Zhang Yang's body immediately tensed up, every pore on his skin standing on end! A strong sense of danger descended upon him, and he could tell with his knees that if the cave hadn't blocked the attack just now, he would have been reduced to ashes in an instant.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the zombie comrade lying on top of him. He barely had time to think before he reached out with his left hand and struck the yellow talisman pressed against its head.
Pop!
With a faint explosion, the yellow talisman started to burn, releasing thick smoke, and Zhang Yang's left hand was severely injured once more, nearly rotting away completely.
With the talisman removed from its forehead, the zombie comrade's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Without hesitation, Zhang Yang pushed with his hand, and the zombie, still recovering its senses, stiffly flew towards the Yin Mu Taoist.
At the same time, Zhang Yang pressed his body against the ground and forcefully pushed off with his feet, charging right behind the zombie comrade.
The Yin Mu Taoist only saw a dark shadow rushing toward him. Instinctively, he pointed his finger at it:
"疾 (Quick)!"
Crack!
Another thunderbolt struck down.
Boom!
The zombie comrade, with bared fangs and claws, was hit by the lightning and instantly turned to ashes.
Before the Yin Mu Taoist could even rejoice, he suddenly felt pain in his feet—Zhang Yang had grabbed his ankles, and his purple-black nails dug deep into them.
Zhang Yang's eyes were bloodshot, brimming with murderous intent.
Roar!
The excruciating pain from his left arm, corroded by the talisman, combined with the looming threat of death, made Zhang Yang almost lose consciousness. All he could think about was killing the enemy.
With a low growl, he tugged hard, and the Yin Mu Taoist immediately fell to the ground.
Before he could continue his incantation, Zhang Yang was already on top of him, hugging the Taoist's body tightly with both arms and opening his mouth wide, aiming for his neck to bite down.
Kill him!
If he didn't die, Zhang Yang would.
Now, that was the only thought in his mind.
Ahhh!
The Yin Mu Taoist screamed in agony and struggled. However, the power of the "Great General" talisman had long since been exhausted. In this close-quarters struggle, he was no match for a Level 1 Zombie like Zhang Yang.
Crunch!
Zhang Yang sank his teeth into the Taoist's neck, and blood sprayed into his throat like a geyser.
Gulp! Gulp!
Zhang Yang swallowed greedily, feeling hot blood rushing into his body and merging into the small vortex in his dantian. The small vortex, stimulated by the energy, began to spin wildly, its speed increased to ten times its usual rate.
As the vortex spun at this high speed, it generated an immense gravitational force, like a whirlpool, sucking in the essence of blood.
One complete cycle... two complete cycles...
Zhang Yang felt his body becoming more and more comfortable. The Yin Mu Taoist's cries of anguish grew quieter. However, Zhang Yang still held on tightly, afraid that this terrifying enemy would summon lightning to strike him down again.
Zhang Yang was immersed in his own world and didn't notice that, at the moment he bit into the Yin Mu Taoist, the talisman hovering in mid-air poofed! into ashes.
The thunderstorm in the sky, once controlled, now raged wildly, rumbling continuously on the mountaintop.
Several bolts of lightning struck directly, obliterating both of the zombie comrades who had been feeding off the young Taoist, along with the zombies sealed in the four coffins, turning them to dust.
The coffins shattered with an explosive force, wooden splinters flying in all directions, creating a massive spectacle.
Only Zhang Yang, nourished by the Yin Mu Taoist's blood, was shielded by a faint aura of light around him. The Yin Mu Taoist's spiritual energy enveloped his yin energy, protecting him from the wrath of the thunder.
But Zhang Yang didn't know any of this. He was still lost in his own world, swallowing, absorbing, and cycling...
Massive streams of energy surged into his abdomen and qi sea, and the small vortex there quickly became saturated, unable to absorb any more energy.
The new energy that came in began to rotate counterclockwise beside the original vortex, forming a new whirlpool.
This new whirlpool absorbed all the incoming energy, growing larger and stronger.
Zhang Yang's appearance also began to change subtly. The skin all over his body became harder, and his purple-black nails, which were about three inches long, grew to more than four inches...
He didn't know how much time had passed, but the rainstorm in the sky gradually weakened, turning from heavy rain to a light drizzle, and then stopping entirely. The thunder also gradually dissipated.
The warm sensation flowing through Zhang Yang's mouth diminished and eventually disappeared.
Snap!
A sharp sound rang out.
Zhang Yang looked down and was shocked.
He saw the yellow Taoist robe wrapped around a dry, shriveled corpse. The once sturdy Yin Mu Taoist had turned into a skeleton, wrapped in his tattered robe.
The sound just now came from this "skin and bones" body being snapped under Zhang Yang's assault.
Ugh...
Out of a subconscious fear, Zhang Yang quickly tossed the corpse away.
"This... Did I do this?"
"I... I ate a human?"
At the time, he was too focused on killing the enemy to think about the consequences. Now that he calmed down, he felt nauseous realizing that he had consumed a living person, turning him into a dry corpse.
...
Perhaps it was the bloodthirsty nature of zombies affecting his soul. After not too long, Zhang Yang adjusted his mindset.
The Taoist had clearly come to hunt zombies. If he hadn't killed him with a desperate strike, it would have been Zhang Yang who died in the end.
Better to eat people than be eaten.
Zhang Yang comforted himself optimistically.
Inspecting his body with his divine sense, Zhang Yang discovered that his left arm, which had been burned by talismans and ink lines, had completely healed. The changes in his dantian could also be perceived through his divine sense.
After absorbing and merging the energy, the two small spirals in his dantian had grown to an average size.
The two spirals, both rotating counterclockwise on their own, were now intertwined, rotating clockwise, creating a cute appearance.
"Hey! I've actually advanced to the second level of a wandering corpse!" Zhang Yang laughed excitedly.
Just like human cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, wandering corpses are divided into nine levels. The standard for advancement is when a small spiral is formed in the abdomen's dantian, marking the first level of a wandering corpse; when a second spiral is formed, it signifies the second level. When the third small spiral is formed, the three spirals will immediately merge into a single large spiral, filling the entire abdominal dantian—this marks the third level of a wandering corpse.
At this point, a small bottleneck appears in the zombie cultivation process.
Breaking through this bottleneck and opening up the chest's dantian allows one to enter the second stage of cultivation, which is essentially a repetition of the first stage, but now in the chest's dantian.
After this, levels four to six of a wandering corpse are relatively smooth and only require time to achieve.
However, reaching level seven requires opening up the dantian in the limbs and head, entering the third stage of wandering corpse cultivation.
Over ninety-nine percent of wandering corpses can only stop at the third stage, reaching at most the peak of level nine. Because the next step is the Purple Zombie, which is akin to the human foundation-building period.
This requires condensing Qi into liquid, which is incredibly difficult. Even human Qi Refining cultivators at the peak level, with the help of numerous pills and senior mentors, have a very low success rate in foundation building. The ones who succeed are usually extraordinarily talented.
Furthermore, zombies have no pills and no one to assist them.
Of course, all this was far too distant for Zhang Yang.
Having formed the second spiral and advanced to the second level of a wandering corpse, Zhang Yang was already very pleased.
In this perilous world, having more power meant better survival.
After confirming his excellent condition, Zhang Yang turned his attention to his surroundings.
The cave had long been destroyed by lightning, the ceiling completely torn apart. Fortunately, after the heavy rain, the sun was already dipping in the west, and the sunlight was blocked by the remnants of the cave wall and nearby trees, not shining directly in. Otherwise, Zhang Yang would have died without a trace.
Looking at the surrounding devastation, Zhang Yang could imagine just how powerful the lightning had been.
The cave's ceiling had collapsed, burying most of the cave. Thinking back to the thunder talisman and the treasure chest the Taoist Yin Mo had used, Zhang Yang's mind stirred, and his divine sense expanded.
Buzz—
In an instant, everything within a 20-meter radius was clearly reflected in his mind, every detail vivid.
"20 meters! After advancing to the second level of a wandering corpse, my divine sense range has increased to 20 meters. And I feel there's still room for further improvement."
Zhang Yang grinned with delight, though his sharp, protruding teeth and his iron-blue face made him look rather menacing.
He extended his divine sense downward and clearly felt the resistance from the soil, as if he were walking underwater. He could only probe about 10 meters down before hitting his limit.
That was more than enough.
Scanning the area, he could only see the treasure chest buried beneath the rubble, along with a nearby ink box. The lightning talisman was nowhere to be found.
After a moment's thought, Zhang Yang guessed it had burned up after use. It seemed the Taoist Yin Mo's talismans were all one-time use. He only felt a slight regret but didn't dwell on it.
Thump!
With a small leap, he kicked forward.
"Bang! Bang!"
Several stones were kicked aside, revealing the treasure chest underneath.
Zhang Yang crouched down with some difficulty.
Zombies' major joints, like the hip, knee, and elbow joints, can bend, but they are extremely stiff, making the motion difficult.
Ordinary zombies, without conscious thought, rarely perform joint-bending actions. Zhang Yang, being aware, managed to do so despite the difficulty.
If anyone had witnessed this scene, they would have been greatly astonished.
A second-level wandering corpse was crouching on the ground, rummaging through the treasure chest with a sinister smile on its face…
Inside the chest were over twenty talismans, a black donkey hoof, yellow talismans, cinnabar, a talisman-making brush… and the last item, a yellow book with several prominent characters in traditional Chinese writing, which Zhang Yang could read— "Laoshan Secret."
These were all the contents of the chest.
Much like black dog blood, the black donkey hoof also has a restraining effect on zombies. Zhang Yang could clearly feel an innate disgust.
He used a stone to flip it open.
He picked up the "Laoshan Secret" and casually flipped it open. The opening chapter explained methods of guiding Qi and refining it.