Chapter 274

Chapter 274

“I didn’t mean to!”

Yuan Fei wore a mournful expression, his tone aggrieved.

I could not help laughing, then sighed softly.

“Since these damned things can fly, I’m afraid we won’t escape. Prepare for a fight to the death!”

Sure enough, half of the dozen or so corpse-fiends that first took flight continued speeding forward.

They were probably going to attack Big Bull, Zhao Xu, and the others!

The situation could become dangerous…

The remaining seven or eight flying corpses landed directly before us, blocking our path.

I hurriedly communicated through my mind with Roundy, which had already flown quite a distance away.

“Fat bird, it looks like some of these corpse-fiends can fly!”

“Damn! What’s that supposed to mean? Do those pathetic corpses want to fight this magnificent bird in the air? Do you need me to fly back and help right now, Kid Wu?”

“Stop chattering. Don’t come back. Help Big Bull and the others over there. Now that the corpse-fiends can fly, there’s no point in us intercepting them.”

“Got it!”

Roundy and I could communicate mentally at tremendous speed, far faster than speaking aloud.

Yuan Fei tightened his grip on the Ghost-Beating Staff, swallowed, and said gravely,

“This isn’t too bad. Seven or eight corpse-fiends. If all four of us unleash everything, we can destroy them in one or two exchanges. This kind of flying mutation can’t be easy. There are probably only this many.”

The instant he finished speaking…

Wet tearing noises sounded behind us.

Then came the rush of beating wings.

Another dozen or so corpse-fiends rose into the air. Half flew forward in pursuit of Big Bull and the others, while half landed ahead to block our way.

Yuan Fei: “…”

He truly was a jinx!

“All right, Brother Yuan, don’t say another word. Prepare for a bitter fight. Sigh. If I’d known it would be this dangerous, I would have brought more prepared paper effigies.”

Old Cao gripped the carrying pole in his hands and swept it horizontally. The heads of two corpse-fiends charging him immediately left their shoulders. He swept it again, shattering their legs and sending them to the ground.

But the corpse-fiends, reduced to only their upper bodies, kept beating their wings and flew into the air!

They swung their sharp claws with their remaining arms and attacked from above.

The sight made all of us gasp. These flying corpse-fiends were far stronger than the ordinary ones from earlier.

Even after Old Cao’s two ferocious strikes severed their heads and broke their legs, they had not died. They could still attack!

It was absurd.

I silently drew the ritual blade and gripped it in my right hand.

With a talisman pinched in my left hand, I launched a ball of talisman fire that wrapped around a flying corpse-fiend and burned fiercely.

Although it released a shrill scream, it continued lunging toward me!

“Damn! They really have grown much stronger. Talisman fire can burn them, but it can’t severely injure them anymore.”

Cursing inwardly, I hurriedly pushed off with one foot and dodged sideways.

I swung the ritual blade horizontally with my right hand, severing the corpse-fiend’s head. Without pausing, I twisted at the waist to generate force, spun back, and launched two more burning talismans at close range, practically stuffing them into the body cavity through the severed neck.

Boom…

Flames erupted, yet the thing continued moving!

I launched another ball of talisman fire.

Only then did I destroy it completely.

My heart grew heavier.

“These flying corpse-fiends are far too difficult to handle! It took a slash from the ritual blade and three bursts of talisman fire, and I even had to stuff the fire directly through the severed neck to burn it from within, before I could destroy one completely.”

As for Yuan Fei, one flying corpse-fiend had actually seized his Ghost-Beating Staff!

The places where its skin touched the staff sizzled continuously, releasing thick, scorched smoke. Yet rather than letting go in pain, the corpse-fiend beat its wings and tried to carry Yuan Fei into the sky.

Once one of these corpse-fiends dragged him off the ground, it needed only to let go and drop him to his death!

It was extremely dangerous.

But if he released the staff, his Ghost-Beating Staff would be taken. Without his weapon, Yuan Fei’s ability to kill enemies, and even protect himself, would probably plummet.

I shouted, “Watch out, Uncle Yuan!” and hurriedly launched an Evil-Shattering Talisman across the roughly seven to ten meters separating us…

Boom!

The talisman tore through the air and struck the flying corpse-fiend stealing the Ghost-Beating Staff with perfect accuracy, exploding into a huge burst of flame.

It obliterated not only the creature’s entire head but its upper body as well. The roaring flames also burned every strange fungal thread inside and outside the corpse-fiend to ash.

It was dead beyond doubt!

Yuan Fei naturally seized the chance to recover his Ghost-Beating Staff. He staggered several steps backward and shouted with lingering fear,

“Thank you, Xiao Wu! That talisman of yours is powerful. Use it more often!”

I forced back two or three flying corpse-fiends attacking from the air and the side at once. As I retreated, I answered with a wry smile,

“Uncle Yuan, that’s easy for you to say. The Evil-Shattering Talisman is powerful, but it consumes plenty of qi. If I keep using it recklessly, how could my magical power possibly last?”

Old Cao, Yuan Fei, and even I struggled against these stronger flying corpse-fiends, let alone Ni Yang.

He dodged left and right, rolling and scrambling in utter disarray.

The corpse-fiends’ sharp claws had torn his clothes to shreds, leaving them hanging from his body in strips like a beggar’s rags.

Three distinct wounds marred his back, the flesh mangled and still bleeding.

Fortunately, it seemed…

“I can’t do it! I can’t hold on! These flying corpse-fiends are far too ferocious. I can’t withstand them at all! Brother Yuan, save me! Coffin-Bearer Cao, save me! Young Mr. Wu, save me!”

Ni Yang shouted for help. He had lost all courage to fight the flying corpse-fiends and tried to hide behind us.

But we were already struggling to protect ourselves.

We could even hear screams coming from the distance…

Clearly, Big Bull and Zhao Xu’s group had also come under attack from the flying corpse-fiends!

That worried me.

I did not care whether the bodyguards in black lived or died. I hardly knew them. But if anything happened to Big Bull, Ergou, Flat-Top, or Silent Gourd, I would be heartbroken.

Roundy was helping them, though, and the stupid bird was a formidable fighter. They should be all right.

Bang!

Old Cao smashed apart another corpse-fiend lunging from the air with his carrying pole. Standing back-to-back with me, he panted and spoke rapidly,

“Xiao Wu, have you noticed? These damned things seem to be steadily closing in from every direction and from the air. They’re compressing our room to maneuver more and more. That means…”

“They want to surround us!”

I finished for him.

Old Cao looked deeply worried.

“Exactly! Once these flying corpse-fiends completely surround us, the consequences will be unimaginable! There are simply too many of them, and their strength, speed, and defenses are all greater than the earlier ones. They’re harder to destroy too. Enough ants can bite an elephant to death!”

Besides, these flying corpse-fiends were not “ants,” and we were not “elephants.”

“Then what should we do?”

I asked.

Old Cao and I had survived many dangerous situations together over the two or three years we had known each other. We had developed great rapport, and I could roughly guess his plan.

Sure enough…

Old Cao said urgently,

“First, concentrate our strength and break out together. Then split up immediately! If we stay together, these damned things will herd and surround us. Fleeing separately may disrupt their plan instead.”

“All right! Let’s do that.”

I nodded firmly.

Earlier, we had stayed together whenever possible to keep the weaker members from being isolated and endangered.

Now we faced a life-or-death crisis as the corpse-fiends closed their encirclement. Staying together meant certain death. Splitting up at least offered a chance of survival!

I immediately shouted the plan Old Cao and I had agreed upon to Yuan Fei and Ni Yang nearby.

“No, no! I’m too weak. If I separate from you, these damned things will kill me in no time! Don’t… don’t abandon me. Even if you forget our friendship, you still need me to get paid, don’t you?”

Ni Yang shook his head desperately, his face filled with terror.

The man was not stupid. He understood perfectly well what separating from us would mean.

I felt some reluctance to leave him.

But splitting up was undoubtedly the best, and currently the only, option!

I was about to tell him to follow me. I was young and strong, and I recovered qi faster than Old Cao and Yuan Fei, so I could lend him a hand.

Yuan Fei spoke first.

“Enough, Brother Ni. Brother Cao and Xiao Wu are right. Splitting up is our best option. You can see these things are trying to surround us and wipe us all out in one stroke. Staying together means waiting to die!”

“But…”

“No buts. Follow me!”

Yuan Fei cut him off, then looked at Old Cao and me and spoke rapidly.

“We’ll have to rely on you two for the breakout. Once we escape the encirclement, we’ll flee along three separate routes. There’s only one formation nexus, so anyone returning to the surface has to reach it. We’ll regroup there! It’s decided.”

Then Yuan Fei grinned and patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Xiao Wu. Your Uncle Yuan once had his fortune told by a famous diviner while fooling around in the neighboring city. All three of us are hard to kill and destined to live long. We’re bound for great wealth and status.”

“Enough joking. These damned things are about to trap us completely. Xiao Wu, bring out your best skills and prepare to break through!”

Old Cao had already put away his carrying pole and strapped it behind his back.

He quickly pulled a thick stack of spirit money from the leather pouch at his waist. Unlike the ordinary kind burned at graves, its surface glimmered faintly.

This was genuine, high-quality funerary paper!

He said,

“Xiao Wu, you go first.”

“All right!”

I understood that Old Cao was probably preparing to cast a powerful magical art that required some time. I would lead the charge and tear open a gap at the weakest part of the corpse-fiends’ formation.

“Everyone, charge with me!”

I shouted low and ran in one direction.

At the same time, my mind connected with the qi in my dantian. The clear and turbid qi in my niwan and Jiangyuan Palace also intertwined and flowed into my meridians, then entered the ritual blade through my palm.

Buzzz…

The ritual blade trembled, its blade emitting dazzling white light and a scorching aura!

This was the first time since reaching my current level of cultivation that I had poured so much qi into it, reinforced with both clear and turbid qi.

More than that, I gritted my teeth, bit the tip of my tongue, and sprayed a mouthful of essence-rich blood onto the blade.

A blood-red luminous mist immediately rose.

The ritual blade in my hand suddenly felt immensely heavy, like a massive saber!

“Kill!”

I drew a deep breath and unleashed a thunderous roar, meeting the enemy head-on!

Four flying corpse-fiends attacked simultaneously from directly ahead, the left, the right, and above. Their momentum was ferocious. At close range, I could see their sharp claws and cold, blood-red eyes.

It was hard to imagine that they had all been simple villagers in life.

I swung the ritual blade in two powerful diagonal cuts before me. Moving so quickly, the slashes formed a blood-red X.

Slash…

The blood-red, X-shaped scars of light from my blade cut through parts of all four corpse-fiends’ bodies.

“Ah! That didn’t inflict fatal wounds. Is Young Mr. Wu in danger?”

I heard Ni Yang’s worried voice behind me.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of my mouth.

The next moment…

Boom!

The wounds on the four corpse-fiends erupted in fierce flames. Red and white intertwined within the fire as it instantly spread across them and swallowed them whole, burning them to ash.

They had no power to resist whatsoever.

“Th-this…”

Yuan Fei and Ni Yang were both shocked.

I had no time to explain. The ritual blade had combined qi, clear and turbid qi, and the vigorous yang blood and energy of a martial artist.

Exactly!

Besides magical practitioners, martial artists who studied internal martial arts sealed their essence and possessed abundant blood and energy. Their vigorous yang blood and energy were also like poison to sinister entities.

Some martial-arts grandmasters in history could flick out a single drop of blood from a fingertip and destroy a vicious corpse!

Thus, when I pushed the ritual blade to the extreme of its current power…

For any demon, ghost, monster, or sinister evil entity, whether or not the strike hit a vital point, the terrifying layers of overlapping power would instantly erode its entire body inside and out!

And destroy it.

“Kill, kill, kill…”

The ferocity in my heart surged as I fought.

The heavy, scarlet ritual blade shattered every corpse-fiend before and around me, carving a bloody path through the dense encirclement by sheer force!

The scarlet glow on the ritual blade gradually faded…

Unfortunately, by the time the color vanished completely, my strength was temporarily exhausted.

We were still some distance from breaking through.

Many flying corpse-fiends still blocked the breach ahead…

Then Old Cao released a thunderous shout.

“Xiao Wu, everyone, move aside! In my name, by my qi: funerary paper dances, nether soldiers clear the road!”