Ghost Catching System

The Toad transmitted his voice at this moment, ”Kiddo Chu, I have a bad feeling about this Old Dog Zhang.”

Chu Hao nodded and replied, ”I feel the same way. With the potent corpse poison of the Golden-Wood Drought Demon, for him to have survived... it might be a lie.”

The Toad said, ”Very likely. Did you notice how he’s rushing? It’s like he’s racing against time on a journey.”

Speaking of which, Old Dog Zhang was indeed in a great hurry, almost as if rushing to a destination. Although his leg was clearly lame, he moved faster on the mountain path than an ordinary person. No one in their group was ordinary; even the people Lan Zhen had brought possessed excellent physical conditioning. Otherwise, they simply wouldn’t have been able to keep up with him.

「At night」

It was impossible to travel through the mountain forest, so they could only rest and recuperate.

Old Dog Zhang mentioned there was still one more day’s journey.

At night, Zi Jing was sound asleep. That little girl, carefree and oblivious, slept more soundly than anyone else and ate more than most adults.

With Lan Zhen’s people around, Chu Hao and the others didn’t need to keep watch. They just had to maintain their peak condition to deal with the Golden-Wood Drought Demon.

Chu Hao’s senses were sharp. He could hear any rustle in the wind and even the soft whispers of people talking.

That fellow, Zhang Chenfeng, was trying to chat up Lan Zhen.

Zhang Chenfeng said, ”Taoist Lan, I truly have feelings for you.”

So, Zhang Chenfeng was actually here to hit on a girl.

Lan Zhen smiled politely and refused, ”Right now, I’m fully devoted to the Tao and have no interest in romantic affairs.”

Zhang Chenfeng immediately said, ”I can wait for you. We could forge a marital alliance; it would be beneficial for both Qingcheng Mountain and Longhu Mountain.”

Lan Zhen replied, ”We’ll discuss this later. I need to rest now. Please don’t disturb the others.”

Chu Hao stroked his chin. Lan Zhen’s status in Qingcheng Mountain isn’t low, and she’s already an Inborn Expert at such a young age. Could she be a figure of Taoist Priest caliber?

At this moment, Chu Hao heard some faint sounds coming from the direction of the Chang Gong couple; it seemed they were panting.

Damn! These two are really something, getting it on in these deep mountains and old forests. After listening for a while and feeling a bit awkward, he decided to stop eavesdropping.

「In the dead of night」

Around two o’clock, someone outside cried out, ”Something’s happening!”

Everyone was startled awake and came out of their tents; only little Zi Jing was still deep in sleep.

Chu Hao said, ”Toad, keep an eye on Zi Jing.”

With that, he ran outside.

”AHHH!” Someone screamed miserably, as if seized by something and dragged into the depths of darkness.

After rushing out, Chu Hao quickly asked, ”What happened?”

A common Disciple from Qingcheng Mountain, his face etched with terror, said, ”Someone ambushed us! It was... it was the Golden-Wood Drought Demon!”

The Golden-Wood Drought Demon had actually arrived.

Chu Hao was on guard, simultaneously searching for Old Dog Zhang. The old man looked panic-stricken and utterly terrified.

Lan Zhen cried out, ”What’s going on?”

Old Dog Zhang said with fear, ”I don’t know! How... how could it appear just like that?”

Another scream pierced the night as someone else was dragged into the darkness. Chu Hao, using his night vision, glanced over but didn’t see the Golden-Wood Drought Demon’s figure—only a pool of fresh blood and the lower half of a person’s body.

This Golden-Wood Drought Demon was ruthless. It tore a living person in half outright.

Wang Junshu acted. He pulled out a dozen talismans, reciting, ”Heaven is clear and earth is spiritual, soldiers follow the seal, orders are pursued, act with haste, by the decree of the Maoshan Ancestor Master!”

Then, Wang Junshu threw out the yellow talismans, which scattered and stuck to the surrounding tree trunks, emitting a yellow glow.

In the darkness, a shadow lunged forward. Wang Junshu immediately controlled the nearest talisman to strike the shadow.

”AH!” The creature let out a piercing cry of pain as if it had been hit squarely.

The others were ecstatic and rushed over.

However, something felt off to Chu Hao. Could Wang Junshu’s talismans really injure the Golden-Wood Drought Demon to that extent?

Zhang Chenfeng didn’t care; he wanted to kill the Golden-Wood Drought Demon to impress Lan Zhen.

But just as he lunged forward, drawing a Goldstone Sword to slay the demon, Lan Zhen suddenly called out from his left, ”Be careful!”

Zhang Chenfeng was startled. Just in time, he saw another shadow pounce from the darkness like a wild beast, knocking him down with immense strength.

He was also taken aback. Being very strong himself, he kicked the creature away and slashed with his sword. The Goldstone Sword was one of Longhu Mountain’s weapons, a gift from his seniors there when he became an Inborn Expert. With one strike, the creature was cleaved in two.

Zhang Chenfeng started to feel proud and said, ”So much for the Golden-Wood Drought Demon. It wasn’t so tough after all.”

But when everyone looked over, they saw a horrifying sight: it was a person with withered hair and wrinkled skin, barely recognizable as having once been alive. Two large fangs protruded from the corners of its mouth—it was clearly a zombie.

Everyone was shocked. Had the Golden-Wood Drought Demon’s power become so strong that it could turn ordinary people into zombies?

This creature, even after being cleaved in two, could still move. It lunged and bit Zhang Chenfeng’s foot.

Poor Zhang Chenfeng. Having just shown off, he was bitten. Although his cultivation meant he wouldn’t die from the poison, it was quite embarrassing to make such a basic mistake in front of the girl he liked.

Chu Hao couldn’t help but laugh and said, ”Trying to act cool and failing—a classic example.”

Zhang Chenfeng, furious, stabbed the zombie in the head with his sword, finally stopping it.

Zheng Gong said, ”Be careful, there are many more.”

Chu Hao turned and saw Zheng Gong’s eyes had turned bright green; he could see the moving zombies in the dark.

As a zombie lunged at him, Chu Hao reacted extremely quickly, grabbing its neck and lifting it.

It turned out these zombies were villagers from the nearby area, transformed into zombies by the Golden-Wood Drought Demon.

Chu Hao circulated his True Qi to examine the zombie’s body. He was curious about what made these people, already thoroughly dead, come back to life and attack others.

Soon, he found a tumor-like object in the zombie’s head, pulsating actively, seemingly in control of its mind.

It was similar to a parasite, like how hairworms can control praying mantises.

Chu Hao punched, and the skull cracked open.

”Ding... Killing a low-level zombie. Host receives 10,000 Experience Points.”

Ten thousand Pretentiousness Points—not too many, not too few. In the past, low-level zombies like this, with strength nearly two to three times that of an adult, would have been worth at least 100,000 Experience Points.

The System had also said that the higher one’s level, the fewer Experience Points would be awarded for killing Evil Demons and Ghosts.

The others also began clearing out the zombies, but their numbers were vast.

SWOOSH!

From the deep darkness, five shadows moved swiftly. Chu Hao noticed at a glance that these five new zombies differed from the previous ones; their skin now sprouted red hair.

Red-haired High-level Zombies.

They moved incredibly fast. Unlike the zombies in movies that merely hopped around, these leaped several meters at a time. One seized a Disciple of Qingcheng Mountain, tore him in half, and then vanished.

The others were also terrified.

Zhang Chenfeng no longer cared about looking cool in front of the girl he liked, because the strength of the Red-haired Zombies was already considered high-ranking among their kind.