Chapter 15: Battling the Three Corpses (Part One)
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The autumn moon stretched endlessly across the sky, while a cool wind whispered through the night.
The pool of jade-green water was exceptionally tranquil, and the fragrance of grass and trees soothed the heart and refreshed the spirit. A waterfall hung from the mountainside like a ribbon of silver pearls, its rushing waters roaring without pause.
It was a rare and breathtaking sight.
Yet in the open ground not far away, an utterly bizarre scene was unfolding...
The scene shifted.
Dressed in a Daoist robe, Xiao Yulou stood behind a ritual altar, shaking an ancient Three Pure Ones bell while muttering incantations under his breath.
Jingle, jingle~
“Walking corpses possess spirits! Walking corpses possess souls! Banner and talisman, summon the dead! Hear my command! Five-Thunder Doppelganger, depart from the flesh!”
The instant his voice fell, Xiao Yulou gripped the yellow talisman and twisted it with one hand.
With a boom, the talisman between his fingers burst into flame without being lit.
All at once, the heavy lids of every coffin in the open ground flew upward and crashed onto the earth.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amid those terrifying thunderclaps, corpses wreathed in black vapor rose stiffly to their feet.
The pure moonlight fell coldly from the night sky.
Standing within their scarlet coffins, the corpses seemed to have been veiled in a layer of mystery.
For a moment, the scene was so horrifying that it made one’s hair stand on end and filled the mind with dread.
Gu Mo stood there dumbfounded. Then a string of colorful profanity exploded from his mouth.
“Holy crap!”
...
The moment his words ended, Xiao Yulou, still holding the Three Pure Ones bell, extended a finger and drew a talisman in the air by channeling the Daoist energy within him.
After a thunderous shout, he swept his hand backward. The golden talisman he had drawn from thin air shot straight into the formation of coffins.
Hah~
The three terrifying corpses, black vapor pouring from their bodies, opened their mouths. A dense stream of frigid corpse energy sprayed forth at once.
With a single leap, the three corpses, trailing fierce gusts of wind, obediently flashed to a halt before the ritual altar like trained pets.
A closer look revealed that each corpse stood nine feet tall. They wore tattered garments heavy with the stench of damp earth and had not even a scrap of footwear on their feet.
Dense black vapor rose from their soles. One could almost smell the rot through the screen.
Their exposed skin was blackish-purple and covered in a fine layer of dark fuzz.
Their pairs of blood-red eyes resembled crimson lanterns hanging high in the depths of night.
Across their chests they held iron claws, each tipped with ten long, purplish-black nails as hard as iron bars.
These three corpses were clearly ancient. They had long since decayed into ruin.
...
Suddenly, Xiao Yulou flicked back the sleeve of his Daoist robe, revealing his left hand as it formed a mystic seal. In a stern voice, he declared:
“Heaven and earth are boundless; lend me the power of the universe. Walking corpses, heed my command! Whoever defeats the target shall receive one corpse pill. Whoever fails shall become food for his companions!”
With that, Xiao Yulou reached into his sleeve and pulled out a vivid green banana leaf. He held it between the middle and index fingers of both hands, then shouted once more:
“Banana Leaf, open the corpse eyes!”
As soon as his words fell, the ethereal-looking Xiao Yulou swept the banana leaf across the blood-red eyes of the three corpses.
Then he suddenly sprang from the ritual altar and kicked the raised arm of the corpse on the far left.
One corpse twisted around and slammed into the next. The three corpses turned as one, now facing the bewildered Gu Mo.
At a glance, the Daoist-robed Xiao Yulou did not look remotely like a man carrying serious injuries.
Could those three Nine-Aperture Exquisite Pills really be that powerful?
Who knew what on earth this scruffy Daoist’s body was made of?
...
In the space of a breath, Xiao Yulou began shaking the Three Pure Ones bell again.
Jingle, jingle, jingle~
The three corpses whose eyes had been opened abruptly raised their blood-red gazes and fixed them on Gu Mo.
Their terrifying iron claws seemed desperate to get started.
The ethereal-looking Xiao Yulou glanced at Gu Mo, raised an eyebrow, and called out cheerfully:
“Brother Gu, I’ll serve you three little appetizers first!”
The instant he finished speaking, the three snarling corpses howled toward Gu Mo.
For a moment, the three corpses, black vapor billowing from their bodies, were like ferocious tigers loosed from cages—utterly terrifying.
Gu Mo, still standing where he was, immediately twisted his features and bolted.
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As he fled for his life, Gu Mo did not forget to open his mouth and curse.
“You scruffy bastard, what the hell are you doing? I’m not ready yet!”
At the altar, Xiao Yulou merely flicked his sleeve, pulled out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and lit it.
Whoosh~
After exhaling a cloud of smoke, Xiao Yulou lazily leaned back.
The lecherous-looking Daoist smiled as he raised his left foot, resting the tip of his toe beside his right foot. He watched Gu Mo flee in panic with utter enjoyment.
“Brother Gu... Fighting is just like love. Running away can never solve the problem!”
Hearing this, Gu Mo could only widen his stride and put some distance between himself and the corpses.
This time there were three of them, and he had no idea how strong these ghastly things were.
Of course he had to test them first.
Right!
This was reconnaissance. A tactical withdrawal. A strategic maneuver.
It absolutely was not running away, and he was definitely not a coward!
As Gu Mo fled in panic, he furrowed his brows and stretched his legs as far as they would go, thinking desperately of a countermeasure.
At the most critical moment, in the blink of an eye, the Gluttonous Ghost perched on Gu Mo’s shoulder suddenly gave several gurgling cries.
Then, the moment its cavernous mouth opened, Gu Mo’s vision went black. A heavy Measuring-Heaven Ruler was thrust into his palm.
Before Gu Mo could say anything, the Gluttonous Ghost lightly touched his neck with its tongue.
A faint current flashed, and the furry ball’s voice appeared directly in Gu Mo’s mind.
“Master, why do you keep running? Those corpses don’t look very strong!”
Hearing this, Gu Mo twisted his face and began circling the three corpses with nimble footwork.
“No way. Those three corpses look like they’ve been dead for at least a thousand years—well, certainly a hundred!”
At this, the furry Gluttonous Ghost’s eyes spun, and it immediately understood.
“Master, are you scared?”
Gu Mo shot the furry Gluttonous Ghost a fierce glare.
“What do you mean, scared? I’m merely avoiding unnecessary conflict!”
Who could have guessed that the Gluttonous Ghost’s next words would make Gu Mo’s face flush crimson?
“Master, you’re not so weak that you need to merge with me, are you?”
A wicked fire suddenly flared in Gu Mo’s heart.
Gritting his teeth, he abruptly halted, widened his eyes until they were the size of eggs, and lowered his body.
Boom!
A bone-chilling wave of cold swept over the area. Sinister ghostfire instantly engulfed Gu Mo from head to toe.
Whoosh~
A black shadow flashed before him. The three snarling corpses had already leaped directly in front of him.
As their cavernous mouths opened wide, the two terrifying fangs resembled drinking straws.
One bite would probably leave Gu Mo as dry as a persimmon, completely drained of blood.
Their foul, fishy stench immediately filled his nostrils.
At that moment, Gu Mo sharply raised the Measuring-Heaven Ruler.
With a muffled thud, the foremost corpse’s chin was caught on the ruler.
Whoosh, whoosh~
Cold light flashed. The two corpses attacking from either side swung their horrifying iron claws in a vicious sweep, determined to tear Gu Mo to pieces.
But Gu Mo had activated his ghost-energy shield. How could he let those two wretched things have their way?
In the blink of an eye, Gu Mo instinctively jerked his head backward. The swiftly raking claws passed within a hair’s breadth of his locks.
A moment later, Gu Mo summoned every ounce of strength in his body and kicked hard against the ground. Still lifting the corpse before him by its chin, he charged forward.
“Ha! Charge!”
At that explosive shout, every corpse present, Xiao Yulou, and even the furry Gluttonous Ghost on Gu Mo’s shoulder were left utterly bewildered.
Gritting his teeth, Gu Mo’s face flushed red and the veins on his forehead bulged.
There was only one tactic in his mind.
Meet force with force!
Since he was being ganged up on, he naturally had to give it everything he had and take one of them out first!
For one thing, that would greatly weaken the enemy’s strength.
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For another, seeing how ferocious Gu Mo was, the remaining corpses would surely feel at least a little fear!
With that thought, Gu Mo threw his legs wide and charged forward with all his might.
Ha! Ha!
The corpse being hoisted by the chin on the Measuring-Heaven Ruler opened its cavernous mouth. A stream of icy corpse energy sprayed out like the blast from a fire extinguisher.
Its ash-gray face was withered like dead wood, and its hideous features glared at Gu Mo with dreadful menace.
The moment Gu Mo saw the freezing breath, he turned his head aside and put even more strength into his arms.
Pfft~
The icy corpse energy immediately changed direction and sprayed diagonally upward.
Seeing its attack fail, the corpse could only rake at empty air with its terrifying iron claws in frustration.
It could not touch Gu Mo’s flesh, much less scratch the ghost-energy shield surrounding him.
The feeling of “I can’t stand you, yet I can’t do anything to you” was indescribably satisfying!
In the blink of an eye, a muffled thud rang out.
The corpse Gu Mo had lifted high into the air slammed heavily into a thick tree.
Boom, boom, boom~
The other two corpses had already charged up behind Gu Mo, howling like ghosts.
Their sweeping iron claws carried black vapor and a foul wind.
Realizing that things were going badly, Gu Mo could only grit his teeth and drive the ghost energy within him to its absolute limit.
Even if the skin on his back were torn to ribbons, he would still beat the corpse before him into submission!
With that thought, Gu Mo drew a deep breath.
A deafening boom erupted!
In an instant, green ghostfire surged skyward around Gu Mo’s body.
The two corpses preparing to ambush him were on the verge of success, but the sudden torrent of ghostfire blasted them far away.
Xiao Yulou, still exhaling clouds of smoke in the distance, was startled when he saw this.
“Boundless Celestial Worthy! Brother Gu’s ghost energy is growing sharper by the day. He actually managed to blast the corpses away. It seems I’ll have to turn up the heat a little more!”
...
Suddenly, the veins on Gu Mo’s face bulged as he exerted force with both hands.
With a crisp crack, the corpse pinned against the tree by the Measuring-Heaven Ruler was instantly separated from its head.
Seeing this, Gu Mo yanked back the ruler, green ghostfire surging along its length, and smashed it viciously into the corpse’s head.
With the situation so dangerous, there was only one word in Gu Mo’s mind.
Destroy!
Mercy toward the enemy was cruelty toward oneself!
A fierce gust swept through the air, followed by a wet splatter.
A large quantity of unknown black, viscous fluid sprayed in every direction.
That snarling dead head would never again dream of biting anyone.
With a heavy thump, the headless corpse collapsed onto the ground, its rigid body lying there in utter misery.
A cool breeze swept past, lifting wisps of black hair from the corpse’s body.
Seeing that his strike had succeeded, Gu Mo immediately felt light-headed with triumph.
But in the very next instant, he heard a sharp crack.
A foul, fishy gust of wind roared past him.
The moment he heard that brittle sound, Gu Mo hurriedly tucked his head down like a turtle.
At a time like this, pride was the least useful thing in the world!
As long as he could stay alive, he would leap into a pit of excrement without hesitation if that was what it took.
Crack, crack~
The iron claws of the two corpses instantly shattered the ghost-energy shield behind Gu Mo.
Seeing this, Xiao Yulou’s heart tightened in the distance.
“Could it be that I’ve taken things too far this time?”
...