Divine Root Bone

The two villains, both at the fifth level of Qi Refining, were completely dead. Their warm blood soaked into the muddy black soil beneath their feet, the stench of decay mingling with the dampness of the vegetation, spreading through the forest. The girl who had miraculously survived, her legs weak, scrambled to Su Qingyao and Lin Wanqing's feet. Her thin, broken body trembled violently. She slammed her knees against the muddy ground strewn with pebbles and broken branches, repeatedly banging her head against the ground until a glaring dark red welt appeared on her forehead. Mud mixed with blood trickled down her pale cheeks, her choked sobs broken and helpless.

"Immortal Masters... Thank you both for saving me... If you had arrived even a moment later, I would have suffered the same tragic fate as Ah Cui, never to be reincarnated..."

Seeing her like this, Su Qingyao suppressed the murderous intent in her heart slightly, bent down slightly, and gently supported the girl's arm with her slender, white hand, helping her slowly to her feet. Lin Wanqing, standing to the side, did not hesitate for a moment. She immediately took off her clean blue outer robe and carefully draped it over the girl's body. The wide hem of the robe barely covered her battered and bruised body, blocking the view of others and giving the still-shaken girl some warmth.

Once the girl's rapid breathing had subsided, Lin Wanqing softened her tone and asked gently, "This desolate forest is teeming with villains. It would be too dangerous for you to be alone in the wilderness. Do you know where you live? We'll be passing through a village ahead on our journey, so we'll take you back along the way."

The girl hastily wiped away the tears on her face, her fingertips stained with mud and blood. She timidly pointed to the winding path deep in the dense forest: "My home is in Shou'an Village up ahead, only a few kilometers away from this open space."

Zhang Yang slowly walked forward, his brows slightly furrowed, and asked, "Why were you kidnapped here by these two thugs?"

Recalling her recent ordeal, the girl shuddered uncontrollably again, a deep fear instantly welling up in her eyes. Her fingers clenched her outer garment tightly, her knuckles turning white: "This morning, I went into the mountains alone to pick wild vegetables, intending to exchange them for some coarse grains to fill my stomach. Halfway there, I bumped into these two men. Without a word, they pulled out a ball of powder with a pungent odor and shoved it directly at my mouth and nose. I felt my head spin, all my strength instantly vanished, and I couldn't even scream for help. When I regained consciousness, I was already being dragged to this open space, watching helplessly as Ah Cui was tortured in every way possible, finally dying on the spot..."

After hearing the girl's account, the anger in the hearts of all the Qingyun disciples present surged again. Such a villain, who brazenly abducted and raped a girl in broad daylight, deserved to die. Zhang Yang pondered for a moment and made arrangements: "We were already heading to the Shou'an Village area to find the sect leader's personal disciple. Shou'an Village is on the way, so we can escort you home. Since a murder has just occurred here, there's no guarantee there aren't other accomplices hiding in the forest. You lead the way, and we'll follow behind, looking after each other."

The girl quickly nodded in agreement, clutched her clothes tightly, and strode ahead, with the group following closely behind as they stepped onto the forest path. Only then did they realize how hidden and difficult to find this path leading to the village was.

After walking several hundred meters, Zhang Yang discovered that the path ahead was not a smooth road, but a winding, narrow trail hidden by vegetation year-round. Ancient trees on both sides had intertwined branches and dense foliage, blocking out most of the sunlight, making the forest dim. The surrounding bushes grew wildly, their branches and vines sprawling; without the local girl guiding the way, it would be impossible to discern the path hidden beneath the vegetation with the naked eye, and one would simply mistake it for a dead-end forest. Halfway through, they came to a three-way fork in the road. The three small paths were all hidden by thick thorns, and looked almost identical. A slight misstep would have led to complete disorientation in the deep mountains. Fortunately, the girl was familiar with the local terrain and accurately pointed out the main road leading to Shou'an Village, preventing them from going astray.

After walking along the winding path for about half an incense stick's time, the group finally saw a cluster of low mud-brick houses nestled in the valley through the gaps in the branches and leaves. This was their secluded destination, Shou'an Village. The girl pointed to the village and whispered to everyone that Shou'an Village was next door, and that her home was just a few hundred steps ahead.

at the same time.

The open space where Zhang Yang and his group had just fought suddenly erupted with a bone-chilling, deathly aura. Despite it being broad daylight and a clear sky, the blood-stained open space was now witnessing a terrifying and unsettling transformation.

The first thing to show signs of disturbance was the body of Ah Cui, the girl who had been tortured to death by the villains.

Just moments ago, she lay silently in the mud, her body stiff and cold, her eyes wide open and empty, filled with extreme fear. Her clothes were torn and covered in wounds and blood, showing no trace of life. But now, without any external touch, her neck slowly and inexplicably rose upwards, the bones grinding together with a "crunch—crunch—" sound, like rotten wood breaking or rusty iron being twisted, particularly eerie in the silent forest.

Her head, stained with mud and blood, twisted slowly, and her previously closed eye slits suddenly opened outwards, revealing a pair of grayish-white, turbid eyes without any pupil light. There was no trace of the spirit a living person should have inside, only a gray, turbid, and heavy aura of death, which was fixed on the path leading to Shou'an Village.

Then, her stiff arms slowly bent, her palms bracing against the muddy ground, her fingertips digging deep into the soft, wet soil, her fingernails filled with black mud and dark red blood. Inch by inch, her torso rose, her spine stiff and bent, each movement accompanied by a constant, sharp, grinding sound from her joints, as if her entire skeleton might fall apart at any moment. Her legs straight and taut, her toes scraping against the mud, she slowly and unsteadily rose from the pool of blood to her feet.

Her tattered clothes hung loosely on her body, which was covered in bruises, bloodstains, and layers of mud. A faint gray-white aura of death surrounded her. Her steps were wooden and stiff, like a puppet on invisible strings. Her knees couldn't bend properly, and she could only drag her feet, inching along the path towards Shou'an Village. She didn't make a sound the entire time, except for the soft rustling of her feet dragging through the mud, a silence that sent chills down one's spine.

Even more horrifying changes followed—

The corpses of the two villains at the fifth level of Qi Refining, who had just been killed by Su Qingyao and Lin Wanqing, began to move simultaneously.

The villain on the left, who had been assaulting the female corpse and whose dantian had been shattered by Su Qingyao's palm strike, was originally lying face down on the ground, with a deep, bone-revealing palm wound on his back continuously oozing blackish-red blood. Suddenly, his limbs convulsed violently out of control, his back arched abruptly, all his muscles stiffened and tensed, his neck bent backward at an angle that defied human logic, his eyes rolled upward sharply, leaving only a pale white expanse, and thick, black, foul-smelling saliva overflowed from his mouth.

The next instant, he struggled to his feet from the mud, his hands stained with blood. Turbid blood gushed from the shattered wound in his lower abdomen, trickling down his body and soaking his clothes. He felt no pain from his fatal injury; his neck stiffly turned from side to side, his empty, lifeless eyes fixed on the location of Shou'an Village. The daylight fell upon him, and his corpse instinctively felt fear, unwilling to be exposed to the light. Numbly twisting his body, he slowly moved into the dense shade of the forest on either side of the road, where sunlight could not penetrate. Using the branches and leaves for cover, he mechanically made his way towards the village along the forest path.

On the other side, the second villain, whose meridians had been severed and who had been killed by Lin Wanqing, was bleeding black blood from his fatal wounds. His body, which had been limp on the ground, suddenly tensed up, his legs stiffened, and his knees cracked as he forced himself to stand up. The meridians in his two forearms were severed, and his arms hung limply at his sides, his fingertips trembling weakly. His head was stiffly tilted forward, and a murky aura of death surrounded him. He was also afraid of the sunlight streaming down from above. He swayed his stiff body and moved into the deep shade of the trees on the other side, avoiding the light, and slowly made his way along the path.

The three corpses, two men and one woman, have all been transformed into bizarre walking corpses that have lost their independent consciousness.

They had no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, no sense of pain, and were surrounded by a dense aura of decay and death. Their movements were slow and wooden, and every movement of their joints was accompanied by a terrifying sound of bones grinding together, as if they were being controlled by the evil power that grew from the underground cemetery. Their only obsession was to slowly wander along this winding path towards Shou'an Village.

The entire forest was brightly lit by sunlight, yet an eerie and unsettling atmosphere lingered everywhere.