Chapter 507: Corpse Soldier

"Zhang family ancestor's divine sense is so strong," Mo Hua muttered to himself. "'Eating' and then refining it away, I should be able to break through the bottleneck and reach thirteen-pattern divine sense, right?"

Thirteen-pattern divine sense...

For a Foundation Building early stage cultivator, the limit of divine sense is only thirteen patterns.

Once his divine sense reaches thirteen patterns, he will be just one step away from the requirement for divine sense Foundation Building that Master mentioned...

Mo Hua felt a little anticipation.

Then he hesitated slightly.

"Should I 'eat' it now?"

The remnant thought of the Zhang family old ancestor's soul was too strong; 'eating' it raw would likely be very filling and require a long time to "digest"...

And Mo Hua was still unsure of the situation outside.

He had indeed managed to send out news about the corpse mine.

However, in South Yue City, there seemed to be no force capable of contending with the Lu family.

Now that Zhang Quan was dead, Lu Chengyun controlled the Corpse King alone. He could also operate the Ten Thousand Corpses Revival Array, refining and controlling corpses simultaneously. His power had grown further. At the second-grade realm, practically no one could stop him...

"A bit troublesome..."

Mo Hua thought for a moment and decided to refine the Zhang family ancestor first.

He had to finish the meat already in his mouth as soon as possible.

After 'eating' the Zhang family ancestor, his own strength would also increase, and even if something unexpected happened, he would feel more confident.

Furthermore, the Zhang family ancestor was quite cunning.

Although he had been blasted into green smoke by Mo Hua, there was no guarantee that he didn't possess some means to be resurrected and restore his divine sense.

These old villains were all very insidious.

He had to be cautious, cut off the roots, and eliminate all hidden dangers!

'Eat' it clean, leaving no room for resurgence!

Mo Hua immediately acted, transforming his divine sense into an array, preparing to refine the copper corpse remnant thought of the Zhang family ancestor.

To prevent any accidents, he first used the Golden Lock Array to lock the green smoke that Zhang family ancestor had become, then manifested the Melting Fire Array, using bright red flames to slowly barbecue it.

After barbecuing for a while, Mo Hua suddenly remembered something.

The Zhang family not only had an ancestor but also those Iron Corpse elders.

Originally, there were eleven Iron Corpses, but now six were on the verge of death, leaving only virtual shadows.

Of the remaining five Iron Corpses, four were severely damaged by the Zhang family ancestor in the final battle of attrition. The last one, the Great Elder of the Zhang family, was also very weak...

Mo Hua felt a sense of fortune.

The Zhang family ancestor had strong divine sense and many tricks.

It was fortunate that he himself was cowardly...

No, he was cautious!

He used those Iron Corpses to force out the Zhang family ancestor's moves, exhaust his strength, and endure his attacks...

Then he launched a sneak attack on this old zombie.

Only then did he finally manage to grind him to death.

Otherwise, the outcome would have been truly uncertain...

Controlling the Iron Corpses, turning them to his own use, using his spear to attack his shield.

"The Spirit Pivot Array is really useful!"

Mo Hua couldn't help but praise it in his heart.

He couldn't waste the Iron Corpses either...

Mo Hua gathered these Iron Corpses as well and threw them into the Melting Fire Array along with the Zhang family ancestor.

The Zhang family, from top to bottom, from disciples to old ancestors, including successive generations of ancestors, were all 'stewed' in one pot by Mo Hua...

Only after the green smoke was "stewed" into white smoke did Mo Hua inhale it in one gulp and then slowly refine it...

This process took a long time.

From the moment Mo Hua defeated and controlled Zhang Quan and elders "Song" and "Si," to setting a trap to hunt down the other Iron Corpse elders of the Zhang family, to commanding the Iron Corpses to surround and hunt down the Zhang family ancestor and successfully suppress and kill him...

Five or six days had already passed.

Mo Hua was hidden in the sealed small white coffin, unaware of anything.

And at this time, outside, a great battle had already erupted...

Foundation Building cultivators and Iron Corpses fought, destroying mountains and splitting the earth.

The mine had been ravaged by spells and force, mountain stones shattered, and slopes were pitted.

Below the Foundation Building realm, there were Dao soldiers in formation and the corpse tide engaged in slaughter.

The Dao soldiers' military formation was strict, orders were strictly followed, they killed decisively, while the walking corpses covered the mountains and plains, ferocious and ugly, fearless of death.

The two sides engaged in a grand and tragic slaughter.

In the territory of South Yue City, walking corpses were everywhere, with thousands of zombies surrounding the city.

The gates of South Yue City were tightly closed. Mine cultivators gathered at the city walls, resisting the walking corpses attempting to enter the city and those cultivators who had been bitten by walking corpses and Iron Corpses, with corpse poison attacking their hearts, turning them into walking corpses.

Dark clouds hung heavy over the city, a scene of solemn killing.

Everyone was uneasy, unsure whether tomorrow would bring bright sunshine or a torrential downpour upon the city.

If the Dao Court achieved a great victory in the future, and various forces suppressed the corpse mine and exterminated the zombies, then all would be well.

If the Dao Court was defeated, the surging corpse tide would instantly swallow South Yue City.

At that time, the cultivators in the city would all become food for the zombies.

Some cultivators from families and sects in the city, unwilling to perish with the city, secretly escaped. However, most of them were intercepted by scattered walking corpses along the way.

In battle, once someone was injured and bled, the smell of blood would spread.

Soon, large groups of walking corpses would arrive, drawn by the scent of blood.

They might even attract Iron Corpses.

Once Iron Corpses appeared, the escaping cultivators would basically have no chance of survival.

Among the vast mountains and plains filled with corpse groups.

Even Foundation Building cultivators could possibly die at the hands of the countless first-grade walking corpses.

In the chaotic battle a few days ago, a Foundation Building Dao soldier commander was injured by an Iron Corpse strike. He became detached from the Dao soldiers' formation and was submerged by the tide-like walking corpses.

No matter how many walking corpses he killed, more would surge towards him, just like a drowning person swallowed by the corpse tide. No matter how he struggled, he ultimately couldn't reach the shore and was torn and bitten to death by the walking corpses while still alive...

Yang Jishan's heart ached as if a knife was twisting it.

These Dao soldiers were brothers with whom he had shared life and death, yet he never expected them to die so tragically in front of him in this manner.

But he was powerless.

There were too many zombies, and they were too strong.

Yang Jishan never expected that despite such thorough preparation, they would still suffer such a significant loss.

Originally, everything had gone quite smoothly...

Three days ago, they acted at Mao hour, taking decisive action against the Lu family.

The Lu family was suppressed.

Although some elders and disciples fought hard and escaped the city, fleeing to Lu Chengyun.

However, the majority of the Lu family disciples still feared the Dao Court and dared not resist.

The Lu family elders had their cultivation sealed, and the Lu family disciples were also confined, with arrays set at their doorways, not allowing them to go out, awaiting later disposition.

Later, when zombies surrounded the city, some Lu family disciples developed different intentions, wanting to secretly open the city gate and let the zombies enter the city, so they could also flee to Lu Chengyun.

But when the zombies entered the city, they recognized no kin. The first ones they ate were precisely these Lu family disciples who had opened the gate.

Later, the Dao soldiers and mine cultivators, together with the local cultivators of the South Yue Sect, paid a considerable price to resist the walking corpses and re-seal the gate.

Yang Jishan was greatly angered. He selected a few troublesome Lu family disciples and elders and beheaded them in front of the Lu family cultivators, which only deterred the crowd.

The main branch of the Lu family behaved thereafter.

The problem arose in the corpse mine...

The battle in the corpse mine was far more arduous than they had imagined.

At that time, they divided their forces into two groups: one to suppress the Lu family, and one to exterminate the corpse mine.

The intelligence was accurate, the array diagram was accurate, they knew the array layout, and breaking the array was also very convenient.

More than twenty Foundation Building cultivators, together with the Dao soldiers, acted in concert, shattering the stone wall near the corpse mine gate, breaking the array patterns, and shattering the mountain stones, causing that natural giant stone gate to tilt and displace, exposing a gap.

The two Iron Corpses at the gate, although powerful, were clearly no match for the crowd.

After that, they pushed forward all the way, straight to the door of the stone hall.

However, Yang Jishan discovered that the corpse cultivators were strictly arrayed, clearly having been prepared in advance.

Not only that, but inside the dark mine well, corpse gas filled the air, and dense red dots, piece by piece, lit up.

These were all the bloodthirsty eyes of zombies.

This was also within Yang Jishan's expectations.

Although it was a sneak attack, a frontal battle was inevitable.

Yang Jishan was from the Yang family, a Dao soldier commander, experienced in a hundred battles, and naturally not afraid of battle.

Foundation Building commanders charged ahead, Dao soldiers formed arrays and followed closely, Foundation Building cultivators from other families and sects provided support from the flanks, and ordinary Qi Refining cultivators followed up and killed.

The techniques of the corpse cultivators were sinister, but in a frontal group battle, under the charge of the trap array, they were all a disorganized rabble, unable to withstand a single blow.

The zombies they summoned also mostly fought individually, unable to compare with the Dao soldiers, and unable to block the Dao soldiers' charge.

And once a corpse cultivator died, the zombies under their command would lose control, turn and bite back, indiscriminately attacking any cultivator, including corpse cultivators.

The Dao soldiers were unstoppable for a time.

Until Lu Chengyun appeared.

Behind him followed a massive zombie, with long fangs, blood-red eyes, faintly tinged with dark gold.

"Corpse King!"

Cultivators who knew about the rumors of the Dao Evil felt their hearts tremble upon seeing it.

They had either calculated, heard, or been secretly warned by cultivators from their sects or families.

This Corpse King was the embryo of the Dao Evil!

While Yang Jishan's heart was palpitating, his eyes flashed with cold light.

The fetus of the Dao Evil must be strangled in the cradle!

"Kill!"

Yang Jishan waved his hand. The Dao soldiers, clad in armor and holding sharp weapons, shared a common hatred and charged forward, their armor adorned with arrays, their breaths connected, mutually responding, condensing into a fierce tiger virtual shadow.

Lu Chengyun's expression was indifferent, and his arms vibrated.

The Corpse King's chest blood pattern brightened, and it raised its head and roared, its sound shaking the mountains.

Nearby, twenty Iron Coffins all trembled. The coffins flipped open, and Iron Corpses leaped straight out.

And inside the mine well, tens of thousands of walking corpses roared together, like a myriad of ghosts walking at night, surging forward, making people's scalps tingle.

A fierce battle suddenly erupted.

Cultivators and zombies, blood energy and corpse gas, spells and corpse techniques, slaughter, contention and interweaving...

This was the largest-scale cultivator battle in the Small Wasteland State Boundary in nearly eight hundred years.

After a fierce battle, the Dao soldiers failed to capture the corpse mine and suffered heavy casualties instead.

Lu Chengyun still occupied the corpse mine, controlled the Corpse King, and had dozens of Iron Corpses and tens of thousands of walking corpses under his command, allowing him to stand firm against the Dao soldiers' offensive, which was like a tide.

Yang Jishan attacked for a long time without success, and his military strength suffered more and more damage.

Moreover, during the battle, there were still corpse cultivators stealing corpses.

These dead Dao soldiers and cultivators could very likely be refined into zombies by the corpse cultivators, and not long after, on the battlefield, they would bare their fangs against their own people.

Yang Jishan was helpless and could only retreat first.

Lu Chengyun's subordinates were mostly zombies, so he was not afraid of attrition.

Meanwhile, his own subordinates were all living people, and he could not afford to lose them.

Furthermore, dead cultivators would also strengthen Lu Chengyun's power.

Yang Jishan could only order a retreat first. However, after retreating, he ordered the Dao soldiers to set up camp outside, surrounding the corpse mine, intending to trap Lu Chengyun to death.

Lu Chengyun then released several thousand walking corpses, manipulating them to attack South Yue City, using the tactic of surrounding Wei to save Zhao.

Several thousand walking corpses formed a corpse tide.

Anyone they encountered along the way, any living cultivators, either became blood food and nourishment or were transformed into walking corpses, becoming part of the corpse tide.

Yang Jishan had no choice but to divide his forces to guard the city.

At the same time, he ordered all mine cultivators, scattered cultivators, and cultivators from families and sects stationed in South Yue City not to go out.

The matter of exterminating the corpse mine would be planned carefully again.

And the Dao soldiers and various forces of the Dao Court, who had been frustrated in the first battle, then stationed outside the mine, took pills, healed, and rested.

In the discussion cave, everyone's expressions were grave.

Someone was indignant and cursed:

"Lu Chengyun, this beast!"

"He refined so many zombies and then let the walking corpses attack the city."

"For his own private gain, he caused so much killing, he truly deserves to be killed!"

"This is normal for demonic path practitioners, you're all making a fuss over nothing..."

"Because he's a demonic path practitioner, doing bad things is normal? So we shouldn't scold him?"

"Why are you getting angry with me..."

"With your temperament, you'll fall into the demonic path sooner or later..."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"Alright, alright, stop arguing..."

"Alas, to be honest, this old man has lived for so long, and this is the first time I've seen such utterly heartless methods, and also the first time I've seen someone who can refine so many zombies..."

"With the Dao Court unified, in this era, very few demonic cultivators dare to act like this..."

"That's because demonic cultivators mostly act covertly, you just can't see it."

"How is that possible?"

Someone sneered, "How do those glamorous, sanctimonious people know that behind their backs, they are not cultivating demonic arts?"

"Just like this matter with Lu Chengyun, if it hadn't been exposed, who would know?"

"You're condemning in your heart!"

"Hmph, it's you who don't understand..."

Inside the huge cave, it was noisy for a time.

Yang Jishan silenced everyone and said in a deep voice:

"Other matters can be discussed later. The urgent matter at hand is to pool our wisdom and find a way to attack the corpse mine!"

"The longer this matter drags on, the greater the disaster will be!"

Yang Jishan's gaze was grave.

After all, this Corpse King might be related to the Dao Evil.

The Dao Evil was the most terrifying...

Everyone fell silent, many people feeling dejected.

Among those present, some were from small families and small sects, participating in this large-scale battle. They were originally just curious and uneasy, and at this time, they dared not say anything.

Another part were indeed from big sects and big families.

But this was obviously also the first time they had encountered such a large-scale battle array.

They were also a bit at a loss.

Moreover, their opponents were countless zombies.

When they truly fought, they only knew that in this large-scale chaotic battle, relying on personal cultivation could achieve very limited results.

A cultivator asked: "Commander Yang, there's one thing I don't understand..."

Yang Jishan nodded, signaling him to continue.

That cultivator then said: "According to reason, our numbers are not small, and this time we attacked with the Dao soldiers' charge and trap array. Even if we couldn't take down the corpse mine, we should at least be able to heavily injure these corpse cultivators..."

"In a group battle of cultivators, the Dao soldiers are unbeatable in a charge."

"But why were we not only unable to achieve merit, but even at a disadvantage?"

Many cultivators present also showed puzzled expressions.

In the chaotic battle, their blood rushed up, they only knew to fight together, using spiritual tools, martial arts, spells, whatever they thought of using.

They followed Commander Yang's orders, advancing and retreating together.

If they could win, they would fight, if not, they would retreat.

Apart from these matters, they paid little attention and considered little.

Why they had the advantage and why they couldn't win, they were also baffled.

Yang Jishan sighed and frowned thoughtfully:

"If I'm not mistaken, this Corpse King can simultaneously control dozens of Iron Corpses and nearly ten thousand walking corpses."

Everyone looked at each other, "How is this possible?"

Didn't they know this from the beginning?

"It's different," Yang Jishan shook his head, "This is not ordinary corpse control."

He knew that the Dao Court prohibited demonic path inheritances, and ordinary cultivators didn't deal with demonic cultivators.

Even some cultivators from big forces who had inheritances had only a superficial understanding of demonic cultivators.

They fundamentally didn't understand the deeper levels.

Yang Jishan then continued to explain:

"Generally, corpse control is very crude, only capable of issuing simple commands, like 'kill,' 'eat,' 'attack,' or 'guard.'"

"And once many zombies are manipulated, although their actions have a consistent goal, they still fight individually, like headless flies."

Yang Jishan's expression was serious, "But this time's zombies are completely different..."

"Zombies are still zombies, but the method of controlling them is very special, extremely refined."

"All the zombies' actions are neat and uniform. They attack, defend, advance, and retreat according to rules. This is simply unbelievable..."

"Even if the zombies are still those zombies, and their individual strength hasn't changed, once they have rules, discipline, and unified actions, their overall strength is completely different."

Yang Jishan sighed, "This kind of thing is similar to Dao soldiers. We generally call it the demonic path's 'Corpse Soldiers'..."

Corpse Soldiers...

Everyone's expression changed upon hearing this.

On the other side, Lu Chengyun looked at the Corpse King in front of him and nodded slightly.

Zhang Quan was right. With the Corpse King, these zombies could indeed form 'Corpse Soldiers'.

In today's battle, the zombies became soldiers, contending with the Dao Court's Dao soldiers, and were not at a disadvantage.

Even because they felt no pain and feared no death or injury,

Corpse Soldiers were still stronger than Dao soldiers.

Lu Chengyun sneered.

Although he didn't know why the Dao Court had received news and sent Dao soldiers to surround and annihilate him.

But here in the second-grade realm, he had a second-grade Corpse King, commanding Iron Corpses and walking corpses. They would have a hard time taking down the corpse mine for a while.

Even if the corpse mine was finally taken down, he still had plenty of ways to escape.

At that time, he could just find a scapegoat.

He could still shake off the troublesome identity of Lu Chengyun, start anew, and rise again...

As long as the Corpse King was still in his hands.

As long as he still mastered the Spirit Pivot Array...

After all, arrays were the foundation of an array master.

Lu Chengyun's gaze deepened slightly, his eyes showing a cold light.

Suddenly, his mind stirred, and he thought of Mo Hua again...

Mo Hua had been used as a sacrifice by him and fed to Zhang Quan's ancestor map.

He wondered if he had been completely eaten after all these days...

Lu Chengyun had originally wanted to go and see earlier, but the corpse mine had been attacked, and he had been delayed, unable to free himself for a time.

Lu Chengyun silently said in his heart:

"After some time, when he has been completely eaten, I'll go and see. I can also refine that small cultivator's corpse into a small zombie and keep it by my side to serve me..."

Lu Chengyun's gaze sank slightly.

He just didn't know that Mo Hua had not been eaten, but was quickly 'eating' the entire Zhang family...

(End of this chapter)