“Can’t you perform transcendence? Go help quickly!”
After speaking, he directly pulled Su Zhuyi forward. Su Zhuyi didn’t resist—she was going over anyway. Being dragged along by him, they soon reached the house where the corpse had risen. Outside the house was already piled with firewood, tables, chairs, and other miscellaneous things, but despite piling so much, the door was still being banged loudly.
“Heavens, what kind of ghostly thing is inside with such strength!” a villager said in terror.
“That Old Lady Lu, could she, could she jump over walls?” After these words fell, someone looked up at the courtyard wall. Immediately, many people scattered like birds, and without people bracing those things, the door was knocked open about a foot wide. Su Xiang quickly pressed against it with force, shouting: “A freshly risen corpse can’t jump yet! Quickly block the door and don’t let it out! When daylight comes and the sun rises, it won’t dare be presumptuous, and then it’ll be much easier to kill!”
Hearing this, the surrounding villagers felt much more at ease and went to brace the door again. However, the zombie inside, probably seeing it couldn’t break through the door, began scratching at the door with its fingernails, making creaking sounds that made scalps tingle. Seeing the several-inch-thick wooden door being clawed with openings and sharp gray fingernails suddenly protruding and stuck in the door cracks, the villagers panicked again.
“Oh no, there’s blood on those fingernails!”
“Don’t panic, wait for daylight!” Su Xiang said calmly. Just then, the steamed bun boy shouted: “Don’t panic, don’t panic, I brought the little master!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers blocking the door spontaneously made way, pushing Su Zhuyi to the front. The zombie behind the door, facing reduced resistance, forcibly stuck an arm out from inside. Its sharp fingernails were over a foot long, nearly scratching Su Zhuyi’s scalp.
Su Zhuyi: “…”
Good thing she was short now, or she really would have been scratched by a claw. That would truly be stealing chickens but losing the rice—quite laughable.
She coughed twice, cleared her throat, and frowned: “Resentment soars to heaven. This thing is not easy to deal with.”
Then Su Zhuyi took out a string of red bean prayer beads and fingered them pretentiously: “I’m still young and haven’t formally practiced cultivation. It’s just that these past two years I’ve been influenced by what I’ve seen and heard, watching master exorcise demons and drive away evil, learning some superficial knowledge from him, understanding a few exorcism incantations. I can only try for now.”
Cultivators only began drawing qi into their bodies for formal cultivation after age six. Though Su Xiang was only the lowest level of body-refining cultivator, he knew this much. Therefore, Su Zhuyi couldn’t claim she had already learned any zombie-catching abilities, lest it arouse suspicion.
After speaking, Su Zhuyi muttered incantations. Moments later, the commotion in the house gradually lessened, and the villagers were immediately overjoyed.
After the zombie in the house completely quieted down, Su Zhuyi wiped the sweat from her forehead: “I don’t know how effective it is either. When daylight comes and the sun rises, send a few strong villagers in to look.”
“Good.” Su Xiang agreed. He and several sturdy villagers guarded the door, waiting for daylight. Su Zhuyi sat cross-legged on a wooden table chanting sutras, but what she recited wasn’t any calming incantation but rather a yin-gathering spell.
These villagers under Su Xiang’s command could be said to be panicked but not disordered. Now they had black dogs and roosters, even chopping down several branches from the old tree. Using sacred wood to beat ghosts was quite effective. When the sun came up later, the old woman’s newly formed living corpse would probably be subdued by the villagers, and then burning her with fire would make all efforts futile.
Since she had done it, she must succeed. She had to get that spirit stone no matter what. Taking out a talisman paper from her sleeve and crushing it, Su Zhuyi again began reciting the yin-gathering spell.
“Why do I feel a bit chilly?” a middle-aged man said.
“Me too. So frightening that a corpse would rise. Are all the living people inside gone? If any were still alive, how could there be no sound at all?”
“Definitely dead. It’s also retribution—who told them to treat the old woman like that when she was alive!”
“Bitten to death alive—just thinking about it is chilling. How could it not feel cold…”
The remaining villagers chatted in low voices to relieve tension, and time passed bit by bit.
Soon, the sky gradually lightened with fish-belly white. After a while longer, the sun finally emerged from beyond the mountains. That warm sunlight finally dispelled the cold, shining warmly on people’s bodies.
“I’ve never found the sun so pleasing before,” a villager said.
Su Zhuyi also nodded: “With the sun out, this zombie is much weaker. Fearing sunlight, it should have already left the courtyard and hidden somewhere shady. I wonder if this household has any cellars or the like. Is their house sealed? Are there any shady places connected to other families?”
Earlier there had been human presence outside, so it attracted the zombie to stay by the door. But now fearing light, it would definitely hide and might flee to other places. If it was only separated from someone’s house by a fence gate, that would be dangerous…
After Su Zhuyi spoke, a man’s face turned pale: “I, I, my house—our house’s back wall collapsed and hasn’t been repaired yet! There’s a big tree in my yard that provides shade!” The more he thought, the more afraid he became. He directly grabbed a smaller, thinner man beside him: “Quickly go tell my family to come out immediately, don’t go where the sun can’t reach. Let’s not delay—quickly go catch the zombie!”
Su Xiang looked up at the sky and said sternly: “Good, let’s go!”
This time, Su Zhuyi didn’t walk at the front. Everyone thought the zombie would hide away, fearing light. However, Su Zhuyi knew it was still standing behind the door.
With its heavy natural resentment aided by her help, after rising and eating living people, it was no longer the lowest-level small zombie. The yin-gathering array above had concentrated yin energy to minimize sunlight damage. At most, it felt slightly uncomfortable, but I had no fear whatsoever.
The moment the door broke open, a gray-blue face suddenly appeared, followed immediately by long ghostly claws scratching out, leaving a deep, bloody mark on the face of the frontmost villager. He covered his face in agonized wails while nearby villagers had already scattered in all directions. Only Su Xiang roared angrily and began fighting with the living corpse.
Hunter Zhang fetched the dog’s blood and directly splashed a basin of it on the living corpse. The corpse’s body stiffened slightly. Everyone was delighted, thinking the dog’s blood was effective, but unexpectedly, the next moment, she bared her teeth and quickly moved to Hunter Zhang’s side, clawing through his chest with one strike…
Tsk tsk, so much blood. Su Zhuyi squinted slightly, seeming unable to bear watching.