A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu reloaded the Divine Dragon Pistol and came to the giant corpse to find that it was not completely incapacitated.

This corpse was 2.5 meters tall, with copper skin and iron bones. It was close to its full transformation into a zombie. If it became a real zombie, ordinary swords would no longer be able to hurt it. Fortunately, it did not complete the full transformation, so Qi Xuansu could still defeat it.

Qi Xuansu slapped the giant corpse several times. Although this giant living corpse had copper skin and iron bones, it could no longer withstand Qi Xuansu’s palm strikes as it was already weakened by the Dragon Eye Bullet. The qi created a large indent in the giant’s chest, completely immobilizing it.

After Qi Xuansu got rid of the giant, he came to the door of the dilapidated pavilion and saw dozens of ordinary living corpses rushing toward him like a tide of zombies.

Thus, Qi Xuansu threw out a Phoenix Eye Bullet.

Boom!

A huge flame instantly engulfed the living corpses. Its shockwave rippled through the air, making Qi Xuansu’s clothes flutter and shaking the dilapidated pavilion.

Tianji Hall’s inventions were certainly handy. Although the main element of the Great Xuan Dynasty was water and the Daoist Order promoted the virtues of water, they did not neglect the development and use of firearms. As Zhang Yuelu mentioned before, if magical powers were lost one day, one would still need to have some means of self-protection.

However, Qi Xuansu could not figure out why magical powers would one day disappear. He only knew that it was probably linked to why the Ancient Immortals were recklessly harvesting incense power.

After the flames died down, only charred corpses were left on the ground, most of them incomplete. The remaining bits were like red-hot charcoal, with fiery red sparks still flickering inside. The living corpses closer to the center of the explosion were completely burned to ashes. The only thing that proved their existence was the black mark on the ground.

Qi Xuansu walked into the dilapidated pavilion and looked around. Having been ransacked by The Inn’s recruits, the place was empty without anything useful. However, Qi Xuansu did not understand where those living corpses came from. Did they really sprout from the ground, like weeds?

Speaking of the ground, Qi Xuansu remembered something and took out the map. He noticed that the map indicated an underground space in this area. In other words, this dilapidated pavilion was merely a point of entry and exit. The real structure was down below.

He thought, Could this basement be the source of the living corpses? Perhaps they escaped the Phoenix Eye Bomb back then because they were hiding underground.

That conjecture made sense to him. So he scanned the pavilion and found a pathway that extended into the ground. The door that blocked this path before had been completely destroyed by the bomb, so the entrance was clearly exposed, with steps leading down into the depths of darkness.

Qi Xuansu walked down the steps and entered the underground passageway. There were extinguished oil lamps on both sides of the walls, which were left behind by the Daoist Order. So Qi Xuansu took one down, lit it, and carried it as he explored the area.

Along the way, Qi Xuansu encountered some sporadic living corpses, but he easily got rid of them. Soon, Qi Xuansu was faced with a dilemma.

The end of this passageway did not lead to an underground hall like Qi Xuansu had expected. Instead, he came to a fork in the road. If he was not careful, he could get lost underground.

Qi Xuansu hesitated for a moment, made a mark on the wall, and chose one of the paths to walk down.

After walking for about ten minutes, Qi Xuansu discovered a bright light emitting from the front of him. He immediately put out the oil lamp and speed-walked toward the light.

His field of vision broadened the moment he walked into the brightness, revealing a huge pit down below. The Daoist Order had built a spiral path along the edges of this pit, leading to the alchemy furnace at the bottom.

A 30-meter-tall alchemy furnace, many times larger than a normal one, was at the bottom of this pit. At this time, the alchemy furnace was activated, as indicated by the fiery red light inside, which illuminated the bottom of the pit. That was the source of light that Qi Xuansu spotted from the passageway.

Someone was standing next to the alchemy furnace. But Qi Xuansu was not quite sure whether it was a human being or a living corpse. However, Qi Xuansu was doubtful that a living corpse would be able to operate an alchemy furnace.

If it were a human being, there was not much vitality left in that person, who seemed bereft of life. If it were a human being, what were they doing here at the bottom of this pit? Where did that person come from?

Qi Xuansu had an intuition that this “person” was not from The Inn.

At this moment, this “person” seemed to be aware of Qi Xuansu’s presence, suddenly raising his head to look at Qi Xuansu.

Through the firelight of the alchemy furnace, Qi Xuansu could clearly see that person’s face. The eyes had been gouged out, leaving only two black holes, which resembled two bottomless wells capable of sucking one’s soul. Coupled with his pale complexion and ashen face, that person looked like a living corpse.

However, he was a human being, not a living corpse.

The next moment, that person raised his hand and pointed toward Qi Xuansu, uttering a short and unintelligible syllable.

Qi Xuansu’s expression changed as he quickly jumped up.

A crack appeared in the ground where he stood earlier, and a living corpse crawled out of the gap. It reached out with both hands, trying to grab onto Qi Xuansu’s ankle.

Qi Xuansu did not know when the corpse had gotten there. While landing his jump, Qi Xuansu aimed at the living corpse’s head, stamping its head into its chest and shattering its entire spine. It instantly became motionless.

At the same time, more black shadows flashed around him as eight strong living corpses sprang out from the darkness, attacking Qi Xuansu simultaneously. With nowhere to dodge, Qi Xuansu whipped out Qing Yuan and swung his sword horizontally across. The short sword sliced through the air, cutting off the heads of two living corpses. Without their heads, these living corpses became still, as a normal corpse should. They were no longer able to move.

Qi Xuansu kept walking while spinning Qing Yuan in his hand. He slashed the third living corpse at its waist, but it was still squirming even after being severed into two.

Two other living corpses stood still, opening their mouths and spitting out a substance that looked like pus.

Qi Xuansu dodged the substance, only to hear the corrosive sound of the ground dissolving wherever this substance touched. He kept moving, taking any opportunity to kill the two living corpses.

In the blink of an eye, Qi Xuansu had gotten rid of five living corpses. However, there were still three living corpses attacking him at this time. He had no choice but to rely on his physical strength to withstand the synchronized attack.

These living corpses were different from ordinary corpses. Most of them carried cadaver venom. If he was accidentally exposed to this venom, it would spell trouble in the current situation even if the venom were not fatal to him.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique that Zhang Yuelu taught him. His body defied the laws of physics as he moved, aiming his sword straight at one corpse’s head, spinning the short sword, and slashing another corpse across the waist. Finally, he flipped the sword back to its original position and stabbed another corpse along the way.

These moves were done rapidly in one fell swoop. From a third-party perspective, it looked like three people were attacking the corpses simultaneously.

The red light emitting from the three living corpses’ eyes instantly dimmed the moment they were struck. They turned into ordinary corpses, unmoving on the ground.

After these living corpses were immobilized, many more black shadows surrounded Qi Xuansu. This new batch of living corpses had more robust bodies and were more agile and cunning. They had no intelligence and were only driven by instinct and the command of their master. Thus, they were fearless as they rushed toward Qi Xuansu like a mob.

Facing these living corpses, Qi Xuansu used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique again. With just one sword strike, he sliced off the head of the living corpse that was rushing forward. Then he lunged forward, brushing past two more living corpses. Seconds later, the upper bodies of the two living corpses slid down diagonally.

Qi Xuansu showed no signs of stopping. He twisted his body to avoid the claws of the two living corpses. Then he thrust his sword, disemboweling another two living corpses. At the same time, he swept his palm, using his innate qi to kill the third living corpse. That corpse turned into a pile of rotten flesh. Then he elbowed the chest of the fourth living corpse, denting it.

He was swift and elusive, like a ghost. These living corpses attacked him with all their might, but they were unable to hurt him. Instead, their broken limbs flew around wherever he passed.

Many living corpses did not manage to come within ten steps of Qi Xuansu before collapsing. His moves were so smooth that a third party would not have been able to detect how Qi Xuansu used his sword.

The person standing next to the alchemy furnace noticed this and summoned all the living corpses hiding in the dark, intending to kill Qi Xuansu. Dozens more living corpses surged toward Qi Xuansu. In the distance, countless living corpses gathered and trudged over.

As the number of living corpses increased, Qi Xuansu felt trapped.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu overturned his palm and took out another bead from his sleeve. The bead was dark in color, but it had a dull, fiery red in the center that resembled a pupil. This was the Phoenix Eye Bullet.

Back then, Qi Xuansu bought five rounds of Phoenix Eye Bullets from the Tianji Hall branch. He had used one to fend off Yan Jiuwei on Jiuwa Hill and another at the entrance of the dilapidated pavilion. At this time, he only had three Phoenix Eye Bullets left.

Qi Xuansu threw the bead out, creating a rain of fire with flames that rose to more than three meters high. Many living corpses in the vicinity fell due to the blast, resembling rice fields after a harvest.

The fire spread rapidly as the burning living corpses collided with each other, quickly turning the space into an underground inferno. Their blazing bodies flailed wildly before disappearing into the sea of fire.

Qi Xuansu knew that he had to capture their master in order to stop the attacks, so he stopped fighting the living corpses and quickly came to the edge of the pit. The huge pit was about 30 meters deep. Having experienced freefalling from the flying ship, Qi Xuansu was no longer afraid of such heights. So, he jumped down 30 meters toward the alchemy furnace.