I, a cultivator, have ended up in the world of tomb raiding.

It was a "person" missing a leg.

As it crawled toward the two of them, it struggled to stand up.

His black robe was bulky and tattered, and his hopping posture on one leg looked somewhat comical.

The blackish-red, rotting flesh at the severed leg was turned outwards, constantly oozing a foul-smelling, sticky, putrid fluid.

The dripping water on the ground smelled pungent and unpleasant, making it appear eerie and grotesque.

"How come it's not dead yet?" Red Girl stood behind Li Yue, a throwing knife already pinched between her fingers.

Li Yue was also slightly surprised.

This zongzi was a guardian of the mountains in life. Could it be that there is some kind of protective secret hidden in its body that allowed it to survive falling off the cliff?

Or did they encounter something extraordinary during their fall?

No wonder he dared to jump straight off the cliff before.

Li Yue told Hong Guniang to stay where she was and slowly walked forward to check on her.

The body of Guanshan Taibao was severely struck by a shower of rocks after falling off the cliff.

His already tall and obese body was covered with wounds of varying depths, and his blackened and stiff flesh was scraped to a tattered state, with bone fragments exposed in many places.

That face, already swollen and white as foam, was now further pierced and shattered by the rubble.

Half of his cheek was peeling back, and one eyeball was bulging out of its socket.

The putrid fluid flowed down the wound, making it appear even more grotesque and terrifying, no different from a demon.

Li Yue stared intently at the disfigured ancient corpse, his mind stirred slightly, and he immediately sensed something was wrong.

Ordinary zombies have a lot of yin energy in their bodies, which is mostly formed from the sedimentation of corpse energy, making it cold and stagnant.

They often only know how to instinctively kill living people and suck their yang energy and blood.

But the corpse of the Guanshan Taibao before them was unusually restless with its yin energy.

It also carried a layer of thick, ink-like resentment, churning endlessly.

It was as if something was struggling and writhing deep inside the corpse, which was far from a simple case of a corpse rising from the dead.

Just now, in the cave, he vaguely felt that the black-robed rice dumpling was strange.

At that time, it was assumed that the ancient corpse was poisoned and suffered greatly before its death, which was why its resentment was so strong.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there was more to it than met the eye.

Just as he slowly approached,

The ancient corpse, its face obscured by rubble, appeared to have suffered a great shock.

His previously cloudy and dull eyes suddenly bulged open.

It opened its big mouth and emitted a faint but ear-piercing "hoho" sound.

At the same time, a breath of dark gray gas was exhaled from his throat.

Immediately afterwards, its swollen and festering facial features suddenly twisted and swayed.

It felt like something alive was wriggling beneath the skin.

The next moment, a withered and emaciated human face suddenly emerged from the corpse's face.

Trailing behind it was a long, thin, blurry ghostly body, which turned out to be a fully formed corpse puppet.

Li Yue's eyes flashed with anger, and he raised his hand to cast a spell to capture and imprison him.

But this corpse puppet was clearly premeditated.

Before his fingertips could even touch it, his body instantly transformed into a pale blue mist.

It nimbly darted past Li Yue's face and pounced straight at the girl in red behind him.

Li Yue was startled, instantly remembering that this corpse puppet could become ethereal and pass through walls.

Hong Guniang is a woman, and her yang energy is much weaker than that of the fierce bandits of the Unloading Ridge.

Since they lack any protective aura of killing and violence, they are the easiest targets for such sinister forces.

He turned around abruptly and saw that the corpse puppet had already pounced on the red girl, its sharp teeth aimed straight at her face.

The young woman in red turned pale, startled by the sudden evil spirit, and lost her composure, taking two steps back.

Before she could even throw the throwing knife, the man's face was already right in front of her.

At the critical moment, Li Yue grabbed at the air with his five fingers, and a powerful force of yin energy suddenly surged from his palm.

The corpse puppet that was about to be obtained was suddenly pulled back by an invisible force and firmly grasped in his hand.

Looking at the cold, misty mass, Li Yue's face showed a look of sudden realization.

It turns out that a corpse puppet was hiding inside the ancient corpse and causing trouble. No wonder the corpse of Guanshan Taibao, who had been dead for hundreds of years, could rise up for no reason and survive falling off a cliff.

As for the origin of this corpse puppet, it should be one of the group of evil spirits that he defeated on the Corpse Gui in Danjing.

He was besieged by numerous corpse puppets at the time and had no time to seal and devour them all, so one of them secretly escaped.

No wonder the black-robed zombie looked terrified when it saw him earlier.

This corpse puppet had witnessed him devouring his own kind, and it must have been terrified out of its wits.

Having finally escaped, only to find themselves back in his clutches, they must be extremely frustrated.

Li Yue had not expected that after the corpse puppet escaped, it would possess the ancient corpse of Guanshan Taibao and become even more aggressive than before.

Corpse puppets are inherently yin and evil, and are easily scorched by yang energy under sunlight, making them difficult to survive for long.

The corpse puppet possessed this ancient corpse, which was filled with heavy, deathly yin energy. It could use the corpse's yin energy to shield itself from the sunlight and alleviate the burning pain of its soul.

It is illogical that such evil spirits, which are clearly timid and afraid of people, would dare to appear near a group of fierce bandits from the Xieling Mountain bandits who are full of yang energy, and even take the initiative to attack people.

What concerned him even more was that the Yin energy of this corpse puppet was far more concentrated and refined than it had been in the Pill Palace, and it had already condensed into a complete form.

Its strength was comparable to that of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, and it was on par with the one he had encountered in the Ancient Lamp Cave.

Corpse puppets are parasitic on the Yin-nourishing giant tree, and once they are separated from their host for too long, they will only gradually weaken.

But this one did not disappear; instead, it grew rapidly in less than a night, its ferocity escalating dramatically, clearly having found a shortcut to advancement.

— It devours the souls of the living.

But corpse puppets are born timid and fearful of people, and usually avoid them like the plague. How could they suddenly dare to take the initiative to harm people?

Li Yue has always disliked things getting out of control. This strange turn of events would disrupt his judgment of the situation in Ping Mountain, so he wanted to find out the reason.

His gaze was cold as he stared at the struggling corpse puppet in his hand, intending to use his Yin energy to imprison it and search its soul to explore its secrets.

But this corpse puppet was unusually ferocious.

Clearly knowing that falling into his hands would only lead to the destruction of her soul, she brazenly severed the latter half of her soul, using self-harm as a price to break free from his restraints.

Dragging half of its body with a wisp of pubic hair, it pounced on Li Yue like a mad dog.

This was a desperate last stand.

Although Li Yue had been on guard, he had not expected that this sinister person would be so decisive and ruthless.

The corpse puppet was already in his hand, at very close range.

Even with his quick reflexes, he couldn't completely evade the sudden attack.

He had no choice but to hastily turn his head to avoid the vital point.

The corpse puppet, its face filled with resentment and malice, instantly pounced on his shoulder and bit down hard.

In a flash, Li Yue no longer cared about the restraints and probing. He gripped the corpse puppet's head with his five fingers, and his Yin energy erupted from his body as he squeezed it hard.

A sharp, piercing scream rang out, and the corpse puppet was instantly crushed by his grip, turning into countless specks of blue phosphorescent light.

These fragments of ghostly light are inherently afraid of sunlight. Once they are released, they sizzle under the midday sun, melting and fading away rapidly like ice and snow meeting fire.

In the blink of an eye, it completely dissipated into the air, leaving not a trace.

The situation took many twists and turns, and Miss Hong was still somewhat shaken.

He quickly stepped forward, looking at Li Yue with a worried expression: "How are you? Were you bitten?"

The young woman reached out to check his shoulder.

However, Li Yue's clothes on his shoulder were completely intact, without even a tear, indicating that his skin had not been bitten through.

But before the worry on her face could fade, she saw Li Yue's face suddenly turn pale, and a barely perceptible pain flashed between his brows, clearly indicating that he was injured.

"Where are you hurt? Is something wrong?" the girl in red asked anxiously.