Chapter 147: Corpse Fiend

"Boom!"

Jiuer's figure and the human-like figure emerging from the mud recoiled simultaneously. Jiuer panted heavily, fixing her crimson eyes on Qiansheng. "Why are you standing there like a stunned goose? Waiting to be devoured by him?"

Only then did Qiansheng snap back to reality. Although she belonged to the Mountain Spirit clan, she was still young and rarely ventured out of the Three Realms Market, leaving her with scarce combat experience. Had Jiuer not blocked that blow for her just now, she would likely have been in grave danger.

The figure emerging from the soil was wrapped in cloth bags, revealing a pair of eerie, greenish eyes that blocked their path ominously. His hoarse, sinister voice rang out, "Ha, what a fortuitous find that required no effort at all! Not only is this Mountain Spirit here, but this brat with the Pure Yang bloodline is here as well. Last time you ambushed me with a magical treasure, but this time, I will not let you off."

Zhang Shouzheng pulled out his broken sword, cast a speechless glance at Shaohua, and snorted coldly, "You really have the nerve to say I ambushed you? It was clearly you who dragged me into the dirt first!"

"Husband, be careful. This fellow has a very potent lightning talisman that can damage your physical body."

The black mist notching not far away receded as Qingya stepped out from within. Her face was as pale as snow, and she was clutching a tattered rag doll in her arms, glaring at Zhang Shouzheng with intense hatred.

"A lightning talisman? What great capability can a little brat in the early Day-Walking realm possibly have?"

Shaohua chuckled sinisterly and charged toward them once more. At the same time, he opened his mouth and spewed out a greenish mist. An appalling stench of a corpse rolled over them overwhelmingly. After taking a single breath of it, Zhang Shouzheng felt dizzy and lightheaded. Jiuer, however, remained completely unaffected, while Qiansheng frowned deeply, pointing the wooden staff in her hand forward as countless vines burst forth from the soil, entangling Shaohua.

"Hurry up and run!"

Qiansheng flicked her finger, sending a green pill straight into Zhang Shouzheng's mouth. Zhang Shouzheng immediately felt a refreshing coolness carrying a faint fragrance flood his mind, and the dizziness instantly vanished. He reached out, grabbed several yellow talismans, and hurled them in Qingya's direction.

"Azure Dragon's Evil-Slaying Blade!"

Several yellow talismans flashed with cyan light in mid-air, transforming one after another into azure magical blades that slashed toward Qingya.

Before they had even run ten meters away, an angry roar erupted from behind. Shaohua grabbed out with both hands, shattering the vines binding his body. Moreover, the originally verdant vines had turned a grayish-black, losing their original vitality and incapable of regenerating once snapped. Qiansheng drew a sharp breath, but seeing they had already reached the edge of the forest, she pressed her delicate, fair hand gently against one of the large trees and quickly retreated.

A cyan rune emerged upon the trunk of the tree, and the entire tree instantly seemed to come alive. Its branches whipped frantically toward the pursuing Shaohua. Shaohua, however, reached out and grabbed the branches, unleashing the corpse demon Qi within his hands, causing the branches to wither rapidly.

Yet this action bought them a considerable amount of time, and Zhang Shouzheng had already brought the other two toward the hospital.

"Jiuer, doesn't Xiaoling possess a Ghost Official's robe? Tell Xiaoling to lure Qingya away. Both of them are in the Manifested Yin realm, and since Qingya has no ghostly Qi on her, she can do nothing to Xiaoling."

Zhang Shouzheng glanced not far away, where Qingya had already destroyed his Evil-Slaying Blade. Moreover, given the speed of an evil ghost, the two of them could never outrun her on foot. If Qingya entangled them, Shaohua the corpse demon would catch up in no time, and the situation would become truly perilous.

Jiuer reached out and withdrew the Yin-Yang Umbrella, opening it to reveal a hazy realm of black mist from which Xiaoling emerged. Despite her short stature, she was draped in a Ghost Official's robe that actually fit her rather well—truly baffling. Could this garment adjust its size automatically?

"Xiaoling, go entangle Qingya."

Jiuer reached out and patted Xiaoling on the head. Because the child wore a hood and her face was obscured by a layer of hazy ghostly Qi, her true appearance remained hidden.

"As you command, Master."

Xiaoling leaped into the air, flying straight toward Qingya. Moments later, Qingya's startled and angry voice echoed from the distance: "A Ghost Official!"

About ten minutes later, Zhang Shouzheng arrived at the hospital entrance, panting heavily, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hmph, let's see where else you can run!"

The soil beneath Zhang Shouzheng's feet suddenly burst open as Shaohua drilled out from within, his sharp fangs lunging viciously to bite Zhang Shouzheng's neck. Zhang Shouzheng immediately raised his sword to block. Shaohua bit down on the broken sword, producing a crisp sound and scattering a shower of sparks.

Qiansheng gritted her teeth, raised the wooden staff in her hand, and struck Shaohua fiercely on the head, only to be repelled by a massive rebound force.

"Idiot! He's a corpse demon! Did you actually expect to knock him out?"

Jiuer gave a cold laugh and let out a piercing whistle that carried far into the distance. At the same time, she drove both hands fiercely into Shaohua's back, sinking them deep into his flesh. The bandages on Shaohua's back were shredded to pieces by Jiuer's grip. With a hard tug, Jiuer pulled Shaohua backward, and the sword in Zhang Shouzheng's hand lunged straight for Shaohua's head.

To destroy this corpse demon, it seemed the only way was to obliterate his primordial spirit. Since his primordial spirit resided within his brain, piercing his head with a sword would mean Shaohua's death.

Just as the broken sword thrust forward, Shaohua suddenly smiled eerily. The bandages all over his body unwrapped in a split second, fluttering wildly around him. Catching sight of his true form, Zhang Shouzheng nearly vomited.

He was nothing more than a skeleton, yet patches of flesh still clung to the bones—some flesh was vividly crimson, while other parts were entirely decomposed. The wave of foul stench emanated precisely from this rotting flesh, while the bright red flesh emitted a pungent, bloody odor.

However, looking at Shaohua's head, it was a completely different scene. Aside from that pair of greenish eyeballs, his facial features were utterly intact and could even be considered somewhat handsome, except that the corners of his mouth were curved upward in a deeply malevolent expression.

The surrounding cloth strips were enveloped in corpse demon Qi, preventing Zhang Shouzheng's sword from piercing forward and sending him flying with a lash of the cloth.

Jiuer's hands clutched at empty air as those cloth strips lashed out like lightning, locking down her hands and feet, while other strips twisted together like a spiral, driving viciously toward her forehead.

"No!"

Zhang Shouzheng let out a cry of alarm, his eyes wide with surging anger. Before his voice could even fade, several cloth strips coiled around him like pythons, squeezing his body so tightly that he felt as though his internal organs were about to be crushed out of him.

"Elements of nature, heed my call! In the name of the Mountain Spirit, summon the spirits of the earth, transform into Yellow-Armored Warriors, and slay the demons!"

Qiansheng's expression turned solemn as she lifted her chin slightly, holding her hands palms-up. Her hair danced behind her head, and the tips of her feet hovered off the ground.

Just as Qiansheng chanted her incantation, inside an office in one of the hospital buildings, Qingyu suddenly opened her eyes, pushed open the window, and stepped to the sill to look down at the hospital entrance not far away, her brow furrowed deeply. After a moment of silent deliberation, she suddenly leaped down from the window, transforming into a white figure that soared like a giant bird toward the hospital gates.