Inside the cave, Bai Wushang sat cross-legged against the cave entrance, closed his eyes, assumed the posture of soles and palms facing the sky, and began to meditate.
Meditation was the most common form of cultivation after becoming a Master. It could be used to recover or grow one's soul power, and after a certain level of adaptation, meditation could even replace sleep entirely for better recovery of bodily functions.
Bai Wushang didn't dare to enter into immersive deep meditation, only staying in a shallow meditation state so that he could divide some of his attention to respond to outside situations at any time.
The minutes passed.
Suddenly, a loud boom, like the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground, broke the valley's silence.
Bai Wushang jerked awake as the sound was very close to him.
Looking through a gap in the stone towards the outside, he saw a large brown and black boar lying on the ground like a pile of mud in the pale moonlight, its fat belly twitching, its tusks broken, and its mouth foaming with blood.
[Name]: Tusked Pig (Wild)
[Race]: Demon Beast Realm - Walking Beast Type - Fanged Pig Race
[Life Level]: Late youth form
[Bloodline Quality]: Mortal Bone Level, 3 Stars
[Status]: Near Death
[Intelligence]: Low
[Characteristics]: Reckless
[Skills]: Pig Surge, Skyward Thrust
[Gourmet Cell]: 9
"What happened?" asked Mu Xiaoxiao, who had been startled awake, and came over to ask quietly.
"Probably fell from above and fell to… its death," Bai Wushang guessed casually, but he was quite worried.
This was the point in time when the zombies were most active, and a boar of this size falling here was an unsolicited midnight snack.
Bai Wushang was tempted to complain, 'Forget about serving right up to the door, why fall dead in front of our cave. What if we're also found? Isn't that harming us!'
In the darkness, pair after pair of lime green eyes turned, gathering towards the area as if spectral fires.
Soon, at least two dozen hungry zombies varying in height gathered around, issuing suppressed hisses in succession.
They crowded together, their ghastly corpse claws bringing off large chunks of bloody flesh from the tusked pig with each prod, and then pouncing on it like starving ghosts in an extremely gruesome scene.
Bai Wushang covered Mu Xiaoxiao's mouth, fearing that she wouldn't be able to withstand the scene and scream out, and then she would become a live target.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Suddenly, a cloud of sand and dust was raised in the distance, and a burly black humanoid figure darted towards this side, the ground shaking violently with every step.
Like a tank, it rushed into the group of zombies without a care in the world, and was able to grab a hungry zombie with one hand and throw it backward a dozen meters casually like a stone.
This was repeated, and the normal zombies surrounding the tusked pig were cleared straight away.
"Roar!"
The monster opened its bloody mouth, and let out a long cry to the sky, and the hungry zombies around it that didn't have eyes still wanted to come over and grab the food, yet suddenly fell to the ground like soft shrimps shivering.
Illuminated by the silver moon, the monster was about two meters tall, with long hair, naked, and glowing with a metallic sheen from head to toe.
If one were to just look at its body, it was a fine sculptural work of art, with overwhelming aesthetic in every curvature.
But when one saw its face, one's scalp was bound to tingle, and all senses would tell them that it was totally a murderous monster!
The humanoid's face was strewn with scars as if a sharp weapon had strangled it, and its deeply emerald green eyes were filled with tyranny and killing intent that could not be hidden. Bai Wushang only glanced at it before lowering his eyes for fear of being noticed by it.
Bai Wushang silently recalled the attribute panel from earlier.
[Name]: Ironclad Zombie (Wild)
[Race]: Underworld - Zombie type - Corpse
[Life Level]: Early mature form
[Bloodline Quality]: Mortal Bone Level 7 Stars
[Status]: Rage
[Intelligence]: Low
[Characteristics]: Dark Adaptation/Infection/Metal Skin
[Skills]: Steel Corpse Claw, Skull Crushing Fist, Iron-Headed Hammer, Venomous Fangs
[Gourmet Cells]: 35
It drew over a big guy after all…
Bai Wushang pulled Mu Xiaoxiao, hiding in the cave and not daring to move, a thin layer of sweat forming on his back.
Ordinary zombies, with poor perception and fear of light and heat, either couldn't spot this cave, or wouldn't go near it if they did.
But this evolved Ironclad Zombie was different. It was already a mature form; the ordinary flame and heat might affect it, but the result would be minimal.
Now, we can only hope not to be found by it… Big brother, can I call you big brother? After eating this stupid pig, just go home early—sleep after the meal helps digestion…
The tyrannical look in its eyes lessened slowly as it saw no more minions dared to approach it, as it was the big brother Ironclad Zombie.
It approached the carcass of the tusked pig, half crouched, and began to enjoy its meal.
The sound of blood splashing and the sound of bones clicking and being chewed up made Mu Xiaoxiao's face awfully pale.
Soon, most of the remaining tusked pig was eaten and wiped clean by the Ironclad Zombie, who straightened up and surprisingly still looked a bit dissatisfied, as if it hadn't had enough.
After looking around, frightening the minions on the ground who wished to bury themselves in the sand, the Ironclad Zombie suddenly cocked its head, its emerald green eyes looking straight at the cave where Bai Wushang was, a hideous smile blooming on its face.
Oh no! Bai Wushang cried out inwardly, and reacted extremely quickly by pulling Mu Xiaoxiao backward.
With a loud boom, the Ironclad Zombie shattered the boulder blocking the cave entrance with a single punch, and half of its body poked into the cave.
It smelled like human flesh!
Bai Wushang hurriedly gripped the metal rod, and slammed it against its head as the stone chips flew.
In just two or three seconds, Bai Wushang smashed it at least 10 times, each time using all his strength, but he only heard the clanging of metal collision echoed in the cave. The skin between Bai Wushang's thumb and index finger cracked, but the Ironclad Zombie's head didn't have the slightest trace of injury. On the contrary, the fierce light in its eyes grew as a look of irritation appeared in them.
"Look out!"
The sharp corpse claws stabbed at Bai Wushang's chest with great speed. The hairs on Bai Wushang bristled, his pupils contracting into needles as he narrowly slanted his body to the side to avoid the vitals, but his shoulder failed to dodge, and was scratched and cut, leaving five pitch-black claw marks.
The wound wasn't deep, but the blood had just seeped out and was stained black. It was evident that the Ironclad Zombie's claws carried a potent toxin on them.
Thankfully, Bai Wushang was not worried about poisoning. His body, sealed with the most ancient blood poison, had powerful antibodies to low-level toxins, which was the only benefit he had gained from that catastrophic event.
What should I do? How do I get out of such a desperate situation?