Zombie World: Starting as an apprentice of the Thunder King

"Junior brother..." Shi Shaojian opened his divine eye and, after seeing the scene before him, was shocked. "This...this village..."

Lin Bei remained silent, and a chilling killing intent suddenly emanated from his body.

He strode forward and rushed toward the village.

"Junior brother, wait for me!" Shi Shaojian hurriedly followed.

The two rushed into the village entrance, and Lin Bei kicked open the door of the nearest house.

The courtyard was quiet and deathly still!

Lin Bei strode into the main room and, by the moonlight, saw the scene inside, which instantly ignited a murderous intent within him.

A family of four—a middle-aged couple and their two children—lay on the floor of the main room. Their bodies were stiff, their faces ashen, their eyes wide open, and their faces still held the terrified expression of their last moments before death.

Strangely, these corpses had no external injuries, and even their clothes were intact.

Lin Bei squatted down and reached out to touch the forehead of one of the corpses. The moment his fingertip touched it, his expression suddenly turned grim.

"Their souls were forcibly extracted!"

Shi Shaojian said coldly from the side, "This must have been done by the evil sect! Forcibly extracting a soul, only those beasts who cultivate evil techniques would be so ruthless."

Lin Bei didn't say anything, stood up, turned around and walked out of that house, then quickly rushed into the house next door.

In a similar situation, all five members of a family collapsed inside the house, their souls forcibly taken away.

The third household, the fourth household, the fifth household...

The entire village, dozens of households, hundreds of people, were wiped out; all their souls had been extracted, leaving only empty shells of corpses.

Lin Bei stood on the dirt road in the center of the village, his fists clenched, his killing intent so strong it was almost tangible.

"Beast!" he muttered under his breath.

"To slaughter civilians so wantonly, they have absolutely no humanity!"

Shi Shaojian stood beside him, his face ashen, unable to utter a single word, the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand trembling slightly.

Just as the two were about to head to the next house, a series of unhurried footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the end of the village.

Lin Bei suddenly turned his head, his gaze turning icy as he looked towards the end of the village.

A figure dressed in a black robe walked slowly into the village. The person was tall and thin, and the hood covered most of his face, revealing only a pale chin.

The man in black robes walked to the middle of the dirt road in the village and saw Lin Bei and Shi Shaojian standing in the moonlight. He paused slightly.

His gaze swept over the two of them, and after noticing their Taoist robes and the magical energy emanating from them, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, which then turned into a sinister smile.

"Hehehe!!! In this desolate wilderness, we actually managed to run into two Taoist priests."

The black-robed man's voice was sinister, "And their cultivation levels are not weak either, one is a mid-stage mage, and the other is a mid-stage Taoist priest... Tsk tsk, the souls of two cultivators are much more valuable than the souls of those hundred-odd commoners."

"It's all your bad luck that you ran into me!"

Shi Shaojian flew into a rage and demanded sharply, "Did you kill the people in this village?"

"So what if it is?" The man in black robes slowly raised his hand, his wide sleeves slipping down to reveal a pale, withered hand. "I extracted their souls to forge the Myriad Soul Banner; that is their good fortune."

"You bastard, you've killed so many innocent people, aren't you afraid of being burdened by karma and punished by heaven?"

The man in black robes burst into laughter. "Hahaha, kid, are you trying to make me laugh to death? I'm a heretical person; extracting souls to refine treasures is perfectly normal for me!"

"You're asking for it!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Bei roared angrily, his figure leaping up, and lightning suddenly condensed in his palm.

"Those who follow heretical and evil ways deserve to die!"

"First move, Thunderclap!"

With a punch, a bolt of lightning as thick as a wrist shot out from his palm, carrying violent lightning straight towards the black-robed man's face.

"Lightning magic? You, a mere mid-stage mage, actually know lightning magic?"

The man in black robes' expression shifted slightly. His reaction was extremely fast. He flipped his left hand, and a dense mass of yin energy condensed in his palm, transforming into a huge black ghost claw that reached out towards the lightning bolt.

boom!

The lightning and the ghostly claw collided, exploding into a blinding burst of light!

The lightning was crushed by the ghost claw, but the ghost claw was also blasted apart by the lightning, with the remaining yin energy drifting in the air.

"Huh?" A hint of surprise flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. "I didn't expect you, young lad, to be so strong. You actually managed to withstand one of my attacks!"

"Hmph, let's see how many punches you can take?" Lin Bei moved and swung his palms repeatedly.

"Second move, lightning strikes in all directions!"

Lightning exploded in front of him, transforming into more than a dozen tiny bolts of lightning that simultaneously shot towards the man in black robes, blocking his escape route from all angles.

At the same time, Shi Shaojian also made his move from the side, forming hand seals and chanting incantations.

"The true Qi of Yi Wood gathers in my palm. The pillar, like a dragon and elephant, pierces the earth and penetrates the sky!"

The ground shook, and three wooden stakes, each as thick as a bowl, burst from the ground beneath the black-robed man's feet, one on the left, one on the right, and one in front, sandwiching him in the middle.

The man in black robes snorted coldly, his figure blurred, and he vanished into thin air. The three wooden stakes collided with each other, but missed their target.

The black smoke reformed into a human shape several feet away, and the black-robed man's laughter came from under his hood: "Interesting, wood magic and lightning magic working together... Which sect are you disciples from?"

"Hmph, we are disciples of Maoshan!" Lin Bei said coldly. "And what kind of heretical sect are you?"

"Maoshan?" A hint of mockery flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. "When did Maoshan disciples become so spineless? A mid-stage mage dares to roam the martial world?"

"But it's all good, the souls of Maoshan disciples are of much higher quality than those of lowly commoners."

Lin Bei said coldly, "A cowardly person like you dares to spout nonsense here!"

"You want our souls? I'm afraid you don't have the power to do that!"

"Heh heh heh, you quick-witted brat, you've got a sharp tongue, but I wonder how strong you really are!"

The black-robed man's laughter ceased, and his entire body surged with yin energy, unleashing a terrifying pressure that pressed down on Lin Bei and Shi Shaojian like a mountain.

"You so-called righteous sects, you've done just as many dirty tricks behind the scenes as we have!" the man in black sneered. "As far as I know, none of you Maoshan disciples are good people!"

Lin Bei's pupils contracted. This person's cultivation level was much higher than he had expected. Only a cultivator at the mid-stage of the True Person realm could exude such pressure.

Shi Shaojian was also forced to take two steps back by this oppressive force, his expression solemn.

"Mid-stage True Immortal..." Lin Bei's expression hardened. "Senior Brother, be careful."

"Understood!" Shi Shaojian gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword tightly, his gaze fixed on the man in black robes.

The man in black robes walked towards the two of them unhurriedly, and with each step he took, dust spread out in all directions.

"You two ignorant little brats, since you've delivered yourselves to my doorstep, then leave your souls behind."