Chapter 40: Major Sequela

Two shadows blur through the sky, landing on an empty plot of land near a river. The two were Liu Gu and the black-bearded cultivator.

They came down to inspect a speck, that speck was the Level 9 Walking Zombie, completely frozen with dried blood splattered over himself. The Level 9 had finished eating the scrawny disciple, now with these two landing, it would charge towards the fresh meat.

The black-bearded cultivator waved his hands, fluttering robes as a gleam traveled the air, sticking to the Level 9's forehead. A big, shiny "Repress" landed on the forehead of the zombie.

All actions stopped, the zombie's eyelids would shut, arms dropping to waist. His mind grew dormant, fully stopping while he fell to the ground.

"Hem! How dare this bastard zombie drink your own master's blood!" This black-bearded cultivator would say, stuffing the Level 9 into a blood coffin.

The Shi Fu walked towards what remained of his disciple's body. His disarranged face was serene, it seemed he died rather peaceful. While the black-bearded cultivator is wise, he immediately concluded the death by inspecting his disciple's injuries, marks different than a regular Level 9

"Killed by a zombie huh? It would seem the opponent is also a corpse cultivator"

Liu Gu offers his mind, adding on, "It's spottable that his corpse was quickly rummaged, but the person didn't take his zombie. The battle itself seemed to last long, so it would say that this particular person was below the Foundation Builder realm."

Liu Gu has lived for 500 years and stayed in the middle realms, and with so many years, his accumulated experience outranked many. He did such calculations in seconds, just by observing the surroundings.

The black-bearded cultivator nodded in agreement while his eyes floated on his spiritual compass.

"It's only been two hours, I don't think the killer has escaped far, giving chase now will be the best option."

Several hand signs were made again, his compass would spin in a continuous cycle, landing towards a river, then a boulder.

The black-bearded cultivator gets quite frustrated by this, "Shit! Seems like this rascal hid the spiritual mark somewhere."

Liu Gu didn't care for much except that he didn't want to stay here.

"If the compass is useless against him, then we should just return back to the Yin Spring and report to Shi Xiong."

Rage filled the face of the black-bearded cultivator, he gave up as he had no other ways to find this killer.

"If only he still had that spiritual mark with him, otherwise, I would've chased him to the ends of the world."

The two didn't stay for long, once their mission failed, they decided to take their leave.

The burning sun beated upon the surface.

Including the baking from the sun, the whole forest felt like the insides of a steamer. The beasts in the forest were either resting in a cool space or swimming in nearby rivers and streams.

Branches of a river flowed between the mountains, near that branch, a cave at the root of the mountains was spottable.

With the constant flow of water and perfect sunlight, tall patches of vegetation grew around the cave entrance. Whenever it rained, the water would enter the cave, making the embedded dirt within it muddy.

Inside the mud laid the corpses of several beasts, there was even one of a human.

Many small crocodiles resided in this muddy swamp, sometimes tearing up meat infested with this thick water.

Zhang Yang was in the mud pit, his eyelashes quivered a bit before waking up, vertigo hit him in this dark situation.

"W-Where am I?" Zhang Yang is completely dazed as he finds a crocodile right in front of him.

The small crocodiles are sensitive in this thick mud, now with Zhang Yang's slight movement, they would go in crowds to claim this live meal.

Although they were small, they were unbelievably fast. Ten crocodiles would find their way to the front, surrounding Zhang Yang. All would expose their teeth with blank stares.

Originally, Zhang Yang's skin would be like iron. But since using the pill, his defenses also dropped a notch, his fate could be easily decided if even one of these crocodiles managed to latch onto him.

Zhang Yang flails his lifeless arms, worrying because his strength was basically gone. It would take a divine miracle for him to get off this situation, but nonetheless, he tried to kill off the crocs.

"Hulu-Hulo"

The crocodiles became agitated as their lunch was being delayed by this persistent zombie. They continued chomping away.

Zhang Yang became angry too, he hadn't felt powerless like this much. "

"Fuck! I can kill that lizard, but I can't kill these common crocodiles?! This is bullshit, that lizard was several times stronger than these crocs."

Zhang Yang angrily gripped the crocodile's snout, forgetting about his fatigue.

"Piu!"

The sharp finger pierced through the soft neck of the crocodile, thank the heavens that his nails didn't degrade in sharpness.

The crocodiles would start to chomp again, even after their ally just fell.

Zhang Yang tries his best to spin around in the mud, he managed to slip through and jump off a crocodile onto the dry land.

The scaly mob rolled and chased after Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang knew his strongest weapon of choice were his nails, his physical state was clumsy but doable. Zhang Yang's hands were in the air, randomly striking at whatever direction these crocodiles can ensue.

"Shua! Shua! Shua!" Dancing along with the blood, Zhang Yang uses his sharp fingers to kill them as if he was cutting apples. In five minutes, ten crocodiles were on their way to animal hell.

Looking back at the mud, it was stained red with blood, Zhang Yang was no different. He looked as if he was a devil specificially coming from hell to hunt beasts.

Zhang Yang immediately felt the natural thirst for blood, taking a crocodile, he would slice the soft underbelly of the croc. Finding blood, the crocodile would be drained by the second.

Zhang Yang moans happily, he quickly sank more blood into his mouth. But his face changed once he inspected his body.

"Cyclone of Qi! There's no reaction from my dantian!"

In the past, his cyclones would naturally swirl in reaction to the blood, but now nothing was happening.

He searches through his dantian, not finding even an ounce of spiritual power.

"Zombie Explosion pill? Zombie Explosion Pill! The sequelae of it is so bad that my sea of Qi is broken. I don't even know how to repair myself My strength, speed, and defense are all less than a Hopping Zombie's."

"My only weapon is my fingers" Waving his fingers, he became depressed as his strength was lesser than a Hopping Zombie.

The last thing he remembered prior to the mud swamp was being abducted by a crocodile after passing out from natural causes.

"But that's weird. Why wasn't I eaten the second I was caught?" He remembers the scene right before he blacked out, a gigantic crocodile took him in the cave without really harming him.

"I have heard sometimes crocodiles stock up on food, make it so they rot and their body breaks down so it's easier on their oral functions. Perhaps this is the reason I was saved"

Zhang Yang remembers the information that he soaked in when one day he killed the day on the discovery channel.

"I can't stay here anymore, if that parent crocodile returns to discover their kids dead, then I'll be the one taking it."

While thinking, he shudders and then starts to climb away.