Luring Corpses to Their Source, Seeing the Dead Again

"This is Corpse-Luring Powder. Mixed with black dog's blood and cinnabar, plus a little... heh, never mind."

Third Master Cao chuckled darkly and dusted the dirt from his hands. "Anything carrying Killing Intent will catch a whiff of this like a cat catching the scent of fish."

Everything was in place.

Everyone held their breath and hid separately behind the thick bushes nearby.

Time crept by.

The mountain wind died, and even the insects fell silent.

The dead silence lasted nearly half an hour. Just as Cao Xiaoliu was growing restless and about to shift, a sound came from the distance.

"Thud."

"Thud."

The sound was dull and rhythmic, like a heavy object striking packed earth.

Qin Geng peered through a gap in the bushes.

Out of the darkness toward the ruined temple came two rigid figures, hopping this way one behind the other.

Their movements were grotesque. Their knees never bent, their toes struck the ground, and each leap carried them three or four feet. Yet they landed with the weight of a thousand catties.

"Two of them."

Third Master Cao's voice was thin as a thread as it reached their ears.

Master Miao Zhen gave a slight nod. She held her Peachwood Sword in a reverse grip, several yellow talismans pinched in her other hand. Her gaze was cool, without a trace of panic.

Closer.

Closer still.

The two dark figures caught the sweet scent of the Corpse-Luring Powder. They sped up noticeably and lunged straight for the trap.

The instant those two pairs of stiff feet entered the Earth Dragon Snare's reach—

Snap!

A muffled crack rang out, like a bowstring breaking.

Dead leaves burst upward. Several supple vines, yanked taut by the mechanism, wound tightly around the figures' ankles. The tremendous pull tripped them both and slammed them to the ground.

"Now!"

Master Miao Zhen gave the low command almost at the same instant.

The talismans in her hand ignited in midair, bursting into a dazzling flare.

"Mystic ancestor of heaven and earth, root of all qi—Golden Light, Appear Swiftly!"

As she chanted, the flames did not fade. They became a faint golden radiance that enveloped her.

At that moment, she seemed to slip free of gravity, moving at an unbelievable speed.

Qin Geng's vision blurred. With a whoosh, Miaozhen vanished from where she stood.

When he focused again, she was already beside the two desperately struggling Zombies.

Smack! Smack!

Two sharp cracks.

Miaozhen moved like lightning, planting two yellow talismans gleaming cinnabar red squarely on the monsters' foreheads.

The Zombies had been thrashing wildly and making hoarse "heh, heh" cries. Now, like toys with their springs removed, they went rigid and fell still.

"Got them!"

Delight flashed across Cao Xiaoliu's face. He was about to rush out when Third Master Cao grabbed him. "Wait. Don't get careless."

At that, no one charged forward. They approached slowly instead.

Master Miao Zhen looked grave. Subduing the monsters had not made her lower her guard.

With a flick of her wrist, she slipped the tip of her Peachwood Sword between one Zombie's tightly shut lips and pried its mouth open.

By the dim glow of the still-burning talismans, everyone leaned in to look.

At the sight, even Miaozhen's pupils contracted sharply.

The mouth was a black pit. Not a single tooth remained!

Incisors and molars alike had been pulled clean out. The gums were a mass of dark-red, rotting flesh, horrifying to behold.

Stranger still, where its tongue should have been, there was no tongue at all. Instead, a brightly patterned little snake, no thicker than a pinkie, lay coiled there!

Its body was dark blue-green, covered in fine scales. It raised its triangular head, fixing Miaozhen with tiny, venomous eyes like sesame seeds. The hatred in them made her skin crawl.

Miaozhen's expression changed drastically, and she thrust down with her Peachwood Sword.

"No teeth—damn it, back!"

She shouted the warning and sprang backward.

No teeth meant these were not Zombies. Corpse-Sealing Talismans could not hold them!

But the moment she spoke, both of the supposedly immobilized "Zombies" spoke too.

"No teeth—damn it, back!"

"No teeth—damn it, back!"

Their voices were shrill and cold, with an eerie, layered quality.

Worst of all, their pitch, their tone, even the panic in them were exactly the same as Master Miao Zhen's just now!

It was as if... in that single instant, the two snakes had learned to speak in Miaozhen's voice!

Crack!

The yellow talismans on their foreheads burst apart and turned to ash.

The two monsters were terrifyingly strong. With a violent wrench, they snapped the vines of a trap strong enough to break a wild boar's leg.

They did not even need to stand. Their bodies shot straight up from the ground, and their gaunt claws tore through the air toward Miaozhen, who was closest!

"Fall back!"

Lu Xingmin reacted instantly, slapping the black box with the back of his hand.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Two paper figures prepared in advance flew out. They swelled in the wind into two fierce-faced Paper Armor Soldiers. Though featherlight, they slammed precisely into the monsters' chests and grappled with them.

"Go! Don't stay and fight!"

Third Master Cao roared and hurled the half-length Luoyang Shovel forged from fine steel. It smashed into one monster's shoulder with a metallic clang, scattering sparks.

That shovel could shear through stone, yet all it did to the creature was make it stagger!

Master Miao Zhen had already retreated behind the others. She formed seals with both hands and cast several more talismans.

Boom!

The talismans burned in midair and became streams of flowing golden light. They did not attack. Instead, they settled precisely on Qin Geng, Lu Xingmin, Third Master Cao, and Cao Xiaoliu.

"Open the Eyes! Go!"

In the golden light, the pitch-black forest suddenly became clear to them, as bright as day.

And the instant that light flared, Qin Geng glanced back without thinking.

That one look made his scalp prickle and his soul nearly leap from his body!

The light had been dim before, and he had been too focused on the snakes in their mouths to make out their faces.

Now, under the golden glow, both dead faces stood out with terrible clarity.

The one on the left had a flat nose and triangular eyes. Even with his cheeks shriveled, that shifty look was unmistakable.

The one on the right had one lame leg and a vicious face.

Weren't they Boss Lin and Guan Ershun, the two men sunk in the river at the docks just yesterday?!

But their bodies... something was wrong!

Terribly wrong!

They had drowned yesterday. After a day and a night in the water, their bodies should have swollen long ago.

They should have been Big Floaters—bloated all over, their skin pale and shiny, with flesh even peeling away in places.

But these two things before him...

Their faces were blue-black, their skin stretched tight over bone like cured meat left to dry for over a decade. There was not the slightest sign of swelling. Instead, they had the rigid sheen of metal.

How could these be drowning victims?

And it had only been one day!

They had drowned in the Tianjin River yesterday, and today they were monsters in the mountain forest?