Xuan Ye's Invitation
The cave was winding and rugged, with jagged rocks, and the five people had to be constantly aware of the dangers that might be lurking in the darkness, so they did not walk very fast.
Song Wen, who was walking, suddenly felt a jolt in his heart and frowned slightly.
However, in an instant, his brows relaxed again, and he continued walking forward calmly, without attracting anyone's attention.
Just now, the Beetle Gu he released detected traces of walking corpses about 500 meters ahead.
Fortunately, according to the information relayed by the Beetle Gu, there were only a dozen or so zombies ahead.
Moreover, their strength is not particularly high, about the same as a cultivator who has just entered the Qi Refining Middle Stage. The only problem is the corpse poison on their bodies, but for a corpse cultivator like Song Wen, this amount of corpse poison will not have any effect.
After entering the underground cave, Song Wen discovered that the beetle Gu Worm were exceptionally useful there.
The beetle Gu Worm is naturally adept at concealment, and in this Black Hole filled with the aura of corpses and ghosts, it is even more difficult to detect. The dense aura of corpses and ghosts effectively masks the Beetle Gu's aura.
Here, the Beetle Gu is like Flood Dragon entering the sea, a tiger returning to the mountain, like a fish in water.
The group moved forward for another four hundred meters, and Xuan Ye, who was walking in front, finally discovered the presence of the zombies.
"Watch out, there are zombies," Xuan Ye warned.
Actually, even without him saying so, Niu Ding and Zi Yi, who were also at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer in the group, had also discovered the existence of the walking corpse.
"Everyone, finish this quickly and avoid using large-scale Law Technique, lest you create too much noise and attract other zombies and ghosts."
After Xuan Ye finished speaking, without any visible movement from him, a fierce ghost comparable to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer of Qi Refining appeared in front of him.
The vengeful ghost was over two meters tall, with a burly build. He wore tattered armor and held a long sword, looking every bit like a veteran general on the battlefield.
Lao Chun and Zi Yi each held a broken blade, intending to attack at close range.
Niu Ding exhaled two breaths of stale air, his muscles subtly growing larger, and continued forward empty-handed. Clearly, Niu Ding, like Song Wen, was a rare body-refining cultivator.
Song Wen tugged at the Corpse Puppet beside him, completely concealing himself behind it. Just to be on the safe side, Song Wen had released the Corpse Puppet after entering the cave.
The General Vengeful Ghost was the first to charge into the horde of zombies.
The long sword in his hand seemed to be a physical object, cleaving a zombie in two, and black, unidentified liquid immediately flowed onto the ground.
Niu Ding was much more violent. He quickly approached the walking corpse and slapped it on the head with his large, fan-like hand. The walking corpse's head exploded, black liquid splattered everywhere, and the body below the head fell to the ground, motionless.
Lao Chun and Zi Yi's Cultivation Method clearly originated from the same lineage. Both of them Movement Method very agile and engaged in close combat. Like two nimble leopards, they charged directly into the horde of corpses. The daggers in their hands were like venomous snakes hunting their prey, seizing the opportunity to strike with deadly precision, piercing straight into the most vulnerable part of the walking corpse's head.
When Song Wen, who was hiding behind the Corpse Puppet, approached the walking corpses, almost all of them had been killed.
To avoid the other four feeling that he was slacking off, Song Wen controlled the Corpse Puppet and attacked one of the few remaining walking corpses.
The walking corpse's limbs are stiff, and its strength is far inferior to that of the Corpse Puppet. How could it possibly defeat the Corpse Puppet, which is stronger and more agile?
The Corpse Puppet easily dodged the walking corpse's attack, then swung its left hand, effortlessly piercing the walking corpse's chest.
Despite having its entire chest pierced, the zombie did not lose its mobility. It seized the opportunity to climb onto the Corpse Puppet's shoulders and bit down on the Corpse Puppet's face, which was inches away from its chest.
Not to be outdone, the Corpse Puppet turned around and bit the walking corpse's neck.
This scene left Song Wen, who was standing behind, completely stunned.
We are all born of the same root, why are you so eager to harm each other!
We're all corpses, strictly speaking, all a kind of zombie. Why should corpses make things difficult for other corpses?
Song Wen kept his eyes on the other zombies around him to prevent being ambushed.
The others were killing the zombies much faster. Song Wen hadn't even finished off the first one when there were no more standing zombies left on the field.
Just when Song Wen thought he had easily dealt with the group of zombies, he suddenly felt the soil beneath his feet loosen, as if something was about to break through the earth.
To Song Wen's astonishment, a zombie broke through the soil and jumped up from the ground.
Song Wen had noticed the walking corpse on the ground earlier. He thought it was just an ordinary corpse because half of its body was buried in the ground. In addition, the cave was filled with the mixed turbid energy of heaven and earth, such as the aura of corpses and ghosts. It was really hard to tell whether the walking corpse was a corpse or a walking corpse lying on the ground without moving.
The four people who had already dealt with the other zombies also noticed the unusual changes on Song Wen's side.
The four people reacted differently.
Xuan Ye stood there with a cold expression, seemingly observing from the sidelines.
Niu Ding was eager to help, but he was a little slow.
Lao Chun wanted to throw the dagger in his hand to kill the zombie, but was stopped by Zi Yi's cold gaze.
Song Wen, however, seemed to handle the sudden onslaught of zombies with ease.
He bent his knees and ducked low, thus dodging the zombie's hands with their sharp nails.
With a right hook, he slammed the zombie's jaw.
The zombie's head exploded like a fragile watermelon, splattering everywhere.
Aside from Zi Yi pursing her lips in displeasure, the others didn't show much emotion regarding Song Wen's easy killing of the zombie.
"Let's go, let's keep going."
Next, they encountered two more waves of zombies and a group of ghosts. Fortunately, the zombies and ghosts they encountered were not very strong and there were not many of them, so they were easily dealt with.
It's worth mentioning that there were many forks in the cave along the way. If it weren't for Xuan Ye leading the way, Song Wen felt that even with the simple map he got from the Underground Ghost Market, he would have easily gone astray.
Xuan Ye, who had been leading the way, suddenly walked up to Song Wen and said.
"Brother Guo Tao, there's a fork in the road not far ahead. Niu Ding and I will take the left passage to the Snake Cave. Sky Cicada Wood and Forsythia Yellow will take the right passage."
Song Wen looked at Xuan Ye but didn't say anything.
Xuan Ye continued.
"I would like to invite Brother Guo Tao to accompany me and Niu Ding to retrieve the Snake-Scale Fruit first, and then I will accompany you to retrieve the Sky Cicada Wood."
"Why me?" Song Wen asked in confusion. He only had the Qi Refining Sixth Layer of Qi Refining. Xuan Ye needed to find help, so logically he should have cooperated with Zi Yi.
"If I'm not mistaken, Brother Guo Tao should be a body cultivator. I've already made plans to go for the Snake-Scale Fruit, but I need the cooperation of a body cultivator. Originally, with Brother Niu Ding by my side, I was 60% confident of obtaining the Snake-Scale Fruit. If Brother Guo Tao is willing to go with me, I'm 80% confident."
Seeing that Song Wen neither immediately agreed nor refused, Xuan Ye suddenly switched to using telepathy to speak.
"Brother Guo Tao, you should think this through carefully. If you insist on going to retrieve the Sky Cicada Wood, you will have to travel alone with Zi Yi."
As he spoke, Xuan Ye glanced at Zi Yi a few times, seemingly unintentionally.
He was referring to the conflict between Song Wen and Zi Yi, and the fact that Song Wen's cultivation was the weakest among the five. Without the deterrent power of Niu Ding and Xuan Ye, it was hard to guarantee that Zi Yi wouldn't take the opportunity to attack Song Wen.