When I reached the top, the Flying Zombie had shifted targets and lunged toward Philip.
Philip was clinging to the cliff face—it was difficult to deal with such a powerful Flying Zombie in that position. After a few rounds, he was already drenched in sweat. He tried to climb up, but it was no use. The Flying Zombie gave him no chance, relentlessly pestering him.
This Flying Zombie had the power of a zombie hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. It was impressive enough that Philip had lasted this long.
"All in!" Philip shouted. Then he pulled out another Yellow Taoist Talisman and dripped his blood onto it. But this time, he used too much blood—his face instantly turned pale.
"Blood Devouring Talisman, destroy the evil!" Philip bellowed.
The yellow talisman, now stained red, shot out like a sharp arrow and exploded with a bang as it neared the Flying Zombie.
"Philip actually used this move… It seems he's really going all out. The Blood Devouring Talisman consumes a great deal of essence blood and mana. After using it, his vitality will be damaged, and his body will be weakened. He won't be able to keep fighting. This is his last resort—but it's extremely powerful," Stein said.
Hearing that made me a little worried. What if that move didn't finish off the Flying Zombie? Would Philip be…?
"Climb up now while you have the chance!" I shouted urgently.
Just then, the blood talisman exploded, sending up thick smoke and shattering many rocks. There was no time to worry about the jiangshi—getting up here was the priority.
But Philip had exhausted much of his energy and blood. He no longer had the strength he'd had moments before and could only struggle upward with difficulty.
Then I heard a furious roar—something was rushing up from below. It was the Flying Zombie. It wasn't dead—half its head had been blown off by the Blood Talisman.
Enraged, it lunged straight at Philip with a wild roar, its hands stabbing toward him like steel blades.
Philip jerked aside, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow, but the zombie's sharp nails slashed through his clothes. His entire top was torn apart and shredded by the cadaveric qi.
It's over… The jiangshi isn't dead. Is Philip done for? Even with half its head gone, this jiangshi—a walking corpse, and such a powerful one—could still survive and move freely.
"Foxie, Philip's almost here—can you curl your tail around him?" I asked.
The little fox shook his head. He couldn't reach; it was still a little too far.
Damn it… What should I do? I redrew my Copper Coin Sword. Screw it—if nothing else works, I'll go down and fight it myself. Philip risked his life for me; I can't just leave him there!
But just at this time, something happened that left us utterly astonished. The Flying Zombie suddenly stopped its attack, overcome with fear. Facing Philip, it was like a mouse seeing a cat.
It was the Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts! It was the Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts on Philip that had intimidated it!
Earlier, I had given Philip a tattoo from the Gods and Ghosts series called "Yinggou" to cure the cadaveric qi in his body.
Yinggou is the Ancestor of Zombies, one of the four Jiangshi Kings. Even a centuries-old Flying Zombie would be scared out of its wits upon encountering it. Fortunately, the Flying Zombie had torn Philip's clothes, revealing the tattoo.
After a stalemate lasting more than a minute, the Flying Zombie gave up on revenge and climbed back down with half its head missing, then disappeared.
Philip finally let out a long breath and climbed up. The first thing he said when he reached the top was, "I used all my divination skills but still couldn't kill that Jiangshi. In the end, it was your Tattoo of Gods and Ghosts that took care of it. Your tattoos are truly amazing!"
I didn't respond or feel proud. The Tattoos of Gods and Ghosts are impressive, but not very practical. In a situation like this, without Philip, we would probably all be dead. The tattoos have too many limitations.
Now that Philip was up, we were safe—but not completely. It should be just as dangerous up here, though at least we didn't have to worry about the miasma. As for The Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Flying Zombie, I suspect they are just as afraid to climb up as the Flying Zombie was to go past the halfway point.
We had already climbed halfway up the mountain tonight, and with Philip's energy and blood severely depleted, it was impossible to go further. We could only rest where we were. Anyway, with no more miasma, we didn't need to worry about spending the night here.
We found a cave, tidied up, and settled in. Philip was fairly stable—he looked much better after meditating and resting. As we leaned against the rocks, we began to fall asleep.
The road ahead is still uncertain. I hope we can find Daphne quickly. I originally thought that with Philip here, the demons and ghosts on this mountain wouldn't be too big a problem. But we've only encountered one or two, and it's already been rough. It's not that Philip isn't skilled—it's that the things inside Mount Zhongnan are too terrifying. If we're unlucky enough to run into one, it's just our bad luck.
We've counted our blessings. Looking at the bodies on the ground when we arrived—they were already dead. That's real bad luck.
It's so dangerous here. I wonder how Daphne and Luna are doing. Luna is okay, but Daphne is…
Could she still be down the mountainside? I feel that with her strength, even climbing the mountain is a problem—how could she make it up here? If she encounters a demon or a monster, she'll be gone. And the girl she brought with her, Norma, probably can't protect her much—otherwise, she wouldn't have fallen into the hands of the living dead.
Thinking about it, I fell asleep. Maybe I was too tired—I slept right through till daybreak. Around nine o'clock, I was woken up by the sound of bells. I went out to look and was almost scared to death: rows of jiangshi were jumping past the entrance of our cave. But after observing more closely, I noticed there was a person in front controlling those jiangshi—the one ringing the bell.
"This is the Guide the Corpses Clan. All these jiangshi belong to them," Philip suddenly said from behind me. It seemed he had also been woken by the jiangshi and the sound of bells.
"So many jiangshi… wouldn't that be like an army? You wouldn't even be afraid to walk across the street in Mount Zhongnan," I said excitedly, fantasizing how nice it would be to have so many helpers—even if they were all dead.
"It's hard to say. These jiangshi are so low-level that ten of them wouldn't stand up to that one Flying Zombie from last night," Philip replied.
Low-level is better than none, and there are so many of them—almost fifty, jumping past our cave entrance in great numbers. The one in front ringing the bell controlled them, and two others followed behind keeping watch—it wouldn't be good to lose them.
The one in front was older and was probably the master; the two behind were younger, likely apprentices. They were quite polite—they saw us, greeted us, and then went on their way.
After the corpse guides left, I looked up at the sky. It was gloomy—only a little brighter compared to the night. Philip said sunlight rarely shines into Mount Zhongnan—the yin energy is too heavy. Plus, its geographic location receives little light, which is why the mountain is so evil.
Indeed evil, and also very scary. Everything I see gives me the creeps. Those people really aren't afraid of death—coming up here to search for the secret of eternal life. If it weren't absolutely necessary, I definitely wouldn't have come.
Isn't living well good enough?