MC Creative Mode: Wholesale Perpetual Motion Machine

Chapter 307 The Corpse-Dissolving Immortal and the Evil Tai Sui

Zhang Biao's father's face was ashen.

He waved for his son to step back a few paces, while he himself carefully searched the inscriptions covered by moss on the blurred stone walls.

"Yes, yes."

"That's a damn Corpse-Dissolving Immortal!"

"Father!" Zhang Biao stared nervously at the writhing mass of rotting flesh, and said hesitantly, "Didn't Grandpa tell me before that the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal uses objects to replace death?"

"Isn't this a corpse cave? No matter what, it can't be a corpse-dissolving immortal, right?"

As a family of shamans, the Zhang family is renowned for its profound knowledge of shamanism.

Just as reciting military strategies and honing one's physical strength are compulsory courses for descendants of military families, it is also a tradition for the Zhang family descendants, who have been exorcising evil spirits for generations, to study and memorize various records of evil spirits.

Only in this way can future generations find ways to deal with those strange and evil spirits.

According to historical records, the concept of "corpse-dissolving immortals" had already begun to emerge before the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

Records from that time state that the Queen Mother of the West possessed an elixir of immortality that could bring the dead back to life, and that extraordinary individuals like Peng Zu could live forever.

During the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to years of war and the suffering of the people, the concept of "corpse-dissolving immortals" gradually became popular.

Many famous historical figures are said to have become immortals who "dissolved their corpses".

After their sudden and violent deaths, their bodies were buried in auspicious locations. Years later, when the graves were reopened, people found that the coffins were empty, containing only clothing or items such as swords and canes.

Legend has it that this is because their physical bodies dissipated and their primordial spirits ascended to become immortals.

Or perhaps, instead of being buried in a propitious place, they sought to transcend the constraints of the physical body by being killed by weapons.

Some of these involved hydrolysis; after consuming large amounts of elixirs, the person would bury themselves in water, allowing their body to be eroded by the water flow and devoured by fish and shrimp.

There is also cremation, which is the process of burning a coffin.

In short, there are all sorts of ways to die, and it is difficult for outsiders to tell whether they have become immortals or simply died.

Zhang Biao's grandfather once told him about the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal their ancestors had encountered.

That is a being whose primordial spirit is attached to the sword, and can use the sword as its body to fly through the sky and escape into the earth, traveling to the North Sea in the morning and the sky at night.

"You are indeed talking about the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal, but not the earliest one," Zhang Biao's father replied seriously, rummaging through his large backpack.

"As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, there were records of people in the State of Yan who had died and come back to life."

"At this time, people still inherited the customs of the Xia Dynasty, believing that life and death, like spring, summer, autumn and winter, are a state of constant rotation. Therefore, they pursued the afterlife. Nobles often buried themselves in auspicious places and left behind a large number of funerary offerings and human sacrifices of slaves."

"They believed that by doing so, they could enter the world of the dead after death and continue to be nobles in that world."

"only……."

Legend has it that corpses buried in auspicious locations often undergo strange transformations without anyone noticing.

The corpse will sprout wings from its ribs, its nails and hair will continue to grow after death, and even its skin will rot and scales will grow back under the decaying skin.

Unbeknownst to them, these mutated corpses would dig open their graves on their own, then fly and burrow underground to devour flesh and blood.

“But Dad, isn’t this a zombie?” Zhang Biao scratched his head, looking at the large, writhing mass of corpses, and asked in confusion, “So zombies have existed for so long.”

“Heh…” Zhang Biao’s father took out a bunch of things from his backpack, looked for a suitable spot on the rock wall, and placed tubes of explosives inside. Hearing his son’s words, he sneered and said, “If it’s just an ordinary zombie, then it will be easy to deal with.”

"These days are different. Those zombies that are as strong as oxen and can tear tigers and leopards apart can still be wiped out by a single explosive."

"But the Corpse Dissolution Immortal is not something that can be dealt with so easily..."

Zhang Biao's father carefully observed the terrain, placed tubes of explosives in places that could blast the area to its maximum extent, and then set the timer for detonation. The father and son then quickly traversed the narrow cave and climbed out to leave.

"Father, are we just going to leave our family's magical artifacts there like this?" On the way out, Zhang Biao couldn't help but look back, feeling a little reluctant.

Just now, his father left an important family heirloom in the cave and threw it directly onto that terrifying corpse cave, letting it be slowly swallowed up.

It was a chain made of meteorite iron that dates back to the Jin Dynasty. It was thicker than a normal person's arm, and ordinary evil spirits could not get close to it. Even powerful evil spirits would be severely injured if they were whipped by it.

Only after finally leaving the cave entrance did Zhang Biao's father breathe a sigh of relief. He retreated to a safe distance before slowly explaining to his son, "It's okay if it's lost. My Zhang family's magical artifacts are used to save people. Being able to use them to suppress this thing is worth it."

“Your grandfather passed away early, and I’m usually not home, so there are some things I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet.”

"The 'corpse disintegration immortal' thing is not just those things that have lost their physical form and whose fate is unknown, whether they have become immortals or died, nor is it just those who have turned into zombies. There is also a more terrifying transformation."

"A transformation from the dead to the living!"

To be honest, Zhang Biao's father had always found it hard to understand the mentality of those ancient Taoist practitioners who pursued immortality through corpse liberation.

Born into a shaman family, they don't pursue immortality like Taoists. They just do their jobs well every day, exorcise evil spirits, eat, and live happily and clearly. Why should they pursue immortality?
Those who live far from the crowds, dwelling in the mountains to cultivate their spiritual path. These true practitioners have given up almost everything.

They gave up social interaction, the pursuit of fine clothes and delicious food, and the affection for their families. They ate coarse food in the deep mountains and forests, lived in simple environments, meditated every day without rest, or collected lead, mercury and lingzhi in various places to refine elixirs and consume them.

What were they thinking about as they approached the end of their lives, having achieved no success in their decades-long careers?

It was probably fear.

Out of fear, some Taoist priests or extraordinary individuals who had cultivated their primordial spirit and were able to separate their souls from their bodies began to build tombs before they were truly dead, burying their still-living selves in them, and attempting to cultivate the art of corpse liberation based on ancient records of corpse-dissolving immortals.

This attempt brought about an unprecedented transformation.

Those who place themselves in the coffin will watch themselves die and their bodies rot away.

During this process, their souls or spirits, for some unknown reason, remain bound to those mangled corpses.

Then it continues to rot, slowly decaying downwards.

As the body decays, the spirit will also suffer immense pain.

Perhaps some people regret it after they start trying, but it's too late for regrets.

They will wail in agony, unable to escape, bound by their own rotting flesh.

When their skin and flesh melt away, their internal organs turn to ash, and their bones decay, their souls and their spirits also perish.

"And then...they were resurrected!" Zhang Biao's father's tone was filled with a strange fear. No one knew whether those who cultivated the Corpse-Dissolving Immortal could retain consciousness after their bodies decayed and their primordial spirits perished, or whether some more essential existence was hidden within their souls.

No one knows what they went through during that long process of decay, or whether they had countless regrets.

In short, something began to appear on that decaying, rotten remains, which were nothing but bones, or even no bones at all!

Amidst the decaying bones, flesh and blood quietly sprout; within the coffin, life and death cycle, death and rebirth.

Amidst indescribable changes, flesh and blood gradually grew, and an unknown vitality brought that dead "thing" back to life.

"Father? Hasn't he already become an immortal?!" Zhang Biao couldn't help but ask, "If someone can be resurrected after death, what's the difference between him and an immortal?"

"..." Zhang Biao's father looked at his foolish son with an indescribable expression.

The Taoist text *Taishang Dongyuan Shenzhou Jing* records: "When a corpse fails to dissolve, the three souls transform into demons, and the seven spirits become embryos. When Jupiter approaches the corpse, fleshy monstrosities will be born."

"Those who come back to life after death are no longer the same people. Instead, they are a kind of monstrous flesh that is neither truly alive nor truly dead, which is the legendary flesh spirit mushroom or blood sage..."

A muffled explosion suddenly came from underground; the explosives that Zhang Biao's father had planted had detonated.

Amidst a muffled rumble, a foul-smelling miasma gushed forth from the cave entrance, startling Zhang Biao so much that he stumbled back, then couldn't help but ask, "Dad? Are we done with this?"

Zhang Biao's father didn't answer. Instead, he lay face down on the ground, his ears pressed tightly to the earth with a serious expression. Zhang Biao imitated him, his brows immediately furrowing.

Boom boom boom... Even though the explosives should have been used up, the continuous explosions continued.

There were also some kind of wails and roars that could be heard through such a thick layer of ground.

Zhang Biao, who was pressed against the ground, could feel a faint tremor gradually intensify and then slowly subside.

A few minutes later, the original pile of corpses collapsed, turning into a large pit tens of meters wide and two or three meters deep.

The howling sounds that emanated from the ground gradually subsided as the cave collapsed.

Only then did Zhang Biao's father finally relax, plopping down on the ground and muttering, "If I hadn't studied blasting and there hadn't been so much methane gas down there, this hole wouldn't have collapsed so easily, and that thing down there wouldn't have been able to be suppressed."

After resting for a while, he explained to his son, "These things created through the practice of corpse cultivation and immortality have been called 'flesh spirit mushrooms' and 'blood Tai Sui' since ancient times. The ancients said that you can't disturb Tai Sui because these things are too dangerous."

"Anyone who touches it will surely be beset by strange and malevolent things!"

The *Book of Jin, Treatise on the Five Elements* records that during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Ge Hong's cousin, Ge Yue, underwent a procession-like transformation, dying in battle in the third year of the Long'an era. He was buried in a mass grave in Jiankang, and three years later, blood and milk seeped from his tomb. Afterwards, newborn babies within a ten-mile radius all developed scales on their flesh!

"Is this some kind of infectious disease?" Zhang Biao was taken aback.

“It’s quite similar to a plague, but it’s definitely not as simple as a plague.” Zhang Biao’s father nodded and said, “Once this thing is born, it is in a state of neither life nor death. It cannot truly become a living person, but it is absolutely impossible to die. It cannot be killed by a knife, nor burned out by fire. It can never be eradicated.”

"Do you know what the Five Elements Treatise refers to when it says 'an infant grows fleshy scales'? It's granulation tissue!"

Zhang Biao's father said solemnly, "He is already completely dead, so he can never die again. Anyone who comes into contact with the Blood Tai Sui will have their body gradually rot, grow many granulation tissues, and then melt away!"

Like the most terrifying infectious disease, it first affects infants, then the weak and sick, and then adults. Once the Blood Tai Sui is born, those who come into contact with it and do not receive treatment will gradually contract this inexplicable disease, known as the disease of immortality.

While fully conscious, numerous fleshy buds gradually sprout from their bodies. These sticky buds and scales will gradually stick together, making it increasingly difficult for them to move. In the end, their entire bodies will melt into a sticky, wailing mass of blood.

No one knows whether these rotting pieces of flesh are alive or not, but there are many historical records of people hearing these pieces of flesh crying at night.

"Dad," Zhang Biao said, rubbing his arms awkwardly, "do you think we might have caught it too?"

“Haha,” Zhang Biao’s father laughed, “What are you thinking? We have the Great Dog God protecting us, so touching it won’t cause any problems.”

"By the way, Dad, is this thing really unkillable?" Zhang Biao asked, somewhat unconvinced. "These days, we have explosives, gasoline, incendiary bombs, and even white phosphorus bombs. They can burn through reinforced concrete and even turn bones to ash. This thing shouldn't be able to withstand it, right?"

"Heh..." Zhang Biao's father sneered, "Do you really think that a mere flame can burn this thing down? You think you can think of something that those ancient people were all fools who couldn't even think of something this simple?"

"I've already said it, this thing is NOT meant to be killed!"

Zhang Biao retorted, "How could anything in this world be unkillable? You've seen those factories before, where even iron can be melted into water. Even if these Corpse Immortals become Blood Tai Sui and become incredibly powerful, they're still flesh, right? They can't possibly be as strong as steel, can they?"

Zhang Biao's father slapped his mentally challenged son on the head: "Incendiary bombs and steel—are these things really that powerful? Why don't you use them to exorcise evil spirits? How many times do I have to repeat myself? These things can't kill you!"

"Since ancient times, no matter what method is used to kill the Blood Tai Sui, whether it is poison, fire, or simply chopping it into pieces, grinding it into a paste, smearing it on wood, and burning it in a furnace, it will always regenerate."

“Even,” Zhang Biao’s father tapped his son’s head, “it came out of thin air from inside your head, without any contact. The ‘Book of Jin, Treatise on the Five Elements’ records those newborn babies within a ten-mile radius who were born with fleshy scales. Why do you think they were born with fleshy scales? It’s because people at the time discovered that the tomb was seeping blood and milk, and after howling all night, they were so terrified that they chose to burn it directly. They burned it for three days and three nights, and the soil of the tomb was burned into pottery.”

No contact is needed; simply kill them, burn those wailing chunks of flesh to ashes, chop them into mincemeat, and eliminate them invisibly using various methods.

They are still alive, and they will still grow out of thin air.

From the remains that were not completely burned to ashes, from the flesh and blood of those who touched them and those who did not.

Just like the process of this thing being born from nowhere, from birth to death and then from death to birth, it is another "out of thin air" being born.

"Therefore, it has been said since ancient times that you cannot disturb the Tai Sui. This means that these things cannot be eliminated, so you can only bury them in the ground."

"Then," Zhang Biao couldn't help but ask, "this thing shouldn't be able to escape, right?"

“Who knows,” Zhang Biao’s father shook his head. “Perhaps in 10 years, 100 years, or even 1,000 years, one day someone will dare to mess with this thing again, dig it up, cause another wave of damage, and then finally be discovered by someone with insight and buried back in the ground.”

"Besides," Zhang Biao's father frowned, "although the Blood Tai Sui transformed from the Corpse Immortal is very powerful, it is often not very active. As long as it is buried in the ground and suppressed by magical artifacts, it should be safe."

"But if we add the Corpse Cave to that... sigh," he sighed deeply, "then it's beyond our control. We can only leave it for now and tell the capable people we meet in the future, and let them solve it."

By this time, the sun had completely set. The silent father and son, along with their hunting dog, remained guarding the pit for two consecutive days. After failing to detect any further movement in the pit, they gradually left.

Every few years thereafter, the father and son would come to check on the situation and see if the body trapped under the soil and rocks had been freed.

“Until later,” Zhang Biao paused for a moment on the train before continuing, “my father got old, and I gradually became busier, so I only went to see him occasionally when I remembered. When I went to see him for the last time, I found that it had been dug into an underground air-raid shelter.”

"I heard that during the construction, the corpse cave inside was dug out, which killed several people. It was then burned to ashes with incendiary bombs. After that, I knew things were bad, so I started living nearby to see if that thing would be reborn somewhere."

"The result is what you all know," Zhang Biao said, spreading his hands. "The location seemed to have a pretty good terrain. Less than two years later, they started a construction project again, and they unearthed an ancient tomb. At that time, I realized that there was an old zombie in the coffin, and it was probably the place where the Blood Tai Sui was reborn. The two combined to become a blood corpse."

"We can't be careless with this thing, so I used my connections to contact those guys at Bureau 749, planning to transport it to their base and suppress it completely. And then,"

Zhang Biao slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Those bastards are so used to acting like big shots that they won't give you anything, not even money. All they gave me was a train ticket, and I had to spend half a month transporting this scum to them. If it weren't for the young doctor helping out on the train, everyone in the entire train station would be dead."

(End of this chapter)