Corpse Mother

At this moment, the woman rushing toward Yu Chen no longer bore the slightest resemblance to a normal person. Bulging veins covered her pale bluish face, faint red light drifted within her completely white eyes. Corpse qi and ghost qi shrouded her body. She was neither a zombie nor a ghostly creature, and as she charged forward, strange cries spilled from her mouth.

Hands emerged one after another from the earthen mounds around them. Most of these arms were withered and decayed, giving off dense corpse qi and a foul stench.

She has already developed supernatural abilities? Yu Chen was somewhat surprised at the sight. Logically speaking, this female corpse should not have possessed enough power to do this. Besides, this sort of method of infecting and controlling corpses ought to have been the Corpse Mother's ability.

"Child! Give me back... give me back my... child! Roar..."

The woman threw back her head and roared, opening her mouth to reveal gleaming white teeth. The corpse qi and ghost qi enveloping her body grew even more muddled, transforming into a layer of hazy gray mist.

The corpses shrouded in the mist, whose movements had originally been slow and sluggish, all sped up by one or twofold. At a speed surpassing that of ordinary people, they reached their hands toward Yu Chen like a pack of wild dogs fighting over bloody meat, carrying an aura of madness and savagery.

"Their reactions are too slow, their movements too stiff. If one doesn't count the pressure of their aura and the corpse poison they carry, any adult in the Snake Tribe could easily deal with them."

Facing several corpses already very close to him, Yu Chen pushed off with his feet. His body slipped through the corpses like a swimming snake or a drifting leaf. He stretched out one hand, and several snake shadows flew from his sleeve, wrapping directly around the necks of the corpses that could not dodge.

With a gentle twist, several heads fell to the ground. Then his legs went limp as though boneless, lowering his entire body by half. The female corpse that had leapt at him plunged straight into the earth.

Yet the very next second, the female corpse burrowed through the soil. A small mound rose from the ground and swiftly approached Yu Chen.

At the same time, the surrounding corpses continued to gather. Yu Chen raised a hand and pointed, causing the snakes and insects still under his control nearby to entangle the corpses as well. Power surged through his calves, and he slid half a meter sideways like a snake. When the female corpse burst from the dirt, he had already steadied himself. Standing upright, he lightly stamped his foot, and several snake shadows crisscrossed around the female corpse's calf.

The snake shadows twisted. With a crack, the female corpse's entire lower leg bent at a grotesque angle.

But the female corpse felt nothing at all. Ignoring the state of her lower leg, she continued limping toward Yu Chen.

After a brief thought, Yu Chen tapped the ground again with his toe. The snake shadows shifted, winding around the female corpse's waist and snapping her spine.

Watching the female corpse fall to the ground, brace herself with both hands, and drag her legs as she crawled toward him, Yu Chen narrowed his eyes. Snake shadows rose and wrapped around her cervical vertebrae. After a crisp sound of breaking bone, only the female corpse's ferocious head remained capable of moving freely.

Sure enough, unlike ordinary zombies, whose vital point is the heart, the core driving this female corpse is the brain? That is rather like the Corpse Mother. This female corpse has even approached the rudimentary form of a Corpse Mother—or rather, she is a simplified Corpse Mother.

Squatting down, Yu Chen's pupils transformed into Snake Eyes as he watched the flow of qi within the female corpse. With her lumbar spine and cervical vertebrae broken, the qi in her body accumulated in the region of her brain, churning and brewing without end.

Just as that mass of qi was about to erupt, Yu Chen beckoned. The Fire Snake Dart landed in his hand, and with a casual flick, he effortlessly pierced through the woman's glabella.

Faint gray mist flowed from the seven orifices of the woman's head. The fire qi contained within the Fire Snake Dart had directly burned out the inside of the female corpse's skull. Having lost its core, the female corpse's barely raised head dropped to the ground. The corpses nearby, unable to approach because they were tangled up by snakes and insects, also toppled crookedly along with it.

Yu Chen glanced at the chaotic surroundings, summoned countless mist snakes, and had them scoop up soil to rebury the surrounding corpses and female corpse. Then he swiftly ran in the direction Chen Ergou had fled.

On the other side, Chen Ergou, having run home, immediately began rummaging through boxes and cabinets to pack his things, preparing to leave the area. As he packed, he muttered, "Damn it! Why is there a cultivator here too? Didn't that guy say this area was perfectly safe? Safe my ass! When I get back, I'll definitely..."

As Chen Ergou muttered, his complexion gradually turned somewhat bluish. After he had more or less packed up the miscellaneous items, he cautiously made his way to the latrine. This latrine was shared by several nearby households. It was nothing more than a large pit covered by a few wooden planks and bluestone slabs. The weather was rather hot now, and the smell around it was overpowering. Other than when necessary or when people came to draw manure for fertilizing the fields, hardly anyone came here normally. And now, in the dead of night with no lights anywhere, it was all the more frightening.

Chen Ergou came to the latrine, moved aside a stone slab, and took out a book wrapped in oiled paper from beneath it. He returned to the house, tidied it up a little, picked up his belongings, and prepared to leave.

But just after he had stuck an Armor Horse Talisman onto his calf, he felt a pain in his chest. His already bluish face turned pale, and the next instant his legs gave out beneath him, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Not good!" Chen Ergou knew something was wrong. His left hand pressed against his chest while his right hand reached into his bundle and searched for something. Yet before he could find it, he opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of blood. Within the blood that splattered onto the ground, a small snake lay coiled.

"When?" Chen Ergou's eyes widened. He spat out another mouthful of blood, yet he could not figure out when he had been struck.

"Naturally when you were killing snakes. Did your teacher never tell you not to kill living things so casually before a shaman?" Yu Chen's voice sounded from behind him. Chen Ergou turned around, twisting his wrist at the same time. Six invisible blades of light flew out, slashing toward Yu Chen.

After the flash of light passed, the Yu Chen cut by the blade lights dispersed into wisps of mist. The real Yu Chen was actually standing in another direction. Chen Ergou looked at Yu Chen, who held the infant in his arms, and stretched out one hand as though trying to grasp something.

Dark red snake patterns spread continuously from his chest, swiftly crawling over his entire body.

Yu Chen watched coldly as Chen Ergou's outstretched hand became covered in snake patterns, then fell to the ground, kicking up a sizable cloud of dust.

Several mist snakes emerged from beside Yu Chen's feet and crawled over to Chen Ergou. They opened the belongings he had packed, and one carefully protected book made Yu Chen's eyes light up.

Controlling the mist snakes to flip through it, the first thing that entered his sight was a passage: "In the third month of spring, this is called releasing the old. Heaven and earth together come to life, and all things flourish. Retire late and rise early, stroll broadly through the courtyard. Let down the hair and walk slowly..."

"It really is a fragment of the <Supreme True Life-Nurturing Message Yin Talisman Treasure Register>!" Yu Chen exclaimed in delight.

In the past game world, although the <Supreme True Life-Nurturing Message Yin Talisman Treasure Register> had only been a third-rate cultivation method, the Life-Nurturing Message Treasure Register was an utterly orthodox immortal Dao cultivation method. The dharma power cultivated from it was upright, balanced, and peaceful. Under the current circumstances, it could be said to be the most suitable scripture for Yu Chen.

Continuing to read, Yu Chen quickly finished the thin volume of the <Supreme True Life-Nurturing Message Yin Talisman Treasure Register>. Looking at the final five incomplete talismans, he sighed. "What a pity!"

The cultivation philosophy of this Yin Talisman Treasure Register lay in the four words "life-nurturing message."

"Life-nurturing" referred to preserving one's health, while "message" referred to waxing and waning with the changes of time. Put simply, it was a method of regulating the five viscera and six bowels according to the seasonal changes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Yet the core of cultivating the Yin Talisman Treasure Register lay in the words "treasure register." Only by drawing the five directional talismans and gathering the qi essence of the five directions could one rapidly nurture the five viscera, harmonize oneself, and nurture life in accordance with changing times.

But the <Supreme True Life-Nurturing Message Yin Talisman Treasure Register> Chen Ergou had left behind was missing precisely the five true forms of the core treasure-register talismans. This meant that this ranked immortal Dao cultivation method had become a slow Daoist practice focused on self-cultivation and nourishing one's nature, its value greatly diminished.