Perish Together

About a mile from the site of the lightning tribulation, Uncle Nine and Qiusheng watched the place from afar, their hearts filled with overwhelming shock.

Given Uncle Nine's cultivation, and the fact that the Zombie King was an existence the heavens and earth would not tolerate, the lightning tribulation was already terrifying.

Now the Heavenly Master had entered the tribulation, only adding fuel to the fire. The already fearsome lightning grew twice as powerful, and its dread-inspiring heavenly might nearly left Qiusheng unable to breathe.

"Master, do you think the Zombie King can survive this lightning tribulation?"

Qiusheng watched the site with a grave expression and asked quietly.

"Unlikely. It'll be difficult—there's almost no chance of surviving."

A solemn look crossed Uncle Nine's face as he spoke in a low voice.

"Can the old Heavenly Master make it out alive?"

"Alas, with a tribulation like this, how could a mortal who enters it possibly survive?"

The master and his disciple watched the extraordinary sight from far away, their emotions in turmoil.

Suddenly, Qiusheng furrowed his brow slightly, as if he had remembered something.

"By the way, Master, where's Ren Weiyong?"

"Hm?"

At Qiusheng's words, Uncle Nine immediately furrowed his brow.

"Damn it, how could I have forgotten that wretch?"

Qiusheng stared, dumbfounded, at Uncle Nine, who seemed to have only just remembered. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Master, what do you mean? Don't you have the Bagua Mirror? Why not use it again?"

"Although the Innate Bagua Mirror can point to the location of evil beings, we don't have a medium anymore, so we can't use it now."

Uncle Nine looked awkwardly at Qiusheng and explained helplessly.

"Then what do we do now?"

"It's fine. I badly injured that beast, so it probably can't come out and cause trouble for now."

"Once tonight's business is over, you can take Ren Wei around here tomorrow and see if you can find him."

Uncle Nine gave Qiusheng his instructions.

He knew that trying to find Ren Weiyong this way was like searching for a needle in a haystack. It was practically impossible.

Still, they had to try. Maybe they'd get lucky and find him.

Qiusheng could only nod in agreement.

Just then, the lightning tribulation in the distance finally ended. Seeing that the area had grown calm, Uncle Nine immediately led Qiusheng back there.

"Hiss!"

At the terrifying sight before him, Qiusheng couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.

A deep pit, about two zhang deep and one zhang wide, gaped in the ground before them.

At the bottom lay a single charred corpse, with a three-foot green sword that looked extraordinary embedded in its chest.

"Master, is this the Zombie King that Zhou Kun transformed into?"

Qiusheng edged closer to Uncle Nine and asked in a low voice.

"It should be. I never expected a Zombie King's body to be so terrifying. No wonder they say a Golden Armored Corpse King can't be killed completely."

Uncle Nine answered quietly as he looked at the remains at the bottom of the pit. Then he leaped down into it.

Seeing his master move, Qiusheng immediately followed him.

Once the two reached the bottom, Uncle Nine went over first and examined the remains.

A Zombie King was nearly the pinnacle of the zombie path, so he didn't dare be careless.

If this Zombie King wasn't completely dead, who knew whether he might suddenly revive one day and wreak havoc across the world again?

But while his master examined the remains cautiously, Qiusheng was rather more heavy-handed.

He casually pulled out the Mystic Dao Seal and stamped it down on the corpse.

A familiar dragon's roar rang out at once. Golden light blazed from the Mystic Dao Seal again, and it slammed hard into the remains.

"Crack!"

At the sharp sound, the charred corpse disintegrated beneath Qiusheng's blow, its scorched remains turning into ash that scattered through the air.

When the ash had dispersed, only a three-foot green sword remained, still standing upright where it had been embedded.

"You brat, you're far too reckless."

Seeing that the remains had vanished, Uncle Nine turned and scolded Qiusheng. Then he pulled the three-foot green sword from the ground and gently ran his hand over it.

"Master, what kind of sword is this? Does it have a great history?"

Qiusheng didn't take Uncle Nine's scolding to heart.

He'd only been trying to see if he could score a lucky find and land a finishing blow on the Zombie King. If it hadn't been dead and he'd finished it off, that would've earned him a staggering number of Exorcism Points.

What a pity. The Zombie King was clearly dead, and not just dead, but completely and utterly dead. Honestly, Qiusheng found that a little disappointing.

"Hmph, of course this sword is extraordinary. It's the Jingzhen Sword, forged by Old Heavenly Master Zhang Xianchu as an imitation of the Male and Female Evil-Slaying Swords. It ranks among the finest magical artifacts of our time."

Uncle Nine glanced sidelong at Qiusheng as he spoke, but Qiusheng didn't seem impressed by his explanation.

"Oh, so it's an imitation. I thought it was the real thing."

Seeing his disciple's complete lack of interest, Uncle Nine couldn't help tapping him on the head with the Jingzhen Sword.

"You don't know the first thing about it. This Jingzhen Sword is a supreme treasure on par with the Innate Bagua Mirror and Mystic Dao Seal I have. Why does it sound worthless when you put it that way?"

After hearing Uncle Nine's explanation, Qiusheng couldn't help asking,

"Master, didn't you say those two great treasures of yours were the Maoshan Sect's sacred treasures? How can they be on equal footing with someone else's imitation?"

"You don't know the first thing about it. The Zhengyi Sect on Longhu Mountain isn't like our little Maoshan Sect. They have a long history, a deep treasury, and a steady succession of Heavenly Masters."

"And every one of those Heavenly Masters was better at refining treasures than the successive patriarchs of our Maoshan Sect."

"After all, in the entire Maoshan lineage, only our founding patriarch ever surpassed the Earth Master peak in cultivation."

At this, Uncle Nine let out a sigh.

The path of cultivation was so difficult. Even among those with extraordinary talent, how many could reach the pinnacle of the Dao and become one of the few Heavenly Masters in the entire world without the support of a powerful sect?

"Master, don't worry. One day, I'll help you achieve your goal of becoming a Heavenly Master."

Seeing that Uncle Nine was feeling a little down, Qiusheng tried to cheer him up with a joke.

"Hmph, you really don't know your own limits. A Heavenly Master? First make it to the Earth Master realm."

As soon as Qiusheng finished speaking, Uncle Nine promptly gave him a scolding. Then he looked up at the sky.

"All right, dawn's almost here. We'd better go back to Ren Mansion and see how your martial uncle is doing."

"He's still suffering from corpse poison. If we're not careful, things could get out of hand."