Taoist priest goes to America

The layer of black down continued to grow, spreading upwards from the neck and covering the entire face along the chin.

The last black hair stuck to Qigu'er's forehead, covering the cinnabar-drawn corpse-raising talisman. The red talisman shone through the gaps in the black fur, like a spark covered by a net.

Only the thin skin around its lips and eyes was visible on its entire face; the rest was covered in black downy fur.

The black fur on Qigu's body is very special. Each of those tiny hairs has extremely fine barbs, and each clump of black fur is like a serrated edge. They are arranged close to the surface of the skin, layer upon layer, like scales.

Looking at its profile, Li An noticed that the talisman he had just drawn was now completely covered by the black fur, which significantly reduced the chances of the talisman being hit in a vital spot by a pistol and the possibility of the corpse servant being able to control it.

He reached out and touched the side of Qigu's face with his finger. The moment his fingertip touched the downy hair, he was pulled down by a downward force as the barbs hooked his finger.

Li An gently pulled away, leaving a horizontal white scratch on his fingertip, which then began to bleed, a thin line running down his fingertip.

He glanced at his fingers, wiped the blood on his trouser leg, and then ordered Chigur.

"Try that wall."

Li An used his mental energy to flick the thin thread connecting Qi Gu'er, and Qi Gu'er's body began to move, turning towards the direction Li An indicated, and raising his hand to press against the tiled wall.

The black hair first made contact with the tile surface, and the barbs got stuck on the tile. Qiguer added force and pushed forward. The surface of the wall tile first sprayed out a layer of white mist-like powder, then fine cracks spread outwards from the spot where the palm was pressed. Then the whole piece peeled off the tile and broke into many thin pieces that fell down.

Chigur continued pushing his palm forward, and the glaze on the wall surface that his palm had pushed off completely peeled off, leaving that side of the tile bare.

Li An looked at the wall, then at Qi Gu'er's palm.

The surface of the black fur was covered with a layer of white tile powder, and a few smaller fragments were embedded between the barbs, slowly falling off as its fingers relaxed.

If Qiguer were to rub against an ordinary person with force, a layer of their skin and flesh would be scraped off.

The muscles beneath Qigu'er's black fur didn't bulge; instead, they seemed to have tightened. His shoulders narrowed, his chest thickness decreased slightly, and the lines of his body were smoothed out, making his muscles look like a well-fitting garment clinging to his body.

The tightening doesn't create a sense of thinness, but rather an unusual tightness and a sculpted look.

Ang Lee's gaze shifted from Chigur's shoulder blades to its feet.

Its entire body looked a little smaller than when it was alive, but a thin crack appeared in the floor tiles beneath its feet.

When Chigur stood there, his feet didn't even move, and the tiles beneath his feet were already cracked.

Its body shape has tightened, but it is heavier than before.

Ang Lee turned his gaze back to the three skills that popped up on the screen.

[Acquireable skill (choose one of three, permanently bound to the host)]

【Skill 1: Hunter's Tracking (Blue)】

[Effect (Passive): When the host tracks a designated target, the efficiency of extracting useful information from environmental traces (footprints, scents, object placement) is increased by 50%.]

If the target has had physical contact with the host within the previous 24 hours, the host can sense the target's approximate direction (within a range of five kilometers).

[Note: The target sensing effect is not applicable to completely enclosed spaces or environments with strong interference (such as underground or signal-shielded rooms).]

[The perceived direction is vague and does not provide precise positioning. Prolonged exposure to information overload (simultaneously tracking two or more targets) can cause mild mental fatigue, manifesting as decreased attention span and mild headaches.]

This passive ability is useful, increasing the efficiency of extracting environmental traces by 50%, which means that Ang Lee will no longer need to search through the memories of corpses to find clues every time.

Footprints, hair, scents—things he wouldn't have noticed before—will become usable information. Moreover, this ability is continuous, independent of contact, and doesn't require active triggering.

Ang Lee's gaze lingered on the effect of "perception range within five kilometers," and then continued looking down.

[Skill 2: Unleashing Mental Power (Blue)]

[Effect (Active): The host enters a state of extreme amplification for thirty seconds at the cost of their own condition. During this time, speed, strength, and perception are increased by 60%, and negative statuses such as pain, dizziness, and fatigue are eliminated.]

[Cost: Upon activation, the host enters a 72-hour period of weakness, during which physical strength decreases by 40%, and the host cannot fight continuously for more than ten minutes. Can only be used once every 24 hours.]

[Precautions: If there is no safe zone to protect you after use, the weakened state is dangerous. Encountering combat during this period, even against a weak opponent, can be fatal. It is recommended to use this only in dire situations.]

Ang Lee's finger swiped across the screen. If Old White and Chigurh were around, he might not need to use this skill, but if he encountered a situation where even the Corpse Servant was not present, this skill would be a safety net.

I estimate that my physical condition is good enough to defeat 90% of modern people who are unarmed, but it's a different story when they are armed.

Although it's not a skill that can be used casually, its burst of power is indeed very useful.

Ang Lee continued scrolling down to the third one. This skill was different from the first two; the characters had a dark purple glow.

Purple? Li An thought for a moment. Before, all the skills were white, green, and blue. This must be the first time a high-level skill in purple has appeared.

After drawing cards for so long, I finally got a gold card?

【Skill 3: Flesh Split (Purple)】

[Effect (Active): The host can control the Corpse Servant to split into temporary flesh and blood creations within ten minutes. Currently, the host can create a maximum of four at a time (determined by the host's mental load limit; the stronger the host's mental load, the more creations).]

The larger and more complex the individual creation, the greater the mental energy consumption; increasing mental energy consumption will improve its effectiveness.

[The creature's form is malleable, capable of deforming and hardening muscle fibers (simple structures such as flesh blades, flesh shields, bone spike balls... complex structures such as flesh wings, tentacles...). The corpse servant's body does not lose movement after losing some flesh; it only experiences a brief moment of stiffness (approximately one second) at the instant of separation.]

[Cost: Each use permanently reduces the Corpse Servant's body by 1% to 2% of its total mass (depending on the size and complexity of the creation); the lost portion cannot be regenerated.]

[Mental burden increases with the number of creations; simultaneously controlling two creations will significantly reduce reaction speed, and controlling more than three will cause the host to experience slight dizziness.]

[Once separated from the Corpse Servant's original body, the creation can only survive independently for no more than one hour, after which it will disintegrate into inactive chunks of flesh and cannot be recovered.]

[Note: This skill is essentially a consumable ability; frequent use will accelerate the degeneration of the Corpse Servant.]

"This skill..." Li An's eyes widened as he swiped through the flesh and blood transformation options on the system screen.

Although this skill permanently depletes the flesh and blood of the Corpse Servants, which cannot be regenerated, the mental burden also increases with the number of Corpse Servants.

But this effect is really amazing!

The products created from the split flesh are not only offensive and defensive, but also have ranged attacks, making up for the short reach of the ordinary corpse servants.

So far, none of the previous corpse servants had any ranged attack methods. Old White's venom injection required close combat, Doyle, a corpse, couldn't understand a pistol, and Isya's skills were all support-type.

With this skill, a tentacle can split off directly from the body and extend to poke people. Old White can also make a venomous flesh ball and throw it out like a grenade, directly increasing the attack range exponentially.

What's more, it also has fleshy wings that split off, which means it can fly.

Ordinary zombies, even after going all out to undergo tribulations and absorb the essence of the sun and moon to level up, can only get stuck at the green-haired zombie level. Even in fantasy worlds, Li An has never seen a zombie that can fly.

But with this skill, even the lowest-level purple zombie can fly using the fleshy wings that split off.