8: Bronze Armored Corpse

An hour later.

Li Ke slowly opened his eyes.

A faint green light flashed in his eyes and then disappeared.

He reached out and pulled a piece of coarse straw paper, used to pad dried meat, from a scattered wooden shelf nearby.

His ten fingers moved rapidly, folding and twisting Li Ke butterflies dancing through flowers.

His movements were precise and steady, carrying a strange sense of rhythm.

A moment later,

Three palm-sized, lifelike yellow paper butterflies lay quietly in his palm.

The patterns on their wings were clearly visible, and their antennae trembled slightly, as if they would flap their wings and fly away the next moment.

A hint of satisfaction flashed in Li Ke's eyes.

He bent down and gently blew a breath towards the three paper butterflies.

Whoosh...

The three paper butterflies seemed to be infused with Soul.

They spun in place and flew up lightly.

They flapped their thin paper wings, circling and dancing around a small beam of light that filtered down from the cellar entrance, incredibly nimble.

Then, they gently passed through the narrow gap of the cellar entrance,

Flapping their wings, they flew out.

...

Three yellow paper butterflies,

Li Ke three falling withered leaves, flew silently into the courtyard.

The Zombie Old Ma Slave guarding the courtyard gate still stood motionless Li Ke a stone sculpture, completely unaware of the movements behind him.

The paper butterflies seemed quite interested in this zombie, which exuded a strong Death Qi.

They deftly circled the zombie once.

One of them even briefly stopped on the zombie's lead-gray, lifeless nose tip.

The next instant!

"Roar!"

The Zombie Old Ma Slave seemed to have been greatly provoked and instantly flew into a rage!

He violently swung his heavy, stiff, iron-Li Ke arms, with a whistling wind sound,

Attempting to smash these annoying little things!

However, the three paper butterflies flapped their wings slightly.

Li Ke spirits moving through a flower garden,

They easily dodged the zombie's clumsy and violent arms,

Maintaining a leisurely posture, they slowly flew out of the courtyard and disappeared into the deep night outside.

At the same time.

Deep in the cellar, Li Ke, who was sitting cross-legged,

His eyes showed an extremely strange sight.

His vision seemed to split into three independent parts.

Each part was Li Ke an irregular mirror shard,

Presenting slightly shaking images from different angles.

These were the scenes "seen" by the three paper butterflies that flew out of the courtyard.

"This [Paper Butterfly Paper Binding] is indeed a good tool for reconnaissance."

Li Ke mused in his heart.

There were many strange methods in [Golden Gate Paper Piercing],

But his current Soul power was limited, and he couldn't fully comprehend the entire text.

He could only choose the most basic and practical "Paper Butterfly" section to comprehend, based on his urgent needs.

He didn't expect the effect to be surprisingly good.

Just an ordinary, lifeless piece of straw paper, after being folded with some special techniques,

Actually seemed to have truly developed sentience.

Not only could it be controlled by him, but it would even spontaneously make some reactions very similar to living creatures,

Such as the curiosity and evasion towards the zombie just now.

Li Ke couldn't fully understand the mysteries within this for now, so he could only prioritize practicality.

...

Li Ke gathered his thoughts,

Completely immersing his consciousness into the three split perspectives.

He first manipulated the three paper butterflies,

Flying in different directions towards the edges of Charles Manor.

The result was no surprise.

No matter which direction, after the paper butterflies flew a certain distance,

They would disappear into that strange, seemingly boundless dense white mist.

As far as the eye could see, there were only endless, twisted and grotesque tree shadows.

Li Ke's last glimmer of hope completely vanished.

This place was indeed completely sealed by some field domain.

Then, he began to manipulate the paper butterflies,

Carefully exploring the situation inside the entire Charles Manor.

Soon, in the fragmented vision,

Various strange existences began to appear.

There were translucent ghosts with twisted forms and malevolent aura, which he had encountered before.

There were also shambling corpse puppets exuding a strong stench of decay.

And there was a new kind of creature, unseen before, composed of scattered bones, with eerie green ghostly flames burning in their skull's eye sockets.

These undead creatures wandered aimlessly throughout the Manor.

But most of them were concentrated in the central area of the Manor, which was near the castle where Charles resided.

Moreover, their growth rate was astonishingly fast!

Many walking corpses that were originally just corpse puppets now had lead-gray bodies, with Corpse Qi swirling around them, clearly having completely transformed into the lowest-grade zombies!

The forms of some ghosts also underwent bizarre changes, no longer a single human outline, but a twisted Fusion of multiple painful, wailing human faces, their resentment almost solidified.

Those skeleton monsters had different forms; some had abnormally large bones, while others grew extra bone spurs.

This terrifying growth rate... was absolutely abnormal!

From the images transmitted back by the paper butterflies,

Li Ke occasionally saw scenes of zombies tearing apart ghosts, and skeletons gnawing on zombie bones.

Between these monsters, there seemed to be some cruel devouring and Fusion!

The entire Manor was Li Ke a huge Gu pot undergoing some terrifying mutation!

Li Ke originally thought that by using the Corpse Refining Dao to forcibly refine the Old Ma Nu into a zombie,

He had already taken a shortcut, and the speed was extremely fast.

Now it seemed that his step-by-step refining method,

In this current strange environment, might even have slowed down the Old Ma Nu's "evolution" speed!

...

Finally, Li Ke focused his attention,

Manipulating one of the most nimble paper butterflies,

Carefully flying towards the castle at the very center of the Manor, which stood in the shadows.

That was where Charles, the owner of the Manor, resided.

And it was also the source of the entire Manor's mutation.

The paper butterfly silently passed through an open window of the castle and flew inside.

The inside of the castle was in a mess.

Large amounts of severed limbs and broken bones were scattered on the ground.

Some remains were lead-gray, clearly belonging to zombies.

Others were stark white bones, with traces of eerie green ghostly flames still clinging to them.

Many corpses had been half-eaten, the scene bloody and chaotic.

It seemed that a very tragic internal struggle had just occurred inside the castle.

Li Ke manipulated the paper butterfly,

Quickly explored the first floor of the castle.

Aside from the scattered remains, no living monsters were found.

He then controlled the paper butterfly to fly up to the second floor along the dusty staircase.

Soon, the paper butterfly arrived at a room that looked Li Ke a study.

The room was also in a mess,

Bookshelves had toppled, and books were scattered everywhere.

Suddenly, the paper butterfly spontaneously landed above a bookshelf, gently flapping its wings,

Li Ke's gaze sharpened,

He keenly discovered an extremely hidden crack behind the bookshelf.

With a thought, the paper butterfly's wings gently vibrated, and it deftly squeezed through the crack.

Behind the bookshelf was indeed a hidden secret room.

Li Ke was not unfamiliar with this secret room.

It was the room where he had witnessed the strange ritual when he previously performed the Soul Searching Dao!

On the ground was carved a complex, Evil-exuding six-pointed star pattern.

In the center of the pattern, seven ancient-looking brass oil lamps were arranged in a "spoon" shape,

A middle-aged man dressed in luxurious silk clothing, with a pale face and tightly closed eyes, lay motionless at the position pointed to by the "handle" of the seven oil lamps.

It was Charles, the owner of the Manor.

He was Li Ke a dead wax figure, long since devoid of any breath.

Li Ke, through the paper butterfly's perspective,

Carefully observed the ritual pattern on the ground and the seven strange oil lamps.

At this moment, three of the seven oil lamps were completely extinguished, their wicks charred black.

Only four remained, burning with faint, eerie green flames,

Gently flickering in the enclosed room, casting strange shadows.

"Where did Charles get this kind of monstrous thing?"

Li Ke couldn't help but frown.

The structure of this ritual actually vaguely resembled a Formation from the cultivation world,

But it also added many twisted and chaotic symbols he had never seen before.

It was neither Eastern nor Western, exuding an aura of evil Dao.

Li Ke manipulated the paper butterfly, carefully observed the entire ritual, deep in thought,

After confirming there were no other discoveries, he controlled the paper butterfly to return along the same path, squeezing out from the crack in the bookshelf.

However, just as the paper butterfly had just flown out of the crack!

A dark afterimage flashed past Li Ke a ghost!

Snap!

With a soft sound,

The paper butterfly was shattered by a tremendous force!

Li Ke's vision suddenly went black!

In the last moment before the paper butterfly's vision disappeared.

Li Ke clearly saw a stiff face, as if cast from bronze.

Those eyes had no trace of a living person's spirit,

Only a bottomless, pure black, as if it could devour all light.

At the same time Li Ke saw the other party,

Those dark eyes seemed to have also simultaneously penetrated the barrier of space,

Following a subtle connection in the ethereal, they suddenly met Li Ke's gaze, which was far away in the cellar!

"Old butler?!"

A face from the original body's memory instantly flashed through Li Ke's mind,

Overlapping with that metallic-colored face,

It was the silent old butler by Charles's side!

"He's actually... already advanced to Bronze Armor Corpse!"

The image cut off.

In the shadows on the second floor of the castle,

That tall Bronze Armor Corpse slowly turned its stiff neck, its dark eyes seeming to roll slightly.

It hopped heavily towards the end of the corridor, step by step,

Its figure quickly disappeared into the deeper darkness.

...

An hour later.

A tall, dark figure suddenly leaped out of the shadows and slammed violently into the wall of an ordinary stone house!

Boom!

The sturdy gray-white stone wall was easily smashed through Li Ke paper, sending rubble flying!

The Bronze Armor Corpse rushed into the house,

Its dark eyes scanned the surroundings, and after a full circle,

It then turned and hopped into the cellar in the courtyard,

Bang!

The wooden cover of the cellar was crushed to pieces,

It was empty inside,

Only a few empty wooden shelves, and a few scattered pieces of fine yellow paper on the ground.

The Bronze Armor Corpse was expressionless.

It slowly turned its body, hopped out of the cellar, and hopped out of the courtyard.

Once again disappearing into the omnipresent shadows of the Manor.