Wayfarer

Chapter 715: The Zombies' Weaknesses

From the jade slip he received from Yang Chuan, Xiao Nanfeng learned of the three zombie kings of the black coffin hidden realm. Their respective domains were the Dragon Cave, Phoenix Cave, and Qilin Cave.

Ao Canghai had gathered hundreds of cultivators to take on the Dragon Cave.

A fight broke out soon after the cultivators set off.

Martial Aspects from the Imperial Court began to round up the cultivators that were following behind their party without having registered to join them.

"As I said, all those cultivators who think they'll be able to take advantage of us will be killed!" a Martial Aspect called out. "Catch them and feed them to the zombies!"

"Understood!" the cultivators hollered.

They naturally bore no goodwill to these cultivators who were planning to profit at their expense. They would be charging forward at the forefront, whereas these cultivators were intending to remain behind and jump in at the last moment.

Ao Canghai himself inspected the party from high above. With a Boundless Immortal's senses, he was trying to determine whether there were still cultivators tailing their party. He pointed in several directions as groups of Martial Aspects set off and caught the cultivators following behind them.

Xiao Nanfeng was one such cultivator, but he had been wary enough to stay farther away. The direction in which the group had set off made it clear that the cultivators were headed to the Dragon Cave. He headed there following an alternate route, intending to arrive before the main party so as to lay an ambush.

There were other cautious cultivators out there, and quite a few had arrived at the Dragon Cave in advance like Xiao Nanfeng.

Before long, Ao Canghai's party made its way there as well.

Surviving within this realm required tremendous strength, and the hundreds of cultivators present were naturally all in advanced realms of cultivation. Though they had joined Ao Canghai's party, they were still on guard against him. They gradually closed in on the Dragon Cave.

Ao Canghai hovered in the air as he eyed the cave from afar. He took a deep breath. "Alright. We're here. Prepare to strike."

"Got it!" everyone replied.

One of Ao Canghai's subordinates tossed a boulder toward the Dragon Cave.

A group of zombies shattered the boulder at the entrance to the cave.

They glanced at the group of cultivators that were surrounding them, then roared as they charged forward.

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The cultivators eyed each other with frowns on their faces. They didn't expect Ao Canghai to take such a blunt approach to the fight. Were they going to take on the zombies head-on without luring any away first? They too were wary of Ao Canghai using them as cannon fodder.

Just then, Ao Canghai's subordinates charged forward and knocked aside a group of zombies.

Everyone was taken aback. What was going on? Why had Ao Canghai's subordinates rushed forward? What was Ao Canghai's plan?

"Don't laze around, everyone! Prepare to strike!" a Martial Aspect roared.

"Understood!" The gathered cultivators shook their heads to clear their thoughts and charged forward.

In the distance, under cover of darkness, Xiao Nanfeng frowned. The zombies were far weaker than the Martial Aspects that had rushed forward, but the Martial Aspects hadn't yet finished a single one off.There was a ploy here, he was sure of it.

More and more zombies rushed out of the cave.

Ao Canghai's subordinates were the ones taking on the brunt of the attacks, leaving what zombies remained to the other cultivators present. The two sides fought on equal footing with one another, balanced for the moment.

In other words, despite the drawn-out conflict, not a single zombie or cultivator had died.

Ao Canghai watched on from the air without making a single move. He seemed to be waiting for the zombie king to emerge.

Very quickly, two Golden Immortal zombies appeared.

"Be careful. These Golden Immortal zombies are exceptionally strong. We'll take them on!" a Martial Aspect shouted.

The Martial Aspects rushed forward to take on the Golden Immortal zombies, leaving the other cultivators grateful and relieved. They felt as if they had mistaken Ao Canghai, who really did seem to intend to cooperate with them.

The fighting outside the Dragon Cave unfolded intensely—but again, there were still no deaths.

Just then, a zombie king wearing black draconic robes and a crown on his head finally emerged from the Dragon Cave. Black smoke gushed out from the zombie king as a malevolent aura filled the air. The cultivators stumbled as they collectively held a breath.

"It's the zombie king!" a Martial Aspect roared. "Watch out!"

By then, the zombie king had seen Ao Canghai hovering in the sky. The two Boundless Immortals eyed each other with burgeoning fighting spirit.

Ao Canghai waved a hand. "Release them!"

"Don't! We made a mistake. We shouldn't have tailed you. Don't kill us, please!"

The cultivators who had been caught by the Martial Aspects cried out in fear as they begged for mercy, but their cries were ignored. Their cultivation had been sealed, and they were now tossed toward the zombie king one after another.

The zombie king extended its right arm, causing the cultivators to stop short. They were held aloft in the air around the zombie king. A cloud of black smoke surrounded the cultivators as the zombie king opened its mouth wide to reveal two blood-red fangs. Fangs manifested within the clouds of black smoke and bit down on the cultivators' necks.

"No! Save us!" the cultivators cried out, but they were unable to resist the attack at all.

Within moments, the cultivators' blood and souls were drained. Their vital essence was absorbed by the zombie king, who spat out a ball of unusual black energy. That energy was infused into the fangs that manifested from the black smoke, and then into the cultivators' bodies. The cultivators' eyes dilated, and they stood motionless. Before long, black smoke gushed out of their bodies as they were zombified themselves.

After the zombie king had finished zombifying these cultivators, it shot toward Ao Canghai, who retaliated with a punch. The two fists connected in a howling tempest that sent both Ao Canghai and the zombie king flying.

Ao Canghai smashed into a large mountain, while the zombie king landed in the midst of the cultivators taking on the zombie king's subordinates.

They instantly staggered back in shock upon feeling the zombie king's fearsome aura.

"What's the zombie king doing here?! Hurry and flee!" a cultivator cried out.

The zombie king bellowed and belched out a cloud of smoke that surrounded the unfortunate cultivators. Their blood and souls were extracted from them as they became zombified themselves.

As the other cultivators began to panic, Ao Canghai thundered, "Hold it, fiend!"

Ao Canghai flew toward the zombie king as the two Boundless Immortals began to fight once more.

The cultivators that had been planning to flee could only continue fighting. Coincidentally, Ao Canghai's subordinates began to fight more ferociously, taking on more of the zombies and lightening the load for the remaining cultivators.

All of a sudden, Ao Canghai was sent flying into another mountain, while the zombie king struck another group of cultivators.

"Run!" the cultivators cried out.

The zombie king quickly surrounded them with clouds of black smoke and transformed them into zombies once more.

The battle continued on, but the same thing happened over and over again.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. "Can't the zombie king think for itself? Why is it bothering to turn those cultivators into zombies when it's taking on Ao Canghai? Does it just not have the capacity to think, or is there an article of natural law binding its actions?"

Ao Canghai continued to lure the zombie king into zombifying the gathered cultivators.

By then, the majority of the gathered cultivators had perished, and many of the remaining were starting to panic. Someone shouted, "We can't keep fighting these zombies, or we're all going to die! Let's run!"

A Martial Aspect interrupted, "Everyone, you promised to fight to the end. If you flee now, what are we going to do?"

"Why don't we all flee?" someone suggested.

"Nonsense! We've already invested too much time and energy into this. We can still win. Let's continue," the Martial Aspect replied.

The cultivators had no choice but to continue taking on the zombies.

Xiao Nanfeng, watching from afar, had more or less figured out Ao Canghai's scheme.

"Ao Canghai's subordinates are deliberately holding the ordinary zombies back, not allowing them to bite these cultivators. He only wants the zombie king to zombify them—but why?" Xiao Nanfeng murmured.

Some of the cultivators had realized what was happening as well. They cried out fearfully, "No, we don't want to take on the zombie king anymore. We won't take any share of the treasure, either. Let us go!"

Unfortunately, the zombies they were fighting prevented them from fleeing. The remaining cultivators were quickly zombified by the zombie king.

Everything was proceeding in a sinister fashion.

"No—that zombie king seems to be weakening!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed. That had to be Ao Canghai's plan. "The zombie king's consuming its own reserves of energy by zombifying those cultivators. It really isn't very smart, is it? Ao Canghai found a loophole!"

Finally, as the last group of cultivators were all zombified, Ao Canghai could drop his act.

"Chase all the zombies away. Don't let them die, or they'll only serve to strengthen the zombie king again," Ao Canghai commanded.

"Understood!" the Martial Aspects replied.

The Martial Aspects sent the zombies flying and subdued them with relics, but without killing a single one of them.

Then, Ao Canghai swooped down from the heavens and struck the zombie king with an empowered punch.

He didn't have to rein in his strength any longer. He suppressed the zombie king with absolute power, battering him into the ground.

"You've exerted the majority of your strength, haven't you?" Ao Canghai smirked.

The zombie king roared and charged toward Ao Canghai once more, but Ao Canghai still had the bulk of his strength in reserve. He easily seized the upper hand. The zombie king was knocked back again and again, unable to do anything.

"Where's your ancestral fire dragon's pearl? Aren't you going to use it?" Ao Canghai demanded.

The zombie king bellowed in rage and spat out a dragon pearl filled with incredible black flame. It shot toward Ao Canghai.

The ancestral fire dragon's pearl was a Boundless Immortal relic whose aura was enough to cause Ao Canghai to stagger.

"I've finally forced the zombie king to unveil its relic. It's mine now, haha!" Ao Canghai shouted in excitement.