Zombies had corporeal souls but no ethereal souls, and so their bodies did not decay. In this respect, they were the exact opposite of yin ghosts.
But Chen Jin had borrowed a corpse to return to life, becoming a corpse monster rather than a pure zombie.
Having an ethereal soul alone was not enough, however. Only when both souls united would he truly return from the dead.
He gathered and refined Qi to connect and open the twelve primary meridians, restoring his Qi and Blood and joining spirit with flesh-in other words, uniting his two souls.
Only the Three Yin Meridians of the Foot remained.
But the Yin Qi accumulated and stagnating within him was far too dense to refine in a short time, so Chen Jin conceived a wild idea and decided to make a perilous move:
Draw lightning down with his own body!
Lightning was the pivot of heaven and earth, Qi of utmost yang, capable of shattering corporeal souls and destroying ghosts and evil.
Yet it also held the spark of life, as the saying went, "One burst of spring thunder brings all things to life."
Between life and death lay great terror.
When that thunderbolt struck down from the nine heavens, Chen Jin trembled inwardly and instinctively wanted to retreat, just as he had always done before:
Jumping into the river to escape, having the toad serve as the sacrificial plum in his place, hiding inside a shrine, taking shelter in a mountain cave...
Every time, he had paled at the sound of thunder, unable to flee quickly enough.
This time, however, he deliberately released the Yin Baleful Corpse Qi within him, raising both hands high to welcome the lightning tribulation.
He still felt dread, still wanted to give up, still felt afraid.
But in the end, he did not flee!
And so that bolt of lightning struck him squarely on the head.
In an instant, Chen Jin felt as though his head would explode.
Of course, it was not his actual head. Rather, the consciousness within his mind burst apart beneath the lightning's bombardment, ten thousand thoughts surging at once.
All manner of memories flooded his mind:
A child prodigy...
Abandoning scholarly pursuits to cultivate immortality...
Studying the sword on the mountain for years, frustrated and unfulfilled...
But before he could examine them closely, countless thoughts and strands of awareness began scattering like shattered fragments, about to drift out of his body, into the secluded valley, through the mountain forests, and up into the sky...
Chen Jin was inwardly horrified, fully aware of the peril he faced. If he allowed his mind and will to scatter beyond his body, only one fate awaited him:
His souls would scatter and perish!
He therefore had to steady himself as quickly as possible and gather every thought and strand of consciousness.
Without the slightest hesitation, he sat in the full lotus position inside the nest and swiftly began practicing the Eight Scenes Contemplation and Visualization Method.
Dark clouds filled the sky, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed. The weather was utterly foul.
Yet Chen Jin soon entered a state of selflessness. First, a moon appeared within his spiritual mind, its light full and bright as a mirror;
Then the morning sun rose in the east, shedding brilliant radiance.
Sun and moon appeared together.
This was the profound mystery of the orthodox Daoist Eight Scenes Contemplation and Visualization Method.
It was also what had given Chen Jin the confidence to risk his life.
The sun and moon hung in the sky, their radiance illuminating one another. As though possessed of supreme attraction, they drew countless fragments of his mind toward them, each rushing in after the last before joining together one by one and growing solid.
Moonlight nurtured the body and protected the corporeal soul; Yang Qi settled the ethereal soul and steadied the mind.
Yin and yang were in harmony.
"Father, look over there!"
On a hillside several li away, He Tie was startled and hurried out of the felt tent.
Old Man He had already come out and stood on the slope, gazing into the distance.
Dark clouds gathered in the night sky over there, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing in a terrifying spectacle.
And here?
The moon was bright, the breeze gentle, and insects chirped in utter tranquility.
The two places were actually not far apart, less than a quarter-hour's walk, yet their conditions were as different as heaven and earth. It seemed extraordinarily uncanny.
Upon closer thought, however, it was not so strange. Sometimes, with only a bridge between them, one side enjoyed clear skies for ten thousand miles while rain poured down on the other.
But the father and son of the He family were thinking of something else. The clouds and lightning above looked remarkably like the lightning tribulations of legend.
In other words, could some being be undergoing a tribulation over there?
The very thought seemed inconceivable.
Given the mountain's present circumstances, a human cultivator could essentially be ruled out, leaving only mountain spirits and wild monsters.
But had the Demon-Slaying Alliance not exterminated all those powerful Demon Beasts?
How could there still be one left?
The thousand-year-old snake demon stirring up wind and waves in the Nether Passage River?
The father and son exchanged looks, utterly appalled.
He Tie licked his dry lips. "Father, I remember that spot. It should be that secluded valley filled with miasma."
Old Man He's gaze flickered. "It's possible the snake demon came ashore to undergo its tribulation."
He Tie's eyes lit up. "This is a tremendous fortuitous opportunity! Father, shall we go take a look?"
Old Man He glared. "Take a look? I think lard has blinded your heart and liver. You're not even choosing where to get yourself killed."
"But..."
"No buts. Wake Tong'er and the others. We're leaving immediately and returning to the market town."
He Tie froze. "But we haven't dug up anything these past few days."
Old Man He's tone was firm and brooked no argument. "Coming away empty-handed is better than losing our lives. Go, hurry. If it really is the snake demon undergoing its tribulation, once it succeeds, it's bound to unleash a slaughter and send blood flowing in rivers. I reckon we won't be able to stay anywhere in these mountains."
He Tie had no choice but to comply. In truth, he had entertained another thought: if the other party failed its tribulation, he could reap a tremendous windfall.
But with the whole family here, young and old alike, he dared not gamble.
They immediately broke camp in the night and fled.
Strangely enough, after the first lightning tribulation descended, dark clouds continued rolling and lightning crisscrossed the sky, yet no second tribulation bolt struck down.
Silver serpents flashed through the clouds, seemingly having lost their target and left to dart about aimlessly.
This was because the supreme might of that first tribulation bolt had already split apart and dispersed the vast mass of stagnant Yin Baleful Corpse Qi within Chen Jin.
Hum!
With a shudder, as though rusted iron locks had been smashed, the long-blocked Three Yin Meridians of the Foot opened in response.
At last, all twelve primary meridians within his body were connected and open, and all his internal organs had regained their vitality.
He was no longer a zombie, but a living man.
This was a transformation in the truest sense!
Naturally, the lightning tribulation above could no longer strike down.
After a while, the thunder and lightning faded. Instead, rain began pattering down onto Chen Jin's head.
Within moments, he was soaked through.
Chen Jin did not care in the slightest.
When he had been a corpse monster, he had felt an instinctive aversion to water. But things were different now. He hoped the rain would fall even harder, washing away the corpse skin and filth on his body, along with its foul stench.
When he woke from meditation, he immediately stripped off the burial clothes he wore and began scrubbing his body with both hands.
As he scrubbed, the red hair covering him peeled away in patches along with his blue-black corpse skin, revealing the normal complexion of a living person beneath.
Chen Jin washed himself with great care, like a newborn infant receiving its first bath.
He washed his hair too.
Hair had actually grown on his head. It was hardly luxuriant, reaching only to his shoulders.
This was because his Qi and Blood had only just been born anew and could not replenish all his deficiencies so quickly, so his body's various physical characteristics would not become perfect all at once.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that he had finally, truly come back to life.