Yang Jing and Xiao Chengfeng’s expressions became grave when they saw what happened to the people behind them.
“What do you think, Old Xiao?” asked Yang Jing grimly.
“There’s definitely something odd going on there,” said Xiao Chengfeng. “You won’t feel anything odd from the outside, but once inside, it’ll show its true colors. Those without strong cultivation will instantly be sucked dry. It’s like the black gas is luring us inside before hooking onto us!”
Yang Jing nodded his head. “This is most probably what’s happening. This isn’t the work of the dead.”
They did not need to worry as their cultivation was strong enough and in no time at all, they arrived at the center of the black cloud. Their expressions became even grimmer and their hearts dropped to the bottom when they saw what was before them. The sky had turned completely black as if black ink had spilled out from the heavens. It was filled with despair, frustration, and mania.
They sensed that the beings of this world had co-existed peacefully together before this disaster struck them out of the blue. The beings did not fade away. They were only blackened. The black cloud must have erupted like Mount Vesuvius because some of the corpses were found in positions of the previous activities they were doing. Some were frozen mid-laughter, some were frozen while tilling the land, and some were even drinking!
However, most of the cultivators’ faces were filled with fear. They could vividly feel the despair and pain they were feeling when faced with the awareness of their impending death. Even the animals and the plants…everything was blackened. This was a dead planet. Their frustration condensed into something tangible which howled in the sky. Yang Jing used his third eye to peer through the gas and saw millions of resentful spirits swirling around the black katana.
The murderous aura the black katana was giving out was even more terrifying than the millions of resentful spirits swirling around it. It was so terrible that Yang Jing had pins and needles that pricked his skull and he had to look away to stop the stabbing sensation on his third eye.
“This is a cursed sword. It made this world into hell in an instant and is stained with the blood of a billion beings,” said Yang Jing in a raspy voice.
“This sword shouldn’t exist in this universe. We need to stop it from killing more beings,” shouted Xiao Chengfeng. They were saddened at the tragic state of this world. Their world could have ended up like this if the same thing had happened when it was still weak. They could not help but shudder at the thought of that.
Another seven figures had arrived and their expressions, too, changed drastically when faced with the sword.
“What abomination is this? It’s as if its sole purpose in life is to kill. Why did it appear here?”
“The blade light alone is enough to decimate this world. What’s worse is, it can condense the resentment of the beings it killed and forever chain their spirits to it. It’s a fate worse than death.”
“It’s a weapon to end all worlds. A heaven-defying weapon!”
The fact that they could get there safely meant that they had a cultivation of the Heavenly Realm, but even so, the oppressive energy given out by the sword made it difficult for them to breathe and they sensed that their mana was being sucked away.
“Brothers, I have a proposal to make,” said Yang Jing, stepping out to face the group. “This sword’s cursed and the black gas shows no sign of stopping its spread. There’s no doubt that our universe will turn to ash if we don’t stop it. Its existence is not good for us. We should band together and seal it away from the world.”
“Count me in!” said a middle-aged man. He held one hand over his fist in a gesture of respect and smiled at Yang Jing. “Greetings Judicial God of the Heavenly Palace.”
Yang Jing recognized him. The man came from one of the influential forces in the Area of the Gods. Immediately, he returned his gesture as a sign of respect.
“Count me in, too! This sword has caused boundless suffering. It’s better for us to seal it away than to let it fall into the wrong hands,” said an old man.
Yang Jing and Xiao Chengfeng turned to look at the old man and smiled. He was an old friend of theirs—an elder from the White Cloud Sect.
The others, too, nodded their heads after some consideration.
“This area’s completely covered with resentful spirits. Those not of the Heavenly Realm shouldn’t enter to prevent unnecessary deaths. We should seal up this area,” suggested someone.
“Good idea!”
Just when they were getting ready to seal up the area, a majestic aura came from a distance far off and swept through them like a gale. They did not even have the time to take a good look when a giant golden fist flew in from the distance, razing everything in its path to the ground. The laws of the universe were swirling around the golden fist and it had created a gash in the Chaos as it struck down from the sky with an all-consuming suppressive force. This could very well be the last thing they saw in this world.
“This is a small fry!” Everyone present frowned and attacked the golden fist at the same time.
The next moment, four people appeared in front of them. They were emitting an aura filled with death and resentment. It was almost the same aura as the black gas which sent chills down everyone’s spine. The group was made up of two Corpse Emperors and two zombies. The two zombies had the appearance of an old man with hooded eyes. They looked as if they would fall at even the slightest breeze of the wind which belied the fact that they were Heavenly Realm cultivators! The other two Corpse Emperors had green faces, long fangs, black metal skin, and green fuzz growing out of their joints. The four of them were holding an ancient bronze coffin which was emitting a weird aura.
Yang Jing was no stranger to the green-faced men. “They’re from the Zombie Bloodline. What are they doing here?” he asked with a frown.
“We should’ve factored in unexpected changes like this into our plan and brought more people with us,” said Xiang Chengfeng worriedly.
The Zombie World was an existence akin to the Ministry. What was even worse was they were the ones who created the Wisdom Elite King’s corpse. Although the Elite King managed to get away in the end, it all proved how sickening their powers were.
“You animals! Give back my ancestor’s corpses now!” shouted someone angrily. His eyes were all red.
The people of the Zombie World possessed the ability of corpse refining and would plunder graves for the corpses of strong cultivators. They were also infamous for their love of manic slaughter and were the bane of all human existence. However, the humans could do nothing to them as they knew little of the Zombie World and they knew even less about their terrifying power.
“Come and get it yourself! If you succeed, there’ll be a happy reunion. If you fail, there will still be a happy reunion. A win-win outcome for you,” said one of the old men.
“I see that you’re as reckless as ever. Why don’t you stay for a while since you’re here?”
“Brothers, I trust that I don’t need to tell you all about the sins the Zombie World has committed! Why don’t we work together to exterminate them now that they’re here?” suggested another person from the group.
The old man ignored them and said, “I never expected a ruckus this big in the Chaos was all because of this sword. I was right to bring the Divine Zombie here. We’re getting our hands on this sword no matter what!”
“Over my dead body! You’ll pay for ignoring our existence. Die!” The sword in his hand flew up to the sky with a whistling sound and instantly a bright light exploded, instantly brightening the dark world. The sword light then flew straight at the old man.
The Corpse Emperor behind the old man stepped out and threw out a punch at the incoming sword. Although only a corpse, his mana was still intact, making it an unassailable existence in the world. The sword light was deflected by his punch. He did not stop there as he immediately sent out an attack straight at Xiao Chengfeng.
Not one to back down, Xiao Chengfeng went head-to-head with the Corpse Emperor with his sword in his hand. “Come at me! God won’t accept the birth of Xiao Chengfeng, but my sword cultivation’s still historical like the long night! Sword Light Poisonous Dragon Drill!”
“All of the people in the Zombie World deserve to die a horrible death!” cried others as they attacked the old men and Corpse Emperors at the same time. Instantly, the sky was filled with the light of their mana and the echoes of their attacks.
Although Yang Jing’s group had nine people, only six people joined in the fight so it was six against four. Even so, the people of the Zombie World showed no sign of defeat. The Corpse Emperors displayed a combat power so tyrannical that they were able to overpower the Heavenly Realm fighters.
Yang Jing and the two others were watching from the sidelines, ready to join the fight at the drop of the hat. The reason they did not join in the fight from the very beginning was that they could sense the people of the Zombie World hiding a terrible existence in the coffin, so they chose to stay back in case they needed to deal with that.
Just as they thought about it, one of the old men suddenly made a hand seal on the bronze coffin. “Divine Zombie, Awaken!” he said in a raspy voice and shiny bright eyes.
Immediately, a storm blew up and the clouds parted. The ancient bronze coffin shook violently and the patterns on it began to glow bright red. The lid blew off and a black-gold corpse stood up as black gas swirled around him. A terrifying aura erupted from his body which caused everybody to stop what they were doing.
“Is that… Guzhan?” gasped Yang Jing when he took a good look at the corpse. His pupils shrunk rapidly and he had difficulty breathing.
Although the corpse had changed much, Yang Jing could still recognize him because the battle waged on the ancient battleground was so intense that it had been burned into this memory. Guzhan was very strong, especially after absorbing the energy balls he brought with him. At that time, he was at the peak of the Heavenly Realm.
He was shocked to discover the people from the Zombie World had transformed him into a Divine Zombie. He never knew that they could even refine the Eldritch’s corpse. He thought back to the scene of when the Elite King’s corpse rushed over to the ancient battleground. The people of the Zombie World must have chased after him and discovered Guzhan’s corpse which they then brought back to their world.
Guzhan’s combat power was not of the average Heavenly Realm. He was very close to being a Wisdom Elite after absorbing a vast amount of energy in the ancient battleground. Therefore, even his corpse should not be taken lightly.
“Everyone, be careful,” said Yang Jing. They did not need him to remind them, for they could already feel the infinite pressure coming off Guzhan.
“Pull out that sword!” ordered the old man.
Immediately, Guzhan strode toward the sword with no emotions on his face. With every fall of his foot, boundless force rose and transformed into a gale that swept over the land.
“Stop him!” shouted Yang Jing with a grim expression on his face as he attacked Guzhan with a giant sword light made up of many sharp sword lights.
The other two Heavenly Realm fighters moved quickly as well. With a flick of his wrist, one of them manifested a dreamlike flame and sent it shooting up the sky with the laws of the universe as fuel. It was the flame of the Heavenly Realm and it transformed into a giant rhinoceros which rushed straight at Guzhan. The other person was holding a purple-gold sword and had already gathered thousands of golden-purple Sword Qi. The Sword Qi, too, shot up to the sky before barreling down on Guzhan’s head at lightning speed.
The three Heavenly Realm fighters’ attacks came at the same time. Apart from the black katana, everything in the vicinity was wiped out completely. Around them were empty plains as far as their eyes could see. Guzhan took a step forward, raised both of his fists to his chest, and threw out one punch after another. Powerful energy erupted from within his body and transformed into an air current that swept over the land. With that, he was able to resist their attacks.
Guzhan gave out a roar and his mana light exploded, sending Yang Jing and the other two flying. By the time the three of them had recovered themselves, Guzhan had already made his way to the black katana. He then grabbed hold of the handle without any hesitation.
Immediately, everyone’s ears began to fill with the roars of the countless resentful spirits as the black cloud blocked out the sun in the sky. The fighters were shocked to their very core and stood stock-still with their eyes on Guzhan. How could he be unaffected by the black gas when countless living beings had been sucked bone dry just by being near it?
An infinite amount of black gas ignited thunder and lightning before finally being absorbed into the black katana. Guzhan became the center of the vortex and was filled with boundless black gas.
The two old men from the Zombie World were overcome with joy. “Hahaha, it worked! I knew our Divine Zombie would be able to handle an Ultimate Slaughter Treasure! The sword will definitely increase his power. He might even be on par with a Wisdom Elite with that sword in his possession.”
The escape of the Elite King corpse was a major blow to the people of the Zombie World. In fact, they were still reeling from the loss. Although they knew of the incredible power the Elite King possessed, they never expected him to come back to life. They might not be able to wield this black katana now but it was perfect for the Divine Zombie. They were confident that the Divine Zombie would be the top fighter in their world.
