Joining Tiandao Company: Starting by mending a zombie world

There were footsteps outside the temple.

It wasn't one person, it was a group, and each of them was quite skilled.

The footsteps stopped outside the temple gate.

Duanmu Ying's expression changed. She was all too familiar with that kind of footsteps.

After being hunted for seven months, her ears had become sharper than a rabbit's.

"It's not Lü Ci," she said in a very low voice, so low that only Chu Sheng could hear her, "it's the Ghost Cry Sect."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a strange, grating laugh came from outside the temple gate. The sound was like the hooting of an owl or the crying of a baby at night, sending chills down one's spine.

"Miss Duanmu, come out. This dilapidated temple is drafty; you can't hide here."

Duanmu Ying gripped her clothes tightly with her left hand. Chu Sheng pressed down on the back of her hand, stood up, and rolled up the sleeves of his Taoist robe.

The temple door was kicked open.

Five people dressed in black robes filed in, led by an old man who was as thin as a stick, with a sallow complexion, sunken eyes, and a pair of eyes that gleamed with a ghostly green light in the morning light, making him look like a zombie that had just crawled out of a grave.

"Ghost Cry Sect, Yin Jiuling." Duanmu Ying squeezed out the name through gritted teeth.

Yin Jiuling stood with his hands behind his back at the temple entrance, tilting his head to look at the two people inside. His gaze lingered on Chu Sheng for a moment before shifting back to Duanmu Ying.

"That good-for-nothing Lü Ci chased her for seven months and still couldn't bring her back. It seems he didn't lose to you, but to this pretty boy."

Chu Sheng stepped forward, blocking Duanmu Ying's path. "When did the Ghost Cry Sect get involved in human trafficking?"

Yin Jiuling narrowed his eerie green eyes, laughing instead of getting angry: "Boy, what are you? You dare to block the path of my Ghost Cry Sect?"

He raised his right hand, and five wisps of black energy simultaneously emerged from the tips of his five withered fingers. The black energy condensed in the air into five fist-sized skulls, with eerie green ghost fire burning in their eye sockets, emitting shrill cries.

Chu Sheng's pupils contracted slightly.

He had long heard of the evil arts of the Ghost Cry Sect—they forged weapons using the souls of living people, and any attack would injure the soul, leaving the victim wishing for death.

"Duanmu," Chu Sheng said without turning around, "Can you run?"

Duanmu Ying gritted her teeth and stood up, her right arm still in a sling, but her legs were fine. She didn't say anything unnecessary and nodded.

"Run behind the temple, there's a river three hundred paces away."

"And you?"

"I'll hold them off."

Duanmu Ying opened her mouth, wanting to say "I'll go with you," but Chu Sheng had already moved.

He reached into his robes with his left hand, pulled out five exorcism talismans, and instead of lighting them or chanting incantations, crumpled them into a ball and threw them at Yin Jiuling's face.

Yin Jiuling chuckled and dodged to the side.

The crumpled talisman slammed against the doorframe behind him, exploding into a cloud of white smoke. Chu Sheng had wrapped a packet of cinnabar powder inside the talisman—cinnabar is used to ward off evil spirits and specifically counteract malevolent energy.

White smoke filled the entire temple gate, and the five skulls, sprayed with cinnabar powder, let out a shrill scream, causing the black aura to fade slightly.

The five Ghost Cry Sect experts retreated simultaneously. But Yin Jiuling did not retreat.

He closed his eyes, twitched his ears slightly, and flicked his right hand with five fingers. Five wisps of black energy passed through the white smoke and transformed into five black chains like venomous snakes, aiming straight for Chu Sheng's throat, heart, lower abdomen, thigh, and ankle—five vital points, sealing off all angles of evasion.

Chu Sheng didn't dodge. He flipped his right hand, and the Dragon Pattern Sword was drawn. It wasn't a slash, but a strike. The sword was held horizontally in front of his chest, and true qi was poured into the spine of the sword as he met the black qi chains head-on.

Five muffled thuds rang out as the black energy chains were deflected by the sword and crashed into the walls on either side, instantly corroding five holes in the blue bricks, which hissed and emitted black smoke.

Yin Jiuling's pupils finally contracted slightly.

This pretty boy is no ordinary Taoist priest.

"Duanmu! Go!" Chu Sheng roared. Duanmu Ying gritted her teeth, turned around, and rushed out through the back door of the temple.

Yin Jiuling shouted sternly, "Send two people to chase after them! The remaining three—"

Before he could finish speaking, Chu Sheng thrust his sword at him again. This time, the sword wasn't aimed at Yin Jiuling, but at the bluestone slab beneath his feet.

"Boom!" The bluestone slab shattered, and shards of stone flew everywhere. Two Ghost Cry Sect experts who were about to give chase were hit in the knees by the shards of stone, grunted, and knelt down on one knee.

Yin Jiuling's face turned ashen: "Boy, you're asking for death!"

He extended both hands simultaneously, and thick black energy surged from all ten fingers, transforming into ten fist-sized skulls in the air, each twice the size of the previous one. Ghost flames burned fiercely in their eye sockets, emitting a wailing sound that shook the very soul.

At the same time, three Ghost Cry Sect experts behind him simultaneously made hand seals, and a pitch-black soul-summoning banner appeared in front of each of them. The banner was embroidered with a twisted ghost face, and when it fluttered in the wind, a chilling wind blew.

The ten skulls opened their mouths simultaneously, spewing out ten streams of emerald green phosphorescent fire. Countless translucent vengeful spirits surged out of the soul-summoning banner, overwhelming Chu Sheng.

Chu Sheng gritted his teeth, and the Dragon Pattern Sword danced in front of him, creating a sword curtain that blocked all the phosphorescent fire and vengeful spirits.

But each block left his hands numb and his old chest wound began to ache again.

Even more terrifying was that although the vengeful spirits were shattered by the sword curtain, the fragments turned into wisps of cold energy that seeped into his palm along the sword and attacked his heart meridian.

Duanmu Ying said he couldn't fight anyone for three days. He had only been alive for one night.

Duanmu Ying said he couldn't fight anyone for three days. He had only been alive for one night.

"Pfft—" A wisp of yin energy entered his left arm, and his meridians instantly felt frozen. His left arm went numb, and the dragon-patterned sword almost slipped from his hand.

Yin Jiuling grinned maliciously: "My soul-searching Yin energy can make your soul leave your body in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. How long can you hold out?"

Chu Sheng did not answer, but gripped the sword hilt tightly, a smile playing on his lips.

Yin Jiuling's smile froze. A black sword pellet had appeared in Chu Sheng's right hand, which was holding the sword. A layer of golden patterns shone on the surface of the pellet—the core of the Northern Emperor's Demon-Subduing Sword Formation.

Forty-nine sword shadows flew out from the sword pellet, forming a semi-circular sword formation in front of him. Golden light flowed across the sword shadows, and wherever they passed, the yin energy dissipated, and the vengeful spirits let out mournful screams before turning into wisps of smoke.

Yin Jiuling took a step back, a hint of horror flashing in his green eyes:

"This is... the Demon-Subduing Sword Formation?!"

The moment the sword flashed out, Yin Jiuling had only one thought in his mind—this kid absolutely cannot be allowed to live.

He frantically waved his fingers, and phosphorescent flames shot out from the skull like a machine gun.

Behind him, three skilled members of the Ghost Cry Sect also waved their soul-summoning banners, and more vengeful spirits poured out of the banners, their wailing and howling shaking the temple tiles.

But the forty-nine sword shadows formed an impenetrable defensive line.

Phosphorescent flames and vengeful spirits collided with the sword shadows, emitting a series of shrill screams, billowing black smoke that could not penetrate them.

Yin Jiuling's face turned extremely ugly.

He was one of the top three elders of the Ghost Cry Sect, and his soul refining technique, if not unparalleled, was certainly highly skilled.

But when faced with this kid's Demon-Subduing Sword Formation, his yin spirit couldn't even get an inch in.

He gritted his teeth, flipped his withered hand, and pulled out three black beads the size of pigeon eggs from his sleeve.

This is no ordinary yin artifact. This is the forbidden technique of the Ghost Cry Sect—the Soul-Devouring Bead.

It was refined from the souls of three hundred living people.

Once detonated, the souls of all living beings within a ten-foot radius will be completely devoured, and even the caster himself will not escape; it is a true technique of mutual destruction.

"Die!" Yin Jiuling roared, and three Soul-Devouring Beads flew towards the sword formation in a triangular shape. Chu Sheng's pupils shrank sharply.

He sensed an extremely dangerous aura emanating from the three black beads—not yin energy, but pure death—the kind of death that could reduce everything to nothingness.

Without a second thought, he formed hand seals and activated the sword pellet. The forty-nine sword shadows instantly converged, forming three sword walls in front of him.

The Soul-Devouring Pearl crashed into the first sword wall and exploded with a "boom." The black light devoured everything, and the first sword wall instantly collapsed.

Countless tiny black fragments scattered and flew everywhere; those were the crushed fragments of the soul.

The second wall of swords was struck by the black light, causing the sword shadows to tremble violently and teeter on the verge of collapse.

Chu Sheng felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a mouthful of blood welled up, but he swallowed it back down.

The Northern Emperor's Demon-Subduing Sword Formation consumes a great deal of his true qi, and given his current condition of being further injured, he simply cannot hold on for long.

"Can't hold on any longer, can you?" Yin Jiuling sneered. "Let's see how many more you can block!"