Walking corpses

His words had barely fallen.

A shrill roar suddenly rang out from a thatched cottage not far from the two of them. Xiao Yu spun around, only to see two monsters that retained nothing but a human shape numbly battering open the door and limping toward her.

Their skin was bluish-purple, their pupils milky white.

An indescribable stench clung to them, like several dead rats left soaking for months in a sour pig trough, silently fermenting in its warm reek.

A closer look even revealed fat white maggots crawling beneath their sallow skin, like shoals of tadpoles swimming through a ditch.

"These are... walking corpses?"

Xiao Yu's eyes widened. In those two heaps of thoroughly rotted flesh, she could just make out the faces they had worn in life.

She had seen this young married couple when she entered the village. They were utterly ordinary farmers, so she had paid them little attention.

But could their bodies really have rotted this badly in less than a day?

What kind of evil sorcery was this?

"Slaying demons and devils, upholding the orthodox path?"

Xiao Yu suddenly sneered. "By refining living people into walking corpses like this?"

"My heart is Heaven's heart, my will is Heaven's will! The methods I practice alone are righteous methods, the path I tread alone is the orthodox path!"

Yin Gonghao answered chillingly, "Everything outside myself is the Outer Dao, all of it demonic sorcery! Do you not even understand that?"

Bang!

Dust flew!

The two walking corpses suddenly lunged forward and pinned Xiao Yu beneath them. With that stench pressed against her face, a single breath left her dizzy and nauseated, ready to vomit.

But the next instant.

Suddenly, there was a sharp hiss.

A rotting head flew off, spinning through the air before rolling several yards across the ground, yellow-green juices spilling everywhere. Before long, another head flew up, and its body collapsed limply with it.

"You old bastard! Don't you know my family ran an armed escort business?"

Xiao Yu was covered in foul-smelling pus, some of which had even splashed into the corners of her eyes. Yet she merely gripped her scissors, a trace of laughter slipping from her lips.

"So what if a stray Daoist like you learned a few unorthodox tricks? You want me to beg you for mercy? Even if I die, I'll bite a layer of skin off you!"

Her family had worked as armed escorts for generations, so naturally she knew a few martial moves. Moreover, to make their pleasure in bed all the more satisfying, Mount Yang Daoist had used his Embryonic Breathing to nourish her body several times during their moments of tender affection.

One could say that, in the present martial world where no innate Grandmasters appeared, she barely qualified as a fighter of middling skill.

Yin Gonghao merely remained indifferent and said nothing.

Xiao Yu advanced with a savage grin, seized his collar, and yanked him down before driving the scissors into his chest and abdomen.

There was no resistance whatsoever.

A single thrust pierced his body.

Blood ran down the scissors to her wrist, then pattered onto her feet.

How could it be so easy?

The thought flashed through Xiao Yu's mind.

Anyone capable of wielding a Dao Art had to have reached Embryonic Breathing at the very least. But weren't the bodies of those at that stage as hard as metal?

There was no time to ponder it now.

Xiao Yu viciously stabbed Yin Gonghao another dozen times, putting all her strength into every thrust. Blood sprayed madly, like a pig being slaughtered for the New Year.

"You old wretch!"

Blood covered Xiao Yu's head and face. Finally, she tore at Yin Gonghao's neck with her teeth. Only after feeling his windpipe snap between them did she release her satisfied bite and shove his corpse into the well.

"So... cultivators are this easy to kill too? Hahaha, hahahahaha!"

After a moment's stupor, Xiao Yu threw back her head and laughed wildly, staggering onward.

Yet all around her.

The fog, thick as rice slurry, still had not dispersed. Instead, it seemed to be growing denser...

She had only gone a few steps.

Suddenly, her body shuddered, disbelief flooding her eyes.

Ahead of her, Yin Gonghao, whom she had thought dead, sat perfectly at ease in a red rattan armchair. Hearing her footsteps, he could not even be bothered to lift his eyes.

"You even bite with your teeth. A dog indeed."

Xiao Yu wasted no words on him. She simply lunged forward and knocked both Yin Gonghao and his red rattan armchair to the ground.

By the time she rose again, drenched in blood, another mangled corpse lay on the ground.

Her face dark, she viciously spat on the remains.

She raised her head.

Sure enough.

Another Yin Gonghao stood before her...

This time, the old man with long brows hanging down his cheeks finally lifted his eyelids and gave her an indifferent glance. Tall, lean, and straight-backed, he resembled an iron boulder that had stood unchanged atop a peak since time immemorial. Every glance carried a terrifying malice and demonic will.

Provoked by his gaze, Xiao Yu felt a strand of murderous intent erupt in her heart, impossible to suppress. It kept burrowing into her mind, seeking to act through her hands, yearning to slaughter every last one of the countless living beings in the Nine Provinces and Four Seas and tear them to shreds!

"What, you can't take it already? The real show is still to come."

Yin Gonghao nodded slightly, his expression seemingly approving, yet also regretful.

Without his moving a muscle, countless roars and cries rose around them.

Wooden doors were battered open one after another, and a dense mass of walking corpses closed in. Live maggots writhed and leaped, and the stench of rot soared skyward, strong enough to be clearly smelled miles away.

"So you refined everyone in this village into walking corpses."

No wonder this village was as silent as a burial mound, without a single human voice. Everyone in it was already dead!

Whether young and strong, old or young, women or children, all had been refined into walking corpses by this man without ever knowing it!

"Come, let me see just how mad you are!"

Yin Gonghao chuckled.

"This trip has gone poorly. I haven't found even one disciple who truly pleased me. Tian Buqi's aptitude is too poor, and his temperament is disagreeable too. Your aptitude isn't much better, but what can I do? This old man just happens to like that mad-dog look of yours..."

The rest of his words.

Xiao Yu could no longer hear them clearly.

The densely packed walking corpses engulfed him like a tide. Though Xiao Yu fought desperately and sheared off several heads, two fists could not defeat four hands. One careless moment was enough to send her crashing to the ground beneath them.

The walking corpse pinning her down wore the simple, honest face of a farmer. Its abdomen had long since split open, exposing a mass of gray-black organs.

"It's you?"

Xiao Yu recognized the farmer who had once given her wheat rice, only to be killed by her own hands afterward.

"Roar!"

The walking corpse did not answer.

It merely opened its mouth and bit down hard with its yellowed teeth.

Blood and flesh flew.

Yin Gonghao watched it all with cold indifference. Even when he saw a walking corpse sink its teeth into Xiao Yu's neck, he showed no intention of saving her.

Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly, and he looked toward the southwestern sky.

An incomparably sharp blue-black streak of escape light was cleaving through the void there, becoming a heaven-shaking rainbow as it hurtled straight toward him.

"Is that the Xiantian Demon Sect's Nether Emperor Nine Splendors Great Escape?"

Yin Gonghao laughed contemptuously, then transformed into a brilliant aurora of stars and shot into the sky. In an instant, he easily intercepted the blue-black escape light, leaving it no way to flee.

Without another word.

He extended a huge hand of magical power and seized it fiercely!

The first cameo character from this book's character thread has arrived, though this one has clearly been given a demonic makeover. Happy New Year, everyone~