Chapter 17: The Girl from Western Hunan

Crack, crack, crack!

At the critical moment, the terrifying zombie tightly bound by Gu Mo actually twisted its neck one hundred and eighty degrees. Its withered, ashen-gray face was covered in horrifying wrinkles. A pair of red-lantern-like eyes burned with an eerie crimson glow.

Seeing the zombie's visage at such close range, Gu Mo felt like dying right then and there!

As the zombie opened its cavernous maw, an intensely chilly aura of death, accompanied by a nauseating stench, rushed directly toward his face.

Blasted by this freezing corpse Qi, Gu Mo instantly felt his lower muscles tighten, his heroic body shudder, and he shivered uncontrollably.

Flustered and helpless, Gu Mo was caught in a chaotic, head-on pincer attack between the two zombies...

"Damn it! Am I carrying a chamber pot on my shoulder? Why on earth did I use the Fuxi Snake Fist?"

Cursing inwardly, a jumble of garbled thoughts flashed directly through Gu Mo's mind.

"Great Bodhisattva Guanyin! Jade Emperor! Buddha Tathagata! Allah and Mother Mary! Someone, please save me!"

Meanwhile, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost, standing on Gu Mo's shoulder, had no intention of lending a hand.

The reason was simple: this was a specialized trial meticulously prepared by Xiao Yulou. If Gu Mo relied on others for help every time, he would never grow up in his lifetime.

Similarly, Xiao Yulou not far away was also looking on coldly, watching developments quietly. It seemed those two terrifying zombies were still not enough to cost Gu Mo his life.

Suddenly, an extremely freezing power erupted from within Gu Mo's body.

With a crisp metallic clinking sound, the bone-chilling Soul-Binding Cable fiercely manifested itself with aggressive momentum!

In the blink of an eye, the icy Soul-Binding Cable split into two directions, tightly wrapping the two zombies like rice dumplings.

Witnessing this scene, Xiao Yulou, dressed in a black Taoist robe, flicked his sleeve and let out a sigh.

"Alas, this poor Taoist knew something like this would happen. With Fifth Master Bai's Soul-Binding Cable here, Brother Gu's growth is practically stalled!"

Who would have thought that just as his voice trailed off, Gu Mo, standing right in the midst of the two corpses, would suddenly emit a thick, visible cloud of black smoke. The eerie red light on Gu Mo's chest appeared once more!

In an instant, Gu Mo's appearance became ghostly and terrifying to the extreme, chilling anyone to the bone and making them tremble with fear!

With a swift whoosh, Gu Mo, his complexion as pale as wax, grabbed the zombie in front of him in a death grip, and his terrifying fangs—protruding from his wide-open maw—sank deeply into the zombie's neck!

In the span of a breath, Gu Mo, wearing a demonic expression, exerted fierce force with his jaw.

Crack!

That utterly wretched zombie instantly had its neck snapped by Gu Mo, and a large cluster of black fur scattered into the air.

Whoosh.

Gu Mo whirled around abruptly, glaring coldly at the remaining zombie with his blood-red eyes. The cavernous mouth he had just opened immediately expelled a thick billow of white corpse Qi.

The zombie that had been tightly grabbing Gu Mo was momentarily stunned by this sight.

Looking at it now, Gu Mo after falling into madness looked even more like a zombie than the actual corpses!

What the hell—he had only ever heard of zombies biting people to suck blood, but never had he seen a human biting a zombie!

Seeing this bizarre scene, Xiao Yulou could no longer sit idly by. The thought of "using barbarians to control barbarians" flashed through his mind.

Abruptly, Xiao Yulou flicked his robe's sleeve, revealing his left hand forming a Taoist seal, while his free right hand swiftly conjured a talisman in mid-air.

As a glowing golden spiritual talisman shot into the array of coffins before him, more than twenty terrifying zombies abruptly shook their stiff corpses and hopped menacingly toward Gu Mo.

Clack, clack, clack!

Pairs of horrifying iron claws, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, locked in a death grip around Gu Mo's neck.

Yet, as the camera angle shifted, Gu Mo's wax-pale face suddenly split into a cavernous maw, revealing two rows of frighteningly sharp fangs.

Squish!

Before those zombies could bite Gu Mo's neck, Gu Mo had already beaten them to the punch, sinking his teeth into a zombie's neck. A large shower of long-cleansed, dried century-old blood sprayed out, looking like fragments of shattered caramel.

That was simply bloody bizarre!

Next, the maddened Gu Mo severed the heads and bodies of four or five zombies with just a few swift bites.

Witnessing this eerie scene, Xiao Yulou broke out in a cold sweat.

"Holy shit—I messed up!"

Following an exclamation of shock, Xiao Yulou hastily raised his hands to form a Taoist seal, manipulating the twenty-odd zombies to press down heavily on Gu Mo's shoulders.

In the blink of an eye, the ghost-shrouded Gu Mo was forcefully driven downward by the cluster of more than twenty zombies.

Because the scene was far too chaotic, Xiao Yulou in the distance could not see the specific situation at all.

Just then, a deafening bang echoed out, and the twenty-plus zombies were instantly blasted apart by Gu Mo's formidable strength.

In a flash of lightning, a black shadow flickered before the eyes, and the frenzied Gu Mo materialized right in front of one of the zombies.

Before the zombie could react in the slightest,

Squish!

The terrifying pair of iron claws Gu Mo held before his chest violently plunged straight into the zombie's chest cavity. A dazzling corpse pill was instantly gouged out by the mad Gu Mo!

Seeing this, Xiao Yulou in the distance was left gaping, trembling with fear.

Subconsciously, Xiao Yulou slowly reached his hand inside his Taoist robe, touching two divine artifacts: the 'Jade Hairpin' and the 'Wealth of the World'.

'Brother Gu, if you don't stop now, this poor Taoist will have no choice but to...'

Yet, thinking of the unsealing process of these two divine artifacts, Xiao Yulou's expression darkened; doing so might completely destroy Brother Gu!

What on earth should he do? His own body had not fully recovered yet, and if they really fought, he would definitely suffer a huge loss!

Just as Xiao Yulou was hesitating, an eerie black shadow abruptly appeared on a treetop in the distance.

The moment this bizarre black shadow materialized, it coldly surveyed the littered ground in the distance, and with a backhand wave from the shadow,

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

In a flash, a pitch-black swarm of almond-sized hornets flew rapidly toward Gu Mo.

Squish, squish!

The mad Gu Mo was hopping about rapidly like a zombie; having lost his mind to slaughter, he paid no attention to the rapidly approaching hornet swarm.

At a glance, Gu Mo was bounding forward in giant leaps, chasing after the twenty-odd zombies while relentlessly clawing and biting them.

For a time, the entire battlefield was an absolute mess, with numerous severed limbs scattered everywhere. Seven or eight rolling zombie heads stared blankly at Gu Mo's madness with utterly bewildered expressions.

Could this scene possibly get any more ridiculous?

Gu Mo was actually chasing after a pack of more than twenty zombies, biting them.

A plotline like this probably wouldn't even dare to be filmed in a television drama for the next hundred years!

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Just as Xiao Yulou was hesitating, the massive swarm of hornets had already surrounded Gu Mo tightly.

The bomber-like buzzing was giving Gu Mo a splitting headache, yet his murderous intent surging anew, he lunged forward violently.

With a squish!

A copper-walled, iron-walled zombie had its chest immediately pierced right through by Gu Mo. Afterward, the dense swarm of hornets buzzed around Gu Mo, stinging him furiously. Fortunately, Gu Mo was protected by a shield of dense ghostly Qi, otherwise, his entire head would have been covered in swollen bumps!

In desperation, Gu Mo abruptly lifted his head, opened his mouth, and a thick blast of corpse Qi—like a fire extinguisher—instantly blew away a massive portion of the hornet swarm.

Afterward, that flock of bizarre bees seemed to receive some command, continuously shifting formations to harass Gu Mo.

Meanwhile, Gu Mo could only raise his stiff arms, constantly swatting away the bees around him. Xiao Yulou, dressed in his black Taoist robe, frowned deeply at the sight.

"What is going on? Did Brother Gu poke a hornet's nest?"

Noticing something amiss, Xiao Yulou could only sink his posture and channel a portion of his Taoist Qi, focusing it directly into his eyes.

In an instant, an extra pupil formed within each of Xiao Yulou's eyes. Frowning heavily, Xiao Yulou used this 'Double-Pupil Ghost Vision' to scan his surroundings.

After merely a few glances, Xiao Yulou spotted the bizarre human figure perched on the tree branch.

Abruptly, Xiao Yulou quietly placed his hands behind his back and formed a Taoist seal.

Boom!

A huge, scorching fireball shot rapidly toward the black shadow.

Moments later, a thunderous explosion erupted from the high tree branch.

Boom!

For a time, falling leaves fluttered like fire meteors.

Seconds later, that slender black figure stood completely unharmed beneath the shade of the tree, stepping out leisurely.

Xiao Yulou, clad in his black Taoist robe, flicked his sleeve and proclaimed loudly with boundless arrogance.

"An honorable person does not do things in secret; who on earth are you, Your Excellency?"

Hearing this, the slender figure wielding the Miao saber smiled slightly and responded loudly in return.

"Step by step up the bamboo terrace of Xiangxi, clouds and mist plunge straight into the nine-layered skies!"

Hearing this unique greeting of sect affiliation, the immortal-like Xiao Yulou was momentarily stunned, suffering three consecutive shocks! (To be shocked three times still fell short of describing Xiao Yulou's mood at that moment.)

The sweet voice coupled with the slender figure opposite made it clear that the intruder was a woman, and moreover, a practitioner of the Xiangxi witchcraft and sorcery traditions.

Just these two points combined made for a deadly situation!

After all, Master Fourth Xiang had met his demise precisely at the hands of Gu Mo and Xiao Yulou.

Never had they expected the practitioners of Xiangxi witchcraft to arrive so swiftly.

Perhaps the walking corpse that had wreaked havoc in the courtyard in the dead of night was refined by this very Xiangxi woman.

A multitude of questions plagued Xiao Yulou's churning heart like a tidal wave.

Since the other party had already declared her background, Xiao Yulou, for the sake of so-called martial arts etiquette, naturally could not show weakness. Mulling it over, Xiao Yulou flicked his Taoist robe, formed a hand seal, and loudly replied.

"Wind sweeps auspicious clouds over Yuxu Peak, deep within the clouds lies Wuzhuang Temple!"

To his surprise, upon hearing this, the slender figure opposite let out a cold snort and retorted.

"To think that a scoundrel like you actually hails from an orthodox school like Yuxu Peak's Wuzhuang Temple! Not sleeping in the dead of night, you come to this secluded place to play with corpses—what on earth is your ulterior motive?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yulou flicked his black robe's sleeve and smiled coldly.

"My good sister! The Xiangxi clan and Wuzhuang Temple have always had 'no previous grudges and no recent enmity.' Why are you meddling with this poor Taoist? Why don't you go tile the surface of the sun instead?"

Hearing this, the slender figure opposite grew furious out of embarrassment and lashed out angrily.

"Good grief, you scruffy Taoist priest! In broad daylight under the bright sky, you dare to desecrate the souls of the dead. Aren't you afraid these zombies will escape, plunge the living into misery, and bring shame upon your sect?"

Hearing the Xiangxi maiden's rhetoric, Xiao Yulou burst out laughing.

"Although this poor Taoist cannot claim an immortal physique, I am rather accomplished in Taoist arts. How could I possibly be as you claim, sister?"

At this, the Xiangxi maiden whose specific appearance remained unseen flew into a towering rage!

With a sharp *ching*!

The curved Miao saber gleaming with cold light was finally bared for all to see...