441: Breeding flying zombies? An army covered in talismans.

Chapter 433: Nurturing a Flying Zombie? An Army Covered in Talismans

"Damn it, everyone keep up! What are you afraid of?!"

In the early morning, the silence of General Mountain was broken by Deputy Officer Mo's curses.

Following Lu Xuan's orders, only five hundred elite soldiers were brought, traveling light.

Midway, the Feng Shui Advisor ahead stopped on a damp grassy slope on a mountainside and stamped his foot on the ground.

"Marshal," the Master reported, a hint of disdain on his face, "The soil here is loose, Evil Qi is leaking, and there are traces of hastily buried tomb robber tunnels along the way.

It seems many ignorant petty thieves have visited this place, probably angering the tomb's owner and fleeing, abandoning their companions."

After speaking, he changed the subject, pointing towards the solitary dark red stone mound in the center of the valley.

"The true entrance to Great General Weiyuan's tomb could never be on such a shallow mountainside.

In my humble opinion, that 'corpse bait' stone mound, or the 'tiger's mouth' fissure (cleft) in front of it, is the true path to heaven!

These tomb robber tunnels merely scratched the surface of the tomb chamber; they didn't even get into the side chambers!"

Lu Xuan listened to the Feng Shui Advisor's well-reasoned analysis noncommittally, offering no comment.

Only after the Feng Shui Advisor finished speaking did he casually raise his hand and point to a seemingly ordinary flat area not far in front of the 'tiger's mouth' fissure (cleft).

"Go over there and open the tomb entrance for me; we'll go straight in."

In the eyes of Lu Xuan, a Cultivator at Earth Master Perfection, the flow of Spiritual Qi in the mountains and rivers of the world, and the patterns of auspicious and inauspicious acupoints, were as clear as lines on his palm.

Although this 'White Tiger Holding Corpse' formation was ingenious and dangerous, how could it escape his Dharma Eye?

In fact, upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, Lu Xuan saw through the secret of General Mountain at a glance.

Beneath the flat ground he had just pointed to was precisely the location of the main tomb chamber's dome!

All the winding tomb passages and heavily trapped mechanisms were futile in front of Lu Xuan.

Now, by directly using force to break through the great tomb's dome, they could reach the core main tomb!

As for the stone mound or cleft entrance the Master speculated, perhaps he wasn't wrong, but that would inevitably be a winding, circuitous path filled with illusions and killing intent.

Lu Xuan couldn't be bothered with that effort; he wanted efficiency.

The gold and silver treasures in the tomb were the crucial capital for him to strengthen his warlord power!

What Lu Xuan needed now was not just these two counties?

He wanted the entire world!

Only by holding supreme power and mobilizing the strength of the entire nation could he maximize the collection of strange news from across the land and accurately find those malevolent demons and ghosts.

By then, Lu Xuan's army would not only be a Mortal armed force but also his sharp blade for sweeping away evil spirits and acquiring vast System points.

Slaying evil and eliminating demons, refining a large amount of System points, and then constantly growing stronger!

Like an efficient cycle, it propelled Lu Xuan to continuously ascend in this seventh Mortal World, until ultimately... transcending this world!

This was his true purpose in continuing to play the role of this small warlord.

Wealth and power were merely tools for him to achieve his ultimate goal.

Moreover, there was another reason for coming to General Mountain: with his Realm of Earth Master Perfection, Lu Xuan sensed that this 'White Tiger Holding Corpse' formation, after more than a hundred years of Evil Qi nourishment, was very likely to nurture an extremely terrifying zombie.

Ordinary zombies are divided into hairy zombies (bronze armor), silver armored corpses, etc. Although they can be invulnerable to swords and spears, they can still be restrained by ordinary Daoist Magic.

If the tomb owner, Great General Weiyuan, successfully refined the White Tiger Evil Qi of this place, he was very likely to skip these stages and directly transform into the legendary Flying Zombie—this is a Realm that only zombies who have Cultivated for over a thousand years can achieve!

Flying Zombies can absorb the essence of the sun and moon to continuously evolve, can fly at low altitudes, are skilled in Spells, and their Physical Body is Indestructible Body of Diamond, already akin to a demonic creature!

By then, unless a profound expert at Earth Master Major Achievement or an even higher Realm, wielding heavy treasures, were present, it would be impossible to slay him, and it would inevitably lead to a catastrophe sweeping across the world.

In the eyes of others, it was a terrifying Flying Zombie, but in Lu Xuan's eyes, it was a coveted prize that could refine a large amount of System points.

An hour later, after five hundred elite soldiers took turns, digging strenuously and sweating profusely.

A large opening, several zhang deep and over a zhang wide, was finally carved out, revealing the deep, cold structure of the tomb chamber below.

The earthy smell mixed with an indescribable, musty, yin-Evil Qi wafted from the opening, making the approaching soldiers shiver involuntarily.

A military officer in charge of clearing the front suddenly stopped his shovel and, by the daylight filtering from above, vaguely saw a corner of a huge, dark, long object in the gloom below.

He immediately looked up and shouted excitedly towards the opening above:

"Marshal! I see it! I see the coffin!"

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on the deep opening below.

"Go down!"

At Lu Xuan's command, several engineers immediately secured several thick hemp rope ladders, which had been prepared, to the edge of the opening and threw them into the deep tomb.

Although most of the soldiers were apprehensive, military orders were like mountains, and they still sequentially grabbed the swaying rope ladders, carefully climbing down like dumplings entering a pot.

However, Lu Xuan, as the supreme commander, remained standing at the edge of the opening with his hands behind his back, showing no intention of going down himself.

He looked down from above.

Lu Xuan was not one of those hot-headed reckless men who would foolishly run into an underground tomb to take risks.

What if the tomb passage structure was unstable and suddenly collapsed? Or... what if someone with malicious intent deliberately blew up the opening from outside, burying him alive inside?

In this chaotic world where humans and ghosts were indistinguishable and human hearts were treacherous, Lu Xuan never trusted anyone, not even these seemingly loyal subordinates.

Power must be held in his own hands, and escape routes must also be firmly grasped in his own hands.

This was also the sorrow of all Cultivators in this world.

Before breaking through to the legendary Celestial Master Realm, their Physical Body was essentially no different from Mortals, still fragile, susceptible to injury, and death.

Even if Lu Xuan currently had various Talismanic Incantations such as the Giant Strength Talisman, Swiftness Talisman, and Yang Flame Body Protection Talisman, he ultimately could not move mountains and fill seas, nor have an Indestructible Body.

If he were truly buried alive underground by thousands of tons of soil and rocks, once his Spiritual Qi was exhausted, that would be the time of his demise!

Lu Xuan could not afford this risk, nor did he want to take this risk.

However, although he did not personally venture into danger, he had his own means to perceive everything below the tomb.

Deputy Officer Mo and the Feng Shui Advisor below the tomb exchanged glances; they had already received Lu Xuan's secret order and were responsible for the specific command of this tomb exploration mission.

The next second, Deputy Officer Mo seemed to remember something and, with a bitter expression, pulled something from his embrace.

It was a folded yellow triangular Talisman package, covered with dense, twisting incantations drawn in cinnabar.

He glanced at it with distaste; it didn't look appetizing, but he remembered it was a direct order from the Marshal.

So, even if it were a pile of shit, Deputy Officer Mo would have to swallow it with a stiff upper lip.

He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, crammed the Talisman whole into his mouth, and forced it down, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

At the same time, at the ground opening.

Lu Xuan, with an indifferent expression, raised his right hand, brought his index finger to the Void Realm, and a tiny slit opened on its tip.

A drop of bright blood oozed out, and strangely, within that blood bead, a faint, almost imperceptible golden glow flickered!

He then quickly smeared this drop of vital blood over each of his eyelids.

"Om—"

A faint tremor, as if from the Soul level, resounded.

When Lu Xuan opened his eyes again, a golden Talisman phantom seemed to flash in the depths of his pupils, then vanished.

The next moment, a clear image, visible only to him, suddenly appeared in the Void Realm before his eyes.

That image was the real-time scene from inside the tomb, transmitted through the 'sub-Talisman' swallowed by Deputy Officer Mo!

The main tomb chamber was exceptionally spacious, with a high, wide dome that disappeared into the darkness above, like a hollowed-out mountain belly.

Since the first soldiers to descend had already tested with ever-burning lamps to confirm no accumulation of explosive 'marsh gas,' a limited number of torches could now be placed in several corners of the tomb chamber.

The torchlight flickered, barely dispelling a small patch of darkness near the walls.

The air flowed slowly, carrying a heavy earthy smell mixed with the scent of aged decaying wood and a faint metallic rust; conserving oxygen was a critical priority.

In the center,

A giant dark black stone coffin stood like a throne on a central high platform.

The coffin was made entirely of Yin Mountain Black Stone, exuding a chilling coldness that repelled people from a thousand miles away.

On the coffin lid, a lifelike white tiger relief was coiled, not in the traditional auspicious image, but poised to pounce, with bared fangs and eyes inlaid with rubies, filled with savagery and killing intent.

Around the white tiger, inscriptions detailing the life of the tomb owner—Great General Weiyuan—were carved, recounting his illustrious military achievements and boundless slaughter during his lifetime.

At the same time, directly beneath the base of the high platform, there were no coffins, but rather artificially carved grooves through which flowed turbid, foul-smelling dark red liquid—this was the drawn-in underground Yin Evil Blood Spring.

It was like the Veins (veins) of life, providing a continuous supply of underground Evil Qi to the entire coffin matrix.

And what was most chilling was the layout surrounding the main coffin.

On the periphery, nine slightly smaller dark red coffins guarded the main coffin in the center, arranged in the nine palace positions.

These coffins had the color of congealed blood, and presumably, they contained the most loyal and bloodthirsty personal guards and generals of Great General Weiyuan during his lifetime.

They were entrusted with great hope, to be the core officer corps, awakening first after their master's resurrection to lead the great army.

Beyond the nine blood coffins, hundreds of jet-black coffins were densely arranged.

The material of these coffins was ordinary, but their lids were all painted with twisted Talismanic Incantations in cinnabar, as if suppressing something.

They represented the fierce enemy generals captured and killed by Weiyuan, the powerful Cultivators he imprisoned, and even the mountain spirits and wild monsters he collected.

The accumulated resentment and Evil Qi from them were also gathered by the Feng Shui formation, nourishing the main coffin.

Perhaps due to seeing daylight again, or due to the sudden influx of hundreds of living human breaths.

The entire space was permeated with an extremely oppressive atmosphere, as if some balance was being broken.

In this dim, flickering light and oppression, human desires also began to stir quietly.

In a corner of the tomb chamber, mountains of gold, silver, and jewels, along with exquisite porcelain vases, reflected alluring light under the faint torchlight.

The five hundred soldiers, well-trained, suppressed their inner excitement and began to carefully place the priceless burial objects into their back baskets with swift and orderly movements.

Meanwhile, in the center of the tomb chamber, the massive dark black main coffin, the nine dark red blood coffins surrounding it, and the hundreds of densely packed, jet-black 'hundred ghost' coffins in the outermost ring, remained silently standing in the gloom.

They formed a strange contrast with the soldiers busily moving treasures in the corner, as if they were two separate worlds.

"Click!"

A crisp sound of a mechanism clicking echoed particularly harshly in the relatively quiet tomb chamber.

A soldier, while moving a pile of jewels in the deepest corner, accidentally triggered a hidden mechanism below!

"Watch out! It's a trap!"

The excited smiles on the faces of the Feng Shui Advisor and Deputy Officer Mo, who were supervising the moving, instantly froze into terror, almost screaming out a warning!

However, it was already too late.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"

In an instant, piercing sounds of objects tearing through the air burst forth from the tomb walls on all sides!

Countless dark crossbow bolts shot out from concealed holes in the four walls, covering most of the entire tomb chamber!

A rain of arrows poured down!

The moment the five hundred soldiers heard the clicking of the mechanism and the sound of objects tearing through the air, their faces all changed drastically, showing extreme terror!

Facing this pervasive rain of death arrows, they had nowhere to hide and could only instinctively raise their arms to protect their heads, faces, and other vital areas, awaiting the sharp pain of arrows piercing their bodies.

However—"Ding, ding, dang, dang—!"

"Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!"

A dense clang of metal striking stone, like heavy rain on a tin roof, suddenly erupted in the tomb chamber!

The expected scene of flesh and blood flying did not occur; those sharp arrows, shot with enough force to pierce iron armor, instantly twisted, broke, and shattered upon touching the soldiers' bodies, as if they had hit an invisible steel barrier!

Within just a few breaths, the fierce rain of arrows ceased.

The mess on the ground was not corpses, but a layer of broken arrow shafts and shattered arrowheads, lying at the feet of every startled soldier.

Dead silence!

Everyone stared dumbfounded at the shattered arrows at their feet, then incredulously touched their intact bodies, too shocked to speak.

Deputy Officer Mo also looked down at the few crossbow bolts with completely cracked arrowheads at his feet, subconsciously touched his chest and head, his mind a blank.

Only one absurd thought remained: My head... when did it become harder than iron?

At this moment, Deputy Officer Mo suddenly remembered the incredible scene of his palm blocking a bullet last night, and enlightenment instantly struck him. He quickly pulled out the crimson triangular Talisman from his embrace and held it high!

"It's a Talisman! The Divine Talisman bestowed by the Marshal has worked!" His voice was even a little distorted with excitement.

He shouted at all the startled soldiers, his voice echoing fiercely in the empty tomb chamber.

"Everyone, don't be afraid! The Marshal's Divine Might is unmatched; he already foresaw the danger of this place and bestowed us with Immortal Talismans to protect us! With this Divine Talisman, we are invulnerable to swords and spears, and immune to all evil!"

Prompted by Deputy Officer Mo, all the soldiers immediately reacted, pulling out the identical crimson triangular Talismans that Deputy Officer Mo had personally distributed earlier from their embraces.

Looking at this treasure that had saved their lives, and then thinking of the Marshal, who sat calmly above, strategizing perfectly.

A surge of emotions, mixed with fanatical worship and boundless gratitude, instantly welled up in their hearts.

Someone, it's unclear who, first led the way, and thunderous cheers erupted in the tomb chamber like a mountain tsunami.

"Marshal is mighty!"

"Marshal is mighty—!"

The sound waves shook dust down from the tomb ceiling.

The initial fear and panic were now completely transformed into soaring morale and boundless drive.

With the Marshal's Divine Talisman protecting them, what more was there to fear?

The soldiers' eyes burned, their movements became even more nimble, and their gaze towards the central coffin contained less fear and more of a fierce eagerness to try.