I manage female characters in all the heavens.

A huge hole was torn open in the chest and abdomen, and it was empty, with no internal organs inside, only a charred mark.

The most serious damage was to its lower body—the entire area below the waist had completely disappeared, the cut surface was charred black, and even the bones had been burned to ashes.

It lay in the lava, its body covered with burn marks and destruction, large patches of its bluish-gray flesh charred and cracked.

however--

Even so, the zombie has not been eliminated yet!

After a brief respite, its body jolted violently, and a ghostly light rekindled in its dark green eyes!

Its remaining upper body suddenly jerked, and it sprang up from the lava before plunging headfirst into the mud at the bottom of the pit!

Burrow underground!

It unleashed its flying instincts, disappearing into the soil in an instant, like a fish entering water, leaving no trace on the ground.

Upon seeing this scene, "Nie Xiaoqian" frowned slightly.

"Tsk, this shell is really hard."

She was somewhat surprised.

Although she didn't use her full strength in that sword strike, she still infused it with a considerable amount of Six Absolute True Qi, which means she put in about 80% of her power.

Combined with the sheer weight of the white iron sword, its power was enough to level a small hill.

Combined with the immense power to ward off evil unleashed by true qi, even a monster of the Tree Demon Granny's caliber would be annihilated if struck head-on by this sword.

But this zombie, whose cultivation level is even lower than that of the Tree Demon Granny, actually survived a sword strike and was able to escape underground.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a high-level zombie. Putting aside its other abilities, its defensive capabilities are indeed outstanding.

It's unclear whether this is a common characteristic of zombies or a special case of an ancestral zombie raised by the Xiahou family.

"The Xiahou family is quite capable."

She exclaimed in admiration, but then her expression turned troubled.

She could sense that thing was moving rapidly deep underground, fleeing into the distance at an astonishing speed.

However, despite her unparalleled martial arts skills, she didn't have a very good way to deal with targets that had infiltrated deep underground.

She certainly has the ability to burrow underground using her powerful martial arts skills or sword control techniques, easily burrowing hundreds of meters, but that speed is obviously far slower than a zombie's burrowing technique.

The art of earth-遁 (earth-遁术) involves merging oneself into the earth and rocks, not only avoiding material obstacles but also using the power of the earth to further accelerate movement.

The speed at which a zombie moves underground is not much slower than its speed in the sky. She couldn't imagine how strong a person would have to be to catch up with an underground zombie by forcibly burrowing into the ground; she was far from that level.

But attacking directly through the earth's layers...

No matter how strong her Six Absolute True Qi is, it still needs to be weakened by layers of earth before it can be transmitted deep underground. After being blocked by soil and rocks, the remaining power probably won't even be able to hurt the zombie's skin.

"It's a bit troublesome..."

As she was pondering a solution, a red figure suddenly darted out from beside her.

Red Princess!

She reappeared from the golden hairpin, bowed to "Nie Xiaoqian," and said urgently but firmly, "Your Majesty! I'll go after her!"

"You?" Nie Xiaoqian raised an eyebrow. "Can you beat it?"

Hong Ji shrank her neck, but still said with a forced smile, "I can't beat it in a fight... but I am a ghost, I have no physical body, I can sink into the ground, ignore most of the obstacles of soil and rocks, and can track its whereabouts."

"I can try to harass it with ghostly energy and force it out!"

Nie Xiaoqian paused for a moment, looked at Hong Ji who was clearly terrified but was forcing herself to show loyalty, and sighed softly.

"Forget it, you can rest now. Your loyalty is commendable, but you don't know your own limitations."

Zombies don't just eat people; they eat ghosts too.

With Hong Ji's limited abilities, if she were to actually chase after this flying zombie, she would be nothing more than a delivery girl, her bag instantly being bitten and refined.

Although her martial arts skills were strong, her methods were still too limited. She lacked tracking spells, sealing spells, and magical artifacts to counter her ability to burrow underground.

We deeply abhor this kind of enemy who runs away when they can't win and even burrows underground.

If there were a way to counter the earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape from the earth), she would have made the tree demon grandmother cook for her on the spot back at Lanruo Temple.

"Why is it that all the powerful demons I've encountered lately seem to be able to burrow underground? Do all the demons and monsters in this world yearn for the underworld?"

"I really need to find a proper sect as soon as possible and learn all the spells I need to learn..." she muttered.

Just then—

A loud shout suddenly came from the horizon!

"You audacious zombie, how dare you cause trouble here!"

Chapter 178 What a profound senior in magic!

The voice was loud and full of energy, carrying an awe-inspiring and righteous power, and it exploded in the night sky like thunder!

Nie Xiaoqian suddenly looked up in the direction from which the sound came.

In the distance, a dim streak of light was flying toward them at an extremely fast speed!

The light was bluish-white, leaving a long trail in the night sky like a shooting star chasing the moon. However, the light was not bright, and if she did not have amazing eyesight, she would not have been able to tell that it was glowing.

As the streak of light drew closer, it became clear that it was a person—a middle-aged man dressed in a gray-blue Taoist robe and standing on a flying sword!

He was tall and straight, with a square face, three long wisps of beard under his chin, a lotus crown on his head, and a sword sheath on his back. His clothes fluttered in the wind as he flew at high speed, and he exuded an aura of otherworldly elegance.

He flew over the military camp, his gaze quickly sweeping over the scene of devastation below—the huge crater, the corpses scattered on the ground, the tattered tents—and his face immediately darkened.

"Such a heavy, eerie aura of death... It's a zombie, hiding underground?"

His gaze sharpened, as if he had instantly grasped the situation. Without any hesitation, he quickly formed several hand seals in mid-air while chanting incantations.

Then, the flying sword beneath his feet flew back into its sheath, and he crashed headfirst to the ground!

With a soft "poof," a ripple of dust rose from the ground, and the blue figure vanished into the soil as if it had never existed.

Nie Xiaoqian's eyes lit up.

Good heavens! This is a true cultivator! Flying on a sword, casting spells with hand seals, earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that can be used to escape into the ground)... every single one of these is something she wants to learn!

She immediately became interested, staring intently at the ground, sensing the slight movements coming from underground.

Less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, the ground suddenly shook!

"Boom!"

A beam of green light and a black shadow simultaneously burst forth from the ground dozens of feet away from the giant crater and shot into the sky!

It was that middle-aged man in the Taoist robe, and that zombie with only its upper body remaining!

After the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe burst out of the ground, his body flipped in the air, and the flying sword was unsheathed again, coming to his feet and carrying him to float in mid-air.

His Taoist robe was covered in mud, but his breathing was steady, indicating that he had not suffered any losses in the underground chase with the zombies.

The zombie, on the other hand, was in a much worse state than him.

Its remaining upper body tumbled several times in mid-air, letting out an angry and hoarse roar. Its dark green eyes revealed a fierce glint. Although it only had half a body left, it was still extremely ferocious!

"You beast! You think you can run away!"

The middle-aged man in the Taoist robe shouted, and with a flick of his right hand, a vermilion talisman appeared in his palm!

With a flick of his wrist, the talisman transformed into a crimson streak of light, shooting towards the zombie like an arrow. In mid-air, it turned into a blazing flame, engulfing the zombie entirely!

boom!

The flames exploded, but the zombies were completely unharmed, tearing the flames apart with incredible ferocity.

The flying zombie's invulnerability to blades and spears, and its resistance to water and fire, is not just an adjective; it has extremely strong resistance to the power of water and fire.

Although unharmed, the attack made the zombie even more ferocious. It opened its mouth and spewed out a thick, dark green corpse gas, which shot towards the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe like a poisoned arrow!

"Good timing!"

The middle-aged man in the Taoist robe remained calm and composed, forming a hand seal, and a pale golden shield of light appeared in front of him.

The corpse energy crashed against the light shield, producing a hissing, corrosive sound, but it was unable to break through the defense.

Immediately afterwards, he raised his right hand, and the sword under his feet rang out, transforming into another sword, which turned into a streak of azure sword light, carrying a fierce power to ward off evil, and slashed down at the zombie!

"clang!"

The zombie raised its remaining left arm and managed to catch the sword!

The cyan sword light struck the zombie's arm, producing a crisp, metallic clang and sparks, but leaving only a faint white mark on its arm!

"So tough!" The middle-aged man in the Taoist robe frowned, but did not panic. With a flick of his sword finger, the flying sword spun in the air and transformed into dozens of sword shadows, attacking the zombie from all directions at the same time!

Although the zombie only had half a body left, its speed was still astonishing. Its body rapidly tumbled, dodged, and blocked in the air, managing to dodge or block all of the dozens of sword shadows!

The middle-aged man in the Taoist robe grew increasingly alarmed as the fight progressed. The zombie before him was clearly severely injured, yet its fighting power remained formidable and terrifying, its ferocity undiminished. He had already exerted all his strength, but he still could not quickly subdue it.

He couldn't even imagine how powerful these zombies must have been at their peak!

Thinking of this, he admired the senior who had seriously injured the zombie with a single sword strike even more. That senior was truly a master with astonishing cultivation and a powerful and masculine presence. It was no wonder that he had rushed over in a hurry after seeing the commotion from afar.

Once the zombie monkey is captured, he must get to know the senior. If he can get even a little bit of guidance from him, it will be of immense benefit to his future cultivation!

He immediately fought even harder, seemingly hoping to impress his senior and get some guidance in return.

Seeing that someone had taken over the zombie and was working hard, unleashing a continuous stream of magical artifacts and spells, Nie Xiaoqian was overjoyed.

She had been in this world for almost ten days, and this was the first time she had encountered a real cultivator. The various spells she saw made her itchy and eager to grab the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe, interrogate him about his inheritance, and quickly learn them to embark on the path of cultivation!

However, she forcibly restrained herself. The background of the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe was still unclear, and it was unknown whether he had an extremely powerful cultivator behind him. She also had no idea what kind of trump card he might have. It would be too risky to take action at this time.

Her eyes lit up, and she immediately decided to do as she had planned: to pretend to be a novice female cultivator and befriend the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe, hoping to infiltrate his sect and become his disciple.

However, in order to prevent Xiahou Tan and the others from saying anything that would ruin her plans, she took advantage of the fact that the middle-aged man was busy dealing with the zombies and had no time to spare, and quietly used the Soul Transfer Technique to erase some of everyone's memories.

Using the Soul Transfer Technique on thousands of people simultaneously was a huge challenge, even for her, but her desire to cultivate immortality allowed her to break through her limitations and successfully complete the process.

Everyone was momentarily dazed and estimated they wouldn't regain their senses until tomorrow.

The middle-aged man in the Taoist robe was quite strong, much stronger than the Yin Wind Ghost Mother. He was not as strong as the Flying Zombie at its peak, but not by much.

The zombie is now severely injured, and the middle-aged man in the Taoist robe has completely gained the upper hand.