Zombies cultivate by absorbing Yin energy and essence blood, refining it into spiritual power, while human cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refining it into spiritual power.
Zhang Yang understood that these two methods of cultivation are somewhat similar in their goal. Therefore, human cultivation techniques might not necessarily be useless to zombies.
However, although Zhang Yang had not studied it in depth, he estimated that the cultivation manuals he had scavenged from these weak little Taoist priests were likely not high-level techniques.
As he flipped further, he found sections on drawing and using talismans.
Zhang Yang couldn't help but be intrigued.
He had just witnessed the power of talismans. The so-called "Great Strength Talisman," when activated, made the Yin Wu Taoist's strength multiply several times, rivaling that of himself, the zombie. Thankfully, the talisman had a time limit, or the outcome of that battle would have been uncertain.
Then there was the Thunder Summoning Talisman, which was even more impressive, able to summon heavenly lightning with enormous destructive power.
If he could master these abilities, his combat and survival capabilities would greatly improve.
He glanced at the method for drawing and using talismans, and found that the two most important aspects were spiritual power and divine sense. Among them, divine sense was especially crucial.
Divine sense had always been a weakness for zombies. However, after Zhang Feng cultivated the "Taiyin Refining Form," his divine sense was much stronger than that of human cultivators of the same level.
Of course, in addition to divine sense and spiritual power, creating talismans also required talent and a lot of diligent practice.
But now that Zhang Yang had both spiritual power and divine sense, he at least had the foundation for using and creating talismans.
Excited at the prospect of being able to use talismans, Zhang Yang couldn't wait any longer. He immediately turned his attention to the more than twenty talismans in his treasure pouch.
These talismans were covered in red cinnabar, drawn in a chaotic manner. Zhang Yang didn't recognize these symbols.
Fortunately, the "Laoshan Manual" had illustrations of various talismans. Comparing them, he was able to deduce that among the twenty-plus talismans, there were two Thunder Summoning Talismans, two Great Strength Talismans, two Fire Separation Talismans, five Divine Movement Talismans, one Earth Escape Talisman, and the rest were all Corpse Suppression Talismans, with the sole purpose of suppressing zombies.
The variety was decent, but the quality was low. They were all low-level, Grade One talismans.
The Corpse Suppression Talismans were the most numerous, but Zhang Yang didn't have a zombie to experiment on. Was he supposed to practice on himself? That was a thought he quickly dismissed.
Aside from those, the Divine Movement Talismans were the most numerous. Even if one was wasted, it wouldn't matter much, and they were suitable for experimentation.
However, looking at the pale-faced Taoist Cheng and the corpse that had been drained dry, then at the peculiar state of the Yin Wu Taoist's body, Zhang Yang decided that he didn't want anyone to discover the differences between his own body and a typical zombie. Whether or not there was a risk of exposure, it was better to destroy the evidence.
As Zhuge Liang once said, "Only by being cautious in everything can one remain undefeated!"
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Yang changed his mind and decisively took out a Fire Separation Talisman. Gathering his divine sense, he silently chanted the incantation:
"Fire Marshal, come forth! Urgent, as commanded! Swiftly!"
As he spoke the incantation, Zhang Yang could clearly sense the talisman radiating spiritual energy. He quickly threw it towards the Yin Wu Taoist's dry corpse.
Poof!
A ball of yellow flames ignited, and the dry corpse was instantly turned to ash, blown away by the wind without leaving a trace.
"Tsk, tsk! If I could fully master this power, it really would be quite formidable!"
"One-grade talismans can have such powerful effects. What about Grade Two or Grade Three? The highest-grade talismans should be Grade Nine, right?"
Zhang Yang marveled, his understanding of human cultivators' power deepening.
Happily, he gathered up the remaining talismans, the "Laoshan Manual," the cinnabar brush, and other items.
As for the steel sword and such, they were too cumbersome to carry, and with Zhang Yang's stiff movements, he couldn't use them anyway, so he left them behind.
The cave, already lacking in Yin energy and unsuitable for zombie cultivation, had been damaged. Additionally, with three Laoshan Taoists—two of whom had been killed by zombies, and one who had died after being crushed by falling rocks—it wouldn't be long before their elders came looking for revenge. That wouldn't be a pleasant situation.
Leaving this place! He had to leave as soon as possible!
The speed of sunset was rapid, and at this moment, it was already starting to get dark—just the right time to set off.
Zhang Yang tidied up a bit, then chose his direction and, without hesitation, headed deeper into the mountains.
The thrilling adventure of a zombie wandering the cultivation world had begun!
...
Less than half an hour after Zhang Yang left, two figures swiftly made their way up the mountain, heading directly toward the collapsed cave.
Wearing yellow Taoist robes, with the Eight Trigrams and Taiji symbols on their backs, their identities were clear.
These two individuals were Taoists from Laoshan, who had rushed over after receiving a paper crane message for reinforcements. However, unlike the weaker disciples like Ming He, these two were official inner disciples of Laoshan.
Upon seeing the destruction and the two dead bodies, the two Taoists were stunned.
"What happened here? A few lowly jumping zombies caused such a mess, and two people died? What a bunch of useless fools!"
One Taoist said as he stepped forward to examine Taoist Cheng's body, which bore clear bite marks from the zombies.
"Judging by the wounds, it's clear these were caused by jumping zombies. Ming He really is getting more useless. He came to exterminate a few zombies but couldn't even protect his own disciples. No wonder he's been stuck at the outer disciple level for so many years and hasn't made it to inner disciple status."
The two Taoists talked, with no trace of sorrow on their faces.
"Where is Ming He? Three of them—two dead, one missing. We'll have trouble explaining this to the sect. We might even face punishment ourselves!" the slightly older Taoist said with a frown.
The other Taoist's eyes gleamed, and he replied:
"Don't worry, Senior Brother. Ming He is a fool who didn't listen to Senior Brother's orders and rashly provoked zombies. He failed to protect his fellow disciples and let them die at the hands of zombies. Then, in fear of punishment, he ran off. We'll just focus on tracking him down. Even if we don't catch him, it won't reflect badly on us."
Clearly, this Taoist was trying to place all the blame on Ming He.
The older Taoist paused, then nodded:
"Then I'll waste a tracking talisman to see where that traitor went."
Saying that, the older Taoist slapped his hand.
Whoosh!
A yellow talisman flew out of a pouch slung at his side, hovering in the air.
The elderly Taoist priest, with his eyes tightly shut, formed a hand gesture and muttered incantations under his breath. Suddenly, he pointed at the talisman and shouted a single word:
"Jí!" (Swift!)
Poof!
The talisman ignited in response, releasing tiny yellow light orbs that floated up. The elderly Taoist made a bow with his hands, then swiped his fingers across his eyelids.
His eyes immediately brightened, and on the ground outside the cave, pairs of silver-shimmering footprints appeared, spaced several meters apart. Following the continuous direction of the footprints, it was clear they led to the direction where Zhang Yang had departed.
Of course, only the elderly Taoist could see these footprints, while the other Taoist was blind to them.
"Eh? The last set of footprints... it's a zombie! There are no other tracks around, so where could Ming He have escaped to?" The elderly Taoist squinted at the footprints, showing a surprised expression.
The other Taoist thought for a moment and said:
"The cave's ceiling collapsed, covering up all the signs of the earlier battle. We can't make out what happened at the time. But it seems that Ming He must have left during the rain, and the rainwater must have washed away the footprints!"
Since they didn't find Ming He's corpse, they never considered the possibility that a zombie might have used a "Fire Destruction Talisman" to erase the body and cover up the traces.
The elderly Taoist nodded, clearly agreeing with this assessment.
"Regardless, we can't let this zombie get away. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain things to our sect. Let's catch up and eliminate it. Maybe there's something new to uncover."
With that, the two Taoists made up their minds and began following the silver footprints in the direction Zhang Yang had gone.
Above, the crescent moon hung faintly in the sky, casting dim light on the endless stretch of the Ten Thousand Mountain Range.
Tall trees loomed, obscuring the weak moonlight, leaving the forest pitch-black, with not even a hand's breadth of visibility.
In the distance, the occasional roar of wild beasts echoed, accompanied by the chirping of insects, creating an even more ominous atmosphere in the woods.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy sound of something falling to the ground came closer. A zombie was approaching from afar.
The zombie had its arms stretched out, its legs stiff, and its hideous face with constantly spinning eyes failed to hide its inner fear.
This zombie was, of course, Zhang Yang himself.
It had been nearly two hours since he left the cave, and during this time, he had traveled non-stop, relying on the zombie's tireless stamina to cross several mountain peaks.
Now, the forest had shown its savage side.
Around him, green lights swirled, moving back and forth, surrounding him constantly.
The green lights were revealed to be forest wolves. But these weren't the weak wolves you'd find in an earthly park. These wolves were nearly 1.4-1.5 meters tall, almost the size of a calf.
Thanks to the zombie's nocturnal vision, Zhang Yang could clearly see the figures in the distance. There were about twelve or thirteen of them.
"Damn it! Wolves can grow this big? Have they almost turned into monsters? And yet, these wolves aren't going after fresh prey, but instead are relentlessly following this decaying corpse. What's going on here?"
Zhang Yang chuckled bitterly in his heart. He didn't know whether to rejoice or curse the abundant spiritual energy in this world.
The wolf pack seemed wary of the energy exuded by Zhang Yang's second-tier zombie body, which kept them from attacking immediately.
However, Zhang Yang didn't dare to run at full speed. Based on his modern understanding of wolves, he knew that if he ran, it would signal weakness, and the pack would immediately launch an attack.
So, he continued moving at a steady pace while fervently praying for a miracle. It would be perfect if a herd of wild deer showed up to draw the wolves away.
Unfortunately, his wish would not come true.
Howl! Howl!
With two long, eerie howls, the wolf pack was suddenly riled up. The two nearest wolves immediately lunged forward with a growl.