Chapter 82: The Emergence of the Winged Corpse

“Help! Somebody help!” The sudden cry of terrified soldiers and the sharp crack of gunfire echoed from the mass grave just as the wind began to stir.

Zhou Yi and Baozi quickly rose to look. They saw a group of soldiers fleeing in panic, shouting for help. Some, too frightened to run, collapsed to the ground and crawled desperately toward the edge.

“Don’t run! Don’t run!” Ji Liang shouted, firing his pistol into the air to try and regain control.

But there was no stopping the chaos. Soldiers on perimeter watch saw their comrades fleeing and joined the stampede. In moments, over two hundred soldiers scattered in every direction.

Ji Liang, seeing his men had deserted him, dared not remain in the pit any longer. He scrambled out and ran after the others.

From a distance, Zhou Yi and Baozi watched, bewildered. They saw nothing chasing the soldiers—no sign of any ghost or apparition. Now that the area was deserted, the two exchanged a wary glance and cautiously approached the pit.

Xunfeng whined anxiously, tugging at Zhou Yi’s trouser leg to stop him from going forward.

Zhou Yi gave a faint smile, stroked Xunfeng’s head to reassure him, and continued toward the pit, both men tense and on guard for any sudden danger.

Reaching the edge, they peered down and frowned in disgust.

At the center of the pit was a spring—not of water, but of blood. And beside the bloody spring knelt a figure, hunched over, drinking greedily from the crimson pool.

“Who is that?” Baozi asked, pointing at the figure.

The figure turned at the sound of Baozi’s voice, and in that instant, both men recoiled in horror. This was no living man, but a corpse—a zombie.

The zombie’s clothing had rotted away, its body covered in purple fur, though its face still bore the contorted agony of its death.

“It’s a flying corpse. We’re in real trouble now,” Zhou Yi muttered, drawing his Fire Needle, preparing for a fight.

Zombies are classified in six ranks: White Corpse, Black Corpse, Hopping Corpse, and Flying Corpse. Of these, the Flying Corpse was the most dangerous—precisely what now crouched at the bottom of the pit.

According to Yuan Mei’s “Censored Tales,” a flying corpse is born from a hopping corpse that has absorbed moonlight for over a century, maybe several centuries. Agile and swift, it can leap over rooftops and trees, moving as if flying, draining the life and soul from its victims without leaving a mark.

The fifth rank is known as the Draugr, or Drought Fiend—a monstrous being bordering on demonic. Even a master at the peak of cultivation would be powerless against it.

The sixth and final rank is the Hou—a being no longer a zombie, but a demon king. In terms of cultivation, this monster would be at the supreme level.

Yuan Mei’s “Further Censored Tales” wrote: “A zombie may transform into a Hou; the first change is into a Draugr, the next into a Hou. The Hou possesses supernatural powers, can breathe fire and smoke from its mouth, and even dragons fear to face it—gods and buddhas alike avoid confrontation.”

But enough digression—back to the matter at hand.

“It’s not a Draugr, so what’s there to fear? Let’s just kill it and be done,” Baozi declared, leaping into the pit, mace in hand.

The flying corpse didn’t dodge, letting Baozi’s weapon crash down on its skull with a dull thud. Then the creature seized Baozi’s mace, yanked hard, and flung Baozi to the edge of the bloody spring.

Baozi scrambled to his feet, but the ground beneath him suddenly gave way, pulling him down as if trying to swallow him whole. The flying corpse roared and, without touching the ground, shot toward Baozi.

The earth kept sinking, trapping Baozi, who struggled in vain. He mustered all his strength and swung his mace again at the creature. The flying corpse ignored the blow, grabbed Baozi by the shoulders, and bit down viciously on his neck.

Zhou Yi could not let Baozi face this danger alone. In a flash, he appeared behind the flying corpse and stabbed his Fire Needle into the Jade Pillow point at the base of its skull.

It is said that the Jade Pillow point is where the soul resides. Zombies persist because their bodies do not decay, their souls anchored within, neither truly dead nor alive. Zhou Yi hoped that striking this point would have an effect.

But as the Fire Needle struck, he realized his error—a metallic clang rang out, as if striking iron.

The flying corpse, enraged, whirled to attack Zhou Yi. In so doing, it released Baozi from the sinking earth and flung him aside, inadvertently saving him.

This creature’s skin was tougher than bronze or iron, impervious to all their attacks. Baozi and Zhou Yi battered it with their weapons to no avail. Zhou Yi hacked at it several times, but couldn’t even dent it. If they didn’t retreat, they’d end up as nothing more than training dummies for the zombie.

Realizing brute force was futile, Baozi leapt out of the pit, with Zhou Yi following close behind.

The flying corpse did not pursue, instead resuming its position by the bloody spring, drinking again.

“That thing’s skin is too tough. What do we do now?” Baozi panted, sitting on the ground—his battle with the flying corpse had been a brush with death.

“I’ll call down a thunderbolt to strike it,” Zhou Yi replied, forming hand seals and reciting an incantation.

In an instant, thunder crashed—“BOOM! CRACK!”—and a bolt of lightning shot down toward the flying corpse. The creature looked up, roared defiantly at the sky, and, instead of dodging, raised its left hand to meet the thunder head-on.

Zhou Yi sneered from the side. The flying corpse was overestimating itself—how could it possibly withstand the might of heaven’s thunder? Zhou Yi could already picture its annihilation.

But when the lightning faded, the flying corpse stood unscathed at the bottom of the pit. Zhou Yi and Baozi frowned, even more troubled.

“It’s not afraid of lightning. We can’t beat this thing—let’s get out of here!” Baozi grabbed Zhou Yi, ready to flee.

But Zhou Yi held him back. “Wait—take a close look at what’s on its left hand!” When he called the thunder, he’d caught a glimpse of something metallic gleaming on the creature’s hand, but hadn’t seen it clearly. Whatever it was, it must be the key to its immunity.

“Why not just hit it with another thunderbolt?” Baozi grumbled, glancing at Zhou Yi.

But Zhou Yi’s expression changed—his mouth twisted wider and wider, until finally he could not help but shout, “Run!”

The flying corpse, struck by lightning, might have had some means of protection, but that didn’t mean it was unscathed. Even a clay figure could get angry, let alone a zombie of this caliber. Without touching the ground, it shot after Zhou Yi and Baozi, fast as the wind.

Baozi heard Zhou Yi’s shout, glanced back at the pursuing creature, and without a word, turned and ran for his life.

Channeling their spiritual energy, the two men moved with great speed, but the flying corpse was faster still. It chased them relentlessly, attacking whenever one of them slowed to gather strength. In moments, these two heirs of Lu Ya were being pursued in utter chaos, barely escaping disaster.

After a short run, they saw Ji Liang and the soldiers ahead. Ji Liang was now commanding his men to surround and attack Xunfeng.

Xunfeng, frightened by the flying corpse, had not followed Zhou Yi into the pit and was wandering nearby. Unluckily, he ran straight into the fleeing Ji Liang. Ji Liang, not about to let an opportunity slip by, ordered his men to encircle Xunfeng.

“Xunfeng, run!”