Infinite Corpse Qi

It froze. The seawater suspended in the sky solidified into a massive block of ice, creating a magnificent spectacle. To call it a mere block of ice would hardly do it justice; it had effectively turned into a frozen continent, its surface area even vaster than dry land. "What's going on now?" Yu Xian asked Zhang Buyao in a hurry, staring at the boundless expanse of ice stretching across the heavens and the towering pillar of corpse qi surging straight into the sky. Zhang Buyao explained, "The corpse qi inside this corpse vein dragon has been growing non-stop. When I fought it just now, I noticed that, much like me, it seemed to be constantly growing stronger. It just wasn't growing stronger as fast as I was. "A continuous growth in power like that has to have a source. I originally wanted to find that source and cut it off, but unfortunately, the source seems to have completely fused with it." "So now that it's dead, that source has gone out of control?" Yu Xian asked after hearing her explanation. Zhang Buyao nodded. "Right. The corpse vein dragon's vitality came from corpse qi. Once it dies, the corpse qi escapes outward. Boundless and inexhaustible, this corpse qi will soon cause all living beings across the entire world to turn into zombies." This was truly, genuinely endless. The corpse qi that was supposed to continuously empower the Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon now had no choice but to spew outward. Even if the entire universe were to burst from being stuffed with corpse qi, it would continue spreading into the Abyss, into other worlds, on and on and on... with no end in sight. "Is there any way to fix this?" Yu Xian's face turned green when he heard that. Was the world doomed no matter what? Either destroyed by a fully grown Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon, or destroyed by the corpse qi released after its death—how utterly hopeless! Zhang Buyao replied, "There are a few ways. I'm just considering which one to use. The first method is the simplest, but I really don't want to do it." "What's the first method?" Yu Xian pressed. Zhang Buyao sighed. "Store the corpse vein dragon's remains in my storage ring, of course. My storage ring has infinite space, so even if it keeps releasing corpse qi forever, it won't affect the ring. But... I think it's too filthy." "Fine... Then what's the second method?" Yu Xian asked, helpless yet understanding. Zhang Buyao smiled. "Dump the dragon's corpse into another world, of course! Even if its corpse qi is endless, it still takes time to vent. We can cross that bridge when it bursts the other world and spreads back here." "..." Yu Xian stared at Zhang Buyao speechlessly. That method was a bit too wicked. Then again, speaking of which, there actually was a place suited for dumping the Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon's body: that dead world suddenly crossed his mind. If he tossed the dragon's remains into that world... No. That world had many spatial tunnels leading directly to Huaxia. It might be fine in the short term, but given enough time, there was no telling if Star Rank zombies, Li Rank zombies, or System Rank zombies would start crawling out of West Gemini Mountain. One day, it wouldn't even be surprising if a Cosmos Rank zombie came tumbling out. "Is there any other way?" Yu Xian asked fretfully. Zhang Buyao nodded. "There's another, less reliable method: find a zombie to eat the corpse vein dragon and inherit its power. Zombies can naturally inherit and absorb power from one another. That way, the world would be safe." "Then what do we do about the zombie that inherits the dragon's power?" Yu Xian frowned. That was basically creating a second Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon. What was the difference between that and shifting a problem from the left hand to the right? Zhang Buyao rolled her eyes at him and chuckled. "Are you silly? While the zombie is still weak, we take complete control of it. Wouldn't that solve everything?" Basically gaining a zombie pet? The Xingtian zombie king instantly popped into Yu Xian's mind. If the Xingtian zombie king inherited the power of the Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon... *Hiss.* That would be terrifying. However, a second later, he dismissed the thought. Better to let the Xingtian zombie king rest in peace. Still, it was a good idea—a way to turn waste into treasure. The hazardous Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon could instead become a major asset for them if handled this way. "Let's go with that, then. But how weak does the zombie need to be to count as weak?" Yu Xian pondered for a moment before asking. Zhang Buyao said irritably, "Any zombie weaker than us counts as weak. By the way, do you have any means of controlling a zombie?" "Nope," Yu Xian said, shaking his head. He had plenty of abilities, but very few when it came to mind control or subjugation. Zhang Buyao took a brush out of her storage ring and said, "This is the Bully Writing Brush. As long as you write your name on any inanimate object with it, you can claim the item as your own and gain absolute control over it. First, go find a corpse, and we'll create a zombie from scratch." ------------------------ [Bully Writing Brush] [Rank: ?] [Ability: Write your name on any inanimate object to gain absolute control over it.] [Summary: You say it's yours, but does it have your name on it? Well, look, now it has my name on it, so it's mine!] ------------------------ "Alright, I'll go look around." Yu Xian took the writing brush and nodded. Looking up at the clouds of corpse qi beginning to coalesce in the sky, Zhang Buyao warned, "You have to be back within ten minutes. Otherwise, those corpse qi clouds might attract some bizarre freaks." "What kind of bizarre freaks?" Holding the Bully Writing Brush, Yu Xian couldn't help asking. Zhang Buyao replied, "Things like Abyss Praisers, Abyss Worshipers, Abyss Corpse-Drivers, and the like. If they show up, this world will be unsalvageable." "I'm on it!" Hearing that, Yu Xian immediately understood the gravity of the situation and hurried into action. Before he could even depart, however, the sky cracked open. Directly above the corpse qi clouds, space split apart into an enormous rift. Viewed from outer space looking down at Earth, it would look almost as if the Earth was smiling, with the rift forming its mouth. "The space in your world is way too fragile," Zhang Buyao muttered, stunned for a moment before blurting out a complaint. On the other side of the rift, the scenery looked strikingly familiar: a gray world, a lifeless, desolate continent. It was the very world Yu Xian had once visited to rescue Zhang Shou. "So the rift leading straight to that world isn't just at West Gemini Mountain—Earth itself is full of them!" Yu Xian looked up at the sky in shock. The next moment, the land up in the sky rioted. Countless zombies burst frantically out of the ground. Anyone who had watched *World War Z* could easily picture it: innumerable zombies clawing and scrambling over one another in a frenzy, piling up and trampling each other as they madly climbed upward in pursuit of the corpse qi. The instant they reached the rift, gravity abruptly flipped, sending a deluge of zombies plummeting from the sky. Some crashed onto the frozen continent suspended in the sky, while others hurtled down to the earth below. Even with their bodies shattered into fractured bones upon impact, they still dragged themselves frantically toward the carcass of the Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon. "I'll deal with these zombies. Hurry up and bring back a corpse!" Zhang Buyao said. Yu Xian nodded and immediately teleported to the Island Nation, planning to grab just any body to turn into a zombie. However, the moment he appeared along the coast of the Island Nation, he saw an immense swarm of zombies hopping along toward the Infinite Sea Corpse Vein Dragon. There were animal zombies and human zombies alike, their numbers staggering. *The corpse qi concentration in the air is rising too fast; every dead creature has started turning into a zombie.* Seeing this scene, Yu Xian knew without a second thought that the Island Nation was probably crawling with zombies by now. After a brief consideration, he immediately conjured a spatial bubble and returned to Huaxia. At this point, the only place left untouched by the corruption had to be Huaxia, safely nestled within the grotto-heaven world.