This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 157 "Is it a person?"

Most of the time, zombies in a complex monster group just serve a nominal purpose, crawling around, howling a couple of times, and then being easily eliminated, mainly to create an atmosphere.

But when hundreds of zombies filled a narrow passage, they pushed forward as soon as they sensed the presence of living people.

Parasites burrowed beneath the skin, venomous snakes with terrifying patterns slithered among the corpses, and hissing rats crawled in the shadows. It was as if a whole piece of rotting flesh infested with maggots was squeezing out a passageway that was gushing out like pipes...

Nie Weiyang frowned. He could hear another sound coming from behind the horde of corpses. It sounded like human voices, but he couldn't make it out clearly.

“There are people over there… let’s go through,” he said.

Han Jiangxue couldn't think of a way to get through for a moment, and she subconsciously asked, "How do we do it?"

Nie Weiyang weighed the spear in his hand, then twirled it in a dazzling display in the passage, which was only four meters in diameter. Bright light began to fill the spear, and in an instant, skill effects such as [Purification Spirit] and [My Righteousness] were applied to it in succession.

"Kill," he answered succinctly.

He twisted his body—and threw the spear with all his might!
A burst of light, bright as thunder! The seemingly menacing horde of corpses was pierced by a beam of light. This light flashed by in an instant, like a sword of dawn. With a clear 'bang!', the Golden Gift pierced into the wall of the research institute hundreds of meters away!

Before the two men, a straight passage two meters wide had been cleared in the center of the horde of zombies, and all the zombies in the path had disappeared.

A breath later, a loud 'BOOM!' exploded, followed by a series of explosions. The hordes of corpses on both sides burst open like bombs, with rotting flesh, entrails, and swarms of parasites flying everywhere, but were blocked by the two shields.

One layer was on Nie Weiyang, simultaneously blocking Han Jiangxue behind him. The other layer, a split arc-shaped shield, was attached to the Golden Grace, and together with the impact of [My Way], created a brief but clearly defined safe zone around the spear.

In this safe zone, a Taoist priest, holding his disheveled hair with one hand, stared dumbfounded as he walked through the blood-splattered passage at Nie Weiyang. Behind him, several junior Taoist priests peeked out from either side of him, equally dumbfounded.

Nie Weiyang was also taken aback; he truly hadn't expected to face such a group of people. Han Jiangxue remained silent, as did the Taoists. After a long while, the leading Taoist slowly managed to utter a sound: "...Huh?"

He turned to look at the spiderweb-like glowing patterns on the cracked wall, then at the golden spear that was almost completely embedded in the wall. He lowered his hand tremblingly, his eyes flashing with a faint blue light. He carefully examined Nie Weiyang for several seconds, and finally murmured to himself, "It's a person."

Nie Weiyang: “?”

……

After spending more than ten minutes eliminating the few remaining snakes and rats that hadn't been affected in the corners, the group continued on their way.

Nie Weiyang, who had almost been expelled from the cult again, greeted them somewhat speechlessly and habitually walked at the front. The leading Taoist priest followed beside him, bowing and scraping to him as they walked, saying very politely, "Greetings, Mr. Nie. My master has heard of you before, and now that I see you, you truly live up to your reputation."

"Master?" Nie Weiyang avoided the greeting, then thought for a moment, "Master Bixu?"

Bixu was the Taoist name of the old Taoist priest at Mingzhen Temple on Religious Street. The word implies a clear blue sky and green water, and mentioning it suggests floating up to the azure sky. At the same time, the first part of the classic book "Xuanzhenzi" written by Zhang Zhihe, a Taoist practitioner in the Tang Dynasty, is also titled "Bixu".

The middle section is called "Yuzhuo," one of the Five Phoenixes, representing the qualities of perseverance and loyalty.

The next chapter is called "Spirit of the Waves," which refers to "Jiang Xu, the God of the Waves." Legend has it that he was the spirit that Wu Zixu transformed into after his death. He is the god of the great river, on par with the River God, but with a much larger domain.

This was all information Nie Weiyang learned in the later stages of his previous life, by which time the old Taoist priest had already passed away from old age and illness. But now, thinking back, when he met the old Taoist priest in his previous life, the priest's eyes didn't possess that pure blue light...

After their rebirth and subsequent encounter, he initially assumed the other had learned to conceal his brilliance after half a month, but perhaps that wasn't the case. Using the name Bi Xu, and capable of divination even in the new world, the old Taoist likely harbors many secrets.

“Yes, my master is Master Bixu, and I am Xuanyun,” the middle-aged Taoist said with a smile. “He mentioned you to me a few days ago.”

"Oh?" Nie Weiyang chimed in at the opportune moment, "What did he say about me?"

“He said you are capable and virtuous, truly worthy of being called the best in the world,” Xuan Yun replied with a smile, while observing Nie Weiyang’s reaction.

Nie Weiyang...did not react.

Instead, he simply said "Oh, is that so?" as if he hadn't heard anything, and casually used his access card to open a closed door to check the interior.

They had arrived at this point and entered the inner layer of the research institute, where there were rooms of all sizes connected one after another, filled with huge instruments of unknown purpose.

The smallest of these instruments is four or five meters tall, while the largest is over seventy meters tall. At first glance, they look like a small mountain covered with a steel shell, with some black light that shimmers with blue and purple hues hidden inside. It seems that the Netherworld Crystal is sealed inside.

However, all of this was surrounded by seals made of yellow light, preventing others from getting close. These seals were exactly the same as the 'area seals' released by the 'warning line', but Nie Weiyang carefully observed and confirmed that there was no trace of the 'warning line' around.

Of course, where there are area seals, there must also be warning lines.

However, as a security unit, the warning line can naturally temporarily disable its mobility and remain stationary on the planet in a semi-shutdown state, thus truly becoming a 'warning line' in a physical sense.

Several Taoist priests tried to put up auspicious talismans in the vicinity several times, but found that the talismans could not be pasted at all.

They couldn't help but sigh, but they stayed even closer to Nie Weiyang and Han Jiangxue. After all, in their vision, Nie Weiyang always appeared as the 'relatively safe' figure in blue, with Han Jiangxue being the next safest.

The group then encountered several more shifts in the internal and external space, several battles, and ran into other small teams from the ancient city on the surface, navigating a perilous journey.

The group rescued people along the way, occasionally sending a small team to the main gate to report the news.

About three or four hours later, the entire research institute had been thoroughly searched, but they still hadn't found what they were looking for.

"Where are the others?" someone muttered to themselves.

"What about rooms with higher access levels than this card?" Han Jiangxue muttered to herself.

"...Where is my master?" Xuan Yun murmured to himself.

"Where's Qiao Xing? There's not even a body... And what about the server room?"

Nie Weiyang frowned. He walked to a smooth wall, which, in his memory, should be a door leading to a deeper underground.

But now, it's just a complete wall.

(End of this chapter)