. Zhang Yuanqing gripped the Demon Subduing Pestle, assumed a defensive stance, and placed one foot on the well rim. Then, he simply walked down, treading on the well wall as if it were flat ground.

If it were before, he certainly wouldn't have dared to go down and explore. Not to mention whether there was danger at the bottom of the well, without ropes or helpers, jumping to the bottom would have been seeking his own death.

Soon, he successfully reached the shallow bottom of the well, where the moonlight was already very faint.

The water in the well had long since dried up. The bottom was covered in black silt, with clumps of weeds growing along the edges and dark green moss crawling up the well walls.

"There's no ghost in the well."

Zhang Yuanqing frowned, thinking to himself, That's not right. I clearly saw a faceless female ghost peering out from the well.

He checked the bottom of the well repeatedly, but because the wearing time of the Red Dancing Shoes was limited, he eventually had to helplessly tread up the steep well wall to return to the surface, then hurried back under the eaves of the main hall.

Only then did he safely remove the Red Dancing Shoes.

In the main hall, bathed in the dim candlelight, Zhang Yuanqing leaned against the offering table, looking haggard. The corpse poison's erosion of his body had deepened; following the dizziness, symptoms like difficulty breathing and pain in his heart and lungs had appeared.

There wasn't much time left.

"I have already explored both backyards and successfully subdued the zombie. The mission hasn't ended yet, which means there is somewhere I haven't explored..."

Every room in the backyard had been explored, and he had even gone to the bottom of the well; it was impossible for there to be any oversight.

So, where could it be?

When you eliminate all possibilities, the remaining one, no matter how incredible, must be the truth. He muttered to himself and slowly propped up his body.

The place he hadn't "explored" was right here—the very main hall before his eyes.

Zhang Yuanqing's gaze slowly swept across the main hall and finally rested on the clay statue of the Lady of Three Paths Mountain. When he first entered the main hall, a detail on the statue had made him very curious.

The statue's right hand was empty but held in a grasping posture, indicating that it was originally holding something.

He hadn't known what she was originally holding before, but now he did.

It was the Demon Subduing Pestle.

Holding onto the mentality that there was no harm in trying, Zhang Yuanqing stepped forward, inserted the golden Demon Subduing Pestle into the palm of the clay statue, then jumped off the pedestal and retreated a few steps.

Almost the moment he stepped back, the surface of the pedestal cracked with a "crunch," a dense cloud of dust puffed up from the fissures, and the entire pedestal collapsed, revealing a pitch-black underground cavern.