Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

The air inside the cave was dry and stale. He bent down and took a few steps inside, took out the Sister Drum, and gently shook it twice.

The moment the drumhead vibrated, a thick plume of black smoke billowed out from it, swirled in the narrow passage for a moment, and condensed into a miniature eight-armed bodhisattva seated on a white bone lotus pedestal.

Two points of blood-red light flickered slightly in the eyes of the White Bone Bodhisattva. He secretly glanced at Lin Yi and then quickly looked away, his eight arms hanging neatly at his sides.

"Find the entrance to the dark cave." Lin Yi gestured with his chin towards the cave.

The blood-red light in the White Bone Bodhisattva's eyes flashed for a moment.

The three-tiered white bone lotus platform beneath it rotated silently, and dozens of white bone spikes shot out from the edge of the platform, piercing the cave walls in all directions.

The sound of bone spurs piercing the rock was sharp and short, like chopsticks poking into a layer of cardboard, and gravel fell down the cave walls in a rustling sound.

Several of the bone spurs paused simultaneously—they pierced through.

The White Bone Bodhisattva raised all eight arms at the same time and pushed them hard against the hollow stone wall. Countless white bone threads poured out from its fingertips and wove into a thick bone dragon in mid-air.

The bone dragon's spine was pieced together from thousands of human bones, and two hollow skulls were embedded in its head. It roared silently as it crashed into the stone wall.

With a loud bang, stone chips flew everywhere.

A large hole, about the height of a person, appeared on the cave wall, and the rock face at the entrance was as smooth as tofu that had been chiseled.

Behind the large hole was an even deeper tomb chamber, from which the air carried an indescribable, decaying scent—not the stench of decay, but the very smell of time itself.

"A new trick? Not bad!"

Lin Yi reached out and patted the head of the White Bone Bodhisattva twice. The touch was cool and smooth, like touching a piece of ancient jade that had just been dug out of the ground.

The White Bone Bodhisattva's lotus platform trembled from the two blows.

It was terrified of Lin Yi to the core, and when he suddenly praised it like that, a small, secret joy welled up in its heart.

Stockholm syndrome, even evil gods are no exception.

The tomb chamber was wide open, but no foul air escaped.

The yin energy here is too heavy. The density of the yin energy itself has suppressed the turbid air and dust inside the stone walls, and even the air is still.

Lin Yi stepped inside, and the White Bone Bodhisattva quickly followed, floating to one side like a pale inflatable doll.

King Ai of Zhou lay not far from the cave entrance; he could be reached out and touched from the outside.

The body of this emperor, who lived more than two thousand years ago, was wrapped tightly from head to toe in a jade burial suit, the gold threads between the jade pieces gleaming dimly in the darkness.

It lay there motionless, its shriveled body pressed tightly against the lining of the jade burial suit, looking like a dried corpse sealed in a jade cocoon.

Lin Yi looked down at it and could clearly sense its weakness—

More than two thousand years of slumber had depleted its life force to the bottom.

It remained completely still throughout, as if it were a real corpse.

Actually, it's not that it can't move, it's that it dares not move.

It sensed an extremely terrifying figure standing beside it, and its keen senses, typical of higher zombies, were frantically warning it.

Even in its heyday, it could only deliver vegetables, let alone now.

Lin Yi assumed it was too weak to move and didn't care.

He walked around the stone platform, then reached out and tapped the jade piece on King Ai's chest, the jade burial suit producing a clear, resonant sound.

"I'll take you somewhere." Lin Yi put away the White Bone Bodhisattva, picked up King Zhou Ai with one hand, and with a flash of green light in his eyes, he disappeared from the tomb.

The next second he appeared in the main hall of the famous haunted house in the center of Hanging Coffin Town.

The walls of the haunted house are mottled and uneven, the withered trees in the yard have their necks crooked and point to the sky, and the ground is covered with dust that has accumulated for who knows how many years.

But the interior of the hall was surprisingly clean—the square brick floor was so clean you could see your reflection, the eight-immortal table and the grand master's chair were spotless, and the long table was even filled with various porcelain pieces.

It was probably because that ghost general often had his ghost servants clean up for him; even in death, he couldn't let go of the pomp and circumstance of an official.

A black and white photograph hangs in the most prominent position in the main hall.

In the photo, a middle-aged man dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes sits upright with a dignified expression, while a sickly-looking boy stands beside him, as thin as a bamboo pole.

On the other side hung a painting, which didn't seem particularly special.

Lin Yi's gaze lingered on the painting for a moment, a slight smile curving her lips, before she looked away and placed King Ai of Zhou on the Eight Immortals table.

He took out a carving knife, cinnabar, saltpeter, talisman brush, and an enamel cup from his Qiankun Ring and lined them up on the Eight Immortals Table.

These materials were all prepared in advance by Qian Youyi.

The carving knife was made from the nails of a coffin belonging to someone who died a violent death; the cinnabar was top-quality Chenzhou sand; and the saltpeter was scraped from an ancient tomb by Qian Youcai.

Having such a professional mage as a subordinate certainly saved a lot of trouble.

True corpse refining requires five steps: selecting the corpse, gathering evil spirits, nurturing, inscribing restrictions, and raising the corpse.

However, King Ai of Zhou had already become a corpse, so the steps of selecting the corpse and gathering evil spirits were skipped, and the warming and nurturing process was unnecessary.

All he has to do now is inscribe the restriction.

The core of the Corpse Refining Technique is to turn zombies into controllable tools, and the Corpse Control Restriction is the reins of that control.

Different sects have different methods of corpse refining, but the steps are still the same.

He removed the jade burial suit worn by King Ai of Zhou.

The jade pieces and the outer shell woven with gold thread peeled off the withered corpse. They were warm and slightly cool to the touch, and the dark red cinnabar runes between the jade pieces had turned black.

Lin Yi took the jade burial suit to the window and looked at it in the light. Even after more than two thousand years, the runes on the jade pieces still exuded an indescribable gloomy aura.

This is no longer an ordinary burial item—

Under the dual erosion of corpse energy and the dense Yin energy of the hanging coffin cliff, the jade burial suit was naturally transformed into a magical artifact, and of a high quality.

Lin Yi tried to pinch a piece of jade, and squeezed it tightly with her five fingers.

His current grip strength exceeds twenty tons, enough to shatter ordinary diamonds into powder.

However, the jade piece between his fingers remained completely still, without even a crack on its surface. It only lit up with a very faint dark golden light the instant the force was applied.

"This thing can even gather moonlight." Lin Yi turned the jade burial suit over so that it faced the window, and through the gold mesh between the jade pieces, she could see the hazy light of day outside.

The jade pieces themselves are opaque, but the runes carved by the alchemists automatically absorb the energy of the moonlight when they come into contact with light.

From now on, when he wears this thing to sunbathe on full moon nights, his efficiency in absorbing moonlight will increase by at least several times.

He folded the jade burial suit neatly and put it into his Qiankun Ring, then patted the ring face with satisfaction.

Without the concealment of the jade burial suit, King Ai of Zhou's true face was fully revealed—

The withered skin clung tightly to the bones, its grayish-white color tinged with a very faint dark gold hue, like bronze polished by time.

Lin Yi reached out and pinched its arm; the touch from her fingertips was as hard as pinching an iron rod covered with cowhide.

"This guy is actually a golden corpse." Lin Yi raised an eyebrow.

Both the feng shui master and Michiko Nishikyo understood corpse refining, so Lin Yi could be considered a semi-expert in corpse refining. He saw through King Ai of Zhou at a glance.

The characteristic of a golden corpse is that its flesh is semi-golden, and its skin and flesh are as hard as gold and stone. Ordinary swords and knives cannot even leave a mark when they are cut.

Although King Ai of Zhou's skin was shriveled and contracted due to a long-term lack of energy, its dark golden color was undeniable.

This is not only a golden corpse, but a golden corpse that has already stepped into the threshold of becoming a flying corpse.

The biggest difference between flying corpses and golden corpses is that flying corpses can fly.

Even the strongest golden corpse can only hop around on the ground, while flying corpses can fly through the air and travel thousands of miles a day.

After King Ai of Zhou massacred the city, he had already reached the edge of the flying corpse, but before he could break through, he was buried by an earthquake.

Over two thousand years of shrouded darkness and stagnation dragged it back from the threshold of flying corpses to the level of black zombies—

Although the skin still retained the dark gold hue of the golden corpse, the body's strength had deteriorated to the point where even black dog blood could corrode it.

No wonder it moved slowly in the movie and was eventually blown to pieces by several bombs.

If a few decades pass, and the last trace of corpse energy dissipates, it will simply become an ordinary dried corpse for the world to admire.

But that's not important. What Lin Yi values ​​is its potential—

The fact that King Ai of Zhou became a golden corpse immediately after his transformation demonstrates that his foundation far surpassed that of ordinary zombies.

Given enough resources, restoring the Golden Corpse's strength and even breaking through the Undying Bone barrier would not be a problem.

Lin Yi scratched her left index finger hard with her fingernail.

A thin cut appeared in the skin, and a drop of crimson blood, gleaming with a silvery sheen, seeped from the wound and dripped into the enamel cup, mixing with the cinnabar and saltpeter at the bottom of the cup.

He stirred it a few times with the talisman brush, and the blackish-red color of the cinnabar mixed with the silver light in his blood to form a strange dark red ink, which shimmered with a faint silver glow at the bottom of the cup.

"I wonder if using zombie blood to create a zombie control spell is reliable."

Lin Yi picked up the enamel cup, shook it, and began grinding and stirring.

On the other hand, the space depicted in the painting hanging in the hall was far from peaceful.

The ghost father and son were arguing, which was caused by Lin Yi's sudden intrusion.

The Ghost General's name was Chen Gui. He was a captain in the Green Standard Army during the Jiaqing era and died at the age of thirty-five.

When he was alive, he was obsessed with officialdom. Once he obtained the seventh-rank official hat, he wanted to wear his official robes and stroll around the streets every day.

This obsession didn't dissipate after death; instead, it intensified.

He treated this house as his own government office, taking in the twenty-odd people who had mistakenly entered and been killed by him as his ghost servants, dressing them in military officer uniforms, and having them pay their respects to him on time every day.

When the twenty-odd ghost servants lined up in two rows and shouted in unison, "Greetings to the master," Chen Gui felt even more imposing than when he was alive.

His son was the only thing he couldn't let go of in his life. After his death, his lifespan in the underworld was not long enough for him to be reincarnated, and the father and son depended on each other for survival.

They lived a peaceful life in this house for decades.

Occasionally, some foolish living people would wander in, and they would be killed.

But Chen Gui dared not touch the living person who had broken in today.

Chen Gui sensed something was wrong as soon as Lin Yi appeared in the main hall.

He didn't come in through the door; he appeared out of thin air.

What terrified him even more was that the string of ornaments and the drum worn by the young man exuded such a strong evil aura that the temperature in the entire main hall dropped several degrees.

After being a ghost for so many years, this was the first time Chen Gui had felt real fear.

He didn't even dare to leave the painting; he only dared to hide in the deepest corner of the painting, hoping that this evil star would finish his business and leave quickly.

But his devilish son thought differently.

Chen Gui's son died at the age of sixteen. He had been spoiled rotten by Chen Gui during his lifetime, and his willfulness did not diminish at all after his death.

In his eyes, this house was their territory, and any living person who broke in would be killed by his father and turned into a ghost servant.

In the past, if some clueless living person occasionally came in, his father would easily deal with them. Why didn't he do anything this time?

This isn't like his father!

The more he looked at Lin Yi, the more he disliked her, and he started to cause trouble for Chen Gui in the space within the painting.

"Father, why don't you kill him?" The demon son pointed at Lin Yi outside the painting, his tone righteous and indignant. "He broke into our house. If you don't kill him, who will be afraid of us in the future? Don't you still have your official authority?"

Chen Gui suppressed his anger and explained that the people who came this time were different and they couldn't afford to offend them.

The ghost son was even more displeased upon hearing this.

In his limited worldview, his father was the most powerful person, and there could not be anyone more powerful than his father.

Since his father wouldn't intervene, he would do it himself.