Controlling the Mind

At that moment, Zhang Yunliang had his hands clamped tightly around my throat. I had thought some unclean spirit had possessed him, so I struck him twice with the Heavenly Canopy Ruler in my hand. To my utter surprise, it had no effect on him whatsoever.

Only then did I realize that no ghost had possessed Zhang Yunliang. Otherwise, the Heavenly Canopy Ruler would definitely have worked.

Zhang Yunliang's grip tightened around my throat, making it harder and harder for me to breathe.

He kept growling like a wild beast, drool spilling from his mouth and nearly landing on my face. I struggled to dodge it. It was disgusting.

Just then, I suddenly noticed a thin white line in Zhang Yunliang's bloodshot eyes, right across his eyeballs.

The sight finally made everything click.

No wonder the Heavenly Canopy Ruler had no effect on him. Zhang Yunliang was being controlled by an evil spell.

That meant someone nearby had been manipulating him all along.

I had trained in martial arts with my master since childhood, and I was hardly weak, but I still couldn't match Zhang Yunliang's strength.

An evil spell could push the body of the person under its control to its absolute physical limit.

It was like how someone on the brink of death could become more than ten times stronger than normal.

That was why drowning people often dragged their rescuers underwater, drowning them as well.

When people were close to death, their hands would grab wildly. Whatever they caught hold of, they refused to let go. Their strength became terrifying, as though they were clutching their last lifeline, and their rescuers would be dragged underwater along with them.

Seeing that I was almost being strangled to death, Zhang Yunyao finally snapped out of her daze. She picked up a rock from the ground and came toward me.

She poised it over the back of Zhang Yunliang's head several times, but never dared to bring it down.

Whatever had happened, he was still her older brother. She couldn't bring herself to hit him.

She was also afraid she might kill him.

Even now, she was still worrying about all that. Summoning the last scrap of strength in my body, I forced a single word out of my throat: "Hit!"

That word seemed to give Zhang Yunyao tremendous courage. She closed her eyes and brought the rock down on Zhang Yunliang's head.

She was so frightened that she could barely muster any strength. The rock in her hand practically just dropped onto his head.

Still, at that critical moment, it made a huge difference.

As the rock landed on Zhang Yunliang's head, his body jolted, and his grip around my throat suddenly loosened a little.

That finally gave me a chance to breathe. I sucked in a deep breath and freed both hands, quickly forming the Outer Lion Seal. Silently reciting the Vajra Samantabhadra Dharma Body Mantra once, I thrust the seal into Zhang Yunliang's chest.

The blow blasted Zhang Yunliang four or five meters away, sending him tumbling to the ground.

I rolled over and sprang to my feet, then rushed to Zhang Yunliang's side. Before he could get up, I planted a foot on his chest and formed the Outer Binding Seal with both hands. Reciting the Vajra Samantabhadra Universal Worthy Dharma Body Mantra, I shouted, "All!"

The Outer Binding Seal represented the sensing of danger, granting the ability to understand and control the human mind and unravel all afflictions.

Zhang Yunliang's mind was being controlled by someone, and only this seal could free him.

I pressed the seal directly against the spot between his eyebrows.

Zhang Yunliang shuddered all over. His eyes rolled upward, and his body twitched for a few moments before he lay motionless on the ground.

I had only just dealt with Zhang Yunliang when Zhang Yunyao suddenly let out a terrified cry beside me. "Young Master Wu, that corpse... I think it moved!"

I looked in the direction Zhang Yunyao was pointing. The corpse of the Zhang Family ancestor leaning against the tree had not only opened its eyes, but also opened its mouth and exhaled a cloud of black vapor. Its body began shaking violently.

A closer look sent a shudder through me. Several large fangs had emerged from the corpse's mouth, and long nails were rapidly growing from its hands. Those nails hadn't been there a moment ago, but now they were seven or eight centimeters long, blue-black and sharp as blades.

The thing I had feared most had finally happened.

Corpses buried in a Yin Corpse Ground could remain intact for a thousand years without decaying. They were especially prone to turning into undead.

There were many possible reasons why this corpse had turned.

First, someone had tampered with the Zhang Family's ancestral grave. Second, while his mind was being controlled, Zhang Yunliang had used a candle to render corpse oil from its chin, then smeared it on his own face. That had transferred his living energy to the corpse, which could also have triggered the transformation.

My heart began pounding at the sight.

The very thing I dreaded had come to pass. I finally understood why the Eight-Tailed Fox inside me hadn't wanted me to come to the Zhang Family's ancestral grave.

This place really was fraught with unfathomable danger.

Whatever happened, I had to grit my teeth and confront it. Once this thing went berserk, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Zhang Yunyao, run! Wait for me in the car!" I shouted, snatching the Heavenly Canopy Ruler off the ground and charging straight at the moving undead.

Before I could reach the transformed corpse, it let out a low roar and leaped toward me.

A foul gust hit me in the face, thick with baleful qi.

The undead covered four or five meters in a single leap, landing right beside me. It thrust out its sharp claws and swiped at me.

I raised the Heavenly Canopy Ruler and struck at it.

The ruler landed squarely on the undead's shoulder with a dull thud. Its body swayed, and it stumbled several steps backward.

An instant later, the undead leaped at me again, sweeping both arms sideways to smash into me.

The thing was fast, and even stronger than Zhang Yunliang had been. I struck at it again with the Heavenly Canopy Ruler. The ruler connected, but its arms caught me too.

We sent each other flying several meters.

The undead's arms were as hard as iron. The blow to my shoulder left my arm numb, and I could barely hold on to the Heavenly Canopy Ruler.

I gritted my teeth and sprang up from the ground again, steeling myself. Damn it, I'd fight this thing to the death.