The Death of the Zombie Daoist
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The mighty sixth layer Qi Practitioner, the Zombie Daoist, was tossed around by the Iron Plate corpse like a broken sack. He was thrown around until he became disoriented. He only did not die immediately due to the protection of his true qi. However, he was unable to break free from the Iron Plate corpse's grip at all. Even if he lived, he would only allow Little Ann to play with him a little longer.
Hao Pingyang and the other two cheered him on in the beginning, but they were all stunned now. Their backs became covered in a layer of cold sweat. As it turned out, the Zombie Daoist had not unleashed the power of the Iron Plate corpse at all. If the Iron Plate corpse had been so fierce right from the beginning, the five of them would not have been its opponent even if they worked together.
Li Qingshan went up and helped Hao Pingyang up. He took out a healing pill and a Qi Gathering pill and placed them in his mouth. "Brother Hao, are you alright?" He glanced at Jin Yuan and Jin Bao's corpses. "I've come too late!"
Hao Pingyang thanked him with difficulty. Afterwards, his lips seemed to stick together, unable to say anything else. The threat of death receded, but pain and exhaustion immediately engulfed him. He was not without fear.
"Rest up!" Li Qingshan patted his shoulder, and he settled down. He leaned against the stone wall and meditated.
Li Qingshan then went to untie He Yishi and Zhang Lanqing. Their situations were similar to Hao Pingyang's. Zhang Lanqing still managed to thank him reluctantly, but He Yishi was directly stunned. His eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly agape. Escaping from death should have been something worth celebrating, but he was unable to do so. He was tempted to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it.
Li Qingshan said to Little Ann, "That's enough!"
The Iron Plate corpse grabbed the Zombie Daoist's head and smashed it against the ground.
In the beginning, the Zombie Daoist struggled desperately, letting out a few roars and roars, but now, he did not even have the strength to struggle anymore. Blood spurted from his head. This no longer seemed like a battle. It seemed more like a nasty game played by children.
For Little Ann, she did not have Li Qingshan's abhorrence of evil. She could not differentiate the value of the Zombie Daoist's life from the red and black ants. Of course, the Zombie Daoist was better. It was delicious and fun.
The bell rang, and the Iron Plate corpse stopped. Little Ann blinked at Li Qingshan, asking him if he had any other questions.
Li Qingshan slid his hand across his neck, but the Zombie Daoist was actually still conscious. He raised his bloodied head and looked at Little Ann. "It's you, it's you …" Perhaps it was a flash of inspiration right before his death, but he was absolutely certain that the person who had taken away all the corpses in the pit was her. She definitely was not an ordinary child. She was a monster even more terrifying than the Iron Plate corpse.
The voice came to a halt. The Iron Plate corpse extended his right index finger, and his long, metal claw slid across the Zombie Daoist's neck. Blood gushed out, but the Zombie Daoist was still alive. He stared straight at Little Ann. His many years as a Qi Practitioner had bestowed him with an extremely powerful life force.
The Iron Plate corpse bit down on his neck and drank to its heart's content, draining him dry. The Zombie Daoist's blood surged through his body, transforming into new power. The Zombie Daoist shriveled up completely, like a box of drinks that had been sucked dry.
Hao Pingyang's eyes widened. He basically struggled to believe that the cunning and powerful Zombie Daoist who had almost killed them would actually end his life like this. Although they were sworn enemies, he just felt like killing him would be a little more difficult. He would not do it in such a rather comical way.
But in reality, when the weak faced the strong, they were like toys. In the face of absolute power, there was not even time for their blood to boil. There was only endless despair. Even death was so easy that it was almost laughable.
Li Qingshan had experienced this once before, and he swore he would never experience it a second time. This willpower drove him to constantly grow stronger.
As the three of them meditated, Li Qingshan patrolled around the Zombie Daoist's dwelling. The dwelling had been carved out of the natural cavern, separated into many rooms.
The stone room with the sarcophagus was only one of them. There was a bedroom, complete with all the necessary decorations. It was not just a simple stone table or stool. There was also a kitchen, complete with a stove and kitchenware. As it seemed, even the Zombie Daoist liked to eat cooked food. In the darkness underground, he lived quite comfortably.
The remaining rooms were all rooms for refining corpses. They were filled with corpses that were either waiting to be refined or half-refined. There were over a hundred of them, all of which were turned into flames by Little Ann. The Pale Flames of Bone Smelting returned the white bone fluid to her hand, merging it with the other bone fluid before being constantly refined by the pale flames.
Li Qingshan knew that she was refining a second Skull Prayer Bead. She had benefited quite a lot from the mission this time as well. She had devoured several hundred zombies. Zhuo Zhibo and the Black Wolf guards were equivalent to several hundred ordinary people. She had refined them all, which greatly benefited her cultivation of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.
With the experience from the first time, in addition to the great increase in her own strength, the refinement this time was extremely fast. In an instant, the bone liquid solidified and turned into a perfectly round prayer bead. Together with the other Skull Prayer Bead, they hovered and danced in the palm of her hand. She now had another spirit artifact that she could control.
The Skull Prayer Beads were far more agile and powerful than regular mid grade spiritual artifacts. Regular Qi Practitioners would only use a single flying sword or blade. If they split their attention, their strength would plummet, so they would be better off focusing on a single weapon instead. Unless it was a set of spiritual artifacts, but sets of spiritual artifacts were extremely rare, and they were not necessarily easy to control.
Every single prayer bead was connected to Little Ann's heart. They were basically clones of her, making them extremely nimble. Only when she gathered the minimum of fourteen prayer beads would she be able to refine the Skull Prayer Beads of the lowest grade. They were powerful enough to overwhelm Qi Practitioners.
With the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, a high level ability beyond the Nine Heavens, the greater Little Ann's cultivation grew, the greater her strength would grow. Right now, she could easily crush cultivators of the same level. Once she reached a higher realm of cultivation, she might even be able to surpass the limits of cultivation and kill powerful enemies.
Li Qingshan rubbed Little Ann's hair. "I really can't feel proud when I see you."
The Ox Demon's Fist of Great Strength, the Tiger Demon's Fist of Bone Forging, and the Spirit Turtle's Method of Sea Suppression were all extremely powerful abilities. Li Qingshan's strength grew very rapidly when he practised the three cultivation methods at the same time, but he just felt like they were slightly inferior to the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.
Little Ann pressed her cheek against the back of his hand, trying to comfort him.
Li Qingshan pinched her smooth, young cheek and smiled. "I have to continue working hard too. I can't let you surpass me. Let's go!"
With the abundant rewards this time, his strength would definitely grow by leaps and bounds. He wanted to open the sumeru ring a little sooner and see just what Oxen had left for him, even though he had already vaguely anticipated this.
The two of them returned the way they came. Hao Pingyang and the others had already retrieved their hundred treasures pouches. They had finished resting with the spiritual stones and pills inside.
Hao Pingyang said, "I can't thank you with mere words. If you ever need my help in the future, you only need to let me know. I won't hesitate even if I have to climb mountains of blades or swim through seas of fire."
Li Qingshan said, "You're too polite, brother Hao. We agreed on this in the first place. It's just a pity that I couldn't get there sooner, or …"
Hao Pingyang's face darkened, and he sighed heavily. As the leader of the mission this time, he felt very guilty over the deaths of Jin Yuan and Jin Bao. However, if Jin Yuan and Jin Bao had not fled in the face of danger, they would have been able to wait for Li Qingshan to save them even if the Zombie Daoist had captured them.
Li Qingshan said, "My condolences, senior brother Hao. After all, there's no such thing as absolute safety when carrying out a mission. You've already done your best."
Hao Pingyang passed a hundred treasures pouch to Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan said, "That's the Zombie Daoist's hundred treasures pouch!" Ever since he saw what was in Zhuo Zhibo's hundred treasures pouch, he became extremely eager for the Zombie Daoist's hundred treasures pouch. He was also a sixth layer Qi Practitioner, so he should not be too shabby, right?
"Please distribute it, brother Hao!"
Hao Pingyang took out a few books from his hundred treasures pouch before passing the hundred treasures pouch to Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan said in surprise, "What's this?" Surely the Zombie Daoist could not be so poor!
Hao Pingyang explained, "Originally, everything in the hundred treasures pouch should belong to you, but our mission is to obtain a cultivation method for refining and nurturing corpses so that our masters and seniors can use it as reference. As a result, I'll be taking these books. If you need them, Qingshan, I can make a copy for you when we get out. There are still quite a lot of things in there, but I haven't looked through them in detail. "As he said that, he passed the hundred treasures pouch back to Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan turned him down. "I don't need this corpse refining technique. As for the other items, just thirty percent will do."
Hao Pingyang said, "There's no need for that. If you don't want it, then you're looking down on me." Defeating the Zombie Daoist this time was basically all thanks to Li Qingshan. Fortunately, he managed to stay alive, so how was he supposed to split it with Li Qingshan now?
Zhang Lanqing also said, "Qingshan, just accept it. This is what you deserve."
He Yishi wanted to say something, but he lowered his head again. He was afraid to say anything. He had been utterly humiliated. He had lost all his dignity. Now, Hao Pingyang and Zhang Lanqing basically treated him like he was invisible. They did not ask for his opinion at all. He felt both wronged and resentful.
Li Qingshan said, "Alright. If that's the case, then I won't hold back."
Hao Pingyang eased up slightly. "Let's go!" He stowed the corpses of the Jin brothers into his hundred treasures pouch so that he could take them back to his hometown for burial.
Li Qingshan stowed the Zombie Daoist's corpse away. That was worth several thousand Qi Gathering pills. However, the Iron Plate corpse could not be stowed away in his hundred treasures pouch, and it looked far too terrifying. As a result, he found the straw cape and bamboo hat and covered it with it, following behind them.
They boarded the boat and returned the way they came, going upstream.
Although it was not as hair-raising as when they first arrived, the atmosphere was much heavier. Hao Pingyang, Zhang Lanqing, and Zhang Lanqing all had their own thoughts. None of them were in the mood to joke around.
Only the flowing water rippled in the darkness, chanting endlessly.
Li Qingshan leaned against the side of the boat and admired the scenery in the cavern, but he struggled to calm down. He felt warmth in his arms. Little Ann leaned against him silently.
Li Qingshan smiled at her and stroked her soft, curly hair gently. He sniffed the faint fragrance of sandalwood from her body and gradually calmed down.
At this moment, a speck of light suddenly appeared in the endless darkness.
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