Crumble!
The submarine that the group had taken finally buckled beneath the pressure and broke down in pieces. Lu Yun and the others tumbled out, still as zombies.
Remarkably, they all seemed to be on the same page regarding what had happened earlier. No one asked any questions, and neither did anyone raise the issue of the cold black fire.
Dense orange qi drifted in front of them, blocking the way forward.
Leng Xian stowed the water curtain and frowned faintly. “How should we get through? This layer of corpse qi is enough to turn the living straight into a zombie!”
She turned back to see that boundless zombie sea had already disappeared. But to her senses, there was an enormous zombie river oozing out of the depths of corpse qi. It continuously replenished the zombie sea with endless new inhabitants.
Thus, the source of the zombie sea lay somewhere within this miasma of corpse qi.
“We’re zombies right now,” Lu Yun said calmly as he looked at Leng Xian. “Though this talisman is a combat art talisman, it’s transformed us to zombies on a fundamental level. Therefore, that corpse qi won’t harm us.”
Leng Xian, Ying Luo, and Wang Shu goggled at him. An impenetrable haze seemed to shroud Lu Yun, making him even more mysterious than this vast Tomb of Heaven and Earth.
Who was he, really? Was he really just a secluded disciple of Inception Palace?
“Though these Shapeshifting Talismans have transformed us on an intrinsic level, we still have nowhere to hide in front of the sovereigns. They may not be able to see through to our underlying selves, but they’ll sense the ripples of combat arts over our bodies,” Lu Yun added.
Ordinary mortals were hard pressed to detect the ripples of combat arts in operation. But to a sovereign or the even more superior eternal overlords, there was nothing clandestine about the Shapeshifting death art at all.
“The corpse qi is a dead entity and we’re just zombies to it. We need to go. More people will arrive if we’re too slow.” Taking the lead, Lu Yun bounded into the yellowish fog.
“That jerk! Doesn’t he know that other zombies will be hiding inside the corpse qi?” Cursing, Leng Xian followed him in.
Ying Luo and Wang Shu were even faster than her. They were hot on Lu Yun’s heels the second he stepped in.
This slightly aggravated Leng Xian.
Vision was so obscured in the fog of corpse qi that one’s fingers would be impossible to make out on an outstretched hand. However, since the four of them were zombies, they didn’t meet with any hindrance in the yellow miasma. In fact, it was extremely comfortable to have the corpse qi flow into their bodies.
“Am I… am I really a zombie now??” Sensing this newfound enjoyment and that his cultivation was even beginning to grow, Wang Shu panicked and worried that he really was becoming a zombie.
“Well, you’re a zombie right now.” Lu Yun looked sideways at Wang Shu. Though he couldn’t see the boy at the moment, the unique perception of a zombie painted a clear picture of his surroundings to his senses.
Wang Shu trembled.
“If you undo the talisman on your body, you’ll really turn into a full zombie.” Leng Xian suddenly smirked at him. She could feel Wang Shu’s subconscious movements to shatter the talisman on him.
Wang Shu wanted to bawl loudly with fear.
“What’s a man like you afraid of? I’m not afraid of anything,” Ying Luo snorted from her position next to Lu Yun.
“I…” Wang Shu pulled a long face.
“Stop talking, there’s something in the corpse qi!” Leng Xian’s voice suddenly echoed in their minds.
They snapped to attention and shut their mouths. Deep inside the fog, a mammoth shadow drew close to them, shaking the earth beneath their feet.
“Shit, what is that?!” came a loud roar behind them. A surge of power rose into the air and blasted at the shadow.
An eternal overlord had crossed the zombie sea at some time and entered the fog of corpse qi as well. He rushed the shadow the moment it appeared.
“It seems to be a huge zombie… we need to be careful. The things in this corpse qi fog are even more horrifying than the zombie sea!” sounded a second voice.
It would seem the eternal overlord had a companion on the same cultivation level as him. Shortly thereafter, a third voice rang out as well.
“Screw it, we’ll kill this one first. It has to be a king on the outskirts of the fog!” Three pillars of razor-sharp power shot into the air and dove at the mammoth shadow.
The presence of an enteral overlord was ethereal and intangible. It was hard for beings weaker than them to detect their existence, even without the overlord purposefully concealing himself. With their sudden attack on the huge unknown, they stirred up frightful ripples of power in the area that washed over Lu Yun and the others.
“Shitheads! They can go court death if they want to, but they’re dragging us down with them!” Lu Yun’s eyes bugged out. He didn’t have time to summon the Gates of the Abyss or communicate with the Bridge of Forgetfulness by Qing Yu’s side.
It all happened so quickly. They would be dead before he even gained the breathing space to react.
Boom.
A surge of tremendous power suddenly rose from his side, protecting the four in a mountain of golden light. The ripples from the three eternal overlords broke upon the mountain.
“I knew it was you! You’ve got some nerve, kid! Finding your way here when you’re second level mortal realm just because you have a creator leading the way?” Jin Gushen appeared next to Lu Yun and tousled the young man’s hair. “Look at this half dead half ghost thing you’ve turned yourself into! You’re the reason why those two zombie beasts suddenly ran away earlier, aren’t you?”
He cackled as he stared at Lu Yun with faintly golden eyes.
“Eh, ah, senior brother Jin. I…” Lu Yun looked at his savior, dazed. Wait, Jin Gushen’s seen the ripples of my combat art talismans before and he’s a peak eternal overlord. Of course he picked up on the familiar ripples as we walked through the fog.
“Alright, no need for explanations. The one in the metal elemental land is your replica and this is your true body, right?” Jin Gushen mentally transmitted this part to Lu Yun.
Lu Yun nodded without deflecting. If a right and proper eternal overlord couldn’t even determine the difference between a replica and a true body, then he would be an absolute joke.
“Alright, the four of you should follow me now. Otherwise, you won’t make it through this fog even in your current state. And there’s no need to look at me like this. If an opportunity is yours, I won’t take it from you.” Noticing the looks from Leng Xian and Wang Shu, Jin Gushen shrugged uncomfortably. Of course he could tell what was on their minds.
