Chapter Ninety-Five: The Walking Dead

"What is going on? Weren't they unconscious?"

Lin Fan's scalp prickled. In midair, he twisted violently to evade the old man's attack.

A furious gale raged, its howl deafening. The old man's fingers, as though cast from iron, stabbed out through the air.

Bones and flesh flew everywhere. The middle-aged man who had attacked Lin Fan a moment before was shattered by that single strike.

"What terrifying power. Why do I feel as though their bodies are as hard as magical instruments, utterly indestructible?"

A mangled piece of corpse fell before Lin Fan, smashing a pit several yards deep into the ground, yet that fragment remained completely intact.

He dared not linger for even a breath. His speed surged, already driven to the limit of this realm, swift as lightning.

"They can no longer be considered human. Under the erosion of some strange force, they have become undead, and their bodies no longer decay."

The Spear of Judgment explained. Though it could not act, neither would it stand by idly.

"Undead?"

Lin Fan's expression darkened, and he drew in a cold breath.

As the name implied, the undead were once dead beings whose bodies underwent a mutation and regained a measure of intelligence. Unlike the living, once transformed they lost their innate powers, but their physical bodies would instead be refined to the extreme, becoming incomparably formidable. After antiquity, they became a race unto themselves.

"The undead are divided into copper corpses, iron corpses, flying corpses, and many other ranks. A copper corpse is comparable to the Body Refinement Realm, while an iron corpse is on the level of the Meridian Condensation Realm, and so on. The ones before you are all iron corpses. I imagine you can already feel how powerful they are. Unless one has reached the peak of the Meridian Condensation Realm, they are very hard to oppose."

The Spear of Judgment spoke tersely, giving only the briefest explanation of the undead's hierarchy, but even that was enough to let Lin Fan grasp the terror of this race.

"Indeed, they are unimaginably strong. Even the Body Refinement Realm is beyond me. The fighting strength of a peak Meridian Condensation cultivator is truly frightening."

Lin Fan retreated in a flash, choosing the most correct course of action as he fled through the air.

"Down below! That old man is a flying corpse; he can already fly."

At that moment, the voice of the Spear of Judgment sounded again.

"Go!"

Lin Fan's heart jolted as he sensed an unprecedented crisis. Every hair on his body stood on end.

"Die."

A chilling voice fell from the sky. The void trembled, then shattered outright. The old man stepped out from within it and brought down a great hand, five fingers spread wide to blot out the heavens.

Lin Fan coughed blood as his body crashed downward, nearly splitting apart. A vast and overwhelming force exploded, impossible to withstand.

"So strong! Is this the power of a flying corpse?"

Lin Fan endured the pain with all his will. He felt as though his internal organs had been knocked out of alignment. That terrifying force crushed everything in its path, impossible to resist.

The Human Emperor Sacred Statue trembled, releasing a wave of energy. Lin Fan's injuries improved instantly, and he once again became vigorous and hale.

"Go to the left. There is a copper corpse there."

The Spear of Judgment pointed the way, offering him a path to survival.

"All right."

Without much hesitation, Lin Fan stamped hard on the ground and shot forward at extreme speed. Beneath him, the earth split open in a web of spiderlike cracks.

The old man struck again, shielding the sky with a single hand. One finger pressed down, the void exploded, and that terrifying force shattered all things, sending the earth into collapse.

A thunderous boom rang out as the ground cracked apart, forming ravines hundreds of yards wide.

Lin Fan spat blood again, in the most wretched state imaginable. He had already done everything he could to avoid the attack, yet the mere shockwave of that power was enough to make him struggle. Fortunately, with the aid of the Human Emperor Sacred Statue, he escaped disaster once more.

"What horrifying might. That one hand alone could shake me to death. Even an elder of Heavenly Gate like Chu Yunji might not be able to withstand him."

Lin Fan shuddered inwardly but did not stop. He flew onward, and by now he was close to where the copper corpse was located.

"Get lost!"

Lin Fan roared and swept his long spear. A supreme power, comparable to the eighth level of the Meridian Condensation Realm, erupted in a blazing detonation. It was like a volcano bursting forth; even a peak Meridian Condensation expert could only avoid its edge.

"Boom!"

A deafening crash shook the heavens and earth. Lin Fan was like a war god descending upon the mortal world, unstoppable in all directions.

The copper corpse split apart, its soul flame struck down on the spot, slain instantly.

Taking advantage of this opening, Lin Fan broke free from the encirclement of the many corpses and appeared more than ten li away.

"Rest assured. They will not attack again."

The Spear of Judgment spoke. Its projection emerged, and two beams of light pierced the sky, covering the entire ancient city ruin beneath its gaze.

"What exactly is happening? Why are they no longer attacking? And why does such a race exist at all, one that seems beyond the Three Realms and outside the Five Elements?"

Lin Fan was still shaken and gasping for breath. If he had been even a little slower just now, he would likely have been killed.

"Because their arrangement follows a formation. They cannot step outside that circle. You must have disturbed the formation before, which awoke them. Now that you have left the formation, there will be no more danger."

The eyes of the Spear of Judgment were distant and profound, with starlike patterns flashing within them. It was performing a cosmic deduction, a great divine art.

"Why would undead appear here? As far as I know, this race rarely appears in the mortal world. For ordinary people, once they fall, that is the end. Only by seizing the fortune of heaven and earth can one give rise to intelligence anew."

Lin Fan's face was full of confusion. He still could not understand why a race like the undead would appear here; he had never even heard of such a thing.

"I have been wondering the same thing. However, this Mount Wangwu seems to have undergone some peculiar change. The heavenly secrets are in chaos, and even I find it difficult to deduce anything. Still, I have some guesses. We will only know after verification. Leave this place for now. That altar should be a teleportation array. I expect you are nearing the core of Mount Wangwu."

The projection of the Spear of Judgment returned to its true body, its radiance flickering as it merged once more into Lin Fan's form.

"On to the interior of Mount Wangwu, then. The Fallen Immortal Land? There may well be great terror there. Even the ruins of an ancient city are already so dangerous. Heaven knows what lies at the core of Mount Wangwu."

Lin Fan shook his head and thought no more. With a movement of his body, he rushed straight toward the distant altar.

By the time Lin Fan arrived, Yi Xiaoxian and Lord Falling Flowers were already waiting. Both looked somewhat battered, though they were in better condition than Lin Fan, and among the two, Yi Xiaoxian was slightly better off.

"Young Master Lin, you are here."

Lord Falling Flowers forced a smile. In his hand he held a jade ruler, but cracks had appeared across its once-lustrous surface, as though it might shatter at any moment.

Though he had escaped pursuit, the cost had been enormous. He had even used his forbidden artifact repeatedly, to the point that it was on the verge of destruction.

"That was a narrow escape. Have you worked out the mysteries of this altar?"

Lin Fan shook his head, his face pale with exhaustion. After nodding at Yi Xiaoxian, he shifted his attention to the altar beneath his feet, his expression grave.