Chapter 8: Crisis Looms

  Zombie cultivation absorbs yin energy and essence blood, refining it into magical power; human cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refining it into magical power.

  Zhang Yang understood that these two cultivation methods had some similarities. Therefore, human cultivation secrets might not necessarily be unusable by zombies.

  However, Zhang Yang didn't study it carefully, but judging from the few weak and inferior Daoist scriptures found on these people, they probably aren't any remarkable skills.

  Further back is the section on painting and using talismans.

  Zhang Yang's heart skipped a beat.

  The power of the talisman, Zhang Yang had just witnessed it. That great power talisman, with a flash of yellow light, could increase the strength of the Yin Guang Daoist several times over, and compared to this head of a wandering corpse, it was not much worse off either. Fortunately, the talisman had a time limit, otherwise, who would win or lose in this battle was still uncertain!

  And there's also the Thunder Summoning Talisman, which is even more powerful, summoning heavenly thunder with boundless might.

  If one can master these powers, their combat effectiveness and survival ability will be greatly enhanced.

  After taking a look at the methods of drawing and using talismans, I found that the two most important things are magical power and divine consciousness; among them, divine consciousness is especially important.

  Divine sense has always been the weakness of zombies. However, after Zhang Feng cultivated the "Taiyin Lianxing", his divine sense was much stronger than that of human cultivators of the same rank.

  Of course, apart from spiritual awareness and magical powers, talismans also rely on innate talent and a great deal of diligent practice.

  However, Zhang Yang now possesses spiritual consciousness and magical powers, at least having the basic ability to use and manufacture talismans.

  Thinking that he could use the talismans, Zhang Yang couldn't hold back any longer. He immediately swept his gaze towards the more than twenty talismans in the treasure chest.

  These talismans are all painted with cinnabar in a messy way, and Zhang Yang doesn't recognize these symbols now.

  It's okay, the "Lao Mountain Secret Book" has a section on talismans and symbols, with various diagrams. In comparison, it can be analyzed that among these more than 20 talismans, there are two thunder summoning talismans, two great power talismans, two fire separation talismans, five divine movement talismans, one earth escape talisman, and the rest are all corpse suppressing talismans, with only the single purpose of suppressing zombies.

  The quality is still acceptable, but the grade is relatively low, all of which are the lowest level of first-class talismans.

  Corpse Sealing Needle doesn't need to be mentioned, the most in quantity, however, Zhang Yang now can't find a place to get a zombie for experimentation. Should he practice on himself? That's simply brain-damaging.

  Apart from this, Shen Xing Fu is the most abundant, even if one is wasted, it's not a pity, and it's also suitable for experimentation.

  However, looking back at the little Taoist priest Cheng who was sucked white by two zombie companions and the corpse, and then looking at the Yinliu Taoist priest who was sucked dry by himself, the latter is obviously abnormal compared to the former.

  Zhang Yang didn't want others to see the dry corpse and discover that this zombie was different, so it's better to destroy the body and eliminate all traces.

  Zhuge's whole life was cautious and able to stand in an invincible position!

  After a slight hesitation in his heart, Zhang Yang immediately changed his mind and decisively took out a fire-avoidance talisman, concentrated his spirit, and silently recited the incantation.

  "General Li Huo is on the move! Hurry up like a law enforcement order! Quick!"

  As the law was decided, Zhang Yang could clearly feel a wave of spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the talisman, and he hastily threw it at the desiccated corpse of the Yin Ku Daoist.

  Pfft!

  A yellow flame engulfed the corpse, instantly reducing it to ashes that were blown away by the wind, leaving no trace behind.

  "Hmm! This power, if I can fully grasp it, is really not bad!"

  "If a first-class talisman can have such a strong effect, what about second-class and third-class ones? The highest-grade talismans seem to be ninth-class talismans, right?"

  Zhang Yang felt a sense of awe and gained another level of understanding of the power of human cultivators.

  With great joy, he hastily gathered up the remaining twenty or so talismans and the "Cangshan Secret Manual", as well as the cinnabar brush.

  As for steel swords and such, they were inconvenient to carry around, and Zhang Yang's stiff movements made it impossible for him to use them anyway, so he just threw them away.

  This mountain cave, which is not suitable for zombie cultivation due to its insufficient yin energy, has been damaged and cannot be inhabited. Furthermore, three Taoist priests from the Cui Mountain were killed by zombies, two of whom died after being bitten, while the third was seriously injured and then crushed to death by falling rocks. If their seniors in the sect come seeking revenge, it won't be a pleasant situation.

  Get out of here! Must leave here as soon as possible!

  The sunset is fast, at this time, the sky has already started to darken, it's a good time to set off.

  Zhang Yang gathered himself slightly, then chose a direction and went deep into the mountains without hesitation.

  A zombie's magnificent chapter of rampaging through the Xiu Zhen realm has begun!

  ……

  Less than half a time after Zhang Yang left, in the hazy night, two figures rushed towards the mountain and rushed to the collapsed cave.

  Wearing yellow Taoist robes, with the Eight Trigrams and Tai Chi patterns on their backs, all indicate their identities.

  These two people were the Lao Mountain Taoists who rushed over to reinforce after receiving the paper crane message. However, these two men were not outsiders like Minghe and others, but formal inner disciples of the Lao Mountain Sect.

  Looking at the broken bodies on the ground and two stiff corpses, the two Taoist priests were also stunned.

  "What's going on here? They rounded up a few small-time zombies and actually managed to create this kind of chaos, and two people even died! What a waste!"

  A Taoist priest said, walking forward and taking a look at the corpse with bite marks all over his body from being bitten by zombies.

  "Looking at the wound, it's clear that he was bitten to death by a jumping corpse. This Minghe is getting more and more disappointing, bringing the team over to eliminate a few jumping corpses, can't even take care of his junior brother, no wonder after so many years on the mountain, not even qualified as an inner door disciple."

  Two Taoists were talking, with no hint of sadness on their faces.

  "What's become of Minghe? Two of the three are dead and one is missing, we can't account for them to our sect leader, I'm afraid we'll be held responsible!" A slightly older Taoist priest said with a slight frown.

  Another Taoist priest turned his eyes and said:

  "Senior brother worries too much, Ming and foolishness did not listen to senior brother's orders, and went up the mountain to provoke zombies on their own. They didn't take good care of the two junior brothers, causing them to lose their lives at the hands of zombies, and then escaped in fear of punishment. We'll do our best to catch him back. Even if we can't catch him back, it has nothing much to do with us!"

  It's clear that they want to pin all the blame on Minghe.

  The older Taoist was taken aback for a moment, then nodded:

  "I'll waste a tracking token then, and see where that traitor goes."

  As he spoke, the elder Taoist stretched out his hand and gave a slap.

  Whoosh!

  A yellow talisman flew out of a bag slung over his shoulder and hovered in mid-air.

  The elderly Taoist priest closed his eyes tightly, pinched his fingers in a gesture of incantation, muttered to himself, and suddenly pointed at the talisman with a loud shout:

  Hurry!

  Pfft!

  The talisman ignited with a response, and small yellow light balls floated up. The elderly Taoist priest clapped his hands, pinched his fingers, and wiped them horizontally across his eyelids.

  As soon as the eyes lit up, a pair of footprints shining with silver light appeared on the ground outside the cave, one pair every few meters. Looking at the direction they extended, it was exactly the direction Zhang Yang left in.

  Of course, these footprints can only be seen by the older Taoist priests who are skilled in magic, while another priest cannot see them.

  "Huh? The last footprint, is actually a zombie! Looking around, there are no other footprints, where can he escape to?" The older Taoist gazed at the footprint for a moment, and immediately revealed an astonished expression.

  Another Taoist thought for a moment and said:

  "The cave roof collapsed, covering all the signs of fighting inside. Can't see what happened at that time. But thinking about it, Ming and others should have left when it was raining, and the rainwater washed away their footprints!"

  The two did not find Ming and De's corpses, so they naturally wouldn't think that a zombie could use the "Destroy Corpse" spell.

  The older Taoist nodded in agreement, apparently thinking so too.

  "In any case, this zombie cannot be let off. Otherwise, we will not be able to explain ourselves to the sect. Let's chase after it and get rid of it, who knows what new discoveries might be made."

  The two Taoists made up their minds and followed the silver footprints in the direction Zhang Yang had left.

  ……

  A crescent moon in the sky, weak moonlight, shining on the continuous ten thousand great mountains.

  The tall trees blocked out the faint moonlight, making the forest pitch black, unable to see even a hand in front of one's face.

  In the distance, there were occasional roars of fierce beasts, accompanied by the chirping of small insects in the forest, making the atmosphere of the mountain forest even more terrifying.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  A rhythmic thud of heavy objects hitting the ground, a zombie is approaching from afar.

  This zombie stretched out its arms and stiffened its legs, with a ferocious face and constantly rotating eyes that couldn't hide the terror in its heart.

  This zombie is undoubtedly Zhang Yang.

  It has been almost two hours since he left the cave.

  During these two periods of time, he traveled non-stop, relying on the undead's tireless physical strength, and continuously crossed over several mountains.

  Now, the mountain forest has revealed its ferocious fangs to Zhang Yang.

  A string of small green lanterns followed Zhang Yang as he moved back and forth, always surrounding him.

  The green lanterns followed closely, and Zhang Yang's divine sense scanned past, clearly seeing that they were a pack of forest wolves. These weren't the weak little wolves found in parks on Earth, but rather ones that stood about 1.4 to 1.5 meters tall, resembling small calves.

  With his zombie-like night vision, Zhang Yang could see that there were about twelve or thirteen of them, near and far, vague and indistinct.

  "Meow! A wolf can grow so big, it's almost a monster! And yet, the pack doesn't go after those fresh prey, but instead chases after this undead body of rotten flesh relentlessly. What's going on here?!"

  Zhang Yang couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart. As for the abundance of spiritual energy in this world, he really didn't know whether to be grateful or to curse it.

  As for Zhang Yang's second-level corpse, the wolf pack also seemed to be cautious of the aura emanating from his body and did not launch an attack in the first instance.

  However, Zhang Yang did not dare to run at full speed. Based on modern people's understanding of wolf habits, he knew that once he ran away, it would be equivalent to showing weakness to the wolf pack, and the wolves would definitely launch an attack immediately.

  Zhang Yang moved forward steadily while sincerely praying for a miracle to happen. It would be best if a group of wild deer jumped out and attracted the pack of wolves away, that would be perfect.

  Unfortunately, his wish could not be fulfilled.

  Waaaah——

  Accompanied by two long whistles, the surrounding wolf pack was suddenly excited, and the two closest ones immediately howled and pounced over.

  ……

  Thanks for the rewards from three good friends "Mou Ni", "Wu Nai Tang Lang" and "He Ma San Ren".