Perfected Walking Corpse

Under the curtain of rain, Liu Feng stood outside the door.

The oil lamp inside the room was knocked over and extinguished; in the darkness, the face of Shen Yushu turned sinister, stripped of every trace of scholarly air.

Roots of vine wood pierced into the ground, the branches pulled taut, tugging upward with frantic force.

Cracks spread across the floorboards, and from beneath came the sound of weeping—it sounded, strangely, like a woman.

Shen Yushu cared nothing for gender; his eyes gleamed with excitement as he sneered, "Just how much human vitality have you devoured? You might as well transfer it all to me."

As the vine wood pierced into the target, the Vine Wood Spirit turned the creature into fertilizer, and a steady stream of vitality flowed back through the Green Vine.

"Creak, creak..."

Supported by such potent nourishment, not only was the main body of the Vine Wood Spirit controlled by Shen Yushu replenished, but in an instant, it sprouted a multitude of new Green Vine branches.

"Catch these two pieces of trash; we still need them to drive the cart."

Old Huang and Little Fuzi, who lay unconscious on the ground, were scooped up by the branches controlled by Shen Yushu and tossed aside carelessly.

Liu Feng placed the grandfather and grandson under the eaves of the side room to shelter them from the rain. When he looked at Shen Yushu, his gaze was heavy; the man before him was like a completely different person.

This is his true face!

Accompanied by Shen Yushu's cruel laughter, the "woman" beneath the floor revealed half of her body—swollen, blackened, and coated in thick, viscous black fluid.

Just as he was about to see what Shen Yushu was pulling out, Liu Feng suddenly turned to face his left.

Thirty paces away to his left, the figure of an old man appeared silently.

It was the Old Hunter, his demeanor and gestures unchanged, save for his eyes, which had become significantly sharper.

"This old man was waiting here for prey, never expecting to wait for a Gu Master!"

"How about we end this here? Here are two highly potent medicinal pills; they can wake that pair of grandfather and grandson."

The Old Hunter tossed an oil-paper parcel as he walked, locking eyes with Liu Feng, who possessed nine eyes on his face.

"You'll have to ask my Senior Brother about that." Liu Feng caught it casually and cleared the space in front of the side room door.

"My thanks, little brother. As for the one inside, I beg you to spare this old man's daughter-in-law..."

Shen Yushu was not surprised by the newcomer's appearance. Not giving the man a chance to finish, he retorted, "You wanted our lives, and now you think you can end it with some pathetic medicine? Is there any such cheap deal under the heavens?"

"This fat daughter-in-law of yours was buried here by you and has already become an Evil Specter! I am merely helping her find peace today."

"Arrogant." A cold snort suddenly erupted from the doorway; the Old Hunter was enraged.

Where his feet landed, two floor tiles shattered with a "crack." His previously sluggish form suddenly exploded into motion.

His aged frame charged toward Shen Yushu like an iron man, each step causing a floor tile to splinter into pieces.

A barrage of vine wood lashed out at him, yet not a single one could pierce his skin.

"Creak, creak..."

Shen Yushu reacted with lightning speed, flicking his hands to weave dozens of Green Vines into a net.

The moment the Old Hunter fell into the vine net, all the vines tightened simultaneously, pulling back against his head and limbs.

Yet, this net, which could easily snap the neck of a water buffalo, could not budge the old man.

"Break." With a thunderous shout, the vine wood snapped, root by root.

Liu Feng's gaze darkened. Looking through his Zen Eye Technique, he discovered a massive surge of essence blood erupting from the old man's heart.

In an instant, the essence blood spread to his limbs, granting him terrifying, monstrous strength.

At the next glance, he no longer needed the Zen Eye Technique; the Old Hunter's skin had turned black, fangs protruded, and in the blink of an eye, he resembled a corpse cast from black iron.

"Hm?" Liu Feng was startled.

It was his first time seeing such a thing, but there was no need to ponder—it was undoubtedly an Evil Specter.

An oppressive aura, deeply unsettling to any living soul, radiated from the black iron body before him.

Liu Feng dashed into the room. While the opponent had not yet fully broken free from the vine net, he slashed and hacked with the Soldier Gu, Split-Tooth.

One strike to the back of the head, another sweeping across the neck, yet both blades only broke the surface skin, feeling like a dull knife cutting through thick, hardened ox-hide.

No wonder the Vine Wood Spirit couldn't pierce his skin, and why the net couldn't snap his bones!

Liu Feng did not hesitate; he pressed his palm against the Old Hunter's head, and a dense swarm of Gu insects covered him.

In a few blinks, no one knew how many insects had burrowed into his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

"Get off!" With a fierce roar, followed by the crisp sound of vine wood being torn apart, a gust of wind whistled.

The compound eyes on Liu Feng's arms caught the sweeping black iron arm first.

But at such close range, his movement technique could not evade the sweep, so he simply channeled his Buddhist power into his elbows to block the blow.

With a muffled "thud," Liu Feng's figure smashed through the door and flew backward into the curtain of rain.

Seeing Liu Feng knocked away and his own Green Vines torn to shreds, Shen Yushu sneered, "At this stage, you are already a perfected Walking Corpse, nearly a Corpse Refiner! I have something half-dead here too; let's see which of you is stronger!"

As his words fell, a jet-black Gu insect appeared in his palm—a Nightmare Gu Larva.

In the corner, that dull, foolish figure suddenly vanished from its spot, moving with a speed that left everyone present unable to react.

With Shen Yushu's keen eyesight, he only caught a flicker of movement, and by the time he looked again, Li Si's fist had already slammed into the Walking Corpse's temple.

Liu Feng, still outside the house, had not yet risen to his feet when he saw the black monster come flying backward.

Close on its heels, a man crashed through half the wall like a giant boulder, charging fiercely toward this side.

It's Li Si! Was he a martial artist before? Liu Feng activated his Mind Eye Technique, and the scene before him instantly slowed.

In the slowed-down vision, every stride Li Si took was immense; before he had even fully closed the distance, he reached out and grabbed at the air.

The black monster—the Old Hunter, now in the form of a Walking Corpse—had his body instantly seized by an invisible force.

After a mere split-second pause, Li Si flashed forward.

"Crack, crack, crack..." The sound of bones snapping echoed repeatedly in their ears.

In the blink of an eye, the joints of the fully-formed Walking Corpse were bent backward, and its head was twisted around several times!

"Li Si, just suppress him; don't smash him to pieces." Shen Yushu's figure descended from mid-air.

The mass of vine wood that had been supporting him fell away automatically; deprived of their life-force supply, these hastily sprouted vines slowly began to wither and turn yellow.

Amidst the tangled vines, a plump figure covered in black hair was bound tight; if not for the wailing sound of a woman, it would be hard to believe she had once been a housewife.

Seeing Shen Yushu approach, the eyes of the Medicine Slave, Li Si, remained dull and muddled.

Yet, with a single stomp of his foot, he pinned the fully-formed Walking Corpse to the ground, rendering it unable to move.

"This thing has skin of bronze and bones of iron; you have to strike at its internal organs. Even Gu insects are hard to make effective—you have to hollow it out."

As he spoke, Shen Yushu flicked out the main body of the Vine Wood Spirit. A vine, emerald green with streaks of blood running through it, shot out and pierced into the black monster's body through its mouth.

Liu Feng's eyelid twitched; he could clearly see the vine pulsing, as if it were feeding.

"The father is a Walking Corpse, so the son is likely one too. Junior Brother Liu, take Li Si and go assist Third Senior Brother; there's quite a commotion over there."

Shen Yushu didn't need to remind him; Liu Feng had already heard the massive crashing sounds coming from the direction of the stables.

The Walking Corpse had skin of bronze and bones of iron with astonishing strength, while Third Senior Brother Zhu Li, after unleashing his Gu arts, was like a human-shaped Spirit Monster, possessing equally ferocious power.

With the two of them colliding head-on, it was only natural that they would cause such a great disturbance.