Chapter 267: Joining Forces Against the Zombies
The curtain fell on Xiaoli and the Dragon-blood Kelp's dragon transformation, but the impact of this tribulation was far from small. For instance, in a certain unknown ruin—
"Stop!"
Yao Shifeng, who had been steadily working at breaking the seal, halted at once and asked, "What is it?"
"There was the gaze of a true dragon just now. For such a small world to actually give birth to a true dragon… truly strange," came the doubtful voice of the remnant soul.
"What's so strange about that? Didn't a small world like this also produce someone as strong as you?" Yao Shifeng showed no surprise at all.
Though he still didn't know what exactly was sealed deep within the ruin, as the seal was gradually being undone, he could already sense a terrifying aura from within.
This aura was the same as the remnant soul's. Yao Shifeng was nearly certain that whatever was sealed inside was something closely related to the remnant soul's body.
"Heh, I'm not a native of this place," the remnant soul sneered, then said nothing more.
But from that, Yao Shifeng extracted plenty of information. Not of this world—then he was an outsider. And an outsider suppressed by a seal was obviously not someone benevolent.
"Continue."
Moments later, the remnant soul spoke again.
The dragon's gaze just now had left him uneasy. He knew it had only fallen upon the one undergoing transformation and would not pay attention to others, but accidents were always possible.
He had finally waited until now for this chance, and he had no wish for an accident to ruin everything.
"Alright! But my spiritual energy is almost drained. I need to recover a bit first."
Yao Shifeng didn't act immediately. He hadn't volunteered to help the remnant soul break the seal, so of course he'd drag things out as much as possible. He was still hoping to wring more powerful techniques and secret arts from the remnant soul.
"Fine."
The remnant soul saw through Yao Shifeng's little schemes perfectly well, but didn't care. He had already summoned reinforcements. Once they arrived, this little brat would be of no further use.
How could an existence like him possibly tolerate being blackmailed by a minor cultivator? If not for the fact that this wisp of remnant soul was too weak to seize a body, things would never have gotten so complicated.
Qinglu Sect.
After Xiaoli's tribulation, Gu Mo had resumed his research into crafting a new avatar. At this moment, he had finalized his plan and was preparing to begin refining soon.
This avatar, made with the mysterious blood, was something Gu Mo held the highest expectations for.
But just then, news arrived that interrupted his plans.
"Zombies are heading toward the Qinghe cultivation world!" Gu Mo looked at the report in his hand, his expression grave. That the zombie tide from the Tianyuan cultivation world had set its sights on Qinghe left him puzzled.
The situation in Tianyuan was still under control. The zombies hadn't taken a single stronghold, and yet they were already trying to split their forces?
"Senior Gu, what should we do now?" Yun Chen asked.
The report had come from him. Yuntian Immortal City was deeply engaged in trade with Tianyuan, and on the return trip one of their merchant vessels had discovered a dense aura of death qi pushing straight toward Qinghe.
Yun Chen had even gone to investigate personally. After sensing that several Nascent Soul-level powers were hidden within that death qi, he had immediately retreated.
It was clear that this small zombie tide was not something he could handle. In fact, even the Qinghe cultivation world as a whole would struggle to fend it off.
Qinghe's foundation was far weaker than Tianyuan's, and Tianyuan itself had no spare strength to send help.
Right now, the only one capable of stopping this zombie tide was Gu Mo.
"Gather the strength of the entire Qinghe cultivation world to face this together."
Naturally, Gu Mo could wipe out the horde single-handedly. With his current strength, unless a Soul Transformation level enemy appeared, he feared nothing.
But Qinghe was not his alone. If danger came, everyone needed to contribute.
"Indeed!"
Yun Chen nodded. Qinghe was their home; if it was endangered, they must stand together. Still, without a powerhouse like Gu Mo to anchor them, no one would dare act boldly.
Before long, the Nascent Soul cultivators of Qinghe assembled at Qinglu Sect.
Gu Mo swept his gaze over them—five in total. Yuntian Immortal City had two, while the other three came from Qinghe's three major Nascent Soul sects.
Yet every one of them was only at early Nascent Soul stage. Facing a tide led by several Nascent Soul-class zombies, their odds were poor.
But this couldn't possibly be Qinghe's full strength. Though its spiritual density and resources were far inferior to Tianyuan's, its territory was just as vast. Could it really be home to only five Nascent Soul cultivators?
Perhaps so for humans, but there had to be many tier-4 monster kings. This was their home as well. With danger looming, shouldn't they also contribute?
In Tianyuan, numerous monster kings had already joined the fight. After all, zombies were the enemy of all life, attacking whether human or beast. And among them were zombie beasts—creatures corrupted by death qi, often more troublesome than human zombies.
Unfortunately, Tianyuan had no tier-5 monster emperor. Long ago, the righteous and demonic factions had jointly expelled them, fearing a third power might rise while they fought each other.
But Qinghe was different. Though there were demonic cultivators, they were too weak to matter. Its true conflict was between humans and monsters. In fact, most of Qinghe's land was ruled by beasts, with humans holding only a small portion.
Now, facing a zombie tide, humans had no choice but to ally with the monsters.
Of course, such an alliance wouldn't come easily. But in this moment, there was no other option.
Gu Mo immediately sent word to the famous monster kings of Qinghe, summoning them to Qinglu Sect for council. He was even prepared to kill a few uncooperative ones as an example.
Yet to his surprise, every summoned monster king came—and quickly at that. After asking, he learned the reason: Xiaoli's dragon tribulation.
A true dragon had appeared in Qinghe. To the beasts, this meant the birth of a natural sovereign. They had long wanted to come pay respects and attach themselves to this new ruler.
But they had lacked the chance. To intrude rashly might cause misunderstandings—perhaps that they didn't care, or worse, draw Gu Mo's suspicion. And this was someone who truly could kill them all if he wished.
"We greet Lord Gu Mo!"
Each of them, their bodies carrying bestial traits, greeted Gu Mo somewhat awkwardly. Clearly, they were unaccustomed to the etiquette of human cultivators.
"There's no need for formalities!"
Gu Mo's gaze swept over the six figures before him. All of them were fourth-rank Demon Kings. With their abilities, they could fully assume human form, but most Demon Kings chose to retain certain traits of their original race. It was a matter of pride—they were unwilling to become entirely human.
These six Demon Kings were all at the early fourth rank. In the barren land of the Qinghe Immortal Realm, producing a Nascent Soul mid-stage or fourth-rank mid-stage existence was indeed difficult.
Still, many Demon Kings carried special bloodlines, making their combat power stronger than that of human cultivators. But humans had overwhelming superiority in formations, pills, and artifact refining. Because of this, the two sides had always maintained a relative balance of power.
"Since everyone is here, let's discuss how to deal with the zombie tide." Gu Mo's eyes swept across the great hall. At this moment, the highest combat power of the entire Qinghe Immortal Realm had assembled here.
On the left sat six human Nascent Soul True Lords—five from Cloudsky Immortal City and three other Nascent Soul sects, plus Zhuo Suzhu of Qinglu Sect.
On the right were six Demon Kings. Together they numbered twelve Nascent Soul-level combatants. With such strength, handling this zombie tide should not be a problem.
The only fear was that this zombie tide was not the only wave. Everyone here had already heard through various channels about the zombie tides in the Tianyuan Immortal Realm. If even a tenth of that scale entered Qinghe Immortal Realm, the realm would be doomed.
Gu Mo did not need to take part in drafting the specific strategies. The Nascent Soul True Lords and fourth-rank Demon Kings present had lived for hundreds or even thousands of years. With such experience, they could naturally come up with methods of response.
His role was simply to step in and stabilize the situation should anything unexpected occur.
The conclusion of the discussion was to attack with full force. This was Qinghe Immortal Realm's first encounter with a zombie tide; no one dared to be careless, much less fight in piecemeal fashion. They would unleash their full strength from the start.
Since everyone was striking together, no one needed to worry about their homes being attacked in their absence. After all, every major Nascent Soul-level fighter in Qinghe Immortal Realm was gathered here.
As for those hidden Nascent Soul True Lords who could not be found—if they hadn't come forth by now, they likely never would, unless the zombies broke into their secluded caves.
Thus, twelve Nascent Soul-level powers, plus Gu Mo at the great circle of Nascent Soul, formed the lineup to face the zombie tide.
With Yun Chen's intelligence, they quickly pinpointed the zombies' landing site. The group immediately began arranging formations to await their arrival. As for schemes and stratagems—they were useless against zombies.
Zombies were extremely sensitive to the breath of living beings. They possessed no wisdom, only instincts—the instinct to fight, and the instinct to devour the living.
Thus, to use strategy against zombies was like winking at a blind man: completely meaningless. Absolute strength was the only solution.
"They're coming!"
They did not have to wait long. A wave of deathly aura surged rapidly closer, the seawater ahead turning pitch black. Fish in the water, tainted by the blackness, transformed into zombie fish in the blink of an eye.
"Splash!"
The zombie fish then rushed ashore, charging toward Gu Mo and the others without the slightest fear of the Nascent Soul aura radiating from their bodies.
Naturally, such ordinary zombie fish could not get close. Even the faint leakage of pressure from a Nascent Soul True Lord or Demon King was enough to crush them.
The true target was the source of the deathly aura—the zombies that had crossed the seas from Tianyuan Immortal Realm.
"Attack!"
As the first zombie broke the surface of the sea, a sharp strike instantly blasted it apart. But it was only a Golden Core-level zombie.
Still, culling the zombies' numbers was part of the plan. If they slipped into Qinghe Immortal Realm unchecked, they would become a great problem.
To guard against such escapees, farther afield were defensive lines of Golden Core cultivators and third-rank beasts.
"Boom!"
As the group launched their attacks, the Nascent Soul-level zombies surged forth, charging directly at them.
At last, the number of such zombies became clear. Previously, their mingled auras had made only rough estimates possible. Now they could be counted precisely.
Eight Nascent Soul-level zombies—all early-stage. There were none mid-stage or above. Likely, the Tianyuan Immortal Realm itself was under great pressure and could not afford to dispatch more powerful ones.
"One for each person. The rest clean up the stragglers." The battle plans had long been prepared, with multiple contingencies in place.
Thus, even though this was the first joint operation, the human Nascent Souls and Demon Kings coordinated smoothly.
"Damn, tough!"
Upon first contact, both Nascent Soul True Lords and Demon Kings felt the same thing: these zombies' bodies were harder than expected. However, their speed was not fast.
With superior numbers and a steady approach, they could still annihilate this wave of the zombie tide.
Inside the ruins.
"Hm?"
The remnant soul directing Yao Shifeng in breaking the seal suddenly frowned. The helpers he had summoned to break the seal had been intercepted.
According to his plan, this should not have happened. At most, the obstruction might have come from the cultivator side—but cultivators alone should not have been able to stop them. Yet this time, the Demon Beasts had joined in as well.
"That glance from the True Dragon really did have its effect," the remnant soul sighed. The appearance of a True Dragon was too great an influence on Demon Beasts. Which of them would not long to cling to such a being? For such a small world to give birth to a True Dragon was already a miracle.
And if they seized such a miracle, they could surely rise with it.
Now that humans and Demon Beasts had joined forces to block the helpers he summoned, it was certainly bad news for the remnant soul.
"Rest for a while."
The remnant soul stopped Yao Shifeng.
Yao Shifeng froze. This was the first time the other had told him to rest. Normally, he had to ask for it himself. But he did not question it.
"They've left!"
Moments later, Yao Shifeng sensed that the remnant soul had departed. He had no idea where it had gone.
Meanwhile, on the coast of the Qinghe Immortal Realm—the Nascent Soul-level zombie battling Zhuo Suzhu suddenly had its deathly eyes flicker with the light of intelligence.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)