Reduced to Ashes?

In truth, Zhang Shou had informed Yu Xian of their whereabouts, and Cheng Pi had likewise reported their upcoming operation to Yu Lie and Xiao Cheng. In the past, Yu Lie and Xiao Cheng certainly wouldn't have cared much about a single zombie acting strangely. But ever since Yu Xian had burst onto the scene, the two truly took such matters to heart. After all, with certain creatures, an anomaly signified trouble. If an evil version of Yu Xian were to emerge, the danger to Earth and Huaxia would simply be too catastrophic. Thus, both commanders fully supported Zhang Shou and the others in investigating this aberrant zombie—and, if a real issue was found, eliminating it on the spot. After filing their report, Zhang Shou and his companions pushed upstream against the sparse trickle of zombies, fighting their way straight into the spatial rift. Passing through the rift, the four immediately felt the heavy, suffocating lifelessness of this realm. If one had to describe the sensation, it was akin to stepping into a room that had gone unventilated for ages—an overwhelming stuffiness. Of course, that oppressive feeling here was dozens of times stronger. Catching the scent of living flesh, several zombies hopped toward the group. Zhang Shou waved his staff, and a dense shower of green specks of light swept across like bullets, riddling the charging zombies into hornet's nests in the blink of an eye. "Heh-heh, your grandpa here isn't the greenhorn he used to be! You still dare come at me?" Zhang Shou chuckled smugly. During his accidental entry last time, he truly would have been in mortal peril had Yu Xian not come to his rescue. But now, his strength was nothing like before. A few mere zombies were child's play. "Don't get careless. This place really is bizarre. Let's make it quick—finish the job and leave," Gong Qian said solemnly. Previously, she had only read about this world in written dossiers; this was her very first time entering in person. Her enhanced senses were issuing constant warnings of danger. "Right, make it quick. Let's move," Cheng Pi agreed at once with a nod. After a brief discussion, the group decided to head toward Zombie Mountain. That peak piled high with corpses was undoubtedly the most suspicious location. Perhaps that upstream-bound zombie had simply been stubborn, fixated on scaling that mountain. "What if it really was just a slightly unusual zombie? Would we look like fools for taking this risk?" Cheng Pi asked the others, kicking an approaching zombie into the distance. As a second-generation Shiny Vampire, Cheng Pi didn't particularly care for this world. Without sunlight, his stamina was no longer limitless. Consequently, he was subconsciously conserving his energy, dealing with enemies using bare-handed martial arts whenever possible rather than tapping into his other abilities. Even so, his stamina was exceptionally robust; going all-out in this realm, he could easily fight for three days and three nights without tiring. "Better safe than sorry. If we hadn't run into it, that would be one thing. But since we did, my conscience won't let it go without an investigation," Gong Qian replied earnestly. In fact, back when her surefire punch had been intercepted by that deluge of zombies, a strange intuition had struck her: if that blow failed to kill the creature, finishing it off later would prove far more difficult. It was precisely this nagging foreboding that made her fixate on that particular zombie. Ten-odd minutes later. The four reached the base of Zombie Mountain, where they were greeted by mounds of desiccated corpses. "Why are all these zombies completely shriveled up?" Zhang Shou muttered, furrowing his brow as he crouched beside a desiccated husk to examine it. Xiong Da ventured a guess. "Could it be the work of that special zombie?" "Very likely," Cheng Pi nodded. Right then, a raspy cackle drifted from the other side of Zombie Mountain, catching the ears of all four at once. Exchanging a glance, they immediately sprinted toward the laughter. Minutes later, they spotted Zuo Zhengzong perched atop a boulder, laughing like a madman. Faint green light now pulsed through the veins across Zuo Zhengzong's body, and green tentacles sprouted from his back. His appearance had diverged drastically from his original form. Yet Gong Qian recognized his face; when he had glanced back earlier, she had caught a clear look at him. "It's him! The special zombie!" Gong Qian called out instantly. Tightening his grip on his staff, Zhang Shou quipped, "You don't need to tell us to know he's special." After all, how could a normal zombie glow, let alone sprout a cluster of tentacles from its back? By this point, Zuo Zhengzong had finished his laughing fit. Looking down at the four newcomers, his gaze locked onto Gong Qian. Fury flared within him as he ground his teeth. "It's you!" He had narrowly escaped death yesterday. Though he had no idea how he had survived, Gong Qian had to die! Murderous intent surged in his chest. Kicking hard off the boulder, he materialized before Gong Qian in a flash, the dense tentacles at his back fanning out like petals to engulf her. Gong Qian's reflexes were razor-sharp. Faced with the assault, she did not retreat; stepping forward instead, she drove a fist straight toward Zuo Zhengzong. To her surprise, Zuo Zhengzong caught her strike with ease. The colossal force slammed into his palm like a clay ox plunging into the sea, failing to stir the slightest ripple. "Die, you wretched bitch!" Zuo Zhengzong opened his maw, lunging his fangs toward Gong Qian's neck. Yet before he could touch her, a tentacle shot forth first, wrapping around his leg and dragging him backward. Two blasts of flame struck simultaneously from both flanks, slamming into his left and right chest in unison. "Bastard, don't forget we're here!" Cheng Pi roared at Zuo Zhengzong, his fists engulfed in flames. On the other side, Xiong Da's paws were similarly ablaze. The fire abruptly flared with a secondary burst as it bellowed, "You want to hurt Grandpa Xiong's friend? Did you ask Grandpa Xiong first?" "Whatever kind of freak you are, die!" Staff in hand, Zhang Shou summoned a sharpened vine that thrust straight into Zuo Zhengzong's back. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Zuo Zhengzong had no room to retaliate. In an instant, the vine speared through his abdomen, leaving him skewered like meat on a spit. "Strike while he's down!" Cheng Pi cried out as he transformed into a streak of light, shooting into the sky before raining torrents of fire down upon Zuo Zhengzong. Zhang Shou gritted his teeth and triggered his skill. Five thick vines erupted from the ground, binding Zuo Zhengzong's head and four limbs, poised to tear him apart like five horses drawing and quartering a criminal. "If fists won't cut it, how about a blade?" Gong Qian retrieved a forty-meter greatsword from her storage ring, gripped the hilt with both hands, raised it high, and brought it cleaving downward. "No, no, no! I surrender! I yield!" Terrified out of his wits by the overwhelming concentrated barrage, Zuo Zhengzong screamed frantically, the sky full of fire reflected in his pupils. Yet no one listened, much less believed him. Had he surrendered the moment he encountered Gong Qian's group, he might have had a sliver of hope. But he had chosen poorly by attacking first. Now, it was too late. In a split second, all the attacks converged. His four limbs were ripped clean off by the vines, followed by a punishing blast of fire that engulfed his torso, and in the next heartbeat, the colossal blade cleaved him cleanly in two. And it wasn't over. Xiong Da's belly swelled, and it exhaled a torrent of black-and-white flames over Zuo Zhengzong's butchered remains. Known as Dual Yin-Yang Divine Fire, this blaze attacked the physical vessel on one end and incinerated the soul on the other—the ultimate tool for eradicating all traces of a corpse. Under the divine fire, Zuo Zhengzong's remains rapidly crumbled into cinders, and his soul was thoroughly pulverized to dust within the ashes.