By day, a large force of heavily armed soldiers swept through Old Dragon Island.
Every area where people had lived was cleared out entirely.
At least several thousand zombies were slain and destroyed.
The daytime sunlight heavily suppressed the zombies, reducing their mobility by more than half. Advancing in unison with leveled spears, the soldiers found it easy enough to thrust forward and shatter their heads.
Yet after a single fierce battle, every soldier was tainted with earthly fiend qi, and many had contracted corpse poison.
Disciples from the branch abbey took turns casting incantations over hundreds of soldiers to purge the earthly fiend qi and corpse poison from their bodies.
Zhou Wuji was impressed by the efficient organization of the Pacification Office. The soldiers fought bravely, and their methods for dealing with the zombies, though simple, were undeniably effective.
However, a large number of zombies had retreated into the forested mountains on the island's western side.
The peaks on Old Dragon Island were not particularly high—only one to two hundred zhang—but they were densely overgrown with trees, thorns, and brambles. For heavily armored soldiers, fighting in such terrain was exceedingly disadvantageous, as it was impossible to maintain an effective battle formation.
Company Commander Li Fei of the Pacification Office was in command. Standing at the foot of the mountain with Daoist Yizhen and Monk Xinjue, all three found the dense forest troublesome.
The main issue was the earthly fiend qi. It was too dense; the longer this dragged on, the stronger the zombies would become. Meanwhile, anyone staying on the island would be constantly eroded by the fiend qi.
As their strength waned while the enemy's grew, they had to bring the battle to an end as quickly as possible.
One of the Pacification Office men stepped forward with an idea. "Company Commander, why don't we set fire to the mountain?"
Li Fei snapped at him in annoyance, "Have you forgotten what season it is? How big of a fire do you think you have to burn this whole mountain?"
It was mid-fifth month, and the mountainside was covered in fresh, tender growth. Fire would hardly spread. Burning a few trees was simple enough, but igniting the entire mountain would take an unimaginable amount of kerosene and firewood.
Chastened, the man slunk back, not daring to say another word.
Li Fei continued, "We will proceed with Daoist Wuji's plan. We can bleed a large number of live pigs and sheep tonight to lure the zombies into our trap..."
If the plan succeeded, they could freely choose where to engage the zombies and pick terrain most advantageous to them.
The monks from Golden Leaf Temple remained silent. Opposing Zhou Wuji at a time like this would only make them look petty. It was better to wait until nightfall; if the plan failed, there would still be plenty of time to mock him.
That evening, the men selected a flat, open clearing on the mountain and dug a large pit. Several pigs and sheep were tossed inside, their bodies slashed with wounds from which blood steadily welled. More blood was splattered around the surrounding ground, filling the air with a thick, pungent stench of gore.
Torches were placed around the perimeter, illuminating the area around the pit as bright as day.
No sooner had the sun dipped below the horizon than dozens of zombies came sprinting out of the woods, lunging toward the fresh flesh and blood in the pit. To a zombie, humans, pigs, and sheep were no different—they were driven solely by an instinctual craving for blood and the rich vitality it contained.
The prepared soldiers thrust their spears forward together, dispatching the creatures with ease.
As the scent of blood spread outward, more and more zombies were drawn to the site. Before long, piles of zombie corpses lay before the deep pit—a truly chilling sight.
The soldiers rotated in continuous shifts to ensure that those on the front line always had enough stamina. Occupying the high ground, they thrust downward with virtually no danger to themselves.
Seeing such splendid results, Li Fei turned to Zhou Wuji and said sincerely, "Though simple, this method is remarkably effective. Daoist Wuji, you are truly brilliant!"
Zhou Wuji replied earnestly, "You flatter me. Wiping out the zombies as quickly as possible to keep the disaster from spreading is our duty as well."
Even as the two were speaking, a zombie suddenly leapt high into the air. Soaring three to four zhang high at shocking speed, it cleared the deep pit in a single bound and plummeted right down toward a group of soldiers.
Several spearmen reacted swiftly, thrusting their weapons up to impale it. But the zombie lashed out, striking the spearheads with its bare hands. The impact sent several spears flying from their grips.
The soldiers recoiled in terror. They had slain countless zombies, yet this was the first time they had encountered something so formidable. They scrambled back in disarray.
The moment it hit the ground, the zombie swept its arm out. Its pitch-black, razor-sharp claws ripped clean through a soldier's leather armor, tearing five long gashes across his chest and dragging out his internal organs. The soldier let out a shrill scream, his entire body seized with searing pain and numbness, unable to move a muscle.
Ignoring everyone else, the zombie opened its maw and bit down into the soldier's torn chest.
The surrounding soldiers frantically thrust their spears at its body and head, but the tips left only faint black marks, completely unable to pierce its flesh. With a casual backhand swipe, the zombie batted the spears aside. The spearmen felt their arms go numb, staggering back under the shock without a shred of strength left to resist.
"A mutated zombie!"
Sensing danger, Daoist Yizhen began chanting and released a Golden Light Incantation.
The talisman shot through the air like an arrow, striking the zombie squarely. Golden light spread like water over its body, forcing black smoke to billow out as the creature writhed and fought back. But the soldier in its grasp had already turned black in the face, his breath gone.
Seeing this, Yizhen held nothing back. Pointing the Tianpeng ruler in his hand, he unleashed the Northern Dipper Tianshu Yin Thunder.
His lightning spell had long been prepared, waiting only for an incantation to trigger it. Having perfected the upper dantian, a cultivator could store spells in advance within their sea of consciousness—a power exclusive to sixth-rank cultivators.
A bolt of lightning like liquid light spanned dozens of paces and struck the zombie square on.
With a dull boom, the watery radiance burst apart. The zombie's upper torso was mostly obliterated, and barely a fraction of its head remained. Yet against all odds, the male zombie did not perish. Staggering a few steps through the lingering electric light, it suddenly wheeled around and fled toward the mountain forest at full speed.
Yizhen was thoroughly startled. The lightning spell he wielded with his cultivation was something even a sixth-rank cultivator could scarcely endure, yet a senseless zombie had taken the Yin Thunder head-on and survived.
The surrounding Daoists recovered their wits and hurled all manner of talismans, brilliant golden light flashing everywhere, but none could match the zombie's speed.
Bounding through the air like the wind, it vanished into the woods in the blink of an eye. Immediately afterward, a blue silhouette darted after it, disappearing into the darkness just as swiftly.
Wuming saw clearly that the blue shadow was Zhou Wuji. A wave of worry washed over her. *That zombie is so powerful—what if Senior Brother runs into danger chasing it like that...?*
This was the first time Zhou Wuji had encountered a mutated zombie. When Yizhen struck, he too had assumed the creature was finished, never expecting it to be so tough.
This only piqued his interest.
Zhiyuan had already mentioned earlier today that Zhang Shiheng had returned to Yunyang Prefecture. With such a massive catastrophe on his hands, Zhang Shiheng had to handle the aftermath as quickly as possible to minimize his own culpability.
Without Zhang Shiheng lurking nearby, Zhou Wuji had no reservations left and pursued the zombie straight into the forest.
The zombie knew no movement techniques; it possessed only monstrous strength and blinding speed. It plowed recklessly through the woods, snapping branches and kicking up loose stone wherever it went.
Using the movement technique of the Flowing Cloud Sword, Zhou Wuji could barely keep pace.
He could have easily dispatched it with the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword, but he was curious where it was rushing off to in such a panic.
Zhiyuan had warned that any zombie fused with a remnant yin dragon soul would undergo bizarre mutations and become exceptionally dangerous. Over the past two days of extermination, Zhou Wuji had not seen a single mutated zombie. Only tonight had one finally emerged.
If these mutated zombies were gathered in one place, that would be ideal.
The zombie moved with tremendous speed, plunging deep into the mountain forest in no time at all.
Relying on his Six Yang Dharma Eyes, even when the zombie was out of sight, Zhou Wuji could still track the trail of yin fiend qi lingering in the air, not to mention the deep footprints gouged into the earth.
After following it a while longer, Zhou Wuji spotted a deep cavern. The entrance was only as tall as a man and barely three feet wide, resembling a long, narrow fissure in the rock face.
Peering through his Six Yang Dharma Eyes, he saw wisps of dark red earthly fiend qi seeping from the opening. The entire mountain was bathed in earthly fiend qi, so that alone revealed little.
Not daring to be careless, Zhou Wuji immediately fortified himself with a Northern Culmen Heavenly Dipper Divine Talisman. An azure starlight robe draped over him, instantly sealing out all earthly fiend qi. He then swallowed a Two-Turn Purple Qi Pill, letting the spiritual qi converted by the medicinal power circulate through his body to replenish his true qi to the fullest.
With his preparations complete, Zhou Wuji drew his sword and entered the cavern.
The passage inside was winding and dim, the earthly fiend qi thickening with every step inward.
After advancing several dozen paces, the narrow tunnel opened up into a cavernous chamber. The vaulted ceiling soared over a dozen zhang overhead, and below lay a deep, well-like chasm from which the dense earthly fiend qi billowed upward.
Sitting in a circle around the chasm were twelve zombies—men and women, young and old. Their skin was pitch-black like iron, and their eyes burned like fire.
The zombie that had just been blasted by the Yin Thunder, its head shattered and its upper torso reduced to bare bones, stood conspicuously among the group.
Examining the pack, Zhou Wuji noted their grim, eerie auras, laden with a vicious desire to devour all life. It was identical to the aura of the yin dragon that had surged into the sky two nights ago. These had to be zombies possessed by remnant yin dragon souls.
Though there were minor differences among them, their strength seemed largely comparable. None of them looked easy to handle.
All at once, the zombies raised their heads together, fixing their gaze upon Zhou Wuji, who was draped in flowing azure starlight.
Every pair of crimson eyes flared with a blaze of savage fury.
Yet unlike ordinary zombies driven purely by instinct, these creatures displayed a strange composure, showing no rush to blindly lunge at him.
Zhou Wuji felt a mix of delight and alarm. He was delighted because converting so many remnant yin dragon souls into primordial profound qi would yield an enormous harvest. Yet he was alarmed because these zombies were far from stupid—and he had no idea whether he could swallow them all in a single bite.
Chapter 110