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Li Shen quickly dodged to the side, barely avoiding the sword's attack. The sword energy grazed his robes and left a deep mark on the ground behind him.

He steadied himself, and five dark green flying knives swam out, gazing intently at the target.

The one wielding the sword was the strongest person in that village, a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stages.

Immediately afterwards, the remaining late-stage Qi Refining cultivators surrounded Li Shen, each wielding a longsword.

Li Shen dared not be careless and summoned three high-grade golden shield talismans to protect himself.

Only then did he see what these people looked like, and his heart sank.

The strange feeling I had earlier was explained.

These people can no longer be called human beings.

Their eyes were empty and lifeless, and their faces were covered with varying degrees of ulceration, making them look quite disgusting. Their clothes were also tattered, and three or four of them only had one arm left, with empty sleeves swinging freely.

"Unauthorized intruders...die!"

The cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment spoke in a hoarse voice.

Before he could finish speaking, Li Shen's three ice cone talismans were already upon him.

The monk neither dodged nor avoided the ice spikes, allowing them to pierce his shoulders and chest.

No blood flowed out; only black and red rotten flesh was exposed at the wound. He paused only slightly before continuing to move forward with his sword.

Li Shen clicked his tongue in disapproval. Five dark green flying knives spun in the air, transforming into five streaks of light that aimed directly at the Foundation Establishment cultivator's throat and heart.

At the same time, he took out several fireball talismans and shot them towards the surrounding Qi-refining cultivators.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator parried with his sword, and with two crisp "clangs," two throwing knives were knocked away, while the remaining three were firmly embedded in his neck and chest.

An ordinary person would have been killed long ago, but he merely glanced down, reached out and pulled out the throwing knife, bringing with it a clump of dark brown rotting flesh, without even frowning.

Seeing this, Li Shen understood most of the situation.

"These things seem to be some kind of living corpses, so..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Shen pointed two fingers together, and the seven-colored python instantly coiled around him to protect the center. Its snake eyes were fixed on the Foundation Establishment living corpse, its throat slightly bulging. A moment later, a ball of fire burst out.

At the same time, Li Shen took out the Yin Soul Banner, chanted an incantation in a low voice, and four soul slaves roared and pounced on the surrounding Qi-refining living corpses.

Although outnumbered, all four Soul Slaves possessed second-tier strength, making them relatively easy to suppress.

But it was merely suppression.

These living corpses were terrifyingly resilient. Even though their legs had been bitten off by the soul slaves, they still used their hands to dig at the ground and crawl towards Li Shen.

That Foundation Establishment living corpse, whose diet was unknown, withstood several fireball attacks from him and the Seven-Colored Python. Apart from its clothes being burned, it remained sturdy.

His sword swings appeared haphazard, consisting of simple slashes, but each sword strike possessed the genuine power of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, causing Li Shen to use up nearly ten high-grade golden shield talismans.

Fortunately, after a series of battles, he had figured out the weaknesses of these zombies.

That is the head; their power comes from there.

Once the thought was made up, Li Shen pointed forward, and the seven-colored python suddenly leaped up, using its body to tightly wrap around the living corpse.

His eyes gleamed with a blue light, and he flicked out a blue light technique, striking the center of his forehead!

The zombie's head snapped back, gazing at the sky at an exaggerated angle.

Li Shenmo counted to five, and only after seeing no response did he cautiously have the seven-colored python withdraw.

The moment the seven-colored python loosened its grip, a wisp of dark gray soul slowly floated out from the spot where Li Shen had struck it.

The surrounding Qi-refining zombies also became sluggish, with black and gray souls emerging from their heads.

After a brief hesitation, Li Shen's gaze sharpened. He gripped the Yin Soul Banner tightly, quickly recited the incantation for the Soul Extraction Technique, and his fingertips flashed with spiritual light.

"Trying to run? Get in here!"

He gave a low shout in his heart, and the banner moved without wind. A powerful suction force suddenly erupted, pulling all the separated souls back to him.

The souls struggled desperately, but ultimately to no avail under the suppression of the Demon-Suppressing Pearl.

Several distorted faces suddenly appeared on the banner, roared silently for a moment, and then the dark gray souls sank into it.

A slightly putrid smell permeated the air.

Li Shen scanned the area with his divine sense and turned to look at the puppet that had stopped calling out "Brother, hello" at some point.

The two stared at each other for a moment, then the puppet slowly moved its four legs backward, and the gap emitted a childlike voice again:

"elder brother?"

Before the words were even finished, the puppet started running away as fast as it could.

Unfortunately, the Soul Slave was faster and was pinned to the ground before it could run very far.

Li Shen slowly stepped forward, squatted down to examine him for a moment, and tentatively asked a few questions.

I tried asking the question in several different ways, but the other person would only repeat those three words in a childish tone.

"Hello, brother."

"Hello, brother."

Li Shen sighed softly, too lazy to waste any more words, and with one sword stroke, he severed the flattened head.

I picked it up and weighed it; the materials are quite good, I'd estimate it's at least late-stage Tier 1 quality.

Then, he pressed his head to the ground, used his sword to block the gap through which the puppet was speaking, and slashed hard!

The skull split in two with a snap.

Looking through the cut, there is a crystal-like object in the center of the upper part.

Li Shen frowned, gripped the dark green throwing knife tightly, and was about to take it out when the crystal suddenly lit up!

His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately threw it to the ground, retreating several steps while simultaneously slapping out a high-grade golden shield talisman.

However, after the crystal lit up for a moment, there was no explosion or any other reaction. Instead, a wisp of dark gray soul, similar to that of the living corpses, slowly floated out from it.

Li Shen breathed a sigh of relief and activated the Soul Extraction Technique, easily absorbing it into the banner.

The crystal dimmed and rolled out on its own before Li Shen could retrieve it.

Li Shen stepped forward, took it in his hand, examined it for a moment, but couldn't tell what it was.

Currently, it is only known that its function is to store souls and provide energy for the puppet's activities.

Without giving it any further thought, he took out an empty wooden box from his storage bag, put the crystal inside, and planned to study it later when he had the chance.

"If that's the case, there should also be such a crystal inside the heads of those zombies."

With this guess in mind, Li Shen returned to the place where the battle had just taken place.

After verifying everything, it turned out exactly as he had thought.

Before long, fourteen translucent gray crystals were placed in front of him.

The largest one was dug out of the head of a living corpse in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, but it had been hit by the Azure Light Technique and was covered in cracks, looking like it could shatter at any moment.

"What a pity."

Li Shen shook his head, put the crystals in a box, and then looked towards the village.

When I spread my divine sense, there was no life force there, only deathly silence.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Shen decided to go and take a look. Maybe there were some clues hidden inside. He should just be careful.

After putting away the Yin Soul Banner and taking a Qi-restoring pill to replenish his depleted spiritual energy, Li Shen took out a cleansing talisman to wipe away the putrid smell clinging to his body. His eyes gleamed with a blue light as he strode toward the village.